Travel the World with MagicalJourneys.com Travel to GREECE with MagicalJourneys.com
GREECE Discover Greece Greece Travel Greece Hotels Of Interest
Mainland Greece
Macedonia
Thessaloniki
Discover
Thessaloniki
Travel to
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Hotels
Of Interest



A Short History of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki is the capital of Macedonia and second largest city of Greece. It was first established in 316 B.C. by Kassandros and named after his wife, Thessaloniki, half sister of Alexander the Great. It means Victory in Thessaly.

It is here that the Apostle Paul first brought the message of Christianity (50 A.D.) and that Demetrius, a Roman officer died in martyrdom (303 A.D.), thus becoming the holy patron of the city.

Thessaloniki was the second most important city of the Byzantine Empire, next to Constantinople, and is full of beautiful examples of Byzantine art and architecture. In the 15th Century Thessaloniki became a haven for Jews exiled from Spain, who became an important part of the culture, until they were sent to the concentration camps during the Nazi occupation, thus ending a period of four hundred years of Jewish influence both socially and economically. This period roughly corresponds with the occupation of Greece by the Ottoman Turks.

It became a part of the modern state of Greece in 1913, but burned in 1917 creating a homeless population of 70,000. Add to this mix the influx of refugees from Asia minor after their expulsion by Attaturk and you have the makings of a social revolution which took the form of Rembetika music.

To this day some of Greece's the most creative musicians including Savopoulos, Tsitsanis and Papazoglou, come from Thessaloniki.


Used with permission from Matt Barrett's Greece Travel Guide

Discover Macedonia Travel to Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Hotels Of Interest on in Thessaloniki