This volume represents the outcome from an international conference entitled ‘The Site of Philippi, Past, Present and Future’ held at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki on 24 October, 2014 on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition ‘Philippi 1914–2014. One Hundred Years of Research by the French School at Athens’. The exhibition, the conference and the publication were among a number of events marking this anniversary, which culminated in the inclusion of Philippi in the UNESCO world heritage site list in 2016. Half a dozen reputable scholars with a background of investigations into Philippi and the surrounding region were invited to the conference as main speakers; these included H. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, O. Picard, M. Hatzopoulos, M. Sève, A. Rizakis and A. Mentzos. An equal number of somewhat younger scholars were invited to offer further discussion on the same topics (L. Lespez, S.E. Psôma, P. Hamon, G. Tirologos, C. Brélaz, S. Provost). Thus the twelve contributions in the volume fall into six pairs arranged in four thematic parts. The authors are mainly Greek and French, with a noticeable Swiss presence, which (since the time of P. Collart) has become traditional in Philippean studies.
A couple of brief preliminary introductions are offered by two of the main organisers of the conference: a preface by P. Ducrey, a veteran Swiss ‘Philippian’, sets forth the broad lines of the anniversary celebrations, explaining why and how the book came into being; and an introduction by F., the main editor, evokes the history of the explorations of Philippi and previews in broad lines the problems and interactions addressed in the subsequent chapters.
The first part is devoted to the prehistory of the region around Philippi and includes two chapters. The first, by Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, discusses human presence and its geographical background in prehistoric and protohistoric times (‘Le cadre géographique et la présence humaine à l’époque préhistorique’). The focus here is on the prehistoric tell site (toumba) of Dikili Tash at the eastern end of the modern village of Krinides, only one kilometre or so from the remains of Philippi. The archaeological excavations of the tell started in the 1920s and have continued intermittently since, establishing continued human presence from the Early Neolithic Period to the Late Bronze Age. The very high date of the first occupation of the site, about the middle of the seventh millennium bc, makes Dikili Tash the earliest known Neolithic settlement in this part of the Balkan Peninsula and has naturally included it in all current discussions on the neolithization of the Balkans and of the European continent. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki gives a comprehensive overview of the habitation of the site as reflected in the uncovered structures and finds from the Late Neolithic (Eneolithic) Period and the Bronze Age, and of the surrounding area in the Early Iron Age when the tell was no longer occupied.
In the second chapter Lespez, an environmentalist and the author of a major recent publication on the landscape evolution of the Plain of Philippi in pre-modern times (‘L’évolution des paysages du Néolithique à la période ottomane dans la plaine de Philippes–Drama’, in H. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, R. Treuil [edd.], Dikili Tash, village préhistorique de Macédoine Orientale [2008], pp. 21–416), offers a sketch of the palaeoenvironmental development of the area in prehistoric times and Antiquity (‘Les recherches géoarchéologiques et les dynamiques environnementales’).
The second part consists of four chapters discussing the pre-Roman history of Philippi and its environs. Picard builds his narrative on the history of the area in the period preceding 356 bc around the theme of silver and money (‘Philippes avant Philippes: une affaire d'argent’). The various activities of Phoenicians, Parians from Thasos and other Greeks from the Aegean colonies, Persians, Athenians and Macedonians, the local Thracians and the Odrysians from the further interior in the silver-rich region around Mt Pangaeum are reviewed with an understandable emphasis on the numismatic data. Picard addresses some thorny questions such as the character and attribution of the early silver ‘tribal’ coinages, of the later coins of Sarato(kos) and Bergaios (?), and the disputed identification of Datos and Crenides, offering his own views in addition to a succinct statement of the pertaining problems. Another valuable point of this chapter is that it clearly defines the limits of our knowledge, owing as much to the scanty information in the literary tradition as to the incomplete archaeological evidence.
In the parallel chapter by another numismatist, Psôma, the focus shifts to Thasos and the Thasian Perea (‘Réflexions sur la localisation de la pérée thasienne et sur la fondation de Philippes’). In contrast to the traditional view that the Thasian Perea comprised the entire coastal strip between the Strymon and the Nestos, Psôma offers arguments in favour of restricting the area to its eastern half, to the east of Neapolis, which (like the other cities in the western half) is easily considered independent from a rather early date. Ascribing to Krenides the coinage bearing the legend ΘΑΣΙΟΝ ΗΠΕΙΡΟ, she suggests that this was a major Thasian colony established probably in 360 bc, and differentiates it from Datos, which is attested much earlier, conceding, however, that it might have been adjacent and was probably integrated into Philippi during its resettlement by Philip II.
