Kathimerini Greece Newsroom
Excavations for Thessaloniki’s metro have shed new light on the city’s ancient urban design, revealing streets and infrastructure that date back to the 3rd century BC. The discoveries highlight the lasting influence of the Hippodamian grid plan, demonstrating continuity in the city’s layout across more than two millennia.
Archaeologists working at the Agia Sophia and Venizelos stations unearthed wide streets measuring 13 to 13.5 meters, intersecting at right angles and lined with colonnades. Multiple occupation layers illustrate the city’s evolution over time. One corridor contained at least 55 commercial amphorae, providing evidence of vibrant trade activity in antiquity.
Elisavet-Bettina Tsigarida, head of Thessaloniki’s Ephorate of Antiquities, noted that the main east-west thoroughfare has been in use since Hellenistic times, underscoring the city’s long-standing urban continuity.
The findings challenge earlier assumptions that the ancient city had rigid boundaries, showing instead that Thessaloniki made use of its full expanse from its earliest development.
