THESSALONIKI

History of Thessaloniki

315 B.C. Thessaloniki founded by King Cassander of Macedonia. The city soon becames the commercial and cultural center of Macedonia and of the Balkan peninsula.

168 B.C. The Romans make Thessaloniki the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and the Southern Balkans. The construction of the famous Via Egnatia together with the cily's harbour contributes to Thessaloniki's growth and prosperity.

395A.D. Founding of the Byzantine Empire. Thessaloniki is proclaimed "coregent" with Constantinople. The city takes on a Byzantine character which it has maintained to the present day, uith more (and more significant) Byzantine monuments than any other cily in Europe.

1430 Thessaloniki is occupied by the Turks. After a period of economic and cultural stagnation, the cily begins to exploit the reforming tendencies of the Ottoman Empire and becomes once again a commercial and cultural beacon for the peoples of the Balkans.

1912 Thessaloniki is liberated by the Greek army on the feast day of its patron saint, Aghios Dimitrios. It soon enters a new period of rapid economic and cultural growth.

1994 Thessaloniki is one of the major metropolitan centres in the Mediterranean basin.

1997 Thessaloniki: The Cultural Capital of Europe.

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