Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
It would seem that the plan of Thessaloniki (fig. 4) was laid out at the time of the city's foundation by Cassander in c. 316 b.c. and that it has close parallels in the plans of other early Hellenistic cities. There was possibly an agora in the upper city from the beginning, but the principal, commercial agora of the Hellenistic city was probably closer to the sea. A large open space to the west was possibly a ‘sacred area’ in Hellenistic times, but the only religious centre whose site is known with any degree of certainty is the Serapeum. A gymnasium is known to have existed to the north of the city from the late Hellenistic period at least, and a nearby stadium probably goes back to Hellenistic times as well.
The Hellenistic fortifications probably followed the lines of those of the mid-fifth century a.d. In common with many other Hellenistic cities there is an acropolis incorporated in the city wall, but the fortifications of Thessaloniki are slightly anomalous in that the lower stretches of the east and west walls run parallel with some of the streets of the city plan.
Thus, even though the reconstruction of Hellenistic Thessaloniki may be an elusive and often a speculative business, the statement of an anonymous writer to the effect that ‘il ne reste à Thessaloniki aucun vestige de la ville hellénistique’ is certainly exaggerated.
I should like to thank Professor G. Bakalakis, Professor Ch. Bouras, Mr M. H. Bräude, Professor C. F. Edson, Dr Ph. Petsas, and Dr W. H. Plommer for their assistance in various ways in the preparation of this article. Dr Plommer, Dr H. P. Laubscher and Dr A. H. MacDonald were kind enough to read it through in draft form and it has benefited as a result of their comments.
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7 Ancel, op. cit., pl. 63, legend. For evidence that this area was not built up in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, see ‘Byzantine Sea Walls’, pls. 1b and 2b.
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56 By Professor Bakalakis.
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59 BCH xlv (1921) 540 and xlviii (1924) 497. von Schoenebeck, op. cit. 481, fig. 1, locates the Serapeum incorrectly; for the correct position see BCH xlv, 539, fig. 13.
60 Hébrard, whose report is quoted loc cit., calls the later walls Byzantine, but that is impossible. Dr Laubscher kindly informs me that von Schoenebeck's notebooks indicate that he dated these walls to the Tetrarchic period on the basis of the style of the brickwork.
61 Makedonika i (1940) 464; AA 1940, 263. The Serapeum and the finds are now discussed by Salditt-Trappmann, R., Tempel der ägyptischen Götter in Griechenland und an der wesküste Kleinasiens (Leiden, 1970) 47–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar, pls. 22–4.
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68 xxxii 15. 2: Κατὰ μέσην τὴν ἐξέδραν τὴν ἐν τῷ περιστύλῳ κατά τὴν αὐλήν. I am grateful to Professor Edson for this reference.
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74 Op. cit. pl. 6, 2.
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