Phillipi was inhabited by Thracians and then Thasians. Philip II of Macedon developed the town, fortified it and named it after himself. Near the city was fought the decisive battle in which Octavian (Augustus) and Marc Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius in 42 B.C., effectively ending the Roman Republic. Phillipi was located on the ancient Roman highway Via Egnatia. It is where St. Paul first set foot in Europe and baptized the first European - a woman called Lydia.