Friday, December 22, 2006
Etymology of the 100 most famous ancient Macedonian names
KINGS OF MACEDON AND DIADOCHI
1. ALEXANDROS m Ancient Greek
(ALEXANDER Latinized)
Pronounced: al-eg-ZAN-dur
From the Greek name Alexandros, which meant ‘defending men’ from Greek alexein ‘to defend, protect, help’ and aner ‘man’ (genitive andros). Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, is the most famous bearer of this name. In the 4th century BC he built a huge empire out of Greece, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India. The name was borne by five kings of Macedon.
2. PHILIPPOS m Ancient Greek
(PHILIP Latinized)
Pronounced: FIL-ip
From the Greek name Philippos which means ‘friend of horses’, composed of the elements philos ‘friend’ and hippos ‘horse’. The name was borne by five kings of Macedon, including Philip II the father of Alexander the Great.
3. AEROPOS m Ancient Greek, Greek Mythology
Male form of Aerope who in Greek mythology was the wife of King Atreus of Mycenae. Aeropos was also the son of Aerope, daughter of Kepheus: ‘Ares, the Tegeans say, mated with Aerope, daughter of Kepheus (king of Tegea), the son of Aleos. She died in giving birth to a child, Aeropos, who clung to his mother even when she was dead, and sucked great abundance of milk from her breasts. Now this took place by the will of Ares.’ (Pausanias 8.44.) The name was borne by two kings of Macedon.
4. ALKETAS m Ancient Greek
(ALCAEUS Latinized)
Pronounced: al-SEE-us
Derived from Greek alke meaning ‘strength’. This was the name of a 7th-century BC lyric poet from the island of Lesbos.
5. AMYNTAS m Ancient Greek
Derived from Greek amyntor meaning ‘defender’. The name was borne by three kings of Macedon.
6. ANTIGONOS m Ancient Greek
(ANTIGONUS Latinized)
Pronounced: an-TIG-o-nus
Means ‘like the ancestor’ from Greek anti ‘like’ and goneus ‘ancestor’. This was the name of one of Alexander the Great's generals. After Alexander died, he took control of most of Asia Minor. He was known as Antigonus ‘Monophthalmos’ ('the One-Eyed'). Antigonos II (ruled 277-239 BC) was known as ‘Gonatos’ (‘knee, kneel’).
7. ANTIPATROS m Ancient Greek
(ANTIPATER Latinized)
Pronounced: an-TI-pa-tur
From the Greek name Antipatros, which meant ‘like the father’ from Greek anti ‘like’ and pater ‘father’. This was the name of an officer of Alexander the Great, who became the regent of Macedon during Alexander's absence.
8. ARCHELAOS m Ancient Greek
(ARCHELAUS Latinized)
Pronounced: ar-kee-LAY-us
Latinized form of the Greek name Archelaos, which meant ‘master of the people’ from arche ‘master’ and laos ‘people’. It was also the name of the 7th Spartan king who came in the throne of Sparti in 886 BC, long before the establishment of the Macedonian state.
9. ARGAIOS m Greek Mythology
(ARGUS Latinized)
Derived from Greek argos meaning ‘glistening, shining’. In Greek myth this name belongs to both the man who built the Argo and a man with a hundred eyes. The name was borne by three kings of Macedon.
10. DEMETRIOS m Ancient Greek
(DEMETRIUS Latinized)
Latin form of the Greek name Demetrios, which was derived from the name of the Greek goddess Demeter. Kings of Macedon and the Seleucid kingdom have had this name. Demetrios I (ruled 309-301 BC) was known as ‘Poliorketes’ (the ‘Beseiger’).
11. KARANOS m Ancient Greek
(CARANUS Latinized)
Derived from the archaic Greek word ‘koiranos’ or ‘karanon", meaning ‘ruler’, ‘leader’ or ‘king’. Both words stem from the same archaic Doric root ‘kara’ meaning head, hence leader, royal master. The word ‘koiranos’ already had the meaning of ruler or king in Homer. Karanos is the name of the founder of the Argead dynasty of the Kings of Macedon.
12. KASSANDROS m Greek Mythology
(CASSANDER Latinized)
Pronounced: ka-SAN-dros
Possibly means ‘shining upon man’, derived from Greek kekasmai ‘to shine’ and aner ‘man’ (genitive andros). In Greek myth Cassandra was a Trojan princess, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but when she spurned his advances he cursed her so nobody would believe her prophecies. The name of a king of Macedon.
13. KOINOS m Ancient Greek
Derived from Greek koinos meaning ‘usual, common’. An Argead king of Macedon in the 8th century BC.
14. LYSIMACHOS m Ancient Greek
(LYSIMACHUS Latinized)
Means ‘a loosening of battle’ from Greek lysis ‘a release, loosening’ and mache ‘battle’. This was the name of one of Alexander the Great's generals. After Alexander's death Lysimachus took control of Thrace.
