Greek city of Thessalonica in Macedonia
Greek - Bronze 17mm (3.94 grams) from the ancient Greek city of Thessalonica
in the Province of Macedonia 197-31 B.C.
Reference: Moushmov 6605 -
Helmetted head of Athena right.
ΘEΣΣAΛONIKH- horse grazing right. -
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
<="" span="">
Athena
or Athene
(Latin:
Minerva
), also referred to as
Pallas Athena, is the goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength,
strategy, crafts, justice and skill in
Greek mythology
.
Minerva
,
Athena's Roman
incarnation,
embodies similar attributes. Athena is also a shrewd companion of
heroes and the
goddess
of
heroic endeavour. She is the
virgin
patron of
Athens
. The Athenians built the
Parthenon
on the Acropolis of her namesake
city, Athens, in her honour (Athena Parthenos). Athena's cult as the patron of
Athens seems to have existed from the earliest times and was so persistent that
archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as
a protector of the city (polis),
many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias
("Athena of the city").
Athens
and Athena bear etymologically connected
names.
The city Thessalonica in Macedonia
was founded circa 315 BC by Cassander, the King of
Macedon (Μακεδών), on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and twenty
six other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonica, the sister of
Alexander the Great. She gained her name from her father, Philip II of Macedon,
to commemorate her birth on the day of his gaining a victory (Gr. Nike) over the
Phocians, who were defeated with the help of Thessalian horsemen, the best in
Greece at that time. Thessaloniki means the "victory of Thessalians" (where
Thessalians derives from Thessaly which means thesi alos, i.e. "a land that was
sea"). Thessaloniki developed rapidly and as early as the 2nd century BC the
first walls were built, forming a large square. It was, as all the other
contemporary Greek cities, an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Macedon, with
its own parliament where the King was represented and could interfere in the
city's domestic affairs.
Roman
era
After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in
168 BC
,
Thessalonica became a city of the
Roman Republic
. It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the
Via
Egnatia
, the
Roman road
connecting
Byzantium
(later
Constantinople
), with
Dyrrhachium
(now Durrës
in
Albania
), and
facilitating trade between Europe and Asia. The city became the capital of one
of the four Roman districts of Macedonia; it kept its privileges but was ruled
by a praetor
and had a Roman garrison, while for a short time in the
1st
century BC
, all the Greek provinces came under Thessalonica (the Latin form
of the name). Due to the city's key commercial importance, a spacious harbour
was built by the Romans, the famous Burrowed Harbour (Σκαπτός Λιμήν) that
accommodated the town's trade up to the eighteenth century; later, with the help
of silt deposits from the river
Axios
, it was
reclaimed as land and the port built beyond it. Remnants of the old harbour's
docks can be found in the present day under Odos Frangon Street, near the
Catholic Church.
Thessaloniki's
acropolis
,
located in the northern hills, was built in
55 BC
after
Thracian
raids in the city's outskirts, for security reasons.
The city had a
Jewish
colony, established during the
first
century
, and was to be an early centre of
Christianity
. On his second missionary journey,
Paul
of Tarsus
, born a Hellenized Israelite, preached in the city's synagogue,
the chief synagogue of the Jews in that part of Thessaloniki, and laid the
foundations of a church. Other Jews opposed to Paul drove him from the city, and
he fled to
Veroia
. Paul wrote two of his
epistles
to the Christian community at Thessalonica, the
First Epistle to the Thessalonians
and the
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
.
ThessalonÃki acquired a patron saint,
St. Demetrius
, in 306. He is credited with a number of miracles that saved
the city, and was the Roman
Proconsul
of Greece under the anti-Christian emperor
Maximian
,
later martyred at a Roman prison where today lies the
Church of St. Demetrius
, first built by the Roman sub-prefect of
Illyricum
Leontios in 463. Other important remains from this period include
the
Arch and Tomb of Galerius
, located near the centre of the modern city.
=""> |