From classical antiquity to the Roman Empire , son of
Antipater, and founder of the city of Thessaloniki The city was founded around 315 BC by the
King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of
Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife
Thessalonike, a half-sister of
Alexander the Great and princess of Macedonia as daughter of
Philip II. Under the kingdom of Macedonia, the city retained its own autonomy and parliament and evolved to become the most important city in Macedonia. Thessalonica became a
free city of the
Roman Republic under
Mark Antony in 41 BC. It grew to be an important trade hub located on the
Via Egnatia, the road connecting
Dyrrhachium with
Byzantium, which facilitated trade between Thessaloniki and great centres of commerce such as
Rome and
Byzantium. Thessaloniki also lies at the southern end of the main north–south route through the Balkans along the valleys of the
Morava and
Axios river valleys, thereby linking the Balkans with the rest of Greece. The city became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. , one of several Roman monuments in the city and a
UNESCO World Heritage Site In 306 AD, Thessaloniki acquired a patron saint,
St. Demetrius, a Christian whom Galerius is said to have put to death. Most scholars agree with
Hippolyte Delehaye's theory that Demetrius was not a Thessaloniki native, but his veneration was transferred to Thessaloniki when it replaced
Sirmium as the main military base in the Balkans. A
basilical church dedicated to St. Demetrius,
Hagios Demetrios, was first built in the fifth century AD and is now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. When the Roman Empire was divided into the
tetrarchy, Thessaloniki became the administrative capital of one of the four portions of the Empire under
Galerius Maximianus Caesar, where Galerius commissioned an imperial palace, a new
hippodrome, a
triumphal arch and a
mausoleum, among other structures. Thessaloniki remained the administrative center of the
Diocese of Macedonia. In 379, when the Roman
Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum. In 390, troops under the Roman Emperor
Theodosius I led a
massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, who had risen in revolt against the detention of a favorite charioteer. By the time of the
Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki was the second-largest city of the
Eastern Roman Empire. both in terms of wealth and size, The city held this status until its transfer to Venetian control in 1423. In the 14th century, the city's population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000, making it larger than
London at the time. During the sixth and seventh centuries, the area around Thessaloniki was invaded by
Avars and Slavs, who unsuccessfully laid siege to the city several times, as narrated in the
Miracles of Saint Demetrius. The written sources stipulate that many Slavs settled in the hinterland of Thessaloniki which became known as 'Macedonian Sclavinia'. In the ninth century, the Byzantine missionaries
Cyril and Methodius, both natives of the city, created the first
literary language of the Slavs, the
Old Church Slavonic, most likely based on the Slavic dialect used in the hinterland of their hometown. A naval attack led by
Byzantine converts to Islam (including
Leo of Tripoli) in 904 resulted in the
sack of the city. (5th century) at the city's centre The economic expansion of the city continued through the 12th century as the rule of the
Komnenoi emperors expanded Byzantine control to the north. The city was
sacked again in 1185 by
Normans from the
Kingdom of Sicily. Thessaloniki passed out of Byzantine hands in 1204, when Constantinople was
captured by the forces of the
Fourth Crusade and incorporated the city and its surrounding territories in the
Kingdom of Thessalonica — which then became the largest
vassal of the
Latin Empire. In 1224, the Kingdom of Thessalonica was overrun by the
Despotate of Epirus, a remnant of the former Byzantine Empire, under
Theodore Komnenos Doukas who crowned himself Emperor, and the city became the capital of the short-lived
Empire of Thessalonica. Following his defeat at
Klokotnitsa however in 1230, the Empire of Thessalonica became a vassal state of the
Second Bulgarian Empire until it was recovered again in 1246, this time by the
Nicaean Empire. the city saw the rise of the
Commune of the Zealots, an anti-aristocratic party formed of sailors and the poor, which is nowadays described as social-revolutionary. as it had its own government, a form of republic. Thus began 500 years of Ottoman Turkish rule in Thessaloniki/Selânik, which would profoundly shape the city's unique multicultural character and urban architecture.
Ottoman period (1444) When Sultan
Murad II captured Thessaloniki and
sacked it in 1430, contemporary reports estimated that about one-fifth of the city's population was enslaved.