15. SELEUKOS m Ancient Greek
(SELEUCUS Latinized)
Means ‘to be light’, ‘to be white’, derived from the Greek word leukos meaning ‘white, bright’. This was the name of one of Alexander’s generals that claimed most of Asia and founded the Seleucid dynasty after the death of Alexander in Babylon.
16. ARRIDHAIOS m Ancient Greek
Son of Philip II and later king of Macedon. The greek etymology is Ari (= much) + adj Daios (= terrifying). Its full meaning is "too terrifying". Its Aeolian type is Arribaeos.
17. ORESTES m Greek Mythology
Pronounced: o-RES-teez
Derived from Greek orestais meaning ‘of the mountains’. In Greek myth he was the son of Agamemnon. He killed his mother Clytemnestra after she killed his father. The name of a king of Macedon (ruled 399-396 BC).
18. PAUSANIAS m Ancient Greek
King of Macedon in 393 BC. Pausanias was also the name of the Spartan king at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, and the name of the Greek traveller, geographer and writer whose most famous work is ‘Description of Greece’, and also the name of the man who assassinated Philip II of Macedon in 336 BC.
19. PERDIKKAS m Ancient Greek
(PERDICCAS Latinized)
Derived from Greek perdika meaning ‘partridge’. Perdikkas I is presented as founder of the kingdom of Macedon in Herodotus 8.137. The name was borne by three kings of Macedon.
20. PERSEUS m Greek Mythology
Pronounced: PUR-see-us
It derives from Greek verb pertho meaning ‘to destroy, conquer’. Its full meaning is the "conqueror". Perseus was a hero in Greek legend. He killed Medusa, who was so ugly that anyone who gazed upon her was turned to stone, by looking at her in the reflection of his shield and slaying her in her sleep. The name of a king of Macedon (ruled 179-168 BC).
21. PTOLEMEOS m Ancient Greek
(PTOLEMY Latinized)
Pronounced: TAWL-e-mee
Derived from Greek polemeios meaning ‘aggressive’ or ‘warlike’. Ptolemy was the name of several Greco-Egyptian rulers of Egypt, all descendents of Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great’s generals. This was also the name of a Greek astronomer. Ptolemy ‘Keraunos’ (ruled 281-279 BC) is named after the lighting bolt thrown by Zeus.
22. TYRIMMAS m Greek Mythology
Tyrimmas, an Argead king of Macedon and son of Coenus. Also known as Temenus. In Greek mythology, Temenus was the son of Aristomaches and a great-great grandson of Herakles. He became king of Argos. Tyrimmas was also a man from Epirus and father of Evippe, who consorted with Odysseus (Parthenius of Nicaea, Love Romances, 3.1). Its full meaning is "the one who loves cheese".
QUEENS AND ROYAL FAMILY
23. EURYDIKE f Greek Mythology (EURYDICE Latinized)
Means ‘wide justice’ from Greek eurys ‘wide’ and dike ‘justice’. In Greek myth she was the wife of Orpheus. Her husband tried to rescue her from Hades, but he failed when he disobeyed the condition that he not look back upon her on their way out. Name of the mother of Philip II of Macedon.
24. BERENIKE f Ancient Greek (BERENICE Latinized)
Pronounced: ber-e-NIE-see
Means ‘bringing victory’ from pherein ‘to bring’ and nike ‘victory’. This name was common among the Ptolemy ruling family of Egypt.
25. KLEOPATRA f Ancient Greek (CLEOPATRA Latinized),
EnglishPronounced: klee-o-PAT-ra
Means ‘glory of the father’ from Greek kleos ‘glory’ combined with patros ‘of the father’. In the Iliad, the name of the wife of Meleager of Aetolia. This was also the name of queens of Egypt from the Ptolemaic royal family, including Cleopatra VII, the mistress of both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. After being defeated by Augustus she committed suicide by allowing herself to be bitten by an asp. Also the name of a bride of Philip II of Macedon.
26. CYNNA f Ancient Greek
Half-sister of Alexander the great. Her name derives from the adj. of doric dialect Cyna (= tough).
27. THESSALONIKI f Ancient Greek
Means ‘victory over the Thessalians’, from the name of the region of Thessaly and niki, meaning ‘victory’. Name of Alexander the Great’s step sister and of the city of Thessaloniki which was named after her in 315 BC.
GENERALS, SOLDIERS, PHILOSOPHERS AND OTHERS
28. PARMENION m ancient Greek
The most famous General of Philip and Alexander the great. Another famous bearer of this name was the olympic winner Parmenion of Mitiline. His name derives from the name Parmenon + the ending -ion used to note descendancy. It means the "descedant of Parmenon".
29. PEUKESTAS m Ancient Greek
He saved Alexander the Great in India. One of the most known Macedonians. His name derives from Πευκής (= sharp) + the Doric ending -tas. Its full meaning is the "one who is sharp".
