Listed 61 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "THESSALONIKI Prefecture MAKEDONIA CENTRAL" .
ECHEDOROS (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
THESSALONIKI (Prefecture) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
VORMISKOS (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Bromiskos was in the territory of ancient Mygdonia. According to the tradition, Euripides was torn to pieces by dogs in this city.
APOLLONIA (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Eth. Apolloniates, Apolloniates, Apollinas,-atis, Apolloniensis (Pollina),
a town of Mygdonia in Macedonia, S. of the lake Bolbe (Athen. viii. p. 334, e.),
and N. of the Chalcidian mountains, on the road from Thessalonica to Amphipolis,
as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles (xvii. 1) and the Itineraries. (Anton.
Itin. pp. 320, 330; Itin. Hierosol. p. 605; Tab. Peuting.) Pliny (iv. 10. s. 17.
§ 38) mentions this Apollonia.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ARETHOUSSA (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Arethusa (Arethousa: Eth. Arethousios), a town of Bisaltia in Macedonia, in the pass of Aulon, a
little N. of Bromiscus, and celebrated for containing the sepulchre of Euripides.
(Amm. Marc. xxvii. 4; Itin. Hierosol. p. 604; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii.
p. 170.) We learn from Scylax (c. 67) that it was an ancient Greek colony. It
was probably founded by the Chalcidians of Euboea, who may have called it after
the celebrated fountain in the neighbourhood of their city. Stephanus B. (s. v.)
erroneously calls it a city of Thrace. It was either from this place or from Bromiscus
that the fortified town of Rentine arose, which is frequently mentioned by the
Byzantine historians. (Tafel, Thessalonica, p. 68.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
CHALASTRA (Small town) THESSALONIKI
Chalastra (Chalastra, Strab. vii. p. 330; Chalestre, Herod. vii. 123;
Chalaistra, Plut. Alex. 49; Plin. iv. 10. § 17, xxxi. 10. § 46), a town of Mygdonia
in Macedonia, situated on the Thermaean gulf at the right of the mouth of the
Axius, which belonged to the Thracians and possessed a harbour. (Steph. B. s.
v.) Perseus, king of Macedonia, barbarously put all the male inhabitants to death.
(Diod. Excerpt. 308.) Afterwards the population, with that of other towns of Mygdonia,
was absorbed in great measure by Thessalonica on its foundation by Cassander.
It cannot, therefore, be expected that many remains should be existing. The site
may, however, be considered to be at or near the modern Kulakia. (Tafel, Thessalon.
p. 277; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 450.)
ENIA (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Aineia, (Eth. Ainheates), a town of Chalcidice in Macedonia, said
to have been founded by Aeneas, was situated, according to Livy, opposite Pydna,
and 15 miles from Thessalonica. It appears to have stood on the promontory of
the great Karaburnu, which forms the NW. corner of the peninsula of Chalcidice,
and which, being about 10 geographical miles in direct distance from Thessalonica,
may be identified with the promontory Aeneium of Scymnus. Aeneia must therefore
have been further N. than Pydna. It was colonised by the Corinthians. (Scymnus
Ch. 627.) It is mentioned by Herodotus, and continued to be a place of importance
down to the time of the Roman wars in Greece, although we are told that a great
part of its population was removed to Thessalonica, when the latter city was founded
by Cassander. (Herod. vii. 123; Strab. p. 330; Dionys. i. 49; Lycophr. 1236 and
Schol.; Virg. Aen. Eth. Ainheates), a town of Chalcidice in Macedonia, said to
have been founded by Aeneas, was situated, according to Livy, opposite Pydna,
and 15 miles from Thessalonica. It appears to have stood on the promontory of
the great Karaburnu, which forms the NW. corner of the peninsula of Chalcidice,
and which, being about 10 geographical miles in direct distance from Thessalonica,
may be identified with the promontory Aeneium of Scymnus. Aeneia must therefore
have been further N. than Pydna. It was colonised by the Corinthians. (Scymnus
Ch. 627.) It is mentioned by Herodotus, and continued to be a place of importance
down to the time of the Roman wars in Greece, although we are told that a great
part of its population was removed to Thessalonica, when the latter city was founded
by Cassander. (Herod. vii. 123; Strab. p. 330; Dionys. i. 49; Lycophr. 1236 and
