Therma or Thermē (, ) is the unknown city incorporated into the new city of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

by the Macedonians on its

synoecism Synoecism or synecism ( ; , ''sunoikismos'', ), also spelled synoikism ( ), was originally the amalgamation of villages in Ancient Greece into ''poleis'', or city-states. Etymologically, the word means "dwelling together (''syn'') in the same h ...

and foundation. Little is known of literary Therma, including its exact location.

is the second-largest city in Greece. It surrounds the entire north of the

Thermaic Gulf The Thermaic Gulf (, ), also called the Gulf of Thessaloniki and the Macedonian Gulf, is a Gulf (geography), gulf constituting the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea. The city of Thessaloniki is at its northeastern tip, and it is bounded by Pie ...

, named after its predecessor. Exactly where Therma was remains a mystery. There is not much room for archaeological excavation between all the modern skyscrapers, and the parklands are valued as such. However, two large habitation mounds remain available and have been extensively excavated. No literary or inscriptional fragment ties them to Therma. The pottery is Greek, but such is the case for any settlement of the times around the Aegean, regardless of known language or ethnic connections. Nearly all of Lower Macedonia was Macedonianized in classical times by the aggressive

Argead dynasty The Argead dynasty (), also known as the Temenid dynasty (, ''Tēmenídai'') was an Ancient Macedonians, ancient Macedonian royal house of Dorians, Dorian Greek provenance. They were the founders and the ruling dynasty of the kingdom of Macedoni ...

, in which the original

, half-sister of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

, became queen.

Literary fragments concerning Therma

Ethnicity

The question of polis

Synoecism into Thessaloniki

Archaeological sites of Therma

Mikro Emvolo

Toumba

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

*Herodotus, the Seventh, Eighth, & Ninth Books, with Introductio

Reginald Walter Macan *The Letters to the Thessalonian

by Gene L. Green *From Mycenae to Constantinople: The Evolution of the Ancient Cit

By Richard Allan Tomlinson *Hidryma Meletōn Chersonēsou tou Haimou (Thessalonikē, Greec

External links

Ancient coinage from Therma
Cities in ancient Macedonia Greek colonies in Mygdonia Ancient Thessalonica Populated places established in the 7th century BC Former populated places in Greece Populated places in ancient Macedonia Eretrian colonies Corinthian colonies {{AncientMygdonia-geo-stub