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Elias Kapetanopoulos

Professor Dr. (Greece-Rome)

Department of History

Central Connecticut State University

New Britain, CT 06050-4010 (USA

Telephone:

(860) 832-2820 (Office)

(860) 832-2804 (Fax)

(860) 229-9960 (Home)

E-mail: Kapetanopoulos@mail.ccsu.edu

Web site: www.history.ccsu.edu/elias/elias.htm

Areas of Research: Attic epigraphy and Athenian institutions of the Roman period, 200 B.C.-A.D. 300, and early Makedon(ia): Makedones as Hellenes.

The Greek font is Athenian+Unicode. All rights reserved.

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11 Febrouar€ou 2004 > 11 February 2004 [Online]

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NOT a finished paper, but a draft that served as a base (notes) for the presentation, with portions being omitted accordingly. The theme of the presentation was <<The Makedones according to the Makedones [OI MAKEDONES KATA TOUS MAKEDONAS]>>, and it was given at the FOUNDATION FOR HELLENIC CULTURE, 7 West 57^th Street, NYC, on the 30^th of October 2002 [30 ÉOktvbr€ou 2002].

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KAPETANOPOULOS, ÉHl€aw - KAPETANOPOULOS, Elias

An information paper – how matters stood/stand. The terms Hellas, Hellene, Hellenes, Hellenic are used in place of Greece, Greeks, Greek, although at times Greek may be unavoidable. Again Makedonia, Makedones, Makedonian are used instead of Macedonia, Macedonians, Macedonian [to avoid, in a way, confusion with modern perceptions].

A non-issue of whether the Makedones were Hellenes - of greater concern to moderns [than ancients]. Paper, therefore, is not directly concerned with this ill-conceived/perceived issue, which is due to limitation/interpretation of evidence and political agendas/aims thereof.

Makedonia – Maketia (Orestis) [mak-, makros]

Makedon€w [first time Herodotos] -- Makhdon€a (poetically)

The kings of the Argeadai traced their lineage to Herakles, the greatest of heroes of the Hellenes (Herakles a hero of the Helladic (Mycenaean) period of 2000-1100 B.C. [statue of Herakles from Apidea (outside of Tsotyli) – and perhaps one from Pentalophos, north of Tsotyli (Orestis area)].

The kings of the Lynkestian Makedones [below] traced their lineage to the Bakchiadai of Corinth (Strabon, VII.7.8 C326: toË Bakxiad«n g°nouw ˆnti [ÉArraba€ƒ]). Arrabaios, son of Bromeros [name Arrabaios current in Orestis, around Nestorion and elsewhere]. (family of Bakchiadai ruled Corinth until their expulsion in 655 B.C. by Kypselos - Bakchiads active in the Adriatic – establishment of apoikiai).

Makedonia and its kings a replica in a sense of Homeric times.

Livy, 45.29.5-9:

Makedonia to be divided into four parts (167 B.C.):

1^st Part (prima pars): the land between Strymon and Nessus (Nestos)+villages-forts-towns

east of Nestos; and all the country of the Bisaltae [except Ainos, Maroneia, Abdera]..

Capital: Amphipolis

2^nd Part: the area between the Strymon and Axios (minus Herakleia Sintike-country of

Bisaltae)+the Paionians settled near the Axios in an easterly direction.

Capital: Thessalonike (Thessalonica)

3^rd Part: between the Axios and the Peneus river [not clear what river is the Peneus] – Mt.

Bora(s) [Kaimaktsalan] formed the northern frontier – the Paionians along the west bank of the Axios were added to this part. Edessa, Beroia in this part.

Capital: Pella

[Stobi in Paionia – Livy, 45.29.13]

4^th part: across Mt. Bora(s), part touching Illyricum, rest Epeiros.

Capital: Pelagonia (not clear what is meant) – Pelagonia a region. Heraklea Lynkestis?

ÜEllhnew <> MakedÒnew

ÉHpeir«tai <> ÜEllhnew

Nhsi«tai <> ÜEllhnew

Kur€a Makedon€a

ÑEllåw - ÉAkarnan€a-Yessal€a (kur€a ÑEllåw), éllå ka‹ ÑEllåw d«ye t«n Yermopul«n.

ÑH diãkrisiw ÜEllhnew-MakedÒnew g€netai mÒnon ˜tan énaf°rontai s¢ pollaploÁw épÚ tØn kur€a ÑEllãda - pot¢ metajÁ dÊo: p.x., MakedÒnew <> ÉAyhna›oi ÜEllhnew µ kãti t°toio.

