v49_0170 - TESSALIA - LEGA Unité, (MB, Æ 21)

THESSALY - THESSALIAN LEAGUE

(196-146 BC)

Thessaly was an agricultural and livestock region with wide open spaces. It was renowned for its horses and riders. The coinage of the Confederation would have been made in the most important city of Thessaly, Larissa, name which comes from the daughter of Pelasgos. The city was built on the banks of the Peneios. In 197, General Flaminius won a very great victory at Cynoscephalus over Philip V of Macedon who had supported Hannibal and Carthage during the Second Punic War (221-202 BC). For the first time since Philip II, the freedom of the Greeks was proclaimed in 196 in Corinth on the occasion of the Isthmian Games. Many leagues were then formed. The Thessalian League was one of the most powerful. In 146 BC, it was dissolved and Thessaly integrated into the new province of Macedonia.