1.
Roman province
–
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy, largest territorial and administrative unit of the empires territorial possessions outside of Italy. The word province in modern English has its origins in the used by the Romans. Provinces were generally governed by politicians of senatorial rank, usually former consuls or former praetors and this exception was unique, but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus personal property, following the tradition of earlier, Hellenistic kings. The territory of a people who were defeated in war might be brought under various forms of treaty, the formal annexation of a territory created a province in the modern sense of an administrative unit geographically defined. Republican provinces were administered in one-year terms by the consuls and praetors who had held office the previous year, Rome started expanding beyond Italy during the First Punic War. The first permanent provinces to be annexed were Sicily in 241 BC, militarized expansionism kept increasing the number of these administrative provinces, until there were no longer enough qualified individuals to fill the posts. The terms of provincial governors often had to be extended for multiple years,241 BC – Sicilia taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed at the end of the First Punic War. 237 BC – Corsica et Sardinia, these two islands were taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed soon after the Mercenary War, in 238 BC and 237 BC respectively. 197 BC – Hispania Citerior, along the east coast of the,197 BC - Hispania Ulterior, along the southern coast of the, part of the territories taken over from the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War. 147 BC – Macedonia, mainland Greece and it was annexed after a rebellion by the Achaean League. 146 BC – Africa, modern day Tunisia and western Libya, home territory of Carthage and it was annexed following attacks on the allied Greek city of Massalia. 67 BC – Creta et Cyrenae, Cyrenaica was bequeathed to Rome in 78 BC, however, it was not organised as a province. 58 BC – Cilicia et Cyprus, Cilicia was created as a province in the sense of area of command in 102 BC in a campaign against piracy. The Romans controlled only a small area, in 74 BC Lycia and Pamphylia were added to the smal Roman possessions in Cilicia. Cilicia came fully under Roman control towards the end of the Third Mithridatic War - 73-63 BC, the province was reorganised by Pompey in 63 BC. Gallia Cisalpina was a province in the sense of an area of military command, during Romes expansion in Italy the Romans assigned some areas as provinces in the sense of areas of military command assigned to consuls or praetors due to risks of rebellions or invasions. This was applied to Liguria because there was a series of rebellions, Bruttium, in the early days of Roman presence in Gallia Cisalpina the issue was rebellion. Later the issue was risk of invasions by warlike peoples east of Italy, the city of Aquileia was founded to protect northern Italy form invasions
2.
Roman Empire
–
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
3.
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
–
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and at first ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, the reign of Philip II saw the rise of Macedonia, during which the kingdom rose to control the entire Greek world. With a reformed army containing phalanxes wielding the sarissa pike, Philip II defeated the old powers of Athens and Thebes in the decisive Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Sparta was kept isolated and was occupied a century later by Antigonus III Doson. Alexander then led a roughly decade-long campaign of conquest against the Achaemenid Empire, in the ensuing wars of Alexander the Great, he overthrew the Achaemenid Empire and conquered a territory that stretched as far as the Indus River. For a brief period, his Macedonian empire was the most powerful in the world – the definitive Hellenistic state, Greek arts and literature flourished in the new conquered lands and advances in philosophy, engineering, and science were spread throughout much of the ancient world. Of particular importance were the contributions of Aristotle, who had been imported as tutor to Alexander, important cities such as Pella, Pydna, and Amphipolis were involved in power struggles for control of the territory. New cities were founded, such as Thessalonica by the usurper Cassander, Macedonias decline began with the Macedonian Wars and the rise of Rome as the leading Mediterranean power. At the end of the Second Macedonian War in 168 BC, a short-lived revival of the monarchy during the Third Macedonian War in 150–148 BC ended with the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia. The name Macedonia comes from the ethnonym Μακεδόνες, which itself is derived from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός, meaning tall and it also shares the same root as the noun μάκρος, meaning length in both ancient and modern Greek. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders, the tall ones. Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. Contradictory legends state that either Perdiccas I of Macedon or Caranus of Macedon were the founders of the Argead dynasty, the kingdom of Macedonia was situated along the Haliacmon and Axius rivers in Lower Macedonia, north of Mount Olympus. Historian Malcolm Errington posits the theory one of the earliest Argead kings must have established Aigai as their capital in the mid-7th century BC. Prior to the 4th century BC, the kingdom covered a region corresponding to the western. Achaemenid Persian hegemony over Macedonia was briefly interrupted by the Ionian Revolt, although Macedonia enjoyed a large degree of autonomy and was never made a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, it was expected to provide troops for the Achaemenid army. Following the Greek victory at Salamis in 480 BC, Alexander I was employed as an Achaemenid diplomat to strike a treaty and alliance with Athens. Soon afterwards the Achaemenid forces were forced to withdraw from mainland Europe, although initially a Persian vassal, Alexander I of Macedon fostered friendly diplomatic relations with his former Greek enemies, the Athenian and Spartan-led coalition of Greek city-states. Two separate wars were fought against Athens between 433 and 431 BC, spurred by an Athenian alliance with a brother and cousin of Perdiccas II who had rebelled against him
4.
Thessaloniki
–
Its nickname is η Συμπρωτεύουσα, literally the co-capital, a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα or co-reigning city of the Eastern Roman Empire, alongside Constantinople. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, Thessaloniki was the 2014 European Youth Capital. The city of Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, an important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Ottomans in 1430, and passed from the Ottoman Empire to modern Greece on November 8,1912, the citys main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans. Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece, among street photographers, the center of Thessaloniki is also considered the most popular destination for street photography in Greece. All variations of the name derive from the original appellation in Ancient Greek, i. e. Θεσσαλονίκη. The alternative name Salonica derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη in colloquial Greek speech, in local speech, the citys name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent. The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη, the city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great, under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, the city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire because of the importance in the Balkan peninsula. At the time of the Roman Empire, about 50 A. D. Later, Paul wrote two letters to the new church at Thessaloniki, preserved in the Biblical canon as First and Second Thessalonians. Some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the first written book of the New Testament, in 306 AD, Thessaloniki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius, a native of Thessalonica whom Galerius put to death. A basilical church was first built in the 5th century AD dedicated to St. Demetrius, in 379, when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum. In 390, Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, by the time of the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki was the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire. From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the city in the Empire after Constantinople. With a population of 150,000 in the mid-12th century, the city held this status until its transfer to Venetian control in 1423. In the 14th century, the population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000
5.
Stobi
–
Stobi was an ancient town of Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and later turned into the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris. It is located on the road that leads from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in the Republic of Macedonia. Stobi was built where the Erigón River joins the Axiós River, Stobi developed from a Paeonian settlement established in the Archaic period. Located on the side of a terrace, the early town covered an area of about 25,000 m2. Its proximity to the junction of the Erigón and Axiós Rivers as well as its position in the fertile central Vardar valley allowed it quickly to develop a flourishing economy, nearby Mount Klepa was a lucrative source of marble. The initial Paeonian population was supplemented by other immigrant groups. It is believed that in 217 BCE, Philip V annexed Paionia during his campaign against the Dardani who had entered Bylazora, in 168 BC, the Romans defeated Perseus and Macedonia was divided into four nominally independent republics. The city was first mentioned in 197 BC by Livius, in 148 BC, the four areas of Macedonia were brought together in a unified Roman province. In the reign of Augustus the city grew in size and population, the city grew further in 69 BC once it became a municipium, at which time it began to produce coins printed with Municipium Stobensium. The citizens of Stobi enjoyed Ius Italicum and were citizens of Rome, most belonged to the Roman tribes Aemila and Tromentina. During Roman times Stobi was the capital of the Roman province Macedonia Salutaris, emperor Theodosius I stayed in Stobi in 388. Late in the 5th century the city underwent a turn of events. In 479, it was robbed by Theodoric, an Ostrogothic king, the citizens reconstructed the city, but in 518 it was struck by a powerful earthquake. Avaro-Slavic invasions in the 6th century destroyed the economy and infrastructure. Such a name suggests that it was the site of a large local cultic pillar, the Museum of Belgrade was the first and only institution to investigate the city from 1924 to 1936. Research into the city ended in 1940. During World War II late Hellenistic graves were found in the Palace of Peristerius, in 1970, between the North and Central Basilica and in the western necropolis 55 graves were discovered. In 1955 in the part of the North Basilica 23 Slavic graves dating from the 9th to 12th centuries were discovered
6.
