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Every visitor of Philippi should also visit Lydia that is about 1 km to the north. At the entrance of the Baptistery of Lydia, there is a beautiful octagonal church with wonderful icons and mosaics and a cross-shaped baptismal font in a stream where adult baptisms are performed. Many Greeks have their children baptized in the chapel because of the special significance of the place for Christianity. In the creek that flows beside the chapel, the apostle Paul is said to have performed the first baptism on European soil, the rich Jewish merchant Lydia.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
The Acropolis, with its Late Byzantine tower, offers a wonderful view of Philippi and the surrounding countryside. This makes the somewhat arduous climb really worthwhile.
Although it offers not really impressive objects such as Athens museums, it is still worth the visit. A small shop in the museum offers replicas of antique objects
A three-aisled basilica with the remains of luxurious marble inlays on the floor. Dated as no later than the 6th century
The Forum Romanum/Agora was the central place for political decisions, economic transactions, social interactions and religious ceremonies, making it the vibrant centre of public life. It was a complex of public buildings, arranged around a central open space. The most impressive buildings are the northeastern and the northwestern temples.
It was a large, three-aisled basilica (130 x 50 m) with transept aisle on the east side, a square atrium, and a gallery over the aisles and the narthex (narrow, single-storey lobby at the main entrance). Fragments of the luxurious pavement and part of the ambo (pulpit) are preserved in the middle aisle. Particularly impressive are the frescoes that imitate orthostates (dados) in the porch of a chapel. Dated to the end of the 5th century AD.
Three-aisled basilica dates to about 550 AD. It has a narthex and appendages to the north and south (phiale, sacristy). The almost square aisle was covered by a vault supported by large pillars. A second vault covered the Holy Bema (closed space in Orthodox churches) .The basilica covers most of the previous Palaestra (No. 11), a humanistic Roman institution for physical and spiritual education. The Palaestra consisted of a central courtyard, rooms and a small amphitheatre.