LARISSA (in Turkish Yeni Shehr), the most important town of Thessaly, is situated in a rich agricultural district on the right bank of the Salambria (Peneius), about 35 miles north-west of Volo. Up till 1881 it was the seat of a pasha in the vilayet of Janina; it now ranks as the chief town of the new Greek province. Its long subjection to Turkey has left little trace of a nobler antiquity, and the most striking features in the general view are the mosques and the Mohammedan burying-grounds. It was the seat of a strong Turkish garrison, and the great mass of the people were of Turkish blood. In the outskirts is a village of Africans from the Sudan— a curious remnant of the forces collected by Ali Pasha. The manufactures include Turkish leather, cotton, silk, and tobacco, but the general state of trade and industry is far from being prosperous. Fevers and agues are rendered prevalent by the badness of the drainage and the overflowing of the river; and the death-rate is higher than the birth-rate. The population is estimated at 25,000 or 30,000....
Larissa, written Larisa on ancient coins and inscriptions, is near the site of the Homeric Argissa. It appears in early times as a powerful city under the rule of the Aleuadae, whose authority extended over the whole plain of the Pelasgiotis. The inhabitants sided with Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and during the Roman invasion their city was a point of considerable importance. In the 5th century it was made the seat of an archbishop, who has now fifteen suffragans. During the war of Greek independence Larissa was the headquarters of Ali Pasha. Notices of the few ancient inscriptions recently found at Larissa are given by Miller in Mélanges philologiques, Paris, 1880. The name Larissa is a common one, and the city has more particularly to be distinguished from Larissa Cremaste on Mount Othrys.
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