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Thessaly or Thessalia (
Attic Greek Attic Greek is the Greek dialect of the ancient region of Attica, including the '' polis'' of Athens. Often called classical Greek, it was the prestige dialect of the Greek world for centuries and remains the standard form of the language that ...
: , ''Thessalía'' or , ''Thettalía'') was one of the traditional regions of
Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...
. During the
Mycenaean period Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland ...
, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of the major tribes of Greece, the Aeolians, and their dialect of Greek,
Aeolic In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (), also known as Aeolian (), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anato ...
.


Geography

At its greatest extent, ancient Thessaly was a wide area stretching from
Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...
to the north to the Spercheios Valley to the south. Thessaly is a geographically diverse region, consisting of broad central plains surrounded by mountains. The plains are bounded by the Pindos Mountains to the west, Mount Othrys to the south, the Pelion and Ossa ranges to the east, and Mount Olympos to the North. The central plains consist of two basins, the Larisa basin and the
Karditsa Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly. Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, th ...
basin, drained by the Pineios River into the
Vale of Tempe The Vale of Tempe ( el, Κοιλάδα των Τεμπών) is a gorge in the Tempi municipality of northern Thessaly, Greece, located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south, and between the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia. The ...
. The
Pagasetic Gulf The Pagasetic Gulf ( el, Παγασητικός κόλπος, Pagasitikós kólpos) is a rounded gulf (max. depth 102 metres) in the Magnesia regional unit (east central Greece) that is formed by the Mount Pelion peninsula. It is connected wit ...
in southeastern Thessaly was and is the only body of water suitable for harbours in region. Strictly speaking, Thessaly refers primarily to the central plains inhabited by the Thessalians in antiquity. The plains were divided in antiquity into four administrative regions called tetrads:
Pelasgiotis Pelasgiotis ( grc, Πελασγιῶτις, Pelasgiōtis) was an elongated district of ancient Thessaly, extending from the Vale of Tempe in the north to the city of Pherae in the south. The Pelasgiotis included the following localities: Argos Pela ...
,
Phthiotis Phthiotis ( el, Φθιώτιδα, ''Fthiótida'', ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is b ...
, Thessaliotis, and Histiaeotis. In its broader sense, Thessaly also included the surrounding regions called the ''perioikoi'', which were regions inhabited by different ethnic groups that were closely tied to the Thessalians either as subordinates, dependents, or allies. The ''perioikoi'' were composed of Perrhaibia, Magnesia, Achaea Phthiotis, Dolopia,
Ainis Ainis ( Ancient Greek Αἰνίς, , Modern Greek Αινίδα, ) or Aeniania, was a region of ancient Greece located near Lamia in modern Central Greece, roughly corresponding to the upper Valley of Spercheios. Name The region takes its name ...
, Malis, and Oitaia. The three largest cities in Thessaly were Larisa (Pelasgiotis), Pherai (Pelasgiotis), and
Pharsalos Farsala ( el, Φάρσαλα), known in Antiquity as Pharsalos ( grc, Φάρσαλος, la, Pharsalus), is a city in southern Thessaly, in Greece. Farsala is located in the southern part of Larissa regional unit, and is one of its largest towns. ...
(Phthiotis). The Thessalian plains were ideally suited for cultivating grains and cereals, and were known in antiquity for horse-rearing.
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
's horse, Bucephalus, was originally from Pharsalos. The surrounding mountainous regions, however, were less suitable for
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
and relied more heavily on
pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands ( pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The anim ...
.


