Ancient Macedonia in the context of "Campsa (Macedonia)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Ancient Macedonia

Macedonia (/ˌmæsɪˈdniə/ MASS-ih-DOH-nee-ə; Greek: Μακεδονία, Makedonía), also called Macedon (/ˈmæsɪdɒn/ 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 with its capital at Aigai, 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 the Argead king Philip II (359–336 BC), Macedonia (with its capital at 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.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of Battle of the Echinades (322 BC)

The Battle of the Echinades was one of the naval battles of the Lamian War (323–322 BC), fought between the Macedonian navy under Cleitus the White and the Athenian navy.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of Battle of Amorgos

The Battle of Amorgos was one of the naval battles of the Lamian War (323–322 BC), fought between the Macedonian navy under Cleitus the White and the Athenian navy under Euetion. Although few details are known, it was a clear Athenian defeat, although the Athenians seem to have suffered few losses. Regarded as the decisive naval battle of the war, it signalled the end of Athenian thalassocracy and political independence.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of Paeonians

Paeonians (Ancient Greek: Παίονες, romanized: Paíones) were an ancient Indo-European people that dwelt in Paeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north of Ancient Macedonia, to the south of Dardania, to the west of Thrace and to the east of Illyria, most of their land was in the Axios (or Vardar) river basin, roughly in what is today North Macedonia.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of Second Macedonian War

The Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC) was fought between Macedon, led by Philip V of Macedon, and Rome, allied with Pergamon, Rhodes and the Aetolian League. Philip was defeated and was forced to abandon all possessions in southern Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor. During their intervention, although the Romans declared the "freedom of the Greeks" against the rule from the Macedonian kingdom, the war marked a significant stage in increasing Roman intervention in the affairs of the eastern Mediterranean, which would eventually lead to Rome's conquest of the entire region.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of Archaeological Museum of Pella

The Archaeological Museum of Pella (Greek: Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Πέλλας) is a museum in Pella in the Pella regional unit of Central Macedonia. The building was designed by architect Kostas Skroumpellos and is on the site of the ancient city of Pella. It was completed in 2009 with the support of the Greece's Third Community Support Framework.

It is situated near the archaeological site of the ancient Macedonian palace. The building has a rectangular atrium, as a reference to the central peristyle courtyard of ancient houses in Pella.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of Pella (regional unit)

Pella (Greek: Περιφερειακή ενότητα Πέλλας) is one of the regional units of Greece, in the geographic region of Macedonia. It is part of the Region of Central Macedonia. It is named after the ancient city of Pella, the capital of ancient Macedonia and the birthplace of Alexander the Great. The capital of Pella is Edessa with a population of 19,036 inhabitants according to the census of 2021, while the largest town is Giannitsa. Other towns include Aridaia, Skydra, Arnissa, Exaplatanos and Krya Vrysi.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of N. G. L. Hammond

Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, CBE, DSO, FBA (15 November 1907 – 24 March 2001) was a British historian, geographer, classicist and an operative for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in occupied Greece during the Second World War.

Hammond was seen as the leading expert on the history of ancient Macedonia. His trilogy, A History of Macedonia, has been described as the "most celebrated (and partly irreplaceable) work" on the subject. Additionally, he was recognised for his meticulous research on the geography, historical topography and history of ancient Epirus.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of Amphaxitis

Amphaxitis (Ancient Greek: Ἀμφαξῖτις) refers to the western maritime part of the Mygdonia district of ancient Macedonia, on Axius river.

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Ancient Macedonia in the context of Cassandreia

Cassandreia or Cassandrea (Ancient Greek: Κασσάνδρεια, Kassándreia) was once one of the most important cities in Ancient Macedonia, founded by and named after Cassander in 316 BC. It was located on the site of the earlier Ancient Greek city of Potidaea, at the isthmus of the Pallene peninsula. The fact that Cassander named it after himself suggests that he may have intended it to be his capital, and if the canal which cuts the peninsula at this point was dug or at least planned in his time, he may have intended to develop his naval forces using it as a base with a harbour on each of the east and west sides. Cassandreia soon became a great and powerful city, surpassing the other Macedonian towns in wealth. Philip V of Macedon made Cassandreia his main naval base. At the end of the Roman Republic, around 43 BC by order of Brutus a Roman colony was settled by the proconsul Q. Hortensius Hortalus, which in 30 BC was resettled by August with the installation of new settlers and took the official name Colonia Iulia Augusta Cassandrensis. The territory of the colony had included within its boundaries the peninsula of Pallini and the district stretched north of the canal to the foot of the mountain Cholomontas. The colony enjoyed ius Italicum, and is mentioned in Pliny the Elder's encyclopaedia and in inscriptions. It was destroyed by the Huns and Slavs around 540 AD.

The modern settlement of Kassandreia (named Valta before 1955) lies to the south of the ancient site. The ancient site of Cassandreia, near the town Nea Poteidaia, has not been excavated.

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