Olynthus ( Olynthos) is an ancient city in present-day Chalcidice, Greece. It was built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at the head of the Gulf of Torone, near the neck of the peninsula of Pallene, about 2.5 kilometers from the sea, and about 60 stadia (c. 9–10 kilometers) from Poteidaea.

Olynthus served as head of the Chalcidian League from its inception just before the Peloponnesian War to the time the city was destroyed in the Social War. The city flourished between 432 BCE and its destruction by Philip II of Macedon in 348 BCE. It was finally abandoned in 316 BCE. Artefacts found during the excavations of the site are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Olynthos.In the modern day the city is famous for its well preserved household and urban architecture.

History

Neolithic

The Neolithic settlement was founded in the 4th millennium BCE and thrived from 3000 to 2900 BCE. <sup>pg.96</sup> There are no written records from this period but much can be surmised from the archaeological evidence found at the site. The people living in Olynthus at the time were an agricultural society who farmed crops and had domestic animals. They produced pottery, tools made of stone and bone, and stone jewelry. The settlement was invaded and no evidence of resettlement thereafter has been found. <sup>pg.139</sup> The Persian authority in the Balkans had lessened, encouraging the inhabitants of the Pallene peninsula to break away. Suspecting that a revolt against the Great King was brewing, Artabazus captured Olynthus, whom he thought to be disloyal, and killed a large number of the Bottiaeans living there.

In 432 BCE King Perdiccas II of Macedon encouraged several nearby coastal towns (including, but likely not limited to, Mecyberna, Singus, and Gale <sup>pg.147</sup> This synoecism (συνοικισμός) was effected, though against Perdiccas' wishes the contributing cities were not completely abandoned. This viewpoint was shared by a number of scholars, including Esprit-Marie Cousinéry, but was challenged in the early twentieth century by Adolf Struck and English archaeologist Alan Wace, among others. Wace in particular found no evidence of an ancient settlement at Agios Mamas, Leake had evidently not visited there himself, and that the inscriptions were taken from stones found at Potidaea by local residents. Utilizing descriptions provided by Thucydides and Xenophon, he reasoned that Olynthus must actually lie further north near the village of Myriophyton. In 1915, Wace conducted a preliminary survey of the area in hopes that the British School of Athens might pursue an excavation, but nothing came of it.

On February 17, 1928, David Moore Robinson and a large team of archaeologists and workmen began excavations at Olynthus in collaboration with the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. They found that the ancient city extends over two hills that detach from a small coulee and possess an area ca. 1500 m long and 400 m in width. Robinson conducted three additional excavations in 1931, 1934, and 1938, publishing the results in fourteen volumes. Some of his writing was later found to have been plagiarized from another excavator, Mary Ross Ellingson. The excavation had uncovered more than five hectares of Olynthus and a portion of Mecyberna (the harbor of Olynthus). On the North Hill this hurried pace proved relatively harmless due to the simple stratigraphy of an area of the city occupied only for 84 years and subjected to a sudden, final destruction; but the data from the South Hill was badly muddled. Nonetheless, the work was excellent for its time, and remains supremely valuable. Much of the stratigraphy of the North Hill has been reconstructed by Nicholas Cahill (University of Wisconsin). The site is now in the charge of Julia Vokotopoulou, and the XVI Ephorate of Classical Antiquities.

Notable people

  • Callisthenes (–328 BC), historian
  • Ephippus (4th century BC), historian
  • Euphantus (4th century BC), philosopher
  • Sthennis (4th century BC), sculptor

Modern Olynthos

thumb|A view of the modern city of Nea Olynthus as seen from the ruins of ancient Olynthus

The modern village, formerly Myriophyton, now called Olynthos or Nea Olynthos, sits on a small plateau on the western side of the river Olynthios or Resetenikia (in ancient times known as Sandanus), across from the ruins of the ancient city.

Artifacts found during the excavations of the site are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Olynthos. The archaeological site is open to public tours during daylight hours.

See also

  • List of ancient Greek cities

References

Notes

  • Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon. (1889/1996). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • George Grote, A History of Greece, London, 1862. 74–108.
  • Charles Rollin, Ancient History. (1844) Philadelphia: John B. Perry.
  • Nicholas Cahill, Household and City Organization at Olynthus; Olynthus at Perseus
  • Raymond Dessy, Exile from Olynthus.
  • David M Robinson; George E Mylonas (1929–1952). "Excavations at Olynthus". (Johns Hopkins University Studies in Archaeology, no. 6, 9, 11–12, 18–20, 25–26, 31–32, 36, 38–39.) 14 v. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. WorldCat
  • Zahrnt, Michael (1971). Olynth und die Chalkidier. Untersuchungen zur Staatenbildung auf der Chalkidikischen Halbinsel im 5. und 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. [Olynthus and the Chalcidians. Studies on state formation on the Chalcidice peninsula in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.] Vestigia, vol. 14. Munich: Beck, .
  • Official website