Macedonia or
Macedon (from , )
was an ancient
kingdom, centered in the
northeastern part of the
Greek
peninsula, bordered by
Epirus to the west,
Paionia to the north, the region of
Thrace to the east and
Thessaly to the south. Under
Philip II, it achieved hegemony over
neighbouring areas, including most states of mainland Greece.
For a
brief period, after the conquests of Alexander the Great, it became the most
powerful state in the world, controlling a territory that included
the former Persian empire, stretching
as far as the Indus
River
; at that time it inaugurated the Hellenistic period of Greek civilisation.
Name
Further information: Makednos-Etymology
The name Macedonia ( , ) is related to the ancient Greek word
μακεδνός ( ). It is commonly explained as having originally meant
'a tall one' or 'highlander', possibly descriptive of the
people. The shorter English name variant
Macedon developed in Middle English, based on a borrowing
from the French form of the name,
Macédoine.
History
Early history and legend
The lands around Aegae, the first Macedonian capital, were home to
various peoples. Macedonia was called Emathia (from king Emathion)
and the city of Aiges was called Edessa, the capital of fabled king
Midas. According to legend, Caranus, accompanied by a multitude of
Greeks came to the area in search for a new homeland took Edessa
and renamed it to Aegae. Subsequently, he expelled Midas and other
kings off the lands and he formed his new kingdom.According to
Herodot, it was Dorus, the son of Hellen who led his people to
Histaeotis, whence they were driven off by the Cadmeians into
Pindus, where they settled as Macedonians. Later, a branch would
migrate further south to be called Dorians .
It seems
that the first Macedonian state
emerged in the 8th or early 7th century BC under the Argead Dynasty, who, according to legend,
migrated to the region from the Greek city of
Argos
in Peloponnesus (thus the name Argead). It
should be mentioned that the Macedonian tribe ruled by the Argeads,
was itself called Argead (which translates as "descended from
Argos").
The
kingdom was situated in the fertile alluvial plain, watered by the
rivers Haliacmon
and Axius, called Lower
Macedonia, north of the mountain Olympus
.
Around the
time of Alexander I of
Macedon, the Argead Macedonians started to expand into Upper Macedonia, lands inhabited by
independent Macedonian tribes like the Lyncestae and the Elmiotae
and to the West, beyond Axius river, into Eordaia
, Bottiaea, Mygdonia, and
Almopia-, regions settled by, among others,
many Thracian tribes. Near the modern city of Veria
, Perdiccas I (or, more likely, his son, Argaeus I) built his capital, Aigai
(modern Vergina
).
After a brief period under
Persian
rule under
Darius Hystaspes, the
state regained its independence under King
Alexander I (
495–
450 BC).
In the long
Peloponnesian War
Macedon was a secondary power that alternated in support between
Sparta and Athens.
Involvement in the Greek world
Prior to
the 4th century BC, the kingdom
covered a region approximately corresponding to the province of
Macedonia
of modern Greece
. A
unified Macedonian state was eventually established by King
Amyntas III (c.
393–
370 BC), though it still
retained strong contrasts between the cattle-rich coastal plain and
the fierce isolated tribal hinterland, allied to the king by
marriage ties. They controlled the passes through which barbarian
invasions came from
Illyria to the north and
northwest.
It became increasingly Atticised during this period, though prominent
Athenians
appear to have regarded the Macedonians as
uncouth. Before the establishment of the
League of Corinth, even though the
Macedonians apparently spoke a dialect of the Greek language and
claimed proudly that they were Greeks, they were not considered to
fully share the
classical Greek
culture by many of the inhabitants of the southern city states,
because they did not share the
polis based
style of government of the southerners.
Herodotus, being one of the foremost biographer in
antiquity who lived in Greece at the time when the Macedonian king
Alexander I was in power,
mentioned: "
I happen to know, and I will demonstrate in a
subsequent chapter of this history, that these descendants of
Perdiccas are, as they themselves claim, of Greek nationality.
This was, moreover, recognized by the managers of the Olympic games, on the occasion when
Alexander wished to compete
and his Greek competitors tried to exclude him on the ground that
foreigners were not allowed to take part. Alexander,
however, proved his Argive descent, and so was accepted as a Greek
and allowed to enter for the foot-race. He came in equal
first".
