Thessalia
（
Θεσσαλία). The largest division of Greece. It was bounded
on the north by the Cambunian Mountains, which separated it from Macedonia; on the west by
Mount Pindus, which separated it from Epirus; on the east by the Aegaean Sea; and on the south
by the Maliac Gulf and Mount Oeta, which separated it from Locris, Phocis, and Aetolia.
Thessaly proper is a vast plain, shut in on every side by mountain
barriers, broken only at the northeastern corner by the valley and defile of Tempé,
which separates Ossa from Olympus. This plain is drained by the river Peneus and its
affluents, and is said to have been originally a vast lake, the waters of which were
afterwards carried off through the vale of Tempé by some sudden convulsion which
rent the rocks of this valley asunder. In addition to the plain already described, there were
two other districts included under the general name of Thessaly: one called Magnesia, being a
long, narrow strip of country extending along the coast of the Aegaean Sea from
Tempé to the Pagasaean Gulf, and bounded on the west by Mounts Ossa and Olympus;
and the other being a long, narrow vale at the extreme south of the country, lying between
Mounts Othrys and Oeta, and drained by the river Spercheus. Thessaly proper was divided in
very early times into four districts or tetrarchies—a division which we still find
existing in the Poloponnesian War. These districts were: (
a)
Hestiaeōtis (
Ἑστιαιῶτις), the northwestern part of Thessaly, bounded on the north by
Macedonia, on the west by Epirus, on the east by Pelasgiotis, and on the south by
Thessaliotis; the Peneus may be said in general to have formed its southern limit. (
b)
Pelasgiōtis
(
Πελασγιῶτις), the eastern part of the Thessalian plain,
bounded on the north by Macedonia, on the west by Hestiaeotis, on the east by Magnesia, and on
the south by the Sinus Pagasaeus and Phthiotis. (
c) Thessaliōtis (
Θεσσαλιῶτις),
the southwestern part of the Thessalian plain, bounded on the north by Hestiaeotis, on the
west by Epirus, on the east by Pelasgiotis, and on the south by Dolopia and Phthiotis. (
d)
Phthiōtis
(
Φθιῶτις), the southeast of Thessaly, bounded on the north
by Thessaliotis, on the west by Dolopia, on the south by the Sinus Maliacus, and on the east
by the Pagasaean Gulf. It is in this district that Homer places Phthia and Hellas proper, and
the dominions of Achilles. Besides these there were four other districts, viz.: (
e)
Magnesia. (See
Magnesia.) (
f) Dolopia (
Δολοπία), a small district
bounded on the east by Phthiotis, on the north by Thessaliotis, on the west by Athamania, and
on the south by Oetaea. The Dolopes were an ancient people, for they are not only mentioned by
Homer as fighting before Troy, but they also sent deputies to the Amphictyonic assembly. (
g) Oetaea (
Οἰταῖα), a district in the upper valley of the Spercheus, lying between Mounts
Othrys and Oeta, and bounded on the north by Dolopia, on the
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Thessalian Coin.
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south by Phocis, and on the east by Malis. (
h)
Malis. (See
Malis.)
The Thessalians were a Thesprotian tribe, and, under the guidance of leaders who are said to
have been descendants of Heracles, invaded the western part of the country, afterwards called
Thessaliotis, whence they subsequently spread over the other parts of the country. For
some time after the conquest, Thessaly was governed by kings of the race of Heracles; but the
kingly power seems to have been abolished in early times, and the government in the separate
cities became oligarchical, the power being chiefly in the hands of a few great families
descended from the ancient kings. Of these, two of the most powerful were the Aleuadae and the
Scopadae, the former of whom ruled at Larissa, and the latter at Cranon (or Crannon). At an
early period the Thessalians were united into a confederate body. Each of the four districts
into which the country was divided probably regulated its affairs by some kind of provincial
council; and in case of war a chief magistrate was elected, under the name of Tagus (
Ταγός), whose commands were obeyed by all the four districts. This
confederacy, however, was not of much practical benefit to the Thessalian people, and appears
to have been only used by the Thessalian nobles as a means of cementing and maintaining their
power. The Thessalians never became of much importance in Grecian history. In B.C. 344 Philip
completely subjected Thessaly to Macedonia, by placing at the head of the four divisions of
the country governors devoted to his interests. The victory of T. Flamininus at Cynoscephalae,
in 197, again gave the Thessalians a semblance of independence under the protection of the
Romans.
