THE MACEDONIAN KINGDOM IN
THE BALKANS (10)
PART OF THE BOOK “SELECTED PAPERS FOR MACEDONIA”
BY SLAVÉ KATIN
Ever since 700 B.C., when the Macedonian prehistoric kingdom was established in the Balkans by Perdiccas I and ruled by the Argaed Dynasty there had been a continuous existence and expansion of Macedonia; an expansion which Alexander extended to include parts of Asia and Africa, a large Macedonia which continued to exist until Roman times.
When Alexander left for his eastern campaigns against Persia he left his trusted general Antipater (Antipatros) to govern and defend Macedonia. Antipater was a high ranking Macedonian officer and friend of the Royal Family. He was born in 398 B.C. in Orestis, Kostur region and had two sons, Cassander the older and Iolas. Antipater, being of the same dynasty, had a good relationship with both Philip II and his son Alexander.
He was very successful during Philip II’s rule, a success that continued to grow during Alexander’s rule. As Alexander’s deputy in Macedonia, Antipater was a civilized and superb diplomat who closely cooperated with Ozocrates, an orator and teacher from Athens. He also wrote books including a history book entitled “The Illyrian War”.
After Philip II’s murder, Antipater immediately recommended that Alexander take his place as king of Macedonia and gave him all his support. While Alexander was fighting the Persians on land during the Asian campaign, Antipater fought the Persian fleet at sea and kept the peace in the Balkans by putting down riots and insurrections in Elada, Thrace and Illyria.
At Alexander’s request, Antipater always recruited, trained and dispatched fresh troops for his campaigns abroad as well as sent Macedonian settlers to administer Alexander’s newly built cities. Unfortunately all was not well between Alexander and Antipater, especially when Alexander began to introduce a new regime in the Empire and when he shifted his centre of power out of Macedonia. In spite of all that however, in Philip II’s tradition, Antipater remained loyal to Macedonia until the end of his life.
After 10 years of being in charge of Macedonia, Antipater died in 319 B.C., at age 80. In that respect he was the last of Philip’s old guard who remained loyal to the Argaed Dynasty even during the most critical times.
After Antipater’s death his older son Cassander (Kassandros) entered the scene as one of the pretenders to the Macedonian throne. Cassander was born in 355 or 350 B.C. and joined Alexander’s campaign in Babylon in 324 B.C. where he rapidly advanced to cavalry commander in spite of his many disagreements with Alexander. During the last years of his father’s life, Cassander substituted as acting ruler but Antipater was well aware of his ambitions, arrogance and craving for power so he appointed Poliperhont of Timphaea (western Macedonia) as his replacement as governor of Macedonia.
Poliperhont (Polyperhωn) was born in 390 B.C. and belonged to the older generation of the Diadochi. He was an active participant in Alexander’s campaign to the end and served as commander in chief of his Timphayan soldiers. He was a temperate person faithful to the royal dynasty so Antipater chose him to take care of the royal family. But after Alexander’s death two new pretenders emerged, competing for the Macedonian throne.
On one side were Poliperhont, Eumenes and Olympias and on the other were Cassander, Antigonus, Lysimachus and Ptolemy. Clashes between the two rival sides began in Attica after the murders of Philip III, Eurydice, Olympias, Roxana and Alexander IV, who were all buried in Aigama with ceremonial grandness arranged by Cassander. Poliperhont, who unfortunately suffered defeat, fled to the Etolians to find sanctuary.
When it was over Cassander surfaced as the victor and in 316 B.C., took control of the Balkan part of Macedonia. In order to legitimize his position he married Thessalonica, Philip II’s daughter and Alexander the Greats’ half sister. To appease the people, after taking control of Macedonia, Cassander commissioned the building of 40 new towns and improved the economy. At the isthmus of Pelena, where the former city of Poteyday lay, he built a stronghold which he named Cassandria and in the Thermaic Gulf in 315 B.C. he built the city Thessalonica, in honour of his wife. This city soon became one of the dominant centres in the Balkans and since then survived three forthcoming empires: the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. Continuing with the restoration of the economy and cities, Cassander also restored Thebes in Boeotia, which was earlier destroyed by Alexander the Great as a result of an uprising.
Cassander had three sons with Thessalonica but the eldest died soon after birth. After his death in 297 B.C., Cassander’s two surviving sons, Antipater and Alexander, ruled together under the tutelage of their mother. Unfortunately a quarrel broke out between them resulting in a fratricidal war, which plunged Macedonia into a period of riots, unrest, anarchy and fights for the throne. As a result Alexander turned to his relatives Demetrius and Pirrhus for help.
