The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race Volume I Part 12

3. The valleys beyond the last-mentioned ridge are those of the Strymon and the Angites. As the Axius falls into the sea in a gulf to the west, so does the Strymon join the sea to the east of the Chalcidian peninsula. Not far from its mouth the Strymon forms a lake, into which the Angites runs; a stream of considerable size, its course lying westward of the Strymon.

For that the eastern stream is the ancient Strymon (notwithstanding the opinion of most modern geographers) is, in the first place, evident from its size; secondly, from the name _Struma_, which it now bears; and, thirdly, from the statement of Herodotus,(1887) that the district of Phyllis reached southwards to the Strymon, and westward to the Angites; it lay, therefore, above the confluence of the two rivers and the lake which they formed by their junction. The ridge which lies to the east of the Strymon was called, at least where it widens along the coast, Pangaeum.(1888)

Thus much is sufficient to give a general notion of the geographical structure of the region, the ancient inhabitants of which form the subject of the present inquiry.

_Ancient names of the several districts._

4. We will now chiefly follow the full and accurate accounts of Herodotus respecting the districts situated near the mouths of the three rivers just mentioned. First, MYGDONIA, on the Thermaic bay, and round the ancient city of Therma, extended, according to Herodotus, to the Axius, which divided this district from Bottias;(1889) and it agrees with this statement that the small river Echeidorus (probably the modern _Gallico_), which fell into the sea at the marshes near the Axius, in the lower part of its course pa.s.sed through Mygdonia.(1890) To the east this district extended still further; lake Bolbe, beyond Chalcidice, was either in or near Mygdonia.(1891) Thucydides, indeed, makes Mygdonia reach as far as the Strymon;(1892) but this cannot be reconciled with the account of Herodotus (who appears to have possessed a very accurate knowledge of this region), that both the maritime district, west from the Strymon, in which was the Greek city of Argilus, and the land further to the interior, was called BISALTIA.(1893) On the other side, above Mygdonia, was situated (according to Herodotus) the district of CRESTONICA, from which the river Echeidorus flowed down to the coast.(1894)

5. Beyond the Axius, to the west of the stream, immediately after Mygdonia, came BOTTIAIS, which district was on the other side bounded by the united mouth of the Haliacmon and the Lydias;(1895) and thus towards the sea it terminated in a narrow wedge-shaped strip. On this tongue of land were the cities of Ichnae and Pella,(1896) the first of which was celebrated for an ancient temple;(1897) while Pella became afterwards the royal residence, situated on the lake of the Lydias, at the distance of 120 stadia from the river's mouth,(1898) and may now be recognised by these marks of its position and some ruins. According to Strabo,(1899) also, the river Axius made the boundary of Bottiaea, and divided it from the district of Amphaxitis, which was the name of the opposite and more elevated side of the Axius.(1900) Thucydides also calls this tract of country Bottiaea;(1901) and distinguishes it from the more recent settlements of the Bottiaeans, near Olynthus, in Chalcidice,(1902) which he calls _Bottica_.(1903)

6. The united mouth of the Lydias and Haliacmon, according to Herodotus,(1904) divided Bottias from MACEDONIS; for he can only mean this common mouth when he says that "the rivers Lydias and Haliacmon divide the districts of Bottias and Macedonis, uniting their waters in the same channel." Further on in the interior the Lydias alone must have been the boundary of Bottias, since otherwise this district would not end in a narrow strip of land; Macedonis, therefore, began on the western bank of the Lydias. In this place nothing more can be said as to the meaning of the word _Macedonis_, before the precise signification of some other names has been determined.

7. Proceeding along the coast, PIERIA borders upon Macedonis, the district under Mount Olympus,(1905) which ridge, where it approaches this coast, splits into two branches, the one stretching towards the mouth of the Peneus, the other towards those of the three rivers. Herodotus cannot make Pieria reach as far as the Haliacmon,(1906) as they are here separated by Macedonis Proper;(1907) he probably supposes it to begin just at the rise of mount Olympus, and divides the narrow plain on the sea-coast from the tracts to the interior. The southern boundary of Pieria is stated by Strabo(1908) and Livy(1909) to have been the district of Dium;(1910) so that these writers leave a narrow and mountainous strip of land, stretching towards Tempe, which belonged neither to Pieria nor Thessaly.

The chief place in Pieria was Pydna, also called Cydna (according to Stepha.n.u.s Byz.), and in later times Citron (according to the epitomizer of Strabo),(1911) which name still remains in the same place.

