Pella (Πελλα) was the second capital of the Macedonian Kingdom, replacing the original capital of Aigai in the 4th Century B.C. This was the city that Alexander the Great (Pictured below) and his father Philip II grew up in; at one time Aristotle and Euripides came here. Originally a harbor city, it was surpassed as the river silted in and replaced by Thessaloniki as the Macedonian capital.
The museum preserves a number of mosaics and artifacts. The Mosaics are rather famous one of hunting.
The ruins themselves. At one time, 200,000 people lived here and it was effectively the center of the Greek world. All of Alexander's generals and successors at one time lived in and passed through this place.
Now, only the grasses, wind, and insects visit it on a regular basis.
One recent discovery is a bath house, something that was not expected in a "barbaric" capital such as Pella.
Those mosaics are really something, someone had talent. There's a LOT of dedicated effort to uncover the past there. A bath house eh? Indeed, a civilized attitude towards water on the body unlike other eras.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, if I remember correctly at Pella we have one of the first examples of a mosaic maker "signing" his work (mostly for advertising purposes, of course). The more I see mosaics, the more entranced I become. There is a lot of craft that goes into it beyond just "pieces of tile/glass on the floor".
DeleteThe Greeks (and the Romans) were in some ways as modern as we like to think ourselves. They were limited by materials of the time, but they had sewers and public baths and transported water over miles just as we do.
There is a Dutch down not too far away also called Pella. I have always assumed it was a Dutch name. Now you have me wondering.
ReplyDeleteIt could be Dutch, Ed - but at least Macedonian Pella has the benefit of a longer history.
Delete(Apologies for the delay - for some reason it pushed your comment to spam.)
Well according to Google, Pella is derived from two different languages, Greek meaning "stone" and Hebrew meaning "city of refuge". I'm guessing the Dutch settlers were taking it from a Hebrew context.
DeleteSounds right, Ed. Although Macedonians in the Midwest does have a ring to it...
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