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Olynthus ( ''Olynthos'') is an ancient city in present-day
Chalcidice Chalkidiki (; , alternatively Halkidiki), also known as Chalcidice, is a peninsula and regional units of Greece, regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region of Macedon ...
, Greece. It was built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at the head of the Gulf of Torone, near the neck of the peninsula of Pallene, about 2.5 kilometers from the sea, and about 60 ''stadia'' (c. 9–10 kilometers) from Poteidaea. Olynthus served as head of the
Chalcidian League The Chalcidian League (, ''Koinon tōn Chalkideōn'', "League of the Chalcidians"), also referred to as the Olynthians or the Chalcidians in Thrace (, ''Chalkideis epi Thrakēs'') to distinguish them from the Chalcidians in Euboea, was a federa ...
from its inception just before the Peloponnesian War to the time the city was destroyed in the Social War. The city flourished between 432 BCE and its destruction by
Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon (; 382 BC – October 336 BC) was the king (''basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...
in 348 BCE. It was finally abandoned in 316 BCE. Excavations were conducted across four seasons, spanning from 1928 to 1938. Artefacts found during the excavations of the site are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Olynthos.In the modern day the city is famous for it's well preserved household and urban architecture. pg.viii The city was named for
Olynthus Olynthus ( ''Olynthos'') is an ancient city in present-day Chalcidice, Greece. It was built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at the head of the Gulf of Torone, near the neck of the peninsula of Pallene, Cha ...
, the son of Heracles or of Strymon, the mythological founder of the town.


History


Neolithic

The Neolithic settlement was founded in the 4th millennium BCE and thrived from 3000-2900 BCE. pg.96 There are no written records from this period but much can be surmised from the archaeological evidence found at the site. The people living in Olynthus at the time were an agricultural society who farmed crops and had domestic animals. They produced pottery, tools made of stone and bone, and stone jewelry. The settlement was invaded and no evidence of resettlement thereafter has been found. pg.96


Archaic

After it's abandonment in the Neolithic era, Olynthus was resettled in the 7th century BC. Subsequently, the town was captured by the
Bottiaeans The Bottiaeans or Bottiaei (Ancient Greek: ) were an ancient people of uncertain origin, living in Central Macedonia. Sometime, during the Archaic period, they were expelled by Macedonians from Bottiaea to Bottike. During the Classical era, they ...
, a Thracian tribe ejected from Macedon by
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 495 to 454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire 150-145 BC * Pope Alex ...
. The Persian army spent the winter of 479 BCE in
Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...
and
Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...
following the Persian defeat at Salamis and Xerxes' retreat to the
Hellespont The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey t ...
with his general Artabazus.Sprawski, Sławomir (2010). "The Early Temenid Kings to Alexander I". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). ''A Companion to Ancient Macedonia''. Wiley-Blackwell. pg.139 The Persian authority in the Balkans had lessened, encouraging the inhabitants of the Pallene peninsula to break away. Suspecting that a revolt against the Great King was brewing, Artabazus captured Olynthus, whom he thought to be disloyal, and killed a large number of the Bottiaeans living there. pg.34 pg.139The city was then given to Critobolos of
Toroni Toroni (, ''Toróne'', modern pronunciation ''Toróni'') is an ancient Greek city and a former municipality in the southwest edge of Sithonia peninsula in Chalkidiki, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality ...
by Artabazus and fresh population consisting of Greeks from the neighboring region of Chalcidice, who had been exiled by the Macedonians moved in. pg.34