Schol.; Virg. Aen. iii. 16; Steph. B. s. v.; Liv. xl. 4, xliv. 10, 32; Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iii. Eth. Ainheates), a town of Chalcidice in Macedonia,
said to have been founded by Aeneas, was situated, according to Livy, opposite
Pydna, and 15 miles from Thessalonica. It appears to have stood on the promontory
of the great Karaburnu, which forms the NW. corner of the peninsula of Chalcidice,
and which, being about 10 geographical miles in direct distance from Thessalonica,
may be identified with the promontory Aeneium of Scymnus. Aeneia must therefore
have been further N. than Pydna. It was colonised by the Corinthians. (Scymnus
Ch. 627.) It is mentioned by Herodotus, and continued to be a place of importance
down to the time of the Roman wars in Greece, although we are told that a great
part of its population was removed to Thessalonica, when the latter city was founded
by Cassander. (Herod. vii. 123; Strab. p. 330; Dionys. i. 49; Lycophr. 1236 and
Schol.; Virg. Aen. iii. 16; Steph. B. s. v.; Liv. xl. 4, xliv. 10, 32; Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 451.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KISSOS (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Kissos: Khortiatzi. A mountain of Macedonia, on which were found the
lion, ounce, lynx, panther, and bear. (Xenoph. De Venat. xi. 1.) There was a town
of the same name not far from Rhaecelus, which appears to have been the name of
the promontory where Aeneas founded his city. (Lycophr. 1236.) Cissus, along with
Aeneia and Chalastra, contributed to people Thessalonica. (Strab. Epit. vii. p.
330; Dionys. i. 49.) Khortiatzi is the only high mountain which can be conceived
to have been the haunt of the beasts of prey mentioned by Xenophon.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
LITI (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Eth. Letaios. A town of Macedonia, which Stephanus B. asserts to have been the
native city of Nearchus, the admiral of Alexander the Great; but in this he is
certainly mistaken, as Nearchus was a Cretan.
MYGDONIA (Ancient country) GREECE
Mygdonia (Mugdonia: Eth. Mugdones, Steph. B.), a district of Macedonia,
which comprehended the plains round Thessalonica, together with the valleys of
Klisali and Besikia, extending towards the E. as far as the Axius (Herod. vii.
123), and including the Lake Bolbe to the E. (Thuc. i. 58.) To the N. it was joined
by Crestonia, for the Echidorus, which flowed into the gulf near the marshes of
the Axius, had its sources in Crestonia (Herod. vii. 124), while the pass of Aulon
or Arethusa was probably the boundary of Mygdonia towards Bisaltia. The maritime
part of Mygdonia formed a district called Amphaxitis, a distinction which first
occurs in Polybius (v. 98), who divides all the great plain at the head of the
Thermaic gulf into Amphaxitis and Bottiaea, and which is found three centuries
later in Ptolemy (iii. 13. § 36). The latter introduces Amphaxitis twice under
the subdivisions of Macedonia,--in one instance placing under that name the mouths
of the Echidorus and Axius, with Thessalonica as the only town, which agrees with
Polybius, and particularly with Strabo (vii. p. 330). In the other place, Ptolemy
includes Stagura and Arethusa in Amphaxitis, which, if it be correct, would indicate
that a portion of Amphaxitis, very distant from the Axius, was separated from
the remainder by a part of Mygdonia; but as this is improbable, the word is perhaps
an error in the text. The original inhabitants, the Mygdonians, were a tribe belonging
to the great Thracian race, and were powerful enough to bequeath their name to
it, even after the Macedonian conquest. (Thuc. ii. 99.) The cities of this district
were Thessalonica, Sindus, Chalastra, Altus, Strepsa, Cissus, Mellisurgis, Heracleustes.
Besides these, the following obscure towns occur in Ptolemy (l. c.): - Chaetae,
Moryllus, Antigoneia, Calindaea, Boerus, Physca, Trepillus, Carabia, Xylopolis,
Assorus, Lete, Phileros. As to the towns which occupied the fertile plain between
Mt. Cissus and the Axius, their population was no doubt absorbed by Thessalonica,
on its foundation by Cassander, and remains of them are not likely to be found;
nor are the ancient references sufficient to indicate their sites. One of these
would seem, from ancient inscriptions which were found at Khaivat, to have stood
in that position, and others probably occupied similar positions on the last falls
of the heights which extend nearly from Khaivat to the Axius. One in particular
is indicated by some large tumuli or barrows, situated at two-thirds of that distance.
