Berea

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Berea or Beroea was a city of the Hellenic and Roman era now known as Veria (or Veroia) in Macedonia, northern Greece.

Variants of name

Jat Gotras Namesake

Location

It is a small city on the eastern side of the Vermion Mountains north of Mount Olympus. The town is mentioned in Bible in the Acts of the Apostles, where the apostles Paul, Silas and Timothy preached the Christian gospel.

Berea was located in southwestern Macedonia, which was a province of the Roman empire in its time. No one has verified the date of the establishment of the city, although it has been known to have been surrendered to the Romans from the Persians after the Battle of Pydna in 168 B.C. There is a city of the same name that is mentioned in a section of Thucydides, which dates it to be around the year 432 B.C. In Polybius there were two insertions about an inscription that dates the city back to the later part of the 4th century BC. The city's foundation stood where modern day Verria or Kar-Verria in Greece is today. It was located in a unique position. There was a variety of terrain that surrounded the city back then and even today.

Being positioned at the base of Mount Bermius, which is part of the Olympian Mountain range, an ample supply of water provided for the city and the region. A big source of water was the Eliakomon River and Axius river which provided the plains with a bountiful supply of water to nurture the apple, peach and pear orchards. However, even now the area is known to be quite wealthy with the fueling of the area's industrial section due to the presence of an electrical dam on the Eliakomon River.[1]

History

The city was also the first city of the Macedonian region to fall to the Roman Empire, following the Battle of Pydna in 168 B.C. During the time of Paul the Apostle, there were two major roads joining the towns of Thessalonica and Berea, one of them passing close to the ancient city of Pella. There are some assumptions that the Apostle Paul used this route when visiting Berea.

Berea was one of two capitals when Diocletian ruled the Roman empire from 284 through 305 A.D. Ancient custom says that Saint Onesimus was the first bishop of Berea. The bishops in Berea were under the authority of the head of the ecclesiastic province in Thessalonica, but was later assigned its own ecclesiastic province by Andronicus II (1283-1328).

Arrian[2] mentions ....Being informed that revolutionary plans had been carried out in the Peloponnese, he (Alexander the Great) sent Amphoterus thither to assist those of the Peloponnesians who were firm in their support of his war against Persia, and were not under the control of the Lacedaemonians. He also commanded the Phoenicians and Cyprians to despatch to the Peloponnese 100 other ships in addition to those which he was sending with Amphoterus. He now started up into the interior towards Thapsacus and the river Euphrates, after placing Coeranus, a Beroean over the levy of tribute in Phoenicia, and Philoxenus to collect it in Asia as far as the Taurus.....Beroea was a city of Macedonia, on the Astraeus, a tributary of the Haliacmon, about 20 miles from the sea.

The city is reputed to have been named by its mythical creator Beres (also spelled Pheres) or from the daughter of the king of Berroia who was thought to be the son of Macedon. Veria enjoyed great prosperity under the kings of the Argead Dynasty (whose most famous member was Alexander the Great) who made it their second most important city after Pella; the city reached the height of its glory and influence in the Hellenistic period, during the reign of the Antigonid Dynasty. During this time, Veria became the seat of the Koinon of Macedonians (Κοινόν Μακεδόνων), minted its own coinage and held sports games named Alexandreia, in honor of Alexander the Great, with athletes from all over Greece competing in them.[3]

Veria surrendered to Rome in 168 BC. During the Roman empire, Veria became a place of worship for the Romans. Diocletian made the large and populous city one of two capitals of the Roman province of Macedonia, eponymous in the civil Diocese of Macedonia. Within the city there was a Jewish settlement where the Apostle Paul, after leaving Thessalonica, and his companion Silas preached to the Jewish and Greek communities of the city in AD 50/51 or 54/55.

Byzantine Veria: Under the Byzantine Empire Berrhoea continued to grow and prosper, developing a large and well-educated commercial class (Greek and Jewish) and becoming a center of medieval Greek learning; signs of this prosperity are reflected in the many Byzantine churches that were built at this time.

