The city
The city of Kavala
rises amphitheatrically up the side of a peninsula named after the Blessed Virgin
Mary, south of Mount
Symvolo. This shows signs
of continuous
habitation
from
antiquity
to the present day, lying as it does at
a strategic position
between
Thrace and
Macedonia. In
the 7th century BC it was apparently chosen
by settlers from the
islands of Thasos
and Paros,
who founded a
harbour town called Neapolis.
The name
was retained
throughout the
Roman and
early
Christian
period,
but
in
746
Paris Codex
1557A
refers to the
city as
Christoupolis.
Kavala, the current name,
first appears
in 1470.
Kavala has
been protected by a defensive wall since the 5th
century
BC, when the city’s
mints were known for their silver staters depicting Gorgo.
After the battle
of Plataea
the city became
a member
of
the Athenian Alliance,
and is referred to in
tax records
from
453/4
BC.
Following conquest
by Philip
I
of Macedonia it
flourished
as the seaport
of Philippi.
During the
Roman period, Kavala served as a base for the Republican fleet under Brutus and
Cassius, in their clash with the city of Philippi. St. Paul the Apostle arrived
in 49 AD, at the start of his mission to preach Christianity in Europe. The 5th
century wall was added to and modified at various times, as is evidenced by
inscriptions and surviving sections of the fortifications.
None of the
religious monuments from Εarly Christian Neapolis
have survived. Nevertheless, architectural members and sculptures incorporated
into later buildings testify to the existence of Early Christian basilicas, the
precise location of which is not known. A mid-Byzantine basilica recently unearthed
in the Halil Bey Mosque offers important evidence of life in the city, as it is
regarded as the cathedral of Byzantine Kavala. In addition, relief panels
identified as reused in the Church of the Assumption are thought to have
originated from the late Byzantine church of Panagia Kammytziotissa, at
Pantocrator Monastery on Mount Athos.
Archaeological excavations have brought to light
sections of
buildings
associated
with installations
in the town’s Byzantine
harbor, as well as pit graves and other mid-Byzantine
finds
in the east
side of the
drainage
ditch,
outside
the city walls.
One public
work of particular
importance
for the city
was
the aqueduct,
which still stands to this day. This
brought water
from Mana Nerou
(“Spring”), 6 km
to the
north.
Originally
constructed in late Roman
times, it was subject to extensive modification
from very early on, culminating in a complete restoration by Ibrahim
Pasha
in the 19th
century.
It is a double
arched
structure
280 meters in
length, resting on 18 pillars, to a maximum height of 25m. Water flowed into
the city of Kavala
along the top section, through a closed flagged conduit measuring 35cm wide by 48cm deep.
Glossary (2)
Paleo-Christian (early Christian) era:
in Byzantine history, the period that typically starts in 330 AD, when Constantine the Great transferred the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to his newly-founded city of Constantinople, and ends with the death of Justinian in 565.
basilica:
type of large church, divided internally into three or more naves. The central nave was usually covered by a raised roof with windows that illuminated the space.
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Bibliography (11)
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