The Macedonians () were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Essentially an ancient Greek people,; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . they established the kingdom of Macedon ruled from Aigai by the Argeads, and gradually expanded from their homeland along the Haliacmon valley on the northern edge of the Greek world, absorbing or driving out neighbouring non-Greek tribes, primarily Thracian and Illyrian.; . They spoke Ancient Macedonian, which is usually classified as a dialect of Northwest Greek, and occasionally as a dialect of Aeolic Greek or as a distinct Hellenic language (i.e. a sister language of Greek). However, the prestige language of Macedon during the Classical era was Attic Greek, replaced by Koine Greek during the Hellenistic era. Their religious beliefs mirrored those of other Greeks, following the main deities of the Greek pantheon, although the Macedonians continued Archaic burial practices that had ceased in other parts of Greece after the 6th century BC. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility. Similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle.
Although composed of various clans, the kingdom of Macedon, established around the 7th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argead dynasty and the tribe named after it. The dynasty, also known as the Temenid dynasty, was allegedly founded by Perdiccas I, descendant of the legendary Temenus of Argos. Traditionally ruled by independent families, the Macedonians seem to have accepted Argead rule by the time of Alexander I (). Under Philip II () ruling from Pella, the Macedonians are credited with numerous military innovations, which enlarged their territory and increased their control over other areas extending into Thrace. This consolidation of territory allowed for the exploits of Alexander the Great (), the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, the establishment of the diadochi successor states, and the inauguration of the Hellenistic period in West Asia, Greece, and the broader Mediterranean world. The Macedonians were eventually conquered by the Roman Republic, which dismantled the Macedonian monarchy at the end of the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC) and established the Roman province of Macedonia after the Fourth Macedonian War (150–148 BC).
Authors, historians, and statesmen of the ancient world often expressed ambiguous if not conflicting ideas about the ethnic identity of the Macedonians as either Greeks, semi-Greeks, or even barbarians. This has led to some debate among modern academics about the precise ethnic identity of the Macedonians, who nevertheless embraced many aspects of contemporaneous Greek culture such as participation in Greek religious cults and athletic games, including the exclusive Ancient Olympic Games. Given the scant linguistic evidence, such as the Pella curse tablet, ancient Macedonian is regarded by most scholars as another Greek dialect related to Northwest Greek. The ancient Macedonians participated in the production and fostering of Classical and later Hellenistic art. In terms of visual arts, they produced frescoes, mosaics, sculptures, and decorative metalwork. The performing arts of music and Greek theatrical dramas were highly appreciated, while famous playwrights such as Euripides came to live in Macedonia. The kingdom also attracted the presence of renowned philosophers, such as Aristotle, while native Macedonians contributed to the field of ancient Greek literature, especially Greek historiography. Their sport and leisure activities included hunting, foot races, and chariot races, as well as feasting and drinking at aristocratic banquets known as symposia.
Etymology The ethnonym Μακεδόνες (Makedónes) stems from the Ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός (makednós), meaning "tall, slim", also the name of a people related to the Dorians (Herodotus). It is most likely cognate with the adjective μακρός (makrós), meaning "long" or "tall" in Ancient Greek. The name is believed to have originally meant either "highlanders", "the tall ones", or "high grown men".; ; Eugene N. Borza writes that the "highlanders" or "Makedones" of the mountainous regions of western Macedonia are derived from northwest Greek stock; they were akin to those who at an earlier time may have migrated south to become the historical "Dorians". According to Robert Beekes, the Greek word μακεδνός (makednós) cannot be analyzed as an original Indo-European word, and belongs to the pre-Greek substrate.
History
Historical overview
The expansion of the Macedonian kingdom has been described as a three-stage process. As a frontier kingdom on the border of the Greek world with barbarian Europe, the Macedonians first subjugated their immediate northern neighbours various Paeonian, Illyrian and Thracian tribes before turning against the states of southern and central Greece. Macedonia then led a pan-Hellenic military force against their primary objectivethe conquest of Persiawhich they achieved with remarkable ease..... Following the death of Alexander the Great and the Partition of Babylon in 323 BC, the diadochi successor states such as the Attalid, Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires were established, ushering in the Hellenistic period of Greece, West Asia and the Hellenized Mediterranean Basin.; ; ; for a discussion about the Hellenistic period in both the Eastern and Western Mediterranean regions in antiquity, see . With Alexander's conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, Macedonians colonized territories as far east as Central Asia..