ÉEn€ote ˜pou dÊo µ ka‹ parapãnv ≤ diãkrisiw e‰nai ÉAyhna›oi, Yhba›oi, ÉArge›oi. ktl., <> MakedÒnew, p.x.

Makednoi (Makedno€) - The name Makedones is connected to Herodotos’ Makednoi

Homer, Odyssey, VII.106: oÂã te fÊlla makedn∞w afige€roio (like unto the leaves of a tall poplar tree).

According to Herodotos [I.56] the ÑEllhnikÚn ¶ynow (Hellenic people) wandered much and afar (poluplãnhton). In the time of king Deukalion it dwelled in Phthia (cf. Iliad, II.682-685: …/ o· tÉ e‰xon Fy€hn ±dÉ ÑEllãda kalligÊnaika, / MurmidÒnew d¢ kaleËnto ka‹ ÜEllhnew ka‹ ÉAxaio€,/ t«n aÔ pentÆkonta ne«n ∑n érxÚw ÉAxilleÊw), and in the time of Doros son of Hellen in the country under Ossa and Olympos (called then Histiaiotis). The Kadmeians, however, drove it out and consequently moved to Pindos where it acquired the name Makednon ethnos (MakednÚn ¶ynow). From Pindos it moved to Dryopis and eventually to Peloponnesos where it came to be called Dorikon (DvrikÒn).

In Bk. VIII.43 in enumerating the people from the Peloponnesos who manned ships at Artemision [time of Xerxes’ invasion], Herodotos identifies the (Lakedaimonians, Korinthians), Sikyonians, Epidaurians and Troizenians as being of the Dorikon and Makednon ethnos [DvrikÒn te ka‹ MakednÚn ¶ynow] (who had come last from Erineus, Pindos and Dryopis, that is, into the Peloponnesos).

This version of the story is in a way echoed in an inscription from Kytenion (Kut°nion, Kut€nion) of Parnassis/Doris/Phocis, dating from 206/5 B.C. and attested from Xanthos in Lykia. In lines 40-42 king Ptolemy [Philopator] is said to be a relation (suggenÆw) of the Dorians according to the [Makedonian] Argead kings, descendants of Herakles. Moreover, the Makedones’ association with Pindos is found in the myth of Pindos, after whom the mountain took its name, as well as a river. Pindos is identified as a son of Makedon [the eponymos of the Makedones] (Ailian(os) [A.D. 165/70-230/5], On Animals, X.48, and Tzetzes [12^th cent. A.D.], Chil. (Historiai) IV.330=AE 1995, 28, X). Strabon (9.4.10) has a city and a river named Pindos in the Tetrapolis of the Dorians, that is, in the area of Kytenion. In 9.5.12 Strabon identifies Pindos as a large mountain, reaching to the Makedones in the north, to the west those of the Perrhaibians who had migrated there, to the south the Dolopians, and to the east Hestiaiotis of Thessaly.

Makedon, the eponymos of Makedonia. Makedon identified variously [a native of Makedonia, son of Aiakos, Aiolos, Zeus, Lykaon, Osiris]. Hesiod, or one of the Hesiodic school, makes Makedon a son of Zeus and Thuia [cf. ÉVreiyu€a below], daughter of Deukalion and sister of Hellen (the eponymos of the Hellenes), and a brother of Magnes, the eponymos of the Magnetes of the Pelion area (Thessaly) in historical times. The fragment places Makedon and Magnes in Pieria and Olympos, which chronologically would be before the Trojan War of about 1200 B.C., since Homer has the Magnetes going to Troy from Peneios and Pelion (Iliad, II.756-759: MagnÆtvn dÉ ∑rxe PrÒyoow TenyrhdÒnow uflÒw,/ o„ per‹ PhneiÚn ka‹ PÆlion efinos€fullon/ na€eskon, ktl.) [technicalities involved here]. The above fragment, if it is Hesiod’s or his school’s, is in any case the first literary attestation of the Makedones, or the eponymos of the Makedones, which assimilates the Makedones within the Hellenic world. (Ancients made associations through myth or the eponymos [a narrative of history for them]).

[Jonathan M. Hall, Ethnic identity in Greek antiquity (Cambridge 1997) 63-64: one of his views being the exclusion of the Makedones <<from the ranks of Hellenism>>, because Makedon’s descent in the Catalogue of Women (Hesiod fragment – herein) is traced through the uterine of Thuia (above) – bypassing Hellen] – However, it is overlooked that this would also apply to the Magnetes, whose eponymos Magnes is made a brother of Makedon and son of Thuia – Magnetes identified as of Aiolos – and the Makedones, too].

