Thessaloniki , also known as Thessalonica , Saloniki or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece, with over 1 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and 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 η Συμπρωτεύουσα , literally “the co-capital”,a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα or “co-reigning” city of the Byzantine Empire alongside Constantinople.