Therma or
Therme (, ) was a Greek city founded by
Eretrians or
Corinthians in late 7th century BC in ancient
Mygdonia (which was later incorporated into
Macedon), situated at the northeastern extremity of a great gulf of the
Aegean Sea, the
Thermaic Gulf. The city was built amidst
mosquito-infested swampland, and its name derives from the
Greek thérme/thérma, "(
malarial) fever". Therma was later renamed
Thessalonica by
Cassander. By that time the port of the previous capital of Macedonia,
Pella, had begun silting up, so Cassander took advantage of the deep-water port to the northwest of Therma to expand the settlement.