Bylazora

Bylazora or Vylazora was a Paionian city from the period of early classic antiquity. It is located in Ovče Pole, a valley in the Republic of Macedonia, on a locality called Gradište. It was a large city, with an area of about 19 hectares.

The geographic dominance over the surrounding valley has determined the communications significance of the city in ancient times. It was situated between the states (or sometimes provinces) of Dardani, Thrace and Macedonia. Antic Bylazora was the biggest and most significant city of Paionia, mentioned in the records of Polybius and Titus Livius. They emphasize its strategic geographic position as a frontier of the northern border of Macedonia against the Dardanians.

According to experts, there are two significant dates related to the relations between ancient Macedonia and Bylazora: The first is 217 B.C. when king Philip V of Macedonia reconstructed its fortifications; The second is 168 B.C. when king Perseus of Macedonia, during the Third Macedonian War, arranged military support from the Gauls who were camping nearby, in defending the city against the Romans. [cite web
url=http://dnevnik.com.mk/?ItemID=950DA979017E6348B6DCC08D648C3964
title=Vilazora discovered - The Most Significant Payonian City
publisher=Dnevnik 03.09.2008.
language=Macedonian
date=03.09.2008. ]

Discovery

In 1976 archaeologist Ivan Mikulcic proposed that the location of antic Bylazora was in Ovce Pole, near Sveti Nikole in today's Republic of Macedonia. Until then it was considered that the location of Bylazora coincided with the location of the Veles historic fortress.

In August 2008, a team of researchers led by archaeologist Boban Husenovski from the National Museum of Macedonia with participation of researhers from the The Texas Foundation for Archaeological & Historical Research was researching the possible locations of Bylazora proposed in 1976. They discovered the main gate of the city, fortification walls and plenty of small archeological finds, confirming both the size and the significance of the city. The findings have been dated to between 6. and 3. century B.C. [cite web
url=http://www.tfahr.org/Bylazora08.html
title=TFAHR Archaeology Projects: Bylazora (Sveti Nikole), Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
publisher=TFAHR
language=English
date=july 2008. ] From these findings, they have so far been able to confirm that these are in fact the remains of the ancient Payonian city of Bylazora. The excavations are ongoing (2008).

External Links

* [http://www.tfahr.org/Bylazora08.html Excavation Report, TFHAR]
* [http://www.tfahr.org/SN08_exc.html Excavation Photos, TFAHR]

References