Ottoman artillery was used to secure the city's capture and bypass its double walls. including intellectuals such as
Theodorus Gaza "Thessalonicensis" and
Andronicus Callistus. However, the change of sovereignty from the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman one did not affect the city's prestige as a major imperial city and trading hub. Thessaloniki and
Smyrna, although smaller in size than
Constantinople, were the Ottoman Empire's most important trading hubs. During the Ottoman period, the city's population of
Ottoman Muslims (including those of
Turkish origin, as well as
Albanian Muslim,
Bulgarian Muslim, especially the Pomaks and
Greek Muslim of convert origin) and Muslim Roma like the
Sepečides Romani grew substantially. According to the 1478 census Selânik (), as the city came to be known in Ottoman Turkish, had 6,094 Christian Orthodox
households, 4,320 Muslim ones, and some Catholic. No Jews were recorded in the census, suggesting that the subsequent influx of Jewish population was not linked to the already existing
Romaniote community. Soon after the turn of the 15th to 16th century, however, nearly 20,000
Sephardic Jews immigrated to Greece from the
Iberian Peninsula following their expulsion from Spain by the 1492
Alhambra Decree. By c. 1500, the number of Christians had grown to 7,986, the Muslims to 8,575, and the Jews to 3,770. In 1519, according to Ottoman archives, the population of Thessaloniki numbered 1,374 Muslim households and 282 bachelors, for a total of 6,870, 1,078 Christian households and 355 bachelors, for a total of about 6,635, and 3,143 Hebrew households with 530 bachelors, for a total of 15,715, 54% of the city's population. Some historians consider the Ottoman regime's invitation to Jewish settlement was a strategy to prevent the Christian population from dominating the city. The city became both the largest Jewish city in the world and the only Jewish majority city in the world in the 16th century. As a result, Thessaloniki attracted persecuted Jews from all over the world. Thessaloniki was the capital of the
Sanjak of Selanik within the wider
Rumeli Eyalet (Balkans) until 1826, and subsequently the capital of
Selanik Eyalet (after 1867, the
Selanik Vilayet). This consisted of the sanjaks of Selanik,
Serres and
Drama between 1826 and 1912. With the break out of the
Greek War of Independence in the spring of 1821, the governor Yusuf Bey imprisoned in his headquarters more than 400 hostages. On 18 May, when Yusuf learned of the insurrection to the villages of
Chalkidiki, he ordered half of his hostages to be slaughtered before his eyes. The mulla of Thessaloniki, Hayrıülah, gives the following description of Yusuf's retaliations: "Every day and every night you hear nothing in the streets of Thessaloniki but shouting and moaning. It seems that Yusuf Bey, the Yeniceri Agasi, the Subaşı, the hocas and the ulemas have all gone raving mad." It would take until the end of the century for the city's Greek community to recover. (New Mosque), designed by architect
Vitaliano Poselli, was built in 1902 in the
Turkish Neoclassical style, with elements of
Baroque and
Renaissance architecture. Variously repurposed throughout the 20th century, it was reopened for regular Muslim worship in 2024. Thessaloniki was also a
Janissary stronghold where novice Janissaries were trained. In June 1826, regular Ottoman soldiers attacked and destroyed the Janissary base in Thessaloniki while also killing over 10,000 Janissaries, an event known as
The Auspicious Incident in Ottoman history. In 1870–1917, driven by economic growth, the city's population expanded by 70%, reaching 135,000 in 1917. while a number of new public buildings were built in the
eclectic style in order to project the European face both of Thessaloniki and the Ottoman Empire. The city walls were torn down between 1869 and 1889, efforts for a planned expansion of the city are evident as early as 1879, and the city streets were illuminated with electric lamp posts in 1908. In 1888, the
Oriental Railway connected Thessaloniki to Central Europe via rail through
Belgrade and to
Monastir in 1893, while the
Thessaloniki–Istanbul Junction Railway connected it to
Constantinople in 1896.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern republic of
Turkey, was born in Thessaloniki (then known as Selânik in
Ottoman Turkish) in 1881. His birthplace on İslahhane Caddesi (now 17 Apostolou Street) is now the
Atatürk Museum and forms part of the Turkish consulate complex. Other notable figures in Turkish and Ottoman history who were born in the city during the Ottoman era include poet and playwright
Nâzım Hikmet, Turkey's first female journalist
Sabiha Sertel, the Ottoman chronicler
Mustafa Selaniki, Turkish patriot
Hasan Tahsin (no relation to
Hasan Tahsin Pasha), and Young Turk politician
Mehmed Cavid Bey.