8. Now that we proceed from the divisions of the coast to the interior, we are deserted, indeed, by the excellent account of Herodotus; but there are nevertheless statements sufficiently accurate to determine the ancient name of each district. The high and mountainous valley of the Haliacmon was, according to Livy,(1912) called ELIMEIA; the inhabitants Elimiots, who are included by Thucydides(1913) among the Macedonians: the district is also called after their name Elimiotis.(1914) From thence proceeds the road to Thessaly over the Cambunian mountains;(1915) and another almost impracticable road to aetolia over the mountainous country to the south of Elimeia.(1916) To Elimeia succeeded PARAUaeA, a fertile district, near the sources of the river called Aous, aeas, or Auus;(1917) and to the south again lay PARORaeA, which was crossed by the river Arachthus at the beginning of its course from under mount Stympha:(1918) the country near this mountain was called STYMPHaeA (or Tymphaea), extending to the sources of the Peneus and the land of the aethicians.(1919) The ATINTANIANS reached beyond the country of the Parauaeans, and within that of the Chaonians as far as Illyria.(1920) All these districts are indeed divided from Elimeia by the great chain of Pindus; but, from their connexion with that region, some account of them in this place was indispensable.

9. A small valley in the district of Elimeia, which lay to the north towards the Illyrian Da.s.saretians,(1921) was inhabited by the Orestian Macedonians,(1922) who doubtless were so called from the _mountains_ (???) in which they dwelt, and not from _Orestes_, the son of Agamemnon. The valley of Orestis(1923) contained a lake, in which was the town Celetrum, situated on a peninsula.(1924) Its position coincides with that of the modern Castoria;(1925) and it cannot be doubted that the wild mountain-valley near the source of the Haliacmon was the ancient Orestis.

Another valley in Elimeia was called ALMOPIA, or Almonia, an ancient settlement of the Minyans, situated on the confines of Macedonia and Thessaly, apparently not far from Pieria.(1926)

10. Elimeia, together with the surrounding highlands, was cold and rugged, and difficult of cultivation.(1927) The same was the case with the neighbouring district of LYNCESTIS, the country of the Lyncestae, who had received their name, according to a Macedonian inflexion,(1928) from Lyncus.(1929) Lyncus was the name of the whole district, and not of any one city, as in early times there were only unfortified villages in this part.(1930) It was surrounded on all sides by mountains; a narrow pa.s.s between two heights being the chief road to the coast.(1931) The position of Lyncus is accurately determined by the course of the Egnatian Roman road from Dyrrachium, which, after crossing the Illyrian mountains at Pylon (or the gateway), led by Heraclea Lyncestis, and through the country of the Lyncestae and Eordians, to Edessa and Pella;(1932) as well as by the fact that the _mons Bora_ of Livy, _i.e._ the Bermius, lay to the south of it.(1933) Consequently the Lyncestae must have inhabited the mountains south of the Erigon, and a part of the valley in which that river flowed; which is confirmed by other accounts of ancient writers.(1934) The country of the EORDIANS is also determined by the direction of the Egnatian way; viz., to the east of Lyncus and west of Edessa, and therefore in the valley of the Lydias, to the north of Elimea(1935) and the Bermius.(1936) In order to go from the valley of the Erigon to Thessaly, the way pa.s.sed first through Eordaea and then through Elimiotis.(1937)

11. DEURIOPUS (? ?e????p??) was the name of a tract of country along the Erigon,(1938) which was considered as belonging to Paeonia,(1939) and probably lay to the east of Lyncestis and north of Eordaea.(1940) In Paeonia also was situated the rugged district of PELAGONIA, to the north of Lyncestis,(1941) having on its northern frontiers narrow pa.s.ses, which protected it from the incursions of the Dardanians.(1942) As to other parts of the extensive territory of PaeONIA (in comparison with which Macedonia was originally very inconsiderable in size), it is only necessary to observe, that, beginning near the source of the Axius, the banks of which river had from early times been occupied by Paeonian tribes, a narrow strip of land extended down to Pella and the coast;(1943) though, according to Herodotus, it could not have actually reached the edge of the sea, as the frontiers of Bottias and Mygdonia at this point came into contact with one another.(1944) Immediately to the north of Lower Macedonia, _i.e._, to the north of Macedonian Paeonia, Bottias, and Mygdonia, but without the confines of these provinces, was situated, as we learn from Thucydides,(1945) the Paeonian city of DOBERUS.(1946) The king of the Odrysians arrived, according to the same writer,(1947) at this place after having come from his dominions, which were bounded by the Strymon, over mount Cercine; in which pa.s.sage he left the Paeonians to the right, and to the left the Sintes and Maedi (Thracian races, supposed by Gatterer to have penetrated hither when the Siropaeonians and others crossed over to Asia).(1948) From which notices I have ventured to set down the mountain, the city, and nations just mentioned, as may be seen in the accompanying map.(1949)

_Early history of the kingdom of Macedonia._

12. The subject of this dissertation made it necessary for us to enter into the above detail as to the several provinces and divisions of Upper and Lower Macedonia. We must now proceed to inquire into the gradual extension of the kingdom of Macedon; an investigation in which we are fortunately a.s.sisted by the clear and accurate account of Thucydides, who lived at no great distance from the country which he describes; and whose words I now transcribe as follows (II. 99.):