The question of Datos is once more discussed briefly in the third chapter of this part by Hatzopoulos (‘Philippes, πόλις ἑλληνὶς Μακεδόνων κτίσμα’); following in principle the early interpretation of Leon Heuzey, he insists that Datos was a polis, probably the main centre of the continental possessions of the Thasians, and sustains its localisation in the south-eastern foothills of Mount Pangaeum. It was from here, according to Hatzopoulos, that a group of Thasian secessionists self-proclaimed as ‘the continental Thasians’, together with a group of Athenian émigrés led by the banned Callistratos, undertook the risky adventure at Crenides with its recently discovered gold deposits. Further aspects discussed here at some length include the foundation of Philippi (set in the light of the ‘eastern policy’ of Philip II), the letter from the Philippian ambassadors to Alexander to the authorities of the city (taken as a proof for the controversial identification of Lake Prasias with the swamp in the plain of Philippi, which – if true – would have far-reaching geographical and historical consequences), the status and institutions of the city (viewed as different from those of the cities of Macedonia proper on the assumption that the Strymon remained the eastern frontier of the Macedonian Kingdom) and its predominantly Greek character.
The last chapter of Part 2, by Hamon, is again devoted mainly to the ‘crucial’ period between 360 and 356 bc, viewed here from a Thasian standpoint (‘Philippes, vue de Thasos et d'ailleurs, IVe–IIe s. av. J.-C.’). Hamon considers the effective secession of the continental Thasians in the middle of the fourth century as a possible result of long internal stasis on the island. A brief overview of Thasos and Philippi in the Hellenistic period is followed by a note on the foundation of another city of the same name, Philippi in Caria, by Philip V. Neither this nor the following part mention anything much about Philippi and its territory after the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia in 148 bc, other than the establishment of the Via Egnatia; and the singular fact of the prolonged stay there of L. Cornelius Sulla in 85 bc (Plut. Sulla 23) is not mentioned anywhere in the volume.
Part 3, comprising four chapters, deals with the Roman city of Philippi, refounded as a Roman colony first by Marc Antony in 42 and then a second time by Octavian in 30 bc. Sève presents, in a clear and well-organised summary, some general problems of the organisation of the territory of Philippi and an overview of the urbanisation and architectural monuments of the city proper (‘Urbanisme, architecture et territoire’). The first of these subjects is then discussed in greater depth by Tirologos (‘Colonisation romaine et organisation de l'espace rural: le cas du territoire de Philippes’); his chapter contains interesting material on the possible traces of Roman land centuriation in the area and its apparent relation to the route of the Via Egnatia.
Rizakis (‘Société, institutions, cultes’) and Brélaz (‘Le faciès institutionel, social et religieux d'une colonie romaine dans la province de Macédoine’) both examine the same group of related problems pertaining to the social order, institutions, culture and religion not only of the urban society of the Colonia Iulia Augusta Philippensium itself, but also of the numerous peregrini mostly of Thracian and Greek origin inhabiting its extensive city territory; some interesting observations regarding the different degree of romanisation of the latter deserve particular notice.
Despite its general heading ‘Christian and Byzantine Philippi’, the fourth and last part, which consists of two chapters, covers mostly the period between the ninth and twelfth centuries, leaving aside the problems of the Early Christian community established in Philippi by Saint Paul in ad 49 and of the thriving history and impressive monuments of the city in Late Antiquity. This is easily explained by the attempt of the authors throughout the volume to focus on the recent developments of Philippian exploration, and this is notably the case with the High Middle Ages, a period until recently considered to have left little trace in the city and that features prominently in some recent and ongoing studies. Provost (‘Esquisse du paysage urbain entre le IXe s. et le XIIe s. d'après les sources archéologiques’) reviews some of these developments, noticing a withdrawal of public activity to the outskirts of the city. Mentzos (‘Les complexes ecclésiastiques à l’époque mésobyzantine: renaissance ou survivance?’) examines the reconstructions and adaptations of the major Christian monuments built in the preceding age, the basilicas A and B, and the so-called ‘Octagon’.
The volume is well presented, with quality illustrations and well-balanced texts; it contains a good general update and overview of knowledge about Philippi and its territory in the different ages discussed. The ample and up-to-date bibliography is a welcome addition. This book will no doubt remain for long the standard work of reference on Philippi, supplementing the older generalisations of P. Collart (Philippes, ville de Macédoine, depuis ses origines jusqu’à la fin de l’époque romaine [1937]) and P. Lemerle (Philippes et la Macédoine orientale à l’époque chrétienne et byzantine: recherches d'histoire et d'archéologie [1945]).
