Philippi

Philippi (; , Phílippoi) was a major mainland Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides (, Krēnĩdes "Fountains"). The city was renamed by Philip II of Macedon in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest. The present village of Filippoi is located near the ruins of the ancient city within the modern city of Kavala, in turn a part of the administrative region of East Macedonia and Thrace. The archaeological site was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 because of its exceptional Roman architecture, its urban layout as a smaller reflection of Rome itself, and its importance in early Christianity. Philippi is also the place where the legendary battle of Mark Antony and Octavian Caesar against Brutus and Cassius took place in 42 BC, as seen in William Shakespeare's famous play, Julius Caesar (1599).

== History == ===Foundation=== Thasian colonists established a settlement at Crenides in Thrace in 360/359 BC near the head of the Aegean Sea at the foot of Mount Orbelos, now called Mount Lekani, about north-west of Kavala, on the northern border of the marsh that, in antiquity, covered the entire plain separating it from the Pangaion Hills to the south. In 356 BC, King Philip II of Macedon conquered the city and renamed it to Philippi.