At
the end of the 5th beginning of the 4th century B.C., Pella became
the capital of the Macedonian kingdom. The excavations have revealed
parts of the earlier city, including the cemetery and scanty
architectural remains in the area of the modern drainage canal. The
city was organized and expanded during the reign of Philip II and
Cassander and flourished in the middle of the 4th and during the 3rd
and 2nd centuries B.C. It was captured by the Romans in 168/167 B.C.
and was finally destroyed by an earthquake, possibly in the first
decade of the 1st century B.C. The city was laid out in the familiar
"Hippodameian" pattern of regular, rectangular building blocks with
impressive broad streets and a first class water supply network. The
houses were of the typical
Greek
style of dwelling with a central courtyard surrounded by a colonnade
and open galleries. On the hill to the west stand the remains of the
citadel of the Hellenistic period.
The
more interesting items are seven mosaic floors found in three
building blocks, which belong approximately to the year 300 B.C.
They have been laid with pebbles in their natural colours and depict
Dionysus riding a panther or a leopard, a hunting scene with a lion,
another hunting scene with a stag, the abduction of Helen, sister of
the Dioskouri, with Theseus, a battle with Amazons, etc. The museum
also shows some roof tiles with the name of the city or the landlord
incised upon them. There is, in addition, a fine marble dog of the
5th century B.C. and a bronze statue of Poseidon which is a copy
made in the Hellenistic period of a Classical period marble
sculpture.
At
the end of the 5th beginning of the 4th century B.C., Pella became
the capital of the Macedonian kingdom. The excavations have revealed
parts of the earlier city, including the cemetery and scanty
architectural remains in the area of the modern drainage canal. The
city was organized and expanded during the reign of Philip II and
Cassander and flourished in the middle of the 4th and during the 3rd
and 2nd centuries B.C. It was captured by the Romans in 168/167 B.C.
and was finally destroyed by an earthquake, possibly in the first
decade of the 1st century B.C. The city was laid out in the familiar
"Hippodameian" pattern of regular, rectangular building blocks with
impressive broad streets and a first class water supply network. The
houses were of the typical
Greek
style of dwelling with a central courtyard surrounded by a colonnade
and open galleries. On the hill to the west stand the remains of the
citadel of the Hellenistic period.
The
more interesting items are seven mosaic floors found in three
building blocks, which belong approximately to the year 300 B.C.
They have been laid with pebbles in their natural colours and depict
Dionysus riding a panther or a leopard, a hunting scene with a lion,
another hunting scene with a stag, the abduction of Helen, sister of
the Dioskouri, with Theseus, a battle with Amazons, etc. The museum
also shows some roof tiles with the name of the city or the landlord
incised upon them. There is, in addition, a fine marble dog of the
5th century B.C. and a bronze statue of Poseidon which is a copy
made in the Hellenistic period of a Classical period marble
sculpture.