Kingdom of macedonia

The Kingdom of Macedonia, also known as the Macedonian Empire (in ancient Greek, Μακεδονία; in modern Greek, Μακεδονία [αρχαίο βασίλειο]; in Latin, Macedonia antiqua), was a state of classical and Hellenistic antiquity, in the north of present-day Greece, bordered by the Kingdom of Epirus in the west and the region of Thrace in the east. This territory largely coincides with the contemporary Greek regions of the periphery of Western Macedonia and Central Macedonia.

This kingdom was consolidated during the V century BCE. C. and experienced a significant rise in power during the IV century BC. C. with the government of Filipo II, who turned Macedonia into the main power of Greece. His son Alexander the Great (Alexander III) conquered most of the known world, ushering in the Hellenistic Period of Greek history.

Macedonia is traditionally divided into two major regions, Upper and Lower Macedonia. It was a country of wheat and pasture, of villagers and horsemen, and with a small seacoast. Historians believe that its inhabitants were Greeks of the Doric dialect, like those of the region of Epirus, Rhodes and the Peloponnese, and that they spoke a Greek dialect very close to that of these regions.

Historical background

According to researchers and historians, it is very complex to know exactly the origin of these peoples settled in this geographical area. The ancients called them barbarians, using cultural criteria as on so many occasions. Its provenance is uncertain and highly complex. It is known that they were grouped into city-states and each one had its own king. The bulk of the population were shepherds who tended the cattle of the nobles. The latter were also great hunters and good warriors. The Greek historian Thucydides (c. 460 BC-400 BC) describes these settlers as a people who constituted a group of dispersed towns, in each of which a monarchy had been implanted and who developed an intense movement of masses. They fought and competed with each other, so the history of their consolidation is full of alliances and conflicts between the various groups and kings aspiring to hegemony. At some point in history, a legend was elaborated, according to which, the Macedonians come from a son of the god Zeus named Macedon. In this way, the great Alexander would be a descendant of the Aeacids and Heracles, fully Hellenic origins.

Archaeology also has its word on this Macedonian people. Royal tombs dating to the late VI century BCE have come to light. C., full of rich grave goods and valuable works of art from the Greek tradition. According to Thucydides, the home of the Macedonians would be the most mountainous area to the west of Upper Macedonia, Elimea, Orestide and Lyncestis, where they settled in the VIII a. c.

History

The Macedonians began to expand, beginning in 730 B.C. C., towards the coastal plains, perhaps due to the demographic pressure that affected the entire northern Balkans, exerted by the Cimmerians on the Thracians to the east, and by the Illyrians to the west. In their advance, they first occupied Pieria and gained an outlet to the sea through the Thermaic Gulf. They then advanced towards Ematia and displaced the Botieos. The conquest of the plain of Ematia turned part of the Macedonian ethnic group from herdsmen to farmers. There they founded their capital, Egas and, from the V century B.C. C., peel. Later they conquered the regions of Almopia and Eordea. Later they crossed the Axio and subdued the region between this river and the Estrimón (Migdonia) and the city of Antemunte, and the regions of Crestonia and Bisaltia. The expansion of the Macedonians had concluded by the end of the VI century BCE. C. and the kingdom emerged in the early V century BC. C. already fully constituted, although with an archaic and lax structure.

Macedonia had, then, a territory that almost doubled that of Thessaly, about 30,000 km² compared to 15,000; the population density was not very high and the number of inhabitants was not very high either. Part of the peoples conquered by the Macedonians were expelled or exterminated, but another part remained and assimilated with the Macedonians. The community of Macedonian peoples brought together all the territories that recognized the authority of the king. Macedonia was a kingdom with a very little centralized structure and was made up of two essential parts:

• on one side, the arché the king of Macedonia of the Argentinian dynasty, that is, the Lower Macedonia and the Migdonia, which were under the direct control of the sovereign.
• on the other hand, the peoples of the High Macedonia that kept each one their own king or dynasty, like the lynxes. Allied and subjected to the king, they were not part of their arche and the king did not exercise direct authority over them. When the royal authority was weak, the princes of Upper Macedonia tended to become practically independent monarchs, to develop their own and contrary policies to the Argentinians, and to establish bonds of solidarity with their ilirian neighbours west of Pindo.

The basic objectives of the king of Macedonia were to ensure, first of all, dynastic stability; secondly, to control the dependent dynasties of Upper Macedonia, and finally, to consolidate the borders of the kingdom against Illyrians, Thracians and Chalcidians and, to a lesser extent, Epirotes and Peonians.

During the century V a. C., the kings of Macedonia completed the conquest of Pieria with the city of Negotino, which had never been fully dominated and took control of the silver mines on Mount Disoro, north of Bisaltia, in the Estrimón, which yielded a daily talent

It was then that the legend linking the Macedonian kings with Heracles and Argos was created. Greek culture also spread with the presence of Herodotus and Hellanicus of Lesbos in Macedonia, participation in the Olympic Games, the link with the sanctuaries of Dion, Dodoni, Delphi, Olympia, etc.

