Philippi Tour

A Philippi tour visits the ruins of the ancient city of Philippi near Kavala in eastern Macedonia, founded by Philip II and later a Roman colony and an early Christian centre. The tour is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.

This post covers the formats on sale, Krenides and the founding of the city, the Battle of Philippi, Kavala and Amphipolis, Paul and Lydia, the Epistle to the Philippians, the basilicas, the theatre and the questions that come up before booking.

 

What does a Philippi tour visit near Kavala?

A Philippi tour visits the ruins of an ancient city in East Macedonia and Thrace, close to the village of Filippoi and within the modern city of Kavala. UNESCO classified the archaeological site as a World Heritage Site in 2016.

The UNESCO listing rests on three grounds: exceptional Roman architecture, an urban layout that mirrors Rome itself on a smaller scale, and the place of Philippi in early Christianity. A Philippi tour covers all three.

The first modern archaeological description, based on a visit in 1856, was published in 1860 by Georges Perrot. A French mission followed in 1861, led by Léon Heuzey and the architect Honoré Daumet.

Excavations by the École française d’Athènes began in the summer of 1914 and ran until 1937. In that period the team cleared the forum, the baths and the walls seen on a Philippi tour.

The city was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake around 619 and never recovered. When the French traveller Pierre Belon visited in the 1540s, only ruins remained, used by the Turks as a quarry.

• Location: The ruins lie near the village of Filippoi, about 13 km north-west of Kavala.
• Region: The site belongs to East Macedonia and Thrace, northwest of the island of Thasos.
• Battle: The Battle of Philippi took place here in 42 BC.
• Abandonment: The city was abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest.

A Philippi tour reads the site as layered ground: Macedonian walls, a Roman forum and later Christian buildings. The churches and the Apostle Paul form a separate strand of the visit.

Which Philippi tour formats run from Thessaloniki and Kavala?

A Philippi tour is sold in two main forms: private tours starting in Thessaloniki that add Kavala or Amphipolis, and departures from Kavala and its port. Themed versions follow the Apostle Paul, add a beach stop or include wine.

From Thessaloniki, one private Philippi tour pairs the ruins with the seaside at Kavala. Another route adds Amphipolis to Philippi and Kavala. Kavala lies 160 kilometres east of Thessaloniki.

A day trip from Thessaloniki combines Kavala, Philippi and a beach, and a second listing includes a swim. Both formats join the ruins with time by the sea before the return.

Departures from Kavala serve travellers already on the coast. One Philippi tour leaves from Kavala port and visits the ancient city led by a specialist. Private versions also start in Kavala.

Themed formats follow the Apostle Paul, from Kavala or from Thessaloniki. Others add the baptismal site of Lydia, and one combines Philippi and that site with a wine visit.

Kavala sits on the A2 motorway, the Egnatia Odos, the road that connects it with Thessaloniki. Interregional buses of the KTEL network also run between the two cities.

• Thessaloniki: Departures join Philippi with Kavala, Amphipolis or a beach stop.
• Kavala port: One format starts at the port and heads to ancient Philippi.
• Apostle Paul: Private formats follow the sacred path linked to the Apostle Paul.
• Wine: One format from Kavala adds Lydia’s baptismal site and a wine stop.

Each Philippi tour format above has its own listing. The tour cards and availability boxes on this page list live dates for each format.

What does a Philippi tour reveal about Krenides and Philip II?

A Philippi tour starts with Krenides, a settlement founded by colonists from Thasos in 360/359 BC. King Philip II of Macedon conquered it in 356 BC, renamed it Philippi and set out to control the neighbouring gold mines.

The original name, Krenides, means Fountains. The settlement stood at the foot of Mount Orbelos, now Mount Lekani, on the northern edge of a marsh stretching south to the Pangaion Hills.

The conquest also placed a garrison at a strategic passage. The site controlled the route between Amphipolis and Neapolis. Philip built fortifications partly blocking the gap between swamp and mountain.

Philip also sent colonists and had the marsh partly drained, as Theophrastus records. New gold mines at Asyla, near the city, added to the wealth of the kingdom, and Philip set up a mint there.

The Pangaion Hills lie across a fertile plain from the city visited on a Philippi tour. They peak at 1,956 m on Koutra and were famous for gold and silver mines and shipbuilding timber.

• Hero cult: A small temple over the tomb of Exekestos honoured the founding hero.
• Coinage: Philip created the gold stater to draw on the gold reserves of the Pangaion hills.
• Campaigns: The mines yielded much of the gold Philip later spent on his campaigns.
• Autonomy: Philippi kept its own Assembly of the demos inside the kingdom of Macedon.

Philip II was assassinated at Aigai, the first capital of Macedon, in 336 BC. A Vergina day trip reaches that site, closing the story that a Philippi tour opens at Krenides.

What does a Philippi tour show of the battle and the Roman colony?

