43: The Greek Periphery, Macedon

Many tribes existed throughout the Balkan region in the Neolithic to the Bronze Age where we would see defined cultures develop with the onset of the Iron Age. We hear origin stories and hints at the early Macedonians in Myth through Homer and Hesiod. We even get through Herodotus, the hint of a tribe called the Makednoi during the Bronze Age in the mountains north of Greece.

The culture of the Macedonians that emerge in the Archaic Age and into the Classical Age, would seem to be the result of many migrations that had been filtering south into Greek lands as well as other locations. These migrations would be seen to have peoples with Indo-European roots consistently moving through much of the Balkans through many generations, help spread a common root language and ideas.

It wouldn’t be until Herodotus that we start to hear about the origins of the Macedonian dynasty, the Argead, develop. Although this was some 250 years after the foundation of the kingdom of Macedon, it appears to be the official account coming from the Macedonia court. This traditional telling would see the Argeads being descendants of Heracles and coming from the city of Argos down on the Peloponnese.

The kingdom established, rule in Macedon appears to be somewhat stable with dates of the various kings being very respectable lengths. During these generations the territory of the Macedonians would expand out of the Pierian Mountains, north of Mount Olympus. By the opening of the Greek and Persian Wars and under the 7th King Alexander I, they would control lands along the coast of the Pierian Mountains, the coastal plains around the Thermaic Gulf and north across the Haliacmon River. 

Transcript

Episode 43

The Greek Periphery, Macedon

Quote:

“the Dorians have wandered often and far. For in the days of king Deucalion, it inhabited the land of Phthia, then the country called Histiaean, under Ossa and Olympus, in the time of Dorus son of Hellen; driven from this Histiaean country by the Cadmeans, it settled about Pindus in the territory called Macedonian; from there again it migrated to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into the Peloponnese, where it took the name of Dorian.”[1]

Herodotus

Hello, I’m Mark Selleck and welcome back to Casting Through Ancient Greece, Episode 43, The Greek Periphery, Macedon.

Introduction:

Well, we have now covered two of our destinations in this look at the Greek periphery. Firstly, we headed west and looked at the island of Sicily that would become to be called Magna Garcia, along with southern Italy by the Romans because of the number of Greek colonies that would dot their lands. We began by looking at the early history of the island and the indigenous cultures that had occupied it. We then moved onto the period that would see Sicily enter into the Greek periphery with the establishment of trade networks then leading to Greek colonies being founded. This saw a complex network of interactions take place in the region with the Greeks, indigenous Sicilians, and another foreign culture, the Phoenicians, who were also present on the island. Political developments in the Greek colonies would mirror those that were taking place on the Greek mainland, with conflicts on the island also becoming more frequent as more colonies were funded and expansionism was taking place. Competing interests between the Greeks and Carthage, originally a Phoenician colony, would come to a head where we had then focused on the breakout of the First Sicilian War which brought us up to period at the end of the Greek and Persian War.

Next, we turned our attention to the lands north east of central Greece where various Neolithic cultural groups would be identified. Here, one of these groups would be seen to have been the ancestors of the peoples that would be coined the Thracians by the Greeks. This collection of tribes would be the result of Neolithic cultural groups interactions with various Indo-European migrations that would take place over millennia. Appearing out of the Bronze Age and its collapse would be the Thracians that we see referred to be the many Greeks and Roman writers. We had turned our focus on Thracian history in the 6th and early 5th centuries BC, where we first tried to get an understanding of the Thracians at war. We found that any detailed account of their military actions in this time were near to non-existent, but we were able to draw out an idea from later sources which looked back to their traditions. We then looked at the Thracians as their lands became increasingly apart of the Greek periphery with many Greek colonies being established along their coast lines. Finally, we then turned to Thracian territory becoming a crossroads for the Persians on campaign, where they would control parts of Thrace while mounting campaigns north against Scythia. Then Persia would launch its invasions of Greece seeing Thracian territory under its tightest control form Persia yet. Though, as we saw, with Persian defeat Thrace would become a very inhospitable land for the retreating Persian forces.