In the 7th century, the Slavic tribe of the Drougoubitai raided the lowlands below the city, while in the late 8th century Empress Irene of Athens is said to have rebuilt and expanded the city and named it Irenopolis (Ειρηνούπολις) after herself, although some sources place this Berrhoea-Irenopolis further east, towards Thrace.[4]

The city was apparently held by the Bulgarian Empire at some point in the late 9th century. The 11th-century Greek bishop Theophylact of Ohrid wrote that during the brief period of Bulgarian dominance, Tsar Boris I built there one of the seven cathedral churches built by him and refers to it as "one of the beautiful Bulgarian churches".[5] In the Escorial Taktikon of c. 975, the city is mentioned as the seat of a strategos, and it apparently was the capital of a theme in the 11th century.[6] The city briefly fell to Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria at the end of the 10th century, but the Byzantine emperor Basil II quickly regained it in 1001 since its Bulgarian governor, Dobromir, surrendered the city without a fight.[6] The city is not mentioned again until the late 12th century, when it was briefly held by the Normans (1185) during their invasion of the Byzantine Empire.[7]

After the Fourth Crusade (1204), it briefly became part of Boniface of Montferrat's Kingdom of Thessalonica, and a Latin bishop took up residence in the city.[8] In c. 1206, the city was taken by the Bulgarian ruler, Kalojan. Many inhabitants were killed while others, including the Latin bishop, fled. Kalojan installed Bulgarians as commandant and bishop, and resettled some of the leading families to Bulgaria. After Kalojan's death in 1207, the city may have reverted to Latin rule, but there is no evidence of this; at any rate, by 1220 it had been occupied by the ruler of Epirus, Theodore Komnenos Doukas, for in that year the doux Constantine Pegonites is attested as governing the city in his name.[9] It changed hands again in 1246, being taken by the Emperor of Nicaea John III Doukas Vatatzes, and formed part of the restored Byzantine Empire after 1261.[10]

The 14th century was tumultuous: the area was pillaged by Karasid Turks in 1331,[9] and captured by the Serbian ruler Stephen Dushan in 1343/4, when it became part of his Serbian Empire. It was recovered for Byzantium by John VI Kantakouzenos in 1350, but lost again to the Serbians soon after, becoming the domain of Radoslav Hlapen after 1358.[6] With the disintegration of the Serbian Empire, it passed once more to Byzantium by ca. 1375, but was henceforth menaced by the rising power of the Ottoman Turks.[11]

According to a tradition preserved by Yazıcıoğlu Ali, the two younger sons of the Seljuk sultan Kaykaus II were settled by Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in Veria, and made its governors. One of their descendants converted to Christianity, and one of his progeny, a certain Lyzikos, in turn surrendered the city to the Ottoman Sultan (perhaps Bayezid I). After the Ottoman conquest he and his relatives were settled at Zichna. This story explains the presence of Gagauz people in Veria and its environs. The Ottoman chroniclers report that the town was first captured in 1385, while the Byzantine short chronicles record the date as 8 May 1387.[12] The city changed hands several times over the next decades, until the final Turkish conquest around 1430.[13]

Ottoman Veria: The Ottomans called Veria Karaferye ("black Veria"), possibly to distinguish it from its namesake in Bulgaria, also known as Eski Zagora to the Turks. Under Ottoman rule, Veria was the seat of a kaza within the Sanjak of Salonica; by 1885, the kaza, along with Naoussa, included 46 villages and chiftliks. The 17th-century traveller Evliya Çelebi reports that the city was peaceful, without walls or garrison; it had 4000 houses, 16 Muslim quarters, 15 Christian quarters, and 2 Jewish congregations. The city was a prosperous center of rice production.[14]

Under Ottoman rule, Veria continued to be a regional center of Greek commerce and learning, and counted many important Greek scholars as its natives (e.g. Ioannis Kottounios)

Veria in the Greek War of Independence: The presence of a large, prosperous and educated bourgeoisie made Veria one of the centers of Greek nationalism in the region of Macedonia, and the city's inhabitants had an active part in the Greek War of Independence; important military leaders during the uprising included Athanasios Syropoulos, Georgios Syropoulos, Dimitrios Kolemis and Georgios Kolemis, among others;[15] however, as was the case with the rest of Northern Greece, eventually the uprising was defeated, and Veria only became part of modern Greece in 1912 during the Balkan Wars, when it was taken by the Hellenic Army in October 16, 1912 (October 16 is an official holiday in Veria, commemorating the city's incorporation to Greece), and was officially annexed to Greece following the signing of the Treaty of Athens in November 1913.[16]

Vermio Mountains

The Vermio Mountains (Greek: Βέρμιο), the ancient Bermion (Greek: Βέρμιον), is a mountain range in northern Greece. It lies between the Imathia Regional Unit of the Central Macedonia Region and the Kozani Regional Unit of the Western Macedonia Region. The range is west of the plain of Kambania. The town of Veria, which is the capital of Imathia, is built οn the foot of these mountains. The highest point in the range is the peak Chamiti (Greek: Χαμίτη), 2,065 metres elevation, west of Naousa.

