The Kingdom of Macedonia was the largest plain in the north of the Balkan Peninsula, famous for its cavalry. In the oldest times they were tribes of shepherds, partially nomadic, each endowed with its king, both a warrior and religious chief, later, they would become farmers, it was an aristocratic state, in which the heads of the great families played an important role at the king's side. The first prominent king of Macedon was Alexander I Philohelenus (498-454) who extended his domain along the west bank of the river Strymon.
Another outstanding monarch was Philip II who came to the throne as regent for his nephew Amintas, who was a child, Philip II faced the dangers that the kingdom was facing, the originality of Philip II was to save and restore the city at the same time. Macedonian national monarchy, that's why he was crowned king by the Macedonian army.
Geographic Framework
Currently, the territory of the Greek province of Macedonia comprises the nomes of Florina. Kastoria, Grevena, Kozani, Pieria, Imazia, Pella, Kilkis, Thessaloniki, Chalkidiki, Seres, Drama and Kavala, their former territory is divided between Greece and the neighboring countries.
Different features such as the language, the beliefs in the Olympian gods or the cults of the serpent and the institutions testify to the Greek entity of the peoples of Northern Greece and Macedonia, whom the Athenians unfairly described as barbarians . This qualification may be due to their language, since the Greeks of the fourth century did not understand the language of the Macedonian common people who were the ones who preserved it, since the Macedonian aristocracy spoke Attic Greek, a language cultivated next to an language of hillbillies
The Macedonians understood the Greeks without an interpreter, although a Macedonian commander who wanted his troops to understand him had to speak to them in Macedonian . Little is also known about the pronunciation of Macedonian Greek, except that, for example, Philip was called Bilipo.
Economy
Its economy, fundamentally, was based on three pillars:agriculture, livestock and industry. Livestock was famous, especially horses, the base of his army, while in industry mining stood out, since there were many minerals, including gold and silver, that existed in the region. They also made pitch and tar. These economic resources were complemented by those obtained from other activities, such as fishing in rivers and lakes.
Political and social organization
The news about the archaic Macedonia are scarce. Only the episodic testimonies of foreign travelers, such as Herodotus and Thucydides, remain. Specialized works have been lost, such as the Makidonika of Marsyas of Pella and Marsyas of Philippi the Younger .
It is known that, around the 6th century BC, the Macedonian population, some 520,000 inhabitants, was grouped into four tribes or ethos instead of poleis, an organization that was not entirely foreign to the Greeks. Thucydides III, defines the Aetolians as a wide ethos that lives in towns without walls .
RoyalDynasties
There were two Macedonian royal dynasties:The Argeadas and the Themenids , founded the latter according to Herodotus by Pérdicas, a descendant of Témenos. For certain historians, the expansion of peoples towards Macedonia was one more phase of the Second Greek colonization .
The Macedonian State
The primitive Macedonians were free men who maintained primitive customs of a rather singular character. In the most ancient times they were tribes of shepherds, partially nomadic, each endowed with its king, both warrior and religious chief, with a Council of Elders and a popular Assembly that participated in important decisions. Later, upon settling, they would become farmers.
Ancient authors cite a royal official, the skoidos , whose functions were related to justice and the economy. Hesiquio also points out the existence of a Council of the Tagoi , possibly notable who swore an oath of allegiance to the king after signing treaties. Its magistrates were chosen from among the elders.
Thus, through these fragmentary testimonies, an aristocratic state can be guessed, in which the heads of the great families played an important role alongside the king , a scene that also evokes Herodotus. The king took foreigners into his service, although paying them little, since the economy of the oikos it was strict, being administered by the queen, who baked the bread herself in the king's house. These preliminaries allow us to define the characteristics of a primitive monarchy, which classical writers already know after a certain evolution.
The Macedonian Monarchy
The first Themenids (who descended from the Themenid kings of Argos and therefore from Heracles), were war chiefs, with their own religious beliefs, their own military techniques and the prestige of their sacred origin. Their power, conferred by the Macedonians who had freely followed them, was exercised for a precise purpose:the acquisition of new lands.