Now, we will be looking at lands in roughly the same area, north of central Greece, but to the west of Thracian lands, though these territories would overlap at times. This would be the region that would become to be known as Macedon. When bringing up the subject of Ancient Macedon, one’s mind probably turns immediately to Alexander the Great and perhaps to a lesser degree his father Philip II. These two figures were at a time where Macedon had developed as a powerful kingdom, subjugating the Greek city states, before then under Alexander the Great, caving out the largest empire yet seen as he campaigned east through Persia. Though, this more well-known period of Macedonian history would be some hundred and fifty years in the future of where we will be taking our look of Macedonian lands up to. We will begin by looking at the prehistory of the region and what appears to have been taking place, where then looking to see if we can get an understanding of how the peoples identified as being the later Macedonians would develop. We will look at the society of Macedon and its structures, before we then look at their interaction with the wider Greek world. And just a note, there are a lot of references to ancient place names that we have not yet come across and some hazy accounts to try and follow along with. So, on the episode page on the website I have put up a number of maps that will hopefully make following along where these places were, a little easier.

Location and Geography:

Once again, as with the Thracians, we are looking at a people that didn’t have a hard and fast boarder to their territory. In their early history we are dealing with various tribes that a Macedonian title couldn’t even be given to. As they would begin to organise around a more stable system of government in the archaic age then we can start to see a clearer territory be established. Though, the boarders of even these lands would blur with other cultures that neighboured theirs. 

We can still get a general idea of the lands they would occupy though, as they have been seen to develop in a central region. The lands of Macedon would occupy parts of the western and central Balkan region, just north of Greece and south of continental Europe. These territories would also see a land link to the various seas in the region, the Aegean, Adriatic and Black, making the lands a cultural crossroads. The modern nation of Macedonia would occupy a core central part of the lands from ancient times. The lands of Macedonia would have a wide range of Geographical features that would shape the people and their ways of life. The rugged nature of the territory would be made up of high mountains, valleys and forests, with various rivers and passes making their way through these features. Though down towards the coastal regions open plains would also add to the features of this seemingly wild lands, which would encourage contact with other neighbouring cultures. These coastal plains would be seen as ideal locations to engage in trade, but would also see outsiders look to found their own colonies and even contest Macedonian tribes for control of some. Though what motivated these outside peoples to focus on these locations was the natural resources that Macedonian territory abounded with, such as copper, gold and wood from its dense forested regions.

So, with that basic understanding of what the lands of Macedon looked like let’s see if we can drill down to try and get a generalised idea of the rough boundaries that would encompass these lands. For the ancient Greeks Mount Olympus would define a natural boarder between the lands of the most northern region connected to central Greece, that of Thessaly, and that of the southern parts of Macedonian territory. The pass at Tempe, that we saw the Greeks initially attempt to defend before Xerxes invasion, would be one point that would see the two lands connected through. [2] One of the major rivers running through Macedonian territory would be the Strymon and east of these would be another series of mountain ranges, the Rhodop mountains that would see another natural boundary with Thracian lands. To the west and north would be more mountain ranges running through the central Balkans that would define the west and north of their territory, though the lands that were bordered here were also with tribal cultures, so this would have seen these parts very fluid when it came to boundaries.

Hopefully this gives a rough idea of the lands that we will be focusing on, but we just need to keep in mind over the period we will be focusing on, the Neolithic through to the Archaic periods, these boundaries would fluctuate somewhat. Though, what we have outlined gives us a rough view of the territory that the Argead Monarchy of Macedon would control around the beginning of the 5th century BC.

