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[[File:ExpansionOfMacedon.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The expansion of ancient Macedon up to the death of Phillip II]]
[[File:ExpansionOfMacedon.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The expansion of ancient Macedon up to the death of Phillip II]]


The '''Macedonians''' ({{lang-el|Μακεδόνες}}, ''Makedónes'') were a nation of [[classical antiquity]] inhabiting the alluvial plain around the rivers [[Haliacmon]] and lower [[Vardar|Axius]] in the northeastern part of the [[Greek peninsula]]. Although they comprised numerous tribes, the [[kingdom of Macedon]], established by the 8th or 7th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argeads, both the name of the [[Argead dynasty|ruling dynasty]] and a Macedonian tribe. Traditionally ruled by independent families, the Macedonians seem to have accepted Argead rule by the time of [[Alexander I]]. Under [[Philip II]] they are credited with numerous military innovations which led to the exploits of [[Alexander the Great]], the establishment of numerous Macedonian kingdoms and the inauguration of the [[Hellenistic civilization]]. The exact nature of their language is not known but it is accepted that by the late 4th century BC they had fully adopted the [[Koine Greek]] <ref>Trudgill, Peter. ''Sociolinguistic Variation and Change''. Edinburgh University Press, 2002, ISBN 0748615156, p. 125.</ref>.
The '''Macedonians''' ({{lang-el|Μακεδόνες}}, ''Makedónes'') were a nation of [[classical antiquity]] inhabiting the alluvial plain around the rivers [[Haliacmon]] and lower [[Vardar|Axius]] in the northeastern part of the [[Greek peninsula]]. Although they comprised numerous tribes, the [[kingdom of Macedon]], established by the 8th or 7th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argeads, both the name of the [[Argead dynasty|ruling dynasty]] and a Macedonian tribe. Traditionally ruled by independent families, the Macedonians seem to have accepted Argead rule by the time of [[Alexander I]]. Under [[Philip II]] they are credited with numerous military innovations which led to the exploits of [[Alexander the Great]], the establishment of numerous Macedonian kingdoms and the inauguration of the [[Hellenistic civilization]]. Though their linguistic and ethnic affiliation, whether [[Greek]] or otherwise, is not definitively known, it is accepted that by the late 4th century BC they had fully adopted the [[Koine Greek]] and integrated into the Greek world.<ref>Trudgill, Peter. ''Sociolinguistic Variation and Change''. Edinburgh University Press, 2002, ISBN 0748615156, p. 125.</ref>.


==Origins==
==Origins==

Revision as of 18:16, 16 July 2010

The expansion of ancient Macedon up to the death of Phillip II

The Macedonians (Greek: Μακεδόνες, Makedónes) were a nation of classical antiquity inhabiting the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axius in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula. Although they comprised numerous tribes, the kingdom of Macedon, established by the 8th or 7th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argeads, both the name of the ruling dynasty and a Macedonian tribe. Traditionally ruled by independent families, the Macedonians seem to have accepted Argead rule by the time of Alexander I. Under Philip II they are credited with numerous military innovations which led to the exploits of Alexander the Great, the establishment of numerous Macedonian kingdoms and the inauguration of the Hellenistic civilization. Though their linguistic and ethnic affiliation, whether Greek or otherwise, is not definitively known, it is accepted that by the late 4th century BC they had fully adopted the Koine Greek and integrated into the Greek world.[1].

Origins

Ancient sources

In Greek mythology, Makednos was the mythical progenitor and eponymous ancestor of the Macedonians. According to Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, Makednos was the son of Zeus and Thyia, the daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and brother of Magnes.[2] On the other hand, Hellanicus of Lesbos' later genealogy lists Makednos as the son of Aeolus, the founder of the Aeolian tribe, and thus a grandson of Hellen, the mythological patriarch of the Hellenes.[3]

Herodotus, in his work Histories, talks about the origin of the Macedonian royal house, the Argead dynasty, from the city of Argos, in the Peloponnese, and the lineage of Temenus, a descendant of Heracles, thus they were also known as Temenids.[4] He also writes that the Macedonians were a Greek tribe from which the Dorians originated;[5][6] in another part, Alexander I is presented to name himself the Greek viceroy of Macedonia while speaking to the Persians.[7]

