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Thessaloniki
Updated: 2004-06-28 15:54
An ancient Greek city. A Hellenistic city. A Roman city. A Byzantine city. A
Balkan city. A city of the East. A European city.
A great city with an everlasting presence.
The first Neolithic settlement known to us grew along the shores of the
Thermaic Gulf, where Thessaloniki was later founded, named after the sister of
Alexander the Great.
In her century-long history, the present capital of the Greek north has been
a major centre in Hellenistic times, a royal seat of the Roman empire, the
second city of Byzantium and in more recent years, a metropolitan centre of the
Balkans.
Thessaloniki was founded by the king of Macedonia, Kassandros, in 315 B.C.
Its culture is teeming with diverse religions, customs and traditions. Conqueror
or conquered, it played host to all those who chose to live there for the
quality of its land, its relationship with the sea and the roads linking it with
other worlds.
A City, which passed from Aristotelian thought to the Greek Orthodox
religion, participated in the Western way of thinking and became acquainted with
Eastern philosophy.
A City of the Christian Orthodox religion that witnessed the teaching of the
Laws of Moses and the Koran. A City of workers, refugees and immigrants, known
as the second Jerusalem, which grew into the cosmopolitan centre for which she
was predestined in modern times.
Philip, Alexander the Great, Kassandros, St. Paul the Apostle, Galerius, St.
Dimitrios, Cyrillos, Methodius and Armenopoulos. Heroes, rulers, saints,
apostles, philosophers and thinkers, residents or visitors that conferred power
on the city of Thessaloniki and fed it with legends.
Thessaloniki: A city of the sea, a city of the sun, a city of communication
and exchanges, a Mediterranean city-port.
Today Thessaloniki has a modern port, a thriving industry and a dynamic
trade. It maintains strong links with the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the
countries of the Black Sea. A city pulsating with students and their troubles,
with researchers and scientists of the largest University in the country; a city
that has a great deal to boast of to its citizens, to the country, to the whole
world!
Basic Facts and Figures
Population: 750.000
Telephone: area code 2310, country code 30
Weather: weather up-dates are available at http://www.hnms.gr/emy/english/ath2004/index_html
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