The second attestatation about the Makedones and the more detailed one comes from Herodotos [ca. 480-420 B.C.], and it deals with the Makedonian involvement in the Persian Wars of 480/79 B.C., as well as with some early history of the Makedones. At the time of the Persian Wars Alexander, son of Amyntas, was king, having succeeded his father Amyntas [ca. 498/7 B.C.]. Alexander is the first fully known Makedonian king, whereas the others before him are more or less mere names [Perdikkas, Argaios, Philippos, Aeropos, Alketas, father of Amyntas]. Makedonia being a tributary of the Persians at the time of Amyntas and Alexander, Alexander and his Makedones participated in the Battle of Plataia [late summer of 479 B.C.]. The Makedones and others about Thessaly (Perrhaiboi, Enianes, Dolopes, Magnetes, Achaioi), that is, other Hellenes, were arrayed against the Athenians [Herodotos, IX.31]. This arrangement is good evidence that the Persians identified the Makedones as Hellenes [or with the Hellenes].

There is also the Yauna Takabara [Ionians (Hellenes) wearing shields on their heads] –from their type of hat – ÉArx. ÉEfhm. 1993 (1995) 15, note 21. The designation Yauna Takabara comes from Persian sources. From Darius’ tomb at Naqsh-I Rustam [near Persepolis] – depicting subject peoples in relief and one of them is Yauna Takabara (Darius died in 486 B.C.)

Aischylos [ca. 525/4-456/5] in his ÑIk°tidew (Suppliant Maidens) [shortly after 467 B.C.], lines 249-259, has Pelasgos, king of Argos, tell the chorus (of 50 maidens, daughters of Danaos) that he rules the land west of Strymon to the setting sun, which also includes, though not named explicitly, Makedonia from the description therein. This is probably also the case with Homer, who has the Paionians as the most western allies of the Trojans coming from the Axios river area [Iliad, II.848-850: AÈtår Pura€xmhw êge Pa€onaw égkulotÒjouw,/ thlÒyen §j ÉAmud«now, épÉ ÉAjioË eÈrÁ =°ontow, / ktl.]; this would imply that the area west of the Axios is Hellenic or what comes to be called Hellenic [and not a terra incognita which did not participate in the war].

Aristophanes [ca. 360-386 B.C.] in The Birds (ÖOrniyew) [414 B.C.], lines 1520-1522, places the Triballian gods (yeo‹ Triballo‹) above Zeus, and this, too, is a delimitation of the Hellenic world, the Triballoi being above the Makedones (and the Makedones’ constant enemies). [coupling the Triballoi with the Illyrians].

But back to Alexander: Herodotos reports, as Plutarch does later [Aristeides XV.2-5], that Alexander warned the Athenians at Plataia during the night of Mardonios’ attack next day [IX.44-46]. Alexander had also warned previously the expeditionary force of Hellenes at the Tempe; not to take a position there because the Persians could follow another route and surround them [sent by the coalition of Greek states to meet the Persian threat] (Herodotos, VII.173). Some would dismiss this as Alexandrian fiction, but Alexander’s recognition of his role in the war is shown, it appears, by the setting up of a statue 12 cubits high at Delphi at the same place as Alexander’s golden statue which Alexander himself had set up there [Herodotos, VIII.121]. This 12 cubit statue holding a figurehead of a ship (ékrvtÆrion) in its hand had been dedicated by the Hellenes out of the spoils of war, taken from the Persians and medized states. [Also no accusation against Alexander that he had medized].

Alexander at Athens before the Battle of Plataia. Sent by Mardonios, the Persian commander, at the instruction of Xerxes to convince the Athenians to change sides by embracing the Persians. Athenians: As long as the sun follows the same path the Athenians will not desert the Hellenic alliance. Alexander a friend [f€low] and proxenos [prÒjenow] of the Athenians.

Alexander participated also in the Olympic Games, according to Herodotos [V.22], in the stãdion [foot race]. At first his fellow competitors objected, saying that the Games were for Hellenes, not barbaroi; whereupon Alexander took the matter before the Hellanodikai [citizens of Elis presiding over the Games] and was recognized as a Hellene from Argos [the counter argument here would be that Alexander is a Hellene, but not the Makedones (cf. énØr ÜEllhn MakedÒnvn Ïparxow)]. Although his name does not appear in the list of the winners, he may have won, for he sunej°pipte t“ pr≈tƒ [ran a dead heat for the first place (Loeb)]. The list of Olympic winners compiled at a later period was more or less from memory [Plutarch, Numa (Noumçw) I.4=ÉArx. ÉEfhm. 1993 (1995) 22, under H]. Alexander must have competed before he became famous during the Persian Wars of 480/79 B.C.

