The vicus Macedonius is a fictional neighborhood in the city of Seleucia Pieria. Down the short sloping street to the water, ships can be seen past the city’s Port and the many warehouses along the shore. The smells of timber and pitch on the docks, spices stored in the warehouses, and lamb grilling at a nearby food stall mingle in the salty sea-breeze that cools the vicus during the daytime hours.

A walk through the vicus shows a strong Greek presence in this old area of the city close to the harbor. The Temple of Artemis, surrounded by its garden and grove, is a prominent landmark. A hint of incense and the smell of blooming flowers are in the air here. The soft tinkling of chimes from the temple is offset by the closer rasping buzz of bees in the garden.

Next to the temple grounds, the pandokeion (or inn) Pegasus is built in the typical Greek style of two stories of rooms arranged around an enclosed square courtyard. The lamp kept lit over the doorway and welcoming notice posted on the outside walls are designed to attract travelers just arrived by ship or waiting for their ships to sail. The pandokeion is a center of activity in the neighborhood. The ianitor (or doorman) in the outer courtyard calls to any prospective guests that the small boys and porters set around the harbor may have missed. From inside the voice of the formidable innkeeper can be heard giving orders to the inn’s ancillae (maids) and ministri (bellboys).

The Pegasus’s kapelion (or tavern) -- The Comely Pine -- is visited by a steady stream of customers through the day and large groups of men in the evening hours. A cozy enclosed dining room serves hearty food for travelers, merchants and captains from the port, and local residents. The smells of steaming vegetables and braised meats linger around the kapelion to entice the hungry traveler. The larger drink and gaming room is crowded late into the night with sailors, wagon drivers, travelers, and locals relaxing after a day of hard work. A colorful mix of togae, tunicae, pallea, chitons, chlamyses, and eastern robes can be seen around the tavern.

In the outer courtyard of the Pegasus and along the street, a variety of tabernae stalls serve food and sell supplies to travelers and people working or living in the neighborhood. Customers stand or sit on benches, eating sausages or drinking a cup of wine, sharing a joke with tabernae owners. In the fenced yard next door, chickens softly cluck and scratch the ground. The sudden shriek and laughter of children running from a house across the street assaults the ear.

Further along at an intersecting street, a pavilion and colorful awnings mark the shop of Tiribazus, a dealer in lecticae and carts for rental. A group of brawny slaves are in the yard, resting on benches under a spreading oak tree.

Past the Temple of Artemis, lime-washed houses line the street on both sides up to the Fountain of Three Nymphs on the left. A trio of women gathering water shares the latest news while they fill their jugs. There is a small open space beside the fountain, and then an alley leads off to the left beside the balnea.

The baths are busy with customers stopping to soak their muscles and remove the sweat and grime of a long day's work. Here two slaves are chopping wood into stacks for later use heating the bathhouse’s furnaces.

In the middle distance, a dog’s barking can be heard from one of the houses in the neighboring street. Past the balneum, on the other side of the street, is a lupanar painted in bright colors. The building's services are advertised by the oil lamp kept lit above the entrance door all day and night, and more particularly by the plaque of an erect male member on the wall facing the street.

The street curves and narrows as it passes the lupanar. Houses and small shops line both sides. The sickly sweet smell of garbage rotting in the gutter of an alley can be smelled in passing. Behind a low wall the “mehhh-hehh-hehh-mehh” sound of a goat is heard. Reaching the Great Agora district, the vicus Macedonius merges into another street leading into the heart of the lower city.