Pydna (in
Greek: Πύδνα, older transliteration: Pýdna) was a Greek city in ancient
Macedon, the most important in Pieria. Modern Pydna is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern part of
Pieria regional unit,
Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality
Pydna-Kolindros, of which it is a municipal unit.
The municipal unit has an area of 105.059 km
2, the community 41.334 km
2.
Pydna is situated in fertile land close to the
Thermaic Gulf coast. The main village of the former municipality is Kitros. It lies 6 km north of
Korinos
Korinos ( el, Κορινός) is a town and a former municipality in Pieria regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Katerini, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 7 ...
, 8 km south of
Methoni and 13 km northeast of
Katerini.
Motorway 1 and the
Piraeus–Platy railway (nearest station at Korinos) pass east of the village.
Ancient Pydna
Ancient Pydna
Pydna is an ancient Greek city in the regional unit of Pieria, Central Macedonia, Greece. It is an important place in the history of Pieria and a major archaeological site located directly at the Aegean Sea, 16 km northeast of Katerini, 28 ...
was already a part of the Macedonian kingdom under
Alexander I (
Thucydides I.137.1). It was unsuccessfully besieged by the
Athenians
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
in 432 BC and again, after seceding from the Macedonian kingdom, in 410 BC by Archelaus I who successfully captured the city and transferred its population further inland, possibly at the site of modern Kitros; however, the old site was re-populated in the early 4th century. The Athenians, under Timotheus, seized Pydna in 364-363 BC, only to have it retaken in 357 BC by
Philip II of Macedon. Pydna would remain part of the kingdom of Macedonia until its Roman conquest. In 317 BC, Alexander III's mother,
Olympias
Olympias ( grc-gre, Ὀλυμπιάς; c. 375–316 BC) was a Greek princess of the Molossians, and the eldest daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the sister of Alexander I of Epirus, the fourth wife of Philip II, the king of Macedonia a ...
took refuge there to escape from Cassander's wrath, incurred by Olympias' scheming against Phillip III and his wife. Cassander besieged the city and managed to capture it during the spring of 316 BC.
The
Battle of Pydna
The Battle of Pydna took place in 168 BC between Rome and Macedon during the Third Macedonian War. The battle saw the further ascendancy of Rome in the Hellenistic world and the end of the Antigonid line of kings, whose power traced back to ...
(June 22, 168 BC), in which the Roman general
Lucius Aemilius Paullus (subsequently given the nickname of "Macedonicus") defeated King
Perseus
In Greek mythology, Perseus (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus ...
, ended the reign of the
Antigonid dynasty
The Antigonid dynasty (; grc-gre, Ἀντιγονίδαι) was a Hellenistic dynasty of Dorian Greek provenance, descended from Alexander the Great's general Antigonus I Monophthalmus ("the One-Eyed") that ruled mainly in Macedonia.
History
...
over Macedon.
Late in the first millennium of the Christian era Pydna became a
bishopric under the name Kitros or Citrus. It is included in the ''
Notitia Episcopatuum'' of
Leo VI the Wise (866–912). Its bishop Germanus participated in the
Photian Council of Constantinople (879). In the aftermath of the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
Citrus became a
Latin Church diocese, as witnessed by a letter of
Pope Innocent III in 1208, which does not give the name of the bishop of the see.
[Michel Lequien]
''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus''
Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 79-82 It is now listed by the
Catholic Church as a
titular see.
[''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 871]
Population
See also
*
List of ancient Greek cities
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of settlements in the Pieria regional unit
References
*
Léon Heuzey,
Honoré Daumet
Pierre Jérôme Honoré Daumet (23 October 1826, Paris – 12 December 1911, Paris) was a French architect.
Biography
Daumet was the winner of the Prix de Rome in 1855, and in 1861 conducted a treasure-hunting expedition to Macedonia at the reque ...
, ''Mission archéologique de Macédoine'',
Paris, 1876, 239–266.
*
R. Danoff
R. or r. may refer to:
* ''Reign'', the period of time during which an Emperor, king, queen, etc., is ruler.
* '' Rex'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning King
* ''Regina'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning Queen
* or , abbreviat ...
, ''RE'' s. v. "Pydna", Suppl. X (1965), 833–842.
External links
Livius
by Jona Lendering (ancient history of Pydna)
The Third Macedonian War and the Battle of Pydna (168 BC)
by John Foss
*
{{Authority control
Populated places in Pieria (regional unit)
Titular sees in Europe