ANCIENT DION

Dion is an area at the foot of Mt Olympus. Nowadays it is known all over the world because archaeologists discovered a very important Macedonian city. Ancient kings of Macedonia had chosen Dion as their summer resort. There they created, centuries ago, a settlement in the ruins of which the parts of the ancient Macedonian civilization are evident. Archaeologists, with Professor D Pantermalis at the head of them, discovered an admirable civilization. Remains of an ancient theatre, market baths and palace. The findings of graves found in Dion area are also remarkable. Most royal tombs give away the existence of an eminent and thriving civilization. Today we can admire the ruins of that civilization in the archaeological site of Dion and the archaeological museum of Dion.

HISTORICAL FACTS

   As Isiodos was singing, around 700 BC, about Zeus divine love for Thia, the daughter of Greeks forefather Defkaliona, he said that she got pregnant and had two children, Magnita and Macedona, who lived in Pieria around Mt Olympus. Zeus’s sacred place in that area was Dion, at the foot of Mt Olympus. The city of Dion is first mentioned in history, in the description of general Brasida’s march from Thessaly to the country of his fried, king of Macedonia, Perdika the second. It was the first city Bracida’s encountered after crossing the borders, the summer of 424 BC Towards the end of the 5^th century according to the same writer, Archelaos, who reorganized the state, strengthened central authority, built up streets and fortresses and modernized the army, became the king of Macedonia.
   In Dion, according to Diodoros and other writers, the same king organized, in honor of Olimpius Zeus and the Muses that were worshipped there, athletic and theatrical events lasting nine days. In the theatrical performances that were put on stage there, were also included Euripidis’s dramas “Archelaos” and “Bacchus”, composed in the last years of his life in the macedonian court. Dion the Chrisostomos witnesses that Philip and Alexander used to celebrate their victories in Dion with grand sacrifices for Zeus and the Muses. Also from the area of Dion Alexander the Great started his expedition to East depths.

EXCAVATIONS

The excavations that started in 1928 and were continued intensively by professor Dimitrios Pantermalis, during the period of 1973-1988 proved that Dion used to be during the ancient times, the sacred city of Macedonians. Among the findings discovered, there are also Dimitra’s, Icis’s temples, Dionisus’s villa and the Asklipio, streets and stores, the semetary and the city wall, the Hellenistic and Roman theatre, Roman baths with lot of sculptures. Many of the findings are exhibited today in the archeological museum, foynd in the village at Dion.

MUSEUM TIMETABLE (winter time)

MONDAY 10:30 – 17:00
TUESDAY-FRIDAY 08:00 – 17:00
WEEKENDS-HOLIDAY 08:30 – 15:00
Museum phone number: 0351- 53206