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Heritage: Ancient Philippi, a strong candidacy for UNESCO World Heritage monuments list

Greece will travel to the 40th annual meeting of UNESCO World Heritage in Istanbul with a positive recommendation that will probably include the archaeological site of Philippi in the list of the World Heritage monuments.

Ancient Philippi, a strong candidacy for UNESCO World Heritage monuments list
An aerial view of the archaeological site of Philippi in northern Greece is seen in a file photo. The site is the location of
 the oldest Neolithic settlement in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, and one of the largest in the Balkans. The Apostle Paul 
was beaten and imprisoned at the site in around AD 50 after converting a local slave girl with fortunetelling gifts to 
Christianity and angering her owners. Greece’s request for Philippi to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, 
which was submitted last year, is to be discussed on July 15 at a summit in Istanbul [Credit: ANA/MPA]

The meeting will take place between 10 and 20 July and the Greek request will be discussed on July 15.

"We are optimistic about our candidacy because the consulting body's evaluation report is positive," the national coordinator for UNESCO's world heritage monuments for Greece Evgenia Geroussi said to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).

The archaeological site of Philippi is a very important area in Northeastern Greece on the ancient Egnatia Odos. Philip II saw the strategic position of the location, built the city and named it.

The battle at Philippi also affected the future of the Roman Empire because Augustus became an emperor and the city built was a copy of the Roman cities.

"The city does not have any superstructures and after its abandonment it remained untouched, which means authentic", noted Geroussi.

Source: ANA-MPA [July 07, 2016]