Trikala

Trikala Τρίκαλα
Litheos river flowing through the city of Trikala
Trikala
Location within the region
Coordinates: 39°33′N 21°46′E / 39.550°N 21.767°E / 39.550; 21.767Coordinates: 39°33′N 21°46′E / 39.550°N 21.767°E / 39.550; 21.767
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Thessaly
Regional unit	Trikala
Government
• Mayor	Dimitris Papastergiou
Area
• Municipality	607.59 km2 (234.59 sq mi)
• Municipal unit	69.2 km2 (26.7 sq mi)
Elevation	115 m (377 ft)
Population (2011)
• Municipality	81,355
• Municipality density	130/km2 (350/sq mi)
• Municipal unit	62,154
• Municipal unit density	900/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	421 00
Area code(s)	24310
Vehicle registration	ΤΚ
Website	www.trikalacity.gr

Trikala (Greek: Τρίκαλα) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the National Statistical Service, Trikala is populated by 81,355 inhabitants (2011), while in total the Trikala regional unit is populated by 131,085 inhabitants (2011).

TPI KK AI (mirrored)

[1]; During religious games, the young men of Thessaly participated in bull jumping and bull wrestling. In bull wrestling, participants would jump from a horse, naked save a chlamys and cap, to bring a bull down to the ground. The obverse shows a wrestler bringing down a bull and the reverse shows the horse running free after the leap was made. The game may have originated in Asia Minor and then traveled to Crete, where it is known the people of Thessaly learned the sport.

The region of Trikala has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The first indications of permanent settlement have been uncovered in the cave of Theopetra, and date back to approx. 49,000 BC. Neolithic settlements dating back to 6,000 BC have been uncovered in Megalo Kefalovriso and other locations.

The city of Trikala is built on the ancient city of Trikka or Trikke, which was founded around the 3rd millennium BC and took its name from the nymph Trikke, daughter of Penaeus, or according to others, daughter of the river god Asopus. The ancient city was built at a defensive location in between the local hill and the river Lithaios. The city became an important center in Antiquity and it was considered to be the birthplace and main residence of the Healing God Asclepius. The city exhibited one of the most important and ancient of Asclepius' healing temples, called asclepieia. The city is mentioned in Homer's Iliad as having participated in the Trojan War with thirty ships under Asclepius' sons Machaon and Podalirius. In the Mycenean period, the city was the capital of a kingdom, and later it constituted the main center of the Thessalian region of Estaiotis, which occupied roughly the territory of the modern Trikala Prefecture.