Pella () is a town in the Pella municipality in the Pella regional unit of

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 ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Pella is built on a hill at a distance of one kilometre from the road Thessaloniki - Edessa, and the archeological site

Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...

and 7 km from Giannitsa. The community of Pella has an area of 30.09 km², and a population of 2,050 inhabitants (2021). The municipal unit covers 113.819 km².

History

It is located on the site of ancient

, the capital of the

Kingdom of Macedonia Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The History of ...

and birthplace of

Alexander The Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

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

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

during the 1st Century BC and lost its significance. During the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, the town was known in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

as Άγιοι Απόστολοι (Agioi Apostoloi) 'Holy Apostles' and in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

as ''Allah Kilise'' 'God's Church'. In the local

Slavic language The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Ear ...

, the name is Postol (Постол). The name ''Pella'' was revived in 1926. By the 19th century, Agii Apostoli occupied a site near the upper city, and the lower city extended down to the wetlands of Mavroneri. Grande Encyclopedie, ''s.v.'' Pella Félix de Beaujour, a French consul of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

at the end of the 18th century, wrote in his travels for the Ottoman Empire: "Pella rises amphitheatrically on the slope of a hill on the top of which was the fortress, at the present is a little village of ''Alla Klise'', populated with

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

." The village joined the

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 Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...

and a survey by

Vasil Kanchov Vasil Kanchov (26 July 1862 – 6 February 1902) was a geographer, ethnographer and teacher who served as Minister of Education of Bulgaria. Early life and education Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school i ...

in 1900 revealed that the population of Pella was 520

Bulgarian Exarchists Bulgarian millet () was an ethno-religious and linguistic community within the Ottoman Empire from the mid-19th to early 20th century. The semi-official term, was used by the Sultan for the first time in 1847, and was his tacit consent to a ...

. Another survey in 1905 recorded that in the village there were 720 Bulgarian Exarchists. During the exchange of populations with the

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (, ) is a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923 and signed in the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially resolved the conflict that had initially ...

(July 24, 1923) refugees from

Eastern Thrace East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace accounts for 3.03% of Turkey's land area and 15% of its population. The largest c ...

in modern Turkey arrived in Pella. Refugees from Bulgaria arrived in 1918 -1924. Finally, about 50

Sarakatsani The Sarakatsani (), also called Karakachani (), are an ethnic Greeks, Greek population subgroup who were traditionally Transhumance, transhumant shepherds, native to Greece, with a smaller presence in neighbouring Bulgaria, southern Albania, an ...

families came to the village in 1947, coming from the areas of Florina. Many of its inhabitants emigrated to Bulgaria at that time.

Notable People born in Pella (modern town)

* Aleksa Mindov, activist of the Thessaloniki Bulgarian club * Andon Traykov, soldier in the

Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps The Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps (, ; MAVC) was a volunteer corps of the Bulgarian Army during the Balkan Wars. It was formed on 23 September 1912 and consisted of Bulgarian volunteers from Macedonia and Thrace, regions still under ...

Krste Misirkov Krste Petkov Misirkov (, ; ; Serbian Cyrillic: Крста Петковић Мисирков; ; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer from the region of Macedonia. In the period between 1903 ...

, (1874 - 1926), philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer * Theodora Tzakri, Member of Parliament of Greece * Yordana Slatinkova (1924 – 1948), female communist fighter in the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

*Anastasios (Tasos) Kakamanoudis,A. Kakamanoudis, "Aspects of Organisation of Macedonian Cemeteries: from the Archaic to the Hellenistic Times", in: H. Frielinghaus, J. Stroszeck & P. Valavanis (eds.), Griechische Nekropolen. Neue Forschungen und Funde (Beiträge zur Archäologie Griechenlands 5), Möhnesee 2019, 155-17

/ref> (1985-present), Greeks, Greek

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

References

{{Pella div Populated places in Pella (regional unit) Pella (municipality)