city state · Greece and the Aegean
Larissa
Origins
Larissa grew on a low hill by the Peneios in the plain of northern Thessaly, inhabited since the Neolithic. In the Archaic period it became the leading city of the Thessalian League under the Aleuad family, who claimed descent from Heracles. Aleuas the Red was credited with organising Thessaly into four districts.
Rule and society
Larissa's landed aristocracy ruled over serfs called penestai and bred horses for cavalry. The Aleuad Thorax supported Xerxes in 480 BCE. Later Larissa welcomed the sophist Gorgias, and Hippocrates died there. The Aleuads invited Philip II of the Kingdom of Macedon to intervene against the tyrants of Pherae.
Decline and legacy
From the 340s BCE Larissa was effectively under Macedonian control. After Flamininus proclaimed Greek freedom in 196 BCE it became the seat of the revived Thessalian League and passed under Roman control in 146 BCE; it is a major Greek city today.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Larissa was part of Thessalian League600 BCE – 146 BCE
- Larissa was a vassal of Macedonian Empire344 BCE – 323 BCE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Larissa. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/larissa
- MLA
- “Larissa.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/larissa. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Larissa.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/larissa.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Larissa’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/larissa (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