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See also:LARISSA (Turk. Yeni Shehr, " new See also:town ") , the most important See also:town of See also:Thessaly, situated in a See also:rich agricultural See also:district on the right See also:bank of the Salambria (Peneios, Peneus, Peneius), about 35 M . N.W. of See also:Volo, with which it is connected by See also:rail . Pop . (1889) 13,610, (1907) 18,001 . Till 1881 it was the seat of a See also:pasha in the vilayet of Jannina; it is now the See also:capital of the See also:Greek See also:province and the seat of a nomarch . Its See also:long subjection to See also:Turkey has See also:left little trace of antiquity, and the most striking features in the See also:general view are the minarets of the disused mosques (only four are now in use) and the See also:Mahommedan burying-grounds . It was formerly a See also:Turkish military centre and most of the See also:people were of Turkish See also:blood . In the outskirts is a See also:village of Africans from the See also:Sudan—a curious remnant of the forces collected by All Pasha . The manufactures include Turkish See also:leather, See also:cotton, See also:silk and See also:tobacco; See also:trade and See also:industry, however, are far from prosperous, though improving owing to the See also:immigration of the Greek commercial See also:element . Fevers and agues are prevalent owing to See also:bad drainage and the overflowing of the See also:river; and the See also:death-See also:rate is higher than the See also:birth-rate . A considerable portion of the Turkish See also:population emigrated in 1881; a further See also:exodus took See also:place in 1898 . The See also:department of See also:Larissa had in 1907 a population of 95,066 . Larissa, written Larisa on See also:ancient coins and See also:inscriptions, is near the site of the Homeric Argissa . It appears in See also:early times, when Thessaly was mainly governed by a few aristocratic families, as an important See also:city under the See also:rule of the Aleuadae, whose authority extended over the whole district of Pelasgiotis . This powerful See also:family possessed for many generations before 369 B.C. the See also:privilege of furnishing the See also:Tagus, or generalissimo, of the combined Thessalian forces . The See also:principal-rivals of the Aleuadae were the Scopadae of Crannon, the remains of which (called by the See also:Turks Old Larissa) are about 14 M. to the S.W . The inhabitants sided with See also:Athens during the Peloponnesian See also:War, and during the See also:Roman invasion their city was of considerable importance . Since the 5th. See also:century it has been the scat of an See also:archbishop, who has now fifteen suffragans . Larissa was the headquarters of See also:Ali Pasha during the Greek War of See also:Independence, and of the See also:crown See also:prince See also:Constantine during the See also:Greco-Turkish War; the See also:flight of the Greek See also:army from this place to Pharsala took place on the 23rd of See also:April 1897 . Notices of some ancient inscriptions found at Larissa are given by See also:Miller in Melanges philologiques (See also:Paris, 188o) ; several sepulchral reliefs were found in the neighbourhood in 1882 . A few traces of the ancient See also:acropolis and See also:theatre are still visible . The name Larissa was See also:common to many " Pelasgian " towns, and apparently signified a fortified city or See also:burg, such as the citadel of See also:Argos . Another town of the name in Thessaly was Larissa Cremaste, surnamed Pelasgia (See also:Strabo ix. p . 440), situated on the slope of Mt . Othrys . (J . D . |
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