Pausanias, in his work Description of Greece, states that the Macedonians took part in the Amphictyonic League, which was an association of ancient Greek tribes formed to protect a specific temple or sacred place. In 356 BC, when Phocians captured and sacked Delphi and a sacred war was declared against them, they were expelled from the league and their two votes were given to Macedonians who had helped to defeat them.[8]

Polybius, in his work The Histories, describes the treaty made between Hannibal and Philip V of Macedon, clearly stating that Macedonia was a part of what he perceived as Greece and that Macedonians were Greeks.[9] He also includes in his work the speech of Lyciscus the Acarnanian who, addressing to Cleonicus and Chlaeneas, the Aetolian envoys at the assembly of Sparta, refers to the racial kinship between Aetolians, Achaeans and Macedonians.[10]

Participation in panhellenic events

A passage in book five of Herodotus' Histories concerns the exclusion of Macedonians from panhellenic events such as the ancient Olympic Games,[11] where only Greeks were allowed to participate. In 504 or 500 BC, the Macedonian king Alexander I attempted to participate in the Olympic Games but was met with resistance by some competitors, who regarded him as non-Greek. According to Herodotus, Alexander argued that his family was of Greek Argive descent and the Hellanodikai (literally judges of the Greeks) validated his claim to enable participation of Macedonians in Olympic events. Other kings of Macedonia such as Archelaus I and Philip II, as well as commoners, also took part in the Games.[12]

Additionally, a 5th century BC inscription found in royal tomb at Vergina shows evidence that Macedonian kings competed in Argive Heraean games.[13] Amyntas III in 371 BC took also part in a Panhellenic congress, concerning Amphipolis. From the age of Perdiccas III 365 BC onwards, who served as Theorodokos, participation of Macedonian athletes in Panhellenic Games and festivals became common.

Atticisation in the 5th to 4th centuries

Macedon was heavily Atticised from the time of Alexander the Great. Moreover, there are indications that there were pan-Hellenic influences in the Macedonian kingdom as early as the 5th century BC. King Archelaus established the new capital at Pella, a festival in honor of Zeus at Dion, a city right next to Mt. Olympus, and welcomed southern Greek intellectuals into the kingdom. Athenian playwrights such as Euripides and Agathon and the famous painter Zeuxis all were influential in the early kingdom. Euripides wrote his last two tragedies at Archelaus' court.[14]

Modern discussions

In 19th century scholarship, some scholars argued that the Macedonians possibly had an Illyrian or Thracian rather than a Greek origin. Professor William Mitchell Ramsay considered the Macedonians as a tribe of Thrace, the land north-east of Greece, akin to the Thracians. George Rawlinson, stated that the Macedonians were a mixed race, not Paionians, Illyrians or Thracians, but of the three, closest with the Illyrians. Various "mixed" scenarios (e.g. Greco-Illyrian) have also been proposed.[15][16]

Following the archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, numerous modern scholars now advocate that the ancient Macedonians were of Greek origin which to this day remains the most common consensus.[17] Systematic excavations at Aiani since 1983 have brought to light finds that attest the existence of an organised city from the 2nd millennium BC to 100 BC. The excavations have unearthed the oldest pieces of black-and-white pottery, characteristic of the tribes of northwest Greece, discovered so far.[18][19] Found with Μycenaean sherds, they can be dated with certainty to the 14th century BC.[18][19] The findings also include some of the oldest samples of writing in Macedonia, among them inscriptions bearing Greek names like Θέμιδα (Themida). The inscriptions demonstrate that the society of Upper Macedonia spoke and wrote Greek before the 5th century BC.[18] Other scholars, such as Nicholas Hammond, argue that the language of the ancient Macedonians was a pure but specific form of Greek until 4th century BC when it was eventually amalgamated with common Greek.[20]

Geographic location

Regarding the Macedonians' geographic origins, one theory suggests that they occupied the mountainous area of Orestis, near present-day Kastoria, and the valley of the Haliacmon river, in the first millennium BC.[21] From 8th century BC or early 7th century BC, Macedonians expanding eastward subjugated and expelled the earlier Illyrian, Thracian and Paeonian populations, as well Greek settlers, or mingled with them.[22][23]

Language

Main article: Ancient Macedonian language
The Pella curse tablet (Greek katadesmos): from Prof. Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Bryn Mawr College.