Demetrius (Demetrios) was the son of Antigonus One-eyed and Stratonika. He was born in Macedonia in 336 B.C., and at the time when he was contacted by Alexander, he was married to Cassander’s sister Phila. After Antigonus’s death at Ipsus in 301 B.C., the Antigonid kingdom in Asia disintegrated with it and so did the idea of unifying the other parts of the Macedonian Empire with Macedonia.
Demetrius detested those who usurped power by force and strived to help those to whom power belonged. He came to Macedonia from Asia Minor in 295 B.C. and was proclaimed king of Macedonia in 293 B.C. Cassander’s son Antipater fled Macedonia and found sanctuary with Lysimachus and married his daughter. Demetrius’s rule in Macedonia lasted five years.
Demetrius was a tall, handsome man with a heroic appearance of royal magnificence. He was industrious, determined and skilled in waging war and in making peace. He was courageous with an untamed spirit. During his reign he built many cities, the most important being Demetriada, which he built in the Pagasaean Gulf in Thessaly along with a large shipyard. Demetrius also commissioned the building of ships in his shipyards in Pella, Demetriada, Pirea and Corinth. More than 500 large ships were built along with many military rowboats, accommodating 14 rows of oarsmen.
In 288 B.C. Demetrius came into collision with Lysimachus, Pirrhus and Ptolemy and after being defeated had to flee Macedonia. Pirrhus was then proclaimed king of Macedonia.
Still believing he could preserve the Macedonian Empire, Demetrius waged war against Lysimachus in the east but he was captured and sent to prison where he served three years before he died in 283 B.C. at age 54. He was buried in Demetriada, in Thessaly, by his son Antigonus Gonatas.
At that time Lysimachus (Lysimahos), a relative and friend of Alexander the Great, was ruler of Thrace. Lysimachus was born in 360 or in 350 B.C. and spent much of his youth in the Macedonian court and later actively participated in the great Macedonian campaigns. In 294/293 B.C. Lysimachus attempted to prevent Demetrius’s proclamation as king of Macedonia but failed. Then after Antigonus’s death he received a large part of Macedonia along with all of Thessaly and proclaimed himself king. When Alexander, his son-in-law and son of Cassander, asked him to hand over part of that kingdom, Lysimachus had him killed.
As Lysimachus amassed more power he became a threat to Seleucus who challenged his authority. The Diadochi clashed in Sardia, in Asia Minor, in 281 B.C. where Lysimachus lost not only the battle but his life as well. Lysimachus was killed on the battlefield at the age of 75 leaving Seleucus as the master of western Asia Minor and the neighbouring islands. His army proclaimed Seleucus “Macedonian king” but not for long.
Seleucus was getting old and after spending his entire life waging wars his last wish in life was to spend the rest of his living days in his beloved Macedonia. Soon after his victory he appointed his son Antiochus king of Asia and towards the end of 281 B.C. he left for Macedonia. After so many victories he felt like Alexander the Greats’ successor but there was one thing he did not foresee, his death at the hands of Ptolemy Keraunos.
The ambitious Ptolemy Keraunos, half-brother of Ptolemy Philadelphus, being the legal successor of the Macedonian-Egyptian kingdom also saw himself as a “Macedonian king” and when he learned that Seleucus was about to cross the Dardanelles for Macedonia, he secretly had the old man killed near Lysimachia.
Considering this an act of revenge for Lysimachus’s death, Ptolemy Keraunos, in the summer of 280 B.C., proclaimed himself “Macedonian king”. With Seleucus out of the way, the struggle for Alexander’s heritage was finally brought to an end. The various proponents accepted the idea that the Macedonian Empire could exist as independent autonomous states and ceased their rivalries. The new era of peace unfortunately was not without its problems as the Celts began to invade the region.
As “king of Macedonia”, Ptolemay Keraunos – The Strong (Ptolemaios Keraunos) was confronted by numerous new problems. Having renounced his Egyptian throne earlier he managed to be proclaimed “king of Macedonia” by the Egyptian-Macedonian Empire. But two years before Ptolemy Soter’s death in 285 B.C., Ptolemy Soter appointed his other son Ptolemy II Philadelphus ruler of Egypt, a son he had with his second wife Berenica. Dissatisfied with this arrangement Ptolemy Keraunos went to live with Lysimachus.
After establishing good relations with Pirrhus, Ptolemy Keraunos helped him out by contributing his army to Pirrhus’s campaign against Italy. To solve his problems with the queen of Thrace, Ptolemy Keraunos concluded a nonaggression treaty with Antiochus, son of Seleucus, thus giving up his pretensions for the Macedonian territories in Asia Minor. With all these problems out of the way, his only remaining enemy now was Antigonus Gonatas, son of king Demetrius.