Pre History:

When it comes to the Neolithic period in Macedonian territories, we are looking at a very similar picture as what we saw when looking at Thracian lands, which makes a lot of sense since their territories would overlap at different periods. The Vinca culture that we saw as perhaps being an origin point for the earliest ancestors of the Thracians were quite wide spread which saw their culture being in what we would consider Macedonian territory as well as other regions in the Balkans. The concept of the Macedonians as a people would develop quite late, with there not even being a reference to them as Macedonians in the Iliad, but some names of regions are referred to that would be a part of what we would consider later Macedonian lands. This as you can imagine makes it very difficult to trace their ancestry into Neolithic times. Early Greek writers would refer to Macedonians migrating into these lands during the Bronze Age, but we will explore this more when we turn to the earliest references to Macedonians. Though, it is quite possible that like the Thracians their development would be born from prolonged interactions with multiple cultures over thousands of years. Even if the Macedonians themselves migrated into their new home lands their interactions with the local tribes would have seen these cultures also, over the generations become what the Greeks would recognise as Macedonian. We have seen this when looking back at many populations where two or more distinct groups would interact, through a complex mix of conflict, cooperation and compromise. Over time these separate groups would begin to be indistinguishable, often seeing the culture that is more familiar to us today. Having said this though, there are some interesting sites in these territories dating to the Neolithic times that show a different picture to the lands the Greeks would often see as an uncivilized backwater.    

Dispilio is a site located in what is termed Upper Macedonia, being the mountainous region north of Thessaly. The remains of the site were located on the shores of Lake Kastoria, in what’s known as the Haliacmon corridor. This had been recognised as a popular route for trade and other travellers through much of ancient times, so it appears this may be the case even back in Neolithic times. The settlement appears to have been occupied from 5600 to 4000 BC and archaeologists found a number of items dating to this period. They uncovered examples of ceramics, wooden structures, seeds, bone, figurines and jewellery. The context of the finds also indicated a sophisticated society with it thought they engaged in fishing, hunting, cultivation and stock raising. Also uncovered at the site is what has been called the Dispilio tablet, which some believe the be one of the oldest examples of writing, even pre dating the scripts that developed over in Mesopotamia. The tablet has been carbon dated to 5260 BC, with the tablet itself made of wood. The script itself has yet to be identified or deciphered, though there is some debate around if the symbols can be classed as writing. The argument revolves around if it is proto writing, being a primitive pre curser to writing which records information. Or could it be a form of writing, in the sense that it is used to record language, like what developed in Mesopotamia 2000 years later. Work on the Dispilio tablet continues, but in the meantime debate around its relevance in the history of writing is ongoing, with it potentially rewriting our understanding of the development of writing if more can be learnt about the symbols and their context. 

Just briefly before we move on, the site of Aiani in the same region, would be discovered to have some impressive public works, with multi storied houses with drainage systems, while also having some monumental tombs. These would date to Archaic and Classical times, but the site of Aiani would show that it had a very long history with it discovered that it had been continually occupied since the Neolithic period. The reason for its continued occupations is most certainly down to the region’s geography, with a number of passes leading south into Thessaly and west to Epirus coming through the region. So, with this brief look at the prehistory of the region lets now move onto where we starting hearing of the peoples in the region being referred to as Macedonians. 

Earliest references to Macedon:

               Mythology:

Attempting to find a clear and accurate origin point of the Macedonians here is not going to be our aim, as scholars are still attempting to do the same with the sources that exist today. The written sources that we have, come from the mythical past or from writers recounting legend well before their own time. Perhaps we could begin by looking at what can be found in the Greeks mythic past. 

As we said, Homer dose not refer to the Macedonians by name but in a passage from the Iliad where Hera descends from Olympus to Troy. He does make reference to regions that would become to be seen as being in Macedonian territory.

“First she dropped to the Pierian range and to lovely Emathia; then passed swiftly over the snowy mountains of the horse-breeding Thracians, the very highest peaks, but never setting foot on the ground.”[3]

The Pierian ranges are located just north of Mount Olympus and the site of Aiani that we just spoke of was established at the base of these ranges. While, Emathia would be the coastal plains around the Thermaic gulf where the eventual formation of the kingdom of Macedonia would take place. So, it has been pointed out that in Homers time there doesn’t appear to have been an identified people known as Macedonians, well to the Greeks anyway, though this doesn’t mean that the people that were present in the area wouldn’t eventually be recognised under this grouping of people. Though, there is also some evidence that there was in fact a people known as Macedonian in this early period.