Despite all the dynastic conflicts, the kings managed to control the separatist tendencies of Upper Macedonia (Lincestis), and maintain independence against barbarian threats (Persians, Illyrians), Athenian and Chalcidian desires, and Spartan pressures.

Philip II

Extension of the kingdom of Macedonia to the death of Philip.

City (date of occupation)
Macedonian garrison
Major battles Kingdom of Macedonia Dependent Territories Lands of the moles Tesalia Members of the Corinth League neutral States Persian Empire

When Philip II came to power, his drive to expand Macedonia and his military prowess soon led to great success. He immediately established the power of the Macedonian monarchy both within and without its borders. Inside, he finished off the suitors who saw him as a usurper and dominated the princes of the highlands (Lincestia (around Heracleia), Eilimia (in the valley of the Haliacmon river) and Orestida) (near Kastoriá). Abroad, he defeated a coalition of Paeonians and Illyrians in 358 BC. C., with which Philip expanded his domain inland to Lake Ocrida.

He then took advantage of the Social War (or War of the Allies) of 357-355 BC. C. to expand. In 357 B.C. C. seized the Athenian colony of Amphipolis, which controlled the gold mines on Mount Pangea, retaining it despite promises to return it to the Athenians. In the same year, Philip married Princess Olympia of Epirus, daughter of the King of molossia. In 356 B.C. C. he conquered Pydna and then Potidea, a city that he handed over to the Calcidic League against the interests of Athens. After defeating a new coalition of Thracians, Illyrians, and Paeonians, supported by Athens, Philip felt strong enough to put off his nephew, stop pretending, and proclaim himself King of Macedonia, under the name Philip II. .

The Empire

Extension of the Empire of Macedonia during the government of Alexander the Great, including route of conquest.

His son Alexander the Great continued the work. The Greek cities, led by Athens and Thebes, rose again against Macedonia, and Alexander resolutely gave proof of his military strength: he crossed Thessaly, subduing it (it had already been conquered by Philip), and defeated the Greeks, taking and destroying Thebes. Athens was thus forced to abide by his power. He had himself appointed Hegemon, a title that his father had already held and that placed him as governor of all Greece.

Consolidated the Macedonian hegemony in this way, Alexander set out to fulfill the last project of his father Philip II, to conquer the Persian Empire. And sure enough, Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, including Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Bactria, and Mesopotamia, and expanded the borders of his own empire into the Punjab region. Before his death, Alexander had made plans to conquer Arabia, as well as plans to turn west and conquer Europe. He also wanted to continue the march to the east to find the end of the world, since his childhood tutor, Aristotle, had told him stories about the place where the Earth ended and the Great Outer Sea began. Alexander integrated foreigners into his army and administration, which has been defined by some historians as a "fusion policy." He favored marriage between members of his army and foreigners, and practiced it himself. After twelve years of continuous military campaigns, Alexander died unexpectedly without having planned a succession plan and without any of his possible heirs having the ability to govern such a vast empire. His brother Arrideo was of poor mental faculties and weak spirit, his wife Roxana had not yet given birth to the possible heir. The same day that Alexander died, his soldiers and his generals met to discuss the succession, but nothing was achieved.

The generals of the Macedonian army, the so-called diádocos (διαδοχος) or successors or heirs, were powerful and ambitious and neither wanted to be subject to the other. They all wanted absolute power, so they decided to divide up the great empire; there were thirty-four in all; Five of them divided up the territories conquered by Alexander, which became small kingdoms and never stopped fighting among themselves. Alexander is known to have said on one occasion: "My generals will give me bloody funerals."

The protagonists of the early days were the commanders Perdiccas and Meleager, with their intrigues and maneuvers. Also the great general Antigonus, Antipater (or Antipater) the last remaining general from the time of Philip II, and later the sons of both Demetrius and Cassander.

Decay

For the next twenty years there was nothing but fighting between them. At first they were content to call themselves governors, this was pending the coming of age of Alexander's son, but already in 306 BC. C. took the title of king. The empire was divided as follows:

• Asia Minor for Antigone Monoftalmos. He was the one who had more power and more land extension.
• Egypt for Ptolemy, whose dynasty was the most stable of all.
• Trace for Lisica.
• Babylon and Syria for Seleuco.
• Greece, and Macedonia for Antipater.

Antigone claimed from the beginning to be the only one and dreamed of the great unity of Alexander's empire. But the generals Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Seleucus did not allow it and declared war on him. Antigonus was defeated and killed in the Battle of Ipso (in Phrygia, central Asia Minor) in 301 BC. c.

After the old generals, the so-called epigones (επιγονος) ruled, those born after or successors. The struggle between them to obtain power and hegemony lasted almost fifty years, until 281 BC. C. in which the last of the diadocos, Seleucus, died.

In the year 281 B.C. C. the great empire was divided into three great states:

• Macedonia (Ancient Dynasty).
• Asia (Seleucid Dynasty).
• Egypt (Ptolemaic Dynasty).

The Macedonian Wars

Macedonia during the reign of Philip V.

