1.
Macedonia (Greece)
–
Macedonia is a geographic and historical region of Greece in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region, dominated by mountains in the interior, Macedonia is part of Northern Greece, together with Thrace and sometimes Thessaly and Epirus. It incorporates most of the territories of ancient Macedon, a kingdom ruled by the Argeads whose most celebrated members were Alexander the Great, the name Macedonia was later applied to identify various administrative areas in the Roman/Byzantine Empire with widely differing borders. Even before the establishment of the modern Greek state in 1830, it was identified as a Greek province, by the mid 19th century, the name was becoming consolidated informally, defining more of a distinct geographical, rather than political, region in the southern Balkans. At the end of the Ottoman Empire most of the known as Rumelia was divided by the Treaty of Bucharest of 1913. Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria each took control of portions of the Macedonian region, with Greece obtaining the largest portion, Central Macedonia is the most popular tourist destination in Greece with more than 3.6 million tourists in 2009. Macedonia lies at the crossroads of human development between the Aegean and the Balkans, the earliest signs of human habitation date back to the palaeolithic period, notably with the Petralona cave in which was found the oldest European humanoid, Archanthropus europaeus petraloniensis. In the Late Neolithic period, trade took place from quite distant regions, one of the most important changes was the start of copper working. According to Herodotus, the history of Macedonia began with the Makednoi tribe, among the first to use the name, there they lived near Thracian tribes such as the Bryges who would later leave Macedonia for Asia Minor and become known as Phrygians. Macedonia was named after the Makednoi, accounts of other toponyms such as Emathia are attested to have been in use before that. Herodotus claims that a branch of the Macedonians invaded Southern Greece towards the end of the second millennium B. C, upon reaching the Peloponnese the invaders were renamed Dorians, triggering the accounts of the Dorian invasion. For centuries the Macedonian tribes were organized in independent kingdoms, in what is now Central Macedonia, the Macedonians claimed to be Dorian Greeks and there were many Ionians in the coastal regions. During the late 6th and early 5th century BC, the region came under Persian rule until the destruction of Xerxes at Plataea, many Macedonian cities were allied to the Spartans, but Athens maintained the colony of Amphipolis under her control for many years. The kingdom of Macedon, was reorganised by Philip II and achieved the union of Greek states by forming the League of Corinth. After his assassination, his son Alexander succeeded to the throne of Macedon, for a brief period a Macedonian republic called the Koinon of the Macedonians was established. It was divided into four administrative districts and that period ended in 148 BC, when Macedonia was fully annexed by the Romans. The northern boundary at that time ended at Lake Ohrid and Bylazora, strabo, writing in the first century AD places the border of Macedonia on that part at Lychnidos, Byzantine Achris and presently Ochrid. Therefore ancient Macedonia did not significantly extend beyond its current borders, the Acts of the Apostles records a vision in which the apostle Paul is said to have seen a man of Macedonia pleading with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us
Macedonia (Greece)
–
Archaeological site of
Pella, capital of
ancient Macedonia
Macedonia (Greece)
–
Flag
Macedonia (Greece)
–
Facade of the "Tomb of the Palmettes" (3rd BC),
Mieza
Macedonia (Greece)
–
Lion of Amphipolis
2.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
3.
Ancient Greece
–
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
Ancient Greece
–
The
Parthenon, a temple dedicated to
Athena, located on the
Acropolis in
Athens, is one of the most representative symbols of the culture and sophistication of the ancient Greeks.
Ancient Greece
–
Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric period, or the beginning of the Archaic period,
c. 750 BC.
Ancient Greece
–
Political geography of ancient Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods
4.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
5.
Central Macedonia
–
Central Macedonia is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the geographical and historical region of Macedonia. With a population of almost 1.9 million, it is the second most populous in Greece after Attica, the region was established in the 1987 administrative reform. With the 2010 Kallikratis plan, its powers and authority were redefined and extended, along with East Macedonia and Thrace, it is supervised by the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace, based in Thessaloniki. The region is based at its capital city of Thessaloniki and is divided into seven units, Chalkidiki, Imathia, Kilkis, Pella, Pieria, Serres. These are further subdivided into 38 municipalities, although geographically part of central Macedonia, Mount Athos is not administratively part of the region, but an autonomous self-governing state under the sovereignity of Greece. Central Macedonia is Greeces most visited region and accounts for 18. 2% of the total tourist flow in the country, with 3.21 million tourists in 2008. In 2011, the GDP per capita of Central Macedonia was €14,400, marking a 9th place of the 13 regions of Greece, alexandria Aridaea Edessa Giannitsa Katerini Kilkis Koufalia Litochoro Naoussa Nea Kallikratia Nea Moudania Polygyros Polykastro Serres Thessaloniki Veria Official website
Central Macedonia
–
Central Macedonia Περιφέρεια Κεντρικής Μακεδονίας
6.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
Greece
–
Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in
Knossos,
Crete.
Greece
–
Flag
Greece
–
The
Lion Gate,
Mycenae
Greece
–
The
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of
classical Greece.
7.
Capital (political)
–
A capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government. In some jurisdictions, including countries, the different branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made between the capital and the seat of government, which is in another place. The word capital derives from the Latin caput, meaning head, in several English-speaking states, the terms county town, county seat, and borough seat are also used in lower subdivisions. In unitary states, subnational capitals are known as administrative centres. The capital is often, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent, historically, the major economic centre of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or federation. Examples are Ancient Babylon, Abbasid Baghdad, Ancient Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Changan, Ancient Cusco, Madrid, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Vienna, and Berlin. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e. g. Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Ancient Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Peking. A capital city that is also the economic, cultural. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal, traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, e. g. Nanking by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its city, as occurred at Babylon. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no legal designation as such, for example Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, are located in or near them. In Canada, there is a capital, while the ten provinces. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia all have capital cities, for example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the capital cities is regularly used, to refer to the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin. Abu Dhabi is the city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent countries, such as the United Kingdom or the Kingdom of Denmark, the national capitals of Germany and Russia, the Stadtstaat of Berlin and the Federal City of Moscow, are also constituent states of both countries in their own right
Capital (political)
–
Parliament Hill, the national legislative buildings, in
Ottawa, the capital of
Canada.
Capital (political)
–
The
Roman Forum was surrounded by many government buildings as the capital of
Ancient Rome.
Capital (political)
–
The
Western Wall is one of the greatest findings of the Jewish history in
Jerusalem.
Capital (political)
–
Cornwall Council headquarters in the
county town of
Truro.
8.
Monarchy
–
The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
Monarchy
–
Richard I of England being anointed during his coronation in
Westminster Abbey, from a 13th-century chronicle.
Monarchy
–
Thutmose I, the third
Pharaoh of the
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.
Monarchy
–
King George III of the United Kingdom, Portrait by
Allan Ramsay, 1762
Monarchy
–
King
Salman of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarch.
9.
