Pella is a village and a municipality in the Pella regional unit of Macedonia

Macedonia (Greece)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. It is located on the site of ancient Pella

Pella

Pella , an ancient Greek city located in Pella Prefecture of Macedonia in Greece, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia.-Etymology:...

, the capital of the Kingdom of Macedonia

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....

 and birthplace of Alexander The Great. The seat of the municipality is Giannitsa

Giannitsa

Giannitsa is the largest town and a former municipality in Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pella, of which it is a municipal unit...

, the largest town of the municipality.

History

Ancient Pella was a vast city. However, the city was ravaged by the Gauls

Gauls

The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....

 during the 2nd Century BC and lost its significance. By the 19th century, Agii Apostoli occupied a site near the upper city, and the lower city extended down to the wetlands of Mavroneri.

During the time of the Macedonian struggle

Macedonian Struggle

The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts between Greeks and Bulgarians in the region of Ottoman Macedonia between 1904 and 1908...

, it was contested between Greek and Bulgarian

Bulgarians

The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

 nationalists. A survey by Vasil Kanchov

Vasil Kanchov

Vasil Kanchov was a Bulgarian geographer, ethnographer and politician.- Biography :Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school in Lom, Bulgaria, he entered the University of Harkov, then in Russia. During the Serbo-Bulgarian War 1885 he suspended his education and took part...

 in 1900 revealed that the population of Pella was 520 Bulgarian exarchists

Bulgarian Exarchate

The Bulgarian Exarchate was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953....

. The village however, was taken by the Greek army during the Second Balkan War

Second Balkan War

The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...

.

The village fell under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian exarchate

Bulgarian Exarchate

The Bulgarian Exarchate was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953....

 and another survey conducted by Dimitar Mishev in 1905 claimed that in the village there were 720 Bulgarian excharchists.

Name

During the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, the town was known in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 as Άγιοι Απόστολοι (Agii Apostoli) 'Holy Apostles' and in Ottoman Turkish

Ottoman Turkish language

The Ottoman Turkish language or Ottoman language is the variety of the Turkish language that was used for administrative and literary purposes in the Ottoman Empire. It borrows extensively from Arabic and Persian, and was written in a variant of the Perso-Arabic script...

 as Allah Kilise 'God's Church'. Locals referred to the village as Postol, (Macedonian Slavic: Постол). The name Pella was revived in 1926.

Municipality

The municipality Pella was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units:

• Giannitsa
  Giannitsa
  Giannitsa is the largest town and a former municipality in Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pella, of which it is a municipal unit...
  
  
• Krya Vrysi
  Krya Vrysi, Pella
  Krya Vrysi is a town and a former municipality in Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pella, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 75 km from Thessaloniki.-History:...
  
  
• Kyrros
  Kyrros
  Kyrros is a former municipality in the Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pella, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 7,645 . The seat of the municipality was in Mylotopos. The city of Cyrrhus, Syria was named after...
  
  
• Megas Alexandros
• Pella