Pella
Pella (
Greek: Πέλλα) was an
ancient Macedonian city located in modern
Greece.
During Byzantine and Ottoman years, the city was known in Greek as Άγιοι Απόστολοι (Ayii Apostoli), rendered in
Slavic as Постол (Postol), until it reverted to its ancient name in
1936.
The city was founded by
Archelaus I of Macedon (413–399 BC) specifically to become the capital of his kingdom, to replace the older palace-city of Aigi (
Vergina). After this, it was the seat of
Philip II of Macedon and of
Alexander the Great, his son. In
168 BC Pella was sacked by the Romans, and its treasury was transported to Rome. Later the city was destroyed by an earthquake and eventually was rebuilt over its ruins. By
180 AD Lucian could describe it in passing as
"now insignificant, with very few inhabitants".
Pella is first mentioned by
Herodotus (VII, 123) in relation to
Xerxes' campaign and by
Thucydides (II, 99,4 and 100,4) in relation to Macedonian expansion and the war against
Sitalces, the king of the
Thraciabns. According to
Xenophon, in the beginning of the
4th century BCE it was the largest Maedonian city. It was probably built as the capital of the kingdom by
Archelaus I of Macedon, although there appears to be some possibility that it may have been
Amyntas III of Macedon. It attracted Greek artists such the painter
Zeuxis, the poet
Timotheus of Miletus and the
tragic author Euripides who finishes his days there writing and producing
Archelaus.
The reign of
Antigonus II Gonatas likely represented the height of the city, as this is the period which has left us the most archaeological evidence (see below)
Pella is further mentioned by
Polybius and
Livy as the capital of
Philip V of Macedon and of
Perseus of Macedon during the Macedonian Wars. It is here in the writings of Livy that we find the only description of how the city looked in
167 BCE to
Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus, the Roman who defeated Perseus at the
Battle of Pydna:
"...and he [Paulus] observed that it was not without good reason that it had been chosen as the royal residence. It is situated on the south-west slope of a hill and surrounded by a marsh too deep to be crossed on foot either in summer or winter. The citadel the "Phacus," which is close to the city, stands in the marsh itself, projecting like an island, and is built on a huge substructure which is strong enough to carry a wall and prevent any damage from the infiltration from the water of the lagoon. At a distance it appears to be continuous with the city wall, but it is really separated by a channel which flows between the two walls and is connected with the city by a bridge. Thus it cuts off all means of access from an external foe, and if the king shut anyone up there, there could be no possibility of escape except by the bridge, which could be very easily guarded.."
[Titus Livius The History of Rome, Vol. VI Translator Rev. Canon Roberts 1912 (XLIV, 46) online at U Virginia accessed 15 July 2006.]In the
Roman province of Macedonia, Pella was the capital of the third district, and was possibly the seat of the Roman governor. Crossed by the
Via Egnatia(
Strabo VII, 323), Pella remained a significant point on the route between
Dyrrachium and
Thessalonika.
Cicero stayed here in
58 BCE, but by then the provincial seat had already transferred to Thessalonika.
The city went into decline for reasons unknown (possibly an earthquake) by the end of the 1st century BC. It was the object of a colonial deduction sometime between 45 and 30 BC; in any case currency was marked
Colonia Iulia Augusta Pella.
Augustus settled peasants there whose land he had usurped to give to his veterans (
Dio Cassius LI, 4). But unlike other Macedonian colonies such as
Philippi,
Dion, and
Cassandreia it never came under the jurisdiction of
ius Italicum or Roman law. Four pairs of colonial magistrates (
IIvirs quinquennales) are known for this period.
The decline of the city was rapid, in spite of colonization:
Dio Chrysostom and
Lucian both attest to the ruin of the ancient capital of
Philip II of Macedon and
Alexander the Great; though their accounts may be exaggerated. In fact, the Roman city was somewhat to the west of and distinct from the original capital; which explains some contradictions between coinage,
epigraphs, and testimonial accounts. In the Byzantine period, the Roman site was occupied by a fortified village.
The city is built on the island of Phacos, a promotory which dominates the wetlands which encircle Pella to the south, and a lake which opened to the sea in the Hellenistic period.
Palace
The city wall mentioned by Livy is only partly known. It consists of a rampart of crude bricks (about 50 cm square) raised on a stone foundation; some of which has been located North of the palace, and some in the South next to the lake. Inside the ramparts, three hills occupy the North, and the palace is situated on a place of honour on the central hill. Partly searched, it occupied a considerable area of perhaps 60,000 square metres). The plan is still not well known, but has been related to that of the city plan (see diagram).
The Pella palace consisted of several " possibly seven " large architectural groupings juxtaposed in two rows, each including a series of rooms arranged around a central square courtyard, generally with porticos. Archaeologists have thus far identified a
palaestra and
baths. The south facade of the palace, towards the city, consisted of one large (at least 153 metres long) portico, constructed on a two metres high foundation. The relationship between the four principal complexes is defined by an interruption in the portico occuupied by a triple
propylaeum, 15 metres high, which gave the palace an imposing monumental air when seen from the city below.
Dating of the palace has posed some problems: the large buildings could date the reign of Philippe II, but other buildings appear to be earlier. The baths date from the reign of
Cassander.
