Thessalonica

Thessalonica or Thessaloniki (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη), is Greece's second-largest city and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia.

Thessalonica had a Jewish colony, established during the first century, and was an early centre of Christianity. On his second missionary journey, Paul of Tarsus preached in the city's synagogue, the chief synagogue of the Jews in that part of Thessaloniki, and laid the foundations of a church. Opposition against him from the Jews drove him from the city, and he fled to Veroia. Paul wrote two of his epistles to the Christian community at Thessalonica, the First Epistle to the Thessalonians and the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.

Thessaloniki is commonly called the 'Συμπρωτεύουσα' 'Symprotevousa' (lit. co-capital) of Greece since the National Schism, due to both its long history and its strategic geographic and economic importance. According to official data, the Thessaloniki Urban Area curves round the Thermaic Gulf for approximately 17 km; it comprises 13 municipalities and according to the 2001 census it has a population of 809,457. The Thessaloniki prefecture has a population of 1,099,598 (2005). The alternate name Salonica, formerly the common name used in some western European languages, is derived from a variant form Σαλονίκη (Saloníki) in popular Greek speech. The city's name is also rendered Thessalloníki or Salloníki (with a dark l typical of the Macedonian dialect of Greek) in the Macedonian dialect, سلانيك Selânik in Ottoman Turkish, Солун (Solun) in the Slavic languages of the region, Sãrunã in Aromanian, and Selanik in Ladino.

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