Mentioned in antiquity by Pliny,[17] Strabo,[18]Stephen of Byzantium,[19] Hierocles,[20] Ptolemy,[21] and Thucydides[22] and Herodotus.[23][24] In classical times the mountain was though by Herodotus to be impassible and according to tradition, paradise was to be held on the other side. During Hellenistic times was an internal boundary of the Macedonian state.[25]

In Bible

Paul, Silas and Timothy travelled to Berea by night after fleeing from Thessalonica, as recorded in Acts 17:10. They 'immediately' went to the synagogue of the Jews to preach, and the Bereans were very accepting: the writer of the Acts of the Apostles noted the difference between the Thessalonians' response to the gospel and the Bereans' response: the Bereans were 'open-minded' or 'fair-minded' [26] and willing to 'examine the scriptures to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth'.[27] Many of the Bereans believed, both men and women, but when the Jewish Thessalonian non-believers heard about this, they came to Berea, stirring up crowds, starting riots, and ensuring that Paul, Silas and Timothy could not preach. Then the believers sent Paul to the coast, while Timothy and Silas stayed behind. Paul was taken to Athens, and word was given to Timothy and Silas to join him as soon as possible. (Acts 17:10–15)

References

  1. ↑ "Berea". Meander Travel.
  2. ↑ The Anabasis of Alexander/3a, Ch.6
  3. ↑ Λούκιος ή Όνος 34.15-17
  4. ↑ Gregory, Timothy E.; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Berroia in Macedonia". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–284. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  5. ↑ Migne, Jacques Paul. Patrologia Graeca, t. 126, col. 529.
  6. ↑ Gregory, Timothy E.; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Berroia in Macedonia". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–284. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  7. ↑ Gregory, Timothy E.; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Berroia in Macedonia". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–284. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  8. ↑ Nicol, Donald MacGillivray (1976). "Refugees, Mixed Population and Local Patriotism in Epiros and Western Macedonia after the Fourth Crusade". XVe Congrès international d'études byzantines (Athènes, 1976), Rapports et corapports I. Athens. pp. 3–33
  9. ↑ Nicol, Donald MacGillivray (1976). "Refugees, Mixed Population and Local Patriotism in Epiros and Western Macedonia after the Fourth Crusade". XVe Congrès international d'études byzantines (Athènes, 1976), Rapports et corapports I. Athens. pp. 3–33
  10. ↑ Gregory, Timothy E.; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Berroia in Macedonia". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–284. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  11. ↑ Gregory, Timothy E.; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Berroia in Macedonia". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–284. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  12. ↑ Ménage, V. L. (1978). "Karaferye". In van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch.; Bosworth, C. E. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume IV: Iran–Kha. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 600–601. ISBN 90-04-05745-5.
  13. ↑ Gregory, Timothy E.; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Berroia in Macedonia". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–284. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
  14. ↑ Ménage, V. L. (1978). "Karaferye". In van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch.; Bosworth, C. E. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume IV: Iran–Kha. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 600–601. ISBN 90-04-05745-5.
  15. ↑ Ανέκδοτα έγγραφα και άγνωστα στοιχεία για κλεφταρματολούς και για την επανάσταση (1821–1822) στη Μακεδονία και ιδιαίτερα στον Όλυμπο, Γεώργιος Χ. Χιονίδης, Βέροια 1979[pe
  16. ↑ Ménage, V. L. (1978). "Karaferye". In van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch.; Bosworth, C. E. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume IV: Iran–Kha. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 600–601. ISBN 90-04-05745-5.
  17. ↑ Pliny the Elder, Natural History IV.10
  18. ↑ Strabo VII.26.
  19. ↑ John Anthony Cramer, A geographical and historical description of ancient Greece (1828) p233
  20. ↑ John Anthony Cramer, A geographical and historical description of ancient Greece (1828)p233.
  21. ↑ Ptol. iii. 12
  22. ↑ George Grote, History of Greece: I. Legendary Greece. II. Grecian History to the Reign of Peisistratus at Athens, Volume 6 (J. Murray, 1854) p98-99.
  23. ↑ Fitz Hugh Ludlow, David M. Gross , The Annotated Hasheesh Eater (David M Gross, 4 Oct. 2007) p95.
  24. ↑ George Grote, A History of Greece: From the Earliest Period to the Close of the Generation Contemporary with Alexander the Great, Volume 4 (J. Murray, 1862) p205-206.
  25. ↑ John Anthony Cramer, A geographical and historical description of ancient Greece (1828) p192
  26. ↑ New American Bible
  27. ↑ Acts 17:11

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