Ancient history
–
Ancient history is the aggregate of past events from the beginning of recorded human history and extending as far as the Early Middle Ages or the Postclassical Era. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with Sumerian Cuneiform script, the term classical antiquity is often used to refer to history in the Old World from the beginning of recorded Greek history in 776 BC. This roughly coincides with the date of the founding of Rome in 753 BC, the beginning of the history of ancient Rome. In India, ancient history includes the period of the Middle Kingdoms, and, in China. Historians have two major avenues which they take to better understand the ancient world, archaeology and the study of source texts, primary sources are those sources closest to the origin of the information or idea under study. Primary sources have been distinguished from secondary sources, which cite, comment on. Archaeology is the excavation and study of artefacts in an effort to interpret, archaeologists excavate the ruins of ancient cities looking for clues as to how the people of the time period lived. The study of the ancient cities of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, the city of Pompeii, an ancient Roman city preserved by the eruption of a volcano in AD79. Its state of preservation is so great that it is a window into Roman culture and provided insight into the cultures of the Etruscans. The Terracotta Army, the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in ancient China, the discovery of Knossos by Minos Kalokairinos and Sir Arthur Evans. The discovery of Troy by Heinrich Schliemann, most of what is known of the ancient world comes from the accounts of antiquitys own historians. Although it is important to take account the bias of each ancient author. Some of the more notable ancient writers include Herodotus, Thucydides, Arrian, Plutarch, Polybius, Sima Qian, Sallust, Livy, Josephus, Suetonius, furthermore, the reliability of the information obtained from these surviving records must be considered. Few people were capable of writing histories, as literacy was not widespread in almost any culture until long after the end of ancient history, the earliest known systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, beginning with Herodotus of Halicarnassus. He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, the Roman Empire was one of the ancient worlds most literate cultures, but many works by its most widely read historians are lost. Indeed, only a minority of the work of any major Roman historian has survived, prehistory is the period before written history. The early human migrations in the Lower Paleolithic saw Homo erectus spread across Eurasia 1.8 million years ago, the controlled use of fire occurred 800,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic. 250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged in Africa, 60–70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa along a coastal route to South and Southeast Asia and reached Australia
7.
Slavs
–
Slavs are the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe. They are native to Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Northeastern Europe, North Asia, Slavs speak Slavic languages of the Balto-Slavic language group. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central, states with Slavic languages comprise over 50% of the territory of Europe, therefore it is the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe by land area. Present-day Slavic people are classified into West Slavs, East Slavs, there are an estimated 360 million Slavs worldwide. The Slavic autonym is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural *Slověne, the oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest the autonym as Slověne. The word slovo and the related slava and slukh originate from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, cognate with Ancient Greek κλῆς, whence comes the name Pericles, Latin clueo, some other theories have limited support. The English term slave eventually derives from the ethnonym Slav, Slavs were captured and enslaved by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. The Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni make their first appearance in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a name in the remote past. He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, and that believe in one god. They lived in scattered housing, and constantly changed settlement, regarding warfare, they were mainly foot soldiers with small shields and battleaxes, lightly clothed, some entering battle naked with only their genitals covered. And they live a life, giving no heed to bodily comforts. Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and forests for their cities, another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes. Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius that slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I. The Avars asked the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars, he declined and is reported as saying, Others do not conquer our land. The relationship between the Slavs and a called the Veneti east of the River Vistula in the Roman period is uncertain. The name may refer both to Balts and Slavs, perhaps some Slavs migrated with the movement of the Vandals to Iberia and north Africa. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers, the Byzantine records note that grass would not regrow in places where the Slavs had marched through, so great were their numbers
8.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
9.
Albania
–
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a population of 3.03 million as of 2016, Tirana is the nations capital and largest city, followed by Durrës and Vlorë. The country has a coastline on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea to the west. Albania is less than 72 km from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. In antiquity, the area of Albania was home to several Illyrian, Thracian. After the Illyrian Wars, it part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. In 1190, the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbanon was established by archon Progon in the region of Krujë, the territory of Albania was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, of which it remained part of for the next five centuries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, following the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist Peoples Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established, Albania is a democratic and developing country with an upper-middle income economy. The service sector dominates the economy, followed by the industrial. After the fall of communism in Albania, Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy, Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care system and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and it is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union. Albania is one of the members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe and one of the oldest lakes in Europe, Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country. The name may have a continuation in the name of a settlement called Albanon and Arbanon. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni, Albanians today call their country Shqipëri. As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria, the two terms are popularly interpreted as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles
10.
Bulgaria
–
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, with a territory of 110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europes 16th-largest country. Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period and its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans and Huns. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State, the following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, in December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections, which subsequently led to Bulgarias transition into a democracy and a market-based economy. Bulgarias population of 7.2 million people is predominantly urbanised, most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city, Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are industry, power engineering. The countrys current political structure dates to the adoption of a constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative. Human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria can be traced back to the Paleolithic, animal bones incised with man-made markings from Kozarnika cave are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans. Organised prehistoric societies in Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, the latter is credited with inventing gold working and exploitation. Some of these first gold smelters produced the coins, weapons and jewellery of the Varna Necropolis treasure and this site also offers insights for understanding the social hierarchy of the earliest European societies. Thracians, one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians, began appearing in the region during the Iron Age. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians conquered most of present-day Bulgaria, and kept it until 479 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in the 5th century the area fell under Byzantine control, by this time, Christianity had already spread in the region. A small Gothic community in Nicopolis ad Istrum produced the first Germanic language book in the 4th century, the first Christian monastery in Europe was established around the same time by Saint Athanasius in central Bulgaria. From the 6th century the easternmost South Slavs gradually settled in the region, in 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing their capital at Pliska
11.
Republic of Macedonia
–
Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia, is a country in the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the states of the former Yugoslavia. A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia has borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, the countrys geography is defined primarily by mountains, valleys, and rivers. The capital and largest city, Skopje, is home to roughly a quarter of the nations 2.06 million inhabitants, the majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25 percent, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Macedonias history dates back to antiquity, beginning with the kingdom of Paeonia, a Thracian polity. In the late sixth century BCE the area was incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Romans conquered the region in the second century BCE and made it part of the much larger province of Macedonia. Macedonia remained part of the Byzantine Empire, and was raided and settled by Slavic peoples beginning in the sixth century CE. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian and Byzantine empires, it came under Ottoman dominion from the 14th century. Between the late 19th and early 20th century, a distinct Macedonian identity emerged, although following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, Macedonia remained a constituent socialist republic within Yugoslavia until its peaceful secession in 1991. Macedonia is a member of the UN and of the Council of Europe, since 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership. Although one of the poorest countries in Europe, Macedonia has made significant progress in developing an open, the countrys name derives from the Greek Μακεδονία, a kingdom named after the ancient Macedonians. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders or the tall ones. However, Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology, the Republic of Macedonia roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia, which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC, the Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including from what is today the Republic of Macedonia. In 356 BC Philip II of Macedon absorbed the regions of Upper Macedonia, the Romans established the Province of Macedonia in 146 BC. Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in the time of Domitian, and it fell within the Province of Moesia. Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the part of the Roman empire. Slavic peoples settled in the Balkan region including Macedonia by the late 6th century AD, during the 580s, Byzantine literature attests to the Slavs raiding Byzantine territories in the region of Macedonia, later aided by Bulgars. Historical records document that in c.680 a group of Bulgars, Slavs and Byzantines led by a Bulgar called Kuber settled in the region of the Keramisian plain, presians reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia
12.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
13.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus
–
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus was a Praetor in 148 BC, Consul in 143 BC, Proconsul of Hispania Citerior in 142 BC and Censor in 131 BC. He was the oldest son of Quintus Caecilius Metellus and grandson of Lucius Caecilius Metellus, a brilliant general, he fought in the Third Macedonian War and played a pivotal role in the Fourth. Andriscus had risen against Rome intending to liberate Macedonia with an army recruited from Thrace, under Metellus authority Macedonia was reduced and made a Roman province. For that he won his agnomen and since then introduced the Clypeus Macedoniccus in his familys medals, on his return to Italy he received the honour of a Triumph and the title of Macedonicus. He then built at the Campus Martius a Porticus of Cecilius which later became the Porticus of Octavia and he also built two grandiose temples one dedicated to Jupiter and the other to Juno. These were the first marble temples in Rome, ornamented with statues of the various Generals of Alexander brought by him from Greece. In 143 BC, when Consul, he campaigned against the Celtiberians in central Hispania during the Numantine War and he defeated one of the Celtiberian tribes, the Arevaci. He did not confront the city of Numantia, which became the focus of the war. Attalus had bequeathed his kingdom to the people of Rome, Metellus was elected Censor in 131 BC, boldly pledging to halt the growing degradation of Roman custom. In a speech which he delivered at his appointment, he proposed that matrimony was to be mandatory to all citizens, a century later Augustus caused this speech to be read at the Senate and published as an Edict for the knowledge and regeneration of the Roman People. His moralizing efforts awakened strong popular opposition, led by the Tribune Gaius Atinius Labeo Macerio whom he had expelled from the Senate. He was almost killed by the mob on the Tarpeian Rock, celebrated for his eloquence and his taste for the Arts, he died in 116 BC/115 BC. His two sons-in-law, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio and Gaius Servilius Vatia would also attain the Consulship. Metellus raising the siege, a painting by Armand-Charles Caraffe, commemorates the legend of Metellus lifting the siege of Centobrigia in 142 BC, the Gracchi, Oxford University Press, Oxford ENG,1979. Manuel Dejante Pinto de Magalhães Arnao Metello and João Carlos Metello de Nápoles, Metellos de Portugal, Brasil e Roma, Torres Novas,1998
14.
