Thessaly (redirected from Thessalians)

Thessaly (thĕs`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.

Bibliography

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).

---

Thessaly

Historical region and current administrative region (pop., 2001: 754,893), east-central Greece. The ancient region corresponded roughly to the modern one. Mount Olympus rises in the northeast. Thessaly is drained by the Piniós River. It was the site of many cultures in the 3rd–2nd millennia BC; by c. 1000 BC Greeks had established power there. Incorporated into the Roman province of Macedon in the 2nd century BC, it was made a separate Roman province in the 4th century AD. In the 7th–13th centuries it was controlled by Slavs, Saracens, Bulgars, and Normans. In the late 14th century it passed to the Turks; it was returned to Greece in 1881. It saw heavy fighting between Allied and Axis forces in 1941.

---

Thessaly

a region of E Central Greece, on the Aegean: an extensive fertile plain, edged with mountains. Pop.: 609 100 (2001). Area: 14 037 sq. km (5418 sq. miles)