30. ARISTOPHANES m Ancient Greek
Derived from the Greek elements aristos ‘best’ and phanes ‘appearing’. The name of one of Alexander the Great’s personal body guard who was present during the murder of Cleitus. (Plutarch, Alexander, ‘The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans’). This was also the name of a 5th-century BC Athenian playwright.
31. KORRAGOS m Ancient Greek
The Macedonian who challenged into a fight the Olympic winner Dioxippos and lost. His name derives from Koira (= army) + ago (= lead). Korragos has the meaning of "the leader of the army".
32. ARISTON m Ancient Greek
Derived from Greek aristos meaning ‘the best’. The name of a Macedonian officer on campaign with Alexander the Great (Arrian, Anabasis, Book II, 9 and Book III, 11, 14).
33. KLEITUS m Ancient Greek
(CLEITUS Latinized)
Means ‘calling forth’ or ‘summoned’ in Greek. A phalanx battalion commander in Alexander the Great's army at the Battle of Hydaspes. Also the name of Alexander’s nurse’s brother, who severed the arm of the Persian Spithridates at the Battle of the Granicus.
34. HEPHAISTION m
Greek Mythology
Derived from Hephaistos (‘Hephaestus’ Latinized) who in Greek mythology was the god of fire and forging and one of the twelve Olympian deities. Hephaistos in Greek denotes a ‘furnace’ or ‘volcano’. Hephaistion was the companion and closest friend of Alexander the Great. He was also known as ‘Philalexandros’ (‘friend of Alexander’).
35. HERAKLEIDES m Ancient Greek
(HERACLEIDES Latinized)
Perhaps means ‘key of Hera’ from the name of the goddess Hera combined with Greek kleis ‘key’ or kleidon ‘little key’. The name of two Macedonian soldiers on campaign with Alexander the Great (Arrian, Anabasis, Book I, 2; Book III, 11 and Book VII, 16).
36. KRATEROS m Ancient Greek
(CRATERUS Latinized)
Derived from Greek adj. Κρατερός (= Powerful). This was the name of one of Alexander the Great's generals. A friend of Alexander the Great, he was also known as ‘Philobasileus’ (‘friend of the King’).
37. NEOPTOLEMOS m Greek Mythology
(NEOPTOLEMUS Latinized)
Means ‘new war’, derived from Greek neos ‘new’ and polemos ‘war’. In Greek legend this was the name of the son of Achilles, brought into the Trojan War because it was prophesied the Greeks could not win it unless he was present. After the war he was slain by Orestes because of his marriage to Hermione. Neoptolemos was believed to be the ancestor of Alexander the Great on his mother’s (Olympias’) side (Plutarch). The name of two Macedonian soldiers during Alexander’s campaigns (Arrian, Anabasis, Book I, 6 and Book II, 27).
38. PHILOTAS m Ancient Greek
From Greek philotes meaning ‘friendship’. Son of Parmenion and a commander of Alexander the Great’s Companion cavalry.
39. PHILOXENOS m Ancient Greek
Meaning ‘friend of strangers’ derived from Greek philos meaning friend and xenos meaning ‘stranger, foreigner’. The name of a Macedonian soldier on campaign with Alexander the Great (Arrian, Anabasis, Book III, 6).
40. MENELAOS m Greek Mythology
(MENELAUS Latinized)
Means ‘withstanding the people’ from Greek meno ‘to last, to withstand’ and laos ‘the people’. In Greek legend he was a king of Sparta and the husband of Helen. When his wife was taken by Paris, the Greeks besieged the city of Troy in an effort to get her back. After the war Menelaus and Helen settled down to a happy life. Macedonian naval commander during the wars of the Diadochi and brother of Ptolemy Lagos.
41. LAOMEDON m ancient greek
Friend from boyhood of Alexander and later Satrap. His names derives from the greek noun laos (λαός = "people" + medon (μέδω = "the one who governs")
42. POLYPERCHON Ancient Greek
Macedonian, Son of Simmias His name derives from the greek word 'Πολύ' (=much) + σπέρχω (= rush).
43. HEGELOCHOS m
(HEGELOCHUS Latinized)
Known as the conspirator. His name derives from the greek verb (ηγέομαι = "walking ahead" + greek noun λόχος = "set up ambush").
44. POLEMON m ancient Greek
From the house of Andromenes. Brother of Attalos. Means in greek "the one who is fighting in war".
45. AUTODIKOS m ancient greek
Somatophylax of Philip III. His name in greek means "the one who takes the law into his (own) hands"
46. BALAKROS m ancient Greek
Son of Nicanor. We already know Macedonians usually used a "beta" instead of a "phi" which was used by Atheneans (eg. "belekys" instead of "pelekys", "balakros" instead of "falakros"). "Falakros" has the meaning of "bald".