History

Thessaly was home to extensive
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
and
Chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and  ''líthos'', "Rock (geology), stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin ''wikt:aeneus, aeneus'' "of copper"), is an list of archaeologi ...
cultures around 6000 BC
2500 BC The 25th century BC was a century that lasted from the year 2500 BC to 2401 BC. Events * c. 2900–2334 BC: Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. * c. 2560 BC: Construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza is completed. * c. 2500 BC: R ...
(see
Cardium pottery Cardium pottery or Cardial ware is a Neolithic decorative style that gets its name from the imprinting of the clay with the heart-shaped shell of the '' Corculum cardissa '', a member of the cockle family Cardiidae. These forms of pottery a ...
,
Dimini Dimini ( el, Διμήνι; older form: ''Diminion'') is a village near the city of Volos, in Thessaly (central Greece), in Magnesia. It was the seat of the municipality of Aisonia. The name Aisonia dates back to ancient times and it is the wes ...
and Sesklo). Mycenaean settlements have also been discovered in Thessaly unearthing, at the Kastron of Palaia Hill, in Volos, tablets bearing
Mycenaean Greek Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC), before the hypothesised Dorian invasion, often cited as the '' terminus ad quem'' for th ...
inscriptions, written in
Linear B Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...
. In mythology, Thessaly was homeland of the heroes
Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pe ...
and
Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He ...
, as well of mythological creatures and peoples,
Centaurs A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as bein ...
, Lapiths, Phlegyans and Myrmidons. Ancient tribes in Thessaly mentioned by Homer or other poets were: Aeolians, Magnetes, Perrhaebi and
Pelasgians The name Pelasgians ( grc, Πελασγοί, ''Pelasgoí'', singular: Πελασγός, ''Pelasgós'') was used by classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergenc ...
. The name of Thessaly recorded epigraphically in
Aeolic In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (), also known as Aeolian (), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anato ...
variants .Derived from '' tessares/pettares'' "four", from a division into four parts (
Thessalian tetrarchy Thessaly or Thessalia (Attic Greek: , ''Thessalía'' or , ''Thettalía'') was one of the traditional regions of Ancient Greece. During the Mycenaean period, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of the major tribes ...
;
Phthiotis Phthiotis ( el, Φθιώτιδα, ''Fthiótida'', ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is b ...
, Thessaliotis, Histiaeotis and
Pelasgiotis Pelasgiotis ( grc, Πελασγιῶτις, Pelasgiōtis) was an elongated district of ancient Thessaly, extending from the Vale of Tempe in the north to the city of Pherae in the south. The Pelasgiotis included the following localities: Argos Pela ...
), according to G. N. Khatzidaki, "Koskylmatia", ''Athena'' 8 (1896)
p. 119
εκ του πέτταρες ( = τέτταρες, δια την εις τετράδας διαίρεσιν της χώρας, ἤτοι εις Θεσσαλιώτιδα, Φθιώτιδα, Πελασγιώτιδα και Ἱστιαιώτιδα). Daniēl Magnēs, ''Lexikon historikomythikon kai geōgraphikon'' (1834)
161f.
The Thessalians were a Thesprotian tribe (according to
Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...
, vii. 176; Veil. Pat. i. 3), and originally came from the Thesprotian Ephyra. Under the guidance of leaders, who are said to have been descendants of
Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...
, they invaded the western part of the country afterwards called Thessaly, and drove out or reduced to the condition of Penestae, or bondsmen, the ancient Aeolian inhabitants. Afterwards, the Thessalians spread over the other parts of the country, taking possession of the most fertile districts and compelling the Peraebi, Magnetes, Achaean Phthiotians and other neighbouring people to submit to their authority and to pay them tribute. Like Laconia, the population of Thessaly therefore consisted of three distinct classes: # The Penestae, whose condition was nearly the same as that of the
Helots The helots (; el, εἵλωτες, ''heílotes'') were a subjugated population that constituted a majority of the population of Laconia and Messenia – the territories ruled by Sparta. There has been controversy since antiquity as to their ...
. # The subject people, who inhabited the districts not occupied by the Thessalian invaders. They paid tribute, as stated above, but were personally free, though they had no share in the government. They corresponded to the Perioeci of Laconia, by which name they are called by Xenophon. # The Thessalian conquerors, who alone had any share in the public administration, and whose lands were cultivated by the Penestae. For some time after the conquest, Thessaly seems to have been governed by kings of the race of