Pindar, Thebes’ great poet of ca. 518-439 B.C., praised Alexander in an encomium [eulogy] (§gk≈mion), as did Bakchylides, the lyric poet, of ca. 466 B.C.

Pindar: Namesake of the blessed Trojans, bold son of Amyntas. It befits the noble to be praised with fairest songs, etc. (ÉOlb€vn ım≈nume Dardanidçn, / pa› yrasÊmhdew ÉAmÊnta, pr°pei dÉ §sylo›sin Ímne›syai … kall€staiw éoida›w, ktl.) [Loeb text].

Bakchylides [drinking-song or eulogy (SKOLIVN µ EGKVMIVN)]: Hang no more to thy peg, my lyre, nor check the clear voice of thy seven strings. Hither to my hands! I would fain send to Alexander a golden feather dropt by a Muse, to be an adornment for his banquets on twentieth days, when the heart of noble youths is warmed by the sweet compulsion of the swift-circling cup, and their mind thrilled with a hope of the Love-Goddess (KÊpriw), which sendeth a man’s thoughts highest aloft when it be mingled with the gifts of Dionysos, etc. [Loeb translation – J.M. Edmonds]

Herodotos tells also the story, as he heard it from the Makedones, of the three brothers [Gauanes, Aeropos, Perdikkas – which all three names occur in Makedonian prosopography (Argyro Tataki – prosopography of Beroia and Makedones abroad – KEPA)] - descendants of Temenos [TÆmenow] of Argos, a Heraclid, who were exiled from Argos and fled to the Illyrians and from there they came to Lebaie (Leba€h), a Makedonian city [VIII.137-138], situated apparently by the Haliakmon river, perhaps somewhere below Polymylos or Kastania (in the area of Leukopetra where a temple of the Autochthonous Mother of Gods stood [below]). There they entered into the service of the king. Gauanes tending horses, Aeropos oxen and Perdikkas, the youngest, sheep-goats. The story runs like a paramythi (paramËyi), but nevertheless it preserves a core of early Makedonian history. The king’s wife made the bread [because they were poor], but every time she made bread Perdikkas’ loaf doubled in size. This oddity she reported to her husband, who recognized it as being a portent of significance.

Immediately he ordered the three brothers to depart, but the three said that they will not go before receiving payment for their services. When the king heard of payment, he told the three brothers pointing to the sunlight that entered the house through the smoke opening “that that was the wage he was giving them and that’s what they deserved”. Gauanes and Aeropos stood in confusion at this, but little Perdikkas said <<We accept, oh king, what you give>>, and drew with his knife a circle about the sunlight and thrice “lifted” the sunlight into his bosom [a magical movement]. Then they departed.

However, one of the king’s attendants or advisors (pãredrow) explained to the king what the youngest had done and with what determination had accepted what the king gave them. This angered the king and he sent in pursuit of them horsemen, but the river of the area having flooded [kat°base] prevented the horsemen from crossing and pursuing the three brothers. The river is without any doubt the Haliakmon, and to this river the descendants of the men from Argos , that is, the Argeads, offered sacrifices as their Savior (svtÆr), according to story told to Herodotos. Later inscriptions from the Haliakmon area attest an Allibea [or Alebia] (ÉArx. ÉEfhm. 1993 [1995] 23, I), which must be the Lebaie mentioned by Herodotos (above). Allibea-Alebia is attested in inscriptions from the temple of the Autochthonous Mother of Gods at Leukopetra [published by Petsas-Hatzopoulos-Gounaropoulou-Paschides, MELETHMATA 28 (Athens 2000), Nos. 12, line 4, and 106, lines 14-15].

The three brothers then came to another part of Makedonia under Bermion and there they settled near (p°law) the place called the Gardens of Midas son of Gordias. Here roses grew of themselves and of sixty blossoms (fÊlla) (bear in mind the triantãfulla); and surpassing all others in fragrance. The Makedones said also that Silenos [a nature deity] was captured here. The Silenos story figures in a Phrygian context, but the Phrygians, called Briges, lived first in the area of the Gardens of Midas and then [most of them] migrated into Asia Minor where they become known as Phrygians (FrÊgoi). In this vicinity the old Makedonian capital, Aigai (Vergina) was established, and the oracle (below) recognizes Perdikkas (the younger of the three brothers) as its founder.

