[139] Thebes contained, at this time, the greatest number of Jews of any city in Greece, some of whom are stated to have been eminent manufacturers, principally of silk and purple cloths. Gibbon states that artists employed upon these trades enjoyed exemption from personal taxes. "These arts, which were exercised at Corinth, Thebes, and Argos, afforded food and occupation to a numerous people: the men, women, and children were distributed according to their age and strength; and if many of these were domestic slaves, their masters, who directed the work and enjoyed the profits, were of a free and honourable condition." At present the whole population of Thebes does not amount to above 3500 individuals. [140] No place of this name is now known. Mr. Asher conjectures, from the Sclavonic sound of the word, that it was a town of the Wallachians, and that it has been destroyed in the perpetual wars of which this part of Greece was the scene. [141] Rabenica is mentioned by several medieval writers, though its exact situation is not now known. Henri de Valencienne, Chronique, edited by Buchon, p. 259, says "Ensi comme jou devant vous dys, fut li parlemens ou val de Ravenique." [142] Gardiki, or Cardiki, a small town on the coast of the gulf of Volo, and the seat of a bishop. The time at which it was ruined, or the occasion upon which its destruction took place, cannot be ascertained. [143] Armyro, also on the coast of the gulf of Volo. By the writers of the middle ages it was called Amire, Amiro, and Almyro. Poucqueville (iii. 72) mentions it as the principal town of a district which bears its name. [144] This place is not now known, but it is mentioned by medieval writers under the name of Vissena, Vessena, and Bezena. As our author embarked at or near this station, it cannot have been Velestino, which we meet with by following his route on a map of Greece, because, although in the vicinity of Armyro, and on the road to Saloniki, it is an inland town. [145] The ancient Thessalonica; the modern Saloniki, contained, at our author's time, more Jewish inhabitants than any town in Greece, Thebes alone excepted. It is stated by good authorities to contain at present 20,000 Israelites, a large proportion of the whole population, amounting altogether to but 70,000 souls. Some popular tradition probably induced our author to ascribe the origin of the city to Seleucus. The favourable situation of Saloniki, which has made it one of the most commercial towns of the Turkish empire, was probably the cause of its considerable Jewish population. [146] This place, which has vanished from the modern maps of Greece, was called correctly Dimitritzi, and was situated near Amphipolis, on the Cercinian Sea.