(Leake, North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 448.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
OSSA (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Ossa (Ptol. iii. 13. § 15), a town of the Bisaltae, which, before the annexation of Bisaltia to the kingdom of Macedonia, must have been a place of some importance from the fact of its possessing an autonomous coinage. (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 73.) It has been identified with Sokho, a large village on the S. side of the Nigrita mountain, where some Hellenic remains are found on the surrounding heights. Another ancient site at Lakhana, on the N. road from Serres to Saloniki, has also claims to be considered the representative of Ossa. (Leake, North. Greece, vol. iii. pp. 213, 233.)
SINDOS (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
THESSALONIKI (Ancient city) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
Thessalonike, Thettalonike, Thessalonikeia, Eth. Thessalonikeus. Α
large and important city, the capital of Roman Macedonia, situated at the head
of the Thermaic gulf, in the district anciently called Mygdonia.
SITUATION. This is well described by Pliny (iv. 10) as medio flexu litoris
[sinus Thermaici]. The gulf extends about 30 leagues in a NW. direction from the
group of the Thessalian islands, and then turns to the NE., forming a noble basin
between Capes Vardar and Karaburnu. On the edge of this basin is the city, partly
on the level shore and partly on the slope of a hill, in 40° 38' 47'' N. lat.,
and 22° 57' 22'' E. long. The present appearance of the city, as seen from the
sea, is described by Leake, Holland, and other travellers as very imposing. It
rises in the form of a crescent up the declivity, and is surrounded by lofty whitened
walls with towers at intervals. On the E. and W. sides of the city ravines ascend
from the shore and converge towards the highest point, on which is the citadel
called Heptapurgion, like that of Constantinople. (A view of Thessalonica from
the sea is given by Cousinery). The port is still convenient for large ships,
and the anchorage in front of the town is good. These circumstances in the situation
of Thessalonica were evidently favourable for commanding the trade of the Macedonian
sea. Its relations to the inland districts were equally advantageous. With one
of the two great levels of Macedonia, viz. the plain of the wide-flowing Axius
(Hom. Il. ii. 849), to the N. of the range of Olympus, it was immediately connected.
With the other, viz. the plain of the Strymon and Lake Cercinitis, it communicated
by a pass across the neck of the Chalcidic peninsula. Thus Thessalonica became
the chief station on the Roman VIA EGNATIA between the Hadriatic and the Hellespont.
Its distance from Pella, as given by the Itineraries, is 27 miles, and from Amphipolis
(with intermediate stations; see Act. Apost. xvii. 1) 67 miles. It is still the
chief centre of the trade of the district. It contains a population of 60,000,
or 70,000, and (though Adrianople may possibly be larger) it is the most important
town of European Turkey, next after Constantinople.
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Via Egnatia (hei Egnatia hodos, Strab. vii. p. 322, seq.), a Roman military road,
which connected Illyria, Macedonia, and Thrace. We are almost totally in the dark
with regard to the origin of this road. The assumption that it was constructed
by a certain person named Egnatius, who was likewise the founder of the town Egnatia,
or Gnatia, between Barium and Brundusium, on the coast of Apulia, is a mere conjecture,
which cannot be supported by any authority. We may, however, make some approximation
towards ascertaining the date of its construction, or, at all events, that of
a portion of it. Strabo, in the passage cited at the head of this article, says
that Polybius estimated the length of the via, between the coast of the Adriatic
and the city of Thessalonica, at 267 Roman miles; whence it appears that this
portion of it at least was extant in the time of Polybius. Consequently, as that
historian flourished in the first half of the 2nd century B.C., we may infer with
tolerable certainty that the road must have been commenced shortly after the reduction
of Macedonia by the Romans in B.C. 168. Whether the eastern portion of the road,
namely, that between Thessalonica and Cypsela, a town 10 miles beyond the left,
or E., bank of the Hebrus, was also completed in the time of Polybius, is a point
which cannot be so satisfactorily ascertained. For although Strabo, in the same
passage, after mentioning the length of the road, from its commencement to its
termination at Cypsela, proceeds to say that, if we follow Polybius, we must add
178 stadia to make up the number of Roman miles, because that writer computed
8 stadia and 2 plethra, or 8 1/3 stadia, to the Roman mile, instead of the usual
computation of exactly 8; yet Strabo may then be speaking only of the historian's
general practice, without any reference to this particular road. And, on the whole,
it may perhaps be the more probable conclusion that the eastern portion of the
road was not constructed till some time after the Romans had been in possession
of Macedonia.