"Accordingly, the subjects of Sitalces mustered at Doberus, and prepared for a descent into Lower Macedonia, which country was under the rule of Perdiccas. For to the Macedonians belong(1950) the Lyncestae and the Elimiots, and other nations in the upper parts of the country, which are the allies and subjects(1951) of these Macedonians,(1952) but have nevertheless princes of their own. The present kingdom of Macedonia, extending along the sea,(1953) was first occupied by Alexander the father of Perdiccas, and his ancestors of the family of Temenus, who came originally from Argos; and ruled over it, having by force of arms expelled the Pierians from Pieria,(1954) and the Bottiaeans from the district called Bottiaea. They also obtained in Paeonia a narrow tongue of land, extending along the river Axius down to Pella and the sea: and on the further side of the Axius they possess the district called Mygdonia, as far as the Strymon, of which they dispossessed the Edones. They also dislodged the Eordians from the country still called Eordia, and from Almopia the Almopians. These Macedonians also subdued those other nations which they now possess; viz., Anthemus, together with Crestonia and Bisaltia, and a large part of the Macedonians themselves. The whole of this country together is called Macedonia; and Perdiccas, the son of Alexander, was king of it when Sitalces made his invasion."

13. This chapter has not by any means been exhausted by those who have written on the growth and size of Macedonia; and therefore it will be convenient to set down some of the chief inferences which may be drawn from it.

In the first place, it is plain that the Macedonians, who made the conquest, and founded the kingdom of Macedon, were _not the whole Macedonian nation_, but only a part of it. There were in the mountainous districts Macedonian tribes, which had their own kings, and originally were not subject to the Temenidae. These are the Macedonian highlanders of Herodotus,(1955) from whose district the road pa.s.sed over mount Olympus (the Cambunian chain) into the country of the Perrhaebians;(1956) and it began, as has been already remarked, in Elimeia.(1957) The Elimiots were, according to Thucydides, one portion of these Macedonians, the Lyncestae another; both which appellations were merely local, and the full t.i.tle was "_the Macedonians in Lyncus_," or "the Macedonian Lyncestae."(1958) Of the _remaining_ Macedonian nations in the mountain-districts we only know the name of the Orestae;(1959) at least there are no others who can with any certainty be considered as Macedonians.

14. The name of Macedonia was not therefore, as some have supposed, confined to the royal dynasty of Edessa, but was a _national appellation_; so much so, that it is even stated that those very kings subdued, among other nations, a large portion of the Macedonians. The tribes of Upper Macedonia were long governed by their own princes; thus Antiochus was king of the Orestae at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war;(1960) the Lyncestae were under the rule of Arrhibaeus, the son of Bromerus,(1961) the great grandfather, by the mother's side, of Philip of Macedon, who derived his descent (not altogether without probability) from the Bacchiadae, the ancient rulers of Corinth;(1962) and these kings, though properly recognising the supremacy of the Temenidae, were nevertheless at times their nearest, and therefore most dangerous, enemies.(1963)

15. The Macedonian kingdom of the Temenidae, on the other hand, began from a single point of the Macedonian territory, concerning the position of which there are various traditions. According to Herodotus, three brothers of the family of Temenus, Gauanes, Aeropus, and Perdiccas, fled from Argos to Illyria, from thence pa.s.sed on to _Lebaea_ in Upper Macedonia, and served the king of the country (who was therefore a Macedonian) as shepherds. From this place they again fled, and dwelt in another part of Macedonia, near the gardens of Midas, in mount Bermius (near _Bera_), from which place they subdued the neighbouring country.(1964) Thucydides so far recognises this tradition, that he likewise considers Perdiccas as the founder of the kingdom, reckoning eight kings down to Archelaus.(1965) The other account, however, that there were three kings before Perdiccas, is unquestionably not the mere invention of later historians, but was derived, as well as the other, from some local tradition. According to this account the Macedonian kingdom began at _Edessa_,(1966) which had been taken by Cara.n.u.s, of the family of the Temenidae, and by him named after a goatherd, who rendered him a.s.sistance, aegae (or aegeae).(1967) Both narrations have equally a traditional character, and were doubtless of Macedonian origin, only that the latter appears to have been combined with an Argive legend of a brother of the powerful Phido having gone to the north. The claim of Edessa is also confirmed by the fact, that, even when it had long ceased to be the royal residence, it still continued the burial-place of the kings of Temenus' race, and, as Diodorus says, the _hearth_ of their empire.(1968)

16. Edessa and the gardens of Midas were both situated between the Lydias and the Haliacmon, in the original and proper country of Macedonia, according to the account of Herodotus.(1969) The manner in which the dominions of the Temenidae were extended along the sea-coast, and towards the interior, we learn from Thucydides, who comprises in one general view all the conquests of these princes until the reign of Alexander. For to suppose that Alexander, the son of Amyntas, made _all_ these conquests, is an error which is even refuted by the words of Thucydides; although it is very possible that this prince, who began his reign about 488 B.C., at the time of the Persian power, and was the brother-in-law of a Persian general,(1970) added considerably to the territory which he had inherited.(1971) But when Xerxes undertook his great expedition against Greece, the power of Macedon was as great as it is described by Thucydides; nor was its territory much enlarged during the interval between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.(1972) For at the time of the Persian war (481 B.C.) the Pierians were already settled in New Pieria, especially in the fortified towns of Phagres and Pergamus, at the foot of mount Pangaeum,(1973) whither they retired, after having been driven out of Old Pieria by the Macedonian kings;(1974) in fact, this extension of the territory of Macedon must have taken place at an early period.(1975) Moreover, Olynthus was, according to Herodotus,(1976) at least _before_ 480 B.C., in the hands of the Bottiaeans, who had, as we learn from both Herodotus and Thucydides, expelled the Macedonians from the ancient Bottias; consequently this district had been under the rule of the Macedonians _before_ the expedition of Xerxes. Thirdly, Amyntas the Macedonian, in 510 B.C., offered Anthemus in Chalcidice to the Pisistratidae;(1977) the same argument therefore applies in this case also.

