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Macedonian monarchy

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  Quote ironwill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Macedonian monarchy
    Posted: 05-Jul-2005 at 11:53

Hello. I 'm doing a project about the rise of Macedon to world-power status and i would be interested to read your thoughts and infos on the institution of monarchy in ancient Macedonia. I would appreciate to know more about the Macedonian kings before Philip's reign.

 

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  Quote Perseas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Jul-2005 at 13:45

Firstly I have to mention that Macedonian kings could be only members from the royal family of Temenids and always men. Temenids ancestry was from Argos of Peloponnese, thus they were known also by the name Argeads and the family members claimed as their ancestor, Hercules.

 

If the King died, heir to the throne was elected from the Macedonian assembly, as they also have the right to depose him. The sussesion could be clear or , in case of the heir of the throne to be a non-adult, the Macedonian assembly was appointing a regent. Usually the regent was a member of the royal family. After the election the new king was wearing the royal dress and the ring, symbol of the royal family. His bodyguards were coming next to him and the peoples assembly was hitting their spears to their shields while swearing faith to the new king and they would fight till death against the enemies of the king.

 

The king was the head of the state in all its activities. One of the significant parts of Macedonian kingdomships was polygamy. Each king should be certain that he would have at least one heir so always the kings had more than two wifes. This exact tradition was seen as a barbaric custom from the greek city-states where monogamy was most accepted. They considered as legitimate queen. only one of kings wives and the rest as mistresses. Based on this, many Macedonian royal members were seen from the rest of greeks as bastards. Most of the marriages, Macedonian kings we having, were fully politically motivated. A king could marry a member of the royal family of another state just to seal a political/strategical alliance or versa he could matchmake one of the members of his own family for the same reasoning.

Another possibility was the king to send as hostage a member of his family to another state as a guarantee for an agreement eg Phillip II in his youth.

 

The female members of the Macedonian royal family had in their vast majority, insignificant role in the governing of the state. Exception to this, were Eyridice and Olympias. A large role in a kings daily life was playing the worship of their ancestor Hercules in Aiges, as well to the rest of gods. The king was the commander of Macedonian army and as a tradition he was between the first lines of the battle, mostly as head of cavalry.

 

In case of treason, the accused was brought to trial in front of the Macedonian assembly while the king was the main proseccutor. In reality, the life of the Macedonian kingdom was largely dependant from the capabilities of the king.

A mathematician is a person who thinks that if there are supposed to be three people in a room, but five come out, then two more must enter the room in order for it to be empty.
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  Quote Perseas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-Jul-2005 at 12:49
Originally posted by ironwill

I would appreciate to know more about the Macedonian kings before Philip's reign.

Alexander I: He is most known for his participation at the Olympic games and less known about his achievements as a king. During his reign his kingdom became vassal to the Persian empire, while i will have to say Alexander's kingom incorporated the lands of the Elimeiotae, Orestae and Lyncestae tribes of Upper Macedonia. He helped a lot the greek city-states by giving them secretly advices of the Persian intentions, especially before the battle of Platees, thus he was given the nickname the Philhellene.

Perdicas II: I believe he and his son Archelaus,were the most skilful kings before Phillip and he had unique diplomatic skills. At the time of his reign, Macedonia was attacked by neighbouring forces like Sitalkes of Thrace but because of Perdicas clever diplomatic tricks by changing sides when needed, he managed to keep his kingdom intact.

Archelaus I: Contrary to his father's policies, Archelaus was in favor of Athens, helping significantly Athens by supplying them with the timber they needed for building their ships. According to Thucydides, Archelaus improved Macedonian army, made straight roads and his period of reign was one of the best Macedonia had ever seen. 

A mathematician is a person who thinks that if there are supposed to be three people in a room, but five come out, then two more must enter the room in order for it to be empty.
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07-Jul-2005 at 07:23

Macedonian royalty as a rule lived hard and died young. There were more Macedonian kings who were murdered (most by their own family members) or killed in battlefields than these who died from natural causes. From the major (historical) kings, Phillip II was assasinated at his 46 , Alexander III died from a disputable illness, Alex I died violently, so did Archelaus and his two brothers. Perdikkas III died in the battle unlike his father Amyntas III who was one of them who died old from natural causes.

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  Quote ill_teknique Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07-Jul-2005 at 10:00
what happened to alexander's infant son after he died.
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  Quote Perseas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07-Jul-2005 at 10:35

Originally posted by ill_teknique

what happened to alexander's infant son after he died.

Hercules, his son from Varsini, was assasinated, along with his mother, from Polyperchon after order of Cassander while he was 18 y.o.

His other son, Alexander IV was murdered in his 14 again from Cassander.

