The Argead dynasty, also known as the Temenid dynasty was an ancient Macedonian royal house of Dorian Greek provenance. They were the founders and the ruling dynasty of the kingdom of Macedon from about 700 to 310 BC.
Image: Argos, Triobol, c.270 250 BC, HGC 5 670
Image: Amyntas II, Bronze, c.395 393 BC, HGC 3 I 820
Image: KINGS of MACEDON. Alexander I. 498 454 BC. AR Obol (8mm, 0.46 g). Struck circa 460 450 BC. Young male head right, wearing petasos
Image: Perdikkas II, Tetrobol, 451 413 BC, HGC 3 1 791
The Macedonians were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Essentially an ancient Greek people, they gradually expanded from their homeland along the Haliacmon valley on the northern edge of the Greek world, absorbing or driving out neighbouring non-Greek tribes, primarily Thracian and Illyrian. They spoke Ancient Macedonian, which is usually classified by scholars as a dialect of Northwest Doric Greek, and occasionally as a distinct sister language of Greek or an Aeolic Greek dialect. However, the prestige language of the region during the Classical era was Attic Greek, replaced by Koine Greek during the Hellenistic era. Their religious beliefs mirrored those of other Greeks, following the main deities of the Greek pantheon, although the Macedonians continued Archaic burial practices that had ceased in other parts of Greece after the 6th century BC. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility. Similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle.
Stag Hunt Mosaic, 4th century BC
The expansion of ancient Macedon up to the death of Philip II of Macedon (r. 359 – 336 BC)
Regions of Mygdonia, Edonia, Bisaltia, Crestonia and Bottiaea
The entrance to the "Great Tumulus" Museum at Vergina