Day 16 – 1/27/2020 – Philippi

Buckle Up Buttercup, this is our last day in Greece. This morning we headed to Philippi – the first town the Apostle Paul visited in Europe.

As we left town we caught sight of the ”mausoleum of Galarius.”

Built in 306 AD, presumabl as a mausoleum for the local Roman governor, the building is credited as being the first Christian church in the city.

Once we were on the road the trip to Philippi took almost 2 hours so Dr. Smith lectured on its history and significance.

Arriving, we stopped first at the Archaeological museum associated with the site. They had several interesting displays.

Pottery from the early Neolithic period (5500-4800 BC)

Head of the Goddess of Luck with a crown mimicking the walls of Philippi; 117-138 AD

Section of floor mosaic referring to Paul from the original nave of the Octagon; 342-343 AD (you’ll see the actual site later).

Stained Glass window. Constructed from fragments found in “Basilica C”; late 5th c AD. The fragments were found with fragments of lead that would have supported them. If so, this is evidence of very early use of stained glass in church buildings.

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. These are torso’s and heads of clay figurines from the late Neolithic period; 4800-4200 BC. Keep in mind that they were found during the excavations of a first century AD Roman City.

Following the museum we headed out to the site itself. Ancient Philippi had everything a Roman city could want: A theatre, an Acropolis, a forum, Administrative offices, 4 churches, and other things you’ll see as we move thru town.

Basilica C; Late 5th c BC. Note the rounded Apse to the left.

Basilica A; Late 5th c BC. what you are seeing here is evidence of a baptismal font in the main sanctuary. If so this is significant in that churches thru the 1400’s and beyond didn’t allow non-baptized persons into this part of the church.

Theatre. Note that the first few rows (gray stone) are original. Everything above that is reconstruction. The theatre is in use today for productions thru the summer.

The grate in the center of the “stage” is where animals rode an elevator up to do combat with gladiators.

Entrance to the area below stage where the animals were kept.

The sides of the theatre were supported by half-arches. This form of support was later used in gothic cathedrals (and called flying buttresses)

Backstage arches- too cool not to include.

Main Street. Actually this is a section of the Via Egnatia that runs right thru town on its way from Rome to Constantinople.

Being an important city on an important road it was natural to have an extensive baths. These short pillars supported the floor in the steam room. Called a hypocaust, slaves maintained fires that circulated hot air under the floor.

Of course no rest area would be complete without… This is a 42 hole outhouse, complete with running water flushing.

This cross-shaped baptismal font is located next to the Octagon.

The Octagon is a worship space located next to an area that some archaeologists believe to be the bishop’s apartments. It dates from the 4th c AD.

A portion of the Octagon is under permanent cover to protect the mosaics.

While we were there a crew was working to Shore up the Roman road…

while at the same time protecting significant archaeological finds.

In the center of the site is the Roman forum, with a large Stoa on the left and administrative offices to the right of this picture.

Basilica B is by far the largest of the churches on the site. It was never completed, presumably because the city was destroyed by Bulgarian raiders and other Slavic groups in the early 6th century.

The baptistery is located adjacent to the basilica.

From the site of Basilica B you have a view of the acropolis atop the hill behind the city.

In the book of Acts Paul gets thrown in to prison here. This is the (supposed) prison cell he occupied; At least that’s what the sign said.

When we completed our survey of the site we moved down the road a bit to the place where (tradition says) Paul met with local worshippers (and baptized Lydia – the first baptism in Europe).

They also had a nice little place for baptisms down by the river (where, tradition holds, Lydia’s baptism took place).

Lydia is identified as “a seller of purple cloth.” I know someone who likes purple cloth.

Then it was 3:00; time for lunch. We headed into the town of Kavala (known in the Bible as Neopolis) to a nice little fish restaurant for a quick bite.

Since this is where Paul’s ship landed on its voyage from Troas (now in Turkey) there was (of course) a monument honoring his arrival.

They also had a rock. I’m not sure, either Paul or the Pilgrims stepped off the boat onto this rock.

We boarded the bus and two hours later we’re back in Thessaloniki. We freshened up and headed out to dinner. Our intention was to go back to the same restaurant we ate at last night. So we invited any students who wanted to join us to come along. Our group numbered 25, but the nice people at the restaurant took care of us. No pictures because I had the Orzo pasta with beef that Cheryl had last night. Cheryl had Moussaka for lunch so she wasn’t really hungry. She helped me a bit with the pasta and joined me in the wine.

It’s 11:45 pm here. The alarm is set for 6:30 and we’ll be on the bus an hour after that for the drive to the airport. Tomorrow is travel day. The schedule says that we’ll be in Boise at 9:44 pm (7:44 am Athens time).

Wish us luck.

Later

Traveling Light

Day 16 – 1/27/2020 – Philippi

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