(P. Phaklaris of APY maintains that Aigai was in the Kopanos area, but the evidence is lacking [especially since the tomb at Vergina identified as Philip II’s is a royal tomb, as indicated by the tomb’s contents and the hunting scene on the façade with Alexander about 16 years old and the elder king spearing the lion – the kings of the Makedones were buried at Aigai].)

The view is that Perdikkas and his Argead Makedones came from Argos Orestikon (Kastoria) rather than from Argos in the Peloponnesos [Appian (ca. A.D. 100-160), Syrian Wars11.10.63: … ka‹ ÖArgow tÚ §n ÉOreste€& (˜yen ofl ÉArgeãdai MakedÒnew)] (but nevertheless there is a connection, for both are named Argos). Stephanos Byzantios [6^th cent. A.D.], EYNIKA, reports (under ÉArg°ou [n∞sow]) that the Argeads were named after Argeos (épÚ ÉArg°ou toË MakedÒnow, éfÉ o ÉArgeãdai [Argaios second king after Perdikkas I]). If the Argeads, the dominant of the Makedones, came from Argos Orestikon, then they would have passed through Mpãra [Pass of Siatista] and the Kozane plateau – then at the village of Polymylos they would have descended into the Haliakmon river and from there emerge at Pieria, where Aigai(ai) was founded by Perdikkas, as previously mentioned.

The oracles of Perdikkas and Karanos (and Archelaos).

PERDIKKAS Oracle:

¶sti krãtow bas€leion égauo›w Thmen€daisi

ga€hw ploutofÒroio. d€dvsi afig€oxow ZeÊw.

éll' ‡y' §peigÒmenow Bouth€da prÚw polÊmhlon

¶nya d' ên érgik°rvtaw ‡dhw xionvd°aw a‰gaw

eÈnhy°ntaw Ópnƒ, ke€nhw xyonÚw §n dap°doisi

yËe yeo›w makãressi ka‹ êstu kt€ze pÒlhow.

<<There is a royal might over a wealth-producing land for the reverend sons of Temenos. For aegis-bearing Zeus gives it. But go in haste to Bouteis land of many flocks. There if you see gleaming-horned, snow-white goats sunk in sleep on the floor of that ground, sacrifice to the blessed gods and found the fortress of a city>>

Parke-Wormell, 63

KARANOS Oracle:

frãzeo, d›e Kãrane, nÒƒ d' §moË ¶nyeo mËyon.

§kprolipvn ÖArgow ka‹ ÑEllãda kalligÊnaika

xvrei prÚw phgåw ÑAliãkmonow. ¶nya d' ên a‰gaw

boskom°naw §s€dhw prvton, tÒte toi xre≈n §stin

zhlvtÚn na€ein aÈtÚn geneãn te prÒpasan.

<<Take heed, godlike Karanos, and store up my word in your mind. Leave Argos and Hellas of the fair women, and go to the springs [sources] of Haliakmon. There when first you see goats grazing, it is your fate to dwell much envied, you and all your family>>

Parke-Wormell, 63.

ARCHELAOS:

Euripides’ play by that name – Euripides’ Kresphontes and Archelaos by Annette Harder (1985)]:

Harder’s paraphrase of what remains of the play: Archelaos, son of Temenos, was exiled from Argos by his brothers and went to Thracia, to king Kisseus, who happened to be at war with neighbouring peoples and promised Archelaos his kingdom and daughter if he could protect him against his enemies (Archelaos being a descendant of Herakles). Archelaos subseqently defeated the enemies and went to ask the king for his promised reward. The king, however, persuaded by friends, broke his promise and intended to kill Archelaos by treachery. He therefore gave orders to prepare a pitfall (filled with burning coals) to trap Archelaos. But a slave of the king told Archelaos about the plot, and Archelaos asked for a secret interview with the king: when alone with Kisseus he threw him into the pitfall and thus killed him. He then fled to Macedonia, led by a goat, according to some command of Apollo, and founded the city of Aigai, called after the goat.

The play Archelaos complimented king Archelaos [413-399 B.C.], who was Euripides’ host [Euripides departed from Athens in the latter part of 408 B.C. and died in Makedonia in early spring of 406 B.C.].

