Thessaly
the largest division of ancient Greece; lay S. of Macedonia and E. of Epirus; being separated from the latter by Mount Pindus, and from the former by the Cambunian Mountains; the Maliac Gulf and Mount Eta bounding it on the S. It is a vast plain shut in on every side by mountains; on the N. and W. by those already named, on the S. by Mount Othrys, and on the E. by Mounts Pelion and Ossa, the only opening being the Vale of Tempe in the N. E., between Ossa and Olympus. This plain is drained chiefly by the Peneus ries, and is the most fertile in all Greece. plain is drained chiefly by the Peneus Thessaly was originally inhabited by so- Thessaly was originally inhabited by soeither expelled or reduced to slavery by either expelled or reduced to slavery by region of Epirus about 1000 в. c.
Peneste, descendants of the old inhabitants, held a position analogous to that Penestæ, descendants of the old inhabi- tants, held a position analogous to that The THESSALY four districts-Hestiæotis, Pelasgiotis, Thessaliotis, and Phthiotis; Magnesia THIEF the coast being a minor division. The government appears to have been oligarchial in the separate cities of which Pharsalus, Larissa, Heracleum, and Phere were the principal-power being in the hands of two great families.
About 374 в. c. Jason, tyrant of Pheræ, was elected Tagus (chief-magistrate) of all Thessaly. The rule of Jason's suc- plaining oracles, etc.; the power of oball Thessaly. The rule of cessors became so unbearable that aid was sought from Philip of Macedon, who in 344 subjected the country to Macedonia. Thessaly remained subject to the Macedonian kings till the victory of Cynoscephalæ, in 197 в. c., brought it under the protection of Rome. Under the emperors Thessaly was united with Macedonia, but after Constantine it was a separate province. In A. D. 1204 with other portions of the Eastern Empire, it came under the dominion of the Venetians, and in 1355 was taken by the Turks. The restoration to Greece of Thessaly S. of the Salambria was recommended by the Berlin Congress in 1878; and subsequently various modifications of the Greco-Turkish frontiers were proposed, the Greeks endeavoring to secure the cession of the whole of Thessaly. War between Greece and Turkey seemed imminent; but in 1881 Turkey agreed to cede, and Greece to accept, Thessaly S. of the ridge of mountains forming the watershed of the Salambria (the ancient Peneus), by much the largest and most fertile section of the province. The Greek portion constitutes the three monarchies of Larissa, Trikhala, and Phthiotis with Phocis.