journal with French & Ottoman Turkish captions from Elassona during the Ottoman Era: "
A Valley near Elassona" Due to its location on the passes leading from the
Thessalian plain to
Macedonia, the site of Elassona was always of some strategic importance.
Antiquity and Middle Ages Elassona was known as
Oloosson () in antiquity. In the
Iliad it was mentioned in Homer's
Catalogue of Ships, providing armed contingents that supported the Greek side in the Trojan War. In the early
Byzantine period it was known as , and was one of the sites refortified under
Justinian I (). In the Ottoman
tahrir defter of 1544, the town included
Selanik Yörüks, who had military obligations that required them to give five soldiers (
eşküncü) and 20 assistants (
yamaks) per household (
ocak). During the Ottoman period
devshirme was practiced in the area and
janissaries were recruited from Elassona ( Some Christians of Elassona also rebelled in 1821 under the
armatole captain of Elassona. However, in less than a year they asked for amnesty under the same captain and stated that the
reaya of some other localities are about to follow suit and were granted amnesty. The Ottomans declared in February 1822 that if the rebellious reaya beg for pardon, their appeal were to be accepted, so long as they meet the specified conditions. In the
1881–1893 census of the Ottoman Empire, the
kaza of Elassona had a total population of 26,855; consisting of 24,631
Greek Orthodox, 2,188 Muslims, 15
Jews, one
Armenian, and 20 foreign citizens. Unlike the rest of Thessaly, which was
annexed by Greece in 1881, Elassona remained part of the
Ottoman Empire until 1912, when it joined Greece (along with Crete, Macedonia and Epirus) following its victory in the
Balkan Wars. ==Municipality==