Classical

Olynthus appears as a Greek polis in the quota-lists of the Delian League. It appears smaller than other Chalcidian cities at the time as it was responsible for paying only 2 talents in 438 BCE, compared to the nearby city of Scione, who contributed 15 talents in the same year.West, Allen. (January, 1914). "The Formation of the Chalcidic League". ''Classical Philology.'' In 432 BCE King Perdiccas II of Macedon encouraged several nearby coastal towns (including, but likely not limited to, Mecyberna, Singus, and Gale pg.36) to disband and move their populations to Olynthus, in preparation for a revolt led by Potidaea against Athens.Roisman, Joseph. (2010). "Classical Macedonia to Perdiccas III". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). ''A Companion to Ancient Macedonia''. Wiley-Blackwell. pg.147 This
synoecism Synoecism or synecism ( ; , ''sunoikismos'', ), also spelled synoikism ( ), was originally the amalgamation of villages in Ancient Greece into ''poleis'', or city-states. Etymologically, the word means "dwelling together (''syn'') in the same h ...
(συνοικισμός) was effected, though against Perdiccas' wishes the contributing cities were not completely abandoned. pg.36 The synoecism led to a major increase in population leading to the settlement of the North Hill. pg.38 In 432 BCE Olynthus became the head of a formal Chalcidian League, occasioned by the synoecism or by the beginning of the Peloponnesian War and fear of Athenian attack. During the Peloponnesian war it formed a base for Brasidas in his expedition of 424 BCE and refuge for the citizens of Mende and Poteidaea that had rebelled against the Athenians (Thu. ii, 70). After the end of the Peloponnesian War the development of the league was rapid and ended consisting of 32 cities. In about 393 BCE Olynthus concluded an important treaty with
Amyntas III of Macedon Amyntas III () was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 393/2 to 388/7 BC and again from 387/6 to 370 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty through his father Arrhidaeus, a son of Amyntas, one of the sons of Alexander I. His ...
, and by 382 BCE it had absorbed most of the Greek cities west of the Strymon, and had even got possession of Pella, the chief city in Macedon. (Xenophon, Hell. V. 2, 12). To the end of the 380s the relationship between Macedonia and Olynthus soured. Amyntas III wished for the Olynthians to return the land he had given them and the Olynthians did not comply. Amyntas declared war and called on his ally Sparta for help. Sparta was induced by an embassy from
Acanthus Acanthus (: acanthus, rarely acanthuses in English, or acanthi in Latin), its feminine form acantha (plural: acanthae), the Latinised form of the ancient Greek word acanthos or akanthos, or the prefix acantho-, may refer to: Biology *Acanthus ...
and Apollonia, which anticipated conquest by the league, to send an expedition against Olynthus, which they did in 382 BCE. After three years of indecisive warfare Olynthus consented to dissolve the confederacy in 379.Roisman, Joseph. (2010). "Classical Macedonia to Perdiccas III". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). ''A Companion to Ancient Macedonia''. Wiley-Blackwell. pgs.159-160 It is clear, however, that the dissolution was little more than formal, as the Chalcidians ("Χαλκιδῆς ἀπò Θρᾴκης") appear, only a year or two later, among the members of the Athenian naval confederacy of 378–377 BCE.


Destruction by Philip II

When the Social War broke out between Athens and its allies in 357 BCE, Olynthus was originally in an alliance with Philip. Subsequently, in alarm at the growth of his power, it concluded an alliance with Athens. Olynthus made three embassies to Athens, the occasions of Demosthenes's three Olynthiac Orations. On the third, the Athenians sent soldiers from among its citizens. After Philip had deprived Olynthus of the rest of the League, by force and by the treachery of sympathetic factions, he besieged Olynthus in 348 BCE. The
siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
was short; he bought Olynthus's two principal citizens, Euthycrates and Lasthenes, who betrayed the city to him. He then looted and razed the city and sold its population—including the Athenian garrison—into slavery. Only a small area of the North Hill was ever re-occupied, up to 316 BCE, before
Cassander Cassander (; ; 355 BC – 297 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 305 BC until 297 BC, and '' de facto'' ruler of southern Greece from 317 BC until his death. A son of Antipater and a contemporary of Alexander the ...
forced the population to move in his new city of
Cassandreia Cassandreia or Cassandrea (, ''Kassándreia'') was once one of the most important cities in Ancient Macedonia, founded by and named after Cassander in 316 BC. It was located on the site of the earlier Ancient Greek city of Potidaea, at the isth ...
. pgs.49-52 Despite the abandonment of the city, there are records of men in later centuries scattered through the Hellenistic world who were called Olynthians. pg.52


Site Topography


Neolithic

The Neolithic settlement is located in the edge of the South Hill. It was founded in the 4th millennium BCE and thrived between 3000-2900. Only 5 houses were found, belonging to three different stages of the Neolithic settlement. The foundations of walls were all that remained of these houses and were made of mud and river stones. The pottery that was found was the typical of that period, consisting of mostly of monochrome pieces, with some incised and painted pieces. The Neolithic settlement also contained the oldest potters kiln to be discovered in Greece.


