Where is Ancient Thessalonica?

According to Acts chapter 17, after Paul and his companions passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they arrived in Thessalonica, now called Thessaloniki, about 35 miles west of Philippi. This is Thessaloniki, a modern city of about 1 million people, considered the second most important city in all of Greece after Athens. The diverse architecture, including here at Aristotle Square, is a result of the city's central location for the entire region, considered a primary transportation link between Europe and the Middle East. In addition to its commercial importance, Thessaloniki was also a military and political hub. Merchants, traders, and refugees from all over the Mediterranean region have settled in Thessaloniki for millennia. When Paul arrived here in about 49 AD, Thessalonica was the capital and most important city of the Roman province of Macedonia. It was strategic and powerful, located at the crossroads of two major trade routes. Thessalonica also had its own harbor on the Aegean Sea. By the way, Thessalonica in our Bibles is the same place as Thessaloniki today. It was just spelled differently during the Roman period, when K was hardly ever used. After years of protesting by loyal fans of the letter K, the once-proud member of the alphabet was eventually restored to a place of prominence, and thus modern-day Thessaloniki was born. Today, the city bustles like any large urban area, full of industry, shopping, families, restaurants, and pigeons. Disgusting creatures, really, literally covered in germs and bacteria. Not exactly sure what possessed me to befriend them with birdseed, but it was a decision I soon regretted, as the vile winged beasts began to swarm. Luckily, I found some locals to pawn off the rest of my germ bait. I will happily let these unsuspecting kids deal with the sewer rats with wings. Now for the hand sanitizer. Remains of the ancient harbor are now here, under these neighborhoods by the shore. As we've seen at other Mediterranean harbors, silt caused the shoreline to recede over the centuries. Anyway, like many cities of ancient Macedonia, Thessaloniki was a walled city. During the Roman period, it also had the typical forum, bath complex, temple to the imperial cult, gymnasium, stadium, an acropolis for defense, and monumental city gates. This awesome tower by the seaside is a fortification that goes back to the 12th century. It was captured and reconstructed by the Ottomans in 1430, becoming a notorious prison and scene of mass executions. Now the Greeks recaptured Thessaloniki in 1912 and renovated the tower, giving it a full whitewash on the exterior. Now known as the White Tower, it's been adopted as the symbol for Thessaloniki. The ancient ruins of Thessalonika, from the time of Paul, mostly lie under this modern city. Now the forum visible to us today was rebuilt in the 2nd century A.D., but probably directly over the forum from the time of Paul. Now this odeon, or small theater, also dates to the 2nd century A.D. Since there was a Jewish synagogue here in ancient Thessalonika, Paul followed his normal custom of visiting the Jewish congregation here. Now the 1st century synagogue has yet to be unearthed, but an ancient inscribed synagogue plaque with lines in both Greek and Samaritan Hebrew has been discovered here. Now this plaque dates to about the 4th century A.D., but throughout the Roman Empire, new synagogues were built directly over older synagogues, so it's still pretty impressive evidence. Through the reasoning of Paul, some of the Jews, many of the God-fearers, and even certain women of the elite believed in the truth of the Gospel. Unfortunately, many of the Jews rejected Paul's message and sparked an opposition like he had experienced in other cities. Now according to Acts chapter 17, the Jews formed a mob, started a riot, and stormed the house of Jason, a recent convert to Christianity. Since they couldn't find Paul and his team, they dragged Jason and some fellow Christians before the city officials and accused them of breaking the laws of Rome, including swearing allegiance to another king. According to Luke, these city officials were known as Politarchs. Now in the 1800s, an inscription was discovered in ancient Thessalonica revealing the exact same thing, that first century leaders here in Thessalonica were known as Politarchs, just like Luke said. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah, he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. Acts 17, two through four.