NEAPOLIS (nē-ăp'ō-lĭs, Gr. Neapolis). A town on the north shore of the Aegean Sea: the seaport of Philippi where Paul and his party sailed after seeing the “Man of Macedonia” at Troas (
NEAPOLIS nē ăp’ ə lĭs (Νεάπολις, G3736, New Town). Town on the northern shore of the Aegean Sea.
Little is known concerning the founding of Neapolis, but it seems to have been a colony of Thasos and to have served as a harbor giving the islanders access to the mainland. The best evidence places its site at the present Gr. town of Kavalla. Philippi lay about ten m. inland, in a plain separated from the sea by a mountain ridge.
The city belonged first to Thrace, then became part of both the first and second Athenian Confederacy, during which time it was commended for its loyalty. It finally fell within the Roman province of Macedonia. Its harbor provided refuge for the fleet of Brutus and Cassius at the time of the Battle of Philippi (42 b.c.).
Neapolis was the first point in Europe touched by Paul and his companions when they came from Troas (
ISBE Vol. 4 (1915), 2126; Pauly-Wissova, Real-Encyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft (1935), Vol. XVI2, 2110-2112.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
A town on the northern shore the Aegean, originally belonging to Thrace but later falling within the Roman province of Macedonia. It was the seaport of Philippi, and was the first point in Europe at which Paul and his companions landed; from Troas they had sailed direct to Samothrace, and on the next day reached Neapolis (
The date of its foundation is uncertain, but it seems to have been a colony from the island of Thasos, which lay opposite to it (Dio Cassius xlvii.35). It appears (under the name Neopolis, which is also borne on its coins) as member both of the first and of the second Athenian confederacy, and was highly commended by the Athenians in an extant decree for its loyalty during the Thasian revolt of 411-408 BC (Inser. Graec., I, Suppl. 51). The chief cult of the city was that of "The Virgin," usually identified with the Greek Artemis. (See Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, III, 180; Cousinery, Voyage dans la Macedoine, II, 69 ff, 109 ff; Heuzey and Daumet, Mission archeol. de Macedoine, 11 ff.)