Thessaloniki was built or better populated in 315 BC, when the Macedonian king Kassandros united the surrounding settlements and gave the city the name of Thessaloniki's wife who was Alexander's sister. The new city of Kassandros was built on the site of ancient Thermi, attracting many residents of the surrounding areas. In Hellenistic times, Thessaloniki had a dual administration but also formal autonomy, as its goals were harmonized with those of the great state. The Romans not wanting to achieve the expansion of the Macedonian state started fierce wars against it, which ended in the battle of Pydna (June 22, 168 BC), in which the Macedonians were defeated state by state. Thus, the most important cities of Macedonia, Veria, Thessaloniki and Pella were surrendered to the Roman emperor Aemilius Paulus.

Thessaloniki initially became the capital of one of the four divisions into which the Romans divided Macedonia after the dissolution of the Macedonian state, while from 146 it experienced a period of prosperity as the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. In 50 AD the apostle Paul arrives in Thessaloniki. His preaching resonates and the first Christian community is formed in the city. In the middle of the 3rd century the successive attacks of the Goths disturb the famous pax romana. From about 525, specifically from the ascent of Justinian to the throne, the Goths are succeeded by other more formidable enemies, the Avars, the Huns and the Slavs, who try unsuccessfully to occupy the city. In July 904, the Saracen pirates attacked the city, massacred the population and looted it. In August 1185 army 80. 000 Normans besiege and beat Thessaloniki, remain there 4 months and behave with great barbarity. In 1204, after the fall of Constantinople by the crusaders, the city became the capital of the Frankish Kingdom of Thessaloniki. In 1224, the Despot of Epirus Theodoros I Komnenos conquers Thessaloniki, overthrows the Frankish kingdom and establishes a Greek state with Thessaloniki as its capital. In 1246, the emperor of Nicaea, John III Vatatzis, occupied Thessaloniki, and Comnenus Andronikos Palaiologos was appointed governor of the city. In 1260, Michael Palaiologos is crowned emperor of the resurrected Byzantine Greek state, putting an end to the Latin rule that lasted 57 years. In 1204, after the fall of Constantinople by the crusaders, the city became the capital of the Frankish Kingdom of Thessaloniki. In 1224, the Despot of Epirus Theodoros I Komnenos conquers Thessaloniki, overthrows the Frankish kingdom and establishes a Greek state with Thessaloniki as its capital. In 1246, the emperor of Nicaea, John III Vatatzis, occupies Thessaloniki, and Comnenus Andronikos Paleologos is appointed governor of the city. In 1260, Michael Palaiologos is crowned emperor of the resurrected Byzantine Greek state, putting an end to the Latinocracy that lasted 57 years. In 1204, after the fall of Constantinople by the crusaders, the city became the capital of the Frankish Kingdom of Thessaloniki. In 1224, the Despot of Epirus Theodoros I Komnenos conquers Thessaloniki, overthrows the Frankish kingdom and establishes a Greek state with Thessaloniki as its capital. In 1246, the emperor of Nicaea, John III Vatatzis, occupies Thessaloniki, and Comnenus Andronikos Paleologos is appointed governor of the city. In 1260, Michael Palaiologos is crowned emperor of the resurrected Byzantine Greek state, putting an end to the Latinocracy that lasted 57 years. catalyzes the Frankish kingdom and establishes a Greek state with Thessaloniki as its capital. In 1246, the emperor of Nicaea, John III Vatatzis, occupies Thessaloniki, and Comnenus Andronikos Paleologos is appointed governor of the city. In 1260, Michael Palaiologos is crowned emperor of the resurrected Byzantine Greek state, putting an end to the Latinocracy that lasted 57 years. catalyzes the Frankish kingdom and establishes a Greek state with Thessaloniki as its capital. In 1246, the emperor of Nicaea, John III Vatatzis, occupies Thessaloniki, and Comnenus Andronikos Paleologos is appointed governor of the city. In 1260, Michael Palaiologos is crowned emperor of the resurrected Byzantine Greek state, putting an end to the Latinocracy that lasted 57 years.