Thus, it can be said that the Macedonian state was born from a precarious conjunction of interests. Hence the distinction observed later between the king of the Macedonians and the people of the Macedonians. The king was, above all things, a war chief.
The Macedonian king was sovereign in matters of military command and in religious matters and sometimes presided over the action of justice. The kings took an oath to rule according to the laws, something that is not unusual among the Greek peoples, since the Spartans and the Molossians did the same. As for the religious role of the Macedonian king, it is well attested.** The religious capital was Aigai or Egas** (perhaps present-day Vergina, where the spectacular Macedonian royal tombs were discovered). The death of a king gave rise to a competition between his sons, each supported by a faction of the population or even by foreign allies. Thus, the elimination of Amyntas in favor of Philip II shows that the Macedonians had their right to an opinion and that the rights of the young prince could not prevail over the consensus of the Macedonians in favor of his uncle.
In classical Macedonia there was not much urbanization before the Peloponnesian War . There were Greek cities in the North Aegean, but many were colonies of Euboea or Corinth.
Alexander I Philoheleno (498 – 454 BC)
The first prominent king of Macedonia was Alexander I Philohellenus (498-454) who extended his dominions to the west bank of the river Strímon, where he conquered the district of Bisaltia, rich in silver mines. Keenly interested in Greek culture, he was called Philohellenus and, recognized by the Helians as a fellow citizen, he was admitted to participate in the festivities of Olympia. It was in contact with the Persian Empire and society that Alexander I acquired the notion of State, leaving Macedonia at his death as a consolidated country that withstood serious crises in which the monarchy did not disappear, as in the rest of the Greek world.
Macedonia emerged from these initial conflicts with more territories and with aspirations to extend towards Thrace, although problems such as the lack of land, the absence of clear monarchical succession laws and the hereditary concession to princes of the house were not lacking. real and also, probably, to other people, from parts of the national territory. Although these possessions continued under royal rule, the powers that the princes had in them were so extensive that they were even authorized to raise levies on their own and to have their own army.
Archelaus I (413 – 399 BC)
The successors of Alexander I continued his policy with two main objectives:Unite the Macedonian tribes and extend their territorial domains.
Among them stood out Arquelaus I (413-399), who was the ninth of the Macedonian kings. This king ordered the assassination of all relatives who could dispute the throne, built fortifications and carried out improvements to the roads, in addition to reorganizing the equipment of the army and especially of the famous Macedonian cavalry.
He was the one who moved the capital, from ancient Egas, to Pella (or Pela), which communicated with the sea through the course of the Loudias river, indicative, perhaps, of the aspirations of the Macedonian kings over Thrace and opened his court to such well-known artists as the painter Zeuxis and the tragic poet Euripides.
Assassinated Archelaus I in the year 399, his death left the unification of the Balkans and Thessaly under a Macedonian king postponed for forty years, as he did not leave a strong successor, since during the following six years various kings reigned successively in Macedonia:Orestes, Aeropo II, Amyntas II the Small and Pausanias, a situation that was taken advantage of by the other neighboring powers, both large and small, Greek or barbarian.
Amintas III (393 – 370 BC)
Only the next king, Amintas III (393-370), also a descendant of Alexander I Philohelenus, managed to dominate the country's internal turmoil and carried out a series of actions in foreign policy.
At his death there was a fight between pretenders to the throne. His eldest son, Alexander II, was assassinated in the year 369 and the fight continued until another son of Amyntas III, Perdiccas III came to the throne. (365-360), who was a shrewd diplomat who tried to take advantage of the ambitions of Athens on the Chalcidic Peninsula. He died in combat with the Illyrians who had invaded his kingdom, leaving as his successor his son Amyntas, a child of a few years. The Assembly of the Plebs appointed as regent in the year 359 his uncle Philip, third son of Amyntas III and Eurydice, who was then twenty-four years old, who faced the dangers that the kingdom was facing, among them the particularism of the different lords that existed in Macedonia, the different claimants to the throne, the invasion of the Illyrians from the west and the Paeonians from the north, and the ambitions of Athens and the Chalcidic League.