Andriscus
–
Andriscus, also often referenced as Pseudo-Philip, was the last King of Macedon. A pretender who claimed to be the son of Perseus of Macedon and his reign lasted just a year. In 168 BC, the Romans invaded Macedonia and overthrew king Perseus in the First Battle of Pydna, in 149 BC, Andriskos, claiming to be Perseus son, announced his intention to retake Macedonia from the Romans. As his first attempt, he travelled to Syria to request military help from Demetrius Soter of Syria, Demetrius instead handed him over to the Romans but Andriskos managed to escape from Roman captivity, and raised a Thracian army. With this army, he invaded Macedonia and defeated the Roman praetor Publius Juventius in 149 BC, Andriskos then declared himself King Philip VI of Macedonia. In 148 BC, Andriskos conquered Thessaly and made an alliance with Carthage, Andriscus brief reign over Macedonia was marked by cruelty and extortion. After this, Macedonia was formally reduced to a Roman province, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Andriscus. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
15.
Epirus (ancient state)
–
Epirus was an ancient Greek state, located in the geographical region of Epirus in the western Balkans. The homeland of the ancient Epirotes was bordered by the Aetolian League to the south, Thessaly and Macedonia to the east, and Illyrian tribes to the north. For a brief period, the Epirote king Pyrrhus managed to make Epirus the most powerful state in the Greek world, Epirus has been occupied since at least Neolithic times by seafarers along the coast and by hunters and shepherds in the interior who brought with them the Greek language. These people buried their leaders in large tumuli containing shaft graves, similar to the Mycenaean tombs, the Dorians invaded Greece from Epirus and Macedonia at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, though the reasons for their migration are obscure. The regions original inhabitants were driven southward into the Greek mainland by the invasion and these were the Chaonians of northwestern Epirus, the Molossians in the center, and the Thesprotians in the south. The Molossian Aeacidae dynasty managed to create the first centralized state in Epirus from about 370 BC onwards and she was to become the mother of Alexander the Great. On the death of Arybbas, Alexander the Molossian, uncle of Alexander the Great of Macedon, after some successes on the battlefield, he was defeated by a coalition of Italic tribes at the Battle of Pandosia in 331 BC. In 330 BC, upon Alexander the Molossians death, the term Epirus appears as a political unit in the ancient Greek records for the first time. Subsequently, the coinages of the three major Epirote tribal groups came to an end, and a new coinage was issued with the legend Epirotes. After Alexanders I death, Aeacides of Epirus, who succeeded him, espoused the cause of Olympias against Cassander, aeacidess son Pyrrhus came to the throne in 295 BC. Pyrrhus, being a general, was encouraged to aid the Greeks of Tarentum and decided to initiate a major offensive in the Italian peninsula. Due to its martial abilities, the Epirote army defeated the Romans in the Battle of Heraclea. Subsequently, Pyrrhuss forces nearly reached the outskirts of Rome, but had to retreat to avoid a conflict with a more numerous Roman army. The following year, Pyrrhus invaded Apulia and the two met in the Battle of Asculum where the Epirotes won the original Pyrrhic victory. In 277 BC, Pyrrhus captured the Carthaginian fortress in Eryx and this prompted the rest of the Carthaginian-controlled cities to defect to Pyrrhus. Meanwhile, he had begun to display despotic behavior towards the Sicilian Greeks, though he defeated the Carthaginians in battle, he was forced to abandon Sicily. Pyrrhuss Italian campaign came to an end following the inconclusive Battle of Beneventum, having lost the vast majority of his army, he decided to return to Epirus, which finally resulted in the loss of all his Italian holdings. Because of his victories, the term Pyrrhic victory is often used for a victory with devastating cost to the victor
16.
Ancient Thessaly
–
Thessaly or Thessalia was one of the traditional regions of Ancient Greece. During the Mycenaean period, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of the tribes of Greece, the Aeolians. At its greatest extent, ancient Thessaly was an area stretching from Mount Olympos to the north to the Spercheios Valley to the south. Thessaly is a diverse region consisting of broad central plains surrounded by mountains. The plains are bounded by the Pindos Mountains to the west, Mount Othrys to the south, the Pelion and Ossa ranges to the east, and Mount Olympos to the North. The central plains consist of two basins, the Larisa basin and the Karditsa basin, drained by the Pineios River into the Vale of Tempe, the Pagasetic Gulf in southeastern Thessaly was and is the only body of water suitable for harbours in region. Strictly speaking, Thessaly refers primarily to the central plains inhabited by the Thessalians in antiquity, the plains were divided in antiquity into four administrative regions called tetrads, Pelasgiotis, Phthiotis, Thessaliotis, and Histiaeotis. The perioikoi were composed of Perrhaibia, Magnesia, Achaea Phthiotis, Dolopia, Ainis, Malis, the three largest cities in Thessaly were Larisa, Pherai, and Pharsalos. The Thessalian plains were ideally suited for cultivating grains and cereals, Alexander the Greats horse, Bucephalus, was originally from Pharsalos. The surrounding mountainous regions, however, were suitable for agriculture. Thessaly was home to extensive Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures around 6000 BC–2500 BC, Mycenaean settlements have also been discovered in Thessaly unearthing, at the Kastron of Palaia Hill, in Volos, tablets bearing Mycenaean Greek inscriptions, written in Linear B. In mythology, Thessaly was homeland of the heroes Achilles and Jason, as well of mythological creatures and peoples, Centaurs, Lapiths, Ancient tribes in Thessaly mentioned by Homer or other poets were, Aeolians, Magnetes, Perrhaebi and Pelasgians. The Thessalians were a Thesprotian tribe, and originally came from the Thesprotian Ephyra, like Laconica, the population of Thessaly therefore consisted of three distinct classes, The Penestae, whose condition was nearly the same as that of the Helots. The subject people, who inhabited the districts not occupied by the Thessalian invaders and they paid tribute, as stated above, but were personally free, though they had no share in the government. They corresponded to the Perioeci of Laconica, by which name they are called by Xenophon, the Thessalian conquerors, who alone had any share in the public administration, and whose lands were cultivated by the Penestae. Each district may have regulated its affairs by some kind of provincial council, when occasion required, a chief magistrate was elected under the name of tagus, whose commands were obeyed by all four districts. He is sometimes called king, and sometimes archon He levied soldiers from the states in each district, when Thessaly was not united under the government of a tagus, the subject towns possessed more independence. In later times, some states called their ordinary magistrates tagoi, however, Thessaly was hardly ever united under one government
17.
Illyria
–
In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians. The prehistory of Illyria and the Illyrians is known from archaeological evidence, the Romans conquered the region in 168 BC in the aftermath of the Illyrian Wars. The Roman term Illyris was sometimes used to define an area north of the Aous valley, in Greek mythology, the name of Illyria is aetiologically traced to Illyrius, the son of Cadmus and Harmonia, who eventually ruled Illyria and became the eponymous ancestor of the Illyrians. A later version of the myth identifies Polyphemus and Galatea as parents of Celtus, Galas, ancient Greek writers used the name Illyrian to describe peoples between the Liburnians and Epirus. In the Roman period, Illyricum was used for the area between the Adriatic and Danube, the term was in a way of pars pro toto. The earliest recorded Illyrian kingdom was that of the Enchele in the 8th century BC, the era in which we observe other Illyrian kingdoms begins approximately at 400 BC and ends at 167 BC. The Autariatae under Pleurias were considered to have been a kingdom, the Kingdom of the Ardiaei began at 230 BC and ended at 167 BC. The most notable Illyrian kingdoms and dynasties were those of Bardyllis of the Dardani and of Agron of the Ardiaei who created the last, Agron ruled over the Ardiaei and had extended his rule to other tribes as well. As for the Dardanians, they always had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians, the Illyrian kingdoms were composed of small areas within the region of Illyria. Only the Romans ruled the entire region, polybius gives as an image of society within an Illyrian kingdom as peasant infantry fought under aristocrats which he calls in Greek Polydynastae where each one controlled a town within the kingdom. The monarchy was established on hereditary lines and Illyrian rulers used marriages as a means of alliance with other powers, pliny writes that the people that formed the nucleus of the Illyrian kingdom were Illyrians proper or Illyrii Proprie Dicti. They were the Taulantii, the Pleraei, the Endirudini, Sasaei, Grabaei and these later joined to form the Docleatae. The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was governed by Rome and organized as a province. The Roman province of Illyricum replaced the independent kingdom of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern Albania to Istria in the west, although this division occurred in 10 AD, the term Illyria remained in use in Late Latin and throughout the medieval period. After the division of the Roman Empire, the bishops of Thessalonica appointed papal vicars for Illyricum, the first of these vicars is said to have been Bishop Acholius or Ascholius, the friend of St. Basil. The patriarchs of Constantinople succeeded in bringing Illyria under their jurisdiction in the 8th century, several armorials of the Early modern period, popularly called the Illyrian Armorials, depicted fictional coats of arms of Illyria
18.