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
–
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and at first ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, the reign of Philip II saw the rise of Macedonia, during which the kingdom rose to control the entire Greek world. With a reformed army containing phalanxes wielding the sarissa pike, Philip II defeated the old powers of Athens and Thebes in the decisive Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Sparta was kept isolated and was occupied a century later by Antigonus III Doson. Alexander then led a roughly decade-long campaign of conquest against the Achaemenid Empire, in the ensuing wars of Alexander the Great, he overthrew the Achaemenid Empire and conquered a 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, Greek arts and literature flourished in the new conquered lands and advances in philosophy, engineering, and science were spread throughout much of the ancient world. Of particular importance were the contributions of Aristotle, who had been imported as tutor to Alexander, 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, Macedonias decline began with the Macedonian Wars and the rise of Rome as the leading Mediterranean power. At the end of the Second Macedonian War in 168 BC, a short-lived revival of the monarchy during the Third Macedonian War in 150–148 BC ended with the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia. The name Macedonia comes from the ethnonym Μακεδόνες, which itself is derived from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός, meaning tall and it also shares the same root as the noun μάκρος, meaning length in both ancient and modern Greek. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders, the tall ones. Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. Contradictory legends state that either Perdiccas I of Macedon or Caranus of Macedon were the founders of the Argead dynasty, the kingdom of Macedonia was situated along the Haliacmon and Axius rivers in Lower Macedonia, north of Mount Olympus. Historian Malcolm Errington posits the theory one of the earliest Argead kings must have established Aigai as their capital in the mid-7th century BC. Prior to the 4th century BC, the kingdom covered a region corresponding to the western. Achaemenid Persian hegemony over Macedonia was briefly interrupted by the Ionian Revolt, although Macedonia enjoyed a large degree of autonomy and was never made a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, it was expected to provide troops for the Achaemenid army. Following the Greek victory at Salamis in 480 BC, Alexander I was employed as an Achaemenid diplomat to strike a treaty and alliance with Athens. Soon afterwards the Achaemenid forces were forced to withdraw from mainland Europe, although initially a Persian vassal, Alexander I of Macedon fostered friendly diplomatic relations with his former Greek enemies, the Athenian and Spartan-led coalition of Greek city-states. Two separate wars were fought against Athens between 433 and 431 BC, spurred by an Athenian alliance with a brother and cousin of Perdiccas II who had rebelled against him
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
–
The entrance to one of the royal tombs at Vergina, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
–
The Kingdom of Macedonia in 336 BC.
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
–
Philip II, king of Macedon
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
–
The expansion of ancient Macedon up to the death of Philip II (r. 359–336 BC).
10.
Alexander the Great
–
Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. He was born in Pella in 356 BC and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty and he was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of historys most successful military commanders. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16, after Philips assassination in 336 BC, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. Alexander was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his fathers Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia, in 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Following the conquest of Anatolia, Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of battles, most notably the battles of Issus. He subsequently overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety, at that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. He sought to reach the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea and invaded India in 326 BC and he eventually turned back at the demand of his homesick troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, the city that he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in the establishment of several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexanders surviving generals, Alexanders legacy includes the cultural diffusion which his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt, Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and mythic traditions of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and he is often ranked among the most influential people in human history. He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his wife, Olympias. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his wife for some time. Several legends surround Alexanders birth and childhood, sometime after the wedding, Philip is said to have seen himself, in a dream, securing his wifes womb with a seal engraved with a lions image. Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of dreams, that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb. On the day Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and it was also said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his own instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception
Alexander the Great
–
"Alexander fighting king
Darius III of Persia ",
Alexander Mosaic,
Naples National Archaeological Museum.
Alexander the Great
–
Bust of a young Alexander the Great from the Hellenistic era,
British Museum
Alexander the Great
–
Aristotle tutoring Alexander, by
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
Alexander the Great
–
Philip II of Macedon, Alexander's father.
11.
Archaeological Museum of Pella
–
The Archaeological Museum of Pella 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 and it was completed in 2009 with the support of the Greeces Third Community Support Framework. It is situated near the site of the ancient Macedonian palace. The building has an atrium, as a reference to the central peristyle courtyard of ancient houses in Pella. The information section provides texts, photographs, maps, drawings a model of the archaeological site, in the entrance there are two important exhibits, A head considered a portrait of Alexander the Great and a statuette with the characteristic attributes of the god Pan. The daily life of Pella is the first thematic group of the exhibition, the most important exhibits are the mosaic floors from the Houses of Dionysus, and of the Abduction of Helen from the House of the Wall Plasters. The excavation finds provide much information about life in ancient Pella The second thematic group is about public life in Pella. The finds come from excavations in the Agora and are related to the citys administration, the third thematic group consists of mosaics from Pella’s sanctuaries, and other findings as inscriptions, vases, metal objects. The fourth thematic group is the findings from the city’s cemeteries, there are burials from the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, Geometric and Archaic periods, the Classical era, and the Hellenistic period. The findings give information about the language of the residents, the funeral customs etc, the last grouping is the palace gallery and presents information about the architectural form of the palace, and the life and personality of Alexander the Great.0 license. Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism Archaeological Museum of Pella - Ebook by Latsis Foundation
Archaeological Museum of Pella
–
Macedonian tomb in the museum.
Archaeological Museum of Pella
–
Stag Hunt Mosaic (c. 300 BC)
Archaeological Museum of Pella
–
Marble head of Alexander the Great (325-300 BC). Chance find from the area of
Giannitsa.
Archaeological Museum of Pella
–
Teracotta figurine of Aphrodite removing her sandal. Votting offerings from the Sanctuary of the Mother of Gods and Aphrodite (late 4th-early 1st BC century)
12.
Ancient Macedonian language
–
Ancient Macedonian, the language of the ancient Macedonians, was spoken in the kingdom of Macedonia during the 1st millennium BC and belongs to the Indo-European language family. Due to the attestation of this language or dialect, various interpretations are possible. Suggested phylogenetic classifications of Macedonian include, A Greek dialect, part of the North-Western variants of Doric Greek, Hammond Olivier Masson, Michael Meier-Brügger, Johannes Engels, and Hatzopoulos. A northern Greek dialect, related to Aeolic Greek and Thessalian, suggested among others by A. Fick, a Greek dialect with a non-Indo-European substratal influence, suggested by M. Sakellariou and Hatzopoulos. An Indo-European language that is a cousin to Attic Greek and also related to Thracian and Phrygian languages, suggested by A. Meillet. Russu, or part of a Sprachbund encompassing Thracian, Illyrian, an Illyrian dialect mixed with Greek, suggested by K. O. Müller and by G. Bonfante. According to Plutarch, Moralia Macedonians use b instead of ph, in Aristophanes The Birds, the form κεβλήπυρις keblēpyris is found, showing a Macedonian-style voiced stop in place of a standard Greek unvoiced aspirate, κεβλή keblē versus κεφαλή kephalē. A number of the Macedonian words, particularly in Hesychius lexicon, are disputed, thus abroutes, may be read as abrouwes, with tau replacing a digamma. The morphology of the first declension nouns with an -ας ending is also shared with Thessalian, common in the creation of ethnics is the use of -έστης, -εστός especially when derived from sigmatic nouns. The toponyms of Macedonia proper are generally Greek, though some of them show a particular phonology, about 99% of the roughly 6,300 Macedonian-period inscriptions discovered by archaeologists were written in the Greek language, using the Greek alphabet. The majority of words can be confidently assigned to Greek albeit some words would appear to reflect a dialectal form of Greek. There are, however, a number of words that are not easily identifiable as Greek and reveal, for example, ⟨†⟩ marked words which have been corrupted. Epithet of a goddess from an archaic Corcyraic inscription, ἀκρουνοί akrounoi boundary stones nom. pl. ἀλίη alíē boar or boarfish (PIE *ol-/*el- red, brown ἄλιζα aliza White Poplar ἄξος axos timber (Cretan Doric ausos Attic alsos grove little forest. (PIE *os- ash tree, ἀορτής aortês, swordsman (According to Suidas, both the object and the word Macedonian. (PIE *gwou- cattle, γυλλάς gyllas kind of glass γῶψ gôps pl. gopes macherel δαίτας daitas caterer waiter (Attic daitros δάνος danos death, PIE *dhenh2- to leave, generally the coastal Lower Macedonia in contrast to mountainous Upper Macedonia. Karphos any small dry body, piece of wood the worms in dry wood a sea creature καρπαία karpaia Thessalo-Macedonian mimic military dance Homeric karpalimos swift eager, ravenous. κίκεῤῥοι kíkerroi chick-peas κομμάραι kommarai or komarai crawfishes κόμβοι komboi molars κυνοῦπες kynoupes or kynoutos bear (knôps beast esp. serpent instead of kinôpeton, zonar λακεδάμα lakedáma ὕδωρ ἁλμυρὸν ἄλικι ἐπικεχυμένον salty water with alix, rice-wheat or fish-sauce. καυσία kausia felt hat used by Macedonians, forming part of the regalia of the kings
Ancient Macedonian language
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The
Pella curse tablet (Greek katadesmos)
13.