Over the
4th century Macedon became more politically involved with the
south-central city-states of Ancient
Greece, but it also retained more archaic features like the
palace-culture, first at Aegae (modern Vergina) then at Pella
, resembling
Mycenaean culture more than classic
Hellenic city-states, and other
archaic customs, like Philip's multiple wives in addition to his
Epirote queen Olympias, mother of
Alexander.
Another archaic remnant was the very persistence of a
hereditary monarchy which
wielded formidable sometimes absolute power, although this was at
times checked by the landed aristocracy, and often disturbed by
power struggles within the royal family itself.
This contrasted
sharply with the Greek cultures further south, where the ubiquitous
city-states mostly possessed aristocratic or democratic
institutions; the de facto monarchy of
tyrants, in which heredity was usually more
of an ambition rather than the accepted rule; and the limited,
predominantly military and sacerdotal, power of the twin hereditary
Spartan
kings. The same might have held true of
feudal institutions like
serfdom, which may have persisted in Macedon well
into historical times. Such institutions were abolished by
city-states well before Macedon's rise (most notably by the
Athenian legislator
Solon's famous
seisachtheia laws).
Balkan conquests
Amyntas had three sons; the first two,
Alexander II and
Perdiccas III reigned only briefly. Perdiccas
III's infant heir was deposed by Amyntas' third son,
Philip II of Macedon, who made himself
king and ushered in a period of Macedonian dominance of Greece.
Under Philip II, (
359–
336
BC), Macedon expanded into the territory of the
Paionians,
Thracians, and
Illyrians. Among other conquests, he
annexed the regions of
Pelagonia and
Southern
Paionia.
Kingdom of Macedon after Philip's II
death.
Philip redesigned the
army of
Macedon adding a number of variations to the traditional
hoplite force to make it far more effective.
He added the
hetairoi, a well
armoured heavy cavalry, and more light infantry, both of which
added greater flexibility and responsiveness to the force. He also
lengthened the spear and shrank the shield of the main infantry
force, increasing its offensive capabilities.
Philip began to rapidly expand the borders of his kingdom. He first
campaigned in the north against non-Greek peoples such as the
Illyrians, securing his northern border
and gaining much prestige as a warrior. He next turned east, to the
territory along the northern shore of the Aegean.
The most important
city in this area was Amphipolis
, which controlled the way into Thrace and also was near valuable silver
mines. This region had been part of the
Athenian Empire, and Athens still considered
it as in their sphere. The Athenians attempted to curb the growing
power of Macedonia, but were limited by the outbreak of the
Social War. They
could also do little to halt Philip when he turned his armies south
and took over most of
Thessaly.
Control of Thessaly meant Philip was now closely involved in the
politics of central Greece.
356 BCE saw the outbreak of the Third Sacred War that pitted Phocis
against
Thebes and its
allies. Thebes recruited the Macedonians to join them and at
the
Battle of Crocus Field
Phillip decisively defeated Phocis and its Athenian allies. As a
result Macedonia became the leading state in the
Amphictyonic League and Phillip became
head of the Pythian Games, firmly putting the Macedonian leader at
the centre of the Greek political world.
In the
continuing conflict with Athens Philip marched east through Thrace
in an attempt to capture Byzantium and the
Bosphorus
, thus cutting off the Black Sea grain supply that
provided Athens with much of its food. The siege of
Byzantium failed, but Athens realized the grave danger the rise of
Macedon presented and under
Demosthenes
built a coalition of many of the major states to oppose the
Macedonians. Most importantly Thebes, which had the strongest
ground force of any of the city states, joined the effort. The
allies met the Macedonians at the
Battle of Chaeronea and were
decisively defeated, leaving Philip and the Macedonians the
unquestioned master of Greece.
Empire
Alexander's empire at the time of its
maximum expansion
The entrance to one of the royal tombs
at Vergina, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Philip's
son, Alexander the Great
(356–323 BC), managed
to briefly extend Macedonian power not only over the central Greek
city-states, but also to the Persian
empire, including Egypt
and lands as
far east as the fringes of India. Alexander's adoption of
the styles of government of the conquered territories was
accompanied by the spread of Greek culture and learning through his
vast empire. Although the empire fractured into multiple Hellenic
regimes shortly after his death, his conquests left a lasting
legacy, not least in the new Greek-speaking cities founded across
Persia's western territories, heralding the
Hellenistic period. In the
partition of Alexander's empire among the
Diadochi, Macedonia fell to the
Antipatrid dynasty, which was overthrown
by the
Antigonid dynasty after
only a few years, in 294 BC.