Paeonia (kingdom)
–
In antiquity, Paeonia /piːˈoʊniə/ was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians. In the Iliad the Paeonians are said to have been allies of the Trojans, during the Persian invasion of Greece the conquered Paeonians as far as the Lake Prasias, including the Paeoplae and Siropaiones, were deported from Paeonia to Asia. In 355-354 BC, Philip II of Macedon took advantage of the death of King Agi of Paeonia, so the southern part of ancient Paeonia was annexed by the ancient kingdom of Macedon and was named Macedonian Paeonia, this section included the cities Astraion Stenae, Antigoneia etc. It was separated from Dardania by the mountains through which the Vardar river passes from the field of Scupi to the valley of Bylazora, the Paeonian tribes were, Agrianes, it is also claimed that the tribe was Thracian. Almopians Laeaeans Derrones, it is claimed that the tribe was Thracian. Odomantes, it is claimed that the tribe was Thracian. Paeoplae Doberes Siropaiones Some modern scholars consider the Paionians to have been of either Thracian, Some of the names of the Paionians are also definitely Hellenic, although relatively little is known about them. Linguistically, the small number of surviving words in the Paeonian language have been variously connected to its neighboring languages - Illyrian and Thracian. Several eastern Paeonian tribes, including the Agrianes, clearly fell within the Thracian sphere of influence, yet, according to the national legend, they were Teucrian colonists from Troy. Homer speaks of Paeonians from the Axios fighting on the side of the Trojans, Homer calls the Paeonian leader Pyraechmes, later on in the Iliad, Homer mentions a second leader, Asteropaeus, son of Pelagon. Before the reign of Darius Hystaspes, they had made their way as far east as Perinthus in Thrace on the Propontis, at one time all Mygdonia, together with Crestonia, was subject to them. When Xerxes crossed Chalcidice on his way to Therma, he is said to have marched through Paeonian territory, emathia, roughly the district between the Haliacmon and Axios, was once called Paeonia, and Pieria and Pelagonia were inhabited by Paeonians. In Greek mythology, the Paeonians were said to have derived their name from Paeon the son of Endymion, in early times, the chief town and seat of the Paionian kings was Bylazora on the Vardar, later, the seat of the kings was moved to Stobi. Darius left in Europe one of his commanders named Megabazus whose task was to accomplish conquests in the Balkans, the Persian troops subjugated gold-rich Thrace, the coastal Greek cities, as well as defeating and conquering the powerful Paeonians. They joined with the Illyrians to attack the northern areas of the kingdom of Macedonia, the Illyrians, who had a culture of piracy, would have been cut off from some trade routes if movement through this land had been blocked. They unsuccessfully attacked the defences of Macedonian territory in an attempt to occupy the region. In 360-359 BC, southern Paeonian tribes were launching raids into Macedon and he followed Perdiccass success in 358 BC with a campaign deep into the north, into Paeonia itself. A Paeonian contingent was attached to Alexander the Greats army, at the time of the Persian invasion, the Paeonians on the lower Strymon had lost, while those in the north maintained, their territorial determination
19.
Thrace
–
It comprises southeastern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and the European part of Turkey. In antiquity, it was referred to as Europe, prior to the extension of the term to describe the whole continent. The name Thrace comes from the Thracians, an ancient Indo-European people inhabiting Southeastern Europe, the word itself was established by the Greeks for referring to the Thracian tribes, from Ancient Greek Thrake, descending from Thrāix. The name of the continent Europe first referred to Thrace proper, the region obviously took the name of the principal river there, Hebros, probably from the Indo-European arg white river, according to an alternative theory, Hebros means goat in Thracian. In Turkey, it is referred to as Rumeli, Land of the Romans. The name appears to derive from an ancient heroine and sorceress Thrace, who was the daughter of Oceanus and Parthenope, the historical boundaries of Thrace have varied. In one ancient Greek source, the very Earth is divided into Asia, Libya, Europa and this largely coincided with the Thracian Odrysian kingdom, whose borders varied over time. After the Macedonian conquest, this regions former border with Macedonia was shifted from the Struma River to the Mesta River and this usage lasted until the Roman conquest. Henceforth, Thrace referred only to the tract of land covering the same extent of space as the modern geographical region. The medieval Byzantine theme of Thrace contained only what today is Eastern Thrace, the largest cities of Thrace are, İstanbul, Plovdiv, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Yambol, Komotini, Alexandroupoli, Xanthi, Edirne, Çorlu and Tekirdağ. Most of the Bulgarian and Greek population are Christians, while most of the Turkish inhabitants of Thrace are Muslims, Ancient Greek mythology provides them with a mythical ancestor, named Thrax, son of the war-god Ares, who was said to reside in Thrace. The Thracians appear in Homers Iliad as Trojan allies, led by Acamas, later in the Iliad, Rhesus, another Thracian king, makes an appearance. Cisseus, father-in-law to the Trojan elder Antenor, is given as a Thracian king. Homeric Thrace was vaguely defined, and stretched from the River Axios in the west to the Hellespont, Greek mythology is replete with Thracian kings, including Diomedes, Tereus, Lycurgus, Phineus, Tegyrius, Eumolpus, Polymnestor, Poltys, and Oeagrus. In addition to the tribe that Homer calls Thracians, ancient Thrace was home to other tribes, such as the Edones, Bisaltae, Cicones. Thrace is also mentioned in Ovids Metamorphoses in the episode of Philomela, Procne, Tereus, the King of Thrace, lusts after his sister-in-law, Philomela. He kidnaps her, holds her captive, rapes her, Philomela manages to get free, however. She and her sister, Procne, plot to get revenge, by killing Itys, at the end of the myth, all three turn into birds – Procne, a swallow, Philomela, a nightingale, and Tereus, a hoopoe
20.
Diocletian
–
Diocletian, born Diocles, was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, after the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. The title was claimed by Carus other surviving son, Carinus. Diocletians reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and he appointed fellow officer Maximian as Augustus, co-emperor, in 286. Diocletian delegated further on 1 March 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as Caesars, under this tetrarchy, or rule of four, each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. Diocletian secured the borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi during several campaigns between 285 and 299, the Alamanni in 288, and usurpers in Egypt between 297 and 298, Galerius, aided by Diocletian, campaigned successfully against Sassanid Persia, the empires traditional enemy. In 299 he sacked their capital, Ctesiphon, Diocletian led the subsequent negotiations and achieved a lasting and favorable peace. He established new centres in Nicomedia, Mediolanum, Antioch. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, and construction increased the states expenditures. From at least 297 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, not all of Diocletians plans were successful, the Edict on Maximum Prices, his attempt to curb inflation via price controls, was counterproductive and quickly ignored. Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the office on 1 May 305. He lived out his retirement in his palace on the Dalmatian coast and his palace eventually became the core of the modern-day city of Split in Croatia. Diocletian was born near Salona in Dalmatia, some time around 244 and his parents gave him the Greek name Diocles, or possibly Diocles Valerius. The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes his official birthday,22 December, other historians are not so certain. Diocles parents were of low status, and writers critical of him claimed that his father was a scribe or a freedman of the senator Anullinus, the first forty years of his life are mostly obscure. The Byzantine chronicler Joannes Zonaras states that he was Dux Moesiae, the often-unreliable Historia Augusta states that he served in Gaul, but this account is not corroborated by other sources and is ignored by modern historians of the period
21.
Diocese of Macedonia
–
The Diocese of Macedonia was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, forming part of the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum. The diocese was formed, probably under Constantine I, from the division of the Diocletianic Diocese of Moesia and it included the provinces of Macedonia Prima, Macedonia Secunda or Salutaris, Thessalia, Epirus vetus, Epirus nova, Achaea, and Crete. Alongside Dacia and, until 379, Pannonia, it made up the Prefecture of Illyricum, in 379, Pannonia was detached and merged into the Praetorian prefecture of Italy and Thessaloniki became the Prefectures new capital city instead of Sirmium. Notitia dignitatum, Pars Orientalis, III Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington, A Companion to Ancient Macedonia, Macedonia Macedonia Macedonia
22.
Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
–
The praetorian prefecture of Illyricum was one of four praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. The administrative centre of the prefecture was Sirmium, and, after 379, initially the territories comprising the later praetorian prefecture of Illyricum belonged to the Prefecture of Italy, Illyricum and Africa. It was as established as a prefecture in its own right during the dynastic struggles between the sons of Constantine the Great which followed his death in 337. It remained in existence until 361, when it was abolished by emperor Julian, in that year the Diocese of Pannonia was again added to Italy as the Diocese of Illyricum, while Macedonia and Dacia were briefly ruled directly by Theodosius I from Thessalonica. During the years 384-395 they were incorporated in the Italian prefecture, except a short period in 388-391. On this occasion, it appears that the capital was to Sirmium. Likewise, the intention of Justinian I to move the capital to his new city of Justiniana Prima in the 540s remained unfulfilled, a history of the Eastern Roman empire from the fall of Irene to the accession of Basil I. Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 Morrison, Cécile, le Monde Byzantin I - LEmpire romain dorient, Athens, Polis Editions, ISBN 978-960-435-134-3 The Times History of Europe, Times Books, London,2001. Map - The Roman Empire in 337
23.
