History of Thessaloniki - Roman Era

Roman Era

After the fall of the Kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, Thessalonica as it came to be called in Latin, became a city of the Roman Republic. It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the Via Egnatia, the Roman road connecting Byzantium (later Constantinople) with Dyrrhachium (now Durrës in Albania), which facilitated trade between Europe and Asia. The city became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia while it kept its privileges but was ruled by a praetor and had a Roman garrison. Also for a short time in the 1st century BC, Thessalonica even became capital for all the Greek provinces. Due to the city's key commercial importance, a spacious harbour was built by the Romans, the famous Burrowed Harbour (Σκαπτός Λιμήν) that accommodated the city's trade, up to the 18th century. Later, with the help of silt deposits from the Axios river, land was reclaimed and the port was expanded. Remnants of the old harbour's docks can be found in present day under Frangon Street, near the city's Catholic Church.

Thessaloniki's acropolis, located in the northern hills, was built in 55 BC for security reasons, following Thracian raids in the city's outskirts at the time.

During the 1st century a Jewish colony was established in the city, and came to become an early centre for Christianity. On his second missionary journey, Paul the Apostle of Tarsus, born a Hellenized Israelite, preached in the city's synagogue, the chief synagogue of the Jews in Thessaloniki and laid the foundations of a new church to be built there. Paul wrote two of his epistles, the First Epistle to the Thessalonians and the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians to the Christian community at Thessalonica. He was driven out from the city and fled to Veroia by Jews who opposed him.

In 306 AD, Thessaloníki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius. He is credited with a number of miracles that saved the city and was the Roman Proconsul of Greece, under the anti-Christian emperor Maximian. He was martyred at a Roman prison, where the Church of St. Demetrius lies today. The church was first built by the Roman sub-prefect of Illyricum Leontios in 463. Other important remains from this period include the Arch and Tomb of Galerius, located in the city centre of the modern Thessaloniki.