Thessaly

Thessaly or Thessalia, largest division of ancient Greece, a vast plain, separated on the north from Greek Macedonia by the Cambunian Mountains, on the west from Epirus by the Pindus range, and on the south from Locris and Phocis by the Malian Gulf. The Aegean Sea is on the east. The plain is drained chiefly by the Salambria (ancient Peneus) River and its tributaries and is the most fertile in all Greece; the river flows into the sea through the famous mountain gorge of Tempe, between Mounts Olympus and Óssa. In ancient times the plain produced an abundance of grain and cattle and a breed of horses considered the finest in Greece. In Greek mythology, Thessaly was the home of the Centaurs, and from Thessaly Jason and the Argonauts set out in quest of the Golden Fleece.

The government of Thessaly in the early historical period appears to have been oligarchical in the separate cities, of which Pharsalus, Larissa (now Lárisa), Crannon, and Pherae were the most important. During the 6th and 5th centuries bc the principal power was in the hands of the two families of the Aleudae of Larissa and the Scopadae of Crannon and Pharsalus. About 374 bc Jason, tyrant of Pherae, was elected tagus, or chief magistrate, of all Thessaly. The rule of Jason's successors became so unbearable that aid was sought from Philip II, king of Macedonia, who in 344 bc subjugated the country. Thessaly remained subject to the Macedonian kings until the victory of Titus Quinctius Flamininus at Cynoscephalae in 197 bc brought it under the protection of Rome. Under the Roman emperors Thessaly was united with Macedonia, but after the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great it became a separate province. In ad1204, along with other portions of the Eastern Empire, Thessaly came under the dominion of the Venetians, and in 1335 it was taken by the Ottoman Turks. Turkey ceded Thessaly to Greece in 1881, as a result of the Congress of Berlin in 1878, which followed the Russo-Turkish War. In 1897 Thessaly was the principal battleground of the Greco-Turkish War.

Today the plain of ancient Thessaly, more than 13,000 sq km (more than 5,000 sq mi) in area, is divided into the Greek departments (or nomes) of Kardhítsa, Lárisa, Magnesia, and Tríkkala. The region is essentially agricultural and pastoral.