A Philippi tour recalls the Battle of Philippi, fought in 42 BC on the plain west of the city. Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius there, and veterans of the winning side later settled the city as a Roman colony.

The battle explained on a Philippi tour was the final clash of the Liberators’ civil war, which followed the murder of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Up to 200,000 men took part.

The first clash came on 3 October 42 BC. Brutus overran the camp of Octavian, but Antony stormed the camp of Cassius. Cassius, believing the day lost, ordered his freedman Pindarus to kill him.

A second encounter on 23 October broke the army of Brutus, who took his own life. Plutarch reports that Antony covered the body of Brutus with a purple garment as a sign of respect.

Veterans settled the town, refounded as Colonia Victrix Philippensium. After Octavian received the title Augustus in January 27 BC, it became Colonia Augusta Iulia Philippensis, a miniature Rome governed by two duumviri.

• Legend: Plutarch tells of a ghost that warned Brutus of a meeting at Philippi.
• Losses: Cassius lost 8,000 men in the first clash, while Octavian had about 16,000 casualties.
• Land: The territory of the colony was divided into squares and handed to the settlers.
• Forum: The forum rose on two terraces between the reigns of Claudius and Antoninus Pius.

A Philippi tour of the forum area shows the Roman city that grew from this victory. An abundance of Latin inscriptions records its prosperity.

How do Kavala and Amphipolis fit into a Philippi tour?

A Philippi tour pairs the ruins with Kavala, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the ancient Neapolis, and in one format with Amphipolis. Kavala lies on its bay facing Thasos, while Amphipolis sits in the Serres regional unit.

Settlers from Thasos founded Neapolis in the late 7th century BC to work the gold and silver mines of the Pangaion range. Its name means new city, and its patron goddess was Parthenos.

In 42 BC Neapolis served as a base for Brutus and Cassius before their defeat at Philippi. It later became Christoupolis, city of Christ, and Kavala from the 16th century.

A Philippi tour from the port starts in a city known for the Kamares, the 16th-century Ottoman aqueduct, and for the Byzantine fortress on the hill of Panagia. Both rank among the symbols of Kavala.

Amphipolis, the extra stop on one Philippi tour from Thessaloniki, began as an Athenian colony in 437 BC under Hagnon. Philip II captured it in 357 BC, a year before Krenides.

• Lion: The Lion of Amphipolis monument near the ancient city is a popular stop for visitors.
• Kasta: In 2012 archaeologists unearthed a large tomb in the Kasta Hill, the biggest burial mound in Greece.
• Walls: The original walls of Amphipolis ran for 7.5 km.
• Bridge: The ancient wooden bridge over the river Strymon was discovered in 1977.

The Strymon, which Thucydides says flows around Amphipolis on two sides, is also the main water source of the reservoir seen on a Lake Kerkini tour.

What does a Philippi tour reveal about Paul’s arrival and Lydia of Thyatira?

A Philippi tour starts with the story of Paul’s arrival on his second missionary journey, around AD 49 or 50. Tradition holds that he preached here for the first time on European soil and baptised Lydia of Thyatira, a purple textile merchant.

The account of the second journey explains the crossing into Europe. During the night, Paul saw a vision of a man of Macedonia begging him for help, and the party then left for Macedonia.

Silas and Timothy travelled with Paul, and Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, possibly joined them. Early Christians later concluded that Paul had founded their community in Philippi.

Lydia’s name means the Lydian woman and points to her origin in Asia Minor. Thyatira, her birthplace, lay in the ancient region of Lydia, at modern Akhisar in Turkey.

The text of Acts 16 calls her a seller of purple who worshipped God and whose heart the Lord opened. It also states that she and her household were baptised.

Because these events took place in what is now Europe, Lydia is regarded as the first documented convert to Christianity in Europe. The Orthodox Churches give her the title Equal to the Apostles.

• Origin: Thyatira stood southeast of Pergamum, about 64 km inland.
• Trade: The Catholic Church named Lydia the patroness of dyers.
• Icons: All known icons of the saint show her with purple cloth.
• Feast: The Anglican Church in North America remembers her on 27 January.

A Philippi tour recalls that Lydia insisted on giving hospitality to Paul and his companions, who stayed with her until their departure from the city.

Why does a Philippi tour recall the Epistle to the Philippians?

A Philippi tour connects the ruins with the Epistle to the Philippians, a letter in the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle. Timothy is named with him as co-author, and the letter is addressed to the Christian church in Philippi.

Scholars agree that the epistle consists of authentically Pauline material. A consensus that emerged in the 1960s holds that it combines fragments from three separate letters sent by Paul to the church in Philippi.

Philip Sellew divides the text into Letter A, a note of thanks for gifts, Letter B in chapters 1 and 2, and Letter C, which rejects worldly things for the sake of the gospel.

Ephesus in 52 to 55 AD and Caesarea Maritima in 57 to 59 both appear as possible places of writing. Rome, around 62 AD, is the leading candidate, about 10 years after the first visit.