Hellenistic era
Antipater and his son
Cassander gained control of Macedonia but it slid
into a long period of civil strife following Cassander's death in
297 BC. It was ruled for a while by
Demetrius I (
294–
288 BC) but fell into civil
war.
Demetrius' son,
Antigonus II (
277–
239 BC), defeated a
Galatian invasion as a
condottiere, and regained his family's
position in Macedonia; he successfully restored order and
prosperity there, though he lost control of many of the Greek
city-states. He established a stable monarchy under the
Antigonid dynasty.
Antigonus III (
239–
221 BC) built on these
gains by re-establishing Macedonian power across the region.
What is notable about the Macedonian regime during the Hellenistic
times is that it was the only successor state to the Empire that
maintained the old archaic perception of Kingship, and never
adopted the ways of the Hellenistic Monarchy. Thus the king was
never deified in the same way that Ptolemies and Seleucids were in
Egypt and Asia respectively, and never adopted the custom of
Proskynesis. The ancient Macedonians
during the Hellenistic times were still addressing their kings in a
far more casual way than the subjects of the rest of the Diadochi,
and the Kings were still consulting with their aristocracy (Philoi)
in the process of making their decisions.
Conflict with Rome
Kingdom of Macedon under Philip
V.
Under
Philip V of Macedon
(
221–
179 BC) and his
son
Perseus of Macedon (
179–
168 BC), the kingdom
clashed with the rising power of the
Roman Republic. During the
2nd and
1st
centuries BC, Macedon fought a
series of wars with Rome. Two major losses
that led to their inevitable defeat were in
197
BC when Rome defeated Philip V, and
168
BC when Rome defeated Perseus. The overall losses resulted in
the defeat of Macedon, the deposition of the Antigonid dynasty and
the dismantling of the Macedonian kingdom.
Andriscus' brief success at reestablishing the
monarchy in
149 BC was quickly followed by
his defeat the following year and the establishment of direct
Roman rule and the organization of
Macedon as the
Roman
province of Macedonia.
Institutions
The political organization of the Macedonian kingdom was a
three-level pyramid: on the top, the King and the nation, at the
foot, the civic organizations (cities and
éthnē), and
between the two, the districts. The study of these different
institutions has been considerably renewed thanks to
epigraphy, which has given us the possibility to
reread the indications given us by ancient literary sources such as
Livy and
Polybius. They
show that the Macedonian institutions were near to those of the
Greek federal states, like the
Aetolian and
Achaean leagues, whose unity was reinforced
by the presence of the king.
The King
The
king ( , ) headed the central
administration: he led the kingdom from its capital, Pella, and in
his royal palace was conserved the state's archive. He was helped
in carrying out his work by the Royal Secretary ( , ), whose work
was of primary importance, and by the
Council.
The king was commander of the army, head of the Macedonian
religion, and director of diplomacy. Also, only he could conclude
treaties, and, until
Philip V,
mint coins.
The number of civil servants was limited: the king directed his
kingdom mostly in an indirect way, supporting himself principally
through the local magistrates, the epistates, with whom he
constantly kept in touch.
Succession
Royal succession in Macedon was hereditary, male,
patrilineal and generally respected the
principle of
primogeniture. There was
also an elective element: when the king died, his designated heir,
generally but not always the eldest son, had first to be accepted
by the council and then presented to the general Assembly to be
acclaimed king and obtain the oath of fidelity.
As can be seen, the succession was far from being automatic, more
so considering that many Macedonian kings died violently, without
having made dispositions for the succession, or having assured
themselves that these would be respected. This can be seen with
Perdiccas III, slain by the
Illyrians,
Philip II assassinated by
Pausanias of Orestis,
Alexander the Great, suddenly died of
malady, etc. Succession crises were frequent, especially up to the
4th century BC, when the magnate
families of Upper Macedonia still cultivated the ambition of
overthrowing the Argaead dynasty and to ascend to the throne.
