Amphipolis

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(Ἀμφίπολις)

This Macedonian city played an important part in early Greek history. Occupying an eminence on the left bank of the Strymon, just below the egress of the river from Lake Cercinitis, 3 miles from the Strymonic Gulf, it commanded the entrance to a pass leading through the mountains into the great Macedonian plains. It was almost encircled by the river, whence its name ‘Amphi-polis.’

Thucydides (i. 100) says that the Athenians ‘sent 10,000 settlers of their own citizens and the allies to the Strymon, to colonize what was then called the “Nine Ways” (Ἐννέα ὁδοί), but now Amphipolis.’ It was the jewel of their empire, but they lost it in 422 b.c., and never recovered it. It was under the Macedonian kings from 360 till the Roman conquest of the country in 167 b.c. The Romans made it a free city and the capital of the first of four districts into which they divided Macedonia. It lay on the Via Egnatia , which connected Dyrrachium with the Hellespont. From Philippi it was 32 miles to the south-west, and ‘this was one of the most beautiful day’s journeys Paul ever experienced’ (Renan, Saint Paul , Eng. translation, p. 91). The Apostle and his fellow-travellers evidently remained in Amphipolis over night, and next day went on to Apollonia ( Acts 17:1). It is now represented by Neochori .

Literature.-W. M. Leake, Northern Greece , London, 1835, iii. 181f.; G. Grote, Hist. of Greece , new ed., do. 1870, iii. 254ff.; Conybeare-Howson, St. Paul , do. 1872, i. 374ff.

James Strahan.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A Macedonian city, through which Paul and Silas passed, by the Ignatian Way, in journeying from Philippi (33 Roman miles distant) to Thessalonica ( Acts 17:1). Their not staying there may have been because there were few, if any, Jews in it: and they hastened on to Thessalonica, "where was a synagogue of Jews," affording the suitable starting point for a Christian church. It means the city (almost) surrounded by the river Strymon, three miles from its entrance into the sea. An Athenian colony. Its commercial situation, and the neighboring woods of Kerkine, and gold mines of mount Pangtens, gave it importance; also memorable in the Peloponnesian war for the battle fought at it, in which Brasidas and Cleon were killed. The site is now occupied by the village Neokhorio.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

AMPHIPOLIS . A town in a part of Macedonia formerly reckoned to Thrace, on the river Strymon, about 3 miles from its mouth, where the harbour Eion was situated. It was a place of great strategic and mercantile importance. It underwent various vicissitudes, but retained its importance based on its abundant supplies of excellent wine, figs, oil, and wood, its silver and gold mines, its woollen fabrics. The Romans raised it to the rank of a free town and the chief town of the first district of the province Macedonia; through it the Via Egnatia passed. The verb in the Greek (  Acts 17:1 ) seems to indicate that St. Paul passed through it without preaching there.

A. Souter.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Amphipolis ( Am-Fĭp'O-Lĭs ), Around The City. A chief city of the southern portion of Macedonia under the Romans. The river Strymon flowed on three sides of the city, hence its name. It was 33 miles southwest of Philippi, and three miles from the sea. Paul and Silas passed through it.  Acts 17:1. Neo-khorio, or Newtown, a village of about 100 houses, now occupies a portion of the site of Amphipolis.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Amphip'olis. (A City Surrounded By The Sea). A city of Macedonia, through which Paul and Silas passed on their way from Philippi to Thessalonica.  Acts 17:1. It was distant 33 Roman miles from Philippi, to the southwest, and about three miles from the sea. Its site is now occupied by a village called Neokhorio ; in Turkish, Jeni-Keni , or "New Town".

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A city of Macedonia, situated not far from the mouth of the river Strymon, which flowed "around the city," and thus occasioned its name. The village which now stands upon the site of the ancient city is called Empoli of Yamboli, a corruption of Amphipolis. It was visited by Paul and Silas,  Acts 17:1 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

City of eastern Macedonia, almost surrounded by the river Strymon, hence its name. Paul and Silas passed through it in going to Philippi.  Acts 17:1 . It is now called Jeni-keni, 'new town.'

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Acts 17:1

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Acts 17:1

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

am - fip´o - lis ( Ἀμφιπολίς , Amphı́polis ): A town in Macedonia, situated on the eastern bank of the Strymon (modern Struma or Karasu ) some three miles from its mouth, near the point where it flows out of Lake Prasias or Cercinitis. It lay on a terraced hill, protected on the North, West and South by the river, on the East by a wall (Thuc. iv.102), while its harbor-town of Eïon lay on the coast close to the river's mouth. The name is derived either from its being nearly surrounded by the stream or from its being conspicuous on every side, a fact to which Thucydides draws attention (in the place cited). It was at first called Ennea Hodoi , Nine Ways, a name which suggests its importance both strategically and commercially. It guarded the main route from Thrace into Macedonia and later became an important station on the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road from Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic to the Hebrus ( Maritza ), and it was the center of a fertile district producing wine, oil, figs and timber in abundance and enriched by gold and silver mines and considerable manufactures, especially of woolen stuffs. In 497 bc Aristagoras, ex-despot of Miletus, tried to settle there, and a second vain attempt was made in 465-464 by the Athenians, who succeeded in founding a colony there in 437 under the leadership of Hagnon. The population, however, was too mixed to allow of strong Athenian sympathies, and in 424 the town fell away to the Spartan leader Brasidas and defied all the subsequent attempts of the Athenians to recover it. It passed under the protectorate of Perdiccas and Philip of Macedon, and the latter finally made himself master of it in 358. On the Roman partition of Macedonia after the battle of Pydna (168 bc) Amphipolis was made a free city and capital of Macedonia Prima. Paul and Silas passed through it on their way from Philippi to Thessalonica, but the narrative seems to preclude a long stay ( Acts 17:1 ). The place was called Popolia in the Middle Ages, while in modern times the village of Neochori (Turkish, Yenikeui ) marks the site (Leake, Northern Greece , III, 181ff, Cousinéry, Macédoine , I, 100ff, 122ff; Heuzey et Daumet, Mission archéol. de Macédoine , 165ff).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Amphip´olis, a city of Greece, through which Paul and Silas passed on their way from Philippi to Thessalonica ( Acts 17:1). It was situated on the left bank of the river Strymon just below its egress from the lake Kerkine (now Takino), and about three miles above its influx into the sea. This situation upon the banks of a navigable river, a short distance from the sea, with the vicinity of the woods of Kerkine, and the gold-mines of Mount Pangaeus, rendered Amphipolis a place of much importance, and an object of contest, between the Thracians, Athenians, Lacedaemonians, and Macedonians, to whom it successively belonged. It has long been in ruins; and a village of about one hundred houses, called Jeni-keui, now occupies part of its site.