Chapter 4 names Euodia and Syntyche, female leaders of house groups in Philippi, and urges them to be of the same mind. Later, the chapter gives thanks for gifts that the Philippians had sent.

• Christ poem: Verses 2:5–11 hold a poem on the nature of Christ.
• Epaphroditus: The Philippian church sent him to visit Paul and bring him gifts.
• Advent: The Roman Missal of 1570 sets Philippians 4:4–7 for Gaudete Sunday.
• Frankfurt silver inscription: It quotes Philippians 2:10–11 in Latin translation.

Travellers who pair a Philippi tour with a Mount Athos cruise follow two chapters of Christian history in northern Greece within one stay.

Which early Christian basilicas and octagonal church feature on a Philippi tour?

A Philippi tour covers the early Christian buildings of the city. Seven churches rose here between the mid-4th century and the end of the 6th, among them Basilica B and a cathedral complex built around an octagonal church.

The first church described in the city was a small building, thought to have begun as a prayer house. A mosaic inscription on its pavement identifies it as the Basilica of Paul, dated around 343.

The date rests on a mention by Bishop Porphyrios, who attended the Council of Serdica in that year. Records of a bishopric in Philippi begin only in the 4th century.

At the end of the 5th century, the cathedral complex took the place of the Basilica of Paul. Its octagonal church formed the core, and the whole complex rivalled the churches of Constantinople.

On a Philippi tour, Basilica B draws attention for its privileged place in early Christian art. Its plan and architectural decoration relate to Hagia Sophia and to Saint Irene in Constantinople.

An earthquake around 619 almost totally destroyed the city. In 838 the Bulgarians under kavhan Isbul took Philippi and marked their victory with a monumental inscription on the stylobate of Basilica B.

• Basilicas A and B: French teams excavated both between 1914 and 1937.
• Octagonal church: Greek archaeologists uncovered it together with the bishop’s quarter.
• Necropolis: Two basilicas stand in the necropolis east of the city.
• Early letter: Polycarp of Smyrna wrote to the community in Philippi around AD 160.

Certain churches of Philippi competed in size and decoration with buildings in Thessalonica, and a Thessaloniki walking tour leads past the early Christian monuments of that city.

What does a Philippi tour show of the theatre, the forum and the city walls?

A Philippi tour leads past the Greek theatre, the Roman forum, the baths and the city walls. These remains show a colony that worked as a miniature Rome, under the municipal law of Rome and governed by two duumviri.

The Greek theatre ranks among the remains from the period before the Roman colony. Under the colony, builders enlarged and expanded the theatre so that it held Roman games.

The forum stands a little to the east of the old Greek agora. It was laid out on two terraces on both sides of the main road and built in phases between Claudius and Antoninus Pius.

Beneath the Roman forum lie the foundations of an older house. A little temple of a hero cult covers the tomb of a certain Exekestos and is dedicated to the foundation hero of the city.

The city kept its Macedonian walls under Roman rule. Around 969, Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas rebuilt the fortifications on the acropolis, and in 1077 Bishop Basil Kartzimopoulos rebuilt part of the defences inside the city.

• Forum dates: Claudius reigned from 41 to 54 AD and Antoninus Pius from 138 to 161.
• French mission: Léon Heuzey and the architect Honoré Daumet led investigations in 1861.
• Quarry: In the 1540s, Pierre Belon found only ruins, used by the Turks as a quarry.
• Residences: Greek teams uncovered large private residences between 1958 and 1978.

A Philippi tour reads the theatre, the forum and the walls as layers of one site, from the Macedonian town to the Roman colony and the Byzantine fortress.

What do travellers ask about a Philippi tour?

A Philippi tour raises four common questions. Travellers ask about the departure city, the baptismal site of Lydia, the reason for UNESCO status and the king behind the name. The short answers below draw on the history of the site.

Does a Philippi tour leave from Thessaloniki or from Kavala?

A Philippi tour leaves from either city. Listings show day trips from Thessaloniki that combine Philippi with Kavala, and one adds Amphipolis. Other listings start in Kavala, including a tour from Kavala Port. Private options from both cities focus on the path of the Apostle Paul.

Does a Philippi tour add the baptismal site of Lydia?

Yes, a Philippi tour from Kavala names the site in its title on more than one listing, and one pairs it with a wine tour. Listings from Thessaloniki do not name the site in their titles. A modern baptistry stands on the traditional site in Krynides where, according to tradition, Paul baptised Lydia.

Why is the site on a Philippi tour listed by UNESCO?

The archaeological site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. The listing cites its exceptional Roman architecture, its urban layout as a smaller reflection of Rome itself and its importance in early Christianity. A Philippi tour covers all three themes, from the forum to the basilicas.

What was the city on a Philippi tour called before Philip II renamed it?

The city was first called Crenides, a name that means fountains. In 356 BC King Philip II of Macedon conquered it and renamed it Philippi. A Philippi tour today reaches the ruins near the present village of Filippoi, within the modern city of Kavala.