Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In 168 BC the Romans conquered Macedon. Thessaloniki's importance was enhanced
by its ideal location on the Thermaic Gulf, east-west Via Egnatia, and the Axios/Vardar
River valley leading north. Under Galerius, Thessaloniki became the eastern imperial
capital; with the empire's division in 395 AD, it became Byzantium's second city, a
flourishing Constantinople in miniature.
However, it was also frequently attacked by Goths, Slavs, Saracens and Crusaders.
Still, Thessaloniki remained a cultural centre. It bore the 9th-century monks Cyril and
Methodius (creators of Glagolitic, precursor to Cyrillic), who expanded Orthodox Byzan-
tine literary culture among the Slavs, and the great 14th-century theologian St Greg- ory
Palamas.
In 1430, the Ottoman Turks captured Thessaloniki; after 1492, they resettled Sephard-
ic Jews fleeing the Inquisition here, adding to the city's diversity.
With the 1821 Independence War only a partial success, 19th-century Thessaloniki be-
came a lurid hub for intrigue, secret societies and mutually antagonistic rebels and re-
formers. Along with Greek revolutionaries, these included the pro-Bulgarian Internal
Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO), and the Young Turks, who wanted
Western-style reforms for the empire. Indeed, one Young Turk and Thessaloniki native,
Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) would become modern Turkey's founding father.
Thessaloniki suffered successive tragedies over the following four decades. The
August 1917 fire burned most of it, and ethnic diversity shrank with the 1923 population
exchanges. During the WWII Nazi occupation, Thessaloniki's Jews were deported to
concentration camps and other non-Greeks were expelled following the Greek Civil War.
By 1950, Thessaloniki was learning to become a Greek city again.
Sights
Thessaloniki's Byzantine and ancient sites (and its museums) constitute its major attrac-
tions. Steadily refurbished Ottoman structures also appeal. Thessaloniki's former Jewish
population is attested by some surviving buildings and a small, mostly elderly commu-
nity. Find Jewish Sites in Thessaloniki: Brief History and Guide by Rena Molho and
Vilma Hastaoglou-Martinidi (Lycabettus Press) at bookshops and the Jewish Museum.
White Tower HISTORIC BUILDING
MAP
(Lefkos Pyrgos; 2310 267 832; www.lpth.gr ; 8.30am-3pm Tue-Sun) The history of Thes-
saloniki's most famous landmark, the pacific White Tower, is actually bathed in blood. In
1826 Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II massacred rebellious janissaries (elite troops of for-
 
 
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