According to the same geographer, who is the chief authority with
regard to this via, its whole length was 535 Roman miles, or 4280 stadia; and
although the first portion of it had two branches, namely, one from Epidamnus
or Dyrrachium and another from Apollonia, yet, from whichever of those towns the
traveller might start, the length of the road was the same. Into the accuracy
of this statement we shall inquire further on. Strabo also mentions that the first
part of the road was called in Candavium (epi Kandaouias), and this name frequently
occurs in the Roman writers. Thus Cicero (ad Att. iii. 7) speaks of travelling
per Candaviam, and Caesar (B.C. iii. 79) mentions it as the direct route into
Macedonia. It does not, however, very clearly appear to how much of the road this
name was applicable. Tafel, who has written a work on the Via Egnatia, is of opinion
that the appellation of Candavia may be considered to extend from the commencement
of the via, including the two branches from Dyrrachium and Apollonia, to the town
of Lychnidus. (De Via mil. Rom. Egnatia, Proleg. p. xcix. Tubing. 1842.) But this
limitation is entirely arbitrary, and unsupported by any authority; and it would
perhaps be a juster inference from the words of Strabo to assume that the name
Candavia was applicable to the road as far as Thessalonica, as Col. Leake appears
to have done. (Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 311.) The point to be determined
is, what does Strabo mean by the first part? The road in its whole extent he says
is called Via Egnatia, and the first part in Candaviam (He men oun pasa Egnatia
kaleitai. E de prote epi Kandaouias legetai, k. t. l.); and from what follows
it is evident that he contemplated the division of the parts at Thessalonica,
since he gives the separate measurement as far as that town, which is just half
the whole length of the road.
We will consider the road as far as Thessalonica, or the Via Candavia,
first, and then proceed to the remainder of the Egnatian Way. Strabo (l. c. and
p. 326) lays down the general direction of the road as follows: After passing
Mount Candavia, it ran to the towns of Lychnidus and Pylon; which last, as its
name implies, was the border town between Illyria and Macedonia. Hence it proceeded
by Barnus to Heracleia, and on through the territory of the Lyncestae and Eordaei
through Edessa and Pella to Thessalonica. The whole extent of this line, as we
have already seen, was 267 Roman miles; and this computation will be found to
agree pretty accurately with the distance between Dyrrachium and Thessalonica
as laid down in the Antonine Itinerary. According to that work, as edited by Parthey
and Pinder (Berlin, 1848), who have paid great attention to the numbers, the stations
and distances between those two places, starting from Dyrrachium, were as follow:
Clodiana 33 miles.
Scampa 20 miles.
Tres Tabernae 28 miles.
Lignidus (Lychnidus) 27 miles.
Nicias 32 miles.
Heraclea 11 miles.
Cellae 34 miles.
Edessa 28 miles.
Pella 28 miles.
Thessalonica 28 miles.
Total: 269 miles.
The difference of 2 miles probably arises from some variation in the
MSS. of the Itinerary. It should be observed, however, that, according to Wesseling's
edition, the distance is 11 miles more, or 280 miles, owing to variations in the
text. According to the Tab. Pent. the whole distance was 279 miles, or 10 more
than that given in the Itinerary; but there are great discrepancies in the distances
between the places.
The last-named work gives 307 miles as the sum of the distances between
Apollonia and Thessalonica; or 38 miles more than the route between Dyrrachium
and the latter town. Both these routes united, according to the Itinerary, at
Clodiana; and the distance from Apollonia to Clodiana was 49 miles, while that
from Dyrrachium to the same place was only 33. This accounts for 16 miles of the
difference, and the remainder, therefore, must be sought in that part of the road
which lay between Clodiana and Thessalonica. Here the stations are the same as
those given in the route from Dyrrachium, with the exception of the portion between
Lychnidus and Heracleia; where, instead of the single station of Nicias, we have
two, viz., Scirtiana, 27 miles from Lychnidus, and Castra, 15 miles from Scirtiana.
