Editing Philippi (section)

=== Roman era ===
[[File:The Forum, Philippi (7272795358).jpg|thumb|The forum]]
[[File:Philippi RomanGraveMarker.JPG|thumb|200px|Roman grave]]

The city reappears in the sources during the [[Liberators' civil war]] (43–42 BC) that followed the assassination of [[Julius Caesar]] in 44 BC. Caesar's heirs [[Mark Antony]] and [[Augustus|Octavian]] confronted the forces of the assassins [[Brutus the Younger|Marcus Junius Brutus]] and [[Gaius Cassius Longinus]] at the [[Battle of Philippi]] on the plain to the west of the city during October in 42 BC. Antony and Octavian won this final battle against the partisans of the Republic. They released some of their veteran soldiers, probably from [[Roman legion|Legion]] XXVIII, to colonize the city, which was refounded as ''Colonia Victrix Philippensium''. From 30 BC Octavian established his control of the Roman state, becoming [[Roman emperor]] from 27 BC. He reorganized the colony and established more settlers there, veterans (possibly from the [[Praetorian Guard]]) and other Italians. The city was renamed ''Colonia Iulia Philippensis'',<ref name=EB1911/> and then ''Colonia Augusta Iulia Philippensis'' after January, 27 BC, when Octavian received the title [[Augustus]] from the [[Roman Senate]].

Following this second renaming, and perhaps after the first, the territory of Philippi was [[centuriation|centuriated]] (divided into squares of land) and distributed to the colonists. The city kept its Macedonian walls, and its general plan was modified only partially by the construction of a forum, a little to the east of the site of Greek [[agora]]. It was a "miniature Rome", under the municipal law of Rome, and governed by two military officers, the ''[[duumviri]]'', who were appointed directly from Rome, similar to Roman colonies.

The colony recognized its dependence on the mines that brought it its privileged position on the ''[[Via Egnatia]]''. Many monuments evidence its wealth – particularly imposing considering the relatively small size of the urban area: the forum, laid out in two terraces on both sides of the main road, was constructed in several phases between the reigns of the Emperors [[Claudius]] (41–54 AD) and [[Antoninus Pius]] (138–161), and the theatre was enlarged and expanded to hold Roman games. An abundance of Latin inscriptions also testifies to the prosperity of the city.