Olynthus and its houses

Several months ago, in the frame of the exhibition on Alexander the Great at the Hermitage in Amsterdam, I attended a lecture about Macedonia where one of the subjects treated was the city of Olynthus.

To me, Olynthus was a city repeatedly besieged by King Philip, Alexander’s father, in his attempt to create a united Macedonia. Ultimately, he razed it from the map, flattening the entire place in a final crush. So, it would be interesting to learn more about this part of history. As it turned out, this was not to be the main focus of the lecture, it was to be the houses of Olynthus, and I was in for several surprises!

The town is located in southwestern Chalcidice, covering two flat-topped hills in the middle of a fertile plain, about ten kilometers north of Potideia. The origin of Olynthus goes back to its mythological founder, Olynthus, son of Heracles. Still, the oldest remains date from Neolithic times in the third millennium BC, which were destroyed by the Persians in 479 BC.

We owe it to King Perdiccas II of Macedonia to order local tribes and settlements to move to Olynthus. This population increase led to the city's actual organization, which soon covered the entire north hill. Here, the new town was built according to a grid plan, the Hippodamian plan. Hippodamus of Miletus (498-403 BC), although an eccentric figure in his time, was the father of urban planning. He conceived the city layout with wide straight streets crossing each other at square angles, inevitably leading to an ample space in its very center where the Agora would emerge so the citizens could meet and greet in one central location. The first city to be built according to this principle was, of course, Miletus in Asia Minor. Still, the idea took on rather quickly, and Olynthus and Pella were to be built this way (eventually lavishly implemented by Alexander the Great when he founded his many cities in the east and generously copied by the practical Romans).

From 432 BC onward Olynthus’ power rose substantially to become the leader of the Chalcidian League, a confederation of 32 cities on the Chalcidice peninsula. Both Athens and Macedonia would love to have Olynthus as an ally rather than as their enemy. Still, an alliance with Olynthus never lasted long as they kept changing camp according to their own whims.

In 357 BC, King Philip II concluded a peace treaty with Olynthus and its allies, i.e., against Athens (part of this text is being kept at the nearby Museum of Polygyros). But a couple of years later, Olynthus changed its mind again and sought an alliance with Athens, who in return did nothing or close to nothing to help them. At first, Philip maneuvered in such a way as to isolate Olynthus by taking one neighboring city after the other and thus seriously cutting down its power. In 348 BC, he besieged Olynthus and razed it to the ground. Useless to point out that the speaker in Amsterdam had my undivided attention, and it was obvious I had to see Olynthus for myself on my next trip to Macedonia – which I did.

Because Olynthus has been (nearly) completely flattened, it is easy to get a good overview of its layout. Although hardly 1/10^th of the total area has been excavated, two large avenues, 7 meters wide, clearly stand out with smaller streets dividing the city into blocks (a familiar sight in major American cities today!). Each block counted ten houses with one upper floor and a paved yard. Amazingly, some of the earliest floor mosaics in Greek art have been discovered here!

It is surprising to learn that most of the houses have a similar ground plan which is commonly referred to as “pastas houses”, i.e. roughly squares of 17 x 17 meters, divided in two almost equal parts, while the northern half is again divided in two. This means that the walls and supporting columns are all placed according to a common rule required: one single roof covers all the northern halves of the entire row of houses. Life evolved around a central courtyard situated in the southern half, which opened onto the long northern portico, i.e., the “pastas.” This portico was the focal point in each house, a convenient and comfortable working area. Nearly all the rooms opened directly to the court or to the pastas. It turns out that the houses in Olynthus were non-hierarchical, meaning there were no main or dominant rooms or backrooms. This differentiates them from the “prostas” type of houses that the Romans built in later years.

All Olynthian houses had a room dedicated as a kitchen area, sometimes with a built-in hearth, and another small room assigned to bathing as several bathtubs have been found in situ with their drainage system. But what stroke me most during this lecture was the illustration of the rooms used as “andron.” Now the “andron” is a kind of formal dining room, only for men, of course, which was used primarily for the Greek “symposiums.” These were dinner parties in which the host took care of entertaining his guests, deciding on the subject to be debated during the long eating and drinking séances, and making sure the appropriate amount of water was mixed with the wine. There were music players, but also young boys and hetaerae to be at the dedicated service of the guests. After a few hours, it was obvious that things ran out of hand, and the mosaic floors were valuable assets when cleaning up the mess the guests made of food, wine, and vomit. In Olynthus, these “androns” usually were square rooms of approximately 5 x 5 meters, with plastered and painted walls around which a raised border of about one meter high indicates the place for the couches (klinè). Because of their setting against the walls, the “androns” in Olynthus could hold seven “klinè,” which meant that the room entrance was off center. The floor was drained by a pipe running through the walls straight into the street, an efficient way to clean up after a messy revelry.