Doric Greek
–
Doric or Dorian was an Ancient Greek dialect. Together with Northwest Greek, it forms the Western group of classical Greek dialects and it is widely accepted that Doric originated in the mountains of Epirus and Macedonia, northwestern Greece, the original seat of the Dorians. It was expanded to all regions during the Dorian invasion. The presence of a Doric state in central Greece, north of the Gulf of Corinth, local epigraphical evidence is restricted to the decrees of the Epirote League and the Pella curse tablet, as well to the Doric eponym Machatas first attested in Macedonia. Where the Doric dialect group fits in the classification of ancient Greek dialects depends to some extent on the classification. Several views are stated under Greek dialects, the prevalent theme of most views listed there is that Doric is a subgroup of West Greek. Some use the terms Northern Greek or Northwest Greek instead, the geographic distinction is only verbal and ostensibly is misnamed, all of Doric was spoken south of Southern Greek or Southeastern Greek. Be that as it may, Northern Greek is based on a presumption that Dorians came from the north, when the distinction began is not known. Thus West Greek is the most accurate name for the classical dialects, tsakonian, a descendant of Laconian Doric, is still spoken on the southern Argolid coast of the Peloponnese, in the modern prefectures of Arcadia and Laconia. Today it is a source of considerable interest to linguists, the dialects of the Doric Group are as follows, Laconian was spoken by the population of Laconia in the southern Peloponnese and also by its colonies, Tarentum and Herakleia in Magna Graecia. Sparta was the seat of ancient Laconia, Laconian is attested in inscriptions on pottery and stone from the seventh century BC. A dedication to Helen dates from the quarter of the seventh century. Tarentum was founded in 706 and its founders must already have spoken Laconic, many documents from the state of Sparta survive, whose citizens called themselves Lacedaemonians after the name of the valley in which they lived. Homer calls it hollow Lacedaemon, though he refers to a pre-Dorian period, the seventh century Spartan poet, Alcman, used a dialect that some consider to be predominantly Laconian. Philoxenus of Alexandria wrote a treatise On the Laconian dialect, argolic was spoken in the thickly settled northeast Peloponnese at, for example, Argos, Mycenae, Hermione, Troezen, Epidaurus, and as close to Athens as the island of Aegina. As Mycenaean Greek had been spoken in this region in the Bronze Age. The Dorians went on from Argos to Crete and Rhodes, ample inscriptional material of a legal, political and religious content exists from at least the sixth century BC. Corinthian was spoken first in the region between the Peloponnesus and mainland Greece, that is, the Isthmus of Corinth
Doric Greek
–
Doric proper
14.
Thermaic Gulf
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The Thermaic Gulf is a gulf of the Aegean Sea located immediately south of the Thessaloniki regional unit, east of Pieria and Imathia, and west of Chalkidiki. It was named after the ancient town of Therma, which was situated on the northeast coast of the gulf, near Thessaloniki, the length of the gulf is about 100 km, while its width is about 5 km. The length of the gulf in its part is estimated to stretch 15 km, while after megalo emvolo cape towards the south. Cape Kassandra lies to the southeast end of the gulf, to the Romans, the gulf was also known as Thermaicus or Thermaeus sinus and as Macedonicus sinus. One of its modern names is the Gulf of Salonica, named after the city of Thessaloniki which sprawls around and along the northeastern coast of the gulf. Places that lie by the gulf include Sani, Kassandreia, ancient Potidaea, Nea Moudania, Agia Triada, Neoi Epivates, Peraia, Kalochori, Methoni, Pydna, Paralia Katerinis and Olympiaki Akti. The rivers emptying into the gulf are the Pineios, Aliakmon, Loudias, Gallikos and Axios, the Thermaic Gulf was significantly larger in classical times, with many ancient seaside cities are now found several kilometers inland. The extensive silting mainly affects the northern and western parts of the gulf, the gulf is home to a large number of famous, pristine beaches, which include Sani Beach. However, there are no beaches on the northwest coast, where wetlands stretch from Methone to Thessalonikis western suburb of Kalochori, the Port of Thessaloniki is the gulfs largest and busiest port, while another twelve small ports provide sea transport in, out and around the Thermaic gulf. Major road networks of northern Greece such as the A1/E75 motorway encircles the western portion of the gulf, while the A25 almost encircles the eastern part of it
Thermaic Gulf
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Old French map of the Gulf, 1764.
Thermaic Gulf
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View of Thermaic Gulf from
Peraia, Thessaloniki.
15.
Inlet
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An inlet is an indentation of a shoreline, usually long and narrow, such as a small bay or arm, that often leads to an enclosed body of salt water, such as a sound, bay, lagoon, or marsh. In sea coasts, an inlet usually refers to the connection between a bay and the ocean and is often called an entrance or a recession in the shore of a sea, lake. A certain kind of created by glaciation is a fjord, typically but not always in mountainous coastlines. Complexes of large inlets or fjords may be called sounds, e. g. Puget Sound, Howe Sound, Karmsund. Some fjord-type inlets are called canals, e. g. Portland Canal, Lynn Canal, Hood Canal, and some are channels, e. g. Dean Channel and Douglas Channel. Tidal amplitude, wave intensity, and wave direction are all factors that influence sediment flux in inlets Alaska Panhandle British Columbia Coast Calanque Inside Passage Ria Bruun, Per, stability of Tidal Inlets, Theory and Engineering. Amsterdam, Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co. p.510, be pub co Coastal Inlets Research Program Hood Canal on Google Maps
Inlet
–
Bay at the
Gulf of Salerno
Inlet
16.
