Occupying the bigger part of northern Greece, Macedonia first appears on the historical scene as a geographical-political unit in the 5th century BC, when it extended from the upper waters of the Haliakmon and Mount Olympus to the river Strymon. In the following century it reached the banks of the Nestos. The history of the Macedonians, however, may be said to commence somewhere around the beginning of the 7th century BC; at this time the Greek tribe of the Makedones, whose home was in Orestis, began to expand, driving out the Thracians and contending with the Illyrians, and gradually occupied Eordaia, Bottiaia, Pieria and Almopia, finally settling in the region called by Thucydides "Lower Macedonia, or Macedonia by the Sea".
Stock-breeding, based on the raising of goats
and sheep, was one of the prime factors in
Macedonia's development, in combination, of
course, with other intra-community activities and
occupations, such as hunting and fishing. An
improvement in the quality of diet is indicated by
the diversity of crops cultivated: grain, vines and
olives. Exchanges of cultural goods (jewelry,
quality pottery) now multiplied, clearly an
example of prestige gifts rather than evidence of
commercial contacts.
The Bronze Age finds Macedonia with fewer
settlements, a circumstance that may be
interpreted either as the result of the contraction
of the population or as the result of the
development of central cores at the expense of
small-scale satellite settlements. The houses are
now quite frequently two-roomed, with the areas
relating to the preparation of food kept separate;
they are constructed with wooden posts, and
have one of the ends apsidal in form. A still
primitive system of planned streets can be
detected in some of the settlements.
Both bovines and sheep and goats, along
with pulses and cereals (wheat and barley)
formed part of the daily diet of the inhabitants of
Macedonia, who at this period were serving their
apprenticeship in the production of bronze tools,
used alongside stone implements. The pottery,
and especially the quality pottery, usually
monochrome, reveals relations with the Bronze
Age pottery of central Europe, neighboring
Epirus and Thessaly, and also with that of the
north-east Aegean. In time, it also acquired a
certain independence, despite the fact that in the
later centuries of this same period (Bronze Age),
it was to be influenced by the outstanding
achievements of the Mycenaean wheel.
Overworking of the land and the steady
increase in the density of the settlements, which
now show a preference for semi-mountainous
sites, suggest the evolution, with the passage of
time, of a certain hierarchy and a central
authority. The articulation of society is indicated
in a general way by the differentiation in burial
customs.
The transition to the following period, the Early
lron Age, though not yet clearly demarcated, is
distinguished by clear destruction levels or levels
indicating the abandonment of settlements. The
houses, with stone-built bases, now frequently
have wattle-and-daub walls. The dead were
generally buried in organized cemeteries with
earth tumuli covering groups of cist graves, simple
burials directly in the earth or in jars; this is one of
the hallmarks of the period, which is defined by the
appearance of protogeometric decorative
elements on the local pottery (Vergina, West
Macedonia), the lavish use of bronze objects,
mainly jewelry, the founding of settlements on
spacious sites, and the exploitation of iron
deposits for the construction of weapons.
Bounded to the south by a long chain of
mountain ranges -Ossa, Olympus and the Kambounian
Mountains, to the west by the Pindos
range, to the east by the river Strymon and then
the Nestos, and to the north by Orbelos, Menoikion,
Kerkine, Boras and Barnous, Macedonia was
cut off from the main body of Greece, on the
ramparts of Hellenism, and lived until the 6th century
by the teachings of the Homeric epic.
The state-form was unusual: in one sense a
federal state composed of autonomous Macedonian
tribes subject to the central authority (Orestai,
Elimeiotai, Lynkestai), yet also an ethnos with
a strong, though democratic monarchy, and a
society of farmers and stock-breeders capable
of defending their land against all foreign designs,
Macedonia evolved with the passage of
the centuries into a power of world-wide (for the
period) influence and prestige.
The country was self-sufficient in products to
meet basic needs (timber, cereals, game, fish,
livestock, minerals) and soon became the exclusive
supplier of other Greek states less blessed
by nature, though at the same time it came to be
the target of expansionist schemes dictated
largely by economic interests. A particularly
"introspective" land, with conservative customs and
way of life and a social structure and political
organization of a markedly archaic character,
speaking a distinctive form of the Doric dialect,
Macedonia took over the reigns of the Greek
spirit in the 4th century BC, when the city-state
was entering on its decline; revealing admirable
adaptability in the face of the demands of the
present and the achievements of the past, and
ingenuity and boldness when confronted with the
problems of the future, the country was quickly
transformed into a performer of new roles, open
ing up new roads towards the epoch of the
Hellenism of three continents.