An atrium with a pebble-mosaic paving,
in Pella, Greece
Finances
The king was the simple guardian and administrator of the treasure
of Macedon and of the king's incomes ( , ), which belonged to the
Macedonians: and the tributes that came to the kingdom thanks to
the treaties with the defeated people also went to the Macedonian
people, and not to the king. Even if the king was not accountable
for his management of the kingdom's entries, he may have felt
responsible to defend his administration on certain occasions:
Arrian tells us that during the
mutiny of Alexander's soldiers at
Opis in
324 BC, Alexander
detailed the possessions of his father at his death to prove he had
not abused his charge.
It is known from Livy and Polybius that the
basiliká
included the following sources of income:
- The
mines of gold and silver (for example those of the
Pangaeus
), which were the exclusive possession of the king,
and which permitted him to strike currency, as already said his
sole privilege till Philip V, who conceded to cities and districts
the right of coinage for the lesser denominations, like
bronze.
- The
forests, whose timber was very appreciated by the
Greek cities to build their ships: in particular, it is known that
Athens made
commercial treaties with Macedon in the 5th century BC to import the timber necessary
for the construction and the maintenance of its fleet of
war.
- The royal landed properties, lands that were
annexed to the royal domain through conquest, and that the king
exploited either directly, in particular through servile workforce
made up of prisoners of war, or indirectly through a leasing
system.
- The port duties on commerce (importation and
exportation taxes).
The most common way to exploit these different sources of income
was by leasing: the
Pseudo-Aristotle
reports in the
Oeconomica that
Amyntas III (or maybe Philip II)
doubled the kingdom's port revenues with the help of
Callistratus, who had taken refuge
in Macedon, bringing them from 20 to 40
talents per year. To do this, the
exploitation of the harbour taxes was given every year at the
private offering the highest bidding. It is also known from Livy
that the mines and the forests were leased for a fixed sum under
Philip V, and it appears that the same happened under the Argaead
dynasty: from here possibly comes the leasing system that was used
in
Ptolemaic Egypt.
Except for the king's properties, land in Macedon was free:
Macedonians were free men and did not pay land taxes on private
grounds. Even extraordinary taxes like those paid by the Athenians
in times of war did not exist. Even in conditions of economic
peril, like what happened to Alexander in
334
BC and Perseus in
168 BC, the monarchy
did not tax its subjects but raised funds through loans, first of
all by his Companions, or raised the cost of the leases.
The king could grant the
atelíē ( ), a privilege of tax
exemption, as Alexander did with those Macedonian families which
had losses in the
battle of the
Granicus in May
334: they were exempted
from paying tribute for leasing royal grounds and commercial
taxes.
Extraordinary incomes came from the spoils of war, which were
divided between the king and his men. At the time of Philip II and
Alexander, this was a considerable source of income.
A considerable part
of the gold and silver objects taken at the time of the European
and Asian campaigns were melted in ingots and then sent to the
monetary foundries of Pella and Amphipolis, most active of the kingdom at that time: an
estimate judges that during the reign of Alexander only the mint of
Amphipolis struck about 13 million silver tetradrachms.
The Assembly
All the kingdom's citizen-soldiers gather in a popular assembly,
which is held at least twice a year, in spring and in autumn, with
the opening and the closing of the campaigning season.
This assembly ( or ), of the army in times of war, of the people in
times of peace, is called by the king and plays a significant role
through the acclamation of the kings and in capital trials; it can
be consulted (without obligation) for the foreign politics
(declarations of war, treaties) and for the appointment of high
state officials. In the majority of these occasions, the Assembly
does nothing but ratify the proposals of a smaller body, the
Council. It is also the Assembly which votes the honors, sends
embassies, during its two annual meetings. It was abolished by the
Romans at the time of their
reorganization of Macedonia in
167 BC, to
prevent, according to
Livy, that a demagogue
could make use of it as a mean to revolt against their
authority.
Council (Synedrion)
The Council was a small group formed among some of the most eminent
Macedonians, chosen by the king to assist him in the government of
the kingdom. As such it was not a representative assembly, but
notwithstanding that on certain occasions it could be expanded with
the admission of representatives of the cities and of the civic
corps of the kingdom.