Herodotus
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Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire and lived in the fifth century BC, a contemporary of Socrates. The Histories is the work which he is known to have produced. Despite Herodotus historical significance, little is known of his personal life and his place in history and his significance may be understood according to the traditions within which he worked. His work is the earliest Greek prose to have survived intact, of these only fragments of Hecataeuss work survive yet they allow us glimpses into the kind of tradition within which Herodotus wrote his own Histories. In his introduction to Hecataeus’s work, Genealogies, This points forward to the ‘folksy’ yet ‘international’ outlook typical of Herodotus. Yet, one scholar has described the work of Hecataeus as “a curious false start to history” since despite his critical spirit. It is possible that Herodotus borrowed much material from Hecataeus, as stated by Porphyry in a recorded by Eusebius. But Hecataeus did not record events that had occurred in living memory, unlike Herodotus, Herodotus claims to be better informed than his predecessors by relying on empirical observation to correct their excessive schematism. For example, He argues for continental asymmetry as opposed to the theory of a perfectly circular earth with Europe. Yet, he retains idealizing tendencies, as in his notions of the Danube. His debt to previous authors of prose ‘histories’ might be questionable, however, this point is one of the most contentious issues in modern scholarship. It is on account of the strange stories and the folk-tales he reported that his critics in early modern times branded him “The Father of Lies”. Even his own contemporaries found reason to scoff at his achievement, similarly, the Athenian historian Thucydides dismissed Herodotus as a “logos-writer”. Moreover, Thucydides developed a historical topic more in keeping with the Greek world-view, the interplay of civilizations was more relevant to Greeks living in Anatolia, such as Herodotus himself, for whom life within a foreign civilization was a recent memory. Modern scholars generally turn to Herodotus’s own writing for reliable information about his life, supplemented with ancient yet much later sources, modern accounts of his life typically go something like this, Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC. His name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian Delian League, the epic poet Panyassis – a relative of Herodotus – is reported to have taken part in a failed uprising. Herodotus expresses affection for the island of Samos, and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos, Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect, yet he was born in Halicarnassus, which was a Dorian settlement
Herodotus
–
A Roman copy (2nd century AD) of a Greek
bust of Herodotus from the first half of the 4th century BC
Herodotus
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Fragment from the Histories VIII on
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2099, early 2nd century AD
Herodotus
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Relief of Herodotus by
Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1806),
Louvre, Paris
Herodotus
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The statue of Herodotus in his hometown of
Halicarnassus, modern
Bodrum, Turkey.
17.
Halicarnassus
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Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum and it was part of the Persian Empire until captured by Alexander the Great at the siege of Halicarnassus in 334 BC. Halicarnassus originally occupied only an island near to the shore called Zephyria, which was the original name of the settlement. The suffix -ᾱσσός of Greek Ἁλικαρνᾱσσός is indicative of a substrate toponym and it has been recently proposed that the element -καρνᾱσσός is cognate with Luwian ha+ra/i-na-sà / ha+ra/i-ni-sà fortress. If so, the toponym is probably borrowed from Carian, a Luwic language spoken alongside Greek in Halicarnassus, the Carian name for Halicarnassus has been tentatively identified with Alos-δ karnos-δ in inscriptions. Some large Mycenaean tombs have found at Musgebi, not far from Halicarnassus. More than forty burial places dating back to time have been discovered. A rich collection of found in these tombs is now housed in the Bodrum Castle. These finds cast some light on the problem of determining the territories of ancient Arzawa and Ahhiyawa, the inhabitants appear to have accepted Anthes, a son of Poseidon, as their legendary founder, as mentioned by Strabo, and were proud of the title of Antheadae. In the early 5th century Halicarnassus was under the sway of Artemisia I of Caria, hecatomnus became king of Caria, at that time part of the Persian Empire, ruling from 404 BC to 358 BC and establishing the Hekatomnid dynasty. Mausolus moved his capital from Mylasa to Halicarnassus and his workmen deepened the citys harbor and used the dragged sand to make protecting breakwaters in front of the channel. On land they paved streets and squares, and built houses for ordinary citizens, and on one side of the harbor they built a massive fortified palace for Mausolus, positioned to have clear views out to sea and inland to the hills—places from where enemies could attack. On land, the workmen also built walls and watchtowers, a Greek–style theatre, Artemisia and Mausolus spent huge amounts of tax money to embellish the city. They commissioned statues, temples and buildings of gleaming marble, when he died in 353 BC, his wife, sister and successor, Artemisia II of Caria, began construction of a magnificent tomb for him and herself on a hill overlooking the city. This tomb of Mausolus came to be known as the Mausoleum, Artemisia was succeeded by her brother Idrieus, who, in turn, was succeeded by his wife and sister Ada when he died in 344 BC. However, Ada was usurped by her brother Pixodarus in 340 BC, on the death of Pixodarus in 335 BC his son-in-law, a Persian named Orontobates, received the satrapy of Caria from Darius III of Persia. When Alexander the Great entered Caria in 334 BC, Ada, during the siege of Halicarnassus the city was fired by the retreating Persians
Halicarnassus
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The ruins of the
Mausoleum of Maussollos, one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Halicarnassus
–
Herodotus (Greek: Ηρόδοτος) is honored with a statue in his home of Halicarnassus (modern
Bodrum).
18.
Xerxes I of Persia
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Xerxes I, called Xerxes the Great, was the fourth king of kings of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. He ruled from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC at the hands of Artabanus, Xerxes I is most likely the Persian king identified as Ahasuerus in the biblical Book of Esther. He is also notable in Western history for his invasion of Greece in 480 BC. Like his predecessor Darius I, he ruled the empire at its territorial apex and his forces temporarily overran mainland Greece north of the Isthmus of Corinth until the losses at Salamis and Plataea a year later reversed these gains and ended the second invasion decisively. Xerxes was born to Darius I and Atossa, Darius and Atossa were both Achaemenids as they were both descendants of Achaemenes. While Darius was preparing for war against Greece, a revolt spurred in Egypt in 486 BC due to heavy taxes. Under Persian law, the king was required to choose a successor before setting out on dangerous expeditions, when Darius decided to leave, Darius prepared his tomb at Naqsh-e Rustam and appointed Xerxes, his eldest son by Atossa, as his successor. However, Darius could not lead the campaign due to his failing health, Xerxes was crowned and succeeded his father in October–December 486 BC when he was about 36 years old. Almost immediately, Xerxes crushed revolts in Egypt and Babylon that had broken out the year before, and appointed his brother Achaemenes as satrap over Egypt. In 484 BC, he outraged the Babylonians by violently confiscating and melting down the statue of Bel. This comes from the Daiva Inscriptions of Xerxes, lines 6-13, although Herodotus report in the Histories has created debate concerning Xerxess religious beliefs, modern scholars consider him a Zoroastrian. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxess first attempt to bridge the Hellespont ended in failure when a storm destroyed the flax, in retaliation, Xerxes ordered the Hellespont whipped three hundred times, and had fetters thrown into the water. Xerxess second attempt to bridge the Hellespont was successful, many smaller Greek states, moreover, took the side of the Persians, especially Thessaly, Thebes and Argos. Xerxes was victorious during the initial battles, Xerxes set out in the spring of 480 BC from Sardis with a fleet and army which Herodotus estimated was roughly one million strong along with 10,000 elite warriors named the Persian Immortals. More recent estimates place the Persian force at around 60,000 combatants, at the Battle of Thermopylae, a small force of Greek warriors led by King Leonidas of Sparta resisted the much larger Persian forces, but were ultimately defeated. According to Herodotus, the Persians broke the Spartan phalanx after a Greek man called Ephialtes betrayed his country by telling the Persians of another pass around the mountains. At Artemisium, large storms had destroyed ships from the Greek side and so the battle stopped prematurely as the Greeks received news of the defeat at Thermopylae, most of the Athenians had abandoned the city and fled to the island of Salamis before Xerxes arrived. A small group attempted to defend the Athenian Acropolis, but they were defeated, Xerxes burnt the city, leaving an archaeologically attested destruction layer, known as the Perserschutt
Xerxes I of Persia
–
Xerxes attending the lashing and "chaining" of the
Hellespont (Illustration from 1909)
Xerxes I of Persia
–
Rock relief of Xerxes at his tomb in
Naqsh-e Rustam
Xerxes I of Persia
–
Inscription of Xerxes the Great near the
Van Citadel
Xerxes I of Persia
–
The rock-cut tomb at
Naqsh-e Rustam north of
Persepolis, copying that of
Darius, is usually assumed to be that of Xerxes
19.