47. NIKANOR (Nικάνωρ m ancient Greek
( Latin: Nicanor)
means "victor" - from Nike (Νικη) meaning "victory".Nicanor was the name of the father of Balakras. He was a distinguished Macedonian during the reign of Phillip II.Another Nicanor was the son of Parmenion and brother of Philotas. He was a distinguished officer (commander of the Hypaspists) in the service of Alexander the Great. He died of disease in Bactria in 330 BC.48. LEONNATOS m ancient GreekOne of the somatophylakes of Alexander. His name derives from Leon (= Lion) + the root Nat of noun Nator (= dashing). The full meaning is "Dashing like the lion".
49. KRITOLAOS m ancient Hellinic
He was a potter from Pella. His name was discovered in amphoras in Pella during 1980-87. His name derives from Κρίτος (= the chosen) + Λαός (= the people). Its full meaning is "the chosen of the people".
50. ZOILOS m ancient Hellinic
Father of Myleas from Beroia - From zo-e (ΖΩΗ) indicating 'lively', 'vivacious'. Hence the Italian 'Zoilo'
51. ZEUXIS m ancient Hellenic
Name of a Macedonian commander of Lydia in the time of Antigonos III and also the name of a Painter from Heraclea - from 'zeugnumi' = 'to bind', 'join together'
52. LEOCHARIS m ancient Hellenic
Sculptor - Deriving from 'Leon' = 'lion' and 'charis' = 'grace'. Literally meaning the 'lion's grace'.
53. DEINOKRATIS m ancient Hellenic
Helped Alexander to create Alexandria in Egypt.From 'deinow' = 'to make terrible' and 'kratein' = "to rule"Obviously indicating a 'terrible ruler'54. ADMETOS (Άδμητος) m Ancient Greekderive from the word a+damaw(damazw) and mean tameless,obstreperous.Damazw mean chasten, prevail
55. ANDROTIMOS (Ανδρότιμος) m Ancient Greek
derive from the words andreios (brave, courageous) and timitis(honest, upright )
56. PEITHON m Ancient Greek
Means "the one who persuades". It was a common name among Macedonians and the most famous holders of that names were Peithon, son of Sosicles, responsible for the royal pages and Peithon, son of Krateuas, a marshal of Alexander the Great.
57. SOSTRATOS m Ancient Greek
Derives from the Greek words "Σως (=safe) +Στρατος (=army)". He was son of Amyntas and was executed as a conspirator.
58. DIMNOS m Ancient Greek
Derives from the greek verb "δειμαίνω (= i have fear). One of the conspirators.
59. TIMANDROS m Ancient GreekMeaning "Man's honour". It derives from the greek words "Τιμή (=honour) + Άνδρας (=man). One of the commanders of regular Hypaspistes.
60. TLEPOLEMOS ,(τληπόλεμος) m Ancient Greek
Derives from greek words "τλήμων (=brave) + πόλεμος (=war)". In greek mythology Tlepolemos was a son of Heracles. In alexanders era, Tlepolemos was appointed Satrap of Carmania from Alexander the Great.
61. AXIOS (Άξιος) m ancient Greek
Meaning "capable". His name was found on one inscription along with his patronymic "Άξιος Αντιγόνου Μακεδών".
62. THEOXENOS (Θεόξενος) ancient Greek
Derives from greek words "θεός (=god) + ξένος (=foreigner).His name appears as a donator of the Apollo temple along with his patronymic and city of origin(Θεόξενος Αισχρίωνος Κασσανδρεύς).
63. MITRON (Μήτρων) m ancient Greek
Derives from the greek word "Μήτηρ (=Mother)". Mitron of Macedon appears in a inscription as a donator
64. KLEOCHARIS (Κλεοχάρης) M ancient greek
Derives from greek words "Κλέος (=fame) + "Χάρις (=Grace). Kleocharis, son of Pytheas from Amphipoli was a Macedonian honoured in the city of Eretria at the time of Demetrius son of Antigonus.
65. PREPELAOS (Πρεπέλαος) m, ancient Greek
Derives from greek words "πρέπω (=be distinguished) + λαος (=people). He was a general of Kassander.
66. HIPPOLOCHOS (Ιππόλοχος) m, ancient Greek
Derives from the greek words "Ίππος" (= horse) + "Λόχος"(=set up ambush). Hippolochos was a Macedonian historian (ca. 300 B.C.)
67. ALEXARCHOS (Αλέξαρχος) m, ancient Greek
Derives from Greek "Αλέξω" (=defend, protect, help) + "Αρχος " (= master). Alexarchos was brother of Cassandros.
68. ASCLEPIODOROS (Ασκληπιοδορος) m
Ancient Greek
Derives from the greek words Asclepios (= cut up) + Doro (=Gift). Asclepios was the name of the god of healing and medicine in Greek mythology. Asclepiodoros was a prominent Macedonian, son of Eunikos from Pella. Another Asclepiodoros in Alexander's army was son of Timandros.
69. KALLINES (Καλλινης) m Ancient Greek
Derives from greek words kalli + nao (=stream beautifully). He was a Macedonian, officer of companions.
70. PLEISTARHOS (Πλείσταρχος) m ancient Greek
Derives from the greek words Pleistos (=too much) + Arhos ((= master). He was younger brother of Cassander.