The 14th century is a time of intellectual and cultural flourishing for Thessaloniki, but during which there is a dangerous sharpening of social contrasts. In 1387, the Ottomans, after a 5-year siege, occupy Thessaloniki, which becomes a tributary to Sultan Murat I. On March 29, 1430, it was occupied and looted by the Ottomans to begin its Ottoman period, which lasted for about 500 years. The city continues to grow, with the main helpers being the 15 to 20,000 Jews who settled with the permission of the Ottomans, expelled mainly from Spain. In the 18th century, Thessaloniki is a true Babel and on its streets you hear various languages, Turkish, Greek, Spanish, French, Albanian, Vlach, etc. From 1830, but mainly in the second half of the 19th century, the city presents economic, cultural and intellectual rise and at the same time population growth. From 1904 to 1908 the Macedonian Struggle takes place and the Greek consulate in Thessaloniki becomes its official center. In October 1912, the first Balkan war began and on the 26th of the same month, Taksin Pasha surrendered Thessaloniki to the Greek army, ending the period of Turkish rule. But the Bulgarians claim Thessaloniki, causing the Second Balkan War. After night-long clashes with the Greek army in the city, the Bulgarian units, which were camped in Thessaloniki since October 1912, surrender and Thessaloniki remains in the Greek state. In September 1915, a few months after the outbreak of the First World War, the Entente allies landed in Thessaloniki. In the summer of 1916, after the surrender of Eastern Macedonia to the central powers, the National Defense movement breaks out from patriots with the aim of activating the Greeks of Thessaloniki and Macedonia in favor of the Entente. In August 1917, a devastating fire broke out in Thessaloniki, lasting about thirty hours and incinerating most of the city center. In 1919, a new plan for the fire zone was drawn up by a committee, whose president was the Frenchman Hebrard, which provided for the radical structural restructuring of the city. which lasts about thirty hours and incinerates the largest part of the city center. In 1919, a new plan for the fire zone was drawn up by a committee, whose president was the Frenchman Hebrard, which provided for the radical structural restructuring of the city. which lasts about thirty hours and incinerates the largest part of the city center. In 1919, a new plan for the fire zone was drawn up by a committee, whose president was the Frenchman Hebrard, which provided for the radical structural restructuring of the city.

In the two years 1920-1922, approximately 90,000 refugees from the Asia Minor disaster settled in Thessaloniki, who gave a new impetus to the local economy. In 1926, the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki and the University of Thessaloniki were founded. In the years between the wars, Thessaloniki strongly bears the characteristics of poverty, underdevelopment and social inequality. On April 9, 1941, German motorized units entered Thessaloniki. In 1943, the transportation of approximately 45,000 Jews of Thessaloniki to the German concentration camps begins. Almost the entire Jewish population of Thessaloniki will perish in the Nazi crematoria, depriving the city of the creative presence of the historical community. In October 1944, the last units of the German army of occupation leave the crippled Thessaloniki. In 1947 the Municipal Library of Thessaloniki reopened and in 1951 the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki, after the war and based on the Yalta treaty and the division of Europe into two opposing camps, lost its natural hinterland, the Balkans. Since 1989, with the changes occurring in the geopolitical map of Europe, Thessaloniki regains its strategic position on the map of Southeast Europe and claims the role of the protagonist in the development of Greece's relations with neighboring countries and its economic and cultural center Wider region of the Balkans. the Balkan. Since 1989, with the changes occurring in the geopolitical map of Europe, Thessaloniki regains its strategic position on the map of Southeast Europe and claims the role of the protagonist in the development of Greece's relations with neighboring countries and its economic and cultural center Wider region of the Balkans. the Balkan. Since 1989, with the changes occurring in the geopolitical map of Europe, Thessaloniki regains its strategic position on the map of Southeast Europe and claims the role of the protagonist in the development of Greece's relations with neighboring countries and its economic and cultural center Wider region of the Balkans.

Editor: Niki Kalopaidis