Thucydides
–
Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC and his text is still studied at both universities and military colleges worldwide. The Melian dialogue remains a work of international relations theory while Pericles Funeral Oration is widely studied in political theory, history. More generally, Thucydides showed an interest in developing an understanding of nature to explain behaviour in such crises as plague, massacres, as in that of the Melians. In spite of his stature as a historian, modern historians know relatively little about Thucydidess life, the most reliable information comes from his own History of the Peloponnesian War, which expounds his nationality, paternity and native locality. Thucydides informs us that he fought in the war, contracted the plague and was exiled by the democracy and he may have also been involved in quelling the Samian Revolt. Thucydides identifies himself as an Athenian, telling us that his fathers name was Olorus and he survived the Plague of Athens that killed Pericles and many other Athenians. He also records that he owned gold mines at Scapte Hyle, because of his influence in the Thracian region, Thucydides wrote, he was sent as a strategos to Thasos in 424 BC. During the winter of 424–423 BC, the Spartan general Brasidas attacked Amphipolis, eucles, the Athenian commander at Amphipolis, sent to Thucydides for help. Thus, when Thucydides arrived, Amphipolis was already under Spartan control, Amphipolis was of considerable strategic importance, and news of its fall caused great consternation in Athens. It was blamed on Thucydides, although he claimed that it was not his fault, using his status as an exile from Athens to travel freely among the Peloponnesian allies, he was able to view the war from the perspective of both sides. During his exile from Athens, Thucydides wrote his most famous work History of the Peloponnesian War, because he was in exile during this time, he was free to speak his mind. This is all that Thucydides wrote about his own life, but a few facts are available from reliable contemporary sources. Herodotus wrote that the name Olorus, Thucydidess fathers name, was connected with Thrace, Thucydides was probably connected through family to the Athenian statesman and general Miltiades, and his son Cimon, leaders of the old aristocracy supplanted by the Radical Democrats. Cimons maternal grandfathers name was also Olorus, making the connection exceedingly likely, another Thucydides lived before the historian and was also linked with Thrace, making a family connection between them very likely as well. Finally, Herodotus confirms the connection of Thucydidess family with the mines at Scapté Hýlē, in essence, he was a well-connected gentleman of considerable resources who, by then retired from the political and military spheres, decided to fund his own historical project. The remaining evidence for Thucydidess life comes from rather less reliable later ancient sources, pausanias goes on to say that Thucydides was murdered on his way back to Athens. Many doubt this account, seeing evidence to suggest he lived as late as 397 BC, Plutarch claims that his remains were returned to Athens and placed in Cimons family vault
Thucydides
–
Plaster cast bust of Thucydides (in the
Pushkin Museum). From a Roman copy (located at
Holkham Hall) of an early 4th Century BC Greek original.
Thucydides
–
The ruins of Amphipolis as envisaged by E. Cousinéry in 1831: the bridge over the Strymon, the city fortifications, and the acropolis
Thucydides
–
Bust of Pericles
Thucydides
–
The Acropolis in Athens
20.
Sitalces
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Sitalces was one of the great kings of the Thracian Odrysian state. He was the son of Teres I, and on the death of his father in 431 BC succeeded to the throne. He was obliged to retire through failure of provisions, Sitalces was killed in 424 by the Thracian Triballi. He was succeeded on the Odrysian throne by Seuthes, sitalk Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Sitalces
Sitalces
–
Odrysian kingdom & Environs,431 BC
21.
Thrace
–
It comprises southeastern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and the European part of Turkey. In antiquity, it was referred to as Europe, prior to the extension of the term to describe the whole continent. The name Thrace comes from the Thracians, an ancient Indo-European people inhabiting Southeastern Europe, the word itself was established by the Greeks for referring to the Thracian tribes, from Ancient Greek Thrake, descending from Thrāix. The name of the continent Europe first referred to Thrace proper, the region obviously took the name of the principal river there, Hebros, probably from the Indo-European arg white river, according to an alternative theory, Hebros means goat in Thracian. In Turkey, it is referred to as Rumeli, Land of the Romans. The name appears to derive from an ancient heroine and sorceress Thrace, who was the daughter of Oceanus and Parthenope, the historical boundaries of Thrace have varied. In one ancient Greek source, the very Earth is divided into Asia, Libya, Europa and this largely coincided with the Thracian Odrysian kingdom, whose borders varied over time. After the Macedonian conquest, this regions former border with Macedonia was shifted from the Struma River to the Mesta River and this usage lasted until the Roman conquest. Henceforth, Thrace referred only to the tract of land covering the same extent of space as the modern geographical region. The medieval Byzantine theme of Thrace contained only what today is Eastern Thrace, the largest cities of Thrace are, İstanbul, Plovdiv, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Yambol, Komotini, Alexandroupoli, Xanthi, Edirne, Çorlu and Tekirdağ. Most of the Bulgarian and Greek population are Christians, while most of the Turkish inhabitants of Thrace are Muslims, Ancient Greek mythology provides them with a mythical ancestor, named Thrax, son of the war-god Ares, who was said to reside in Thrace. The Thracians appear in Homers Iliad as Trojan allies, led by Acamas, later in the Iliad, Rhesus, another Thracian king, makes an appearance. Cisseus, father-in-law to the Trojan elder Antenor, is given as a Thracian king. Homeric Thrace was vaguely defined, and stretched from the River Axios in the west to the Hellespont, Greek mythology is replete with Thracian kings, including Diomedes, Tereus, Lycurgus, Phineus, Tegyrius, Eumolpus, Polymnestor, Poltys, and Oeagrus. In addition to the tribe that Homer calls Thracians, ancient Thrace was home to other tribes, such as the Edones, Bisaltae, Cicones. Thrace is also mentioned in Ovids Metamorphoses in the episode of Philomela, Procne, Tereus, the King of Thrace, lusts after his sister-in-law, Philomela. He kidnaps her, holds her captive, rapes her, Philomela manages to get free, however. She and her sister, Procne, plot to get revenge, by killing Itys, at the end of the myth, all three turn into birds – Procne, a swallow, Philomela, a nightingale, and Tereus, a hoopoe
Thrace
–
The physical-geographical boundaries of Thrace: the Balkan Mountains, the Rhodope Mountains and the Bosporus. The Rhodope mountain range is highlighted.
