Thessaloniki   is a city in northern Greece. The nation's second-largest, with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, it is the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace. It is also known in Greek as  Symprotévousa, literally "the co-capital", a reference to its historical status as the "co-reigning" city (Symvasilévousa) of the Byzantine Empire alongside Constantinople.