Due to the fragmentary attestation various interpretations are possible about the ancient Macedonian language. The Attic Greek was standardized as the language of the court, formal discourse and diplomacy from at least the time of Archelaus at the end of the 5th century BC.[24] The tongue of the area's inhabitants, prior to the 5th century BC, is attested in some hundred words from various glosses, mainly those of Hesychius of Alexandria, as well as placenames, personal names and local inscriptions.

The sample of original Macedonian words has been proved insufficient so far to show what the Macedonian language was. The majority of the words are Greek, several inscriptions have revealed some tendencies toward Doric Greek and Aeolic Greek; on the other hand, there can be found some Illyrian and Thracian elements.[25] The Pella curse tablet, which was found in 1986 at Pella and dates to the mid-4th century BC or slightly earlier,[26] is believed to be the only attested text in Macedonian. The language of the tablet is harsh but a distinctly recognizable form of a Northwest Greek idiom of Doric: the tablet, therefore, has been used to support the argument that ancient Macedonian was a Doric dialect.

See also

References

  1. ^ Trudgill, Peter. Sociolinguistic Variation and Change. Edinburgh University Press, 2002, ISBN 0748615156, p. 125.
  2. ^ "Hesiod, Catalogues of Women". Theoi Greek Mythology. Retrieved 2009-07-25. The district Macedonia took its name from Macedon the son of Zeus and Thyia, Deucalion's daughter, as Hesiod says: `And she conceived and bare to Zeus who delights in the thunderbolt two sons, Magnes and Macedon, rejoicing in horses, who dwell round about Pieria and Olympus (lacuna)... And Magnes again (begot) Dictys and godlike Polydectes.'
  3. ^ M. Hall, Jonathan (2002). Hellenicity: Between Ethnicity and Culture. The University of Chicago Press. p. 165.
  4. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 8.137
  5. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 1.56.3.
  6. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 8.43.1.
  7. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 5.20.4
  8. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10.8.2 & 10.8.4
  9. ^ Polybius, The Histories, 7.9
  10. ^ Polybius, The Histories, 9.37.2
  11. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 5.22
  12. ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 5.8.11.
  13. ^ Hornblower, Simon. Thucydides and Pindar: Historical Narrative and the World of Epinikian Poetry. Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0199298289, p. 13.
  14. ^ The Iphigenia Cycle
  15. ^ Dunstan, William E. Ancient Greece. Wadsworth Pub. Co., 2000, ISBN 0155073834.
  16. ^ Green, Peter. Alexander of Macedon 356-323 BC: A Historical Biography. University of California Press, 1992, ISBN 0520071662.
  17. ^ Victor Ehrenberg, The Greek State, Methuen, (July 2000); Malcolm Errington, A History of Macedonia, University of California Press, February 1993; John V.A. Fine, The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History, Harvard University Press, 1983; Jonathan M. Hall, Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 1998; N G L Hammond, A History of Greece to 323 BC, Cambridge University, 1986; Archer Jones, The Art of War in Western World (University of Illinois Press, 2000); Robin Osborne, Greek History, Routledge, 2004; Jacques Pirenne, The Tides of History Vol. 1, E. P. Dutton, 1962; Michael M. Sage, Warfare in Ancient Greece, Routledge; Chester G. Starr, A History of the Ancient World, Oxford University Press, 1991; Hilding Thylander, Den Grekiska världen, (Svenska humanistiska förbundet, 1985); Arnold J. Toynbee, The Greeks and Their Heritages, Oxford University Press, 1981.
  18. ^ a b c "Encyclopedia Britannica - Hellenism in Macedonia".
  19. ^ a b Karamitrou-Mentessidi, Georgia. "The Late Bronze Age in Aiani". 16 March 2007. Aegeo-Balkan Prehistory.
  20. ^ Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Guy Thompson Griffith, and Frank William Walbank. A History of Macedonia: Volume II: 550-336 B.C. Clarendon Press, 1979, ISBN 0198148143.
  21. ^ Dunstan, William E. Ancient Greece. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2000, ISBN 0155073834.
  22. ^ Fine, John V.A. The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History. Harvard University Press, 1983, ISBN 0674033116.
  23. ^ Hammond, Nicholas. A History of Greece to 323 BC. Cambridge University, 1986.
  24. ^ Borza 1992, p. 92
  25. ^ Borza 1992, p. 93
  26. ^ "New Greek Curse Tablets (1985–2000)" (PDF). Duke University. Retrieved 2009-07-27.

Bibliography

External links

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