Ancient Thessaly

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Thessalia
Θεσσαλία
Region
Thessaly
Major citiesLarissa, Pherae
DialectsAeolic
Key periodsPheraean Ascendancy

Thessaly or Thessalia (Attic Greek: Θεσσαλία, Thessalía or Θετταλία, Thettalía[1]) was one of the traditional regions of Ancient Greece. During the Mycenaean period, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of the major tribes of Greece, the Aeolians, and their dialect of Greek, Aeolic.

Geography

At its greatest extent, ancient Thessaly was a wide area stretching from

Larisa basin and the Karditsa basin, drained by the Pineios River into the Vale of Tempe. The Pagasetic Gulf
in southeastern Thessaly was and is the only body of water suitable for harbours in region.

Strictly speaking, Thessaly refers primarily to the central plains inhabited by the Thessalians in antiquity. The plains were divided in antiquity into four administrative regions called tetrads:

Pharsalos
(Phthiotis).

The Thessalian plains were ideally suited for cultivating grains and cereals, and were known in antiquity for horse-rearing. Alexander the Great's horse, Bucephalus, was originally from Pharsalos. The surrounding mountainous regions, however, were less suitable for agriculture and relied more heavily on pastoralism.

History

Thessaly was home to extensive

2500 BC (see Cardium pottery, Dimini and Sesklo). Mycenaean settlements have also been discovered in Thessaly unearthing, at the Kastron of Palaia Hill, in Volos, tablets bearing Mycenaean Greek inscriptions, written in Linear B
.

In mythology, Thessaly was homeland of the heroes

Phlegyans and Myrmidons. Ancient tribes in Thessaly mentioned by Homer or other poets were: Aeolians, Magnetes, Perrhaebi and Pelasgians
.

The name of Thessaly recorded epigraphically in Aeolic variants *Πετταλία, Πετθαλία, Φετταλία, Θετταλία.[1]

7. Thessalian grave stela of a man dressed as a hunter

The Thessalians were a

Achaean Phthiotians and other neighbouring people to submit to their authority and to pay them tribute.[3]
Like Laconia, the population of Thessaly therefore consisted of three distinct classes:

  1. The Penestae, whose condition was nearly the same as that of the Helots.
  2. The subject people, who inhabited the districts not occupied by the Thessalian invaders. They paid tribute, as stated above, but were personally free, though they had no share in the government. They corresponded to the Perioeci of Laconia, by which name they are called by Xenophon.[4]
  3. The Thessalian conquerors, who alone had any share in the public administration, and whose lands were cultivated by the Penestae.

For some time after the conquest, Thessaly seems to have been governed by kings of the race of Heracleidae, who may however have been only the heads of the great aristocratic families, invested with the supreme power for a certain time. Under one of these princes, named Aleuas, the country was divided into four districts – Phthiotis, Plistiaeotis, Thessaliotis and Pelasgiotis:[5] This division continued throughout Thessalian history, and it may therefore be concluded that it was not merely a nominal one. Each district may have regulated its affairs by some kind of provincial council, but we are almost entirely in the dark concerning the internal government of each district.[6]

When occasion required, a chief

Cyrus the younger
. When Thessaly was not united under the government of a tagus, the subject towns possessed more independence. (Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 9.) In later times, some states called their ordinary magistrates tagoi (Bockh, Corp. Liscr. n. 1770), which may have been done however, as Hermann suggests, only out of affectation.

However, Thessaly was hardly ever united under one government. The different cities administered their own affairs independently of one another, though the smaller towns seem to have frequently "been under the influence of the more important ones (Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 8). In almost all the cities, the form of government was