The size of the complex indicates that, unlike the palace at
Vergina, this was not only a royal residence or a grandiose monument but also a place of government which was required to accommodate a portion of the administrative apparatus of the kingdom.
Hippodamean plan
The city proper was located South of and below the palace. Designed on a
grid plan as envisaged by
Hippodamus of Miletus, it consists of two series of parallel streets which intersect at right angles and form a grid of eight rows of rectangular blocks. These blocks are of a consistent width " each approximately 45 metres " and a length which varies from 111 to 152 metres; 125 metres being the most common. The streets are form 9 to 10 metres wide, except for the middle East-West arterial, which is up to 15 metres wide. This street is the primary access to the central public
agora, which occupied a space of ten blocks. Two North-South streets area also a bit wider than the rest, and serve to connect the city to the port further South. The streets had sewers and were equipped to convey water to individual residences.
This type of plan dates to the first half of 4th century BCE, and is very close to the ideal in design, though it distinguishes itself by large block size;
Olynthus in
Chalcidice for example had blocks of 86.3 x 35 metres. On the other hand, later Hellenistic urban foundations have blocks comparable to those of Pella: 112 x 58 m in
Laodicea ad Mare, or 120 x 46 m in
Aleppo.
The agora holds pride of place in the centre of the city, occupying an imposing 200 by 181 metres; 262 x 238 metres if one counts the potrticos which surround it on all sides.
Based of the descriptions provided by
Titus Livius, the site was excavated by voyagers including Holand, Pouqueville, Beaujour, Cousinéry, Delacoulonche, Hahn, Glotz and Struck in the
19th century. The first excavation was begun by
G. Oikonomos in 1914-1915. The systematic exploration of the site began in 1953 and full excavation was being done in 1957. The first series of campaigns were completed in 1963, including more excavations in 1980. These digs continue in the part identified as the agora.
In the late 1970s, the archaeologist
Manolis Andronikos discovered the grave of
Philip II of
Macedon, who was the father of
Alexander III of Macedon. Among the findings was a box made of gold along with the golden
Vergina Star, which was an apple of discord between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the early
1990s.
In February of
2006 a farmer accidentally uncovered the largest funeral tomb ever found in Greece. The names of the noble
ancient Macedonian family are still on inscriptions and painted sculptures and walls have survived. The tomb dates to the
2nd or
3rd century BC, following the rule of Alexander the Great.
[BBC World News. "Greek tomb find excites experts" dated 12 February 2006, 19:40 GMT accessed 12 July 2006 ] |
Lion Hunt Mosaic in Pella |
 |
An atrium with a pebble-mosaic paving |
Archelaus invited the painter
Zeuxis, the greatest painter of the time, to decorate it. He was later the host of the Athenian playwright
Euripides in his retirement. Euripides
Bacchae premiered here, about
408 BC. Pella was the birthplace of
Philip II of Macedon and of
Alexander the Great, his son. The hilltop
palace of Philip, where
Aristotle tutored young Alexander, is being excavated.
In antiquity, Pella was a port connected to the
Thermaic Gulf by a navigable inlet, but the harbor has silted, leaving the site landlocked.
Archaeological digs in progress since 1957 have uncovered a small part of the city, which was made rich by Alexander and his heirs. The large
agora or market, was surrounded by the shaded colonnades of
stoae, and streets of enclosed houses with frescoed walls round inner courtyards. The first
trompe-l'oeil wall murals imitating perspective views ever seen were on walls at Pella. There are temples to
Aphrodite,
Demeter and
Cybele, and Pella's
pebble-mosaic floors, dating after the lifetime of Alexander, are famous: some reproduce Greek paintings; one shows a lion-griffin attacking a stag, a familiar motif also of
Scythian art, another depicts
Dionysus riding a leopard.
The famous poet
Aratus died in Pella c.
240 BC. Pella was sacked by the Romans in
168 BC, when its treasury was transported to Rome. It was then destroyed by earthquake in the
1st century BC; shops and workshops dating from the catastrophe have been found with remains of their merchandise. The city was eventually rebuilt over its ruins, which preserved them, but
ca 180 AD
Lucian could describe it in passing as "now insignificant, with very few inhabitants" [
1].
*Ch. J. Makaronas,
Pella: Capital of Ancient Macedonia, pp 59-65, in
Scientific American, Special Issue, "Ancient Cities", c 1994.
*Ph. Petsas,
Pella. Alexander the Great's Capital, Thessaloniki, 1977.
*D. Papakonstandinou-Diamandourou,
Πέλλα, ιστορική επισκόπησις και μαρτυρίαι Pella, istoriki episkopisis kai martyriai (in Greek), Thessaloniki, 1971.
* R. Ginouvès, et al.,
La Macédoine, CNRS Éditions, Paris, 1993, pp 90-98.
* F. Papazoglou,
Les villes de Macédoine romaine, BCH Suppl. 16, 1988, 135-139.
*Ph. Petsas,
Pella. Alexander the Great's Capital, Thessaloniki, 1977.
*
Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (via Perseus)*
Macedonian Heritage*
Greek Ministry of Culture