Western Roman Empire
–
Theodosius I divided the Empire upon his death between his two sons. As the Roman Republic expanded, it reached a point where the government in Rome could not effectively rule the distant provinces. Communications and transportation were especially problematic given the vast extent of the Empire, for this reason, provincial governors had de facto rule in the name of the Roman Republic. Antony received the provinces in the East, Achaea, Macedonia and Epirus, Bithynia, Pontus and Asia, Syria, Cyprus and these lands had previously been conquered by Alexander the Great, thus, much of the aristocracy was of Greek origin. The whole region, especially the cities, had been largely assimilated into Greek culture. Octavian obtained the Roman provinces of the West, Italia, Gaul, Gallia Belgica and these lands also included Greek and Carthaginian colonies in the coastal areas, though Celtic tribes such as Gauls and Celtiberians were culturally dominant. Lepidus received the province of Africa. Octavian soon took Africa from Lepidus, while adding Sicilia to his holdings, upon the defeat of Mark Antony, a victorious Octavian controlled a united Roman Empire. While the Roman Empire featured many distinct cultures, all were often said to experience gradual Romanization, minor rebellions and uprisings were fairly common events throughout the Empire. Conquered tribes or cities would revolt, and the legions would be detached to crush the rebellion, while this process was simple in peacetime, it could be considerably more complicated in wartime, as for example in the Great Jewish Revolt. In a full-blown military campaign, the legions, under such as Vespasian, were far more numerous. To ensure a commanders loyalty, an emperor might hold some members of the generals family hostage. To this end, Nero effectively held Domitian and Quintus Petillius Cerialis, governor of Ostia, the rule of Nero ended only with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard, who had been bribed in the name of Galba. The Praetorian Guard, a sword of Damocles, were often perceived as being of dubious loyalty. Following their example, the legions at the increased participation in the civil wars. The main enemy in the West was arguably the Germanic tribes behind the rivers Rhine, Augustus had tried to conquer them but ultimately pulled back after the Teutoburg reversal. The Parthian Empire, in the East, on the hand, was too remote. Those distant territories were forsaken to prevent unrest and also to ensure a more healthy, the Parthians were followed by the Sasanian Empire, which continued hostilities with the Roman Empire
24.
Byzantine Empire
–
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
25.
Diocese of Pannonia
–
The Diocese of Pannonia, from 395 known as the Diocese of Illyricum, was a diocese of the Late Roman Empire. The seat of the vicarius was Sirmium and it was originally part of the praetorian prefecture of Italy and was incorporated by the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum when it was established in 347. In 425 Galla Placidia gave the diocese of Illyricum to Eastern Emperor Theodosius II, Pannonia was lost to the Huns in the 440s, although Dalmatia was retained by the Western Empire until c. The Ostrogoth king of Italy Theodoric the Great conquered Pannonia in the late 5th century, the Diocese of Pannonia included the Roman provinces of Pannonia Prima, Pannonia Valeria, Pannonia Savia, Pannonia Secunda, Noricum Mediterraneum, Noricum Ripensis and Dalmatia. Also under its jurisdiction were the Exarch of Sirmium, the Metropolis of Lauriacum, Vindomana, Sirmium, Salona, Salisburgium, in the 9th century, Diocese of Pannonia was also a name of the ecclesiastical territory of the Christian church whose archbishop was Saint Methodius. Pannonia Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum Illyricum The Times History of Europe, Times Books, London,2001
26.
Achaea (Roman province)
–
Achaea or Achaia, sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaïa, was a province of the Roman Empire, consisting of the Peloponnese, eastern Central Greece, and parts of Thessaly. In the north, it bordered on the provinces of Epirus vetus, the region was annexed by the Roman Republic in 146 BC following the sack of Corinth by the Roman general Lucius Mummius, who was awarded the cognomen Achaicus. It became part of the Roman province of Macedonia, which included the whole of mainland Greece. When Augustus became the first Roman emperor in 27 BC he made an agreement whereby some provinces, the provinces, came under the control of the emperor. Other provinces, the provinces, remained under the control of the senate. The province of Achaea was separated from the province of Macedonia as a senatorial province and it comprised the Peloponnese Peninsula in the south and central Greece. Achaea was a province, thus free from military men and legions. Athens was the center of education for the imperial elite, rivaled only by Alexandria. Achaea was among the most prosperous and peaceful parts of the Roman world until Late Antiquity, the province remained prosperous and highly urbanized however, as attested in the 6th-century Synecdemus. The territories of Achaea remaining in Byzantine hands were grouped into the theme of Hellas, in 150-148 BC the Romans fought the Fourth Macedonian War, after which they annexed Macedon, formerly the largest and most powerful state in mainland Greece. In 146 BC the Achaean League rebelled against the Romans and this was a hopeless war as Rome was a far superior military power. The League was quickly defeated and its city, Corinth was destroyed. The Romans decided to annex the whole of mainland Greece and Achaea became part of the Roman Province of Macedonia, some cities, such as Athens and Sparta retained their self-governing status within their own territories. The First Mithridatic War was fought in Attica and Boeotia, two regions which were to part of the province of Achaea. In 89 BC, Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, Mithridates then sent Archelaus to Greece, where he established Aristion as a tyrant in Athens. The Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla landed in Epirus and marched on Athens. He marched through Boeotia on his way to Attica, Sulla besieged Athens and Piraeus in 87-86 BC and then sacked Athens and destroyed Piraeus. He then defeated Archelaus at the Battle of Chaeronea and the Battle of Orchomenus, the commerce of Achaea was no longer a rival to that of Rome. After the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, about 31 BC, in AD15, Emperor Tiberius, responding to complaints of mismanagement by the Senatorial proconsul made Achaea and Macedonia Imperial provinces
27.
Augustus
–
Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
28.
Epirus
–
Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It is currently divided between the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece and the counties of Gjirokastër, Vlorë, the largest city in Epirus is Ioannina, seat of the region of Epirus, with Gjirokastër the largest city in the Albanian part of Epirus. A rugged and mountainous region, Epirus was the north-west area of ancient Greece. It was inhabited by the Greek tribes of the Chaonians, Molossians, and Thesprotians, and home to the sanctuary of Dodona, the oldest ancient Greek oracle, and the most prestigious one after Delphi. Unified into a state in 370 BC by the Aeacidae dynasty, Epirus achieved fame during the reign of Pyrrhus of Epirus. Epirus subsequently became part of the Roman Empire along with the rest of Greece in 146 BC, following the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade, Epirus became the center of the Despotate of Epirus, one of the successor states to the Byzantine Empire. Conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, Epirus became semi-independent during the rule of Ali Pasha in the early 19th century, but the Ottomans re-asserted their control in 1821. Following the Balkan Wars and World War I, southern Epirus became part of Greece, the name Epirus is derived from the Greek, Ἤπειρος, Ḗpeiros, meaning mainland or terra firma. It is thought to come from an Indo-European root *apero- coast, and was applied to the mainland opposite Corfu. The local name was stamped on the coinage of the unified Epirote commonwealth, the Albanian name for the region, which derives from the Greek, is Epiri. The historical region of Epirus is generally regarded as extending from the end of the Ceraunian mountains, located just south of the Bay of Aulon. The northern boundary of ancient Epirus is alternatively given as the mouth of the Aoös river, epiruss eastern boundary is defined by the Pindus Mountains, that form the spine of mainland Greece and separate Epirus from Macedonia and Thessaly. To the west, Epirus faces the Ionian Sea, the island of Corfu is situated off the Epirote coast but is not regarded as part of Epirus. The definition of Epirus has changed over time, such that modern administrative boundaries do not correspond to the boundaries of ancient Epirus, the region of Epirus in Greece only comprises a fraction of classical Epirus and does not include its easternmost portions, which lie in Thessaly. Epirus is a rugged and mountainous region. It is largely made up of the Pindus Mountains, a series of limestone ridges that are a continuation of the Dinaric Alps. The Pindus mountains form the spine of mainland Greece and separate Epirus from Macedonia, the ridges of the Pindus are parallel to the sea and generally so steep that the valleys between them are mostly suitable for pasture rather than large-scale agriculture. Altitude increases as one moves east, away from the coast, reaching a maximum of 2, 637m at Mount Smolikas, most of Epirus lies on the windward side of the Pindus, and the prevailing winds from the Ionian Sea make the region the rainiest in mainland Greece
29.
Ancient Greek
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
30.