It was precisely to have an opportunity to march against the Illyrians that Philip made an alliance with King Neoptolemus of the Molossians, a people who lived north of Epirus, and married his daughter Olympias (year 357). Probably, after this wedding, he was proclaimed king by the Macedonian army, replacing the young king Amyntas, who survived in the shadows
Philip II (382-336 fl.C.)
The old Macedonian monarchy had a superiority based on its military organization and on a nobility or military aristocracy with a deep dynastic feeling, which was the key to the State.
If the king was a boy, only the army could appoint a regent or guardian. Since the army elected the king, it could also depose him, although in political matters the army had no say and if it wished to undertake a certain course of action it could only be achieved by mutiny, as it sometimes did.
Philip II's originality was to save and restore the Macedonian national monarchy at the same time. Although the internal evolution of Macedonia in his time almost completely escapes us, it is clear that it was profound, increasing royal power. At the same time, two essential institutions for the Macedonian state appear:The Greek-speaking Chancellery and a permanent guard:The Hypaspistes .
Army Composition
The Macedonian army was made up of different parts:
The Phalanx , in the center the phalanx fought, a word with multiple meanings that has come to designate, par excellence, the Macedonian infantry. Created by King Archelaus, as already said, its definitive form was given to it by Philip II. It was made up of infantrymen armed with the sarissa, a spear 5 to 7 meters long and round shields, aspis, smaller than the usual ones in Greek armies. They were convex or convex in shape and had geometric decorations.
The phalanx was made up, above all, of peasants and free shepherds, led by nobles. The formation was sixteen ranks deep and the novices were surrounded and led by the veterans. Starting from the sixth row, each soldier leaned on the back of the one before him, forming a formidable and fearsome mass among all. Alexander the Great reduced his ranks to eight making it more agile.
The Cavalry , in the wings the cavalry fought, nourished by nobles, organized in regiments.
The Mercenaries , Philip II completed his army with mercenaries, both Hellenes and barbarians, although the most characteristic of the Macedonian army is that it was national and military service was compulsory for all male citizens, although for his conquests, Philip II used a new strategy in which the cities besieged by famine did not surrender, as had been the custom until then, but rather using war machines.
The first epoch of the reign of Philip II (357-354 B.C).
The first objective of Philip II was to get rid of his enemies in the Balkan Peninsula and to obtain an outlet to the sea for Macedonia.
The Macedonian Expansion
He conquered Thrace, which he organized as a Persian satrapy and which became directly dependent on Philip II and allied himself with Neoptolemus, king of the Molossians, a people who lived north of Epirus. He also established relations with Athens.
The following year (355 BC), Philip II consolidated his positions in the northern Aegean and his authority over Macedonia , counting for this on the resources provided by the gold mines of Mount Pangeo that allowed him to issue abundant coins of this metal and the development of his kingdom, attracting the local Macedonian nobility to his court, distributing positions and functions among his components, so that this measure ensured permanent control over the local aristocracy, transforming the nobles into palatial aristocrats, separated from the people. From the bosom of this nobility came his best generals, such as Parmenio, Antipater and Perdiccas, then companions of his son Alexander and, later, his successors or Diadocos.
Political and Military Organization
As we have already said, the Macedonian monarchy was quasi-constitutional . The king was, at the same time, military leader, priest and supreme judge and occupied, at the head of his soldiers, the position of a primus ínter pares . One of the main concerns of Philip II was to conveniently organize and train his army .
Structure of the Army of Philip II
The Hetairoi
Armed with swords and spears, the Macedonian horsemen formed the body of the so-called hetairoi (Partners or comrades). Among these Companions of the King were also, along with the Macedonians, many individuals of Greek descent. They were about 1,500 or 1,800 and had a salary or income in exchange for their services. Alexander's fellow students were chosen from among his sons, many of whom later accompanied him on his conquests.** This cavalry of the hetairoi or hetairas** was subdivided into tactical units, regiments, and far outnumbered the cavalry Greek in terms of striking force.
The Pezetairoi
From about the year 369, the free peasantry, who were not conscripted into the cavalry because they could not afford the costly weaponry of the knights, were conscripted as pezetairoi (foot soldiers), core of the phalanx.
The Hypaspistes
It also had a national body of light infantry, the hypaspistes (shield bearers) or bodyguards.