Probably one of the earliest references to Macedon appears in a work by Hesiod, which survives in fragmentary form, called the Catalogue of Women. Hesiod was a poet and is thought to have been active between 750 – 650 BC, around the same time as Homer, by some accounts, though some believe Homer may have been writing earlier. As we will see in a minute this could explain the name Macedon coming onto the scene as historical writers would make reference to the formation of the Argead monarchy, being the first reference to a historical Macedonian kingdom. The formation of this kingdom is thought to has taken place around 700 BC, so it is possible this could have taken place between when Homer and Hesiod were writing. Anyway, back to Hesiods account; in the Loeb edition, Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica, we find the following fragment;

“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”.[4]

Here we can see the eponyms founder of the Macedonians was born from the daughter of Deucalion, who would be a common link for many founding ancestors of cities. Once again the lands Macedon is said to have lived in would be the homelands of the historical Macedonians. 

Historians:  

So, there were have a couple of references from myth through ancient poets, now I want to turn to the earliest accounts found in historical accounts. Although I say historical accounts, they are coming from a place of tradition, as we should be well aware of, Herodotus is well known for passing on traditional accounts and tale, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are completely factual. Herodotus would be our earliest source for the formation of the Argead house of the Macedonians, though he recounts a period thought to be over 250 years before the time he was writing. He provides this ancestry in the context of the Greco-Persian wars, which is his main subject. He takes some time out for a small digression, which he is well known for, when Alexander I comes up in the narrative. This Alexander would not be the famous Alexander the Great, but an ancestor of his, who was king at the time of the Greek and Persian wars. We will spend a bit of time around Alexander I once we turn to looking at Macedon during the Greco-Persian Wars. Something just to keep in mind as we continue, is that the Macedonians and the royal dynasty that would form are in just about all ancient accounts, treated as two different groups of people but we will address this as we continue. Herodotus in passing indicates that there was a people in the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age known as the Makednoi that would settle in the Pindus mountains, stretching from southern Albania into Northern Greece. They were a part of what he calls the Dorian invasions, though as we have pointed out a few times, perhaps more accurately migration rather than invasion. But I think our biggest take away here is to see these Macedonians that appear to be intersected with many other tribal groups of this period as different entity than the Macedonian kingdom that would be formed to bring together a region a few hundred years later. A considerable amount of time would pass in a region that would see what appears to be constant movements of people in a world that had just dealt with the Bronze Age collapse.  

As I said, Herodotus provides us one of the earliest Macedonian kings lists, but later writers would also refer to the same linage of the Macedonian royal house. This has seen the suggestion that there was perhaps an official kings list which existed at the Macedonian court, that writers such as Herodotus could have had access to. Further to this Herodotus recounts what is thought to be the courts official account of how the royal dynasty of Macedon was established. We need to keep in mind that these accounts we get through Greek writers are what we mainly have to work with when looking for an official history of the early Macedonian kingdom. So, let take a look at what Herodotus records and by extension, what seems like is the official line taken by the Macedonians themselves into the 5th century.

The founding of the royal house which is referred to as the Agread Dynasty, since the origins of it can be traced back to the city of Argos six generations before Alexander I. Though, it has also been called the Temenid dynasty for reasons we will get to. The founding tradition would also see the Macedonian royal house descending from a Doric line and the Heraclidea. As in Herodotus’ version Temenus, who was one of the Heraclidea involved in the successful retaking of Mycenae, would become king of Argos and would be the ancestor of the first king of Mecedon. Also, as we will get to, Temenus, was included in the Macedonian king list, along with 2 other earlier kings, latter on, with perhaps a revised official list made after Herodotus time. Anyway, I think I will read out what Herodotus writes around the founding of the dynasty of Macedon;

“This Alexander was seventh in descent from Perdiccas, who got for himself the tyranny of Macedonia in the way that I will show. Three brothers of the lineage of Temenus came as banished men from Argos to Illyria, Gauanes and Aeropus and Perdiccas; and from Illyria they crossed over into the highlands of Macedonia till they came to the town Lebaea.”