71. POLYKLES (Πολυκλής) m ancient Greek
Derives from the words Poli (=city) + Kleos (glory). Macedonian who served as Strategos of Antipater.
72. POLYDAMAS (Πολυδάμας) m ancient Greek
The translation of his name means "the one who subordinates a city". One Hetairos.
73. APOLLOPHANES (Απολλοφάνης) m ancient greek.
His name derives from the greek verb "απολλυμι" (=to destroy) and φαίνομαι (= appear to be). Apollophanes was a prominent Macedonian who was appointed Satrap of Oreitae.
74. ARCHIAS (Αρχίας) m ancient Greek
His name derive from greek verb Άρχω (=head or be in command). Archias was one of the Macedonian trierarchs in Hydaspes river.
75. ARCHESILAOS (Αρχεσίλαος) m ancient Greek
His name derive from greek verb Άρχω (=head or be in command) + Λαος (= people). Archesilaos was a Macedonian that received the satrapy of Mesopotamia in the settlement of 323.
76. ARETAS (Αρετας) m ancient Greek
Derives from the greek word Areti (=virtue). He was commander of Sarissoforoi at Gaugamela.
77. KLEANDROS (Κλέανδρος) m ancient Greek
Derives from greek verb Κλέος (=fame) + Ανδρος (=man). He was commander of Archers and was killed in Hallicarnasus in 334 BC.
78. AGESISTRATOS (Αγησίστρατος) m ancient greek
Father of Paramonos, a general of Antigonos Doson. His name derives from verb ηγήσομαι ( = lead in command) + στρατος (= army). "Hgisomai" in Doric dialect is "Agisomai". Its full meaning is "the one who leads the army"
79. AGERROS (Αγερρος) M ancient Greek
He was father of Andronikos, general of Alexander. His name derives from the verb αγέρρω (= the one who makes gatherings)
80. AVREAS (Αβρέας) m ancient Greek
Officer of Alexander the great. His name derives from the adj. αβρός (=polite)
81. AGATHANOR (Αγαθάνωρ) m ancient Greek
Son of Thrasycles. He was priest of Asklepios for about 5 years. His origin was from Beroia as is attested from an inscription. His name derives from the adj. αγαθός (= virtuous) + ανήρ (= man). The full meaning of his name is "Virtuous man"
82. AGAKLES (Αγακλής) m ancient Greek
He was son of Simmihos and was from Pella. He is known from a resolution of Aetolians. His name derives from the adj. Αγακλεής (= too glorious)
83. AGASIKLES (Αγασικλής) m ancient Greek
Son of Mentor, from Dion of Macedonia. It derives from the verb άγαμαι (= admire) + Κλέος (=fame). Its full meaning is "the one who admires fame"
84. AGGAREOS (Αγγάρεος) m ancient Greek
Son of Dalon from Amphipolis. He is known from an inscription of Amphipolis (S.E.G vol 31. ins. 616) It derives from the noun Αγγαρεία (= news)
85. AGELAS (Αγέλας) m ancient Greek
Son of Alexander. He was born during the mid-5th BCE and was an ambassador of Macedonians during the treaty between Macedonians and Atheneans. This treaty exists in inscription 89.vol1 Fasc.1 Ed.3"Attic inscrip."His name was common among Heraclides and Bacchiades. One Agelas was king of Corinth during the first quarter of 5 BCE. His name derives from the verb άγω (= lead) and the noun Λαός (= people or even soldiers (Homeric)). The full meaning is the "one who leads the people/soldiers".
86. AGIPPOS (Άγιππος) m ancient Greek
He was from Beroia of Macedonia and lived during middle 3rd BCE. He is known from an inscription found in Beroia where his name appears as the witness in a slave-freeing. Another case bearing the name Agippos in the Greek world was the father of Timokratos from Zakynthos. The name Agippos derives from the verb άγω (= lead) + the word ίππος (= Horse). Its full meaning is "the one who leads the horse/calvary".
87. AGLAIANOS (Αγλαϊάνος) m ancient Greek
He was from Amphipolis of Macedonia (c. 4th BC) and he is known from an inscription S.E.G vol41., insc. 556His name consists of aglai- from the verb αγλαϊζω (= honour) and the ending -anos.
88. AGNOTHEOS (Αγνόθεος) m ancient Greek
Macedonian, possibly from Pella. His name survived from an inscription found in Pella between 300-250 BCE. (SEG vol46.insc.799)His name derives from Αγνός ( = pure) + Θεός (=God). The full meaning is "the one who has inside a pure god"
89. ATHENAGORAS (Αθηναγόρας) m ancient Greek
General of Philip V. He was the general who stopped Dardanian invasion in 199 BC. His name derives from the verb αγορά-ομαι (=deliver a speech) + the name Αθηνά (= Athena).
