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The history of Thessaloniki


Ancient Years 
In 334 B.C., the son of Philippos, Alexandros the Big, king of Macedonia and undeniable sovereign of all Greece will make his big expedition against the Persians of M. Asia. In 323 B.C., he will die in Varvilona. Kassandros did not go to the big expedition in the M. Asia, but he remained in Macedonia. Later, after the assembly of "Successors" in Syria (321 B.C.), Kassandros became chiliarch of the Macedonian cavalry in Asia. When Antipatros died (319 B.C.) Kassandros turned against the new souvereign. However in the battle of Pidnas , Kassandros defeated Olympiada and condemned her to death. His action however created big reactions in Macedonia, where the achievements of Big Alexandros, son of Olympiada, had already become a legend with epic dimensions. Under this reality, in order to appear likeable in the Macedonian aristocracy, Kassandros founded Thessalonica


Byzantine Years 
When the Roman empire began to decline, Thessalonica became the base of operations of Big Konstantinos.
In 324 A.D. Konstantinos was installed with his big army of 120.000 men in the city,
after he manufactured a new big harbour. After he prevailed in the war, M. Konstantinos as an autocrat, with Christianity as an official religion , founded in the old colony of Megareon Byzantium (in Propontida) the new capital of the Romanian state, Istamboul, or New Rome. From then on Istamboul and  Thessalonica will constitute the main poles of growth of the Byzantine empire for a period of over 1.000 years.


Turkish domination 
The Turks exploiting the weakness of the Byzantine state and the oppositions between the Balkan populations gradually entered the area of Macedonia and Balkan and surrounded Thessalonica. The city, after a lot of adventures was conquered by the Turks of Mourat A' (1387), and escaped from its dictators in 1403. When the Turkish threat became dangerous later again, the despot of Thessalonica Andronikos and the sovereigns of Thessalonica granted the city to the Venetians (1423) with terms that aimed at its salvation. However it quickly developed in a new dictatorship. On March 1430, Thessalonica after a siege fell almost in the hands of Turks of Mourat B', in order to begin a period of long-lasting work and callous oppression. The Turks destroyed almost the entire city. Thessalonica was depopulated by its residents, while thousands of captives, were led in the slave bargains of the east. The main Byzantine temples of the city were converted in "mosques".


The Liberation of 1912
On 26 October 1912, Thessalonica was released from the Greek army, 20 days after the declaration of the A' Balkan war. From 1912, the city grew and changed. Its port lost its old glamour and its role as an important transit centre of Balkan was limited considerably. The arrival of refugees from Mikra Asia, Pontos and Eastern Thraki gave a new impulse in its economy, new industrial and craft-based sectors were created, while others declined. The economy of the city adapted to new data.

Thessaloniki today
Thessaloniki today is a bustling commercial city that dominates all aspects of life in northern Greece and is fast becoming a commercial and administrative center of the Balkan region.
The city is famous for its food and its night life all over Greece. The food is heavily influenced by the culinary traditions of Asia Minor and Thessaloniki, since many of the refugees of the war of 1922 that ended the three thousand year-old Greek presence in Asia Minor ended up and settled here. Almost anyone of the hundreds of little taverns and restaurants that dot the city offers first class food at good prices.
The nightlife is centred around Aristotelous Square, with all the cafes and bars that line the streets, and the Ladadika district in the winter and the area around the airport in the summer.  The Mylos complex, out in the western suburbs of the city, near the highway that leads to Athens, is another mainstay of the city's nightlife.