The Sarissoforos
In addition to the hetairoi, Philip II's army had another cavalry, the sarissoforos (lancers armed with the spear called sarissa), possibly non-Macedonians, whose weapons were heavier than those of the hetairas, so their mobility in combat was less.
The Macedonian infantry, in addition to the already mentioned hypaspistes, was made up of archers, dart throwers and light infantry (peltasts). These corps, especially the hypaspistes, served as a link in battles between the phalanx (lined up very tightly, which reduced their mobility) and the cavalry.
New constitution in the army of Philip II
The novelty in the new constitution of Philip II's Macedonian army was that the center of the order of battle was occupied by the hoplite infantry, which reinforced and made the organization of the sarissas phalanx even more coherent, although that center was framed by people on foot with varied functions. Philip II adopted the oblique line of battle, used by the Theban Epaminondas, to which he added the use of cavalry, which he placed on the left or right wing, as the situation demanded.
Another of the objectives of Philip II was to create a fleet, for which he faced Athens, owner of the sea.
The opposition to Philip II
The group of Athenian Citizens opposed to Philip II was headed by the orator Demosthenes and that of the Philo-Macedonians by Esquines. A third group, in favor of peace, was that of Eubulus and his followers, for whom the essential problem was the preservation of peace, since they thought that Athens could not maintain a policy of war in the north, since the so-called War of the Confederates or the Athenian League, also Social War (years 357-355), which took place in the first years of the reign of Philip II, had ended with the complete defeat of the Athenians and the dissolution of the Second Delian league.
Meanwhile, in the year 362 the battle of Mantinea had taken place. , last Theban offensive against Sparta, in which, despite the Theban victory against the united armies of Athens and Sparta, the death of their general Epaminondas harmed the Boeotian city. This battle was the beginning of the Theban decline and the rise of Macedonia in Greece .
The Third Sacred War (356 – 346 a.C)
The Third Holy War began in 356 BC and lasted until 346 BC. C, between the armies of Fócida and Tebas by the control of Delphi. This war was longer and more violent than the Second Holy War.
Phocis was fined by the Amphictyons which angered the leader of Phocis named Philomelo, who took power at Delphi. Starting a war that would end with the signing of the Peace of Philocrates between Philip II and Athens.
Philip II's position in Greece
By the beginning of 345, Philip II's position in Greece had advanced considerably. He dominated the pass of Thermopylae, which opened the way to central Greece, had been elected Archon or lakes of the Thessalian league and dominated the Amphictyony of Delphi, where the two Phocian votes went to Philip II and Phocis was divided into towns. .
It was at this time that the speeches of Isocrates, faithful to his Panhellenistic idea, tried to persuade the Macedonian king to become the leader of the Greeks in the fight against the Persians, while the anti-Macedonian position of Demosthenes had not changed, accusing Philip II of violating the peace, denouncing his interference in Euboea.
The Period Between Wars (346 – 340)
Although peace was formally declared in these years, each of the adversaries sought to consolidate their positions, certain that the confrontations had not ended. In Athens the influence of the pro-war party was growing, Philocrates was sentenced to death, accused of treason, the Athenian fleet was rebuilt and reinforced and a new special tax was created to build a new arsenal in Piraeus. In addition, a new contingent of troops was sent to the Chersonesus.
In Macedonia, Philip II strengthened his positions in the north of the Aegean and its borders, helped the Thessalian cities to expel their tyrants and reorganize the Thessalian league and had himself elected Archon for life of the league, disposing of his treasure in his own hands. benefit. In addition, he installed a Macedonian garrison in Feras and intervened in Epirus helping his brother-in-law Alexander. These moves caused the reversal of alliances, joining Athens, Corinth and its colonies, the Achaean league Argos, Arcadia and Messenia.
The Hellenic League
In the following years, the problem is to know if Philip II violated the peace or if Demosthenes invented the facts that he attributes to the Macedonian king.
Meanwhile, in the year 340 the Hellenic League had been founded. , whose objective was to face the threat that Filipo II represented on the navigation of the Black Sea.
When Philip II finally attacked Byzantium, threatening the supply of wheat to Athens, Athens sent help, which meant war again.
