14th century account about the greekness of Thessalonike

[Ptolemy]

Taken from the 'Encomium of St Demetrios' written by the well-known fourteenth-century theologian Nicholas Kabasilas Chamaetos.

The city [Thessalonike] has many adronments by the most important one and that which affords in the greatest distinction is its rhetorical force, a characteristic that is admired [there] more than in other cities. This city has such a special relationship with Hellenic speech and is so rich in this grace that on the one hand it is sufficient to secure its own happiness but in addition this city can also impart [this grace] to other cities, transplanting words like colonies founded by the rulers of ancient Athens. Consequently there is none, i think, of all the Hellenes in our empire who does not call this city his ancestor and the mother of his Muses, since by claiming such descent he appears respectable"