And as the distance between Castra and Heracleia is stated at 12 miles, it follows
that it was 11 miles farther from Lychnidus to Heracleia by this route than by
that through Nicias. This, added to the 16 miles extra length to Clodiana, accounts
for 27 miles of the difference; but there still remain 11 miles to make up the
discrepancy of 38; and, as the stations are the same, this difference arises in
all probability from variations in the MSS.
According to the Itin. Hierosol., which names all the places where
the horses were changed, as well as the chief towns, the total distance between
Apollonia and Thessalonica was 300 miles; which differs very slightly from that
of the Itinerary, though there are several variations in the route.
Now, if we apply what has been said to the remark of Strabo, that
the distance from Thessalonica was the same whether the traveller started from
Epidamnus (Dyrrachium) or from Apollonia, it is difficult to perceive how such
could have been the case if the junction of the two branches existed in his time
also at Clodiana; since, as we have already seen, it was 16 miles farther to that
place from Apollonia than from Dyrrachium according to the Itin. Ant.; and the
Itin. Hierosol. makes it 24 miles farther. Indeed the maps would seem to show
that if the two branches were of equal length their junction must have taken place
to the E. of Lake Lychnitis; the branch from Dyrrachium passing to the N. of that
lake, and that from Apollonia to the S. But, although Burmeister, in his review
of Tafel's work adopted such an hypothesis, and placed the junction at Heracleia,
it does not appear that the assumption can be supported by any authority.
Clodiana, where the two branches of the Via Egnatia, or Candavia,
united, was seated on the river Genusus (the Tjerma or Skumbi). From this point
the valley of the river naturally indicated the course of the road to the E. (Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 312.)
We will now proceed to consider the second, or eastern, portion of
the Egnatian Way, viz., that between Thessalonica and Cypsela. The whole length
of this route, according to Strabo, was 268 Roman miles; and the distances set
down in the Itin. Ant. amount very nearly to that sum, or to 265, as follows.
(Pind. and Parth. p. 157; Wess. p. 330, seq.)
Apollonia 36 miles.
Amphipolis 32 miles.
Philippi 32 miles.
Acontisma 21 miles.
Otopisus (Topirus) 18 miles.
Stabulum Diomedis 22 miles.
Maximianopolis 18 miles.
Brizice or Brendice 20 miles.
Trajanopolis 37 miles.
Cypsela 29 miles.
Tottal 265 miles.
Another route given in the same Itinerary (Wess. p. 320, seq.) does
not greatly vary from the above, but is not carried on to Cypsela. This adds the
following stations:--Melissurgis, between Thessalonica and Apollonia, Neapolis,
between Philippi and Acontisma, Cosintas, which according to Tafel (pars ii. p.
21) is meant for the river Cossinites, between Topirus and Maximianopolis, and
Milolitum and Tempyra, between Brendice and Trajanopolis. The Itin. Hierosol.
makes the distance only 250 miles.
Many remains of the Egnatian Way are said to be still traceable, especially in
the neighbourhood of Thessalonica: (Beaujour, Voy. militaire dans l'Empire Othoman,
vol. i. p. 205.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
VOLVI LAKE (Lake) THESSALONIKI
Bolbe (He Bolbe limne), a lake in Mygdonia in Macedonia, at no great
distance from the sea. (Aeseh. Pers. 486; Scylax, p. 27; Thuc. i. 58, iv. 103;
Cantacuz. ii. 25.) The lake empties itself into the Strymonic gulf by means of
a river flowing through the pass called Aulon or Arethusa. (Thuc. iv. 103.) The
name of this river is not mentioned by Thucydides, but it is evidently the same
as the Rechius (Hpechios) of Procopius (de Aedif. iv. 4). Among the smaller streams
flowing into the lake we find mention of the Ammites (Ammites) and Olynthiacus
(Olunthiakos). (Athen. viii. p. 334, e.) The perch (labrach) of the lake was particularly
admired by the gastronomic poet Archestratus. (Athen. vii. p. 311, a.) The lake
is now called Besikia. It is about 12 miles in length, and 6 or 8 in breadth.
