The walls
The city of Veroia
was protected
by a defensive wall from as early as Hellenistic times. Throughout the early Christian and
Byzantine periods the existing fortifications were subject to modifications and repairs, as part of attempts to organize
defence against Gothic raids.
The fortified enclosure was a double wall 2.40 to 2.80 m thick, which ran along
the north, east and south sides of the town for about 3,500m, of which only 170
metres still stand today. The north and south sides of the fortifications were reinforced by square,
triangular and semi-circular defensive towers.
According to sources, the wall had three gates:
the Royal Gate, which served the northern sector of the city; the Opsikkiaki,
also known as the Palaiou Forou Gate, near the church of Palaioforitissa; and lastly
a gate which probably led into what is now Mitropoleos street, a one-time Roman
road which was also in use in Byzantine times.
Within the walls of Byzantine Veroia, sources mention the existence of a transverse
wall dividing the city in two, though this has yet to be located. Also, up
until the early 20th century one of the two citadels built by Stephen
Dušan to strengthen the city’s defences still stood at the highest point in Verοia.
Glossary (1)
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.
Information Texts (1)
Goths:
German tribe that
probably came from Scandinavia. Around the 1st
century they migrated south along the Vistula River
to settle in Scythia (modern Ukraine). In
the 3rd century they were divided into the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths.
Several Goth generals seem to have gained considerable influence in the Byzantine
imperial court, to the discontent of the aristocracy and the people. Early in
the 5th century a large-scale massacre of soldiers in Constantinople
aimed to exclude the Goths from army ranks. This eventually cost the empire dearly,
as it was deprived of particularly skilful military personnel.
Bibliography (3)
1. Καραγιάννη Φ., Οι Βυζαντινοί οικισμοί στη Μακεδονία μέσα από τα αρχαιολογικά δεδομένα (4ος – 15ος αιώνας), Thessaloniki, 2010
2. Πέτκος Α. Σ, ‘Τα τείχη της Βέροιας (προανασκαφική επισκόπηση)’ in Μνήμη Μανόλη Ανδρόνικου, Thessaloniki, 1997
3. Πέτκος Α. Σ, Καραγιάννη Φ., Ανασκαφικές έρευνες στα βυζαντινά κοιμητήρια της Βέροιας, 2004
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