The members of the Council (
synedroi) belong to three
categories:
- The somatophylakes (in
Greek literally "bodyguards") were noble Macedonians chosen by the
king to serve to him as honorary bodyguards, but especially as
close advisers. It was a particularly prestigious honorary title.
In the times of Alexander there were seven of them.
- The Friends (philoi) or the
king's Companions (basilikoi hetairoi) were named for life by the
king among the Macedonian aristocracy.
- The most important generals of the army (hégémones tôn
taxéôn), also named by the king.
The king had in reality less power in the choice of the members of
the Council than appearances would warrant; this was because many
of the kingdom's most important noblemen were members of the
Council by birth-right.
The Council primarily exerted a probouleutic function with respect
to the Assembly: it prepared and proposed the decisions which the
Assembly would have discussed and voted, working in many fields
such as the designation of kings and regents, as of that of the
high administrators and the declarations of war. It was also the
first and final authority for all the cases which did not involve
capital punishment.
The Council gathered frequently and represented the principal body
of government of the kingdom. Any important decision taken by the
king was subjected before it for deliberation.
Inside the Council ruled the democratic principles of
iségoria (equality of word) and of
parrhésia
(freedom of speech), to which even the king subjected
himself.
After the removal of the
Antigonid
dynasty by the Romans in
167 BC, it is
possible that the synedrion remained, unlike the Assembly,
representing the sole federal authority in Macedonia after the
country's division in four
merides.
Regional districts (Merides)
The creation of an intermediate territorial administrative level
between the central government and the cities should probably be
attributed to Philip II: this reform corresponded with the need to
adapt the kingdom's institutions to the great expansion of Macedon
under his rule. It was no longer practical to convene all the
Macedonians in a single general assembly, and the answer to this
problem was the creation of four regional districts, each with a
regional assembly. These territorial divisions clearly did not
follow any historical or traditional internal divisions; they were
simply artificial administrative lines.
This said, it should be noted that the existence of these districts
is not attested with certainty (by
numismatics) before the beginning of the
2nd century BC.
See also
References
- Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. 'Macedon'
- Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus
7.1.
- Herodotus, Histories, 1.56.3.
- Herodotus mentions the story when Alexander
I was asked to prove his Greek descent in order to participate
in the Olympic Games, (an athletic event in which only people of
Greek origin participated). Alexander proved his (Argead) descent
and was allowed to compete by the Hellanodikai: “And that these descendants of
Perdiccas are Greeks, as they themselves say, I happen to know
myself, and not only so, but I will prove in the succeeding history
that they are Greeks. Moreover the Hellanodicai, who manage the
games at Olympia, decided that they were so: for when Alexander
wished to contend in the games and had descended for this purpose
into the arena, the Greeks who were to run against him tried to
exclude him, saying that the contest was not for Barbarians to
contend in but for Greeks: since however Alexander proved that he
was of Argos, he was judged to be a Greek, and when he entered the
contest of the foot-race his lot came out with that of the first."
(Herodotus, "Histories", Book 5: Terpsichore 22)
- The Cambridge ancient history: The fourth century
B.C. edited by D.M. Lewis et al. I E S Edwards, Cambridge
University Press, D. M. Lewis, John Boardman, Cyril John Gadd,
Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, 2000, ISBN 0521233488, pp.
723-724.
- Kagan,
Donald [1] " Twilight of the Polis." Introduction
to Ancient Greek History.
- A History of Macedonia by R.Malcolm Errington, Catherine
Errington,ISBN 1566195195,1994,page 4,"Ancient allegations that the
Macedonians were non-Greeks all had their origin in Athens at the
time of the struggle with Philip II. ..."
- Herodotus, Histories, 5. 22
- South East Europe History pages - Map showing Upper and Lower
Macedon and the growth of Macedon 4th BC. [2]
Further reading
- Eugene N. Borza: Before Alexander: constructing early
Macedonia. Claremont, CA: Regina Books, 1999. Pp. 89.
ISBN 0941690970 (pb)
- Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great, Penguin Books,
1973, ISBN 0-14-008878-4 (pb).
- Nicholas G. L. Hammond, The Macedonian State, Oxford
University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-814883-6. Pg. 12-13.
- Macedonian Empire, 1911 Encyclopedia
Britannica
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