The goat (a‰j) motif is probably the source for a stamped tile with a goat’s head from Vergina [from TA NEA (Online)]

Another folk tale of this category involves the treatment of the Persian envoys sent to Amyntas, the archos [érxÚw] (ruler) of the Makedones [of ca. 513-498/7 B.C.] and father of Alexander [Herodotos, V.17-22]. Amyntas had given earth and water [unconditional surrender] to Dareios I [522-486 B.C.], probably around 513 B.C., and offered hospitality to the envoys. After eating and drinking the Persian envoys told Amyntas that it was their custom to bring in their wives and concubines and that Amyntas should do the same thing, since he had surrendered himself to the Persians [earth and water]. Amyntas replied that the Makedonian custom was for men and women to be separate, but since the Persians who were his masters [despÒtai] requested it he will do it. The women came and set across the envoys. Now the envoys seeing these beautiful women told Amyntas that the women should sit beside the men, or not to have come at all. Amyntas told the women to sit by the Persians, who flushed with wine touched the women’s breasts and tried to kiss them.

Amyntas held his anger, but his son and hyparch [Ïparxow] Alexander bore this heavily and told his father to leave. Amyntas suspected that Alexander is scheming something and advised his son to be patient and then departed. Alexander tells the envoys the women are all yours and you can have intercourse [m€sgesyai] with any of them, but since time is drawing high let the women go, and when they have washed and taken a bath they will be back. The Persians consented, and the women were sent to the women’s quarters [gunaikh€hn]. Then Alexander took to the number of women smoothed-chinned Makedones and dressed them as women, giving them also daggers [§gxeir€dia]. And led the “women-men” in. He tells the Persians: We have given you everything and now we give you our mothers and sisters. And then boastingly, tell your king how a <<Hellene man hyparch of the Makedones >> (énØr ÜEllhn MakedÒnvn Ïparxow) received you and entertained you. The Makedones <<men-women>> sat by each Persian. And when the Persians tried to touch them, they killed them. Then Alexander and the Makedones did away with all the evidence [carriages, servants, etc.]. Not much later the Persians searched for the envoys, but Alexander bribed them with money and gave his sister Gygaia to Boubares, the Persian and leader of those searching [a son was born out of this marriage named Amyntas]. This way the death of the envoys was silenced, and Herodotos adds that these descendants of Perdikkas were Hellenes, as they themselves declared; and that he knew that they were Hellenes and that he was going to prove this later in his history [which does not appear that he did]. [Then follows Alexander’s participation in the Olympics, above.] (Some would call this Alexandrian propaganda and question the event).

The story of men dressed as women has its parallel in Xenophon, Hellenika (ELLHNIKA), 5.4.3-7. It goes like this. After this [that is, Melon of Thebes meeting at Athens with Phillidas, secretary to the polemarchs –Archias, Philippos- magistrates of Thebes], Melon took with him six of the fittest men among the exiles, armed them with daggers and no other weapon, and proceeded by night into the territory of Thebes. As for Phillidas he was making all the arrangements for the polemarchs to celebrate the Aphrodisia [end of their office] and had promised to bring to them most beautiful women of Thebes. And the polemarchs being lovers of women [∑san går toioËtoi] expected a good time. They ate and they got drunk and told Phillidas to bring in the women. The women, of course, were Melon and his followers, three of them dressed as matrons [d°spoinai] and the rest as their followers [yerãpainai]. Phillidas left the <<men-women>> at a nearby room of the polemarchs’ office/headquarters - then he told the polemarchs that the women will not enter with servants [diãkonoi] in the room – the polemarchs dismissed the servants and Phillidas led in the women [•ta›rai] who sat beside each man, and at the signal [sÊnyhma] they were to unveil themselves and kill the polemarchs [that’s how the polemarchs died]. A second story has Melon and his followers dressed as revellers [kvmasta‹] and killing the polemarchs [Theban events of 379 B.C.].

