OLYNTHE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

This 3 ha site (Αρχαιολογικός Χώρος Ολύνθου/Archaiologikos Choros Olynthou) is home to the impressive remains of the ancient city of Olynthe. Impressive, because Olynthe was razed to the ground by the troops of Philip II of Macedonia in 348 B.C. Impressive, too, because it was precisely this destruction that enabled the city's Hippodamian layout to be preserved intact and some of the oldest Greek mosaics to be rediscovered beneath the ruins. Olynthe takes its name from the fig trees on the fertile plain of the river Vatonias, and more specifically from the "late fig" (olynthos). Founded by the Bottiéens, a Thraco-illyrian people of Greek culture, at the beginning of the^5th century BC, it quickly established itself as the political and economic center of Chalkidiki. Allied successively with the Athenians, Spartans and Macedonians, it finally returned to Athens in the face of the hegemony of Philip II. In 349 BC, he laid siege to Olynthe, which seemed impregnable thanks to its ramparts. But Athens' inaction and the betrayal of two Olynthian officers sealed the city's fate. Philip II enslaved the population and had the city razed to the ground. Only a small part of the rubble was later briefly inhabited.

Villa de la Bonne Fortune. In 1902, British archaeologists discovered the foundations of a city frozen in 348 BC. A rarity: not only had Olynthe not undergone any subsequent alterations, such as Roman ones, but it was also the prototype of the "new town" designed by the Greek town planner Hippodamos of Miletus (498-408 BC): straight streets intersecting at right angles. This Hippodamian plan was followed by other ancient cities, but disappeared in the course of history... only to be revived much later by Chicago, Le Havre and New York! So it's through well-laid-out streets and avenues, leading to houses built on the same model (around 320 m² floor space), that we walk around this site today, where only 10% of the remains have been unearthed. Among these houses, the most luxurious preserve priceless mosaics from the ^4th century BC. The most beautiful are those of the "Villa de la Bonne Fortune" and the "Maison de Bellérophon". The small adjoining museum features a video reconstruction of the city before its destruction. Artifacts discovered here can be viewed at the Polygyros Archaeological Museum.