(Clarke, Travels, vol. ii. 3. p. 376; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 170,
231, 462; Tafel, Thessalonica, p. 14, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
CHALASTRA (Small town) THESSALONIKI
A town in Mygdonia in Macedonia, at the mouth of the river Axius.
KISSOS (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
A town of Macedonia, in the vicinity of Thessalonica, which contributed to the aggrandizement of that city.
THERMI (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
A town in Macedonia, afterwards called Thessalonica, situated
at the northeastern extremity of a great gulf of the Aegaean Sea, called Thermaicus
or Thermaeus Sinus from the town at its head. This gulf was also called Macedonicus
Sinus; its modern name is the Gulf of Salonica.
THESSALONIKI (Ancient city) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
Now Saloniki; more anciently Therma (Therme). An ancient city
in Macedonia, situated at the northeastern extremity of the Sinus Thermaicus.
Under the name of Therma it was not a place of much importance. It was taken and
occupied by the Athenians a short time before the commencement of the Peloponnesian
War (B.C. 432), but was soon after restored by them to Perdiccas. It was made
an important city by Cassander, who collected in this place the inhabitants of
several adjacent towns (about B.C. 315), and who gave it the name of Thessalonica
in honour of his wife, the daughter of Philip and sister of Alexander the Great.
From this time it became a large and flourishing city. It was visited by the Apostle
Paul about A.D. 53, and about two years afterwards he addressed from Corinth two
epistles to his converts in the city.
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VOLVI LAKE (Lake) THESSALONIKI
A lake in Macedonia, emptying itself by a short river into the Strymonic Gulf, near Bromiscus and Aulon.
AGIOS GEORGIOS (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
CHALKIDONA (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
ECHEDOROS (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
ELEFTHERIO-KORDELIO (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
KALAMARIA (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
MICHANIONA (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
PANORAMA (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
THERMAIKOS (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
THESSALONIKI (Prefecture) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
THESSALONIKI (Municipality) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
VERTISKO (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
RENTINAS (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
AXIOS (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
PYLEA (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
THERMI (Municipality) THESSALONIKI
THESSALONIKI (Prefecture) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
THESSALONIKI (Prefecture) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
In the following WebPages you can find an interactive map with all the monuments and museums of the Prefecture, with relevant information and photos.
THESSALONIKI (Ancient city) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
ENIA (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Total results: 37 Aenea
KISSOS (Ancient city) THESSALONIKI
Total results on 30/8/2001: 7
THESSALONIKI (Ancient city) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
Total results on 18/7/2001: 12
THESSALONIKI (Ancient city) MAKEDONIA CENTRAL
Titular metropolis in Macedonia.
It was at first a village called Alia, situated not far from Axius,
the modern Vardar; it subsequently took the name of Therma, from the thermal springs
east and south of it. The gulf on which it was situated was then called the Thermaic
Gulf.
After having sheltered the fleet of King Xerxes and having belonged
to the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War, Therma passed to the kings of Macedonia
after the death of Alexander. Cassander, the son of Antipater, having enlarged
the village and transported thither the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages,
called it Thessalonica, in honour of his wife. Thenceforth the city grew steadily
in importance. Unsuccessfully besieged by Aemilius Paulus, it only opened its
gates after the victory of Pydna,
which made the Romans masters of Macedonia
(168 B.C.). The kingdom was then divided into four districts, each of which had
its capital and its conventus. Thessalonica was the capital of the second district.
In 146 B.C. Macedonia
was made a single province with Thessalonica as capital. This was the arrangement
until the third and fourth century of our era, when four provinces were again
formed. The proconsul had his residence at Thessalonica, as did later the prefect
of Illyricum Orientale, who first resided at Sirmium. During the first civil war
Thessalonica was the principal headquarters of Pompey and the Roman senators;
during the second it supported Anthony and Octavius against the Triumvirs, receiving
from them after the battle of Philippi
the title of free city and other advantages, being allowed to administer its own
affairs and obeying magistrates called politarchs. Thessalonica received the title
of colonia under the Emperor Valerian. Theodosius the Great punished the revolt
of its inhabitants (390) by a general massacre in which 7000 were slain. In 479
the Goths attacked the city. Between 675 and 681 the Slavs unsuccessfully besieged
Thessalonica four times.
