Ancient tribes in Thessaly

The name Pelasgians (, ) was used by Classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergence of the Greeks. In general, "Pelasgian" has come to mean more broadly all the indigenous inhabitants of the Aegean Sea region and their cultures, and British historian Peter Green comments on it as "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably indigenous people in the Greek world".

The Aeolians (; , Aioleis) were one of the four major tribes into which Greeks divided themselves in the ancient period (along with the Achaeans, Dorians and Ionians). They originated in the eastern parts of the Greek mainland, notably in Thessaly and Boeotia. By BC, the Aeolians began their early settlements on the west coast of Anatolia, known as Aeolis, comprising the territory between Troas and Ionia, as well as on the Aegean islands of Lesbos and Tenedos. A second round of Aeolian settlements took place during the 7th century. They spoke Aeolic, a dialect of Ancient Greek most famously kn

The Leleges (; ) were an aboriginal people of the Aegean region, before the Greeks arrived. They were distinct from another pre-Hellenic people of the region, the Pelasgians. The exact areas to which they were native are uncertain, since they were apparently pre-literate and the only references to them are in ancient Greek sources. These references are casual and (it is alleged) sometimes fictitious. Likewise, little is known about the language of the Leleges.

Dryopes (; ) or Dryopians () were one of the aboriginal tribes of ancient Greece. According to Herodotus, their earliest abode is said to have been on Mount Oeta in Central Greece and its adjacent valleys, in the district called after them, Dryopis (Δρυοπίς). The Dorians settled in that part of their country which lay between Oeta and Mount Parnassus, and which was afterwards called Doris; but Dryopis originally extended as far north as the river Spercheios. The name of Dryopis was still applied to the latter district in the time of Strabo, who calls it a tetrapolis, like Doris.

The penestai or penestae (Greek: oἱ πενέσται, hoi penéstai) were a class of unfree labourers in Thessaly, Ancient Greece. These labourers were tied to the land they inhabited, comparable in status with the Spartan helots.

thumb|right|Phallana is west of Ossa mountain, above Pelasgiotis The Perrhaebi () or Peraebi (Περαιβοί) were an ancient Greek people who lived on the western slopes of Olympus, on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia. They took part in the Trojan War under Guneus and also fought in the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Magnetes (Greek: ) were an ancient Greek tribe. In book 2 of the Iliad, Homer includes them in the Greek Army that is besieging Troy, and identifies their homeland in Thessaly, in a part that is still known as Magnesia. Later, they participated in the Greek colonisation of Western Anatolia by founding two prosperous cities: Magnesia on the Maeander and Magnesia ad Sipylum.

right|thumb|175px|Epirus and environs. Athamanians or Athamanes (, Athamanes) were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited south-eastern Epirus and west Thessaly. Today, the municipal unit of Athamania in Central Tzoumerka and the community of Athamania in Pyli are named after them.