A mathematician is a person who thinks that if there are supposed to be three people in a room, but five come out, then two more must enter the room in order for it to be empty.
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  Quote ironwill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Jul-2005 at 18:18
Thanks mates. You helped me a lot
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Feb-2006 at 13:25

Originally posted by ill_teknique

what happened to alexander's infant son after he died.

His wife Roxanne and his son moved in Macedonia after Alexander's death. Olympiad, Alexander's mother, which from the far begining didn't like this marriage, found a treacerous way to murder them both.

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  Quote akritas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Feb-2006 at 15:40

Herodotus mention and other quotes as about the Royal origin of the Alexandros A. In the fragment 5.20.4
Aner Hellene Makedonon Yparchos = Hellene that rule/govern the Macedonian (kingdom).

Herodotus mention for the Spartan King that was a Achaean that rule/govern the Dorians Spartans.
Herodotus and Thucydides mention all the Argean names, places and tribes Orestis . Actually a lot of them had found in the Royal House in Vergina. Not any other foreign language had found.
Diodoros Sikeliotis (7.16) mention us a oracle from Delphi and show as how the Macedonians settlement in the region that was rich of Aige..

Unlike the tradition drawn from local Macedonian legends by Herodotus and Thucydides , later Hellene authors relied on stories which had already become common property to the whole of Greece, recording another Temenid as migrating to Makedonia and telling other stories of his adventures, before he founded the state of Macedonia. The name is the Karanos.
Thus Theopompus of Chios recounts how Karanos the Temenid, the brother of Pheidonas the king of Argos, emigrated to Macedonia and settled at Aegae which he had conquered.

This story also given by the Roman Justin in Epitome. Give attention that also speak for the oracle as Diodoros Sikeliotis

Justin Clearly explains how Karanos and the Greeks conquer the Emathia.

1. MAKEDONIA was formerly caned Emathia, from the name of king Emathion, of whose prowess the earliest proofs are extant in those parts. As the origin of this kingdom was but humble, so its limits were at first extremely narrow. The inhabitants were called Pelasgi, the country Paeonia. But in process of time, when, through the ability of their princes and the exertions of their subjects, they had conquered, first of all, the neighbouring tribes, and afterwards other nations and peoples, their dominions extended to the utmost boundaries of the east. In the region of Paeonia, which is now a portion of Macedonia, is said to have reigned Pelegonus, the father of Asteropaeus, whose name we find, in the Trojan war, among the most distinguished defenders of the city. On the other side a king named Europus held the sovereignty in a district called Europa. But Karanos, accompanied by a great multitude of Greeks, having been directed by an oracle to seek a settlement in Macedonia, and having come into Emathia, and followed a flock of goats that were fleeing from a tempest, possessed himself of the city of Edessa, before the inhabitants, on account of the thickness of the rain and mist, were aware of his approach; and being reminded of the oracle, by which he had been ordered to seek a kingdom with goats for his guides, he made this city the seat of his government, and afterwards religiously took care, whithersoever he led his troops, to keep the same goats before his standards, that he might have those animals as leaders in his enterprises which he had had as guides to the site of his kingdom. He changed the name of the city, in commemoration of his good fortune, from Edessa to Aegeae, and called the inhabitants Aegeatae. Having subsequently expelled Mida (for he also occupied a part of Macedonia), and driven other kings from their territories, he established himself, as sole monarch, in the place of them all, and was the first that, by uniting tribes of different people, formed Macedonia as it were into one body, and laid a solid foundation for the extension of his growing kingdom.

2 After him reigned Perdiccas, whose life was distinguished, and the circumstances of whose death, as if ordered by an oracle, were worthy of record; for when he was old and at the point of death, he made known to his son Argaeus a place in which he wished to be buried, and directed that not only his own bones, but those of the kings that should succeed him, should be deposited in the same spot; signifying that, as long as the relics of his posterity should be buried there, the crown would remain in his family; and the people believe, in consequence of this superstitious notion, that the line came to be extinct in Alexander, because he changed the place of sepulture. Argaeus, having governed the kingdom with moderation, and gained the love of his subjects, left his son Philip his successor, who, being carried off by an untimely death, made Aeropus, then quite a boy, his heir. The Macedonians had perpetual contests with the Thracians and Illyrians, and, being hardened by their. arms, as it were by daily exercise, they struck terror into their neighbours by the splendour of their reputation for war. The Illyrians, however, despising the boyhood of a king under age, attacked the Macedonians, who, being worsted in the field, brought out their king with them in his cradle, and, placing him behind the front lines, renewed the fight with greater vigour, as if they had been defeated before, because the fortune of their prince was not with them in the battle, and would now certainly conquer, because, from this superstitious fancy, they had conceived a confidence of victory; while compassion for the infant, also, moved them, as, if they were overcome, they seemed likely to transform him from a king into a captive. Engaging in battle, therefore, they routed the Illyrians with great slaughter, and showed their enemies, that, in the former encounter, it was a king, and not valour, that was wanting to the Makedonians. To Aeropus succeeded Amyntas, a prince eminently distinguished, both for his own personal valour, and for the excellent abilities of his son Alexander, who had from nature such remarkable talents of every kind,that he contended for the prize in various species of exercises at the Olympic games.