20th century and beyond In the early 20th century, Thessaloniki was in the centre of radical activities by various groups; the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, founded in 1897, and the Greek
Macedonian Committee, founded in 1903. In 1903, a
Bulgarian anarchist group known as the
Boatmen of Thessaloniki planted bombs in several buildings in Thessaloniki, including the
Ottoman Bank, with some assistance from the IMRO. The Greek consulate in Ottoman Thessaloniki (now the
Museum of the Macedonian Struggle) served as the centre of operations for the Greek guerillas. During this period, and since the 16th century, Thessaloniki's Jewish element was the most dominant; it was the only city in Europe where the Jews were a majority of the total population. The city was ethnically diverse and
cosmopolitan. In 1890, its population had risen to 118,000, 47% of which were Jews, followed by Turks (22%), Greeks (14%), Bulgarians (8%), Roma (2%), and others (7%). By 1913, the ethnic composition of the city had changed so that the population stood at 157,889, with Jews at 39%, followed again by Turks (29%), Greeks (25%), Bulgarians (4%), Roma (2%), and others at 1%. Many varied religions were practiced and many languages spoken, including
Judeo-Spanish, a dialect of Spanish spoken by the city's Jews. with
George I of Greece and the Greek army enter the city Thessaloniki was also the centre of activities of the
Young Turks, a political reform movement, whose goal was to replace the Ottoman Empire's absolute monarchy with a constitutional government. The Young Turks started out as an underground movement, until finally in 1908, they started the
Young Turk Revolution from the city of Thessaloniki, which led to them gaining control over the Ottoman Empire and put an end to the Ottoman sultan's power.
Eleftherias (Liberty) Square, where the Young Turks gathered at the outbreak of the revolution, is named after the event. Turkey's first president
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was born and raised in Thessaloniki, was a member of the Young Turks in his soldier days and also partook in the Young Turk Revolution. armies in Thessaloniki, World War I marches on its way to the
Macedonian front.
Balkan Wars and the end of Ottoman rule As the
First Balkan War broke out, Greece declared war on the Ottoman Empire and expanded its borders. When
Eleftherios Venizelos,
Prime Minister at the time, was asked if the Greek army should move towards Thessaloniki or Monastir (now
Bitola,
Republic of North Macedonia), Venizelos replied "" (
Thessaloniki, at all costs!). With the outnumbered Ottoman Army fighting a rearguard action against well-prepared Greek forces at
Yenidje, Bulgarian troops advancing close by, and the Ottoman naval base at Thessaloniki blockaded by the Greek Navy, General
Hasan Tahsin Pasha soon realised that it had become untenable to defend the city. The sinking of the Ottoman ironclad
Feth-i Bülend in Thessaloniki harbour on 31 October [O.S. 18 October] 1912, although militarily negligible, further damaged Ottoman morale. As both Greece and
Bulgaria wanted Thessaloniki, the Ottoman garrison of the city entered into negotiations with both armies separately. Ultimately it was decided to hand over the city to the Greeks, in part because there was a perception on the Ottoman side that the Greek troops would be more lenient towards its residents. Negotiations between the Greek and Turkish delegations were concluded at the village of
Topçin on the outskirts of the city. On 8 November 1912 (26 October
Old Style), the feast day of the city's patron saint,
Saint Demetrius, the Greek Army accepted the peaceful and unconditional surrender of the 25,000-strong Ottoman garrison at Thessaloniki, bringing almost five centuries of Ottoman rule to an end. The Bulgarian army arrived one day after the surrender of the city to Greece and Hasan Tahsin Pasha, commander of the city's defences, told the Bulgarian officials that "I have only one Thessaloniki, which I have surrendered". On 18 March 1913
George I of Greece was assassinated in the city by
Alexandros Schinas.