The Macedonians continued to rule much of Hellenistic Greece (323–146 BC), forming alliances with Greek leagues such as the Cretan League and Epirote League (and prior to this, the Kingdom of Epirus).; ; . However, they often fell into conflict with the Achaean League, Aetolian League, the city-state of Sparta, and the Ptolemaic dynasty of Hellenistic Egypt that intervened in wars of the Aegean region and mainland Greece.; ; After Macedonia formed an alliance with Hannibal of Ancient Carthage in 215 BC, the rival Roman Republic responded by fighting a series of wars against Macedonia in conjunction with its Greek allies such as Pergamon and Rhodes.; ; ; . In the aftermath of the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC), the Romans abolished the Macedonian monarchy under Perseus of Macedon () and replaced the kingdom with four client state republics.; ; ; . A brief revival of the monarchy by the pretender Andriscus led to the Fourth Macedonian War (150–148 BC), after which Rome established the Roman province of Macedonia and subjugated the Macedonians.; ; .
Prehistoric homeland
In Greek mythology, Makedon is the eponymous hero of Macedonia and is mentioned in Hesiod's Catalogue of Women. The first historical attestation of the Macedonians occurs in the works of Herodotus during the mid-5th century BC. . The Macedonians are absent in Homer's Catalogue of Ships and the term "Macedonia" itself appears late. The Iliad states that upon leaving Mount Olympus, Hera journeyed via Pieria and Emathia before reaching Athos.Homer. Iliad, 14.226. This is re-iterated by Strabo in his Geography.Strabo. Geography, Book 7 (Fragment 2. Nevertheless, archaeological evidence indicates that Mycenaean contact with or penetration into the Macedonian interior possibly started from the early 14th century BC...
In his A History of Macedonia, Nicholas Hammond reconstructed the earliest phases of Macedonian history based on his interpretation of later literary accounts and archaeological excavations in the region of Macedonia.; . According to Hammond, the Macedonians are missing from early Macedonian historical accounts because they had been living in the Orestian highlands since before the Greek Dark Ages, possibly having originated from the same (proto-Greek) population pool that produced other Greek peoples.. The Macedonian tribes subsequently moved down from Orestis in the upper Haliacmon to the Pierian highlands in the lower Haliacmon because of pressure from the Molossians, a related tribe who had migrated to Orestis from Pelagonia.On pages 433–434 of "The Position of the Macedonian Dialect", A. Panayotou describes the geographical delimitations of ancient Macedon as encompassing the region from Mount Pindus to the Nestos River, and from Thessaly to Paeonia (the area occupied by the kingdom of Philip II, which preceded the much larger Roman province of the same name). In their new Pierian home north of Olympus, the Macedonian tribes mingled with the proto-Dorians. This might account for traditions which placed the eponymous founder, Makedon, near Pieria and Olympus.Hesiod. Catalogue of Women, fragment 7 Most. Some traditions placed the Dorian homeland in the Pindus mountain range in western Thessaly, whilst Herodotus pushed this further north to the Macedonian Pindus and claimed that the Greeks were referred to as Makednon ethnos () and then as Doric ethnos when they moved further south.Herodotus. Histories, 1.56.3 : "For these were the most eminent races in ancient time, the second being a Pelasgian and the first a Hellenic race: and the one never migrated from its place in any direction, while the other was very exceedingly given to wanderings; for in the reign of Deucalion this [Hellenic] race dwelt in Pthiotis, and in the time of Doros the son of Hellen in the land lying below Ossa and Olympos, which is called Histiaiotis; and when it was driven from Histiaiotis by the sons of Cadmos, it dwelt in Pindos and was called Makedonian; and thence it moved afterwards to Dryopis, and from Dryopis it came finally to Peloponnesus, and began to be called Dorian"., 8.43.1; .This was but one of several traditions regarding the "Dorian homeland" variously placing it in Phthiotis, Dryopis, Erineos, etc. For the formation of Dorian ethnicity, and its traditions, see chapters 3 and 4 of Johnathan Hall's Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity. A different, southern homeland theory also exists in traditional historiography. Arnold J. Toynbee asserted that the Makedones migrated north to Macedonia from central Greece, placing the Dorian homeland in Phthiotis and citing the traditions of fraternity between Makedon and Magnes..
Temenids and Argeads