From the above we can say that the written Argead Dynasty :
Karanos (c. Late 9th/Early 8th Cent.)
Koinos (c. Mid-8th Cent.)
Tyrimmas (c. Late 8th/Early 7th Cent.)
Perdikkas I (c. 670-652)
Argaios I (652-621)
Philip I (621-588)
Aeropos I (588-6)
Alketas (568-40)
Amyntas I (540-498)
Alexander I (c. 498-454)
Perdikkas II (c. 454-413)
Archelaus (413-399)
Orestes (399-396)
Aeropos II (396-393)
Pausanias (393)
Amyntas II the Little (393)
Amyntas III (392-370)
Argaios II (390)
Alexander II (370-368)
Ptolemy Alorites (368-365)
Perdikkas III (365-359)
Philip II (359-336)
Alexander III the Great (336-323)
Philip III Aridaios (323-317)
Alexander IV Aegeos (323-309)

8 Kings mention from Herodotus and Thucydides, the rest from others writers. The most common of theirs names are the Greek terminology.
So according the ancient writers and the archaeology discovers (vergina tomps)  Greeks conguer Emathia that renamed as Makedonia

A good source is the N.G.L Hammond work. "History of Macedonia"



Edited by akritas
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  Quote makedonski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-Dec-2010 at 13:12

I would like to inform you about the Macedonian Monarchist League:

http://royalmacedonia.webs.com/


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  Quote Brainstorm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Dec-2010 at 15:52
Originally posted by makedonski

I would like to inform you about the Macedonian Monarchist League:

http://royalmacedonia.webs.com/



LOL

Is this a political party in the former yugoslav republic of macedonia?
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  Quote makedonski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Dec-2010 at 17:20

No, the Macedonian Monarchist League was founded as a non-party, non-government and non-profit association. The goal of the association is to advance democracy, spread the concept of Constitutional Monarchy, cooperate with similar societies and associations in the Republic of Macedonia and elsewhere. The aim of the association is to develop a civil society, spread civil awareness, and the reestablishment of Constitutional Monarchy in Macedonia.

We do not endorse any particular claim, but we accept the special status of the descendants of former Macedonian rulers. So far we have indentified the heirs of Count Gyula Cseszneky de Milvany, Grand Voivode of Macedonia and currently we are looking for the descendants of Karposh, who was recognized by the Austrian emperor as King of Kumanovo.

We have an English language website and bilingual (English-Macedonian) Facebook and Twitter profiles:

http://royalmacedonia.webs.com/

http://www.facebook....id=135321658257

http://twitter.com/royalmacedonia



Originally posted by Brainstorm

Originally posted by makedonski

I would like to inform you about the Macedonian Monarchist League:

http://royalmacedonia.webs.com/



LOL

Is this a political party in the former yugoslav republic of macedonia?
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  Quote opuslola Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Dec-2010 at 21:16
With out seeming out of time and place, please think about the possible relationship between the word "Macedonia", and the word "Makkadonia!", or even "Macca-donian", etc.!

As far as I know, the first letters all refer to; "Maces", "Hammers", etc.!
http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/
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  Quote Konstantinhaunstrup Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Dec-2010 at 09:58
If you're doing a project on "the rise of..." you should start with Alexander I, who first tried to unite the "Upper"(west) and "Lower"(east) Macedonia. 
Also, what made the Macedonian rise possible? And here you could concentrate on how the poleis' were weakened after the Peloponnesian War.
Another extremely interesting subject, is the macedonian wish to be "greek". We saw how Philip II fought to be acknowledged as an Athenian and also how earlier kings(ex: Alexander I) tried to unite Macedonia under some sort of common identity, inspired by the greeks. 

BTW - I know the formal way of electing an king was through the assembly. 
But didn't the kings get elected through the companions? 


Edited by Konstantinhaunstrup - 22-Dec-2010 at 09:59
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  Quote medenaywe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Dec-2010 at 16:31
Try this : Mo Kje Do N...or Mo Kje Do No...Italians today call them Machedono...but Ma do not exist in Denaywe language...


Edited by medenaywe - 23-Dec-2010 at 14:08
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  Quote archaiokapilos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Mar-2011 at 08:04
opusola the first letters of the word mean long, high, tall in greek. no relation with hammers
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  Quote medenaywe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Mar-2011 at 09:02
Earth's strength protect on distance!Or protect believer in this religion!?!Great Mother was spoken inside the name above!
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