Traveling to Kavala

To the south of Drama is the old town of Kavala, located on the coast. It takes about four hours to ride there. The journey passes through the flat Drama plain, miles of tobacco fields, and the remains of the ancient city of Philippi.

The Ruins of Philippi

The only building left in Philippi is a rundown coffee house with a muddy floor. It is a place where travelers can rest their horses and have a break. The people in the coffee house, who were Turks, didn’t know much about the city’s history. There was a step made of marble with a Roman inscription, and marble blocks were scattered around. One side of the coffee house was part of a large block of marble. This marble was likely built to honor the Romans after their victory in the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, where Augustus and Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius. The marble had holes for tying horses. When I asked the Turks what the marble pillar meant, they looked confused and said it was built in honor of a great Turkish general!

The History of Philippi

Not much is left of Philippi. The few ruins that remain tell the story of a town that lived and thrived for about 30 centuries. The first people in the area were probably Thracians who mined gold in the nearby mountains. They built a town to protect themselves from invading tribes who wanted to steal the gold. The town, called Datus or Datum, existed as early as 11 centuries before Christ. It was a prosperous town until the 4th century BC Who we are.

The fame of the gold mines was so great that the ancient Athenians tried to take control of the town. They attempted this many times, and in 360 BC, the Thasians, encouraged by an Athenian leader named Callistrates, captured Datus and renamed it Krenides. However, the Thasians only held the town for two years before the original inhabitants fought back. They forced the Thasians to seek help from Philip of Macedon, who had long wanted to take the town. Philip used this chance to capture the town, expand it, and build beautiful structures. He renamed the city Philippi after himself. The gold mines he developed made him a lot of money, with a revenue of a thousand talents.