The Fourth Sacred War (339 – 338 BC)
The Macedonian king's troubles emboldened his enemies, who were preparing for war. In Macedonia, Filipo, during the summer of the year 339, found himself with a new situation that allowed him to intervene again in the affairs of Greece.
During a meeting of the Council of the Delphic Amphictynia, Aeschines proposed declaring a holy war , against the inhabitants of the city of Anfisa, accusing them of taking advantage of some land in the Cirra plain, considered sacred because it belongs to the sanctuary of Delphi.
Macedonian Hegemony entrenchment:
The year after the Battle of Chaeronea, after an autumn expedition to the Peloponnese, in which the Macedonian king reduced Sparta to its original territory. Philip II wanted to definitively clarify the affairs of central Greece, for which he invited the delegates of the Greek States to a meeting in Corinth, creating a Confederation of Greek States (or League of Corinth), founded in the year 337. All except Sparta, concluded a treaty with Philip II of Macedonia, which established a common peace, under certain mutual conditions and the common goal, materialized in the declaration of war against the Persians to avenge the sacrilege committed the previous century by the Persian king Xerxes against the Persians. Greek temples.
Corinthian League
The supreme body of this League of Corinth it was the synedrion o Council of the Hellenes , composed of the delegates of the participating States. Of the components of the Corinthian league, only a fragmentary list is known, which shows that next to the different poleis various tribal states belonged to it. Although it was a defensive league, it differed from previous symmachias in that it was dominated by a single man:Philip II of Macedon while the previously known ones were dominated by a polis. This League of Hellenes and the King of Macedonia they were united by an offensive and defensive alliance, to defend themselves against (possible) Persian attacks and to avenge the ancient Persian offense, in the time of Xerxes (year 480), to the Greek gods. Its Chief bore the title of strategos autokrátor .
The states or poleis
The States or poleis were free and autonomous, but it was evident that they would have to submit to the demands of the one who had been stronger than them in the fight. With Philip II, the monarchy won in its fight with the polis, and to counteract the psychological effect of the loss of freedom , fought by Demosthenes, Philip II, on the advice of Isocrates, gave the Hellenes, for the first time, a common goal:the war against the Persians, something that related his family for generations with satraps of this country whose origin he would undoubtedly know. great economic potential, should be its great objective. Greece, then, was only his first target. And he could not meet the second.
The Preparations for the War Against Persia
Preparations for war began, Philip II obtained permission to maintain Macedonian garrisons at Thebes, Chalcis, Ambracia and Corinth and summoned military contingents from the Greek states.
In the first months of the year 336, a vanguard of about 10,000 men, commanded by the Macedonian generals Parmenio and Attalo , supported by a fleet, passed the Hellespont, Philip II being scheduled to follow in the autumn with the rest of the league army.
The situation in Persia in these years it was difficult, since Antaxerxes Eight had died violently and the weak Darío III Codomano had just ascended the throne.
The situation in Athens it was gradually leaning in favor of Macedon. The economy recovered under the leadership of Lycurgus, and Phocion persuaded his fellow citizens to supply cavalry and ships for the expedition against Persia.
The Problems of the Macedonian Court
Family problems marked the life of Philip II of Macedonia, a life that was violently cut short, dying assassinated in full maturity, when he was only forty-six years old. Philip II had had six wives and seven children of them only three sons:Carano , son of Fila of Elimiotis; Loading , son of Philina of Larissa, Thessalian princess and Alexander the Great , his successor, the son of Olympias.
Beliefs and Gods of Olympia
Olympias, princess, daughter of King Neoptolemus of Epirus and descendant, according to legend, of Achilles, had met Philip II at the festivals of the Mysteries of Sabazio, in Samothrace. The adverse legend spread by her enemies, together with the traditional misogyny of history, covers her with mysterious, violent and neurotic overtones, presenting her as dominated by superstition and witchcraft, although perhaps these ceremonies in which she participated were only a product of the traditions of his country. There, the rites of the orgiastic cult of Sabazios (the Greco-Latin Dionysus-Bacchus) god of fertility and immortality as Adonis , understood the death by dismemberment of the god, whose meat the faithful ate of him. The snake, father of Alexander the Great, according to the anti-Philip legend spread by Queen Olympia, it was, among other dedications and cults, the sacred animal of Sabazios, since Zeus happened to have been transformed into this animal to join Persephone and spawn Sabazios .
