215-224

The fortifications of Dion from Cassander to Theodosius I : the historical background

• Στεφανίδου-Τιβερίου, Θεοδοσία

The earliest fortifications of Dion that have been confirmed by excavation date from the reign of King Cassander. At this time, the city acquired a new en­ ceinte, as part o the new town plan, which radically altered its appearance. It seems highly likely that Dion was in fact refounded, in an attempt to legitimise Cassander’s authority and enhance his prestige in Macedonia. Strategic con­ siderations, too, would have stimulated his interest in the city: the activities of Demetrius Poliorcetes in Greece between 307 and 302 BC and the serious threat they posed to Cassander would have been reason enough to fortify Dion, which occupied a strategically significant position.Further evidence of the political and strategic importance of Dion is pro­ vided by the Aetolian invasion of Pieria in 219 BC, which resulted in the de­ struction of Dion and its fortifications. For King Philip V, the rebuilding of the city was, apart from anything else, a matter of prestige. By the time the Second Macedonian War broke out and the Roman invasion of Macedonia was immi­ nent, the fortifications must have been repaired, since Dion was Philip’s head­ quarters in 197 BC. The city played a part in the Macedonian defences in the Third Macedonian War too, and Livy explicitly mentions both its impressive fortifications (44, 7, 3) and the repairs carried out by Perseus (44, 8, 5).Some four centuries after the Macedonian state was overthrown and the fortifications of Dion abandoned, the city’s walls were rebuilt. The menace of the Goths, driven home with particular force by the rout of the Roman army at Abrittus in Scythia Minor in 251 BC, compelled the cities of Macedonia to for­ tify themselves once more. Thessaloniki, twice besieged by the Goths, built new walls, as did Cassandreia. There can be little doubt that the Late Roman fortifications of Dion were a result of this general situation.Only a few decades later, probably as early as the end of the third century, a large part of the enclosure began gradually to fill up with the silt brought down by the seasonal river on the north side of the site and deposited by the River Baphyras when it was in flood. The city diminished in size, and by the latter half of the fourth century AD the new enclosure occupied only what had been the south-west corner of its predecessor. The Gothic menace was once more the reason for its reconstruction: in AD 376 the barbarians had crossed the Danube; in 378 the heavy defeat suffered by the Roman army at Hadrianopolis had allowed the Goths to invade Illyricum; and it was not until 381 that Theodosius I managed to drive them back. The last fortifications of Dion did not stand for long: in the very first years of the fifth century AD the walls collapsed, probably as the result of an earthquake, leaving the city at the mercy of fresh assaults by the Goths and the Huns.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Δίον, Πιερία, συνέδρια

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