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XIV. Macedonia in the time of Ali Pasha (end of 18th century to the beginning of 19th)

2. Southern or Lower Macedonia
(iii) The Pasalik of Thessalonica (region of Thessalonica and Chalcidice)

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1. Yenitsa was a small but nonetheless important township at this time. Its inhabitants, numbering 4-5.000, were nearly all Turks [5]. Ali Pasha did not venture to interfere with this venerable Moslem centre, since it was still governed by descendants of the celebrated Evrenos family, which had figured so prominently amongst the early Turkish generals [6].

The chief product of the region was its excellent tobacco, for which Yenitsa was the main market centre [1]. The walls of the houses in the town were festooned with tobacco leaves hung out to dry [2]. Annual production amounted to some 5.000 bales of 100 okas each [3].

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Fig. 171. Excavations at ancient Pella. (Photo Ph. Petsas)


Of Pella, so famous in antiquity, nought remained, says Beaujour, but a few insignificant ruins (though in the light of modern archaeological research these have proved to be of outstanding importance) (see figs. 171, 172). Beaujour believed he could detect the outlines of a magnificent harbour and traces of the canal linking it with the sea [4]. Pella extended also over the hill that rises a little to the north of the lake. It is interesting to note that the village which now stands on the site of ancient Macedonia's capital was called Ta Palatia (The Palaces). It used also to be called Ayii Apostoli (Holy Apostles), or in Turkish, Allah Kilise (Church of God) [1]. The popular name of Ta Palatia recalls the splendours of its ancient past and rightly fixes the site of ancient Macedonian's capital city.

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Fig. 172. Ruins of ancient Pella. (Photo S. Iordanidis)


At the beginning of the 18th century Bulgarian tenant farmers had been settled at Pella [2], on about 60 estates of more or less uniform


1. Anonymous, Descrizione della Macedonia, ibid., 5, p. 443.

2. Beaujour, Voyage, vol. 1, p. 197. On the same village and on its Bulgarian inhabitants see Leake, Travels, 3, p. 261. On Pella's archaeological surroundings see interesting details on pp. 261-264. See also Struck, Die Makedonische Niederlande, p. 88, where there is a topographical sketch of the district.
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size. The latter had been created by the landowner, Selim Bey, a member of the Evrenos family of Thessalonica, which at that period constituted a seperate branch of the Evrenos family of Yenitsa. To each tenant-farmer the bey gave one yoke of oxen for ploughing, and received in return a fixed proportion of the yield [1]. He had to his disposal a separate number of peasants for his own lands. There was no regular communal organization of the area, though the peasants had the right to appoint their own representative (kahya) to defend their rights and protect them from unjust demands on the part of the subasi [2].

It is also worth mentioning that twenty minutes away from Allah Kilise is a spring which the Greeks called Pelli and the Bulgarians Pel [3]. This would show that the ancient name for the place had been localised to a particular spot in this area; though why this should be is not at all clear.

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