Pydna

• a city in Macedonia, on the Thermaic Gulf (the modern Kitro), celebrated for the battle in which Perseus was defeated by Aemilius Paulus, Liv. 44, 6, 3; 44, 42, 2 sqq.; Nep. Them. 8, 5.—Pydnaei, ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Pydna, Liv. 44, 45.

PYDNA (Πύδνα, Scyl. p. 26; Scymn. Ch. 626; Ptol. 3.13.15; Steph. B.; Plin. Nat. 4.17), a town which originally stood on the coast of Pieria, in the Thermaic gulf. Themistocles was conducted by two Macedonian guides across the mountains, and found a merchant ship about to sail for Asia. (Thuc. 2.137.) Pydna was blockaded by the Athenians, who, after prosecuting the siege in vain, concluded a convention with Perdiccas. (Thuc. 1.61.) It was taken B.C. 411 by Archelaus, who removed its site 20 stadia from the sea. (Diod. 13.49.) Afterwards it was gained for Athens by Timotheus; but in the two first years of the disastrous Social War (358--356), Pydna, about the exchange of which for Amphipolis there had been a secret negotiation, was betrayed to Philip by a party of traitors in the town. (Demosth. adv. Leptinem, p. 476.71. Olynth. 1. p. 10.5, Olynth. 2. p. 19.6; Ulpian, ad loc.; Theopompus, Fr. 189, ed Didot.) Several Athenian citizens were taken in Pydna, and sold into slavery, whom Demosthenes ransomed from his own funds. (Plut. Vit. X. Orator. p. 851, vol. 9. p. 381, ed. Reiske.) Towards the close of the year B.C. 316, Olympias retired to Pydna, where she was besieged by Cassander, and taken prisoner by him. (Diod. 19.49; Polyaen. 4.11.3.) In the spring of B.C. 169, Perseus abandoning Dium, retreated before the consul Q. Marcius Philippus to Pydna. (Liv. 44.6.) After again occupying the strong line of the Enipeus, Perseus, in consequence of the dexterous flank movement of P. Scipio Nasica, was compelled to fall back upon Pydna. On the 22nd of June, B.C. 168 (an eclipse fixes the date, Clinton, F. H. vol. 3. p. 82), the fate of the Macedonian monarchy was decided in a plain near the town, which was traversed by a small river, and bordered by heights affording a convenient retreat and shelter to the light infantry, while the plain alone contained the level ground necessary for the phalanx. (Liv. 44.32--46; Plut. Aemil. 13--23.) The Epitomiser of Strabo and a Scholiast upon Demosthenes (Olynth. 1. p. 10) assert that the Κίτρος of their time was the same place as Pydna; but their authority is of no great weight, and Colonel Leake (Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 429--435) has shown that the ancient, site is better represented by Ayán, where there are Hellenic remains, and, on the slope towards the sea, two tumuli,p robably monuments of the battle. Kítro, it may be supposed, rose upon the decay of Pydna and Methone, between which it lies. For autonomous coins of Pydna, see Eckhel. vol. 2. p. 76.

(Πύδνα). Now Kitron. A town of Macedonia in the district Pieria, was situated at a small distance west of the Thermaic Gulf, on which it had a harbour. It was originally a Greek colony, but it was subdued by the Macedonian kings, from whom, however, it frequently revolted. It was subdued by Philip, who enlarged and fortified the place. It is especially memorable on account of the victory gained under its walls by Aemilius Paulus over Perseus, the last king of Macedonia, 168. Under the Romans it was also called Citrum or Citrus.

A city in Pieria, the ethnic being Pydnaios. It issued coinage as early as the late 6th c. B.C. Like Methone, Pydna was considered a Greek city, as opposed to the Thracian and Macedonian cities along the coast of the Thracian gulf and inland. It is mentioned first by Thucydides (1.137) in connection with Themistocles' flight to Persia, as “Pydna of Alexander,” the king of Macedonia. It became important during the Peloponnesian War. In 432 B.C. it was besieged by the Athenians (Thuc. 1.61). Archelaus made a brief siege of the fortified seashore city of Pydna with the help of the Athenian navy (ca. 410 B.C.) and after taking it moved the city 20 stades inland from the shore (Diod. Sic. 13.14). But after Archelaus' death it appears that the citizens of Pydna moved their city back to the shore. Pydna issued coins again from 389 to 379 B.C. In 364-363 B.C. the Athenians took it, but in 357-356 B.C. it fell into Philip's hands. In 317-316 B.C. after a long siege of the city Kassander put Olympias, Alexander the Great's mother, to death there (Diod. 19.36.1, 49.1). In the same place the last act of the drama of Macedonian Hellenism took place: the battle of Pydna (22 June 168 B.C.) in which M. Aemilius Paulus defeated Perseus, last king of Macedonia, and put an end to Macedonian power.

Although the site of Pydna is disputed, it is reasonably well established. The city on the shore is on a hill S of the town of Makrygialos, called by the natives “Old Pydna” or Paliokitros. The Pydna of Archelaus is at Kitros. The port is by the promontory Atherida. The battle of Pydna, according to a recent study, took place on the hills on either side of the river now called Mavroneri (ancient Leukos), while its tributary, the Pelikas, is identified as the Aeson. Another theory is that the battle took place nearer Pydna, by the modern town of Ano and Kato Joannis, near Kourinos, where there are two grave tumuli.

There have never been excavations in the area of Pydna except for the discovery of a “Macedonian” tomb by Heuzey. The information about the topography of Pydna and the battle near it is based on continual surface observations by many investigators, and on chance finds, which are in the Thessalonika Museum and the Archaeological Collection of Katerini, the present capital of the Nome of Pieria.

L. Heuzey & H. Daumet, Mission Archéologique de Macédoine (1876) 239-66MPI; Ch. Edson, “The Tomb of Olympias,” Hesperia 18 (1949) 84-95I; id., ATL I (1939); III (1950) passim; V. Kahrstedt, “Städte in Makedonien,” Hermes 81 (1953) 85-111; Chr. M. Danoff,“Pydna,” RE Suppl. X (1965) 833-42; W. K. Pritchett, Studies in Ancient Greek Topography II; Battlefields (1969) 145-76MI.