On 31 July, 904, a Mussulman corsair, Leo of Tripoli, came unexpectedly
with his fleet and attacked the city, then the second in the empire, captured
and pillaged it, and took away a great many prisoners. In 1083 Euthymius, Greek
Patriarch of Jerusalem, was
commissioned by Alexius I Commenus to negotiate peace at Thessalonica with Tancred
of Sicily, who had conquered
a portion of Epirus and Macedonia
and threatened to take possession of the rest. In August 1185, Guillaume d'Hauterive,
King of Sicily, besieged
Thessalonica by sea with a fleet of 200 ships and by land with an army of 80,000
men; the city was captured, and all resistance from the Greeks punished with death.
In the following year the city was recaptured by the Byzantines. In 1204, after
the Latins had occupied Constantinople
and a portion of the Byzantine Empire, Boniface, Marquis of Monferrato, proclaimed
himself King of Thessalonica, his Latin Kingdom depending on the Latin Empire
of Byzantium. He defended
it against the Bulgars, whose tsar, the terrible Calojan, was assassinated under
the walls of Thessalonica in 1207, and against the Greeks from Epirus.
In 1222 the latter put an end to the Frankish Kingdom and took possession of Thessalonica,
setting up an independent empire, the rival of that of Nicaea,
with Theodore Comnenus as first sovereign. He was defeated in 1230 at Klokotinitza
by the Bulgar Tsar, Assen II, and most of empire passed into the hands of the
Bulgars.
Thessalonica with the remaining cities was given to Theodore's brother,
the Emperor Manuel. In 1242 after a successful campaign against the Emperor of
Thessalonica, John Vatatzes, Emperor of Nicaea,
forced John Angelo to take only the title of despot and to declare himself the
vassal. After the expedition of Vatatzes in 1246 Thessalonica lost all independence
and was annexed to the Empire of Nicaea,
which in 1261 was once more removed to Constantinople.
Unable to defend it against the Turks, the Greeks in 1423 sold Thessalonica to
the Venetians, the city being captured 28 March, 1430, by the Sultan Murad and
definitively incorporated in the Ottoman Empire. It was the scene of unheard-of-cruelties
on the part of the Turks. In order to weaken the Greek element, so powerful in
the city and in that part of Macedonia,
the Sublime Porte offered a refuge about the end of the sixteenth century to the
Jews driven from Spain by Philip II. Thessalonica, which is the capital of a vilayet,
grows constantly in importance, owing to its situation and its commerce, as well
as to the part it played in the two military revolutions of 1908 and 1909, which
modified the authoritative regime of the Turkish Empire.
The establishment of Christianity in Thessalonica seems to date from
St. Paul's first journey to the city. From a letter of Innocent III written in
1212 we learn that Thessalonica had then eleven suffragans. Apart from saintly
bishops Thessalonica had other saints: Agape, Irene, and Chionia, martyred under
Diocletian; Agothopodus, deacon, and Theodulus, rector, martyred under Diocletian;
Anysia, martyred under Maximian; Demetrius, martyr, the protector of the city,
from whose tomb flowed an oil which worked miracles, and whose superb basilica
has been converted into a mosque; David, solitary (sixth century); Theodora, d.
in 892; etc.
S. Vailhe, ed.
Transcribed by: Thomas M. Barrett
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
At the N end of the Thermaic Gulf, probably on the site of Therme.
Founded ca. 316 B.C. by Kassander as a result of a synoecism of 26 local cities,
and so called after his wife, Alexander's sister. It owed its existence and continued
prosperity to the fact that it lay at the Aegean end of the route to Central Europe
via the valleys of the rivers Axios (Vardar) and Morava. It became the capital
of the Roman province of Macedonia in 146 B.C., received the neocorate under Gordian
III (A.D. 238-44), was made a colonia in the reign of Decius (A.D. 250), and in
the mid 5th c. became the seat of the prefects of Illyricum. It suffered various
vicissitudes in the Middle Ages, including capture by Saracens and Normans, before
falling to the Turks in 1430 and to the Greeks in 1912.
