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Thessaly
Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Thessaly
Thessalythĕs'əlē, largest ancient region of Greece in N central Greece. It corresponded roughly to the present-day nomes of Larissa and Tríkkala, which form part of the modern region known as Thessaly. Ancient Thessaly was almost completely walled in by mountains, including Pindus, Ossa, and Othrys (now Othrís), and the plains were extremely fertile. Civilization dates from prehistoric times. Before 1000 B.C. a tribe called the Thessalians entered the area from the northwest. The chief Thessalian cities, Larissa, Crannon, and Pherae, were oligarchical. The great families were the Aleuadae (at Larissa) and the Scopadae (at Crannon). The Thessalians were powerful in the 6th cent. B.C., partly through their control of the Amphictyonic League (see amphictyony). Conflict between the oligarchies, however, contributed to Thessaly's decline. Jason, the tyrant of Pherae, succeeded (374 B.C.) in uniting Thessaly, which again became a force in Greece, but it did not remain powerful for long and was subjugated (344 B.C.) by Philip II of Macedon. Under the Roman emperors Thessaly was joined to Macedonia, but after the death of Constantine the Great it became a separate province. It passed (1355) to the Turks and was ceded to Greece in 1881.

See A. J. B. Wace, Prehistoric Thessaly (1912); H. D. Hansen, Early Civilization in Thessaly (1933); and H. D. Westlake, Thessaly in the Fourth Century B.C. (1935, repr. 1969).

Wikipedia search results for: Thessaly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thessaly is one of the 13 peripheries of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 prefectures. The capital of the periphery and traditional geographical region is Larissa. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Thrace, it is often referred to unofficially as Northern Greece. The periphery lies in central Greece and borders Macedonia on the north, Epirus on the west, Sterea Hellas or Central Greece on the south and the Aegean Sea on the east; it covers the same area as the Greek region of Thessaly from before the 1987 administrative reform . Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Thessaly
Results 1 - 10  of 23
  • Vólos

    Vólos, city (1991 pop. 77,192), capital of Magnisia prefecture, E Greece, in Thessaly, on the Gulf of Vólos, an inlet of the Aegean Sea. The principal port of Thessaly, Vólos is a transportati...

  • Ossa

    Ossa, peak, c.6,490 ft (1,980 m) high, NE Thessaly, N Greece. According to legend the Aloadae piled Mt. Pelion on Ossa when they stormed Olympus.

  • Pharsalus

    Pharsalus, ancient city, Thessaly, Greece. Near there in 48 B.C., Julius Caesar decisively defeated Pompey, who had a much larger force. Lucan's Bellum Civile (often called Pharsalia) is an ep...

  • Wace, Alan John Bayard

    Wace, Alan John Bayard, 1879–1957, English archaeologist. From 1914 to 1923 he was director of the British School at Athens. He served as professor of classical archaeology at Cambridge (1934–...

  • Pelion

    Pelion, Gr. Pílion, mountain, 5,252 ft (1,601 m) high, N Greece, E Thessaly, on the Aegean coast. In ancient legend, the centaur Chiron lived on the mountain and the Aloadae piled Pelion on Mt...

  • Larissa, Greece

    Larissa or Lárisa, city (1991 pop. 113,090), capital of Larissa prefecture, E Greece, in Thessaly on the Piniós River. It is an agricultural trade center and a transportation hub, linked by ra...

  • Achaeans

    Achaeans, people of ancient Greece, of unknown origin. In Homer, the Achaeans are specifically a Greek-speaking people of S Thessaly. Historically, they seem to have appeared in the Peloponnes...

  • Alexander of Pherae

    Alexander of Pherae, d. 358 B.C., tyrant of the city of Pherae in Thessaly after 369 B.C. He was opposed by other Thessalian cities and by the Thebans. Pelopidas failed (368 B.C.) in one exped...

  • Olympus

    Olympus, Gr. Ólimbos, mountain range, c.25 mi (40 km) long, N Greece, on the border of Thessaly and Macedonia, near the Aegean coast. It rises to c.9,570 ft (2,920 m) at Mt. Olympus, the highe...

  • Magnesia, ancient cities, Lydia

    Magnesia, two ancient cities of Lydia, W Asia Minor (now W Turkey). They were colonies of the Magnetes, a tribe of E Thessaly. One city (Magnesia ad Maeandrum), SE of Smyrna (Izmir), was later...

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