Macedonia Tour & Macedonian Capitals in Greece

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Slavo-Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia.

Its oldest known settlements date back approximately 9,000 years. From the middle of the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedonia became the dominant power in Greece and the neighboring regions; since then Macedonia has had a diverse history. The definition of Macedonia has changed several times throughout history. Prior to its expansion under Philip II, the ancient kingdom of Macedonia, to which the modern region owes its name, lay entirely within the current Greek province of Macedonia.

The Roman province of Macedonia consisted of what is today Northern and Central Greece, the geographical area of the present-day Republic of Slavo-Macedonia the southeast Albania and the southwest Bulgaria. Simply put, it covered a much larger area than ancient Macedonia. In late Roman times, the provincial boundaries were reorganized to form the Diocese of Macedonia with capital Thessaloniki, consisting of most of modern mainland Greece plus Crete, southern Albania, and parts of modern-day Bulgaria and the Republic of Slavo-Macedonia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_%28region%29

Aegae, the first ancient capital of the kingdom of Macedonia, spreads over the low hills on the northern slopes of' the Pierian range, between the modern villages of Palatitsia and Vergina. This city was the most important urban centre in the region until the 4th c. BC. Here were to be found the ancestral sanctuaries of the Macedonians, and the palaces and the tombs (with their famous treasures) of the Argead dynasty, which traced its origins to the mythical hero Heracles and gave Greek history its most captivating figure, Alexander the Great. View our virtual tour http://youtu.be/Ez8iFH_daIc?hd=1  http://youtu.be/kxDHrJvlGeg?hd=1

Pella (Greek: Πέλλα) was the second capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. A common folk etymology is traditionally given for the name Pella ascribing it to a form akin to Doric Greek Apella, originally to have meant a ceremonial location where decisions were made. However, the local form of Greek was not Doric, and the word exactly matches standard Greek pilla "stone", undoubtedly referring to a famous landmark from the time of its foundation.

It has long been known that the coastal area of Pella was chosen when the Macedonian kingdom was moved from Aigai in the late 5th century BC. for it ensured better communication with the rest of the Greek world, both via sea routes and by open plain. The city was founded by Archelaus (413–399 BC) as the capital of his kingdom, replacing the older palace-city of Aigai (Vergina). After this, it was the seat of the king Philip II and of Alexander, his son. In 168 BC, it was sacked by the Romans, and its treasury transported to Rome. Later, the city was destroyed by an earthquake and eventually was rebuilt over its ruins. By 180 AD, Lucian could describe it in passing as "now insignificant, with very few inhabitants".

The Ancient Macedonians (Greek: Μακεδόνες, Makedones) were an ancient tribe which inhabited the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axius, north of the Mount Olympus in Greece. Historians generally agree that the ancient Macedonians, whether they originally spoke a Greek dialect or a distinct language, came to belong to the Koine Greek speaking population in Hellenistic times.

Whether the ancient Macedonians were of ultimately Greek origin themselves or were later Hellenised continues to be debated by Slavs scholars. The Macedonian Royal family known as the Argead dynasty claimed ultimate Greek descent from Argos and Macedonians since Alexander I, were admitted in the Ancient Olympic Games, an athletic event in which only people of Greek origin participated. The Olympic Games were Pan-Hellenic Games. You can view our portfolio of photos at http://www.panoramio.com/user/45649/tags/Makedonia-Pella View our virtual tours http://youtu.be/Ez8iFH_daIc?hd=1and Aristotle's school http://youtu.be/kxDHrJvlGeg?hd=1

Thessaloníke Θεσσαλονίκη, Thessalonica, second-largest city in Greece and the modern capital of Macedonia, the nation's largest region. It is honorarily called the Symprotevousa (lit. co-capital) of Greece, as it was once called the symbasilevousa (co-queen) of the Byzantine Empire. Thessaloníke retains several Ottoman and Jewish structures as well as a large number of Byzantine and Romans architectural monuments.

The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedonia. He named it after his wife Thessaloníke, a half-sister of Alexander the Great (Thessalo-nike> means the "victory over the Thessalians"). It was an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Macedonia. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedonia in 168 BC, Thessalonica became a city of the Roman Republic. It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the Via Egnatia Road and facilitating trade between Europe and Asia. The city became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. The Tower was was constructed by the Ottomans some time after the army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent captured Thessaloníke in 1430 and was used by the Ottomans successively as a fort, garrison and a prison. In 1826, at the order of the Sultan Mahmud II, there was a massacre of the prisoners in the Tower. Owing to the "countless victims of Ottoman torturers and executioners", the tower acquired the name "Tower of Blood" or "The Red Tower", which it kept until the end of the 19th century.

The Tower was for centuries part of the walls of the old city of Thessaloníke (known as Selanik by the Ottomans), and separated the Jewish quarter of the city from the cemeteries of the Muslims and Jews. The city walls were demolished in 1866.When Thessaloniki was annexed from the Ottoman Empire to the Greek State during the Balkan War of 1912, the tower was whitewashed as a symbolic gesture of cleansing, and acquired its present name. King George I of Greece was assassinated not far from the White Tower in March 1913.The Tower is now a buff color but has retained the name White Tower. It now stands on Thessaloniki's waterfront boulevard, Nikes (Victory) Street. It houses a Byzantine museum and is one of the city's leading tourist attractions. The Tower is under the administration of the Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture.

