Editing Larissa (section)

===Antiquity===
[[File:Larissa drachma.jpg|thumb|Silver drachma of Larissa (410-405 BC). Head of the nymph Larissa left, wearing pearl earring, her hair bound in sakkos / ΛΑΡΙΣΑ above, [IA] below (retrograde), bridled horse -symbol of the city- galloping right.]]

====Pre-history====
Traces of [[Paleolithic]] human settlement have been recovered from the area, but it was peripheral to areas of advanced culture.<ref>Curtis Runnels and Tjeerd H. van Andel. "The Lower and Middle Paleolithic of Thessaly, Greece" ''Journal of Field Archaeology'' '''20'''.3 (Autumn 1993:299–317) summarises the survey carried out in June 1991.</ref> The area around Larissa was extremely fruitful; it was agriculturally important and in [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] was known for its horses.

====Archaic Era====

The name Larissa (Λάρισα ''Lárīsa'') is in origin a [[Pelasgian]] word for "fortress".{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}} There were many ancient Greek cities with this name.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2361971 |title=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=2009-07-08}}</ref>
The name of Thessalian Larissa is first recorded in connection with the aristocratic [[Aleuadae|Aleuadai]] family.<ref>"The city and the plain around it were settled in prehistoric times, and its name must be early, but it is first mentioned in connection with the(Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister, eds., ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'' (Princeton University Press) 1976, 's.v.'' "Larissa, or Larisa, or Pelasgis, Thessaly").</ref> It was also a [[polis]] (city-state).<ref name=Poleis>{{cite book|author= Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen |title= An inventory of archaic and classical poleis|url= https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans |url-access= limited |year= 2004|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|isbn= 0-19-814099-1|chapter= Thessaly and Adjacent Regions|pages= [https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans/page/n730 714]–715}}</ref>

====Classical Era====
Larissa was a [[polis]] (city-state) during the Classical Era.<ref>{{cite book|author= Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen |title= An inventory of archaic and classical poleis|url= https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans |url-access= limited |year= 2004|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|isbn= 0-19-814099-1|chapter= Thessaly and Adjacent Regions|pages= [https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans/page/n711 695]–697}}</ref> Larissa is thought to be where the famous Greek physician [[Hippocrates]] and the famous philosopher [[Gorgias|Gorgias of Leontini]] died.

[[File:THESSALY, Larissa. Circa 370-360 BC.jpg|thumb|left|Coinage of Thessaly, possibly king Hellokrates, with portrait of [[Aleuas]]. ''Obv'': head of Aleuas facing slightly left, wearing conical helmet, ALEU to right; labrys behind. ''Rev'': Eagle standing right, head left, on thunderbolt; ELLA to left, LARISAYA to right. Thessaly, Larissa. {{circa|370–360}}{{nbsp}}BC.]]
When Larissa ceased minting the federal coins it shared with other Thessalian towns and adopted its own coinage in the late fifth century BC, it chose local types for its coins. The obverse depicted the nymph of the local spring,  Larissa, for whom the town was named; probably the choice was inspired by the famous coins of [[Cimon|Kimon]] depicting the Syracusan nymph [[Arethusa (mythology)|Arethusa]]. The reverse depicted a horse in various poses. The horse was an appropriate symbol of Thessaly, a land of plains, which was well known for its horses. Usually there is a male figure; he should perhaps be seen as the eponymous hero of the Thessalians, Thessalos, who is probably also to be identified on many of the earlier, federal coins of Thessaly.

[[File:Λάρισα, αρχαίο Θέατρο Α 1.jpg|thumb|The [[First Ancient Theatre, Larissa|first ancient theatre]] of the city. It was constructed inside the ancient city's centre during the reign of [[Antigonus II Gonatas]] towards the end of the third century BC. The theatre was in use for six centuries, until the end of the third century AD.]]
[[File:Το αρχαιο θέατρο της πόλης και ο πεζόδρομος δίπλα του.jpg|thumb|Pedestrian zone beside the First Ancient Greek theatre]]
[[File:Λάρισα, Αρχαίο Θέατρο Β 8.jpg|thumb|Ruins of the [[Second Ancient Theatre, Larissa|second ancient theatre]]]]

Larissa, sometimes written Larisa on ancient coins and inscriptions, is near the site of the Homeric Argissa. It appears in early times, when [[Thessaly]] was mainly governed by a few aristocratic families, as an important city under the rule of the [[Aleuadae]], whose authority extended over the whole district of [[Pelasgiotis]]. This powerful family possessed for many generations before 369 BC the privilege of furnishing the ''tagus'', the local term for the ''[[strategos]]'' of the combined Thessalian forces. The principal rivals of the Aleuadae were the [[Scopadae]] of [[Krannonas|Crannon]], the remains of which are about 14 miles south west.

Larissa was the birthplace of [[Menon III of Pharsalus|Meno]], who thus became, along with [[Xenophon]] and a few others, one of the generals leading several thousands Greeks from various places, in the ill-fated expedition of 401 (retold in Xenophon's ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]'') meant to help [[Cyrus the Younger]], son of [[Darius II]], king of [[Achaemenid Empire|Persia]], overthrow his elder brother [[Artaxerxes II of Persia|Artaxerxes II]] and take over the throne of Persia (Meno is featured in [[Plato]]'s dialogue bearing his name, in which [[Socrates]] uses the example of ''"the way to Larissa"'' to help explain to Meno the difference between true [[opinion]] and [[science]] (Meno, 97a–c); this "way to Larissa" might well be on the part of Socrates an attempt to call to Meno's mind a "way home", understood as the way toward one's true and "eternal" home reached only at death, that each man is supposed to seek in his life).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/loc/larissa.htm|title=Larissa|first=Bernard F.|last=Suzanne|work=plato-dialogues.org}}</ref>

The constitution of the town was [[democratic constitution|democratic]], which explains why it sided with [[Classical Athens|Athens]] in the [[Peloponnesian War]]. In the neighbourhood of Larissa was celebrated a festival which recalled the Roman [[Saturnalia]], and at which the slaves were waited on by their masters. As the chief city of ancient Thessaly, Larissa was taken by the [[Thebes, Greece|Thebans]] and later directly annexed by [[Philip II of Macedon]] in 344. It remained under Macedonian control afterwards, except for a brief period when [[Demetrius I of Macedon|Demetrius Poliorcetes]] captured it in 302 BC.

====Hellenistic Era====

====Roman Era====
It was in Larissa that [[Philip V of Macedon]] signed in 197 BC a treaty with the Romans after his defeat at the [[Battle of Cynoscephalae]], and it was there also that [[Antiochus III the Great]], won a great victory in 192 BC. In 196 BC Larissa became an ally of Rome and was the headquarters of the [[Thessalian League]].

Larissa is frequently mentioned in connection with the [[Roman civil wars]] which preceded the establishment of the [[Roman Empire]] and [[Pompey]] sought refuge there after the defeat of [[Battle of Pharsalus|Pharsalus]].