With a large fleet in the Greek basin and the only legal heir to the Macedonian throne, Ptolemy Keraunos had it made, that is until the Celts began to invade Macedonia. While battling the Celts in 280/279 B.C., Ptolemy Keraunos suffered a crushing defeat during which he lost his life. Having crushed their resistance in the Region, the Celts plundered the Balkans as far south as Delphi but were completely crushed at Lizimahia in Thrace in 277 B.C. by Antigonus Gonatas and after that they settled permanently in Galatia.
Antigonus Gonatas (Antigonos Gonatas) was officially proclaimed “king of Macedonia” in 276 B.C. after defeating the Celts, even though he had that title since 283 B.C., after his father Demetrius died. Antigonus Gonatas died in 239 B.C. and was succeeded by Demetrius II (239-229 B.C.) who then was succeeded by Antigonus II, who in turn was succeeded by Doson (229-221 B.C.) and Doson by Philip V (221-179 B.C.) and Philip V by Perseus (179-168 B.C.).
During the Antigonid reign Macedonia had a well developed social and political system with a good economy and a rich culture. New cities, ports and strongholds were constructed including Stratonika by Stagira, Antigonia and two other cities in Peonia.
In summary it could be said that Macedonia faired well under the Antagonid Dynasty lasting from 276 to 168 B.C., managing to hold back barbarians, Greeks and Diadochi from attacking. The role of individual Antigonid rulers, with the exception of Pirrhus, will not be taken into consideration in this prezented write-up.
During the rule of the Diadochi, Ptolemy married his daughter to Pirrhus (Pyrros), who was then army commander (318-272 B.C.) and after that in 279 B.C. he sent his son-in-law with a huge army and untold riches to co-rule with king Neoptolemus, successor to king Alexander, uncle of Alexander the Great. Pirrhus was popular among the Molossians and being ambitious and hungry for power, he killed Neoptolemus in 294 B.C.
During his reign Pirrhus was militarily active in Elada, Macedonia, Italy and Sicily and fought a successful battle against the Romans at Heraclea and Askula in 280 B.C. but at a great loss. The victory became known as a “Pyrrhic victory”, a bitter victory won at great cost, an unworthy victory. But in spite of his losses Pirrhus became a famous strategist prompting Hannibal to call him “a master strategist”. In spite of his great military accomplishments however, Pirrhus could not achieve political stability and make use of the fruits of his victory.
On a spiritual level, Macedonia at the time was doing well culturally, particularly in its capital Pella, but the centre of Macedonian science over time shifted to Alexandria, Antioc and Pergamon.
The motivating force behind all these activities was Antigonus Gonatas (277 B.C.), founder of the Antigonid Dynasty (277-168 B.C.), and one of the greatest rulers, politicians and philosophers of his time (Papastavrou, 1972, 498).
Many philosophers, writers, poets, historians, scientists, architects, sculptors, astronomers, mathematicians, geographers, artists and others at the time were compiling their works in the Macedonian court. Among them was philosopher Menedem (Menedemos), follower of the stoic Zenon (366-264) tradition and developer of the “stoic ethics”, or ethics of duty, according to which the king’s main goal was to please his subjects.
This philosophic movement was officially adopted for the first time in history by Antigonus Gonatas. Based on this tradition, the king created a spiritual movement reaching out as far as India and influencing king Ashoka (273-232) to contribute to the dissemination of Buddhism in Asia.
Perseus (Persaios), the second disciple of Zenon, lived in Macedonia for a long period of time where he wrote two additional works. One was about king Antigonus’s personality and the other about the social structure of Sparta. But it was the famous philosopher Bio (Biw) who simplified the Zenon philosophy and made it comprehensible and easily applicable.
Another Macedonian born writer, born in Pella and lived in Alexandria, was Poseidip (Poseidippos) who distinguished himself above other Macedonian writers. Then there was the poet Arat (Aratos) who compiled the works “Phenomena” (Fainomena) and “Enoptra” (Enoptra) in 1154 hexametrical verses. This author, through his poetry, also introduced Egyptian astronomy and meteorology to the Macedonians. His works were later referenced by Ciceron (106-43 B.C.), a Roman orator, philosopher and writer.
Other poets belonging to Macedonian circles were Antagor (Antagoras), Rodians, Alexander (Alexandros), Etolian, Timo (Timωn), etc. Lisip (Lysippos) should also be singled out as an excellent sculptor because Alexander chose him to portray his face.
Historian Craterus (Krateros) should also be mentioned for his works “History of Athens” and Hieronim (Ierωnymos) for his works “History of the successors from the death of Alexander to Phurris”. Hieronim was a prominent historian equal to Tukidid and Polibius.
Modern archeological discoveries of rich works of history and literature found in a great number of cities as well as the huge Roman military plunder of Macedonia bear witness to the culture and accomplishments of the Macedonian people of that time.
To be continue
By Slave Nikolovski-Katin
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