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18/06/2007
Philippi

George Tsigaras
Source: C.E.T.I.
© Region of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace
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Location: The archaeological site of Philippi is located midway between Kavala and Drama, next to the village of Krinides. It is situated 15 kilometres far from Kavala and 21 far from Drama. The Metropolis of Philippi, Neapolis, and Thasos, based in Kavala has erected a modern church at the site of the western cemetery, called the Baptistery of Saint Lydia, who was the first Christian in Europe.

History: There are indications of organized civil life in Philippi from the prehistoric times. In 360 BC, the Thasians founded a colony at Krinides. Later, after asking for help from King Philip II of Macedon, Macedonians colonists settled in the city and renamed it Philippi.
During Roman times, Philippi is traversed by the route of Via “Egnatia” and thus obtains importance. In 42 B.C., a battle was fought outside its western walls, between Brutus and Cassius, in one side, and Octavian and Antony, in the other. The defeat of the republicans signified the end of the Roman Republic.
A great landmark in the history of the city is the visit of the Apostle Paul, who, according to the passage: äéáâὰò åἰò Ìáêåäïíßáí âïÞèçóïí ἡìῖí, came here to preach the Gospel of Christ,. The Apostle was accompanied by his disciples Silas, Timotheus and perhaps Luke and he baptised Lydia in the Gangitis river, founding the first Christian church in Europe.
The book of The Acts of the Apostles mentions that Apostle Paul with his companions were imprisoned in a water cistern of the Roman period. Later, Christians of the area converted the site of his imprisonment into a place of worship. According to the Epistle to the Philippians written by Apostle Paul, the Apostle of the Nations developed strong ties with the Christian inhabitants of the city.
After the establishment of Christianity, the capital was transferred from Rome to Constantinople (4th century) and the city of Philippi regained its Greek character. According to the finds, its inhabitants had a high living level. Public buildings are succeded by Christian churches and the city becomes a centre of Christian worship, as mentioned above. A huge Octagonal Metropolitan church and three large basilicas of the Early Christian times (5th-6th centuries) were revealed in Philippi, while a cemetery and a three-aisled funerary basilica (4th century) were uncovered outside the city walls.
By the late 6th and the early 7th centuries, signs of decay of Philippi can be observed. Earthquakes destroyed the buildings of the late Roman and early Christian period, leaving them with no possibility of restoration. In addition, the incursions of the Slavs in the area intensified the decay of the city. The inhabitants abandoned the city and by the early 7th century, the city of Philippi was no longer the religious and administrative centre of the region.
In the 14th century, the Ottomans occupy Philippi and gradually the area is abandoned, possibly because of the nearby marshes, known as the tenaghi of Philippi. According to travellers’ descriptions, no one remained in Philippi by the 16th century and on.
In the early 20th century, Philippi, which is the most important archaeological site of the Roman and Early Christian times in northern Greece, became a point of interest for Greek and foreign archaeologists, who initiated excavations that still continue, revealing important historical elements of the area.

The Monuments:
Basilica A is located at the upper side of the road and opposite the Forum. It is a three-aisled, timber-roofed Basilica with a transverse aisle, whose dimensions are 130 X 50 m, including the ancillary buildings. According to P. Lemerle, it was probably built around 500 AD and destroyed some 50 years later, a fact associated with the foundation of Basilica B’. Yet, recent archaeologists are quite sceptical about the exact date of its destruction.
One can pass using steps from the Forum and through a semicircular and monumental gateway, or propylon, to a peristyle court leading to the Basilica. There are ancillary rooms on the western side of the court and a small chapel on the eastern side. Through the court, one can reach the atrium, where a richly decorated two-storey fountain is located on its west side. There are five niches on the wall to the west of the fountain, the one in the middle being the biggest. According to the excavators, the bishop used this niche as a podium.
One could access the narthex through three entrances. The floor of the narthex was slab-paved and the walls had marble revetment. The staircase at the northwest side of the narthex leads up to the gallery and the Baptistery was probably located next to it. On the west wall of the first of the three rooms of the Baptistery, one can see the wall paintings in imitation of marble revetment. In the second room of the Baptistery, baptism ceremonies used to take place, probably, in a portable baptismal font, since no permanent font was found. A third room located at the east bears an arch decorated with wall paintings in imitation of marble revetment.
From the narthex, one could access the main nave through three entrances. There is a tribelon in the centre while the other two entrances are simple. It is a T-shaped church since the colonnades form rectangular corners on the north and south sides of the building. The exterior walls also follow the same shape. The floor of the main nave was marble-paved. In the middle aisle, there are still remains of the pulpit, while the Presbyterion was encircled by the iconostasis. Th excavators found traces of the altar, the pit of the enkainion and the seats of the Presbyterion.
The so called “prison of the Apostle Paul” lying at the southwest corner of the atrium of the Basilica B’ is an interesting roman cistern with two rooms, converted into a chapel. It is now believed that the chapel was founded after the Basilica ceased to be used, which means almost after the 7th-8th centuries. On the western side lies a semicircular niche with a marble basin in front of it that used to have water.
On the estern wall of the chapel, some remnants of wall paintings survive depicting Christ surrounded by angels or saints. It is mentioned that by the late 19th century, there were still preserved wall paintings illustrating the iconographic programme of the life of Apostle Paul.