Thrace
–
The modern boundaries of Thrace in
Bulgaria,
Greece and
Turkey
Thrace
–
The Roman province of Thrace
Thrace
–
Map of Ancient Thrace made by
Abraham Ortelius in 1585, stating both the names Thrace and Europe
22.
Archelaus I
–
Archelaus I was a king of Macedon from 413 to 399 BC. He was a capable and beneficent ruler, known for the changes he made in state administration, the military. By the time that he died, Archelaus had succeeded in converting Macedon into a stronger power. Thucydides credited Archelaus with doing more for his kingdoms military infrastructure than all of his predecessors together, Archelaus was a son of Perdiccas II by a slave woman. He obtained the throne by murdering his own uncle Alcetas II and cousin Alexander, such that his father became king, and his half-brother, a child of seven years, the Athenians experienced a crushing defeat at Syracuse in late 413 during which most of their ships were destroyed. This left the Athenians in desperate need of an amount of timber to build new ships. Archelaus generously supplied the Athenians with the timber they needed, in recognition of this, the Athenians honored Archelaus and his children with the titles of proxenos and euergetes. Archelaus went on to many internal reforms. He issued an abundance of good quality coinage and he built strongholds, cut straight roads, and improved the organization of the military, particularly the cavalry and hoplite infantry. Archelaus was also known as a man of culture and extended cultural, in his new palace at Pella, he hosted great poets, tragedians, including Agathon and Euripides, musicians, and painters, including Zeuxis. Archelaus reorganized the Olympia, a festival with musical and athletic competitions honoring Olympian Zeus and the Muses at Dion. The greatest athletes and artists of Greece came to Macedon to participate in this event, in addition, Archelaus competed and won in Tethrippon in both Olympic and Pythian Games. According to Aelian, Archelaus was killed in 399 BC during a hunt, by one of the royal pages, according to Constantine Paparrigopoulos, there were three accomplices, two Thessalians and one Macedonian, Decamnichos. The latter used to be Archelaus protégé, however Decamnichos once insulted, in front of Archelaus, the tragic poet Euripides for the smell of the poets alleged bad breath. This outraged Archelaus who allowed Euripides to flog Decamnichos in punishment, Decamnichos was permitted to remain in the court of Archelaus, however, he did not forget about this treatment and thus participated in the killing of his king a few years later. Other versions of the death are reported by differing sources. Archelaus had several daughters and sons, including Orestes of Macedon and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Archelaus, King of Macedonia. Coinage of Archelaus Ancestry of Archelaus
Archelaus I
–
Archelaus I
Didrachm
Archelaus I
–
The bust of
Euripides, who was hosted by Archelaus
23.
Aegae (Macedon)
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Vergina is a small town in northern Greece, part of Veroia municipality in Imathia, Central Macedonia. It is now a unit within Veroia, with an area 69.047 km2. Vergina is best known as the site of ancient Aigai, the first capital of Macedon and it was here in 336 BC that Philip II was assassinated in the theatre and Alexander the Great was proclaimed king. It is also the site of a royal palace and of many rich ancient tombs. The objects and paintings found in the tombs at Vergina are of high quality. A museum now contains Philips tomb and a new museum is being constructed for the palace, the existence of an early Macedonian fortress named Aegae is reported by Justin, and was long identified as Edessa. Only with the discovery of substantial remains near Vergina, just east of the Haliacmon, in 1976, ancient sources give conflicting accounts of the origins of the Argead dynasty. Alexander I is the first truly historic figure and, based on the line of succession, herodotus says that the Argead dynasty was an ancient Greek royal house led by Perdiccas I who fled from Argos, in approximately 650 BC. Indeed, Aigai never became a city and most of its inhabitants lived in surrounding villages. From Aigai the Macedonians spread to the part of Macedonia. From 513 to 480 BC Aigai was part of the Persian Empire, the city wall was built in the 5th century probably by Perdiccas II. At the beginning of the 4th century BC, Archelaus transferred the Macedonian capital north-east to Pella on the central Macedonian plain. Nevertheless, Aegae retained its role as the city of the Macedonian kingdom, the site of the traditional cult centres, a royal palace. For this reason it was here that Philip II was attending the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to King Alexander of Epirus when he was murdered by his bodyguard in the theatre and his was the most lavish funeral ceremony of historic times held in Greece. Laid on a gold and ivory deathbed wearing his precious golden oak wreath. The bitter struggles between the heirs of Alexander, the Diadochi, in the 3rd century adversely affected the city, in 276 BC the Gauls of Pyrrhus plundered many of the tombs. After the overthrow of the Macedonian kingdom by the Romans in 168 BC both old and new capitals were destroyed, the walls pulled down and the palace, theatre, in the 1st century AD a landslide completely destroyed the city. However excavations prove that parts were inhabited in the 1st century AD
Aegae (Macedon)
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Great Tumulus of Aigai
Aegae (Macedon)
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Vergina Βεργίνα
Aegae (Macedon)
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Aegae (Macedon)
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Model of Philip II's tomb
24.
Amyntas III of Macedon
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Amyntas III was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon in 393 BC, and again from 392 to 370 BC. He was the son of Arrhidaeus and grandson of Amyntas, one of the sons of Alexander I and his most famous son is Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. He is historically considered the founder of the unified Macedonian state and he came to the throne after the ten years of confusion which followed the death of Archelaus I. But he had enemies at home, in 393 he was driven out by the Illyrians. Medius, head of the house of the Aleuadae of Larissa, is believed to have provided aid to Amyntas in recovering his throne, the mutual relationship between the Argeadae and the Aleuadae dates to the time of Archelaus. To shore up his country against the threat of the Illyrians, in exchange for this support, Amyntas granted them rights to Macedonian timber, which was sent back to Athens to help fortify their fleet. With money flowing into Olynthus from these exports, their power grew, in response, Amyntas sought additional allies. He established connections with Kotys, chief of the Odrysians, Kotys had already married his daughter to the Athenian general Iphicrates. Prevented from marrying into Kotys family, Amyntas soon adopted Iphicrates as his son, after the Kings Peace 387 BC, Sparta was anxious to re-establish its presence in the north Greece. In 385 BC, Bardylis and his Illyrians attacked Epirus instigated and aided by Dionysius I of Syracuse, when Amyntas sought Spartan aid against the growing threat of Olynthus, the Spartans eagerly responded. That Olynthus was backed by Athens and Thebes, rivals to Sparta for the control of Greece, Amyntas thus concluded a treaty with the Spartans, who assisted him to reduce Olynthus. He also entered into a league with Jason of Pherae, in 371 BC at a Panhellenic congress of the Lacedaemonian allies, he voted in support of the Athenians claim and joined other Greeks in voting to help Athens to recover possession of Amphipolis. With Olynthus defeated, Amyntas was now able to conclude a treaty with Athens, Amyntas shipped the timber to the house of the Athenian Timotheus, in the Piraeus. Amyntas married Eurydice, daughter of Sirras of Lynkestis, circa 390, by her, Amyntas had three sons, all of whom became kings of Macedonia one after the other, and a daughter, Alexander II Perdiccas III Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. Eurynoe, According to Roman historian Justin, Eurynoe prevented Amyntas assassination by her mother and her husband and she is not referred again by any other source. Justin also mentions that Amyntas had three sons by another wife, Gygaea, Archelaus, Arrhidaeus and Menelaus, the fact that they did not try to take the throne before the 350s suggests that they were younger than Amyntas children by Eurydice. They were ultimately eliminated by their half-brother Philip II because they had a claim to the throne, Amyntas died at an advanced age, leaving his throne to his eldest son, Alexander II. Treaties between Amyntas III and the Chalcidians Duane A. March, The Kings of Makedon, 399-369 BC,3, 257-282 Coins of Amyntas III Atheno-Macedonian Alliance-Translation of Epigraphy
Amyntas III of Macedon
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silver
stater Amyntas III
25.