Archaic

The Archaic city was built under a provincially
urban plan Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...
and extended throughout the whole South Hill. Two avenues were revealed along the eastern and western edges of the hill that intersected with crossing streets, two of which were excavated. Along the south avenue shops and small houses were found while the administrative part was located in the north part of the hill, where the
agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...
and a
deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...
were found. Public buildings– including an assembly hall and two arsenals– and the agora were located at the north end of the hill. pg.32


Classical

The classical city can largely be separated into two sections: the North Hill and the Villa Section. These sections were established on the much larger North Hill and to its eastern slope. Excavations on the North Hill uncovered 108 buildings, revealing a Hippodamian
grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...
. Two large avenues were excavated, along with horizontal streets that divided the urban area into
city blocks A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. In a city with a grid system, the block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are th ...
. Each block had ten houses (made up of two rows of five houses with an alley between them) which shared walls with each other. pg.27 Each house followed the same basic "pastas" type, usually containing a courtyard, pastas, andron, and other indistinct rooms. Houses could also contain kitchen complexes and shops (rooms opening out to the street that were not necessarily used for retail). Many houses in Olynthus show signs of a second story. pgs.78-82 The North Hill also contained public buildings, the agora was placed in the south edge of the north hill, along with a public fountain, an
arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
and the city's parliament building (Βουλευτήριον). pg.32 Both the archaic and classical city were protected by an extended land wall. Parts of the foundations of the wall were revealed in the north hill and elsewhere. Part of the wall was found to make up the west walls of the houses of row A. Part of the city wall was found between the North Hill and most of the Villa Section. This combined with their slightly different orientation reveals them as being designed and constructed at a separate, later time. The houses in the Villa section do not tend to follow the housing template used on the North Hill as strictly, with empty plots between houses to allow for bigger houses or gardens. pgs.29-30


Archaeology

Due to its proximity to the ancient city of
Potidaea __NOTOC__ Potidaea (; , ''Potidaia'', also Ποτείδαια, ''Poteidaia'') was a colony founded by the Corinthians around 600 BC in the narrowest point of the peninsula of Pallene, Chalcidice, Pallene, the westernmost of three peninsulas at t ...
and the presence of some inscriptions, the British adventurer
William Leake William Leake, father (died 1633) and son (died 1681), were London publishers and booksellers of the late sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. They were responsible for a range of texts in English Renaissance drama and poetry, including wor ...
reasoned that the site of Olynthus was at the village of Agios Mamas, seven kilometers south of the actual location. This viewpoint was shared by a number of scholars, including Esprit-Marie Cousinéry, but was challenged in the early twentieth century by
Adolf Struck Adolf Hermann Struck (1877–1911) was a German sightseer and writer. He is known for his Travel literature, travelogue ''Makedonische Fahrten'' and for surveying the Xerxes Canal in Northern Greece on his own in 1901. Works *''Makedonische ...
and English archaeologist
Alan Wace Alan John Bayard Wace (13 July 1879 – 9 November 1957) was an English archaeologist who served as director of the British School at Athens (BSA) between 1914 and 1923. He excavated widely in Thessaly, Laconia, and Egypt, and at the Bronze Ag ...
, among others. Wace in particular found no evidence of an ancient settlement at Agios Mamas, Leake had evidently not visited there himself, and that the inscriptions were taken from stones found at Potidaea by local residents. Utilizing descriptions provided by
Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...
and
Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...
, he reasoned that Olynthus must actually lie further north near the village of Myriophyton. In 1915, Wace conducted a preliminary survey of the area in hopes that the British School of Athens might pursue an excavation, but nothing came of it. On February 17, 1928,
David Moore Robinson David Moore Robinson (September 21, 1880, in Auburn, New York – January 2, 1958, in Oxford, Mississippi) was an American classical archaeologist credited with the discovery of the ancient city of Olynthus. While he was a prolific writer and ad ...
and a large team of archaeologists and workmen began excavations at Olynthus in collaboration with the
American School of Classical Studies in Athens The American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA; ) is one of 19 foreign archaeological institutes in Athens, Greece. It is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). CAORC is a private not-for-profit federati ...
. They found that the ancient city extends over two hills that detach from a small
coulee Coulee, or coulée ( or ), is any of various different landforms, all of which are kinds of valleys or drainage zones. The word ''coulee'' comes from the Canadian French ''coulée'', from French ''couler'' 'to flow'. The term is often used ...
and possess an area ca. 1500 m long and 400 m in width. Robinson conducted three additional excavations in 1931, 1934, and 1938, publishing the results in fourteen volumes. Some of his writing was later found to have been plagiarized from another excavator, Mary Ross Ellingson. The excavation had uncovered more than five hectares of Olynthus and a portion of Mecyberna (the harbor of Olynthus). On the North Hill this hurried pace proved relatively harmless due to the simple
stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...
of an area of the city occupied only for 84 years and subjected to a sudden, final destruction; but the data from the South Hill was badly muddled. Nonetheless, the work was excellent for its time, and remains supremely valuable. Much of the stratigraphy of the North Hill has been reconstructed by Nicholas Cahill (University of Wisconsin). The site is now in the charge of Julia Vokotopoulou, and the XVI Ephorate of Classical Antiquities.