Anthemus, however, could hardly have been obtained without Mygdonia: and that this district was then a part of the Macedonian dominions is probable also from the following reasons.(1978) According to Thucydides, the Macedonians drove out the nation of the Edonians(1979) from Mygdonia, between the rivers Axius and Strymon; and accordingly we find the Edonians always mentioned as dwelling to the east of the Strymon, at the foot of mount Pangaeum. Now Ennea Hodoi, situated on the eastern bank of the Strymon, was, according to Herodotus,(1980) in the possession of the Edonians in the year 481 B.C.; and Myrcinus, in the same region, was found by Histiaeus, when he visited it, to be an Edonian district,(1981) as it was at a later period by Brasidas.(1982) The latter argument is not indeed of itself decisive, as it might be said that the Edonians were only driven together by the conquests of the Macedonians, and had _previously_ been in possession of the further side of the Strymon; but when combined with the former facts, it offers an almost certain proof that the whole country, from lake Bolbe to within a short distance from the Peneus, was subject to the Macedonians before the expedition of Xerxes.(1983) Methone(1984) was on this coast the only interruption to the series of Macedonian possessions; this Eretrian colony had been, about 746 B.C.,(1985) together with the numerous Euban settlements in Chalcidice,(1986) at a period when the power of the Macedonians on this line of coast was very insignificant; and it preserved its independence until the reign of Philip the son of Amyntas.(1987)

17. From the facts now ascertained, we may deduce a result of some importance with regard to the language of Herodotus. This historian clearly and precisely distinguishes between Bottias and Macedonia in the time of Xerxes,(1988) although it is certain that Bottias was then in the power of the Macedonians;(1989) Macedonia he cla.s.ses as a district with Bottias, Mygdonia, and Pieria. He uses the word, therefore, not in a _political_, but in a _national_ sense; _i.e._, he restricts it to the territory originally possessed by the Macedonian nation, not applying it to countries which had been obtained by conquest or political preponderance. The Macedonia of Herodotus is consequently the territory of the Macedonians _before_ all the conquests of the Temenidae. It extended, according to Herodotus, in a narrow tongue down to the sea;(1990) a fact disregarded by Thucydides, when he states that the coast of Lower Macedonia was first reduced by the Temenidae.(1991) Further from the sea, however, the ancient Macedonia had a much wider extent, and included the districts of Edessa and Bera, Lyncestis, Orestis, and Elimeia: for Macedonia is stated by Herodotus to have been on the one side bounded by mount Olympus (which ridge, where it borders on Pieria,(1992) was called the Macedonian mountains),(1993) and on the other by mount Dysorum. This last fact is evident from the statement of the same writer, that a very short way led from the Prasian lake to Macedonia, pa.s.sing first to the mine from which Alexander obtained an immense supply of precious metal; and then, that having crossed mount Dysorum, you were in Macedonia;(1994) _i.e._, evidently in the _original_ Macedonia, since he expressly excludes from it the mine which had been a subsequent accession. The Prasian lake was in Paeonia;(1995) but in what district of it is not known;(1996) mount Dysorum, however, can only be looked for to the north of Edessa and to the west of the Axius, Macedonia Proper not extending so far as that river. In this manner it is placed in the accompanying map; in which also the ancient boundaries of the Macedonian race are laid down according to the results obtained by these researches.

18. On the other conquests of the Macedonians little need be said. The occupation of Bisaltia and Crestonica was subsequent to the expedition of Xerxes. The Thracian king of these districts fled away,(1997) and left his kingdom a prey to the ambition of Alexander, who thus extended his empire to the mouth of the Strymon, which was the boundary of Macedonia in the days of Thucydides and of Scylax, and remained so until the time of Philip. At what time the Macedonian kings reduced that part of Paeonia which stretched along the Axius, Eordaea, Almopia, and a large part of the Macedonians themselves, we are nowhere informed; and to infer from Thucydides that these conquests succeeded that of Mygdonia and preceded that of Anthemus, would be laying too much weight upon the order in which he arranges the events; in which, although he doubtless paid some regard to chronology, the context required that the conquests on the coast should be mentioned before those of the interior. Eordaea was probably subjugated at a very early period, since it lay, as it were, in a bay of the Macedonian territory; and a very credible tradition has been preserved by Dexippus,(1998) that Cara.n.u.s had in early times made an alliance with the Orestae against the Eordians, and founded his kingdom by the subjugation of that nation. In fact, the first nation with whom the king of Edessa had to contend was these Eordians. They were, according to Thucydides, nearly annihilated by a war of extermination; a small number of them escaped to Physca in Mygdonia;(1999) which district therefore was not as yet under the power of the Macedonians.

