The Greek Mermaid Thessaloniki: Her History & Legend Revealed
by Lady Scholastica Joycors
Mermaids are said to be mythical sea creatures with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. They are many legends connected with the sea, storms, and shipwrecks, as well as good deeds. They are associated with the ancient Greek myth of the Sirens who lured the sailors with their enchanting music and song causing them to shipwreck on the rocky coastline of their island as in the tale of Odysseus or Jason and the Argonauts. They are also related to one of the earliest legends of a mermaid connected in history to Thessaloniki, Alexander the Great's half-sister. Her story began in 350 BCE in the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of Macedonia.
History tells us that Thessalonike was a Macedonian princess, the daughter of King Phillip II of Macedon and Nicesipolis. She was born the day of a significant battle on the Crocus Field in Thessaly, where he won over the Phocians in central Greece near Delphi. It is recorded that King said, "Let her be called Victory in Thessaly." In Greek, her name is made up of the words Thessaly and nike, meaning victory, thus Thessalonike.
Soon after Thessalonike's birth, her mother died; she was raised by Olympias, Phillip's fourth wife and mother to Alexander the Great. She did not have much contact with her half-brother as Alexander's time was spent with Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist leaving for his Persian campaigns when she was only six or seven.
Thessalonike was only twenty-one when Alexander, king of the then known world, died in June 323BC in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II Babylon. He was only 32 years old. Upon his death, his empire, which stretched from Greece to Asia Minor, India, and Egypt, was divided among his generals. Cassander, one of his generals, besieged the fortress of Pydra in the area of Pieria where Thessalonike and Olympias had taken refuge. He killed Olympias and took Thessalonike to be his wife, and made her queen of Macedonia. She bore three sons: Phillip, Antipater, and Alexander. Later, when Cassander founded a new city on the site of ancient Therma, he named it after his wife. It quickly became one of the wealthiest cities in Macedonia.
After Cassander’s death, Philip became the leader as the eldest son. His mother insisted, however, that he should share that power with his younger brother Alexander. This action enraged the middle child Antipater who felt ignored, and so in 295 BCE; he murdered his mother. While very little is known about Thessalonike after her death, she would live on in legend as a mermaid.
The Legend of Thessalonike
The Aegean Sea lies between Greece and modern-day Turkey. It was a vital segment of the Mediterranean in ancient Greece and which was a frequently used waterway for commercial and military pursuits. At some point, no one really knows when, sailors began returning to their ports with the strangest stories of sightings of Thessaloniki, thought to be long dead swimming in the Aegean Sea.
Thessalonike may not have spent a great deal of time with her half-brother Alexander, but becoming a mermaid is connected to his quest to find the Fountain of Youth. It is said that he brought back with him a flask of this invaluable water, and with it, he washed his sister's hair. When Alexander died, Thessalonike was so grief-stricken that she tried to end her life by jumping into the Aegean Sea, but instead of drowning, she became a mermaid who passed judgment on mariners.
Many a sailor would tell the tale of Thessalonike the Mermaid as a warning to any unlucky seaman who caught sight of her, for she would ask the following question: Is Alexander the King alive? If he valued his life, his answer should be, He lives and reigns and conquers the world. If they gave the correct answer, she would let the ship and its crew sail away safely. If they gave any other answer, she would transform into a fierce Gorgon-like creature, causing storms, wrecking the ship, drowning the sailors on it, sending them all to a dark and bottomless grave.
The city of Thessaloniki lived through attacks and successive occupations by Romans, Slavs, Saracen pirates, Normans, Ottomans, Venetians, Turks, and even the German army. In 1917 a great fire destroyed the center of the city, but it rose from the ashes. Among many statues in the city, there is none to Thessalonike. But there is one to Alexander the Great, astride his horse Bucephalus and facing eastward ready to ravage new lands. There is a statue of the Mermaid on the island of Thasos, which has the following inscription on it by Ni-kos
Kazantzakis. It reads:
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Δεν ήταν νησί ήταν θεριό που κείτονταν στην θάλασσα Ήταν η γοργόνα η αδελφή του Μέγα Αλέξανδρου που θρηνούσε και φουρτούνιαζε το πέλαγος. | It was not an island it was a creature lying in the sea Ιt was the Mermaid the sister of Alexander the Great who was mourning and making the seas rough. |
The truth of all this was that Thessaloniki was a real person who mourned the death of her brother Alexander greatly, and perhaps her ongoing question to the sailors is just her hope that one day she will be reunited with him. Her legend has inspired artists, painters, musicians, sculptors, and writers who found inspiration in the story of a sad mermaid looking for news of her brother. But most importantly her legend has been passed on from one generation to next keeping her story alive.
Bibliography
Alexander the Great’s Sister the Mermaid. (n.d.). Retrieved from Walking Bear: https://wakingbear.org/alexander-the-greats-sister-the-mermaid/
Dalmaris, D. (2019, March 3). Thessaloniki-the Legend of a Mermaid. Retrieved from Greece Through Despena's Eyes:
Lee, P. (2014, March 27). Thessalonike of Macedon – the mermaid princess. Retrieved from Quintessentialruminations:
The Legend of the Mermaid Thessalonike. (n.d.). Retrieved from Elysian: http://elysianspot.blogspot.com/2018/02/
©MyLinda Butterworth (scholastica.ppa@gmail.com) This article first appeared in The Yeoman - August 2021
Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited and receives a copy.
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