For many centuries, Macedonia remained on the fringe of the Greek world. In the mountainous
regions of Macedonia, at least, the way of life will have consisted predominantly of transhumant
pasturage. Education will, at best, have been confined to aristocratic circles and those connected
with them. We do not, therefore, expect to find any written texts of a private nature from
the Archaic period. In the rest of the Greek world, writing is related to the structure and mechanisms
of the city-state, and is used mainly for the recording of justice in the broadest sense of the
word. Under a monarchical regime like that of Macedonia, however, and in a world of nomads,
we would hardly expect to find public documents.
At about the end of the 6th century BC, the changed socio-economic circumstances deriving from permanent settlement and the intensification of economic and cultural relations with the
rest of the Greek world led to the creation of the preconditions for the use of writing, mainly for the
purposes of diplomatic relations. The local dialect a member, as far as we can judge, of the group
known as the north-west Greek dialects, which included Phokian, the Lokrian dialects,
etc., had no written tradition, whether literary or other. Consequently, the rise of education and
culture was to the detriment of the Macedonian speech. Attic was selected as the language of
education, and the local dialect was "smothered" by the written language, the koine, and was never,
or hardly ever, written down, being restricted to oral communication between Macedonians.
From as early as the time of Alexander the Great, moreover, Macedonian lost ground to the koine
in this sphere too, if we are to believe the historical sources, and there is certainly no evidence
that it was spoken in the centuries after Christ. Only its memory was perpetuated through the
use of personal names until the 4th century AD
Although very little of the Macedonian tongue has survived, there is no doubt that it was a
Greek dialect. This is clear from a whole series of indications and linguistic phenomena by which
the koine of the region is "colored" which are not Attic but which can only have derived from a Greek dialect. For example: The vast majority of even the earliest names,
whether dynastic names or not, are Greek, formed from Greek roots and according to Greek
models: Hadista, Philista, Sostrata, Philotas, Perdikkas, Machatas and hundreds of others.
In general, the remnants of the Macedonian dialect that have come down to us have a completely
different character from Ionic. This circumstance is patent proof that there can be no question of
the ancient Macedonians having been Hellenised, as has been asserted (Karst), for such Hellenisation
could have been only by the Greek colonies on the Macedonian coast, in which the Ionian element
was predominant (Beloch).
The fact that Roman and Byzantine lexicographers and grammarians cited examples from
Macedonian in order to interpret particular features of the Homeric epics must mean that
Macedonian - or rather, what survived of Macedonian at the period in question - was a very
archaic dialect, and preserved features that had disappeared from the other Greek dialects;
it would be absurd to suggest that these scholars, in their commentaries on the Homeric poems,
might have compared them with a non-Greek language. The name given to the Macedonian
cavalry - hetairoi tou basileos - "the King's Companions" - is also indicative: this occurs only in
Homer, and was preserved in the historical period only amongst the Macedonians.
The anonymous compiler of the Etymologicum Magnum notes in the entry on Aphrodite,
probably adopting a comment by the earlier grammarian Didymos: "V is akin to F. This is clear
from the fact that the Macedonians call Philip "Vilip" and pronounce falakros [bald] "valakros"
the Phrygians "Vrygians" and the winds (fysitas) "vyktas". Homer refers to "vyktas anemous"
(blowing winds). Observations of this type abound.
Male and female names occur in Macedonian ending in -as and -a, where in Attic we have -es
and -e: Alketas, Amyntas, Hippotas, Glauka, Eurydika, Andromacha, and dozens more.
A feature bequeathed by Macedonian to the koine and also to Modern Greek is the genitive of
so-called first declension masculine nouns in -a: Kallia, Teleutia, Pausanea (the Attic ending was -ou).
The long alpha is retained in the middle of words (as in all dialects other than Ionic-Attic dialects):
Damostratos, Damon etc. and Iaos" rather than the "Ieos" of Ionic Attic, is used to
form compounds, occurring as both the first and the second element.
The koine of Macedonia, for all its conservatism and dialect coloring, follows a parallel path
to the koine of other regions, though not always at the same moment in time. Whatever the case,
all the changes that marked the Greek language in general and the north Greek dialects in
particular, can be followed in the inscriptions of Macedonia.
