Monday, October 19, 2009 (Late Post)

The ship arrives at Kavala and after debarking, we take a short drive to Philippi. Philippi is a city in ruins located about nine miles from the Mediterranean coast. Excavations continue and more of the ancient ruins are unearthed each year.

The major site of excavation, where the ruins of the Roman Forum from the 2nd Century AD are located, is divided by a modern highway. It has been found that many large staircases and other structures still remain buried beneath the road.
Philippi is also on the Via Egnatia, the trade route from Rome to the east. There are large sections of the Roman road still evident in Philippi.

In 42 BC, Philippi was the site of the famous battle of Roman leaders. Brutus and Cassius fought against Mark Anthony and Octavius. Mark Anthony and Octavius claimed the victory resulting in the suicidal deaths of both Brutus and Cassius.

In 50 AD, Paul and Silas arrived to preach Christianity (Acts 16:12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony, and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.), and the first European convert, Lydia, was baptized (Acts 16:13-15 On the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. … One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer of purple cloth…When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited them to her home.) There we visited the chapel that commemorates the baptism of Lydia.

No tour to Philippi could be complete without a visit to the site of Paul’s imprisonment. From here Paul was inspired to write Philippians 1:7-14. After Paul and Silas were imprisoned for proselytizing, there was an earthquake and God opened the doors of the prison and set Paul and Silas free. This story is recorded in Act 16:25-26: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose”. The Scripture goes on to record how the jailer and his whole family came to believe in Paul’s God. St. Paul’s prison was a Roman cistern that was converted into a prison. As you can see, it was a crude and uncomfortable place. A church was later built over the site, but since destroyed.

Being located strategically on the Via Egnatia (the Roman Road), Philippi was often the site of battles for control of the trade routes. During the 4th Century, the Goths attached the city, then the Slavs in the 7th and 8th Centuries, followed by the Bulgars in the 9th Century. In the 11th, 13th and 14th Centuries, the Crusaders came, followed again by the Slavs. Finally, the Turks occupied the city at the end of the 14th Century. But wars, malaria and hunger left the city desolate. Only a few ruins remain of its glorious past.