90. PERIANDROS (Περίανδρος) m ancient Greek
Son of the Macedonian historian Marsyas. His name derives from Περί (= too much) + άνηρ (man, brave). Its full meaning is "too brave/man".
91. LEODISKOS (Λεοντίσκος) m ancient Greek
He was son of Ptolemy A' and Thais, His name derives from Λέων (= lion) + the ending -iskos (=little). His name's full etymology is "Little Lion"
92. EPHRANOR (Ευφράνωρ) m ancient Greek
He was General of Perseas. It derives from the verb Ευφραίνω (= delight). Its full meaning is "the one who delights".
93. DIONYSOPHON m Ancient Greek
It has the meaning "Voice of Dionysos". The ending -phon is typical among ancient greek names.
MACEDONIAN WOMEN
94. ANTIGONE f ancient GreekUsage: Greek MythologyPronounced: an-TIG-o-neeMeans ‘against birth’ from Greek anti ‘against’ and gone ‘birth’. In Greek legend Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. King Creon of Thebes declared that her slain brother Polynices was to remain unburied, a great dishonour. She disobeyed and gave him a proper burial, and for this she was sealed alive in a cave. Antigone of Pydna was the mistress of Philotas, the son of Parmenion and commander of Alexander the Great’s Companion cavalry (Plutarch, Alexander, ‘The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans’).
95. VOULOMAGA (Βουλομάγα) f ancient greek
Derives from greek words "Βούλομαι (=desire) + άγαν (=too much)". Her name is found among donators.
96. ATALANTE (Αταλαντη) f ancient Greek
Her name means in Greek "without talent". She was daughter of Orontes, and sister of Perdiccas.97. AGELAEIA (Αγελαεία) f ancient GreekWife of Amyntas, from the city of Beroia (S.E.G vol 48. insc. 738)It derives from the adj. Αγέλα-ος ( = the one who belongs to a herd)98. ATHENAIS (Αθηναϊς) f ancient GreekThe name was found on an altar of Heracles Kigagidas in Beroia. It derives from the name Athena and the ending -is meaning "small". Its whole meaning is "little Athena".
99. STRATONIKE f Ancient Greek (STRATONICE Latinized)
Means ‘victorious army’ from stratos ‘army’ and nike ‘victory’. Sister of King Perdiccas II. “…and Perdiccas afterwards gave his sister Stratonice to Seuthes as he had promised.” (Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Chapter VIII)
100. THETIMA f Ancient Greek
A name from Pella Katadesmos. It has the meaning "she who honors the gods"; the standard Attic form would be Theotimē.
Bibliography:
"Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire" by Waldemar Heckel
"The Marshals of Alexander's empire" by Waldemar Heckel"
Macedonians Abroad: A Contribution to the Prosopography of Ancient Macedonia" by A. B. Tataki"
The Greek identity of Ancient Macedonians" by Athanasios Sakalis
source
http://history-of-macedonia.com/wordpress/2006/12/26/etymology-of-the-100-most-famous-ancient-macedonian-names/
1. ALEXANDROS m Ancient Greek
(ALEXANDER Latinized)
Pronounced: al-eg-ZAN-dur
From the Greek name Alexandros, which meant ‘defending men’ from Greek alexein ‘to defend, protect, help’ and aner ‘man’ (genitive andros). Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, is the most famous bearer of this name. In the 4th century BC he built a huge empire out of Greece, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India. The name was borne by five kings of Macedon.
2. PHILIPPOS m Ancient Greek
(PHILIP Latinized)
Pronounced: FIL-ip
From the Greek name Philippos which means ‘friend of horses’, composed of the elements philos ‘friend’ and hippos ‘horse’. The name was borne by five kings of Macedon, including Philip II the father of Alexander the Great.
3. AEROPOS m Ancient Greek, Greek Mythology
Male form of Aerope who in Greek mythology was the wife of King Atreus of Mycenae. Aeropos was also the son of Aerope, daughter of Kepheus: ‘Ares, the Tegeans say, mated with Aerope, daughter of Kepheus (king of Tegea), the son of Aleos. She died in giving birth to a child, Aeropos, who clung to his mother even when she was dead, and sucked great abundance of milk from her breasts. Now this took place by the will of Ares.’ (Pausanias 8.44.) The name was borne by two kings of Macedon.
4. ALKETAS m Ancient Greek
(ALCAEUS Latinized)
Pronounced: al-SEE-us
Derived from Greek alke meaning ‘strength’. This was the name of a 7th-century BC lyric poet from the island of Lesbos.
5. AMYNTAS m Ancient Greek
Derived from Greek amyntor meaning ‘defender’. The name was borne by three kings of Macedon.
6. ANTIGONOS m Ancient Greek
(ANTIGONUS Latinized)
Pronounced: an-TIG-o-nus
Means ‘like the ancestor’ from Greek anti ‘like’ and goneus ‘ancestor’. This was the name of one of Alexander the Great's generals. After Alexander died, he took control of most of Asia Minor. He was known as Antigonus ‘Monophthalmos’ ('the One-Eyed'). Antigonos II (ruled 277-239 BC) was known as ‘Gonatos’ (‘knee, kneel’).