Here we can see this was quite a journey, with Argos down on the Peloponnese and Illyria would be to the west of what would become Macedonian lands. One would think for a group descended from a ruler, they would have had some sort of connection with the lands up north for them to head into exile there. Anyway back to Herodotus;

“There they served for wages as labours in the king's household, one tending horses and another oxen. Perdiccas, who was the youngest, tended the lesser flocks. Now the king's wife cooked their food for them, for in old times the ruling houses among men, and not the common people alone, were lacking in wealth. Whenever she baked bread, the loaf of the labour Perdiccas grew double in size. Seeing that this kept happening, she told her husband, and it seemed to him when he heard it that this was a portent signifying some great matter. So, he sent for his laborers and bade them depart from his territory. They said it was only just that they should have their wages before they departed. When they spoke of wages, the king was moved to foolishness and said, “That is the wage you merit, and it is that I give you,” pointing to the sunlight that shone down the smoke vent into the house. Gauanes and Aeropus, who were the elder, stood astonished when they heard that, but the boy said, “We accept what you give, O king,” and with that he took a knife which he had with him and drew a line with it on the floor of the house round the sunlight. When he had done this, he three times gathered up the sunlight into the fold of his garment and went his way with his companions.”[5]

“So they departed, but one of those who sat nearby declared to the king what this was that the boy had done and how it was of set purpose that the youngest of them had accepted the gift offered. When the king heard this, he was angered, and sent riders after them to slay them.

Herodotus doesn’t elaborate on the meaning of Perdiccas’ acceptance of this payment, though some have put forward it has some connection to the symbology of the Virginia Star, now North Macedonia’s national emblem. This symbol had been uncovered in a number of excavations with it thought this was a royal emblem with a connection to the god Apollo. Anyway to continue on with Herodotus; 

 There is, however, in that land a river, to which the descendants from Argos of these men offer sacrifice as their deliverer. This river, when the sons of Temenus had crossed it, rose in such flood that the riders could not cross. So, the brothers came to another part of Macedonia and settled near the place called the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance. In this garden, according to the Macedonian story, Silenus was taken captive. Above it rises the mountain called Bermius, which none can ascend for the wintry cold. From there they issued forth when they had won that country and presently subdued also the rest of Macedonia.”[6]

In Herodotus account we can see references to three different parts of Macedonia, that Perdiccas had travelled to, Upper, another part and the rest. The Historian Carol King, in her book Ancient Macedonia, has put forward the suggestion that these references might reflect a period of expansion taking place over 3 phases, where she lays these out as;

“…arrival in Orestis and displacement of the indigenous rulers; relocation to Mount Bermion and possibly western Pieria; and expansion into the central plain”.[7] As we will see these expansions would be seen as taking place over a number of generations.

Herodotus’ account also aligns with the notion that the Macedonian court descended from Greeks. We often find in the ancient accounts that Macedonian royalty were Greek while the people they ruled were of the indigenous tribes of the Balkans. We can see these illustrated when Herodotus has Alexander I referring to himself when addressing some Persians;

“… you may tell your king, who sent you, that a Hellene, his governor of the Macedonians, has welcomed you warmly with both bed and board”.[8]

Though, to draw a clear distinct line of if the early Macedonians had Greek roots or not, I think is way too simplistic approach. As we have seen with the Indo-European migrations and the Bronze Age in the past, the Balkans and central Greece had many periods of population movement, both heading south and north. I have no doubt that the Languages and ideas that entered both lands from Indo-European migrations would see a common root in those aspects as the Hellenic line of languages would emerge. Also, there would be some of the same elements present, like in Greece, that saw the ancient Greeks emerge. Migrations had mixed with the indigenous populations, or as the Greeks called them, Pelasgian. This would be similar with the indigenous tribes of the Balkans, there would have been a mixing of an outside influence, which appears to be similar or with the same origins as what entered Greece. Not only this, but later on Greek populations would interact and even move into Macedonian lands. So, I think we can find elements that show a Greek connection, but also some that show a separate culture that these elements developed with. 