At the end of the III century a. C., Macedonia was still the great dominant power in the Eastern Mediterranean. His army, a direct descendant of that of Alexander the Great, was still feared, as was his fighting style, which emphasized combined arms but placed much more responsibility on phalanx power than Alexander ever did (or ever did). While other nations like Rome preferred mobility and flexibility, the Macedonian phalanx was characterized as the most rigid of military formations.

First Macedonian War

The First Macedonian War was the first of three military conflicts pitting the Kingdom of Macedonia against the Roman Republic. The war was fought between 214 B.C. C. and 205 a. C., and began as a result of the rapprochement between Philip V of Macedonia and Hannibal; so much so that he was close to taking part in the second Punic war in support of Carthage.

Second Macedonian War

In the year 200 B.C. C., Rome being already the dominant power in Italy and the Western Mediterranean, Rhodes and Pergamum asked for help against the continuous Macedonian aggressions in the Dardanelles and Egypt. Rome's attention turned to the Aegean and its ancient feuds with Philip V of Macedon.

Rome demanded Macedonia's complete withdrawal from Greece. Filipo agreed in part, but wanted to maintain control over the cities of Demetrius I of Macedonia, in Thessaly; Chalcis, in Euboea; and Corinth, in Achaia; whom the king knew as "Shackles of Greece".

A Greek delegation was sent to Rome, to give the Senate a lesson in Hellenic geography. Negotiations ended in an impasse. However, as a result, the senate sent the consul Titus Quintius Flamininus, commanding two legions plus 6,000 infantry and 300 allied horsemen, to expel Philip from Greece. The second Macedonian war began.

After a series of battles throughout the Greek territory, the armies of Philip and Flamininus met at the Battle of Cynoscephalus (197 BC). The Macedonian king was defeated, having to sign a peace treaty whereby he abandoned his claims to Greece. At the same time, a second Macedonian army was defeated by Attalus I, King of Pergamum, in Asia Minor.

Third Macedonian War

The Third Macedonian War (171 BC-168 BC) was a contest between Rome and King Perseus of Macedonia.

Institutions

Filipo V of Macedonia.

The head of government in Macedonia was the king (Basileos). Before the reign of Philip II, the only existing institution was the monarchy. At least since the reign of Philip II, the king was assisted by royal pages ("basilikoi paides"), bodyguards (somatophylakes), companions (hetairoi), friends (&# 34;philoi"), an assembly that included members of the army and magistrates (during the Hellenistic period). Evidence is lacking as to the extent to which each of these groups shared authority with the king or whether their existence had a basis in a formal constitutional framework.

The Royal Court

The first known government of ancient Macedonia was that of its monarchy, which lasted until 167 B.C. C., when it was abolished by the Roman Republic. The Macedonian hereditary monarchy existed at least since the time of Archaic Greece, with aristocratic roots in the Mycenaean civilization. Thucydides wrote that in earlier times Macedonia was divided into small tribal regions, each with its own minor king. The tribes of Lower Macedonia eventually united under the leadership of a great king who exercised his power over the lesser kings of Upper Macedonia. The direct line of succession from father to son was broken with the assassination of Orestes of Macedon in 396 BC. C. (supposedly by the regent and successor of him Aéropo II of Macedonia), clouding the question of whether the primogeniture was the established custom or if there was a constitutional right for an assembly of the people or the army to choose another king. It is not clear if the male children of the Macedonian queens or consorts had preference over the others, due to the accession to the throne of Archelaus I of Macedonia; son of Perdiccas II of Macedonia with a slave woman. Although apparently Archelaus' access to the throne occurred after assassinating the natural heir designated by his father.

Customs

The adolescents had an initiation obligation which was to kill a wild boar. He who had not done so did not deserve to sit with others at banquets. In these feasts the most natural thing was to get drunk and in most cases fights were started. When, whatever the circumstances, an adolescent had not yet killed an enemy, he had the obligation to wear a rope tied to his body.

Regions

Map of the Kingdom of Macedonia.

In the V century a. C., the kingdom was divided into three large regions:

• La High Macedonia or Macedonide, which spread east of Mount Pindo, from Lake Ocrida, to the fountains of the River Haliacmon. It included a series of "districts" that identified with certain ethne:
  • La Elimea, in the southeast, in the loop of the river Haliacmón and the confines of the Perrebea (inhabited by perecos weblios).
  • Oréstide, in the west, towards the birth of the Haliacmon and the south of Lake Ocrida, bordering the iliries.
  • The Eordea, which spread north of the Haliacmon to Lake Vegorítida.
  • La Lincéstide or Lincestis, which was located northwest of Lake Ocrida and bordering the north with Peonia.
• La Lower Macedonia it spread from the southern slopes of the Olympus to the Axio River. It was the richest and most urbanized area and constituted the true heart of the kingdom. Lower Macedonia included:
  • Pieria, who understood the area from the south of the Haliacmon, on the coast, to Tesalia.
  • The plain of Ematia.
  • Botiea (or Botia), located south of Ematia, reached the Gulf of Termaico.
• Migdonia was a region that occupied the territory between Axio and Estrimon.

King List