Edessa, Greece

Edessa is a city in northern Greece and the capital of the Pella regional unit in Central Macedonia, known for the Edessa Waterfalls. Known as Vodena until 1923, when its ancient name was revived, the city is said by some ancient sources to have been founded as the first capital of ancient Macedon by Caranus, founder of the Argead Dynasty that later produced Alexander the Great, and it held strategic importance in the Byzantine period for controlling the mountain passage of the Via Egnatia. The 2021 census recorded 26,407 residents in the municipality, with 19,036 in the community proper, and the city, once an industrial center powered by its waterfalls, has shifted since the 1970s toward services and tourism, hosting some departments of the University of Macedonia.