Zeuxis
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Zeuxis was a painter who flourished during the 5th century BC. Zeuxis was an innovative Greek painter, although his paintings have not survived, historical records state they were known for their realism, small scale, novel subject matter, and independent format. His technique created volumetric illusion through manipulating light and shadow, a change from the method of filling in shapes with flat color. Preferring small scale panels to murals, Zeuxis also introduced genre subjects into painting, Zeuxis was born in Heraclea in 464 BC, probably Heraclea Lucania, in the present-day region of Basilicata in the southeastern boot of Italy. He may have studied with Demophilus of Himera, or with Neseus of Thasos, records cite his notable works as Helen, Zeus Enthroned and The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents. He also painted an assembly of gods, Eros crowned with roses, Alcmene, Menelaus, an athlete, Pan, Marsyas chained, archelaus I of Macedon employed Zeuxis to decorate the palace of his new capital Pella with a picture of Pan. Most of his works went to Rome and to Byzantium, Zeuxis is said to have died laughing at the humorous way he painted the goddess Aphrodite - after the old woman who commissioned it insisted on modeling for the portrait. According to the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder, Zeuxis and his contemporary Parrhasius staged a contest to determine the greater artist, when Zeuxis unveiled his painting of grapes, they appeared so real that birds flew down to peck at them. But when Parrhasius, whose painting was concealed behind a curtain, asked Zeuxis to pull aside that curtain, Parrhasius won, and Zeuxis said, I have deceived the birds, but Parrhasius has deceived Zeuxis. This story was referred to in 18th- and 19th-century art theory to promote spatial illusion in painting
Zeuxis
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Victor Mottez, Zeuxis choosing his models (1858)
26.
Miletus
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Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria. Its ruins are located near the village of Balat in Aydın Province. Before the Persian invasion in the middle of the 6th century BC, Miletus greatest wealth and splendor was reached during the Hellenistic era and later Roman times. Evidence of first settlement at the site has been inaccessible by the rise of sea level. The first available evidence is of the Neolithic, in the early and middle Bronze age the settlement came under Minoan influence. Legend has it that an influx of Cretans occurred displacing the indigenous Leleges, the site was renamed Miletus after a place in Crete. The Late Bronze Age, 13th century BC, saw the arrival of Luwian language speakers from south central Anatolia calling themselves the Carians, later in that century other Greeks arrived. The city at that time rebelled against the Hittite Empire, after the fall of that empire the city was destroyed in the 12th century BC and starting about 1000 BC was resettled extensively by the Ionian Greeks. Legend offers an Ionian foundation event sponsored by a founder named Neleus from the Peloponnesus, the Greek Dark Ages were a time of Ionian settlement and consolidation in an alliance called the Ionian League. The Archaic Period of Greece began with a sudden and brilliant flash of art, Miletus is the birthplace of the Hagia Sophias architect Isidore of Miletus and Thales, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher in c.624 BC. The ruins appear on maps at 37°31. 8N 27°16. 7E, about 3 km north of Balat and 3 km east of Batıköy in Aydın Province. In antiquity the city possessed a harbour at the entry of a large bay. The harbour of Miletus was additionally protected by the small island of Lade. Over the centuries the gulf silted up with alluvium carried by the Meander River, there is a Great Harbour Monument where, according to the New Testament account, the apostle Paul stopped on his way back to Jerusalem by boat. He met the Ephesian Elders and then headed out to the beach to bid farewell, recorded in the book of Acts 20. During the Pleistocene epoch the Miletus region was submerged in the Aegean Sea and it subsequently emerged slowly, the sea reaching a low level of about 130 meters below present level at about 18,000 BP. The site of Miletus was part of the mainland, a gradual rise brought a level of about 1.75 meters below present at about 5500 BP, creating several karst block islands of limestone, the location of the first settlements at Miletus. At about 1500 BC the karst shifted due to small crustal movements, since then the sea has risen 1.75 m but the peninsula has been surrounded by sediment from the Maeander river and is now land-locked
Miletus
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The
theater of Miletus
Miletus
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The Ionic Stoa on the
Sacred Way
Miletus
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The plan of Milet in the Classical period
Miletus
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Illustration of Miletus
27.
Euripides
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Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. He is one of the few plays have survived, with the others being Aeschylus, Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed 95 plays to him but according to the Suda it was 92 at most, of these,18 or 19 have survived more or less complete and there are also fragments, some substantial, of most of the other plays. This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy, yet he also became the most tragic of poets, focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was also unique among the writers of ancient Athens for the sympathy he demonstrated towards all victims of society and his contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism, both of them being frequently lampooned by comic poets such as Aristophanes. Whereas Socrates was eventually put on trial and executed as an influence, Euripides chose a voluntary exile in old age. Recent scholarship casts doubt on ancient biographies of Euripides, for example, it is possible that he never visited Macedonia at all, or, if he did, he might have been drawn there by King Archelaus with incentives that were also offered to other artists. Upon the receipt of a saying that his son was fated to win crowns of victory. In fact the boy was destined for a career on the stage and he served for a short time as both dancer and torch-bearer at the rites of Apollo Zosterius. His education was not confined to athletics, he studied painting and philosophy under the masters Prodicus. He had two marriages and both his wives—Melite and Choerine —were unfaithful. He became a recluse, making a home for himself in a cave on Salamis, there he built an impressive library and pursued daily communion with the sea and sky. Eventually he retired to the court of King Archelaus in Macedonia. However, as mentioned in the introduction, biographical details such as these should be regarded with scepticism and this biography is divided into three sections corresponding to the three kinds of sources. The apocryphal account that he composed his works in a cave on Salamis island was a late tradition, much of his life and his whole career coincided with the struggle between Athens and Sparta for hegemony in Greece but he didnt live to see the final defeat of his city. In an account by Plutarch, the failure of the Sicilian expedition led Athenians to trade renditions of Euripides lyrics to their enemies in return for food. Tragic poets were often mocked by comic poets during the dramatic festivals Dionysia and Lenaia, Aristophanes scripted him as a character in at least three plays, The Acharnians, Thesmophoriazusae and The Frogs. Yet Aristophanes borrowed rather than just satirized some of the methods, he was once ridiculed by a colleague, Cratinus, as a hair-splitting master of niceties
Euripides
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Bust of Euripides: Roman marble copy of a 4th-century BC Greek original (
Museo Pio-Clementino, Rome)
Euripides
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A statue of Euripides,
Louvre,
Paris.
28.