Though, what is clear is that the Greek mainland in Classical times saw a distinction between themselves and the Macedonians. The time that elapsed since many of the migrations, I think would see this notion take hold, where both areas would develop on their own paths, but with some similar origins culturally. The Classical Greeks saw a difference, but perhaps a more helpful question to pursue, that Carol King puts forward is, “What factors, did, differentiate the Macedonians, in the opinion of the ancient Greeks?[9] 

Later Versions:

So, we have looked at the traditional founding account through Herodotus and what is thought, most likely the Macedonian courts official line. Though, we must acknowledge that there are other later accounts that would push the founding of the dynasty back by another three generations. It must be noted here before we continue on that this earlier founding of the dynasty, is often thought by modern historians as a reworking of the official genealogy. With it thought that the motivation lay behind a later king’s vague claim to the Macedonian throne to gain more legitimacy, though we are not really sure which one. So, what I think I will do here is go through what is found in Diodorus’ work which seems to be a general representation of this later view. As we will see there are a couple of core points that remain consistent with the account Herodotus gives.

“there followed the period of the Macedonians. Caranus, who was covetous of possessions, before the first Olympiad gathered forces from the Argives and from the rest of the Peloponnesus, and with this army he advanced against the territory of the Macedonians. It happened that at the same time the king of the Orestae was at war with his neighbours, who were known as Eordians. He asked Caranus to come to his assistance and promised to give him half of his land, when he had established peace among the Orestae. The king was as good as his word, and Caranus received the land and ruled as king over it for thirty years. He died in his old age and was succeeded on the throne by his son who was known as Coenus, who reigned twenty-eight years. After him Tirimmus reigned for forty-three years, and Perdiccas for forty-eight years. Perdiccas wished to enlarge his kingdom and so made inquiry of Delphi...”[10]

“Perdiccas, wishing to increase the strength of his kingdom, sent to Delphi to consult the oracle. And the Pythian priestess replied to him: Stands over wealthy land a might of kings Of Temenus' right noble line, Of Aegis-bearing Zeus. But swiftly go To Bottiais, rich in flocks; and then Where thou shalt see white-horned goats, with fleece Like snow, resting at dawn, make sacrifice Upon the blessed gods upon that spot And raise the chief city of a state, Aegae.”[11]

So, what we notice here, is that the main difference is that the foundation of the dynasty coming from Argos into Macedon has been altered, with Caranus replacing Perdiccs as being the connection to Argos. Though, what we do see is that the connection to Argos remains intact, as does the notion that the royal dynasty and the Macedonians they would come to rule were different people. The account attempts to draw the dynastic line back 3 more generations showing Caranus as being the first to rule over the lands in Macedonia, though the next two kings are glossed over until reaching Perdiccas who seems to have been given an instrumental role in expanding the kingdom.    

Macedonian Expansion:

So, now that we have these traditional accounts of the Macedonian’s court foundation, let’s try and get a hold on the early expansions that were taking place in these lands. Currently we need to assume that the traditional accounts of the foundations of a ruling family are generally based in some sort of historical fact as they are all we have to work with. But it has to be noted that it has been argued by some that these, seeming to be the official accounts of the Macedonian court, they could have worked their genealogy to show the connections that they wanted to portray. Though, realistically this can be levelled at just about and Greek city state and their origin stories. This now sees us at a point where a ruling family that would go on to form a dynasty was now strong enough to bring together a number of tribes and regions that we can now recognise as a collective group, the Macedonians. 

There appears to be some connection in the early stages to the region of Orestis, around Lake Kastoria, where we looked at some early Neolithic sites. This region can be seen to be associated with the early origin tales, in Herodotus story this is perhaps the area Lebaea was located in. Then we also see this as being the region were Caranus was awarded land for his assistance in the war. Though its perhaps a little later and during the time of Perdiccas that we get some slightly firmer information that Macedonian royal power would establish itself out of the Pierian mountains, north of Mount Olympus and south of the Haliacmon river. Here it would seem Perdiccas would take control of a strategically important site that overlooked the coastal plains around the Thermaic gulf. This site had shown a long history of occupation, with its obvious value as a settlement recognised long before. Under Perdiccas this settlement would be renamed Aegae, which is situated not far from the modern town of Vergina. This is where it appears the first seat of power of the ruling dynasty would be housed. The site here was located close to the main routes heading north to south and east to west, while also being close to the major crossing point of the Haliacmon.

