DION (Code: )

Lying in the shadow of Mt. Olympus, Dion was the “sacred place” of the ancient Macedonians. From very ancient times, a large altar had been  set up for the worship of Olympian Zeus and his daughters, the Muses, in a unique environment characterized by rich vegetation, towering  trees, countless springs and a navigable river. In the 5th c. B.C., when the Macedonian state acquired great power and emerged onto the  stage of  history, brilliant athletic and theatrical contests, the “Olympian Games of Dion”, were organized there. Their organization was overseen by the  Macedonian kings themselves, who used the sanctuary of Zeus as a religious center for all Macedonians. A city was built adjacent to the sacred sites that acquired monumental form during the reigns of Alexander the Great’s successors, and which experienced its second heyday during the  reigns of 2nd and 3rd c. A.D. Roman emperors who were fond of Alexander the Great. Dion’s final important period was in the 4th and 5th c.  A.D. It became extinct following major earthquake destructions.