Today is a holiday in Thessaloniki

Today, Thessaloniki is celebrating,
a beautiful city that, throughout its entire history, had been condemned to always be second best… (co-capital, secondary capital)
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In ancient Macedonia, although it was the largest commercial, social, and cultural center, the capital was Pella.
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Later, during the Roman era, the capital was Rome
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Later, under the Byzantines, the capital was Constantinople
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and
During the Ottoman occupation, the capital was once again Constantinople
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But let's start from the beginning
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Well,
Philip of Macedon, on his fifth marriage, married Nicisopolis,
who were the nephews of the tyrant of Pherae, Jason…
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In 353 B.C., they will have a baby girl whom they will name Thessaloniki,
a name commemorating Philip's victory in Thessaly.
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Cassander of Macedonia, who was Antipater's eldest son,
General of Philip
and
one of the local aristocrats,
a friend and classmate of Alexander's,
He marries Alexander's half-sister, Thessaloniki…
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After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., the «Wars of the Successors» began»
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In 316 B.C., Cassander had become the ruler of the region and decided to build Thessaloniki on the site of ancient Thermi, in honor of his wife.
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This is how the city comes into being; however, due to its strategic location, it grows rapidly
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Trade, especially following Alexander the Great’s new conquests, has boomed.
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There may be no roads,
and transportation from the mainland using animals is difficult
but the seas are open
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The Thermaic Gulf, which stretches out at the foot of the new city, very quickly made it a center of commerce
so
More and more people are moving in from the surrounding areas and settling down there
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The city's extensive commercial activity soon attracted Jewish merchants
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Thus,
Nearly 300 years before the birth of Christ, the history of the Jewish community in Thessaloniki began
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The growth spurt was so dramatic that Thessaloniki even went so far as to mint its own currency
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Later, when Perseus, the last king of Macedonia, lost the war against the Romans,
Thessaloniki and all of Macedonia became Roman settlements
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But nothing could stop Thessaloniki's growth
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About 100 years before the birth of Christ, the Romans decided to build the Via Egnatia
(not the modern one, but the ancient one)
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It was a project beyond human imagination. A project that no one had ever imagined.
It was so groundbreaking that it would change the course of world history
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Until then, overland travel took place along trails, with huge caravans of people and animals traversing rugged terrain and spending the night in villages along the way until they reached their destination
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Now, with this new road—wide and spacious enough for carriages to pass—,
and with speeds that can increase
whether for goods,
or for individual travelers,
Thessaloniki served as the intermediate link between Rome and Byzantium
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As the years went by, the Romans fought among themselves, and eventually, when the imperial princes, Antony and Octavian,
take power
declare Thessaloniki a free city
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But what did “Freedom” mean?;
Back then, there were no nation-states; the very idea didn't even exist
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"Free city" meant that the residents no longer had to pay taxes to the ruling emperor
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It was this freedom that made Thessaloniki the center of the Balkans
in trade,
culture,
Arts,
small-scale industries
etc.
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Even the Apostle Paul came to preach the Gospel some 50 years after Christ's death
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Christianity at that time was the new, the modern, the radical
and it had such momentum,
who, although persecuted by the wealthy bourgeoisie and the Jews,
He settled in just fine in the city
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That is why Saint Demetrius, who lived in Thessaloniki at the time, was a devout Christian…
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Later, persecutions of Christians began throughout the Roman Empire, and it took about 500 years for Thessaloniki to become part of the Byzantineand for Christianity to be legalized
to calm things down
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From time to time, various barbarian tribes attack the city, and at other times they are repelled
others are looting it
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But Thessaloniki was not only beset by the northern barbarians but also by the southern ones—those who came from the sea
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That is how it came to be occupied by the Saracen pirates who were plundering the city; the Bulgarians found it in ruins, so they attacked it as well and captured it.
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Soon the Normans arrived, drove out the Bulgarians, and took control of the city.
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Then came the Frankish Crusaders
then the Byzantines again
followed by the Catalans
then the Byzantines return
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With all that, we arrive just before the fall of Constantinople, when the Ottomans captured Thessaloniki
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Somewhere around here, the city's history takes a turn
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In the early years of Ottoman rule, the population of Thessaloniki did not exceed 7,000 people
and by 1519, their number had reached 30,000 people
Of course, more than half of them were Jewish
and how could things be any different in such a commercial hub?.
The Ottomans and the Christians were roughly on the same cultural level.
However, neither of these two groups reached the population size of the Jews
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The Ottoman Empire caused Thessaloniki to decline and become almost entirely Islamized
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Everywhere you looked, churches were being turned into mosques, and the land was filling up with tekkes and minarets
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In 1535, the White Tower was also built; it served as a prison and a place of torture
and its original name was the Tower of Blood.
(You know what I mean…)
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On this day, October 26, 1912, nearly 80 years after the founding of the Greek state,
on the feast day of Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki,
The Greek army enters Thessaloniki and makes it Greek
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At that time, Thessaloniki was the second-largest city in the Ottoman Empire, after Constantinople,
and
the largest center in the Balkans.
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a typical cosmopolitan city of the Ottoman Empire, where people of all walks of life lived side by side.
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The Greek community ranks third in terms of population.
with the Jews first, the Turks second, and the Greeks followed by the Slavs.
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Thessaloniki is clearly becoming Greek (with the Greek element taking precedence in people’s minds)
ONLY after the settlement of the Asia Minor refugees in ’22,
but also
following the massacre and looting of the Jews by Max Merten during the Occupation

Author of the article:

Yannis Golias