In 168 BC the city was sacked by the Romans during the Third Macedonian War and entered a long period of decline, its importance eclipsed by that of the nearby Thessalonica.

The name is probably derived from the word pella, (Ancient Greek: πέλλα), "stone" which seems to appear in some other toponyms in Greece like Pellene.

[1][2][3] Julius Pokorny reconstructs the word from the Proto-Indo-European root peli-s, pel-s, Old Indian: pāsāna, stone (from *pars, *pels), Greek: πέλλα, λίθος, stone, Hesychius (*pelsa), Pashto: parša (*plso), cliff, Germanic : *falisa, German: Fels, Old Norse: fell (*pelso), Illyrian: *pella, *palla.

[4] Solders in an essay on Hesychius glossary has referenced πέλλα (pella), λίθος (stone) as an ancient Macedonian word.

[7] It was probably built as the commercial capital of the kingdom of Macedon by Archelaus I,[8] complementing the older palace-city of Aigai[9] although there appears to be some possibility that it may have been created by Amyntas III.

Pella is further mentioned by Polybius and Livy as the capital of Philip V and of Perseus during the Macedonian Wars fought against the Roman Republic.

Activity continued to be vigorous until the early 1st century BC and, crossed by the Via Egnatia,[12] Pella remained a significant point on the route between Dyrrachium and Thessalonica.

[citation needed] Excavations there by the Greek Archaeological Service begun in 1957 revealed large, well-built houses with colonnaded courts and rooms with mosaic floors portraying such scenes as a lion hunt and Dionysus riding a panther.

In modern times it finds itself as the starting point of the Alexander The Great Marathon, in honour of the city's ancient heritage.

The modern systematic exploration of the site began in 1953 and work has continued since then uncovering significant parts of the extensive city.

One of the tombs was the final resting place of a warrior from the 6th century BC with a bronze helmet with a gold mouthplate, weapons and jewellery.

It consists of a rampart of crude bricks (~ 50 cm square) raised on a stone foundation; some of which has been located North of the palace, and some in the South next to the lake.

Pella's pebble-mosaic floors are famous: some reproduce Greek paintings; one shows a lion-griffin attacking a stag, a familiar motif also of Scythian art, another depicts Dionysus riding a leopard.

It consisted of several large architectural groupings on terraces ascending from south-west to north-east, each with a series of rooms around a central courtyard, generally with porticos.

The relationship between the four principal complexes is defined by an interruption in the portico occupied by a triple propylaeum, 15 m high, which gave the palace an imposing monumental air when seen from the city below.

The size of the complex indicates that, unlike the palace at Vergina, this was not only a royal residence or a grandiose monument but also a place of government which was required to accommodate a significant portion of the administrative apparatus of the kingdom.

It is one of four texts[25] found until today that might represent a local dialectal form of ancient Greek in Macedonia, all of them identifiable as Doric.