Basilica B is located at the south of the roman Agora (forum). It was built in the mid- 6th century and it was probably destroyed by earthquake, before the construction was concluded.
Regarding its architecture, the monument is a Basilica with a dome. The main nave was divided by six columns into three aisles, while the one in the middle was vaulted.
At the northeast and southeast sides of the Basilica, there are two ancillary buildings with a niche projecting to the east. The first one at the northeast must have been used as a Baptistery, while the room at the west must have been the phiale. The second room at the southeast side must have been the Diakonikon, which was converted into chapel in a later date.
Five entrances lead to the interior of the narthex, two at the sidewalls and three at the west, while three entrances provide access from the narthex to the main nave. At the east side and in front of the main entrance still exists a semicircular arch. The arch and the narthex of the monument belong to a small church, which, according to the excavator, was probably founded in the period around the 9th-10th centuries.
According to the excavators, the dome collapsed a few years after its construction and before the conclusion of the monument. This element, if combined with similar facts related to other monuments of this period, leads to the conclusion that there were still unsolved problems concerning the construction of rectangular buildings with dome.
It has been plausibly argued that the stone masonry with the parallel layers of plinth belong to the type of masonry that is characteristic of the Justinian period (527-565 AD).
The still preserved sculptured decoration of the church is of great interest. The outstandingly decorated cylindrical capitals and other architectural elements with elaborate acanthus leaves are associated to the workshops of Constantinople.
Proto-Bulgarian inscriptions in Greek were found at the site of the Basilica mentioning a Bulgarian incursion, which took place in 837. According to archaeologists, these inscriptions were brought to the site of the Basilica from another place.
The Octagon complex lies to the east of the Roman Agora, in an area of almost 12.000 square metres. It is a unique architectural monument that according to the archaeologists, it was founded at a site where obviously an important event must have taken place. This was the metropolitan church dedicated to the memory of Apostle Paul.
A mosaic, founding inscription on the floor provides information on the erection of this first small church in Philippi, dedicated to Apostle Paul, in 312-343 AD. This interesting inscription is decorated with patterns of birds, trees, and geometrical shapes. According to the inscription, the mosaic floor was dedicated to the church by the bishop Porphyrios.
Around 400 AD, the large-dimension octagonal church that was preserved until the early 7th century, replaced the small church.
The outer side of the Octagon is rectangular and the inner side is octagonal. The apse of the sanctuary stands at the east. In the interior of the church, the colonnade was running all the octagonal stylobate, supporting the upper galleries and the dome. There were two pulpits. A three-aisled arcade with a propylon communicating with Via “Egnatia” led to the narthex. West of the three-aisled arcade were quarters, guest-rooms and a richly decorated court communicating with the Commercial road.
Among the ancillary buildings are known the phiale, the tripartite baptistery, the prothesis and the diakonikon, which were constructed around the Hellenistic tomb that constituted the nucleus of worship places in the Christian era. An interesting feature is that of a a marble sarcophagus found next to this room, from which Myron (holy oil) was believed to gush. This sarcophagus contained the relics of a martyr, or, according to the excavators, probably even the relics of Apostle Paul.
There is an impressive Baptistery located at the north of the phiale and the Macedonian tomb that froms part of the Octagon. It consists of the apodyterion, the catechumenion, the photisterion, and the chrismarion. A cross-shaped built baptismal font is preserved in the main quarter of the photisterion that the catechumens, in order to be baptised, could access through two built staircases.
The Octagon must have been in use between the period of its foundation in the early 5th century until the first half of the 7th century AD, when it ceases to operate because of the catastrophe caused by the big earthquake.
Basilica C is located at the west of Basilica A. It is a three-aisled basilica with a transverse aisle, an upper gallery, an atrium, and ancillary buildings. Two construction phases of the monument are distinguishable: During the first phase, in the first quarter of the 6th century, the transverse aisle did not yet existed and there was a room to the north served as an entrance hall. Later on, in the second half of the 6th century, the transverse aisle as well as the altar wall and lateral Synthrona were constructed. A second pulpit was built on the altar wall. There was another pulpit with larger dimensions in the shape of a ripidion in the middle aisle of the church. According to archaeologists, the existence of two pulpits is a peculiarity attributed to a bishop of the city.
According to excavators, there was a second floor at the monument and its western part was used as a Bishopry.
An earthquake destroyed the monument during the first half of the 7th century, except from the northern ancillary buildings that were preserved. That is the reason why religious worship acts were held in the baptistery, which was converted into a small church, in the narthex and around the church operating, according to evidence, until the 11th and 12th centuries.
The “outside the walls Basilica” is located next to the park of the village of Krenides. It is a three-aisled basilica with a gallery, a four-arcade atrium, a tripartite narthex, and ancillary buildings.
Three construction phases of the monument can be observed: During the first phase, columns stood on marble bases reaching the eastern wall of the church. The semicircular apse of the church had three buttresses on the outside and a synthronon on the inside. The pulpit with two staircases in front of it was situated almost in the center of the middle aisle. During the second phase, a transverse aisle was added to the monument and the floor of the main aisle and narthex was decorated with mosaics depicting geometrical shapes, animal and vegetal motifs. Walls were decorated with mosaics and marble revetment. After the destruction of the Basilica (7th or 9th century), a single-aisled church was erected at the site where previously lied the Sanctuary, using several architectural members and sculptures of the monument.
According to coins and inscriptions found at the site, the monument was erected in the first half of the 4th century. The church was destroyed in 473 AD by the Ostrogoths, during the siege of Philippi. However, the final destruction of the monument probably took place in the first half of the 7th century because of a severe earthquake or in the 9th century, when the Bulgarians occupied Philippi.
It is a funerary church since a lot of cist and arched graves, obviously of the clergy, with tomb inscriptions and mural decorations were found around the church and below the floor of the aisles, the narthex, and the ancillary buildings.
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