Amphipolis in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
am-fip'-o-lis (Amphipolis): A town in Macedonia, situated on
the eastern bank of the Strymon (modern Struma or Karasu)
some three miles from its mouth, near the point where it
flows out of Lake Prasias or Cercinitis. It lay on a
terraced hill, protected on the North, West and South by the
river, on the East by a wall (Thuc. iv.102), while its
harbor-town of Eion lay on the coast close to the river's
mouth. The name is derived either from its being nearly
surrounded by the stream or from its being conspicuous on
every side, a fact to which Thucydides draws attention (in
the place cited). It was at first called Ennea Hodoi, Nine
Ways, a name which suggests its importance both
strategically and commercially. It guarded the main route
from Thrace into Macedonia and later became an important
station on the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road from
Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic to the Hebrus (Maritza), and it
was the center of a fertile district producing wine, oil,
figs and timber in abundance and enriched by gold and silver
mines and considerable manufactures, especially of woolen
stuffs. In 497 BC Aristagoras, ex-despot of Miletus, tried
to settle there, and a second vain attempt was made in 465-
464 by the Athenians, who succeeded in founding a colony
there in 437 under the leadership of Hagnon. The population,
however, was too mixed to allow of strong Athenian
sympathies, and in 424 the town fell away to the Spartan
leader Brasidas and defied all the subsequent attempts of
the Athenians to recover it. It passed under the
protectorate of Perdiccas and Philip of Macedon, and the
latter finally made himself master of it in 358. On the
Roman partition of Macedonia after the battle of Pydna (168
BC) Amphipolis was made a free city and capital of Macedonia
Prima. Paul and Silas passed through it on their way from
Philippi to Thessalonica, but the narrative seems to
preclude a long stay (Acts 17:1). The place was called
Popolia in the Middle Ages, while in modern times the
village of Neochori (Turkish, Yenikeui) marks the site
(Leake, Northern Greece, III, 181 ff, Cousinery, Macedoine,
I, 100 ff, 122 ff; Heuzey et Daumet, Mission archeol. de
Macedoine, 165 ff).
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