Notable people

*
Callisthenes Callisthenes of Olynthus ( /kəˈlɪsθəˌniːz/; Greek: Καλλισθένης; 360 – 327 BCE) was a Greek historian in Macedon with connections to both Aristotle and Alexander the Great. He accompanied Alexander the Great during his Asiati ...
(–328 BC), historian * Ephippus (4th century BC), historian * Euphantus (4th century BC), philosopher * Sthennis (4th century BC), sculptor


Modern Olynthos

The modern village, formerly Myriophyton, now called Olynthos or Nea Olynthos, sits on a small
plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...
on the western side of the river Olynthios or Resetenikia (in ancient times known as Sandanus), across from the ruins of the ancient city. Artifacts found during the excavations of the site are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Olynthos. The archaeological site is open to public tours during daylight hours.


See also

*
List of ancient Greek cities This is an incomplete list of ancient Greek cities, including colonies outside Greece, and including settlements that were not sovereign '' poleis''. Many colonies outside Greece were soon assimilated to some other language but a city is included h ...


References


Notes

* * Liddell & Scott, ''Greek-English Lexicon''. (1889/1996). Oxford: Clarendon Press. *
George Grote George Grote (; 17 November 1794 – 18 June 1871) was an English political radical and classical historian. He is now best known for his major work, the voluminous ''History of Greece''. Early life George Grote was born at Clay Hill near Be ...
,
A History of Greece
', London, 1862. 74–108. *
Charles Rollin Charles Rollin (30 January 1661 in Paris - 14 December 1741 in Paris) was a French historian and educator. Life Rollin was the son of a cutler, and at the age of 22 was made a master in the Collège du Plessis. In 1694 he was rector of the ...
, ''Ancient History''. (1844) Philadelphia: John B. Perry. * Nicholas Cahill
Household and City Organization at OlynthusOlynthus
at Perseus * Raymond Dessy

* 1929–1952. David M Robinson; George E Mylonas. "Excavations at Olynthus". (Johns Hopkins University ''Studies in Archaeology'', no. 6, 9, 11–12, 18–20, 25–26, 31–32, 36, 38–39.) 14 v. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
WorldCat


External links


Official website
{{Authority control Populated places in Chalkidiki Polygyros Cities in ancient Macedonia Greek colonies in Chalcidice Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Central Macedonia Former populated places in Greece Members of the Delian League Bottiaea Populated places in ancient Macedonia