World War I, the Great Fire, and population exchange In 1915, during
World War I, a large
Allied expeditionary force established a base at Thessaloniki for operations against pro-German Bulgaria. This culminated in the establishment of the
Macedonian Front, also known as the Salonika front, and a temporary hospital run by the
Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service being set up in a disused factory. In 1916, pro-
Venizelist Greek army officers and civilians, with the support of the Allies, launched an uprising, creating a pro-Allied
temporary government by the name of the "
Provisional Government of National Defence" that controlled the "New Lands" (lands that were gained by Greece in the
Balkan Wars, most of Northern Greece including Greek Macedonia, the
North Aegean as well as the island of
Crete); Most of the old centre of the city was destroyed by the
Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, which was started accidentally by an unattended kitchen fire on 18 August 1917. The fire swept through the centre of the city, leaving 72,000 people homeless; according to the Pallis Report, most of them were Jewish (50,000). Many businesses were destroyed, as a result, 70% of the population were unemployed. After the defeat of Greece in the
Greco-Turkish War and during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, a
population exchange took place between Greece and Turkey. and
East Thrace were resettled in the city, This made the Greek element dominant, while the Jewish population was reduced to a minority for the first time since the 16th century. This was part of an overall process of modern Hellenization, which affected nearly all minorities within Greece, turning the region into a hotspot of ethnic nationalism. in July 1942,
Eleftherias Square. 96% of deported Jews perished in
Nazi concentration camps.
World War II during the
Axis occupation During
World War II Thessaloniki was heavily bombarded by
Fascist Italy (with 232 people dead, 871 wounded and over 800 buildings damaged or destroyed in November 1940 alone), and, the Italians having failed in
their invasion of Greece, it fell to the forces of
Nazi Germany on 8 April 1941 and went under German occupation. The Nazis soon forced the Jewish residents into a ghetto near the railroads and on 15 March 1943 began the deportation of the city's Jews to
Auschwitz and
Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. Most were immediately murdered in the
gas chambers. Of the 45,000 Jews deported to Auschwitz, only 4% survived. Speaking in the
Reichstag, Hitler claimed that the intention of his Balkan campaign was to prevent the Allies from establishing "a new Macedonian front", as they had during WWI. The importance of Thessaloniki to Nazi Germany can be demonstrated by the fact that, initially,
Hitler had planned to incorporate it directly into Nazi Germany and not have it controlled by a puppet state such as the
Hellenic State or an ally of Germany (Thessaloniki had been promised to
Yugoslavia as a reward for joining the
Axis on 25 March 1941). As it was the first major city in Greece to fall to the occupying forces, the first
Greek resistance group was formed in Thessaloniki (under the name , , "Freedom") as well as the first anti-Nazi newspaper in an occupied territory anywhere in Europe, also by the name
Eleftheria. Thessaloniki was also home to a military camp-converted-concentration camp, known in German as "Konzentrationslager Pavlo Mela" (
Pavlos Melas Concentration Camp), where members of the resistance and other anti-fascists On 30 October 1944, after battles with the retreating German army and the Security Battalions of
Poulos, forces of
ELAS entered Thessaloniki as liberators headed by
Markos Vafiadis (who did not obey orders from ELAS leadership in Athens to not enter the city). Pro-EAM celebrations and demonstrations followed in the city. In the
1946 monarchy referendum, the majority of the locals voted in favor of a republic, contrary to the rest of Greece.
Post-war: contemporary Thessaloniki After the war, Thessaloniki was rebuilt with large-scale development of new infrastructure and industry throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many of its architectural treasures still remain, adding value to the city as a tourist destination, while several early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki were added to the
UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988. In 1997, Thessaloniki was celebrated as the
European Capital of Culture, sponsoring events across the city and the region. Agency established to oversee the cultural activities of that year 1997 was still in existence by 2010. In 2004, the city hosted a number of the
football events as part of the
2004 Summer Olympics. Today, Thessaloniki has become one of the most important trade and business hubs in
Southeastern Europe, with its port, the
Port of Thessaloniki being one of the largest in the Aegean and facilitating trade throughout the Balkan hinterland. The city also forms one of the largest student centers in Southeastern Europe, is host to the largest student population in Greece and was the
European Youth Capital in 2014. Infrastructure improvements came in the 2020s with the upgrade and expansion of
Thessaloniki Airport in 2021 and the opening of
Thessaloniki Metro in 2024. ==Geography==