isonomy", according to Thucyd. iv. 78), and it was chiefly in the hands of a few great families, who were descended from the ancient kings. Thus Larissa was subject to the Aleuadae, whence Herodotus (vii. 6) calls them kings of Thessaly ; Cranon or Crannon to the Scopadae, and Pharsalus to the Creondae. (Compare Theocr. xvi. -34, &c.) These nobles had vast estates cultivated by the Penestae; they were celebrated for their hospitality and lived in a princely manner ("hospitable, magnificent, the Thessalian way" Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 3), and they attracted to their courts many of the poets and artists of southern Greece. However, the Thessalian commonality did not submit quietly to the exclusive rule of the nobles. Contests between the two classes seem to have arisen early, and the conjecture of Thirlwall (vol. i. p. 438), that the election of a tagus, like that of a Roman dictator, was sometimes used as an expedient for keeping the commonalty under, appears very probable. At Larissa, the Aleuadae made some concessions to the popular party. Aristotle (Pol. v. 5) speaks, though we do not know at what time he refers to, of certain magistrates at Larissa, who bore the name of politophylakes and exercised a superintendence over the admission of freemen, and were elected themselves out of the body of the people whence they were led to court the people in a way unfavourable to the interests of the aristocracy. There were also other magistrates at Larissa of a democratic kind, called Larissopoioi. (Aristot. Pol. iii. 1.) Besides the contests between the oligarchical and democratical parties, there were feuds among the oligarchs themselves; and such was the state of parties at Larissa under the government of the Aleuadae two generations before the Persian wars, that a magistrate was chosen by mutual consent, perhaps from the commonalty, to mediate between the parties (archon mesidios, Aristot. Pol. v. 5). At Pharsalus too at the close of the Peloponnesian War, the state was torn asunder by internecine commotions and, for the sake of quiet and security, the citizens entrusted the acropolis and the whole direction of the government to Polydamas of Pharsalus
, who discharged his trust with the strictest integrity. (Xenoph. Hell. vi. 1. § 2, 3.)

silver hemidrachm of Thessalian League struck 470–460 BC

In the summer of 480 BC, during the Second Persian invasion of Greece, the Persians invaded Thessaly. The Greek army that guarded the Vale of Tempe, evacuated the road before the enemy arrived. Not much later, Thessaly surrendered and the Aleuadae joined the Persians. (See Thorax of Larissa, Thargelia (hetaera))

However, the power of the aristocratical families seems to have continued with little diminution until towards the close of the Peloponnesian War, when decidedly democratic movements first begin to appear. At this time, the Aleuadae and the Scopadae had lost much of their ancient influence.

Epirus vetus
.

Ancient coinage of Thessaly

  • Silver hemidrachm of Pharsalos struck 450–400 BC
    Silver hemidrachm of
    Pharsalos
    struck 450–400 BC
  • Silver hemidrachm of Trikka struck 440–400 BC
    Silver hemidrachm of
    Trikka
    struck 440–400 BC
  • Bronze coin of Ekkarra struck 325–320 BC
    Bronze coin of Ekkarra struck 325–320 BC
  • Bronze coin of Krannon struck 400–344 BC
    Bronze coin of
    Krannon
    struck 400–344 BC
  • Hemidrachm coin of Pelinna struck 460–420 BC
    Hemidrachm coin of Pelinna struck 460–420 BC

See also

References

  1. ^
    Thessalian tetrarchy; Phthiotis, Thessaliotis, Histiaeotis and Pelasgiotis), according to G. N. Khatzidaki, "Koskylmatia", Athena 8 (1896), p. 119
    εκ του πέτταρες ( = τέτταρες, δια την εις τετράδας διαίρεσιν της χώρας, ἤτοι εις Θεσσαλιώτιδα, Φθιώτιδα, Πελασγιώτιδα και Ἱστιαιώτιδα). Daniēl Magnēs, Lexikon historikomythikon kai geōgraphikon (1834), 161f..
  2. ^ Smith, William (1870). "TAGUS". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (2nd ed.). London: James Walton. pp. 1093–1094. TAGUS (Τάγου), a leader or general, was more especially the name of the military leader of the Thessalians. Under this head it is proposed to give a short account of the Thessalian constitution.
  3. ^ Thucyd. ii. 101, iv. 78, viii. 3,; Aristot. Pol. ii. 6.
  4. ^ Hell. vi. 1. § 19.
  5. ^ Aristot. ap. Harpocrat. s. v. Tetrarchy: Strab. ix. p. 430.
  6. ^ Thirlwall, Hist, of Greece, vol. i. p. 437.
  7. ^ Id. vi. 1. § 8,
  8. ^ Liv. xxxiii. 34, xxxiv. 51, Polyb. xviii. 30.

Attribution

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
(2nd ed.). London: James Walton. pp. 1093–1094.

External links

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