Bacchae
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The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It won first prize in the City Dionysia festival competition and this side is sensual without analysis, it feels a connection between man and beast, and it is a potential source of divinity and spiritual power. In Euripides’ plays the gods represent various qualities, allowing the audience to grapple with considerations of the human condition. The tragedy is based on the Greek myth of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agave, and their punishment by the god Dionysus. The god Dionysus appears at the beginning of the play and proclaims that he has arrived in Thebes to avenge the slander, which has been repeated by his aunts, that he is not the son of Zeus. In response, he intends to introduce Dionysian rites into the city, and he intends to demonstrate to the king, Pentheus, and to Thebes that he was indeed born a god. However, as the play proceeds Dionysus encounters what he considers newly occurring reasons to be angry, and in his capriciousness, the audience watches his revenge grow out of proportion. By the end of the play, there is the horrible and gruesome death of the king, Dionysus will further cause the plundering of a number of other cities. In The Bacchae there are two different versions of Dionysus. First there is the god as he is described by the chorus, however, Dionysus also appears as a character on the stage, has come for revenge, and is never like this. He is instead deliberate, plotting, angry and vengeful, the Bacchae is considered to be not only Euripides greatest tragedy, but one of the greatest ever written, modern or ancient. The Bacchae is distinctive for the facts that the chorus is integrated into the plot and the god is not a distant presence, but a character in the play, indeed, the protagonist. The Bacchae has been the subject of varying interpretations regarding what the play as a whole means. The extraordinary beauty and passion of the poetic choral descriptions indicate that the author certainly knew what attracted those who followed Dionysus, and the vivid gruesomeness of the punishment of Pentheus suggests that he could also understand those who were troubled by the religion. The Dionysus in Euripides tale is a god, angry that his mortal family. His mortal mother, Semele, was a mistress of Zeus, while pregnant she was killed, through trickery, by Hera, who was jealous of her husbands affair. When Semele died, her sisters said it was Zeus will and accused her of lying, they accused their father, Cadmus. Most of Semeles family refuse to believe Dionysus is the son of Zeus, and he has traveled throughout Asia and other foreign lands, gathering a cult of female worshipers
Bacchae
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Pentheus being torn apart by Agave and Ino, Attic red-figure vase.
Bacchae
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Ramona Reeves and Lynn Odell in director Brad Mays' stage production of
Euripides ' The Bacchae, 1997, Los Angeles.
29.
Philip II of Macedon
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Philip II of Macedon was the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty of Macedonian kings, the son of King Amyntas III. However, his assassination led to the succession of his son Alexander. Philip was the youngest son of the king Amyntas III and Eurydice I, in his youth, Philip was held as a hostage in Thebes, which was then the leading city of Greece. In 364 BC, Philip returned to Macedon, the deaths of Philips elder brothers, King Alexander II and Perdiccas III, allowed him to take the throne in 359 BC. Originally appointed regent for his infant nephew Amyntas IV, who was the son of Perdiccas III, Philips military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonian greatness brought him early success. He first had to remedy a predicament which had greatly worsened by the defeat against the Illyrians in which King Perdiccas himself had died. Using diplomacy, Philip pushed back the Paionians and Thracians promising tributes, momentarily free from his opponents, he concentrated on strengthening his internal position and, above all, his army. Philip had married Audata, great-granddaughter of the Illyrian king of Dardania, however, this did not prevent him from marching against the Illyrians in 358 and crushing them in a ferocious battle in which some 7,000 Illyrians died. By this move, Philip established his authority inland as far as Lake Ohrid, the Athenians had been unable to conquer Amphipolis, which commanded the gold mines of Mount Pangaion. So Philip reached an agreement with Athens to lease the city to them after its conquest, however, after conquering Amphipolis, Philip kept both cities. As Athens had declared war against him, he allied Macedon with the Chalkidian League of Olynthus and he subsequently conquered Potidaea, this time keeping his word and ceding it to the League in 356. In 357 BC, Philip married the Epirote princess Olympias, who was the daughter of the king of the Molossians, Alexander was born in 356, the same year as Philips racehorse won at the Olympic Games. During 356 BC, Philip conquered the town of Crenides and changed its name to Philippi and he then established a powerful garrison there to control its mines, which yielded much of the gold he later used for his campaigns. In the meantime, his general Parmenion defeated the Illyrians again, in 355–354 he besieged Methone, the last city on the Thermaic Gulf controlled by Athens. During the siege, Philip was injured in his eye, despite the arrival of two Athenian fleets, the city fell in 354. Philip also attacked Abdera and Maronea, on the Thracian coast, Philip was involved in the Third Sacred War which had begun in Greece in 356. In summer 353 he invaded Thessaly, defeating 7,000 Phocians under the brother of Onomarchus, the latter however defeated Philip in the two succeeding battles
Philip II of Macedon
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Bust of Philip II of Macedon.
Philip II of Macedon
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Philip II gold
stater, with head of
Apollo.
Philip II of Macedon
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Silver
tetradrachms dated back to the reign of Philip II
Philip II of Macedon
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Great Tumulus of Aigai
30.
Cassander
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Cassander, was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from 305 BC until 297 BC, and de facto ruler of much of Greece from 317 BC until his death. Eldest son of Antipater and a contemporary of Alexander the Great, in his youth, Cassander was taught by the philosopher Aristotle at the Lyceum in Macedonia. He was educated alongside Alexander the Great in a group that included Hephaestion, Ptolemy and his family were distant collateral relatives to the Argead dynasty. Whatever the truth of this suggestion, Cassander stood out amongst the Diadochi in his hostility to Alexanders memory, cassanders decision to restore Thebes, which had been destroyed under Alexander, was perceived at the time to be a snub to the deceased King. It was later said that he could not pass a statue of Alexander without feeling faint. Cassander has been perceived to be ambitious and unscrupulous, and even members of his own family were estranged from him, Cassander rejected his father’s decision, and immediately went to seek the support of Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus as his allies. Waging war on Polyperchon, Cassander destroyed his fleet, put Athens under the control of Demetrius of Phaleron, after Olympias’ successful move against Philip III later in the year, Cassander besieged her in Pydna. When the city two years later, Olympias was killed, and Cassander had Alexander IV and Roxanne confined at Amphipolis. Cassander associated himself with the Argead dynasty by marrying Alexander’s half-sister, Thessalonica, by 309 BC, Polyperchon began to claim that Heracles was the true heir to the Macedonian inheritance, at which point Cassander bribed him to have the boy killed. After this, Cassander’s position in Greece and Macedonia was reasonably secure, and he proclaimed himself king in 305 BC. After the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, in which Antigonus was killed, he was undisputed in his control of Macedonia, however, he had time to savour the fact. When Alexander was ousted as joint king by his brother, Demetrius I took up Alexanders appeal for aid and ousted Antipater II, killed Alexander V, the remaining Antipatrids, such as Antipater Etesias, were unable to re-establish the Antipatrids on the throne. Of more lasting significance was Cassander’s refoundation of Therma into Thessalonica, Cassander also founded Cassandreia upon the ruins of Potidaea. In the Oliver Stone film Alexander, he is portrayed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca chapters xviii, xix, xx Green, Peter, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age, Weidenfeld & Nicolson,2007. ISBN9780297852940 Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Demetrius,18,31, Phocion,31 Franca Landucci Gattinoni, vita e opere di Cassandro di Macedonia. ISBN 3-515-08381-2 A genealogical tree of Cassander
Cassander
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stater of Cassander. The reverse depicts a lion and an inscription in Ancient Greek reading "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΚΑΣΣΑΝΔΡΟΥ", King Cassander.
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