Edessa

Edessa, the old capital of Macedonia, upon a stream 46 miles W. of Thessalonica, and at the head of a pass which commands the approach from the coast. It was the residence of the kings and their burial-place, among those buried here being Philip II. (336 B.C.), and the granddaughter - with her husband - of Alexander the Great. The old name, AEgae, and the modern one of Vodhena are both thought to be derived from the abundant water in the neighbourhood. There is another Edessa in Mesopotamia, which came into the possession of Baldwin in the first Crusade.