Apollonia

APOLLONIA (ăp'ŏ-lō'nĭ-a, Gr. Apollōnia, pertaining to Apollo). A town of Macedonia on the celebrated Egnatian Way, twenty-eight miles (forty-seven km.) west of Amphipolis and thirty-eight miles (sixty-three km.) east of Thessalonica (Acts.17.1).

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APOLLONIA ăp ə lō nĭ ə (̓Απολλωνία, G662). There were several towns of this name, the most famous being Apollonia of Illyria, a terminal point on the Via Egnatia and Caesar’s base when Pompey was encircled at Dyrrachium. The Apollonia of the NT is at the other end of the Via Egnatia, twenty-seven m. WSW of Amphipolis, somewhere between the Strymon and the Axius (modern Vardar). Its site is not certain, but Paul and Silas passed through the town on their way between Thessalonica and Philippi (Acts 17:1).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

A town in Mygdonia, a district in Macedonia. It was situated a little to the south of Lake Bolbe, on the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road leading from the coast of the Adriatic to the river Hebrus (Maritza), one of the main military and commercial highways of the empire: it lay between Amphipolis and Thessalonica, a day’s journey (Livy xlv.28) or about 30 Roman miles from the former and 38 from the latter. The foundation of the town may perhaps be attributed to about 432 BC; in any case, coins are extant which attest its existence in the 4th century BC (Head, Historia Numorum, 181). Paul and Silas passed through the town on their journey from Philippi to Thessalonica, but do not appear to have stayed there (Ac 17:1). The name seems to have survived in the modern Pollina (Leake, Northern Greece, III, 458; Cousinery, Voyage dans la Macedoine, I, 115).

Marcus N. Tod