19. Among those parts of Macedonia Proper which were reduced by the Temenidae, Elimeia may be particularly mentioned, as is evident from the following circ.u.mstances. Perdiccas, the son of Alexander, was at war with his brother Philip, with whom he was to have divided his kingdom,(2000) and also with Derdas.(2001) The brothers of Derdas, before the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, in alliance with the Athenians, made a descent from the highlands, that is, from one of the districts Elimeia, Orestis, or Lyncus, into the dominions of Perdiccas.(2002) Now Derdas(2003) was the son of Arrhibaeus, and cousin of Perdiccas; and it is plain that the Temenidae reduced Elimeia; and a branch of the same family received this district as their peculiar possession.(2004) A separate king of Elimeia also existed in the time of Archelaus,(2005) who doubtless belonged to the same family. For a later Derdas occurs as prince of the Elimiots in the time of Agesilaus,(2006) who perhaps was the same as, or rather was the father of, the Derdas, whose sister Phila Philip married.(2007) In like manner, there was a separate sovereignty in Stymphaea and the neighbouring aethicia, which was held by the family of Polysperchon, the general and guardian of the kingdom.(2008) Although in later times all these separate sovereignties, both of the Temenidae and of other princes, were suppressed, and Upper and Lower Macedonia were equally ruled from the city of Pella; yet the tribes of the highlands still remained to a certain degree distinct. Even at the battle of Arbela, the Elimiots, Lyncestae, Orestae, and Tymphaeans fought in separate bodies;(2009) and several persons are denoted in the history of Macedon by the surname of Lyncestes. Perdiccas came from Orestis, Ptolemy from Eordaea.(2010) Those in the lowlands, on the other hand, were known by the general name of Macedonians; and it should be observed, that there were also Macedonians dwelling in Pieria, Bottias, Mygdonia, Eordaea, and Almopia,(2011) who had, according to Thucydides, driven out the native inhabitants; while Paeonia and Bisaltia, together with Anthemus and Crestonica, remained in the possession of those tribes which had been settled there before the conquest of Macedonia.(2012)

_On the national affinity of the original Macedonians._

20. From what has been already said it is plain that there was, independently of the extension of the empire of the Temenidae, a Macedonian nation possessing from early times a territory of considerable size, viz., the Macedonia of Herodotus; the area of which in the accompanying map amounts to 2400 geographical square miles.

We now proceed to the most important question to be considered in this treatise, viz., to what national family these Macedonians belonged.

21. The ancient writers distinguish in these regions the following nations; and in so marked a manner that it is evident that they differed from one another in their costume, language, and mode of living.(2013)

First, the THRACIANS. This great nation extended to the north as far as the Danube, where it included the Getae;(2014) to the east beyond the sea, since the Thynians and Bithynians were Thracians;(2015) to the west within mount Haemus as far as the Strymon, where it bordered on the Paeonians, widening still more as it receded from the coast, since it also included the Triballians.(2016) On the west bank of the Strymon the Sintians and Maedians were of Thracian origin;(2017) to which nation the Bisaltae and Edones must also be referred.(2018) Thrace is often represented as having in early times extended to Thessaly and Botia(2019) but merely in reference to the settlements of the Pierians at the foot of Olympus and Helicon; and there are many reasons against considering these Pierians as of the same race as the _other_ Thracians,(2020) although they were called Thracians at an early period.(2021) Homer at least distinguishes between these two nations when he makes Here go from Olympus to Pieria, then to Emathia, and afterwards to the snowy mountains of the Thracians;(2022) by which he must mean the mountains of the Bisaltae to the north of Edessa, since the G.o.ddess next rests her foot on mount Athos and the island of Lemnos.

Secondly, the PaeONIANS. A numerous race divided into several small nations,(2023) inhabiting the districts on the rivers Strymon and Axius and the countries to the north of Macedonia,(2024) together with Pannonia, according to the Greeks.(2025) This race, according to _their own tradition_ (if Herodotus's account is correct),(2026) derived their origin from the ancient Teucrians in the Troad; in their pa.s.sage from which country they had been accompanied, according to Herodotus, by the Mysians, the same people that afterwards gave their name of Msians to a great province.(2027)

Thirdly, the ILLYRIANS extended southward as far as the Acroceraunian mountains, eastward to the mountain-chain known in its southern parts by the name of Pindus, and northward as far as the Save and the Alps, if Herodotus is correct in considering the Venetians as of Illyrian origin.(2028)

Fourthly, _Nations of Grecian descent_.

