Roman Forum

The Forum was the most representative complex of Roman type in every colony, and the tangible expression of the principles of Roman society itself. The Forum was the administrative centre of Philippi in the Roman period. It is located at the heart of the city, between two large parallel paved roads, the Via Egnatiaon the north and the Commercial Road on the south. It was severely damaged by an earthquake after 337 AD, when some of its buildings collapsed. Many of their architectural members were used for the construction of the first Octagon (400 AD), and the bishop's church (cathedral) of Philippi, dedicated to the memory of the Apostle Paul. In the Early Christian period (4th-6th c. AD) it lost its significance, serving merely as a passage between the important buildings of the period, Basilica A and Ba- silica B and the complex of the Octagon.