An unavoidable attraction and challenge for Macedonian archeology is the city of Philip II of Macedon, Heraclea Lyncestis. Built in 359 B.C. as a strategic centre on the northwest border of the Macedonian province of Lyncestida, its past stretches to the late Bronze Age.
The acropolis, on the other hand, the stronghold on the top of the hill, manifests the Macedonian-Hellenic character of Heraclea from 2 B.C. Heraclea is almost unmatched in its number of cultural layers and in their thickness. Remnants of settlements come one after another, in ten levels and seven layers, bearing witness to continuous developments throughout the course of many epochs.
The overwhelming position of Heraclea in the ancient world results from a fortunate coincidence between history and geography. Located near present day Bitola on a fertile plain, protected from the north by the Baba mountain and from the south by the Siva Voda river, it has always been on the road which, during the period of Roman rule, became interchangeable with the famous Via Egnatia, a link between the Adriatic and Aegean coasts. This location exposed the city to the direct influence of Rome.
Soon after the Roman conquest in 168 B.C., Macedonia was turned into a Roman province (in 148 B.C.) and partitioned into four regions. Heraclea became a part of the Fourth merida with a permanent Roman regent and a permanently deployed Roman army. Thus, it prospered into an important economic and political centre. For almost six centuries the region of Heraclea was Latinised and assimilated by the most powerful empire of the time. Heraclea reached the highest level of civilised development during the first centuries after Christ, when it acquired the status of a colony. An inscription on a marble base from the beginning of the Third Century A.D., it had the name Septima Aurelia Heraclea.
With its urban quality, Heraclea was turned into a genuine pearl of Roman architecture. However, no matter how much it was built in accordance with the strict constructional canons of the great empire, traditional influence continued to leave deep, indelible traces. The portico of the courtroom (the northern leg of the forum), with its rectangular base, epitomises this spirit in a calm manner. Two statues on bases and a base without a statue stand in a row by the northern wall, telling the magnificent saga of Heraclea. The excavation of the statue of Titus Flavius Orestus, with its Greek inscription, meant the unearthing of a dark, dramatic, historical secret from the end of the Third Century A.D.: The indifference of the barbarian, for whom this statue meant nothing else but a massive marble block--a foundation for his building of stone and mud. The splendour of the statue opposes this rough construction placed on the back of the man who was a distinguished citizen and twice an archpriest and benefactor of Heraclea. The head of Orestus is individualised by calm beauty, with a placid breath, eyes, forehead, and face, which can still be seen today in this area.
The harmonious proportions, the inner firmness of a young and congenial female body of the second statue with a Greek inscription--a gift from an inhabitant of Heraclea, Julia Tertila, and having the usual attributes (the scales and a bow)--suggest the splendour of the goddess of justice and destiny: Nemesis.
The base without a statue with a Greek inscription is dedicated to the goddess Nemesis, and framed are two lines from Deeds and Days by Hesiod:
The building of the Thermae commenced in the beginning of the Fourth Century A.D., and the plumbing (the beginning of the Sixth Century A.D.) The bath is a magnificent object, with three bathing halls:
The entrance, apoditerium, has not yet been excavated. Attached to the hall with hot water were three furnaces, praefurnia. The bath was heated from below by a special system of flues in the floor or walls, called hypocaust. With some modifications, it was also used in the Fifth Century A.D.
The genius of Roman architecture is best represented by the large theatre, built according to the great plans of the experienced engineer Vitruvius Pollio. The construction was probably initiated during the rule of Hadrian and finished in the time of Antonius Pius. The excavation of the pulpitum (stage) revealed the double function of the theatre building for stage performances and for performances with animals. The high wall of the orthostati, which encircles the orchestra, and the metal railing upon it served as protection for the spectators from the enraged animals kept in three cages. The auditorium has two hundred rows of seats, and above the highest one there was a Nemesion. Between the third and the seventh row a honorary box with seats was constructed. The stage consists of five rectangular rooms and a richly decorated front facade to the north. The theatre, with all its magnificence and the pleasure it yielded, was attractive to both rich and poor. In order to fill a building with seats for about 3,000 spectators, one needs a people experienced in the secrets of beauty. The theatre had a significant role in the creation of the cult of the martyr. Christians were thrown into the arena, where they became easy prey for starving animals. The Christians, supported by their faith in the salvation of their souls, received the horrifying death in prayer and without fear.
The period from the end of the Third Century to the middle of the Fourth Century A.D. was the time for frequent Barbarian assaults (after which Heraclea receives an inner wall and becomes an irregularly prolonged trapeze of seven hectares), and a real war between the Christians and the pagans. Martyrdom, with the rivers of Christian blood shed in the course of the great persecutions, lasted until the Religious Treaty of 313 A.D., or with the Theodosian code of 381 A.D.
In the following two centuries, after the invasion of the Huns in 447 A.D., and the double conquest of the leader of the Goths, Theodoric (in 472 and in 479 A.D.), the city, was raised from ruins and ashes, and arose into the period of its greatest prosperity. New ethics were born, more merciful than the pagan ones, were the ethics of Christianity. In this period Christianity was deeply rooted in the very material foundations of culture, within a very well organised religious life.
The city of Heraclea, however, did not enjoy for long the fruits of its golden age. On the contrary, the invasion of the Avars and Slavs, from the end of the Sixth and the beginning of the Seventh Centuries A.D., would turn Heraclea into a city of darkness and barbarian violence. The invaders did not inhabit the city but instead scattered themselves around it, interrupting for good the urban life of the city and its long tradition.
Today, on the eve of the Twenty-First Century, Heraclea, full of clandestine mysteries, manages to oppose time, manages to live with us, unveiling its secrets and cursing oblivion. The projects undertaken for the conservation and restoration of particular objects in Heraclea are not mere nostalgic fancies after a vanished world but manifestations of respect for the life and destiny of a truly memorable city--a city in ruins with much to offer, deserving to be visited again and again.
Contributor: Anica Georgievska
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