The Arch of Galerius  and the Tomb of Galerius are neighboring monuments in the city of Thessaloníki. The Tomb of Galerius is better known as the Rotunda, the Church of Agios Georgios or  the Rotunda of St. George. View our virtual tour http://youtu.be/OhpQ0tFtaN8?hd=1

The 4th century Roman Emperor Galerius commissioned these two structures as elements of an imperial precinct linked to his Thessaloníke palace, substantial remains of which were found to the southwest. These three monuments were connected by a road that ran through the arch, which also straddled the major east-west road of the city. By sitting at the crux of these major axes, the Arch of Galerius emphasized the power of the emperor and linked his assembly of monumental structures with the fabric of 4th century Thessaloníki. The arch was composed of a masonry core faced with marble sculptural panels celebrating a victory over the Sassanid Persians. Less than half of the arch is preserved. The Rotunda was a massive circular structure with a masonry core that had an oculus like the Pantheon in Rome. It has gone through multiple periods of use and modification as a polytheist temple, a Christian basilica, a Muslim mosque, and again a Christian church (and archaeological site). A minaret is preserved from its use as a mosque, and there are ancient remains exposed on its southern side.

The Rotunda has a diameter of 24.5 m. Its walls are more than 6 m thick, which is one reason why it has withstood Thessalonica's earthquakes. The walls are interrupted by eight rectangular bays, with the south bay forming the entrance. A flat brick dome, 30 m high at the peak, crowns the cylindrical structure. In its original design, the dome of the Rotunda had an oculus like the Pantheon in Rome. The Rotunda is the oldest of Thessalonica's churches, and some publications in Greece claim that it is the oldest Christian church in the world, although there are a number of other claimants to that title.

You can view our Portfolio at http://www.panoramio.com/user/45649/tags/Macedonia%20Thessaloniki

It is certainly the most important surviving example of a church from the early Christian period of the Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire. The Christians opened and winded the east bay and made a sanctuary. They also opened all the other bays to give access to the ambulatory they built around the monument. (The ambulatory no longer survives). At the same period the church was ornamented with mosaics. When in 379 the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloníki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum. The economic expansion of the city continued through the twelfth century as the rule of the Komnenoi emperors expanded Byzantine control to the north. Thessaloníke passed out of Byzantine hands in 1204, when Constantinople was captured by the Fourth Crusade. Thessaloníke and its surrounding territory — the Kingdom of Thessalonica — became the largest fief of the Latin Empire. The city was recovered by the Byzantine Empire in 1246. In the 1340s, it was the scene of the anti-aristocratic Commune of the Zealots. In 1423, the Byzantines sold the city to Venice, which held the city until it was captured by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II on 29 March 1430. View our virtual tour http://youtu.be/OhpQ0tFtaN8?hd=1

The permanent exhibition of the Museum of Byzantine Culture presents various aspects of Byzantine art and culture, as well as of the following era, after the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The Byzantine empire, which in an early period of flourish extended from Near East to Gibraltar, was a multicultural state, legally organized on the basis of its roman heritage, laid its foundations on the ancient Greek tradition and on the dominant Christian religion.

Archaeological Museum. The exhibition “Thessaloniki, The Metropolis of Macedonia” recreates the unique role played by Thessaloníke during the Roman period in particular. Themes touched upon in the exhibition on Macedonia are here placed within the particular spatial framework of the city itself. Thus, Thessaloníke becomes a backdrop for personages of greater or lesser fame, and for their activities and their works. This exhibition gives us the possibility of touring Thessaloniki’s most important monuments and spaces: its cemeteries, the Galerian complex, the Agora, the area of modern-day Dioikitiriou Square (an administrative center for centuries), etc., investigating the public and private functions of the Macedonian metropolis and its actual appearance.

Philippi was a city in eastern Macedonia, established by Philip II in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest. The present municipality Philippi is located near the ruins of the ancient city and it is part of the periphery of East Macedonia in Greece.

Philippi was established by the king of Macedon, Philip II, on the site of the Thasian colony of Krinides, near the head of the Aegean Sea at the foot of Mt. Orbelos about 8 miles north-west of Kavalla, on the northern border of the marsh that in Antiquity covered the entire plain separating it from the Pangaion hills to the south of Greece.

The objective of founding the town was to take control of the neighboring gold mines and to establish a garrison at a strategic passage: the site controlled the route between Amphipolis and Neapolis, part of the great royal route which crosses Macedonia from the east to the west and which was reconstructed later by the Roman Empire as the Via Egnatia.

Philip II endowed the new city with important fortifications, which partially blocked the passage between the swamp and Mt. Orbelos, and sent colonists to occupy it. Philip also had the marsh partially drained, as is attested by the writer Theophrastus. Philippi preserved its autonomy within the kingdom of Macedon and had its own political institutions (the Assembly of the demos). The discovery of new gold mines near the city, at Asyla, contributed to the wealth of the kingdom and Philip established a mint there. The city was finally fully integrated into the kingdom under Philip V. http://www.panoramio.com/user/45649/tags/Macedonia%20Philippi