7. ANTIPATROS m Ancient Greek
(ANTIPATER Latinized)
Pronounced: an-TI-pa-tur
From the Greek name Antipatros, which meant ‘like the father’ from Greek anti ‘like’ and pater ‘father’. This was the name of an officer of Alexander the Great, who became the regent of Macedon during Alexander's absence.
8. ARCHELAOS m Ancient Greek
(ARCHELAUS Latinized)
Pronounced: ar-kee-LAY-us
Latinized form of the Greek name Archelaos, which meant ‘master of the people’ from arche ‘master’ and laos ‘people’. It was also the name of the 7th Spartan king who came in the throne of Sparti in 886 BC, long before the establishment of the Macedonian state.
9. ARGAIOS m Greek Mythology
(ARGUS Latinized)
Derived from Greek argos meaning ‘glistening, shining’. In Greek myth this name belongs to both the man who built the Argo and a man with a hundred eyes. The name was borne by three kings of Macedon.
10. DEMETRIOS m Ancient Greek
(DEMETRIUS Latinized)
Latin form of the Greek name Demetrios, which was derived from the name of the Greek goddess Demeter. Kings of Macedon and the Seleucid kingdom have had this name. Demetrios I (ruled 309-301 BC) was known as ‘Poliorketes’ (the ‘Beseiger’).
11. KARANOS m Ancient Greek
(CARANUS Latinized)
Derived from the archaic Greek word ‘koiranos’ or ‘karanon", meaning ‘ruler’, ‘leader’ or ‘king’. Both words stem from the same archaic Doric root ‘kara’ meaning head, hence leader, royal master. The word ‘koiranos’ already had the meaning of ruler or king in Homer. Karanos is the name of the founder of the Argead dynasty of the Kings of Macedon.
12. KASSANDROS m Greek Mythology
(CASSANDER Latinized)
Pronounced: ka-SAN-dros
Possibly means ‘shining upon man’, derived from Greek kekasmai ‘to shine’ and aner ‘man’ (genitive andros). In Greek myth Cassandra was a Trojan princess, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but when she spurned his advances he cursed her so nobody would believe her prophecies. The name of a king of Macedon.
13. KOINOS m Ancient Greek
Derived from Greek koinos meaning ‘usual, common’. An Argead king of Macedon in the 8th century BC.
14. LYSIMACHOS m Ancient Greek
(LYSIMACHUS Latinized)
Means ‘a loosening of battle’ from Greek lysis ‘a release, loosening’ and mache ‘battle’. This was the name of one of Alexander the Great's generals. After Alexander's death Lysimachus took control of Thrace.
15. SELEUKOS m Ancient Greek
(SELEUCUS Latinized)
Means ‘to be light’, ‘to be white’, derived from the Greek word leukos meaning ‘white, bright’. This was the name of one of Alexander’s generals that claimed most of Asia and founded the Seleucid dynasty after the death of Alexander in Babylon.
16. ARRIDHAIOS m Ancient Greek
Son of Philip II and later king of Macedon. The greek etymology is Ari (= much) + adj Daios (= terrifying). Its full meaning is "too terrifying". Its Aeolian type is Arribaeos.
17. ORESTES m Greek Mythology
Pronounced: o-RES-teez
Derived from Greek orestais meaning ‘of the mountains’. In Greek myth he was the son of Agamemnon. He killed his mother Clytemnestra after she killed his father. The name of a king of Macedon (ruled 399-396 BC).
18. PAUSANIAS m Ancient Greek
King of Macedon in 393 BC. Pausanias was also the name of the Spartan king at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, and the name of the Greek traveller, geographer and writer whose most famous work is ‘Description of Greece’, and also the name of the man who assassinated Philip II of Macedon in 336 BC.
19. PERDIKKAS m Ancient Greek
(PERDICCAS Latinized)
Derived from Greek perdika meaning ‘partridge’. Perdikkas I is presented as founder of the kingdom of Macedon in Herodotus 8.137. The name was borne by three kings of Macedon.
20. PERSEUS m Greek Mythology
Pronounced: PUR-see-us
It derives from Greek verb pertho meaning ‘to destroy, conquer’. Its full meaning is the "conqueror". Perseus was a hero in Greek legend. He killed Medusa, who was so ugly that anyone who gazed upon her was turned to stone, by looking at her in the reflection of his shield and slaying her in her sleep. The name of a king of Macedon (ruled 179-168 BC).
21. PTOLEMEOS m Ancient Greek
(PTOLEMY Latinized)
Pronounced: TAWL-e-mee
Derived from Greek polemeios meaning ‘aggressive’ or ‘warlike’. Ptolemy was the name of several Greco-Egyptian rulers of Egypt, all descendents of Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great’s generals. This was also the name of a Greek astronomer. Ptolemy ‘Keraunos’ (ruled 281-279 BC) is named after the lighting bolt thrown by Zeus.
