Dion – Litochoro

Dion

Dion was an ancient city of strategic importance and one of the most famous Macedonian states. The geographical location of ancient Zeus is placed at the eastern foothills of Mount Olympus, where today the town of the same name is located. As Strabo and Livy testify, Dion "is not a city on the shores of the Thermaic Gulf in the foothills of Olympus, but it is seven stadia away". The first written reference to Dion is in Thucydides, who mentions it as the first city through which the general of Sparta Brasida passed in 424 BC.

The city seems to have been founded by the Perraives of Thessaly, in honor of Zeus (according to what the historian Dimitsas claims). The name of the city is attributed to Zeus. Every year the "Jupiter" took place, centered on the temple of the father of the gods. In Dion, the Olympic Games were also held, as well as epic festivals and sacrifices. The first month of the Macedonian year was called Dios. The city was also associated with Orpheus, as one tradition states that the latter was killed by Zeus' wives and a stone hydrian containing his bones was placed at the site.

Dion became a cultural center in the years of the progressive king Archelaus of Macedonia, who chose the city because of its connection with the worship of the Muses and Zeus. This king made the city a spiritual and cultural center in Macedonia, on a par with Delphi and Olympia. Thus, temples, theater, stadium, walls were built and sculptures and statues were placed. Euripides, the great tragedian of antiquity, presented his "Bacchies", "Archelaus" and other works in the theater of Zeus. Philip II organized games in the city, thanking the gods for his victory in Olynthos, which he managed to subdue. These games were called "Olympia". Also, Philip and his son, Alexander, sacrificed in Dion after their victory in Chaeronea in 338 BC. In the years of Alexander the Great, Dion had an important position for Macedonia and for Greece in general. From there the recruit started his campaign for Asia (after the destruction of Thebes, in 335 BC he sacrificed to Dion) and sent to the temples of Zeus the bronze statues of the 25 dead in the battle of Granikos, in 334 BC .Also the Macedonian soldiers from the city (perhaps the defectors) founded a colony of the same name in the Decapolis of Palestine.

After the death of Alexander the Great, the general of the Aetolian Commonwealth Scopas sacked Dion and the temple of Zeus was set on fire. After the submission of Macedonia and Greece as a whole to the Romans, the city began to enjoy the liberal politics of Augustus and was a semi-independent province (colony of Rome), with its own currency and self-government. Coins with the inscription "Colonia Julia Augusta Diensis" (Colonia Julia Augusta Diensis) have been found. At the same time, the city shows remarkable commercial growth. The monuments and statues were moved to Rome.

Later, the Pierians embraced Christianity, as can be seen from the ruins of the early Christian basilica, which came to light in Dion and which date from the 4th century. Dion became the seat of a bishopric and the bishop was Palladios. In the years of Constantine Porphyrogenitus the city was called Dios.

In 317, in the Sardis Synod, the bishop of Dion also took part. Malathria, according to Tryphon Evaggelidis ^[1] , came from the fennel, a plant that thrived in the area. In the 14th century Dion followed the fate of the rest of Macedonia and was occupied by the Turks, who completely destroyed it.

At the beginning of the 19th century the ruins of Zeus were lost in the thick vegetation and waters. The English colonel and traveler William Martin Leake, who stopped at Dion on December 21, 1806, was the first to identify with certainty the location of ancient Zeus and make it known to science.

The ruins of the city are located at a distance of about 4 kilometers from the sea. Archaeological research in the area began in 1928 and continued in 1973 under the supervision of Professor Dimitrios Pantermali. The archaeological dig brought to light the Sanctuary of Isis and other Egyptian gods, the small temple of Hypolympidia Aphrodite, the most ancient Sanctuary of Demeter, a Hellenistic theater of the time of Philip V, a Roman theater of the 2nd century, a stadium, the mansion of of the god Dionysos with its wonderful mosaics, cemetery, shops, stone columns (in the temple of Zeus), conservatory, walls, musical instruments (such as the hydraulis, a wind musical instrument) and baths.

An archaeological museum has been operating in Dion since 1983 and it exhibits all the findings of Dion and the rest of Pieria.

The choice of the site of the sanctuary of Zeus was dictated by the divine signs. It was the crystal clear water that gushes from springs and ancient trees, which receive the frequent bursts of lightning during summer storms. Following the tradition, according to which Deucalion, king of Thessaly, had erected an altar in honor of Zeus in Dion, the Macedonians turned the city into a religious center.