Trajan
–
Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born in the city of Italica in the province of Hispania Baetica, Trajans non-patrician family was of Italian, Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in 89 Trajan supported Domitian against a revolt on the Rhine led by Antonius Saturninus, in September 96, Domitian was succeeded by Marcus Cocceius Nerva, an old and childless senator who proved to be unpopular with the army. After a brief and tumultuous year in power, culminating in a revolt by members of the Praetorian Guard, Nerva was compelled to adopt the more popular Trajan as his heir and he died on 27 January 98 and was succeeded by his adopted son without incident. Early in his reign, he annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, creating the province of Arabia Petraea and his conquest of Dacia enriched the empire greatly, as the new province possessed many valuable gold mines. However, its position north of the Danube made it susceptible to attack on three sides, and it was later abandoned by Emperor Aurelian. Trajans war against the Parthian Empire ended with the sack of the capital Ctesiphon and his campaigns expanded the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent. In late 117, while sailing back to Rome, Trajan fell ill and he was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest under Trajans Column. He was succeeded by his adopted son Hadrian, as an emperor, Trajans reputation has endured – he is one of the few rulers whose reputation has survived nineteen centuries. Every new emperor after him was honoured by the Senate with the wish felicior Augusto, among medieval Christian theologians, Trajan was considered a virtuous pagan. As far as ancient literary sources are concerned, an extant continuous account of Trajans reign does not exist, only fragments remain of the Getiká, a book by Trajans personal physician Titos Statilios Kriton. The Parthiká, a 17-volume account of the Parthian Wars written by Arrian, has met a similar fate, book 68 in Cassius Dios Roman History, which survives mostly as Byzantine abridgments and epitomes, is the main source for the political history of Trajans rule. Besides this, Pliny the Youngers Panegyricus and Dio of Prusas orations are the best surviving contemporary sources and it is certain that much of text of the letters that appear in this collection over Trajans signature was written and/or edited by Trajans Imperial secretary, his ab epistulis. Therefore, discussion of Trajan and his rule in modern historiography cannot avoid speculation, as well as recourse to sources such as archaeology. Marcus Ulpius Traianus was born on 18 September 53 AD in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, Trajans birthplace of Italica was founded as a Roman military colony in 206 BC, though it is unknown when the Ulpii arrived there. Trajan was the son of Marcia, a Roman noblewoman and sister-in-law of the second Flavian Emperor Titus, and Marcus Ulpius Traianus, Marcus Ulpius Traianus the elder served Vespasian in the First Jewish-Roman War, commanding the Legio X Fretensis. Trajan himself was just one of many well-known Ulpii in a line that continued long after his own death and his elder sister was Ulpia Marciana, and his niece was Salonina Matidia. The patria of the Ulpii was Italica, in Spanish Baetica, as a young man, he rose through the ranks of the Roman army, serving in some of the most contested parts of the Empires frontier
31.
Epidamnos
–
The ancient Greek city of Epidamnos or Epidamnus, later the Roman Dyrrachium was founded in 627 BC in Illyria by a group of colonists from Corinth and Corcyra. Individual trading with the local Illyrians was forbidden at Epidamnos, all traffic was through the authorized city agent or poletes, in the fourth century BC the city-state was part of the kingdoms of Cassander and Pyrrhus. The general vicinity of Epidamnus was called Epidamnia, in 229 BC, when the Romans seized the city the -damnos part of the name was inauspicious to Latin ears, and its name, as it was refounded, became Dyrrhachium. Pausanias says the modern Roman city is not the ancient one, the modern city is called Dyrrhachium from its founder. The name Dyrrachion is found on coins of the fifth century BC, however, the city maintained a semi-autonomy and was turned into a Roman colony. Dyrrachium was the place for Roman passengers crossing the Ionian Sea from Brundisium. Here commenced the Via Egnatia, the Roman military road to Thessalonica that connected Roman Illyria with Macedonia, the city itself was part of Macedonia, more specifically Epirus Nova. In 48 BC Pompey was based at Dyrrachium and beat off an attack by Julius Caesar, in AD345 the city was levelled by an earthquake and rebuilt on its old foundations. In the 4th century AD, Dyrrachium was made the capital of the Roman province of Epirus nova, thus its Archbishopric became the Metropolitan of all dioceses in the province. The name Epidamnos was still used by the Byzantines, as for example in the 13th-century Synopsis Chronike, referring to contemporary events. The modern city of Durrës is built directly over the ancient site, so it is primarily on the basis of inscriptions, the last inscription mentions that for the dedication of the library 24 gladiators fought in pairs. The conjecture that there was an amphitheater in the city is confirmed by a passage from the fifteenth-century Vita di Skanderbeg by Marin Barleti, amphitheatrum mira arte ingenioque constructum. Columns with Corinthian capitals and sections of finished marble revetment, discovered on the hillside at Stani. In the necropolis east of the hills that stand above the city have found a stele of Lepidia Salvia, a sarcophagus with a scene of the Calydonian Boar hunt. Classical sources not mentioned in the text, Strabo 5.283,6.316,323,327, Ptolemy 3.12, Dio Cassius. 41.49, Pomponius Mela 2.56, Pliny Natural History 3.145,4.36,6.217,14.30,19.144,32.18, CIL refers to the series of published inscriptions Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Greek colonies in Illyria Perseus site, several sources, including William Smith, dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
32.
Culture of Greece
–
In ancient times, Greece was the birthplace of Western culture and democracy. Modern democracies owe a debt to Greek beliefs in government by the people, trial by jury, the ancient Greeks pioneered in many fields that rely on systematic thought, including biology, geometry, history, philosophy, and physics. They introduced such important literary forms as epic and lyric poetry, history, tragedy, in their pursuit of order and proportion, the Greeks created an ideal of beauty that strongly influenced Western art. Ancient Greek architecture is best known through its temples and theatres, Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine architecture emphasized a Greek cross layout, the Byzantine capitol style of column, during the Ottoman conquest, the Greek architecture was concentrated mainly on the Greek Orthodox churches of the Greek diaspora. These churches, such as other intellectual centres built by Greeks in Diaspora, was influenced by the western European architecture. After the independence of Greece and during the century, the Neoclassical architecture was heavily used for both public and private building. Regarding the churches, Greece also experienced the Neo-Byzantine revival, in 1933 the Athens Charter, a manifesto of the modernist movement, was signed, and was published later by Le Corbusier. Architects of this movement were among others, the Bauhaus-architect Ioannis Despotopoulos, Dimitris Pikionis, Patroklos Karantinos and Takis Zenetos. After World War II and the Greek civil war, the construction of condominiums in the major Greek city centres, was a major contributory factor for the Greek economy. The first skyscrapers were constructed during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the OTE Tower. During the 1960s and 1970s, Xenia was a hotel construction program initiated by the Hellenic Tourism Organisation to improve the countrys tourism infrastructure. It constitutes one of the largest infrastructure projects in modern Greek history, the first manager of the project was the architect Charalambos Sfaellos and from 1957 the buildings were designed by a team under Aris Konstantinidis. Cinema first appeared in Greece in 1896 but the first actual cine-theatre was opened in 1907, in 1914 the Asty Films Company was founded and the production of long films begun. Golfo, a well known traditional love story, is the first Greek long movie, in 1931, Orestis Laskos directed Daphnis and Chloe, contained the first nude scene in the history of European cinema, it was also the first Greek movie which was played abroad. In 1944 Katina Paxinou was honoured with the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for For Whom the Bell Tolls, the 1950s and early 1960s are considered by many as the Greek Golden age of Cinema. More than sixty films per year were made, with the majority having film noir elements, notable films were Η κάλπικη λίρα, Πικρό Ψωμί, O Drakos, Stella. Cacoyannis also directed Zorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn which received Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, finos Film also contributed to this period with movies such as Λατέρνα, Φτώχεια και Φιλότιμο, Η Θεία από το Σικάγο, Το ξύλο βγήκε από τον Παράδεισο and many more
33.
Hellenization
–
In modern times, Hellenization has been associated with the adoption of modern Greek culture and the ethnic and cultural homogenization of Greece. Other tribes that underwent varying degrees of Hellenization included Thracians, Dardanians, Paeonians and Illyrians south of the Jireček Line, Hellenization during the Hellenistic period, however, had its limitations. For example, areas of southern Syria that were affected by Greek culture mostly entailed Seleucid urban centers where Greek was commonly spoken, the countryside, on the other hand, was largely unaffected since most of its inhabitants spoke Syriac and continued to maintain their native traditions. Moreover, Hellenization did not necessarily involve assimilation of ethnic groups since Hellenistic Greeks in regions such as Asia Minor were conscious of their ancestral lineages. Hellenization can also refer to the medieval Byzantine Empire and Constantines founding of Constantinople, moreover, it can refer to the primacy of Greek culture and the Greek language after the reign of Emperor Heraclius in the 7th century AD. Hellenization during the period of Ottoman imperial rule entailed the higher status which Greek culture, in 1909, a commission appointed by the Greek government reported that one third of the villages of Greece should have their names changed, often because of their non-Greek origin. In other instances, names were changed from a name of Greek origin to the ancient Greek toponym. Some village names were formed from a Greek root word with a foreign suffix, the majority of the name changes took place in areas populated by ethnic Greeks, where a strata of foreign, or divergent, toponyms had accumulated over the centuries. However, in parts of northern Greece the population was not Greek-speaking. The process of the change of toponyms in modern Greece has been described as a process of Hellenization and this led to the diminution of the community of Corfiot Italians, resident in Corfu since the Middle Ages, by the 1940s there were only four hundred Corfiot Italians left. The twentieth century witnessed a debate over the extent of Hellenization in the Levant. Rudolf Bultmann thus argued that Christianity arose almost completely within those Hellenistic confines, in his Introduction to the 1964 book Meditations, the Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth discussed the profound influence of Stoic philosophy on Christianity. In particular, Again in the doctrine of the Trinity, the conception of Father, Word
34.