Perdikkas II, the first-born son of Alexander I, who ruled for forty years (454-412/13 BC), not
only had to face dynastic strife, but also had to be continuously on the alert to deal with the
problems created for him by the Thracian tribes and the Lynkestai and Elimeiotai on one hand, and on
the other by the doubtful outcome of the Peloponnesian War, which threw the Greek world into
turmoil in the 5th century BC, bringing Athenian and Spartan armies, at various times, into the
heart of Macedonia. Acting always according to the dictates of political advantage, Perdikkas II
proved himself a skillful diplomat and a wily leader, astute in his decisions and flexible in his alliances,
and set as the aim of his diplomacy the preservation of the territorial integrity of his kingdom.
The completion of the internal tasks that Perdikkas II was prevented from accomplishing by
the external situation fell to his successor, Archelaos I; he is credited by the ancient sources and
modern scholarship alike with great sagacity and with sweeping changes in state administration,
the army and commerce. During his reign, the defense of the country was organized, cultural and
artistic contacts with southern Greece were extended, and the foundations were laid of a road
network. A man of culture himself, the king entertained in his new palace at Pella, to where he had
transferred the capital from Aigai, poets and tragedians, and even the great Euripides, who
wrote his tragedies Archelaos and The Bacchae there; he invited brilliant painters - the name of
Zeuxis is mentioned - and at Dion in Pieria, the Olympia of Macedonia, he founded the "Olympia",
a religious festival with musical and athletic competitions in honor of Olympian Zeus and the
Muses. By 399 BC, the year in which he was murdered, Archelaos I had succeeded in converting Macedonia into one of the strongest Greek powers of his period.
In the forty years following the death of Archelaos I , Macedonia formed a field for all kinds
of conflict and realignments, and was the object of competition between kings who reigned for
very brief periods; the country was ravaged by the savage incursions of the Illyrians, captured
by the Chalkidians, and obliged to yield to the demands of the Athenians; despite all this,
however, it recovered to some degree with Amyntas III on the throne and, with the accession
of Philip II (359 BC), succeeded in regaining its self-belief and recovering its former strength.
This charismatic ruler, whose strategic genius and diplomatic ability transformed Macedonia
from an insignificant and marginal country into the most important power in the Aegean and
paved the way for the pan-Hellenic expedition of his son to the Orient, was an expansive
leader who had the breadth of vision to usher the ancient world into the epoch of the Hellenism
of three continents. During the course of his tempestuous life, he firmly established the power
of the central authority in the kingdom, reorganized the army into a flexible and amazingly
efficient unit, strengthened the weaker regions of his realm through movements of population,
and, abroad, made Macedonia incontestably superior to the institution of the city-state
which, at this precise period, was facing decline.
His unexpected death at the hands of an assassin in 336 BC, in the theater at Aigai on the
very day of the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra to Alexander, the young king of the Molos
sians, brought to an end a brilliant career, the final aim of which was to unify the Greeks in order
to exact vengeance on Persia for the invasion of 481-480 BC; Macedonia, in complete control of
affairs in the Balkan peninsula, was ready to assume its new role.
A fascinating sequence of political events with a highly favorable outcome and military
victories with world-wide repercussions, the resolution of a number of intractable problems of an
inter-state nature, and a series of inspired programs and visions implemented with great
success in a short space of time - these are the component elements in the panorama of the life
of the great general and civilizer Alexander III, who was justly called the Great and who has
passed into the pantheon of legend. And if his victories at Granikos (334 BC), Issos (333 BC),
Gaugamela (331 BC) and Alexandria Nikaia (326 BC) may be thought of as sons worthy of
their father, bringing about the overthrow of the mighty Persian empire and distant India, the
prosperous cities founded in his name as far as the ends of the known world were his daughters -
centers of the preservation and dissemination of Greek spirit and culture. From this world of dar
ing and passion, of questing and contradiction the robust Hellenism of Macedonia carried the
art of man to the ends of the inhabited world, bestowing poetry upon the mute and, in the
infancy of mankind, instilling philosophical thought. In the libraries that were now founded
from the Nile to the Indus, in the theaters that spread their wings under the skies of Baktria and
Sogdiana, in the Gymnasia and the Agoras Homer suckled as yet unborn civilizations,
Thucydides taught the rules of the science of history, and the great tragedians and Plato
transmitted the principle of restraint and morality to absolutist regimes. Alexander's contribution
to the history of the world is without doubt of the greatest importance: his period, severing the
"Gordian Knot" with the Greek past, opened new horizons whose example would inspire,
throughout the centuries that followed, all those leaders down to Napoleon himself who left their own mark on the course of mankind in both the East and the West.
Prehistoric period
Geometric and Archaic periods
Language
Classical period