Antiquity (1837–1907). Modern Volos is built on the area of the ancient cities of
Demetrias,
Pagasae and
Iolcos. Demetrias was established in 293 BC by
Demetrius Poliorcetes, King of
Macedon.
Iolcus, or Iolkos, was known in mythology as the homeland of the hero
Jason, who boarded the ship
Argo accompanied by the
Argonauts and sailed in quest of the
Golden Fleece to
Colchis. To the west of Volos lie the
Neolithic settlements of
Dimini, with a ruined
acropolis, walls, and two beehive tombs dating to between 4000 and 1200 BC, and
Sesklo, with the remains of the oldest acropolis in Greece (6000 BC). The mound of Kastro/Palaia in western Volos is the site of a
Bronze Age settlement, including a
Mycenaean palace complex where a couple of preserved
Linear B tablets have been found.
Byzantine era Iolcus is still attested in the early Byzantine period but was eclipsed for most of the
Middle Ages by Demetrias. The
Slavic tribe of the
Belegezites settled in the area during the 7th century. Volos first appears again in 1333, as one of the cities captured by the Byzantine general
John Monomachos in Thessaly, under the name "Golos" (Γόλος). Another theory derives the name from Slavic
golosh, "seat of administration". Two alternative theories allude to a Greek origin through the words βολή (throw), as fishermen threw their nets into the sea from that area, and βώλος (piece of land) but the Greek scholar G. Hatzidakis considers them to be
paretymologies at best. Along with the rest of Thessaly, Volos fell under
Serbian rule in 1348, governed by
Gregory Preljub. After Preljub's death Thessaly passed under the brief rule of
Nikephoros II Orsini, followed by the Serbian rulers
Simeon Uroš and
John Uroš. After the latter's death in 1373, Thessaly returned under Byzantine rule for twenty years, until its conquest by the
Ottoman Empire under Sultan
Bayezid I.
Ottoman era (c.1875). Ottoman rule was not yet firm. The first period of Ottoman control lasted from 1393 to 1397, followed by another , but it was not until 1423 that Volos was definitively incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. Volos was
incorporated into the Greek Kingdom in November 1881 with the rest of Thessaly. The city had a vibrant Jewish community in the early 20th century: from ≈500 in 1896, it rose to ≈2,000 in 1930, before falling drastically to 882 members in 1940, because of emigration to the great cities of Thessaloniki and
Athens or abroad. During the
Axis occupation of Greece, the prompt actions of the local rabbi,
Moshe Pesach, and the Greek authorities saved about 700 of the local Jewish community from deportation to the Nazi death camps. After an aerial attack by Italian troops in November 1940 and another by the Germans in 1941, many of the city's inhabitants took refuge in the villages of
Pelion. Abandoning Volos after Italy's capitulation in September 1943, the Italians left storerooms full of food, arms and ammunition. Large quantities of this material was transported with the
Pelion railway to the mountain village
Milies and under the supervision of
ELAS loaded onto
mules and taken to secure hideaways. When the Germans set off a column to Milies an officer and a soldier were killed by resistance fighters. In reprisal nearly the whole village was burnt down by German occupation troops on 4 October 1943. According to the official report of the municipality the Germans executed 25 men, and three inhabitants died in their houses from the flames. Volos is also well known for its assortment of mezedes and a clear alcoholic beverage known as
tsipouro. A street in a sister city,
Rostov-on-Don, bears the name
Улица Греческого Города Волос (Street of the Greek City of Volos), weaving through a mix of early 20th-century buildings with characteristic inner yards, tiered balconies and open iron stairs that lend the old Rostov its characteristic Mediterranean look. In September 2023 the city of Volos was flooded by massive rain. ==Administration==