From this strong position the newly established Macedonian kingdom was able to consolidate its gains and gather more influence from its strong position. This would then see further expansion take place out into the coastal areas of the Pierian mountains where they would displace Thracian tribes that had occupied the area. With this latest expansion, Macedon would have its first access to the Aegean while they would also encounter Greek colonies that had been established earlier, these were Methone and Pydna, which would remain independent from Macedonian control. Down this coast Macedon would found another city that would become extremely important in the kingdom as a religious centre at Dion. This would not be the only direction that expansions would take place. The Macedonians had also crossed the Haliacmon into the region of Eordaea, which lay north east. Once killing and expelling the people of the region Macedonian would now exert its influence into the region.[12] It then seems with control in these areas Macedonian power now began to exert itself out into the central plain up to the Axios River, just east of modern-day Thessaloniki. 

It’s not known when and how long these expansions were taking place, but they appear to be the general thought of what had been taking place since Perdiccas’ foundation of the dynasty. Obviously, not all of this expansion of territory can be attributed to Perdiccas as it is thought this was all taking place between somewhere around 650 BC to 510 BC. This would be the rough extent of Macedonian territory by the time of the rule of King Amyntas I, Alexander I’s father. Next episode we will be tuning to Alexander and his rule, where we will look at Macedonia under his kingship as well as his interactions in the lead up to and during the Greco Persian Wars. Though, before we finish up this episode I want to go back and try and summarise what we have just covered, as there is a lot of information on places and foundation of the Macedonian kingdom is not the clearest event to take place in the sources. So, hopefully we can end by tying everything into a straight forward summary.     

Conclusion:             

Looking back, we can see that a number of tribes existed throughout the Balkan region where indo European migrations had interacted with a number of them and would help influence the development of these cultures over the centuries. One of these latest migrations that took place in the Bronze Age is seen to have moved though the Balkans and into Greek lands, possibly seeing some cultural transmission take place with some common root elements around language and ideas enter into many of these lands. We find Macedonia being mentioned in Myth through Hesiod, but it wouldn’t be until Herodotus that we get a refrence to them in a work of history. Herodotus had put the location of a tribe known as the Makednoi in the Pindus mountains towards the end of the Bronze Age. Around this area is the region of Orestis and where we would see a common early link found with Myth and what is recorded in the traditional accounts of the founding of the kingdom. In this region around lake Kastoria some interesting Neolithic sites had been uncovered showing that this had been an imporatant region during this time and into the Bronze Age. Though, as we saw the origin stories that pin point on this area seem to present details in different ways. It wouldn’t be until the time of Herodotus where we start to hear of the origins of an organised political entity that would become the Macedonians. This would be seen as taking place somewhere around 700 – 650 BC with the foundation of the Aegead dynasty through Perdiccas being exiled from Argos. Though, there would be later accounts that would attempt to show the founding of the dynasty going back another three generations. What these founding stories all show, is that it was a Greek family that would form the dynasty that would come to form Macedonia with all of the tribes that would become part of it.

We would start to get on firmer ground with the beginnings of the Macedonian kingdom in the Pierian Mountains north of Olympus, where the seat of Macedonian power would be in the in city of Aegae near modern day Vergina. From here expansions of the kingdom would take place over the reign of the first six kings. This would see Macedonian territory head south along the coast of the Aegean, expelling the previous Thracian tribes occupying the area. The lands north east of the Haliacmon would also come into Macedonian possession, while further expansion would move out into the coastal plains around the Thermaic gulf. This would be the extent of the Macedonian kingdom when Alexander I’s father, Amyntas I, would rule. It will be this period and Alexanders reign that we will focus on next episode.  

[1] Herodotus 1.56
[2] Herodotus 7.173
[3] Homer, Iliad 14.226
[4] Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. Translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57
[5] Herodotus 8.137
[6] Herodotus 8.138
[7] Ancient Macedonia, Carol J King, p15-16
[8] Herodotus 5.20
[9] Ancient Macedonia, Carol King, p11
[10] Diodorus 7.15.1
[11] Diodorus 7.16.1
[12] Thucydides 2.99