22. Since the Macedonians evidently belonged to some one of these four races, our present object is to ascertain _which_. Now in the first place the _Greeks_ may be excluded, since, although it is certain that a large portion of the Macedonian nation was of Grecian origin, the Macedonians were always considered by the Greeks as barbarians.-Alexander the Philh.e.l.lene,(2029) the father of Perdiccas, represented himself to the Persians (according to Herodotus)(2030) as a Greek, and satrap over Macedonians; the same person who was driven off the course at Olympia for being a barbarian, until he proved his Argive descent.(2031) The mouth of the Peneus, or the Magnesian mountain of h.o.m.ole, was on the eastern side considered as the boundary of Greece,(2032) unless Magnesia also was excluded. Fabulous genealogies, representing Macedon as the son of Zeus and Thyia the daughter of Deucalion, or of a descendant of aeolus, are of no weight against the prevailing opinion of the Greeks; nor are they necessarily of greater antiquity than the fortieth Olympiad (620 B.C.),(2033) at which time Danaus and aegyptus, and other races equally unconnected, were made the members of the same family, when the Scythians were derived from Hercules,(2034) and even the whole known world was comprised in extensive genealogies. It would be unreasonable to suppose, on the credit of these genealogies, that there was any other migration of Greeks into Macedonia except that of the Temenidae.

23. Secondly, with regard to the PaeONIANS: it may be shown that the Macedonians did not belong to that nation.(2035) The possessions of the Macedonians in Paeonia are accurately described by ancient writers; these were, until the time of Perdiccas, only a narrow strip of land;(2036) Pelagonia and Paeonia on the Axius were subdued at a later date. As the Paeonian race was not aboriginal in this district, its peculiarities were probably easy to be recognised in the time of Thucydides, and hence this national name occurs more frequently than those of the separate provinces.

For this reason great importance should be attached to the circ.u.mstance that the ancients never refer the Macedonians themselves to the Paeonian race; and it should perhaps be considered as decisive. On the other hand, with aboriginal races having a large territory and numerous connexions, such a separation hardly warrants this inference, since otherwise the Macedonians, whom both Herodotus and Thucydides mention _together with_ Thracians and Illyrians,(2037) could not have belonged to either of those two tribes, and therefore to no great national division of the human race.

It is, however, plain that the ancients frequently used the national name in a limited sense, merely for the chief ma.s.s of the people, and did not apply it to particular _portions of it_ which had acquired a character different from that of the rest of their nation,(2038) without by this meaning to express a diversity of origin. We have therefore now only to ascertain whether the Macedonians were of _Thracian_ or _Illyrian_ descent.

24. We shall gain one step towards a conclusion by inquiring in what region were the original settlements of the Macedonians; a question which should carefully be distinguished from the former investigation as to the first station of the Temenidae. Now in pursuing this inquiry, we soon perceive that even of Macedonia Proper, from which Bottiaea, Pieria, and Eordaea were conquered, a large part was not always in the possession of the Macedonians. Homer, for example, places Emathia, not Macedonia, between Pieria and Chalcidice.(2039) Several writers state in general that Macedonia had anciently been called Emathia;(2040) but, as will be presently shown, they do not so much mean the highlands as the country about the mouths of the three rivers and near Edessa.(2041) The fabulous name was renewed in later times; and Ptolemy(2042) even mentions the district of Emathia, in which were the towns of Cyrrhus,(2043) Eidomenae, Gordynia, Edessa, Berrha, and Pella. According to Thucydides(2044) and others, Eidomenae and Gordynia must have been situated in the region near the Axius, in the early subdued country of Paeonia;(2045) whence it may be understood how Polybius(2046) could say that Emathia, at a distance from the coast, had in early times been called Paeonia. For the ancient name of Emathia had evidently been extended to a tract of land belonging to Paeonia, which had, perhaps, previously to the Paeonian conquests, once borne the name of Emathia.

25. Now although the country round Edessa, and nearer to the sea, was not originally called Macedonia, yet we find traces of the existence of the name of the Macedonians under its ancient forms of ?a??ta? and ?a?ed???, in the hill-country near the ridge of Pindus. Herodotus says that the Doric race, having been driven from Hestiaeotis, and dwelling under mount Pindus, was called the _Macedonian nation_.(2047) By this statement he plainly means that the Dorians were first known by that name in Peloponnesus;(2048) and indeed his other notions on the progress of this people are only suited to the childhood of history. But notwithstanding the erroneous conclusions of the narrator, it is allowable to infer from his statement that the Macedonians had once dwelt at the foot of Pindus-_i.e._, probably in one of the districts of Upper Macedonia; of which provinces Orestis may be considered (on the faith of a conjectural emendation) as the ancient Maceta.(2049) For it cannot be a Thessalian district that is alluded to, since Maceta was, as we know from certain testimony, in fact a part of Macedonia. This hypothesis is also supported by the ancient patronymic surname of the Macedonian kings, "Argeadae;" if it is rightly derived by Appian from Argos in Orestis.(2050)

The fact that the ancient country of the Macedonians was near the ridge of mountains on the confines of Illyria, and was at a considerable distance from Thrace, renders it probable that the Macetae were of Illyrian blood; but this probability would yield to arguments drawn from the language, costume, and manners of the three nations. The question therefore is, whom did the Macedonians in the points most resemble, the _Illyrians_ or the _Thracians_?

