Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-01-15
SALON|KI1 is FACED
BY GREAT PROBLEM
Thousands of Greek Refu-
gees Flock There by Both
Land and Sea.

Saloniki, safely outside both east
ern and western Thrace, but near
enough to those troubled regions OF
Greek. and Turkish rivalry to be In
easy reach of refugees, has had a ire
mendous problem thrust upon her.
dispatches state, by the tens OF thou
sands of Creeks who flocked there
both by land and sea.
"Saloniki does not stand nj great
world crossroads. and its name,
therefore. is not so familiar as that
of Constantinople." says bulletin in
regard 10 the city, issued from the
Washington headquarters OF the Ma
tional Geographic Society. I'm past
and present Importance, however, IL 5
second only to its great sister or the
straits.
Dates Back to Remote Past.
"Saloniki. too, reaches far back INTO
the past Cities rose and Tell on us
site more than half a millennium be-
fore Christ; and the present town was
founded before 500 Is. c. Its rather
queer name represents the last three
syllables in the name of Thessalonlke'
half-SiSter of Alexander the Great
1t became a Little Rome during the
height of that empires power; a free
city, capital of the surrounding re-
gion, and the home of many Roman
colonists. Cicero lived there for a
time in exile; Nero and Trajan deco
rated the city; and it was the tenn
porary homo of the Emperors Gale
RUS Licinius and Theodosius.
Under the ByzantineS, Salonikl was
the second city of the empire; and IT
has remained ever since the rival of
the City of the Straits whether the
latter has been called Byzantium,
STEAMBOAT or Constantinople. Saloni-
Xxi might be called the extension uni
Versity of the near east for from
there went forth st. Cyril, who car
ried to the Slavic world to the north
the Cyrlic alphabet in which its lit
erature has been wrought.
Relics OF Ancient Days.
1T is not surprising that so ancient
a city should contain interesting rel
les of it's past. What is surprising is
that these should be so little known
TO the world.
.The oldest and most accessible of
Saloniki's antiquities is the street OF
the Vardar, which cuts the city in
two at the foot of its hill. 1t is a
part of the old Roman highway from
the Adriatic to the Bosporus, which
earlier still was the royal way OF
the Macedonian kings.
The street is not particularly i'm
posing. There is little TO remind the
beholder of the Janssaries of yes
terday. the Roman legiOnS. the pha-
lanXes of Alexander and the immor-
tails of AerNes. all of whom trod its
surface. And if YOU would dream
of these marcherS of the past you
must do so TO the somewhat in
congruous clang OF AN American
electric car, driven by 4 modern
Greek or a Spanish Jew. under the
Roman arch which spans the street
of the Vardar.
Among Worlds Finest MOsaics.
THE finest remains of the city are
the twenty-five churches which
somehow survived the turbulent mid
die ages. There they stand. turned
back into churches after 500 years
of use as mosques. They illustrate
the story of Byzantine architecture
more beautifully in certain ways
than do those of ConStantinople. One
especially interesting fact in connec-
ton with these churches is that they
make among them u museum Of tn,
lost Byzantine art of mosaic. No.
where else are such beautiful ex
amples OF mosaics Of this period
seen. save in Constantinople anC
Ravenna. The finest of mosaics il
Saloniki. and one of the finest in thu
world, is in the dome Of. the Church o
st. George.
Once Ruled by Rome.
Built and once ruled by Rome ane
later by Venice and NUMBERING
among Its inhabitants Greeks, Ser
bians, Albanians, Bulgarians and
Turks, SalonikiS atmosphere may be
said to have been compounded from
that of every adjacent nation. But
it reaches still farther afield and has
an important contact with Spain
One of its largest racial elements
consists of Spanish speaking Jews
whose ancestors were driven from
Spain by Columbus royal patrons
''One must not think of Saloniki as
new Grecian acquisition far from
the heart of Greece. one could main