Macedonia (Greece)
–
Macedonia is a geographic and historical region of Greece in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region, dominated by mountains in the interior, Macedonia is part of Northern Greece, together with Thrace and sometimes Thessaly and Epirus. It incorporates most of the territories of ancient Macedon, a kingdom ruled by the Argeads whose most celebrated members were Alexander the Great, the name Macedonia was later applied to identify various administrative areas in the Roman/Byzantine Empire with widely differing borders. Even before the establishment of the modern Greek state in 1830, it was identified as a Greek province, by the mid 19th century, the name was becoming consolidated informally, defining more of a distinct geographical, rather than political, region in the southern Balkans. At the end of the Ottoman Empire most of the known as Rumelia was divided by the Treaty of Bucharest of 1913. Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria each took control of portions of the Macedonian region, with Greece obtaining the largest portion, Central Macedonia is the most popular tourist destination in Greece with more than 3.6 million tourists in 2009. Macedonia lies at the crossroads of human development between the Aegean and the Balkans, the earliest signs of human habitation date back to the palaeolithic period, notably with the Petralona cave in which was found the oldest European humanoid, Archanthropus europaeus petraloniensis. In the Late Neolithic period, trade took place from quite distant regions, one of the most important changes was the start of copper working. According to Herodotus, the history of Macedonia began with the Makednoi tribe, among the first to use the name, there they lived near Thracian tribes such as the Bryges who would later leave Macedonia for Asia Minor and become known as Phrygians. Macedonia was named after the Makednoi, accounts of other toponyms such as Emathia are attested to have been in use before that. Herodotus claims that a branch of the Macedonians invaded Southern Greece towards the end of the second millennium B. C, upon reaching the Peloponnese the invaders were renamed Dorians, triggering the accounts of the Dorian invasion. For centuries the Macedonian tribes were organized in independent kingdoms, in what is now Central Macedonia, the Macedonians claimed to be Dorian Greeks and there were many Ionians in the coastal regions. During the late 6th and early 5th century BC, the region came under Persian rule until the destruction of Xerxes at Plataea, many Macedonian cities were allied to the Spartans, but Athens maintained the colony of Amphipolis under her control for many years. The kingdom of Macedon, was reorganised by Philip II and achieved the union of Greek states by forming the League of Corinth. After his assassination, his son Alexander succeeded to the throne of Macedon, for a brief period a Macedonian republic called the Koinon of the Macedonians was established. It was divided into four administrative districts and that period ended in 148 BC, when Macedonia was fully annexed by the Romans. The northern boundary at that time ended at Lake Ohrid and Bylazora, strabo, writing in the first century AD places the border of Macedonia on that part at Lychnidos, Byzantine Achris and presently Ochrid. Therefore ancient Macedonia did not significantly extend beyond its current borders, the Acts of the Apostles records a vision in which the apostle Paul is said to have seen a man of Macedonia pleading with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us
35.
Dardani
–
Their territory itself was not considered part of Illyria by Strabo. The term used for their territory was, while other areas had more unspecified terms, such as. Other than that, little to no data exists on the territory of the Dardani prior to Roman conquest, the Dardani/Dardanoi derived their name from Dardanus, the mythical founder of Dardania, an ancient city in the Troad. In Greek mythology, Dardanus was a son of Zeus and Electra, Dardanus Pronunciation of Dardanus as a name for boys has its root in Greek. Dardanus is a spelling of Dardanos. The Dardani are first mentioned in the 4th century BC, when their king Bardylis succeeded into bringing various tribes into a single organization, under his leadership the Dardani defeated the Macedonians and Molossians several times. At this time they were enough to rule Macedonia through a puppet king in 392-391 BC. In 385-384 they allied with Dionysius I of Syracuse and defeated the Molossians, killing up to 15,000 of their soldiers and their continuous invasions forced the Macedonian king to pay them a tribute in 372 BC. They returned raiding the Molossians in 360, in 359 BC Bardylis won a decisive battle against Macedonian king Perdiccas III, whom he killed himself, while 4,000 Macedonian soldiers fell, and the cities of upper Macedonia were occupied. The time of marriage is somewhat disputed while some historians maintain that the marriage happened after the defeat of Bardylis. In 334 BC, under the leadership of Cleitus, the son of Bardylis, the Dardani managed to capture some cities but were eventually defeated by Alexanders forces. Celts were present in Dardania in 279 BC, the Dardanian king offered to help the Macedonians with 20,000 soldiers against the Celts, but this was refused by Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos. Dardani were a constant threat to the Macedonian kingdom, in 230 under Longarus they captured Bylazora from the Paionians and in 229 they again attacked Macedonia, defeating Demetrius II in an important battle. In this period their influence on the region grew and some other Illyrian tribes defected Teuta joining the Dardani under Longarus, when Philip V rose to the Macedonian throne, skirmishing with Dardani began in 220-219 BC and he managed to capture Bylazora from them in 217 BC. In 201 Bato of Dardania along with Pleuratus the Illyrian and Amynander king of Athamania, a joint campaign of the Bastarnae and Macedonians against the Dardanians was organized, but Philip V died and his son Perseus of Macedon withdrew his forces from the campaign. The Bastarnae crossed the Danube in huge numbers and although they didnt meet the Macedonians, some 30,000 Bastarnae under the command of Clondicus seem to have defeated the Dardani. In 179 BC, the Bastarnae conquered the Dardani, who later in 174 pushed them out, in a war which proved catastrophic, with a few later, in 170 BC. Macedonia and Illyria became Roman protectorates in 168 BC, the Scordisci, a tribe of Celtic origin, most likely subdued the Dardani in the mid-2nd century BC, after which there are for long no mention of the Dardani
36.
Vardar
–
The Vardar or Axios is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is 388 km long, and drains an area of around 25,000 km2, the maximum depth of the river is 4 m. The river rises at Vrutok, a few north of Gostivar in the Republic of Macedonia. The Vardar basin comprises two-thirds of the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, the valley features fertile lands in the Polog region, around Gevgelija and in the Thessaloniki regional unit. The river is surrounded by mountains elsewhere, the superhighways Greek National Road 1 in Greece and M1 and E75 run within the valley along the rivers entire length to near Skopje. The river was famous during the Ottoman Empire and modern-day Turkey and was the inspiration for many folk songs. It has also depicted on the coat of arms of Skopje. The Vardaris or Vardarec is a powerful prevailing northerly wind which blows across the river valley in Greek Macedonia as well as in the Republic of Macedonia. At first it descends along the canal of the Vardar valley, somewhat similar to the mistral wind of France, it occurs when atmospheric pressure over eastern Europe is higher than over the Aegean Sea, as is often the case in winter. The etymology of the word is unclear, however most probably, the origin of the name Vardar derives Bardários from Thracian, from Proto-Indo-European *wordo-wori- black water. The name Bardários was sometimes used by the Ancient Greeks in the 3rd Century BCE, the same name was widely used in the Byzantine era. The word may ultimately be derived from the PIE root *werǵ- and its Greek name, Axios, is mentioned by Homer as the home of the Paeonians allies of Troy. The name Affi is mentioned by Pjetër Bogdani in his work Cuneus Prophetarum as a name of Vardar. Great Morava Pčinja River Proceedings of the 1st Axios Catchment Consortium Meeting by the European Commission - DG Research, PIM Ivan Milutinović, Belgrade, Serbia, Morava - Vardar Navigation Route Morava - Vardar Navigation Route map Hydropower and navigation system Morava
37.
Tetradrachm
–
The tetradrachm was an Ancient Greek silver coin equivalent to four drachmae. In Athens it replaced the earlier type of didrachms and it was in wide circulation from c.510 to c.38 BC. The transition from didrachms to tetradrachms occurred during c, 525–510 BC, the abandonment of the heraldic-type didrachms and the Archaic tetradrachms of the polis of Athens apparently took place shortly after the Battle of Salamis,480 BC. This transition is supported by the discovery of contemporary coin hoards, the Athenian tetradrachm was widely used in transactions throughout the ancient Greek world, including in cities politically unfriendly to Athens. Athens had silver mines in state ownership, which provided the bullion, most well known were the silver mines of Laurium at a close distance from Athens. According to Philochorus, it was known as glaux throughout the ancient world, the design was kept essentially unchanged for over two centuries, by which time it had become stylistically archaic. To differentiate their currency from the coinage of Aegina using the Aeginetic stater of about 12.3 grams. The tetradrachms use as a currency was adopted by many other city-states of the ancient Greece, Asia Minor, Magna Grecia. With the armies of Alexander the Great it spread to the Greek-influenced areas of present-day Iran, Coin Coin in the fishs mouth Greek drachma List of historical currencies Stater Pictures of Athenian tetradrachms
38.
