![]() ![]() One tradition says that Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, was the first convert of the Berean church (mentioned in Acts 20:4). Paul's preaching, the Christian community thrived in the city. Under the Roman administration, the city became well populated, partly due to the extension of the Egnatian Way through the region of Berea to its north. The city opened their gates to Rome after the Battle of Pydna (168 BCE) and was taken by the Romans without resistance. Thucydides (the Classical period general that was expelled from Athens after losing to the Persians) referred to the place. With few physical finds, scholars are left to seek information from ancient historians. A few sections of the ancient city wall are displayed on the edges of the city. The major artifacts in the local museum, though, quite interestingly, are mainly funerary monuments. A major electric dam on the Eliakomon River today provides industrial sector work today, and the area is still considered reasonably wealthy.Įxtensive excavations have not been attempted in the area. Scholars believe the city's population may have reached 60,000 to 70,000 at its zenith (about twice its modern population), but this is speculation. The alluvial plains north of Mount Vermio were (and still are) still rich in apple, peach and pear orchards. The city is set on a ridge with the well watered nearby basins of the Eliakomon and Axios Rivers. The myth probably recalls the primary reason the city was founded on this location. The mythological beginning of the city is ascribed to a daughter of Ocean, the Titan that married Thetys (another Titan) and bore the "Oceanids" (Nymphs of the great rivers). The founders were no doubt Thracians and Phrygians driven out by the Makadne in one of the archaic transitions. Ruins extend to 700 BCE (though scarce), when the city probably began as an agricultural market center. The city of Berea (modern Veria) was founded in the Archaic Period in the southwestern part of Macedonia, some 73 km west of Thessalonica. ![]()
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