Macedonia (ancient kingdom)

Macedonia Μακεδονία
c. 7th century – 168 BC 150–148 BC
Vergina Sun
The Kingdom of Macedonia in 336 BC (orange)
Capital	Aigai[1] (before 399 BC) Pella[2] (399–168 BC)
Common languages	Ancient Macedonian, Attic, Koine Greek
Religion	Greek polytheism, Hellenistic religion
Demonym(s)	Macedonian
Government	Hereditary monarchy
Basileus
• 359–336 BC	Philip II
• 336–323 BC	Alexander the Great
• 179–168 BC	Perseus (last)
• 149–148 BC	Andriscus (rebel claim)
Legislature	Synedrion
Historical era	Classical Antiquity
• legendary foundation by Caranus or Perdiccas I	7th century BC
• Vassal of Persia[3]	512/511–493 BC
• Incorporated into the Persian Empire[3]	492–479 BC
• Rise of Macedon	359–336 BC
• Founding of the Hellenic League	338–337 BC
• Conquest of Persia	335–323 BC
• Partition of Babylon	323 BC
• Wars of the Diadochi	322–275 BC
• Battle of Pydna	168 BC
Area
323 BC[4][5]	5,200,000 km2 (2,000,000 sq mi)
Currency	Tetradrachm
Preceded by Succeeded by Greek Dark Ages Achaemenid Macedonia League of Corinth Achaemenid Empire Pauravas Lysimachian Empire Seleucid Empire Ptolemaic Kingdom Attalid kingdom Macedonia province

Macedonia (/ˌmæsɪˈdoʊniə/ ^ⓘ MASS-ih-DOH-nee-ə; Greek: Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (/ˈmæsɪdɒn/ MASS-ih-don), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece,^[6] which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece.^[7] 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 centered on the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula,^[8] 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 outside of the area dominated by the great city-states of Athens, Sparta and Thebes, and briefly subordinate to Achaemenid Persia.^[3] During the reign of the Argead king Philip II (359–336 BC), Macedonia 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 center in the Mediterranean region along with Ptolemaic Egypt, the Seleucid Empire, and the Attalid kingdom. Important cities such as Pella, Pydna, and Amphipolis were involved in power struggles for control of the territory. New cities were founded, such as Thessalonica by the usurper Cassander (named after his wife Thessalonike of Macedon).^[9] Macedonia's decline began with the Macedonian Wars 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.