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Mygdonia (Europe)
Encyclopedia
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
, later conquered by Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
, which comprised the plains around Therma
Therma
Therma or Thermē was a Greek city founded by Eretrians or Corinthians in late 7th century BC in ancient Mygdonia , situated at the northeastern extremity of a great gulf of the Aegean Sea, the Thermaic Gulf. The city was built amidst mosquito-infested swampland, and its name derives from the...
(Thessalonica) together with the valleys of Klisali and Besikia, including the area of the Axios river mouth and extending as far east as Lake Bolbe. To the north it was joined by Crestonia
Crestonia
Crestonia was an ancient region immediately north of Mygdonia. The Echeidorus river, which flowed through Mygdonia into the Thermaic Gulf, had its source in Crestonia...
. The Echeidorus, which flowed into the Thermaic Gulf
Thermaic Gulf
The Thermaic Gulf is a gulf of the Aegean Sea located immediately south of Thessaloniki, east of Pieria and Imathia, and west of Chalkidiki . It was named after the ancient town of Therma, which was situated on the northeast coast of the gulf...
near the marshes of the Axios, had its sources in Crestonia. The pass of Aulon
Aulon
-In France:* Aulon, Creuse, a commune of the Creuse département* Aulon, Haute-Garonne, a commune of the Haute-Garonne département* Aulon, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune of the Hautes-Pyrénées département-In Ancient Greece and Rome:...
or Arethusa
Arethusa (Mygdonia)
For other uses, see ArethusaArethusa was an ancient Greek city, colony of Chalcis in easternmost Mygdonia, north of Stageira, near to Bolbe Lake, Rhechius river and Bromiscus. It is considered the burial place of Euripides.-References:...
was probably the boundary of Mygdonia towards Bisaltia
Bisaltia
Bisaltia or Bisaltica was an ancient region extending from the river Strymon and Lake Cercinitis on the east to Crestonia on the west. The eponymous inhabitants, known as the Bisaltae, were a Thracian people. The most important town in Bisaltia was the Greek city of Argilus...
. The maritime part of Mygdonia formed a district called Amphaxitis
Amphaxitis
Amphaxitis was called the west maritime Mygdonia district of ancient Macedonia, on Axius river....
, a distinction which first occurs in Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
, who divides all the great plain at the head of the Thermaic gulf into Amphaxitis and Bottiaea
Bottiaea
Bottiaea was a geographical region of ancient Macedonia and an administrative district of the Macedonian Kingdom. It was previously inhabited by the Bottiaeans, a people of uncertain origin, later expelled by the Macedonians into Bottike...
, and which is found three centuries later in Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
. The latter introduces Amphaxitis twice under the subdivisions of Macedonia---in one instance placing the mouths of the Echidorus and Axios in Amphaxitis, and mentioning Thessalonica as the only town in the district, which agrees with Polybius and with Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
. In another place Ptolemy includes Stageira
Stageira
Stageira was an ancient Greek city on the Chalkidiki peninsula and is chiefly known for being the birthplace of Aristotle. The city lies approximately 8 kilometres north northeast of the present-day village of Stagira, close to the town of Olympiada....
and Arethusa in Amphaxitis, which, if correct, would indicate that a portion of Amphaxitis, very distant from the Axios, was separated from the remainder by a part of Mygdonia; but since this is improbable, the word is perhaps an error of the text.
The main cities of Mygdonia were Therma
Therma
Therma or Thermē was a Greek city founded by Eretrians or Corinthians in late 7th century BC in ancient Mygdonia , situated at the northeastern extremity of a great gulf of the Aegean Sea, the Thermaic Gulf. The city was built amidst mosquito-infested swampland, and its name derives from the...
(Thessalonica), Sindus, Chalastra
Chalastra
Chalastra is a town and was a former municipality in the Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Delta, of which it is a municipal unit. The town is located 20 km west from the city of Thessaloniki, on the north side of Greek...
, Altus
Altus (Mygdonia)
Altus , was a fortress town in Mygdonia near Therma . The town is mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium and Theagenes of Macedon.-References:...
, Strepsa
Strepsa
Strepsa was an ancient city of Mygdonia, Macedon, near Therma, toward Chalcidice. The editors of the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, tentatively identify Strepsa with the modern village of Basilika, in the municipality of Pylaia. Strepsa is mentioned by Thucydides ....
, Cissus
Cissus (Mygdonia)
Cissus or Kissos , was a town and mountain of Amphaxitis, Macedon, not far from Rhaecelus, which appears to have been the name of the promontory where Aeneas legendarily founded his city. Cissus, along with Aeneia and Chalastra, contributed to the aggrandizement of Thessalonica...
, Mellisurgis
Mellisurgis
Mellisurgis was a town on the road from Thessalonica to Apollonia of Mygdonia, which occurs in two of the Itineraries , at a distance of 20 M. P. from Thessalonica. By the mid-19th century, it still preserved its ancient name in the usual Romaic form of Melissurgús, and was inhabited by...