Thoukydides [471-ca. 401 B.C.] also preserves a skeletal history of the Makedones in Bk. 2.99.1-6. Perdikkas was ruler [∑rxen] of Lower Makedonia [kãtv Makedon€an] at the time of the Peloponnesian War [down to 413 B.C.]. Of the Makedones there are the Lynkestians, the Elimiotes and other tribes [¶ynh] in the upper country, which have their own kings [basile€aw], though allied and subject to these Makedones (Argeads). The Makedonia which is now by the sea, Alexander, the father of Perdikkas just mentioned, and his Temenid ancestors from Argos first got possession of the land and ruled it [§bas€leusan] . They drove through war the Pieres out of Pieria, the Bottiaians from Bottia; they got possession of a narrow strip of land along the Axios from the Paionians [extending from the interior to Pella and the sea]; and they got possession of the land beyond the Axios to the Strymon river, the country called Mygdonia, and drove out the Edonians. They also drove out the Eordaians from what is now called Eordia; and the Almopians from Almopia. These Makedones took also away from other tribes [¶ynh] Anthemous, Grestonia, Bisaltia and much land of the Makedones themselves. The whole is called Makedonia and Perdikkas, son of Alexander, was their king [basileÁw] when king Sitalkes with his Thracians invaded Makedonia (Sitalkes disappointed with Perdikkas’ unfulfilled promise and complying with alliance with Athens).

Next in Bk. 2.100.1-6, Thoukydides says the Makedones took to fortified positions at Sitalkes’ invasion of autumn 429 B.C., of which there were not many. Later king [basileÁw] Archelaos, son of Perdikkas [413-399 B.C.], constructed the present fortified positions in the interior and cut straight roads; and organized the country for war with cavalry, arms and other equipment. [Thoukydides, IV.124.1: (Perd€kkaw ∑ge) œn §krãtei MakedÒnvn tØn dÊnamin ka‹ t«n §noikoÊntvn ÑEllÆnvn ıpl€taw – also a little less than1000 flppe›w MakedÒnvn-Xalkid°vn followed in the expedition against Arrabaios of Lynkos (with Brasidas, the Spartan commander, who later died at Amphipolis in 422 B.C.)].

Invasion of Sitalkes with his Thracians. Sitalkes took Eidomene [invading from Doberos]. – then Gortynia and Atalante – and Europos [Stephanos Byzantios: épÚ EÈrvpoË toË MakedÒnow ka‹ ÉVreiyu€aw t∞w K°kropow (cf. Thuia above)]. Then invaded the rest [or the other part] of Makedonia [tØn êllhn Makedon€an], to the left [west] of Pella and Kyrros. However, he did not enter Bottiaia and Pieria, but ravaged Mygdonia, Grestonia and Anthemous.

The Makedones did not even think of defending themselves with infantry [pez“], and called for cavalry [·ppouw] from their allies of the upper territories [¶ynh] – and though a few, nevertheless they charged at the Thracians – and no one could withstand them wherever they charged – being good horsemen and wearing cuirasses [êndraw flpp°aw te égayoÁw ka‹ teyvrakism°nouw]. Xenophon, Hellenika (ELLHNIKA), V.2.38-43, and 3.1-9 [Derdas, ruler of Elimia, participated with Teleutias, the Spartan commander, in the attack against Olynthos, 382 B.C.] – V.2.40: parå d¢ aÍt“ e‰xe (=Teleut€aw) D°rdan te ka‹ toÁw §ke€nou flpp°aw …w efiw tetrakos€ouw diã te tÚ êgasyai toËto tÚ flppikÚn ka‹ diå tÚ yerapeÊein tÚn D°rdan, …w ≤dÒmenow pare€h (while he kept by his own side Derdas and his horsemen, numbering about four hundred, not only because he admired this troop, but also to do honor to Derdas, so that he should be glad he had joined the expedition – Brownson, Loeb).

SOME remarks on language, etc.:

The inscriptions from Makedon(ia), with the exception of Latin ones from the Roman period, are Hellenic in language [or Greek], and this applies also to the names borne by the Makedones, with instances of what are called epichoric names, that is, native to Makedon(ia) [such as Derdas]. Only a few inscriptions so far have surfaced from an early period, dating from about the 6^th/5^th centuries B.C., with such names as Alios, Dolios, Apaqos, Machatas (from Aiane), and Piperia from Vergina. On the other hand, tradition has preserved the names of Makedonian kings of before Amyntas [-498/7 B.C.] and his son Alexander [ca. 498/9-454/3 B.C.], whose names have been noted previously, as well as the names of leading Makedonian women [Lanike, Kleonike, Kleopatra, Prothoe, Nikonoe, for example]. These names also fit into a Hellenic pattern pointing to a Hellenic origin of the names’ bearers [There is also the alliance between Athens and Perdikkas II and other Makedones of 423/2 B.C., it seems, which is good evidence, although fragmentary, for Makedonian onomastics (IG I3 89). Perdikkas, Arrabaios, Derdas, Antiochos, and others]. To this overwhelming evidence the counter argument usually put forth is that the Makedones had been Hellenized, which is impossible due to the fact that there is no evidence of such a Hellenization taking place, and onomastics strongly support a Hellenic origin for the Makedones. In any case, no ancient writer mentions a Hellenization of the Makedones, although the Makedones being surrounded by Illyrians, Thracians and others may have absorbed elements from them, and especially from areas which the Makedones conquered.

