The Macedonian State: Origins, Institutions, and History

435 Pages·1989·17.805 MB·English

by  Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond

THE MACEDONIAN STATE

THE
MACEDONIAN ST A TE
Origins, Institutions, and
History
N·. G. L. HAMMOND, CBE, DSO, FBA
Emeritus Professor of Greek in the University of Bristol
and Honorary Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge
CLARENDON PRESS · OXFORD
1989
Oxford Univtrsity Prtss Walton Strut, Oxford ox2 6nr
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© N. G. L. Hammond 1989
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Da1a
Hammond, N. G. L. (Nicholas Geoffrey Lempriere).
The Macedonian state: origins, institutions and
history.
/. Macedonia, ancient period
/. Tille
938'.1
ISBN 0-19-814883-6
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Hammond, N. G. L. (Nicholas Geoffrey Lempriere). 19<>7-
The Macedonian State: origins, inslitwions, and history!N. G. L.
Hammond.
Bibliography. Include.,; index.
1. Macedonia-History-To 168 B.C. I. Title.
DF 261.M2H35 1989 938'.1-dc20 89-8575
ISBN 0-19-814883-6
Ser by Graphicraft Typesetters Ltd., Hong KonR
Printed in Great Britain by
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To
Miltos Hatzopoulos and
Julia Vokotopoulou

PREFACE
In the 1g6os when I was working on Volume I of A History of Macedonia
little was coming out of Macedonia and little was being written about
Macedonia. The last decade or so has changed the scene. Most remark
able discoveries have been made by Greek archaeologists, to whom I
am very grateful for innumerable acts of kindness and readiness to share
their knowledge: in particular Professor M. Andronicos, Professor D.
Pantermalis, Professor Ph. M. Petsas, Mr A. K. Vavritsas, Mrs Maria
Siganidou, Mrs Chaido Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, and Mrs Aikaterine De
spoine. A large number of inscriptions have been published and analysed,
especially by Dr M. B. Hatzopoulos and Mrs L. Loukopoulou who are
engagedi n the Macedonia Project of the National Hellenic Research
Foundation. Partly as a result of these discoveries there has been a spate
of articles on Macedonian topics. These have been stimulated by the
Institute for Balkan Studies. which has organized four international con
ferences and published more than 150 articles on Ancient Macedonia,
and by the Exhibition of the treasures from Vergina (Aegeae) in the
United States, which led to at least two conferences and the publication
of further articles. In the nature of things these articles- and I am guilty
of contributing to their number - are concerned each with a particular
problem or aspect of the evidence, and in toto they have increased our
understanding in many fields.
During this exciting period I was able to complete my three-volume
history of Macedonia, with the most generous collaboration of two dis
tinguished scholars, G. T. Griffith and F. W. Walbank for Volumes 2 and
3 respectively, and to publish a book on Alexander the Great. We have
inevitably been involved in sorting out a great number of problems, each
as they arise, and there is a danger in the end of not seeing the wood for
the trees. I therefore proposed to Mr J. K. Cordy, who had originally on
behalf of the Clarendon Press invited me to write the history of Macedo
nia, that a single volume on the Macedonian State was desirable. The
Oarendon Press kindly agreed. In this book I have been particularly
interested in the origins and the development of Macedonian institutions
and in the nature of the Macedonian State. But these are almost
meaningless in vacuo, and it was therefore necessary to provide the
historical setting within which they developed and operated, a setting
which ran from c. 650 to 167 BC. It is hoped that this combination of
historical narration and study of institutions will be of value to school and
university students, as well as to a wider readership.
VIII Preface
I have endeavoured to provide reterences to all the ancient literary
evidence, the relevant inscriptions. and some of the rich archaeological
material. As regards the very great amount of secondary literature, it has
seemed best in each topic to refer the reader to an up-to-date leading
article, usually in English, which contains copious references to many
other articles and in a wider range of languages. I express my gratitude to
a number of scholars who have helped me most generously during the last
two years, and in particular to M. Andronicos, F. W. Walbank. M. B.
Hatzopoulos, F. Papazoglou, and J. Vokotopoulou. who has always wel
comed me at the Archaeological Museum at Thessaloniki and enriched
me with her special knowledge of both Epirus and Macedonia. To study
Macedonian history is to make friends not only with Greek scholars. but
also with the Macedonians in town and country. I owe them a great debt
for their hospitality during my extensive travels which began in December
1929 in the Haliacmon gorge, and for their protection of me in the year
1943. They are a fine people and I hope that my book may help to
interest them in their own distinguished past.
This book was started under ideal conditions. For the National Huma
nities Center in North Carolina awarded me one of its Fellowships for the
first term of 1986, and I benefited from discussion of many matters with
the Fellows of that year. In the final stage the book has been improved by
the careful revision of Mrs Sonia Argyle, and its publication has been
conducted by Mrs Hilary Feldman and Miss Jane Stuart-Smith, to all of
whom I am most grateful.
N. G. L. H.
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES XIII
ABBREVIATIONS AND SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY xv
I. THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE I
1. The Macedonians as transhumant pastoralists 1
2. Settlement in the plains 4
3. The early •cities· and advance into Eordaea 9
4. The language of the Macedonians 12
II. THE MONARCHY OF THE TEMENID KINGS 16
1. The Argeadae and the Temenidae 16
2. The Greek view of the Macedonians and their monarchy 19
3. The powers and the privileges of the king 21
4. Funerary rites of a king and of his soldiers 24
5. The evidence of some Royal Tombs 26
6. The women of the royal house 31
111. THE MACEDONIANS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS
DOWN TO 45 2 37
1. Southern, western, and north-western neighbours 37
2. Northern and eastern neighbours 40
3. The Persian occupation of Macedonia 42
4. The reign of Alexander I 43
5. South-eastern neighbours 48
IV. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MACEDONIAN STATE
UNDER TEMENID RULE 49
I. The territorial state and its peoples 49
2. Companions. Pages, and Advisers 53
3. The citizenship: 'Macedones' 58
4. The Assembly of 'Macedones' 6o
5. The King and the Assembly 62
Contents
X
6. Relations between the King and the People
452-359
V. A PERIOD OF WEAKNESS 71
1. Problems of succession to the throne 7 1
n
2. Pressure from neighbouring powers
3. Pressure from leading powers of the Greek world 81
4. Internal weaknesses &)
359-323
VI. THE WINNING OF MILITARY SUPREMACY 100
1. The military revolution 100
2. Philip's army in the Balkans w6
3. Philip's army in Greece 111
4. The pikeman-phalanx in Asia 1 19
s.
Alexander's cavalry and auxiliaries 123
6. Casualties against forces differently armed 129
VII. THE CONSOLIDATION AND EXPANSION OF THE
MACEDONIAN STATE 359-323 137
1. The succession and the court 137
2. The entourage and the Companions of Philip and Alexander 140
3. pezhetairoi, hypaspistai, and asthetairoi 148
4. Aspects of internal organization 152
VIII. GOVERNMENT AND IDEAS IN EUROPE IN THE
359-323
PERIOD OF GREATNESS 166
1. The central government 166
2. The economic development of the kingdom 177
3. The keeping of records and the Royal Journal 187
4. Philip's and Alexander's ideas in Europe 192
IX. THE MACEDONIANS AND THE GREEKS OF THE
COMMON PEACE IN ASIA AND EGYPT 334-323 205
I. Alexander and the indigenous peoples 334-330 205
2. Alexander and the Greeks 334-330 209
3. Alexander's policies 330-323 217