ANCIENT DION (city in Pieria)
Macedonian city and religious center in Greece
- Kind of place
- City
- Region
- Pieria
- Where
- 40.17° N, 22.49° E
Dium is located at the foot of Mount Pieria, near the base of Mount Olympus, and immediately before the mouths of the Haliacmon river. Pausanias 10.13.5 The Macedonians in Dium dedicated a statue of Apollo holding a deer. Pausanias 10.13.5 A pillar with a stone urn holding Orpheus's bones is twenty stades from Dium. Pausanias 9.30.7
Described in the sources
Dium was one of five small cities on the Athos peninsula inhabited by Pelasgi from Lemnos. Strabo 7.fragments.33 +1 The Macedonians living below Mount Pieria and near Dium claim Orpheus died there and transported his bones to their own land. Pausanias 9.30.11 +1 A village named Pimplea is situated in the vicinity of Dium. Strabo 7.fragments.17 Dium is identified as a colony in the region near the Rhodope mountains. Pliny, Nat. Hist. 4.17 ΒΆ2 Dium is located about seven stadia away from the Thermaean Gulf shoreline. Strabo 7.fragments.17 Dion is located on the isthmus at the end of Athos, situated seaward of the town of Sane and landward of the region of Athos. Herodotus 7.22.3
Stories and history
The Persian intended to convert Dion into an island town. Herodotus 7.22.3 According to a friend of Larisa, the Macedonians in Dium moved Orpheus's remains. Pausanias 9.30.11