Ancient Pella was the capital of the Macedonian kingdom from the 4th century BC until the Roman conquest in 168 BC, and the birthplace of Alexander the Great. The ruins spread over a surprisingly large area, with foundations of the royal palace, the agora, and several wealthy private houses all visible. The site is flat and open, the stone pale in the Greek sun, and the scale of what was once here becomes clear only gradually as you walk through it.
The private houses are the highlight. Several have preserved their original pebble mosaic floors — intricate, polychrome scenes depicting the lion hunt, the deer hunt, the battle between a Greek and an Amazon, all made from tiny river pebbles fitted together with extraordinary precision. The craftsmanship predates the cut-stone tesserae mosaics of Rome and is in some ways more remarkable for the constraint. Protective shelters cover the best surviving examples in situ.