26. There is a pa.s.sage in Strabo(2051) which, on account of its importance, I will give nearly at full length, omitting only those parts which are not necessary to the context. It contains an account of the population of Epirus.

"Of the nations of Epirus the Chaonians and Thesprotians inhabit the coast from the Ceraunian mountains to the Ambracian gulf; behind Ambracia is Amphilochian Argos. The Amphilochians also are Epirots, together with the tribes lying more in the interior, and joining the mountains of Illyria-viz., the Molotti, the Athamanes, the aethices, the Tymphaei, the Orestae, the Paroraei, and the Atintanes, some dwelling nearer to the Macedonians, and others to the Ionian sea. With these the Illyrian nations were mixed which dwelt to the south of the hill-country, as well as those beyond the Ionian sea. For between Epid.a.m.nus and Apollonia and the Ceraunian mountains there are the Bylliones,(2052) the Taulantii,(2053) the Parthini,(2054) and the Brygi,(2055) and at a short distance, about the silver mines(2056) of Damastium,(2057) the Perisadies have established their dominion; the Enchelii(2058) and Sesarasii(2059) are also named as dwelling in these parts; and besides these, the Lyncestae, the land of Deuriopus, the Pelagonian Tripolis,(2060) the Eordi, Elimea, and Eratyra.(2061) Now in early times these tribes had severally rulers of their own; the Enchelians were governed by the descendants of Cadmus, the Lyncestae were under Arrhibaeus, and of the Epirots the Molotti were ruled by Pyrrhus and his descendants, while all the other nations of that tribe were governed by native princes. In process of time, however, as one nation obtained the dominion over others, the whole fell into the Macedonian empire, except a small tract beyond the Ionian sea. Also the country about Lyncestus, Pelagonia, Orestias and Elimea was once called Upper Macedonia, and at a later period the Independent. Some persons, moreover, give to the whole country as far as Corcyra the name of Macedonia, a.s.signing, as their reason, that the inhabitants nearly resemble one another in the mode of wearing the hair, in their dialect, in the use of the chlamys, and in other points of this kind: some of them likewise speak two languages."

27. Now, although the historical accounts of Strabo, collected at a time when these regions had been ravaged by conquest, and had undergone manifold changes, have not the value which the statements of Herodotus and Thucydides possess, yet it is possible to extract from them much information. In the first place it should be observed that the Epirots and the Illyrians are not considered as two wholly distinct nations. The Epirots, although in early times allied by blood with the Greeks, were always considered as barbarians,(2062) and Ambracia as the last city in Greece;(2063) which fact, since the original inhabitants were the same as in Arcadia, that is, Pelasgians, can only be explained by supposing that there had been a mixture of Illyrians. Hence it might be at that late time difficult to distinguish between the Epirots and the Illyrians; and thus Strabo includes the Atintanes, who according to Scylax(2064) and Appian(2065) were Illyrians, among the Epirot nations. It is more singular that he should consider the Orestae, whom Polybius(2066) recognises as a Macedonian people, as Epirots; but it may be probably accounted for by the circ.u.mstance of their separation from the cause of the Macedonian kings, which procured them their independence in the year of the city 556.(2067) But the other inhabitants of Upper Macedonia, the genuine Macedonians, such as the Lyncestae and Elimiots (who probably, from being mountaineers, had preserved their national distinctions more than the civilised tribes of the lowlands), were considered by Strabo, as the context plainly shows, as original Illyrians; and it can hardly be doubted that they still bore the characteristic marks of that nation.

28. "Some again," as Strabo says, "give to the whole country as far as Corcyra the name of Macedonia." What country this is, is accurately known both from the testimony of other writers, and even of Strabo himself. The Romans called the whole region which opened to them the way to Macedonia(2068) by the name of Macedonia; and made it reach from Lissus (now _Alessio_) on the river Drilon (now the _Drin_) either to the Egnatian road,(2069) which begins between Dyrrhachium (or Epid.a.m.nus) and Apollonia, or, as Strabo states in the pa.s.sage quoted in the text, for a short distance beyond.(2070) The inhabitants of this tract of country were beyond all question Illyrians (Taulantii, Parthini, Da.s.saretii, &c.(2071)); and it is of _their_ dress and language that Strabo here speaks. The importance of these points for the discovery of national affinity is easily perceived. Indeed, many Grecian tribes might be distinguished merely by their mode of wearing the hair.(2072) The chlamys had come to the Greeks from the Thessalians, and Sappho was the first Grecian writer who mentioned it:(2073) afterwards it became a military dress, and supplanted the ??t???, as in Italy the _sagum_ took the place of the _toga_, which was originally girt up for military use.(2074) From this pa.s.sage of Strabo we learn that it was the national habit of the Illyrian tribes above Epirus. In like manner the broad-brimmed, low, flat fur-cap, known by the name of _causia_, which was equally unlike the conical(2075) ????? of the Botians and the low, tapering(2076) p?tas??, was worn by these northern nations; it was the ancient dress of state among the Macedonians, and worn by their kings;(2077) and it was likewise the dress of the aetolians(2078) and Molossians.(2079) But the most remarkable circ.u.mstance is, that the same cap which is borne by the riders on the tetradrachms of the first Alexander also adorns the head of the Illyrian king Gentius.(2080) Lastly, the similarity of dialect is a decisive proof. Now that all these things should have been introduced by the Macedonian kings seems highly improbable, when it is remembered that their rule did not even extend over the whole of this tract, that it was also often interrupted, and in general not of a nature to alter the character, language, and costume of the natives.(2081)

