The central area of Early Christian Dion is occupied by a three-aisled basilica of the late fourth century AD., decorated with mosaic pavements and wall paintings. The church was ruined by an earthquake and was rebuilt in the early fifth century, but on much higher ground. Another Early Christian basilica has been recently discovered outside the town walls -at the edge of a cemetery – and is now being excavated. In the stoa outside its narthex a marble, built trapeza was found; its relation to an adjacent cenotaph suggests that a Christian martyr was worshipped here. Dion seems to have become abandoned during the fifth century AD. due to a succession of natural disasters (earthquakes, flood). Since then its inhabitants found shelter on safer locations at the foot of Mount Olympos, where new settlements were built.
Early Christian Basilicas
07 Aug 2012
by Archaeology Newsroom
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