Anatolia
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
39.
Via Egnatia
–
The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed the Roman provinces of Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thrace, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey. Starting at Dyrrachium on the Adriatic Sea, the followed a difficult route along the river Genusus, over the Candaviae mountains. It then turned south, following several high mountain passes to reach the coastline of the Aegean Sea at Thessalonica. From there it ran through Thrace to the city of Byzantium and it covered a total distance of about 1,120 km. Like other major Roman roads, it was six metres wide. It may have succeeded an earlier road from Illyria to Byzantium, as described by Polybius and Cicero. The Via Egnatia was constructed in order to link a chain of Roman colonies stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the Bosphorus. The termini of the Via Egnatia and the Via Appia, leading from Rome itself, were almost directly opposite each other on the east and west shores of the Adriatic Sea, the route, thus gave the colonies of the southern Balkans a direct connection to Rome. It was repaired and expanded several times but experienced lengthy periods of neglect due to Romes civil wars, the road was used by the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey as he traveled from Philippi to Thessalonica. Surviving milestones record that the emperor Trajan undertook extensive repairs of the prior to his campaign of 113 against the Parthians. However, by the 5th century AD the road had fallen into disuse as a result of violent instability in the region. A 5th-century historian noted that the sections of the Via Egnatia were in such a poor state that travellers could barely pass along it. Almost all Byzantine overland trade with western Europe traveled along the Via Egnatia, during the Crusades, armies traveling to the east by land followed the road to Constantinople before crossing into Asia Minor. In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, control of the road was vital for the survival of the Latin Empire as well as the Byzantine successor states the Empire of Nicaea, during the first European conquests of Ottoman Turks sol kol was following the Via Egnatia. Todays modern highway, Egnatia Odos, runs in parallel with the Via Egnatia between Thessaloniki and the Turkish border on the Evros river and its name means Via Egnatia in Greek, alluding to its ancient predecessor. Listed from west to east,1994, official Journal of the European Communities. Amore, M G, L Bejko, Y Cerova, and I Gjipali, archaeological Reports and Notes - Via Egnatia Project, Results of Fieldwork 2002
40.
Hadrian
–
Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is known for building Hadrians Wall, which marked the limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus, philhellene in most of his tastes, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, and he is regarded as the third of the Five Good Emperors. Hadrian was born Publius Aelius Hadrianus into a Hispano-Roman family, although Italica near Santiponce is often considered his birthplace, his actual place of birth remains uncertain. It is generally accepted that he came from a family with roots in Hispania. His predecessor, Trajan, was a cousin of Hadrians father. Trajan did not designate an heir officially, but according to his wife Pompeia Plotina, Trajans wife and his friend Licinius Sura were well disposed towards Hadrian, and he may well have owed his succession to them. During his reign, Hadrian travelled to every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire and he used his relationship with his Greek lover Antinous to underline his philhellenism, and this led to the establishment of one of the most popular cults of ancient times. Hadrian spent a deal of time with the military, he usually wore military attire and even dined. He ordered rigorous military training and drilling and made use of reports of attacks to keep the army on alert. On his accession to the throne, Hadrian withdrew from Trajans conquests in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Armenia, late in his reign he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judaea, renaming the province Syria Palaestina. In 138 Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his own heirs and they would eventually succeed Antoninus as co-emperors. Hadrian died the year at Baiae. In Hadrians time, there was already an established convention that one could not write a contemporary Roman imperial history for fear of competing with the emperors themselves. Information on the history of Hadrians reign comes mostly from later. A general account of his reign is Book 69 of the early 3rd century Roman History by Cassius Dio and his original Greek text of this book is lost, what survives is a brief, much later, Byzantine-era abridgment by the 11th century monk Xiphilinius. He selected from Dios account of Hadrians reign based on his religious interests
41.
Dion, Pieria
–
Dion or Dio is a village and a former municipality in the Pieria regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Dio-Olympos and it is located at the foot of Mount Olympus. It is best known for its great ancient Macedonian sanctuary of Zeus and city, much of which is visible in the archaeological park, for this reason Dion was the sacred place of the Ancient Macedonians. It was the place where the kings made splendid sacrifices to celebrate the new year of the Macedonian calendar at the end of September, in the Spring, purification rites of the army and victory feasts were held. Philip II and Alexander the Great celebrated victories here, and Alexander assembled his armies, Dion and its sanctuary was destroyed in 219BC by Aetolian invaders but was immediately rebuilt by Philip V. Many of the dedications from the sanctuary that had destroyed were buried in pits, including royal inscriptions and treaties. It fell to the Romans in 169BC and the city was given a new lease of life in 32/31BC when Octavian founded the Colony of COLONIA JULIA AUGUSTA DIENSIS here. It experienced its heyday during the reigns of 2nd- and 3rd-century AD Roman emperors who were fond of Alexander the Great. Dions final important period was in the 4th and 5th centuries AD when it became the seat of a bishopric and it was abandoned following major earthquakes and floods. The modern village at the site was called Malathria until 1961, the site of ancient Dion was first identified by the English traveler William Martin Leake on December 2,1806, in the ruins adjoining the village of Malathria. He published his discovery in the volume of his Travels in Northern Greece in 1835. Léon Heuzey visited the site during his famous Macedonian archaeological mission of 1855, later, the epigraphist G. Oikonomos published the first series of inscriptions. Nevertheless, systematic archaeological exploration did not begin until 1928, from then until 1931, G. Sotiriadis carried out a series of surveys, uncovering a 4th-century BC Macedonian tomb and an early Christian basilica. Excavations were not resumed until 1960 under the direction of G. Bakalakis in the area of the theatre, since 1973, Professor D. Pandermalis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki has conducted archaeological research in the city. Dion is the site of a temple dedicated to Zeus, as well as a series of temples to Demeter. Excavation of the magnificent House of Dionysos revealed a mosaic of exceptionally fine quality, a rare and unusual find in the museum is a bronze hydraulis or hydraulic musical pipe organ found in a former workshop. In 2006, a statue of Hera was found built into the walls of the city, the statue,2200 years old, had been used by the early Christians of Dion as filling for the citys defensive wall. In October 1992, the municipality Dio was formed, at the 1997 Kapodistrias reform, it was expanded with the former communities Agios Spyridonas, Karitsa, Kondariotissa, Nea Efesos and Vrontou
42.
Pella
–
Pella, is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece, best known as the historical capital of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon in the time of Alexander the Great. On the site of the ancient city is the Archaeological Museum of Pella, a common folk etymology is traditionally given for the name Pella, deriving it from the Ancient Macedonian word pélla, stone, and it appears in some toponyms in Greece like Pallini (Παλλήνη. With the prefix a- it forms the Doric apella, meaning in this case fence, the word apella originally meant fold, fence for animals, and then assembly of people into the limits of the square. Τhe original meaning was wooden bowl, and later it meant stone, according to Xenophon, in the beginning of the 4th century BC it was the largest Macedonian city. It was probably built as the capital of the kingdom by Archelaus I, in antiquity, Pella was a strategic port connected to the Thermaic Gulf by a navigable inlet, but the harbour and gulf have since silted up, leaving the site landlocked. Archelaus invited the painter Zeuxis, the greatest painter of the time and he also later hosted the poet Timotheus of Miletus and the Athenian playwright Euripides who finished his days there writing and producing Archelaus. Euripides Bacchae was first staged here, about 408 BC, Pella was the birthplace and seats of Philip II, in 382 BC and of Alexander the Great, his son, in 356 BC. It became the largest and richest city in Macedonia and flourished particularly under Cassanders rule, the reign of Antigonus most likely represented the height of the citys prosperity, as this is the period which has left us most archaeological remains. The famous poet Aratus died in Pella c.240 BC, Pella is further mentioned by Polybius and Livy as the capital of Philip V and of Perseus during the Macedonian Wars fought against the Roman Republic. 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. 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 a foe, and if the king shut anyone up there, there could be no possibility of escape except by the bridge. Pella was declared capital of the 3rd administrative division of the Roman province of Macedonia, activity continued to be vigorous until the early 1st century BC and, crossed by the Via Egnatia, Pella remained a significant point on the route between Dyrrachium and Thessalonika. Cicero stayed there in 58 BC, though by then the seat had already transferred to Thessalonika. Pella was promoted to a Roman Colony sometime between 45 and 30 BC and its currency was marked Colonia Iulia Augusta Pella, augustus settled peasants there whose land he had usurped to give to his veterans. But, unlike other Macedonian colonies such as Philippi, Dion, four pairs of colonial magistrates are known for this period. In fact, the Roman city was somewhat to the west of and distinct from the original capital, despite its decline, archaeology has shown that the southern part of the city near the lagoon continued to be occupied until the 4th century. In about 180 AD, Lucian of Samosata could describe it in passing as now insignificant, in the Byzantine period, the Roman site was occupied by a fortified village
.svg)
Greece
Albania
Bulgaria
Republic of Macedonia
.svg)
