Atlas from Space: Satellite View of Thessalonica (modern Thessaloniki)

Thessalonica is familiar to Bible students as host city to one of the churches founded by the Apostle Paul (Acts 17) and recipient of two of his epistles (First and Second Thessalonians). The city was founded in 315 BCE by Cassander, king of Macedonia and formerly one of Alexander the Great's generals (a Diadochos), which he named after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and half-sister of Alexander. Thessalonica quickly became the most prominent city of northern Greece.

Unfortunately for Bible students, ancient Thessalonica is covered by the modern city of Thessaloniki (2007 population, 348,920, not counting suburbs), but archaeologists are slowly uncovering more and more of the ancient city. The remains uncovered so far are mainly from the third to fifth centuries CE, especially focusing on the person and reign of the Emperor Galerius (260-311 CE), the emperor shortly before Constantine the Great. Galerius lived in Thessalonica at the time he became emperor and ordered a persecution against the Christian community of the city. One of the martyrs of that persecution was Demetrius, later honored as patron saint of the city. Under Constantine the Great, an artificial harbor and other improvements contributed further to the prominence of the city.

In 904 CE, the Saracens besieged and captured Thessalonica, selling 22,000 of its citizens into slavery. The city fell again in 1387, this time to the Ottoman Turks. In 1492, Jews settled here after having been ejected from Spain. The Jewish community grew until in the following century they are said to have become the majority of the inhabitants. Suleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566) made improvements to the city, including repairs to the White Tower. During the First Balkan War (1912), control of Thessalonica passed from the Turks to the Greeks. A devastating fire swept through the city in 1917, prompting many areas to be rebuilt. During Nazi occupation of Thessalonica during World War II, the Germans deported 60,000 Jews of the city to Poland, effectively ending the Jewish community in the city. Thessalonica is birthplace of Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk (1881-1938), the father of modern Turkey. The city has the largest university in Greece, with more than 60,000 students.

Want to go deeper?

The following are recommended to help you look deeper into the history and archaeology of Thessalonica.

Recommended for purchase:

Claude E. Fant & Mitchell G. Reddish – A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey (Oxford, 2003), 132-140. – Nearly two-thirds of the New Testament, including all the letters of Paul, most of Acts, and the Book of Revelation, are set in either Turkey or Greece. This book serves as a historical, biblical, and archaeological guide to most of these biblical sites. View excerpt

Ben Witherington – 1 & 2 Thessalonians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Eerdmans, 2006) – In this first full-scale socio-rhetorical commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Ben Witherington gleans fresh insight from reading Paul's text in the light of rhetorical concerns and patterns, early Jewish theology, and the first-century historical situation in Macedonia. Witherington's distinctive socio-rhetorical approach helps unearth insights that would otherwise remain hidden using only form criticism, epistolary categories, and traditional criticism. Witherington details Thessalonica's place as the "metropolis" of Macedonia, and he carefully unpacks the social situation of Paul and his recipients. Scholars will appreciate the careful analysis and rhetorical insights contained here, while Witherington's clear prose and sensitivity to Paul's ideas make this work ideal for all who desire a useful, readable commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Mark Mazower – Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430-1950 – Mazower's illuminating and surprising account focuses on the city from the commencement of Ottoman rule to the Nazi occupation. Despite the claims of Greek nationalists, Ottoman rule was relatively benign, as Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived, worked, and often prospered together. When the city reverted to Greek control in 1912, the consensus started to dissolve. Muslims left or were expelled, and resentment against Jews increased. Under the Nazis, Jews, perhaps 20 percent of the population, were deported en masse to concentration camps. A vivid but ultimately tragic light shed on a vanished urban civilization.

Online resources:

"Thessaloniki" – Wikipedia article.

Thessaloniki360: Virtual City Guide. – Features many 360° photos of the significant landmarks of Thessaloniki.

Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki

D. G. Hogarth – "Inscriptions from Salonica," Journal of Hellenic Studies 8 (1887):356-375.

S. Vailhé – "Thessalonica" – Catholic Encyclopaedia (1913), 14:633-634.

Gottfried L. F. Tafel – Thessalonica Eiusque Agro Dissertatio Geographica (1839). – Entirely in Latin but contains valuable references to Thessalonica in classical and patristic literature.