From these facts it may, I think, be safely inferred that the Macedonians, viz., the people originally and properly so called, belonged to the ILLYRIAN race.

_On the mixture of the Macedonians with other, particularly Greek, races._

29. It is, however, certain, notwithstanding the result which has been established, that the Macedonians in their advance from the highlands dislodged, and partly incorporated other, and particularly Grecian, tribes.

The first to fall in their hands was the ancient Emathia, near Edessa, and downwards to the sea, which Herodotus includes in _his_ Macedonia. The name of the country appears to be Grecian;(2082) and since Justin(2083) distinctly affirms that the ancient inhabitants of Emathia were Pelasgians, and as aeschylus, a poet greatly versed in traditional lore, also makes the kingdom of the Pelasgians extend through Macedonia as far as the Strymon,(2084) it must be considered that, according to ancient tradition, the early inhabitants of this country were of the Pelasgic race. It is likewise fair, by the guidance of several parallel cases in the Greek mythology, to interpret the legend that Lycaon the Arcadian hero had once ruled in Emathia, and was the father of Macedon,(2085) as signifying merely the succession, _according to order of time_, of the Pelasgians and Macedonians in the occupation of this country; which the language of mythology expressed by placing the respective races in a _genealogical_ connexion. So Thessalus is called a son of Jason, although the Thessalians belonged to a different race from the early rulers of the country, the Minyae of Iolcus, of whom Jason was one. Hence it is highly probable that at the first conquest of this tract of land, viz., of Macedonia Proper, nations akin to the Greeks were mixed with the Illyrians.

30. One of the earliest conquests of the Macedonians was the country of their neighbours(2086) the Phrygians; _i.e._, according to the most exact statements, the district about mount Bermius, where in the ancient gardens of king Midas, the son of Gordias (in which Silenus had been once taken prisoner), the hundred-leaved rose still flourished at the time of Herodotus.(2087) It is exceedingly probable that, as Herodotus states, this district had been occupied by the Macedonians before the arrival of the Temenidae;(2088) with which the tradition of an ancient migration of the Phrygians coincides:(2089) yet it is also stated that Cara.n.u.s the Temenid expelled Midas.(2090) That the Phrygians or Brygians were entirely incorporated in the Macedonian nation cannot be supposed, as we hear quite in late times of a tribe of Brygians (??????) in these regions, who then dwelt near the Illyrian mountains beyond Lychnidus, not far from the Erigon, together with the Da.s.saretians.(2091) The tribe of Mygdonians, which was allied to the Phrygians,(2092) must have been lost in other nations at an early period, since their territory had been occupied by the Edones before it became a part of the Macedonian empire.

31. In their further extension the Macedonians fell in with Grecian, with Paeonian, and with Thracian tribes, which they either subdued or dislodged; but no expulsion was probably so complete that some part of the former population was not left behind. Among the tribes thus driven out were the Bottiaeans, who were reported to have come from Athens and Crete;(2093) a tradition which could hardly have arisen, if they had not been a Grecian people. Notice should also be taken of the Grecian and Pelasgic names of the cities on the Axius, viz., Ichnae, Eidomenae, Gortynia, Atalante, and Europus,(2094) which cannot have been given by the Paeonians, and therefore must be referred to the ancient Greek population of this region. Beyond the Axius, according to Herodotus,(2095) was Creston, a settlement of Thessalian Pelasgians, whence they do not appear to have been expelled by the victorious Macedonians; which fate befell the Almopians, an ancient branch of the Minyae.(2096) It has been already shown that the common population of Leibethrum and Pieria was at least nearly related to the Greeks: the names of ?e????a, for a well-watered valley, ??p?? for a full fountain, and of ?????? for a winding stream, are evidently Grecian.(2097)

As to the Eordians, the ancient foes of Macedon, it is uncertain whether they should be considered as belonging to the Illyrian or the Paeonian race;(2098) of this latter tribe, in earlier times, a small, and, in later, a considerable portion obeyed the Macedonian kings. And, lastly, the subjection of the Bisaltae, who even in the time of Perseus formed one of the chief parts of the kingdom of Macedon,(2099) joined to that nation a people of purely Thracian descent; and the Macedonians, in the political meaning of the word, ceased more and more to be a regular nation, or a body of men of the same origin and language.(2100)

_On the customs and language of the Macedonians._