There seem to be considerable variations in these house plans; some have larger “androns,” others larger kitchens or general rooms. Several houses had special workrooms and shops with an opening to the street. Besides that, the homes on one block could be very distinctive from those on another block, perhaps because of a different social status or people exercising a different trade.

Armed with all this background information, I’m off to see Olynthus for myself! The city is within easy reach from Thessaloniki; driving south till the freeway turns into a local road and making sure to turn left in Nea Moudania instead of driving on towards the peninsula of Kassandra. The antique city, now called Megale Toumba, lies on the eastern side of the river Olynthios, while the modern town has relocated to the opposite side. The place is fenced and the access path equals a walk in the park, which in spring bursts with a wide range of flowers and blossoming bushes of all kinds where the busy bees are having a party.

Soon the road runs uphill, and I am treated to the first overall view over the remains of this once so proud city. The walls are approximately knee-high, mainly thanks to the archaeologists' reconstruction work. They have done an excellent job here, inserting a pinkish layer of cement where the original stones end and the newly restored ones have been added. It is a clear example of what “razed to the ground” means,  as historians tell us, for that would have offered us very little to see. I stare immediately into one of the main streets running slightly uphill, giving the impression of an aerial view. Modern excavators have named these avenues, while the smaller crossroads are labeled as streets. At more or less regular intervals, the excavators have placed boards with pertaining information about the streets and the houses so that even the unprepared visitor will find the answers he is looking for.

I follow one of the side streets to its dead end against the city wall, where the sewage conduct that runs underneath this street continues through the wall out of the city. I now remember how during the lecture I was told that the walls of the town and the houses might have had only stone basis whereas the top part was built in brick or mud. That would partially explain how Olynthus was destroyed to the ground, although it was located in a strategic and well-defendable position. The Olynthians put up a fierce fight! It took Philip nearly two years to conquer the city with a short interruption for a campaign in Thessaly. At any rate, his army found the time to engrave their spearheads with a personal message “ΦΙΛΙΠΠO” from Philip. The king and his army must have had quite a sense of humor! Examples of these spearheads can be admired at the nearby Museum of Polygyros, exciting stuff!

In most houses, the wells have been located and nicely preserved – covered with a grid to keep the absent-minded visitor from falling into the pit. I come across one well with the restored wooden frame around it, very interesting. And then, there are the floor mosaics that were left in their original location. As I mentioned above, these are the oldest examples showing well-preserved geometrical motives framed within typical Greek bands. They are comparable to the better-known mosaics at Pella, although not as “royal,” maybe. I recognize the Macedonian sun in one of them while the corners are filled with volutes supporting the wave pattern around the sun. Another one shows a horseback hunter wearing the typical Macedonian hat as he rides in full gallop like in the images we have seen of Alexander the Great. One entrance exposes a deer attacked by two griffons, delicately worked out in small pebbles. Breathtaking to watch!

The Bouleuterion that has been discovered is in a relatively poor state with no seats left, only the socles of the columns that once supported the roof. And in the corner next to it are the remains of a fountain or Nymphaeum, partially reconstructed above the ever-present pinkish cement line.

One of the reasons why Philip so thoroughly flattened Olynthus may have been that the city had given asylum to two of his half-brothers, possible pretenders to the throne of Macedonia. However, we may never know this for sure, but the brothers were killed – problem solved.

At the foot of this hill is a small museum offering an exhibition of pictures taken before, during, and after the site's restoration. Still, it also includes some aerial views that can be very helpful for those who want some extra orientation.

To conclude, I would like to mention that Callisthenes (ca. 370-327 BC), the biographer of Alexander the Great who accompanied him on all his campaigns, was born here in Olynthus. All this proves that Olynthus was not just any city, but a city with lots of history to tell.

[Click here to see all the pictures of Olynthus]