The Death of Philip II (336 BC)
Only the assassination of Philip II, that same year, at the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to King Alexander of Epirus, at the theater of Egas, in Macedonia, stopped the expedition to Persia. Apparently, the murderer, named Pausanias, a member of the king's guard and related to the house of Orestes, in Upper Macedonia, acted for personal reasons. The king, who was advancing towards the theater, ordered his companions to go ahead, since he did not think he needed the protection of the guard, after having participated in a procession in which he himself had been represented as the thirteenth of the great gods. of Olympus and his isolation in courtship only pointed out his condition as a superhuman being . But neither can it be ruled out that the murderer acted at the instigation of Olympias, the wife repudiated by Philip II who stayed with her son in expectation in Epirus, or by some circles of the Macedonian nobility or even that he was, inadvertently, an instrument of the Persians.
Pursued by Perdiccas, Attalus, and Leonatus, among others, Pausanias was pierced by his javelins, thereby silencing him. And the inducers of the king's death thus remained anonymous.
Polyxena, Myrtale, Olympias, Stratonica (380-315/16 BC)
If any woman had a decisive role in the personal life and political projection of Alexander the Great, she was his mother, supporter and advisor to the young king in difficult times.
Personality
The personality of this woman deserves to be highlighted among those who surrounded Alexander. She had a great personality, political dimension and a long life full of fears, struggles and passionate political maneuvering, not always well seen. For this reason, she went down in history as ambitious, cruel and neurotic, characteristics that in a man would have possibly been defined as great political skills . She was also accused of witchcraft. En realidad, todo epíteto negativo solo trata de impedir que aflore la valiosa y verdadera personalidad indudable de una mujer que, indudablemente, fue la que puso a Alejandro en un trono del que su mismo padre y la nobleza macedonia querían apartarle.
Matrimonio con Filipo II
Hija del rey de Molosia, Neoptólemo, Olimpia, hija, esposa y madre de reyes, debió nacer hacia el año 380 a.C. Su nombre de soltera fue Políxena, puesto en honor de la joven hija de priamo de Troya, sacrificada en la tumba de Aquiles. Huérfana de padre y madre, cuando la conoció Filipo II, mientras ambos participaban, como dijimos, en la vecina isla de Samotracia en los Misterios de los Cabiros, tenía dieciocho años.
Al casarse con el rey tomó el nombre de Mirtale y sólo recibió el nombre de Olimpiade en conmemoración de la victoria que alcanzaron los caballos del rey en los Juegos de Olimpia, que a veces se hace coincidir con el día del nacimiento de Alejandro, en el año 356 a.C.
Su cuarto nombre fue Estratonica , en honor de la victoria obtenida en defensa de su nieto, Alejandro IV, frente a su rival Eurídice, aliada con los sucesores de Casandro.
Caída y muerte de Olimpia
Tras morir Alejandro Magno, Olimpiade inició una política de alianzas matrimoniales, por lo que su hija Cleopatra, viuda a la sazón de Alejandro de Épiro, debía casarse con el general Leonato. Pero Antípatro lo impidió.
Al morir éste, su hijo Poliperconte invitó a Olimpiade a regresar a Macedonia y defender los derechos de su nieto Alejandro IV. Caído en desgracia Poliperconte, los atenienses se inclinaron hacia Casandro que finalmente hizo asesinar a la reina en su último refugio frente al mar:Pidna, en el año 315/316 a.C., donde fue apedreada hasta morir por los familiares de sus víctimas.
Esta brava mujer tenía al morir unos sesenta y cinco años y había visto desaparecer sucesivamente a casi todos sus descendientes y con ellos, su sueño de mantener el imperio de Alejandro Magno. Su nieto Alejandro IV sólo le sobrevivió cinco años. Y su hija Cleopatra murió en 308 a.C.
Con esta princesa desaparecieron los herederos directos de Alejandro Magno. Y las conquistas del rey macedonio quedaron en manos de sus compañeros, los Diadocos o sucesores .