Heracleidae The Heracleidae (; grc, Ἡρακλεῖδαι) or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles (Hercules), especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also ...
, who may however have been only the heads of the great aristocratic families, invested with the supreme power for a certain time. Under one of these princes, named Aleuas, the country was divided into four districts – Phthiotis, Plistiaeotis, Thessaliotis and Pelasgiotis: This division continued throughout Thessalian history, and it may therefore be concluded that it was not merely a nominal one. Each district may have regulated its affairs by some kind of provincial council, but we are almost entirely in the dark concerning the internal government of each district. When occasion required, a chief
magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
was elected under the name of ''
tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to e ...
'', whose commands were obeyed by all four districts. He is sometimes called king (''
basileus ''Basileus'' ( el, ) is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. In the English-speaking world it is perhaps most widely understood to mean " monarch", referring to either a " king" or an "emperor" and ...
'', Herod, v. 63), and sometimes ''
archon ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...
'' (Dionys. v. 74.) He levied soldiers from the states in each district, and seems to have fixed the amount of tribute to be paid by the allies. (Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 19.) When Jason of Pherae was ''tagus'', he had an army of more than 8,000 cavalry and not less than 20,000 hoplites (Xenoph../. c.), and Jason himself says that when Thessaly is under a ''tagus'', there is an army of 6,000 cavalry and 10,000 hoplites. The tribute Jason levied from the subject towns was the same as had been previously paid by one of the Scopadae family, whom Buttmann supposes to be the same Scopas as the one mentioned by Aelian ( V. H. xii. 1) as a contemporary of
Cyrus the younger Cyrus the Younger ( peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ''Kūruš''; grc-gre, Κῦρος ; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC i ...
. When Thessaly was not united under the government of a ''tagus'', the subject towns possessed more independence. (Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 9.) In later times, some states called their ordinary magistrates ''tagoi'' (Bockh, Corp. Liscr. n. 1770), which may have been done however, as Hermann suggests, only out of affectation. However, Thessaly was hardly ever united under one government. The different cities administered their own affairs independently of one another, though the smaller towns seem to have frequently "been under the influence of the more important ones (Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 8). In almost all the cities, the form of government was aristocratical ("dynastic rule rather than isonomy", according to Thucyd. iv. 78), and it was chiefly in the hands of a few great families, who were descended from the ancient kings. Thus Larissa was subject to the Aleuadae, whence Herodotus (vii. 6) calls them kings of Thessaly ; Cranon or Crannon to the Scopadae, and Pharsalus to the Creondae. (Compare Theocr. xvi. -34, &c.) These nobles had vast estates cultivated by the Penestae; they were celebrated for their hospitality and lived in a princely manner ("hospitable, magnificent, the Thessalian way" Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 3), and they attracted to their courts many of the poets and artists of southern Greece. However, the Thessalian commonality did not submit quietly to the exclusive rule of the nobles. Contests between the two classes seem to have arisen early, and the conjecture of Thirlwall (vol. i. p. 438), that the election of a ''tagus'', like that of a
Roman dictator A Roman dictator was an extraordinary magistrate in the Roman Republic endowed with full authority to resolve some specific problem to which he had been assigned. He received the full powers of the state, subordinating the other magistrates, con ...
, was sometimes used as an expedient for keeping the commonalty under, appears very probable. At Larissa, the Aleuadae made some concessions to the popular party. Aristotle (Pol. v. 5) speaks, though we do not know at what time he refers to, of certain magistrates at Larissa, who bore the name of '' politophylakes'' and exercised a superintendence over the admission of freemen, and were elected themselves out of the body of the people whence they were led to court the people in a way unfavourable to the interests of the aristocracy. There were also other magistrates at Larissa of a democratic kind, called ''Larissopoioi''. (Aristot. Pol. iii. 1.) Besides the contests between the oligarchical and democratical parties, there were feuds among the oligarchs themselves; and such was the state of parties at Larissa under the government of the Aleuadae two generations before the Persian wars, that a magistrate was chosen by mutual consent, perhaps from the commonalty, to mediate between the parties (''archon mesidios'', Aristot. Pol. v. 5). At Pharsalus too at the close of the
Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of ...
, the state was torn asunder by internecine commotions and, for the sake of quiet and security, the citizens entrusted the acropolis and the whole direction of the government to Polydamas of Pharsalus, who discharged his trust with the strictest integrity. (Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 2, 3.) In the summer of 480 BC, during the
Second Persian invasion of Greece The second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasio ...
, the Persians invaded Thessaly. The Greek army that guarded the
Vale of Tempe The Vale of Tempe ( el, Κοιλάδα των Τεμπών) is a gorge in the Tempi municipality of northern Thessaly, Greece, located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south, and between the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia. The ...
, evacuated the road before the enemy arrived. Not much later, Thessaly surrendered and the Aleuadae joined the Persians. (See Thorax of Larissa, Thargelia (hetaera)) However, the power of the aristocratical families seems to have continued with little diminution until towards the close of the Peloponnesian War, when decidedly democratic movements first begin to appear. At this time, the Aleuadae and the Scopadae had lost much of their ancient influence. Pherae and Pharsalus then became the two leading states in Thessaly. At Pherae, a tyranny, probably arising from a democracy, was established by Lycophron, who opposed the great aristocratical families and aimed at the dominion of all Thessaly. (Xenoph. Hell. ii. 3. § 4 ; ^Diod. xiv. 82.) The latter object was accomplished by Jason of Pherae, the successor, and probably the son, of Lycophron, who effected an alliance with Polydamas of Pharsalus and caused himself to be elected ''tagus'' about in 374 BC. While he lived, the whole of Thessaly was united as one political power but, after his murder in 370 BC, his family was torn asunder by internecine discords and did not maintain its dominion for long. The office of ''tagus'' became a tyranny under his successors, Polydorus, Polyphron, Alexander, Tisiphonus, and Lycophron; until, at length, the old aristocratical families called in the assistance of
Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...
, who deprived Lycophron of his power in 353 BC, and restored the ancient government in the different towns. At Pherae, he is said to have restored popular, or at least republican, government.(Diod. xvi. 38.) The Thessalian people elected Philip ''archon tagus'' of the Thessalian League for life; a few years later (344 BC), he re-established the tetrarchies (or tetradarchie), installing governors devoted to his interests and who were probably members of the ancient noble families. (Demosthen. Philip, ii. p. 71, iii. p. 117; Harpocrat. s. v.). The
Thessalian cavalry The army of the Kingdom of Macedon was among the greatest military forces of the ancient world. It was created and made formidable by King Philip II of Macedon; previously the army of Macedon had been of little account in the politics of the Gre ...
became also part of the Macedonian army and many Thessalians took part in the campaign of Alexander the Great. At the close of the First Macedonian War, 197 BC, under Flamininus, it was declared free along with Orestis;Liv. xxxiii. 34, xxxiv. 51, Polyb. xviii. 30. but ultimately it was incorporated in the
Roman province of Macedonia Macedonia ( grc-gre, Μακεδονία) was a province of the Roman Empire, encompassing the territory of the former Antigonid Kingdom of Macedonia, which had been conquered by Rome in 168 BC at the conclusion of the Third Macedonian War. The ...
along with
Epirus vetus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinric ...
.


Ancient coinage of Thessaly

File:AR hemidrachm of Pharsalos.jpg, Silver hemidrachm of
Pharsalos Farsala ( el, Φάρσαλα), known in Antiquity as Pharsalos ( grc, Φάρσαλος, la, Pharsalus), is a city in southern Thessaly, in Greece. Farsala is located in the southern part of Larissa regional unit, and is one of its largest towns. ...
struck 450–400 BC File:AR hemidrachm of Trikka.jpg, Silver hemidrachm of Trikka struck 440–400 BC File:Bronze coin of Ekkarra.jpg, Bronze coin of Ekkarra struck 325–320 BC File:Bronze coin of Krannon.jpg, Bronze coin of
Krannon Krannonas ( el, Κραννώνας) is a village and a former municipality in the Larissa regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kileler, of which it is a municipal unit. It is locat ...
struck 400–344 BC File:Hemidrachm, Pellina, Thessaly, 460-420 BC.jpg, Hemidrachm coin of Pelinna struck 460–420 BC


References

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