(today, Mellisourgós), and Heracleustes. The town of Apollonia
Apollonia (Mygdonia)
For other uses, see ApolloniaApollonia was a town of Mygdonia in Macedon, south of Lake Bolbe , and north of the Chalcidian mountains, on the road from Thessalonica to Amphipolis, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles and the Itineraries. For other uses, see ApolloniaApollonia (Greek: ) was a...
was visited by the apostle Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
. Besides these, the following obscure towns occur in Ptolemy: Chaetae, Moryllus
Moryllus
Moryllus or Moryllos was a town of ancient Macedonia, earlier assumed to be in the district of Anthemus, but now it is placed ,thanks to an inscription, in the interior Mygdonia or Crestonia, near modern Ano Apostoli, Kilkis prefecture. The only attested citizens of Moryllus are two Delphic...
, Antigoneia
Antigonia Psaphara
Antigonia Psaphara or Antigonia also transliterated as Antigonea and Antigoneia was a Hellenistic city in Macedon in the district Crusis in Chalcidice, placed by Livy between Aeneia and Pallene. It is called by Ptolemy Psaphara probably in order to distinguish it from Antigonia in...
(which actually refers to Antigonia Psaphara
Antigonia Psaphara
Antigonia Psaphara or Antigonia also transliterated as Antigonea and Antigoneia was a Hellenistic city in Macedon in the district Crusis in Chalcidice, placed by Livy between Aeneia and Pallene. It is called by Ptolemy Psaphara probably in order to distinguish it from Antigonia in...
in the Chalcidice
Chalcidice
Chalkidiki, also Halkidiki, Chalcidice or Chalkidike , is a peninsula in northern Greece, and one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Macedonia. The autonomous Mount Athos region is part of the peninsula, but not of the regional unit...
), Calindaea, Boerus, Physca, Trepilus, Carabia, Xylopolis, Assorus
Assorus
Assorus is the name of at least two settlements in the ancient world:* Assorus, a Babylonian city.* Assorus, Sicily, a city of the Sikels in Sicily which later became Hellenised as Assoros....
, Lete, Phileres, Dicaea, Aeneia
Aeneia
Aeneia or Aineia , was an ancient Greek city in northwesternmost Chalcidice, said to have been founded by Aeneas, and was situated, according to Livy, opposite Pydna, and 15 miles from Thessalonica...
and Arethusa
Arethusa (Mygdonia)
For other uses, see ArethusaArethusa was an ancient Greek city, colony of Chalcis in easternmost Mygdonia, north of Stageira, near to Bolbe Lake, Rhechius river and Bromiscus. It is considered the burial place of Euripides.-References:...
.
The area has been inhabitied since the Mesolithic era
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
(9000-7000 BC). Early inhabitants probably were the Pelasgians
Pelasgians
The name Pelasgians was used by some ancient Greek writers to refer to populations that were either the ancestors of the Greeks or who preceded the Greeks in Greece, "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably indigenous people in the Greek world." In general, "Pelasgian" has come...
, followed by the Mygdones, who gave their name to the region. The Mygdones may have been a Brigian
Bryges
Bryges or Briges is the historical name given to a people of the ancient Balkans. They are generally considered to have been related to the Phrygians, who during classical antiquity lived in western Anatolia. Both names, Bryges and Phrygians, are assumed to be variants of the same root. Based on...
or Thracian tribe. Paeonians and also Thracians
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
(in particular, the Edonians) ruled and inhabited the region for a time, until it was annexed to Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
. Today, most of Mygdonia is comprehended within the Thessaloniki prefecture
Thessaloniki Prefecture
Thessaloniki is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Region of Central Macedonia. Its capital is the city of Thessaloniki. It is the second most populous regional unit in Greece, behind Central Athens.-Geography:...
http://alexander.macedonia.culture.gr/maps/macedon/salonica/salonica.html, in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
See also
- Lower MacedoniaLower MacedoniaLower Macedonia or Macedonia proper or Emathia is a geographical term to the coastal plain, watered by the rivers Haliacmon, Axius on the west and bounded by Strymon on the east. Its districts are: Pieria, Bottiaea, Amphaxitis, Crestonia, Mygdonia, Anthemous, Crousis and Bisaltia...
- modern Mygdonia, ThessalonikiMygdonia, ThessalonikiMygdonia is a suburb and a former municipality in the Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oraiokastro, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 7,239 . The municipal unit of Mygdonia includes three communities, Drymos , Liti ...
- MacedonMacedonMacedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
- Macedonia (Greece)Macedonia (Greece)Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
- ChalcidiceChalcidiceChalkidiki, also Halkidiki, Chalcidice or Chalkidike , is a peninsula in northern Greece, and one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Macedonia. The autonomous Mount Athos region is part of the peninsula, but not of the regional unit...
- ThraceThraceThrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...