Volume 52, Number 11 · June 23, 2005
Wonderful Town?
By Richard Crampton
Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430–1950
by Mark Mazower
Knopf, 490 pp., $35.00
Salonica, City of Ghosts is a history of a fascinating, turbulent city by one of the most distinguished historians of his generation. The city of Thessaloniki, to give its original and present Greek name, was founded in the fourth century BC by the husband of the half-sister of Alexander the Great. The name commemorates the victory (niki) of their father, Philip, over the people of Thessaly. The city had enormous geographic importance. At the mouth of the river Vardar (referred to as Axios by Greeks) it commanded the gateway to one of the most important routes from the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa to the Balkans and, via the Danube, to Central Europe. It rapidly developed into a thriving port.
Review, 4408 words
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