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Macedonia (ancient kingdom)

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Macedonia ( MASS-ih-DOH-nee-ə; Greek: Μακεδονία, Makedonía), also called Macedon ( MASS-ih-don), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, which was followed by the Antipatrid and Antigonid dynasties. Home to the ancient Macedonians, the earliest kingdom was centred on the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, and bordered by Epirus to the southwest, Illyria to the northwest, Paeonia to the north, Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south.

Before the 4th century BC, Macedonia was a small kingdom centered in Aegae outside of the area dominated by the great city-states of Athens, Sparta, and Thebes, and briefly subordinate to the Achaemenid Empire. During the reign of king Philip II (359–336 BC), Macedonia with its capital in Pella subdued mainland Greece and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom through conquest and diplomacy. With a reformed army containing phalanxes wielding the sarissa pike, Philip II defeated the old powers of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. Philip II's son Alexander the Great, leading a federation of Greek states, accomplished his father's objective of commanding the whole of Greece when he destroyed Thebes after the city revolted. During Alexander's subsequent campaign of conquest, he overthrew the Achaemenid Empire and conquered territory that stretched as far as the Indus River. For a brief period, his Macedonian Empire was the most powerful in the world – the definitive Hellenistic state, inaugurating the transition to a new period of Ancient Greek civilization. Greek arts and literature flourished in the new conquered lands and advances in philosophy, engineering, and science spread across the empire and beyond. Of particular importance were the contributions of Aristotle, tutor to Alexander, whose writings became a keystone of Western philosophy.

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the ensuing wars of the Diadochi, and the partitioning of Alexander's short-lived empire, Macedonia remained a Greek cultural and political centre in the Mediterranean region along with Ptolemaic Egypt, the Seleucid Empire, and the Attalid kingdom. Important cities included its capital Pella, Pydna, and Amphipolis, while new cities were founded, such as Thessalonica by the usurper Cassander (named after his wife Thessalonike of Macedon). Macedonia's decline began with the Second Macedonian War and the rise of Rome as the leading Mediterranean power. At the end of the Third Macedonian War in 168 BC, the Macedonian monarchy was abolished and replaced by Roman client states. A short-lived revival of the monarchy during the Fourth Macedonian War in 150–148 BC ended with the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia.

The Macedonian kings, who wielded absolute power and commanded state resources such as gold and silver, facilitated mining operations to mint currency, finance their armies and, by the reign of Philip II, a Macedonian navy. Unlike the other diadochi successor states, the imperial cult fostered by Alexander was never adopted in Macedonia, yet Macedonian rulers nevertheless assumed roles as high priests of the kingdom and leading patrons of domestic and international cults of the Hellenistic religion. The authority of Macedonian kings was theoretically limited by the institution of the army, while a few municipalities within the Macedonian commonwealth enjoyed a high degree of autonomy and even had democratic governments with popular assemblies.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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Antigenes and Teutamus were easily prevailed upon to believe this, being as little willing to come and consult Eumenes, as he himself was to be seen waiting at other men's doors. Accordingly, they erected a tent royal, and a throne, called Alexander's, and there they met to consult upon all affairs of moment.
Plutarch, Plutarch
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474. Pharnaces, of the moon, v. 265. Phasis, a river of Thrace, v. 482. Phayllus, iv. 282. Phemius, the poet, i. 105. Pherecrates, fragment of, i. 124. Phidias, statue of Venus, ii. 498; iv. 133. Philammon, verses in honor of Latona, Diana, and Apollo, i. 105. Philemon and Magas, i. 45. Philinus, iii. 69, 70. Philip of Macedonia, examples from, i. 44, 45; sayings of, 194-198, 305; anecdotes of, ii. 141, 146, 147…
Plutarch, Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 1
The author is tied to Macedonia in the knowledge graph; names Macedonia twice.
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The boundaries of Macedonia are well defined; the condition of the proconsul is well known; the amount of his army, if he has any at all, is fixed. But what had Antonius to do at all with Illyricum and with the legions of Vatinius?
Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4
States what Macedonia is; names Macedonia twice.
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Macedonia (ancient kingdom)

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