17 Facts About Thessaly

Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state in 1881, after four and a half centuries of Ottoman rule.

Thessaly is named after the Thessaloi, an ancient Greek tribe.

Thessaly later became part of the Roman Empire as part of the province of Macedonia; when that was broken up, the name resurfaced in two of its late Roman successor provinces: Thessalia Prima and Thessalia Secunda.

Thessaly remained part of the East Roman "Byzantine" Empire after the collapse of Roman power in the west, and subsequently suffered many invasions, such as by the Slavic tribe of the Belegezites in the 7th century AD.

Larissa and much of central Thessaly came under Epirote rule, thereby separating Thessalonica from the Crusader principalities in southern Greece.

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From 1271 to 1318 Thessaly was an independent despotate that extended to Acarnania and Aetolia, run by the dynasty founded by John I Doukas.

The other parts of Thessaly either came under Byzantine rule or were ruled by their own nobility.

In 1332, most of Thessaly was taken by the Byzantines following a campaign by Andronikos III Paleologos.

Thessaly left its administration to Michael Monomachos, who governed it for the next 10 years.

In 1348, Thessaly was invaded and occupied by the Serbian Empire of Stefan Dusan, under the general Preljub.

Thessaly was born in Velestino, near the ancient town of Pherae.

Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state in 1881, after the Convention of Constantinople except the area around the town of Elassona, which remained in Ottoman hands until 1912.

The remaining part of Thessaly held by the Ottomans was finally regained by the Greeks during the First Balkan War in 1912.

Thessaly occupies the east side of the Pindus watershed, extending south from Macedonia to the Aegean Sea.

The northern tier of Thessaly is defined by a generally southwest-northeast spur of the Pindus range that includes Mount Olympus, close to the Macedonian border.

Thessaly is the leading cattle-raising area of Greece, and Aromanian shepherds move large flocks of sheep and goats seasonally between higher and lower elevations.

The region of Thessaly is divided into five regional units, Karditsa, Larissa, Magnesia, the Sporades and Trikala, which are further subdivided into twenty-five municipalities.