The foundations of an archaic Ionic temple of ca. 500 B.C., presumably
belonging to Therme, were found before the Second World War S of Government House,
and its disiecta membra have been found elsewhere since then.
The regular plan, which has survived in part down to the present,
was probably laid out at the time of the city's foundation, and it has close parallels
with the plans of other Hellenistic cities, especially in the proportions of the
insulae (some 100 x 50 m). The site of the archaic temple very likely continued
as a sacred area through Hellenistic times into Roman. But the only Hellenistic
cult center whose site is definitely known is the Serapaion in the W of the lower
city, which was excavated in 1917, though never published. There was a gymnasium
in the N of the city at least from the late Hellenistic period, if not before,
and a nearby stadium (once to be seen S of the basilica of St. Demetrius) probably
went back to Hellenistic times as well. The Hellenistic fortifications probably
followed the lines of the later walls, and Hellenistic tombs have been found outside
the city in the area of the Roman cemeteries.
Very little is known about earlier Roman buildings. Cicero, who spent
some of his exile at Thessalonike, mentions the Quaestorium and also refers to
the inhabitants seeking refuge from invading Thracians in the citadel. Inscriptions
have been found referring to the imperial cult, and the center of emperor worship
was probably near where the archaic temple had stood, for some imperial portrait
statues have been found there.
A remarkable feature of the Roman period is the building activity
that went on in Antonine and Severan times, probably as a result of rivalry with
neighboring Beroia. An arch of ca. A.D. 150 stood until 1874 at the W end of what
was the principal artery of the Roman city (the so-called Via Egnatia; the name
is in fact a misnomer). An agora of the Antonine or Severan period has been found
in Plateia Dikasteriou in the upper city. It occupied two insulae, was surrounded
by stoas, and had an odeum to the E (modified in the Tetrarchic period). Along
the S side there was a cryptoporticus, and steps led down to a further open space
to the S, the extent of which is unknown. Nor do we know the original position
or the precise function of the "Incantadas," a mid 2d c. colonnade surmounted
by piers decorated in high relief with figures of Ganymede, a Dioskouros, Aura,
and Nike on one side, and Leda, Ariadne, Dionysos, and a maenad on the other (the
sculpture was removed to the Louvre in 1864). A small trapezoidal exedra of Antonine
date can still be seen on Odos Egnatia. Not far from the Acheiropoietos basilica
Roman house walls, a colonnade, and a large drain have been found, and a Roman
mosaic floor still exists inside the basilica itself. Large mosaics of Ganymede
and of Dionysos and Ariadne were found in 1965 on Odos Sokratous. The threat of
attacks by the Goths in the middle years of the 3d c. was met by the construction
of a city wall replacing the Hellenistic fortifications.
At the turn of the 3d and 4th c. A.D., a large Tetrarchic palace was
built on the city's E edge, and it probably stretched from the sea to a point
some 800 m inland. The width of the palace area was ca. 200 m. Surviving structures
include part of an arch decorated with sculptured panels built to commemorate
Galerius' victories over the Persians, and a rotunda which was probably intended
for his mausoleum, although it was never used as such. Foundations of an octagon
some 30 m in diameter were found in 1950, a courtyard of the palace was discovered
during the 1960s, and enough stretches of thehippodrome have been found to show
that the length of the running track was just over 400 m.
There was a great deal of building in the mid 5th c. The seat of the
prefects of Illyricum had been at Sirmium, but in the face of the threat presented
by the Huns it was moved to Thessaloniki in 441-42. The city had to be defended
and given suitably prestigious public buildings. Thus new city walls were built,
incorporating marble seating blocks from the hippodrome in their foundations.
Churches also were built, including the Acheiropoietos basilica, the first basilica
of St. Demetrius (whose cult was brought from Sirmium), and a basilica some 100
m long found recently underlying the 8th c. Aghia Sophia. The foundations of its
hexagonal baptistery are visible to the S. To the same period (mid 5th c.) belong
the conversion of the Tetrarchic rotunda into a church (since 1912 the church
of St. George) and the decoration of its cupola with mosaics.
The E and W walls are some 1,800 m apart and the acropolis is the
same distance from the sea. The Istanbul Archaeological Museum houses the principal
antiquities found in the area before 1912; subsequent finds are kept in the Thessaloniki
Archaeological Museum.
M. Vickers, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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