Moreover, there is no explicit reference in the ancient writers that the Makedones were bilingual, that is, speaking a native tongue and the Hellenic language [or Greek]. Plutarch (ca. 45-125 A.D.) uses the makedonist€, makedonist‹ tª fvnª and makedon€zein expressions in a language context, but no specimens are given, so in a sense it is not exactly clear what is meant by makedonist€, although from other such references it is correct to say that makedonist‹ refers to a way of speaking rather than to a separate Makedonian language, that is, separate from Hellenic [or Greek]. Other ancient writers of the Roman imperial period also speak of makedonist‹ [or makedon€zvn (tª fvnª)] (Dio Chrysostom, for example – rhetorician – 80 of his orations extant – about middle of 1^st centuty A.D.). [bl°pe ÉArx. ÉEfhm. 1993, AncW – patrius sermo].

There is also a papyrus fragment of the 2^nd century A.D. which speaks of events of about 320 B.C., and there a Xennias is qualified with the phrase makedon€zvn tª fvnª, which some tried to present as indisputable evidence that the Makedones spoke a separate language [from Greek]. One of the problems associated with this phrase is whether it goes back to 320 B.C. or whether it is simply a creation after Plutarch and other writers, as the makedonist€ element surfaces in the period of Plutarch more or less (see also Dio Chrysostom, Curtius and others) [Plutarch’s report that the Makedones pronounced the F as B [Moralia 292e], and consequently, for example, F€lippow becomes B€lippow (no epigraphic evidence that F€lippow was pronounced B€lippow) – this brings to mind Aristophanes, The Acharnians [Feb. 425 B.C.], lines 233-235: ka‹ bl°pein / BallÆnade / ka‹ di≈kein g∞n prÚw g∞w [BallÆnade=PallÆnade (to look toward Pallene)] (AncW 30.2 (1999) 122]. At any rate, the papyrus fragment has been identified as being Arrian’s, who wrote a history of Alexander and his diãdoxoi (Successors) of 323-280 B.C. in the middle of the second century A.D. In his history of Alexander (ÉAnãbasiw ÉAlejãndrou) there is no makedonist‹ reference, but only to Makedonikå ÙnÒmata (words) [êghma [elite unit], pez°tairoi [foot companions], ktl.] and to the g°now (<<race>>) of the Makedones and the Hellenes at the Battle of Issos, as Dareios’ mercenary Hellenes clashed with the Makedones or vice versa. However, even this reference to g°now does not carry much weight, for the Athenians and Spartans were from a different g°now [Athenians, Ionians – Spartans, Dorians].

Another ancient source usually cited [by some] for a Makedonian language is the Roman writer Curtius (Q. Curtius Rufus), who wrote a historical account of Alexander, perhaps in the middle of the 1^st century A.D. At the treason trial of Philotas, a distinguished commander and son of the illustrious general Parmenion, in 330 B.C. [at Alexandria Prophthasia (in the area of Gedrosia] Curtius (Bk. 6.9.25-11.7) has Alexander asking Philotas whether he was going to defend himself in the patrius sermo (ancestral tongue). Philotas replies that he will speak in the language in which Alexander was speaking [taken to be the Hellenic koine=common Greek] so he will be understood by all present, implying that there was such a patrius sermo. Later on, however, Philotas goes on to say that the patrius sermo has been forgotten through the intermixture with other people. This last statement contradicts Alexander’s [and Philotas’ implied] patrius sermo and greatly weakens or eliminates the argument that Alexander’s patrius sermo is good evidence for a separate Makedonian language [at least at the time of Alexander]. This matter of Curtius’ patrius sermo falls within the province of rhetorical hyperbole, and there is much coloring in his account of the proceedings of Philotas’ trial.

In the Alexander Romance or Pseudo-Kallisthenes, there is a Makedon who addresses Alexander in his death bed, first in common Greek= koine, and then makedonist€. However, the makedonist‹ specimen does not show any peculiarities from the koine specimen, and there is no mentioning, for example, that the makedonist‹ specimen is a translation of what the Makedon said to Alexander in Makedonian [fashion], which again implies only a Makedonian way of speaking Hellenic/Greek.

Makedonian linguistic peculiariti