22. TYRIMMAS m Greek Mythology
Tyrimmas, an Argead king of Macedon and son of Coenus. Also known as Temenus. In Greek mythology, Temenus was the son of Aristomaches and a great-great grandson of Herakles. He became king of Argos. Tyrimmas was also a man from Epirus and father of Evippe, who consorted with Odysseus (Parthenius of Nicaea, Love Romances, 3.1). Its full meaning is "the one who loves cheese".
QUEENS AND ROYAL FAMILY
23. EURYDIKE f Greek Mythology (EURYDICE Latinized)
Means ‘wide justice’ from Greek eurys ‘wide’ and dike ‘justice’. In Greek myth she was the wife of Orpheus. Her husband tried to rescue her from Hades, but he failed when he disobeyed the condition that he not look back upon her on their way out. Name of the mother of Philip II of Macedon.
24. BERENIKE f Ancient Greek (BERENICE Latinized)
Pronounced: ber-e-NIE-see
Means ‘bringing victory’ from pherein ‘to bring’ and nike ‘victory’. This name was common among the Ptolemy ruling family of Egypt.
25. KLEOPATRA f Ancient Greek (CLEOPATRA Latinized),
EnglishPronounced: klee-o-PAT-ra
Means ‘glory of the father’ from Greek kleos ‘glory’ combined with patros ‘of the father’. In the Iliad, the name of the wife of Meleager of Aetolia. This was also the name of queens of Egypt from the Ptolemaic royal family, including Cleopatra VII, the mistress of both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. After being defeated by Augustus she committed suicide by allowing herself to be bitten by an asp. Also the name of a bride of Philip II of Macedon.
26. CYNNA f Ancient Greek
Half-sister of Alexander the great. Her name derives from the adj. of doric dialect Cyna (= tough).
27. THESSALONIKI f Ancient Greek
Means ‘victory over the Thessalians’, from the name of the region of Thessaly and niki, meaning ‘victory’. Name of Alexander the Great’s step sister and of the city of Thessaloniki which was named after her in 315 BC.
GENERALS, SOLDIERS, PHILOSOPHERS AND OTHERS
28. PARMENION m ancient Greek
The most famous General of Philip and Alexander the great. Another famous bearer of this name was the olympic winner Parmenion of Mitiline. His name derives from the name Parmenon + the ending -ion used to note descendancy. It means the "descedant of Parmenon".
29. PEUKESTAS m Ancient Greek
He saved Alexander the Great in India. One of the most known Macedonians. His name derives from Πευκής (= sharp) + the Doric ending -tas. Its full meaning is the "one who is sharp".
30. ARISTOPHANES m Ancient Greek
Derived from the Greek elements aristos ‘best’ and phanes ‘appearing’. The name of one of Alexander the Great’s personal body guard who was present during the murder of Cleitus. (Plutarch, Alexander, ‘The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans’). This was also the name of a 5th-century BC Athenian playwright.
31. KORRAGOS m Ancient Greek
The Macedonian who challenged into a fight the Olympic winner Dioxippos and lost. His name derives from Koira (= army) + ago (= lead). Korragos has the meaning of "the leader of the army".
32. ARISTON m Ancient Greek
Derived from Greek aristos meaning ‘the best’. The name of a Macedonian officer on campaign with Alexander the Great (Arrian, Anabasis, Book II, 9 and Book III, 11, 14).
33. KLEITUS m Ancient Greek
(CLEITUS Latinized)
Means ‘calling forth’ or ‘summoned’ in Greek. A phalanx battalion commander in Alexander the Great's army at the Battle of Hydaspes. Also the name of Alexander’s nurse’s brother, who severed the arm of the Persian Spithridates at the Battle of the Granicus.
34. HEPHAISTION m
Greek Mythology
Derived from Hephaistos (‘Hephaestus’ Latinized) who in Greek mythology was the god of fire and forging and one of the twelve Olympian deities. Hephaistos in Greek denotes a ‘furnace’ or ‘volcano’. Hephaistion was the companion and closest friend of Alexander the Great. He was also known as ‘Philalexandros’ (‘friend of Alexander’).
35. HERAKLEIDES m Ancient Greek
(HERACLEIDES Latinized)
Perhaps means ‘key of Hera’ from the name of the goddess Hera combined with Greek kleis ‘key’ or kleidon ‘little key’. The name of two Macedonian soldiers on campaign with Alexander the Great (Arrian, Anabasis, Book I, 2; Book III, 11 and Book VII, 16).
36. KRATEROS m Ancient Greek
(CRATERUS Latinized)
Derived from Greek adj. Κρατερός (= Powerful). This was the name of one of Alexander the Great's generals. A friend of Alexander the Great, he was also known as ‘Philobasileus’ (‘friend of the King’).
37. NEOPTOLEMOS m Greek Mythology
(NEOPTOLEMUS Latinized)
Means ‘new war’, derived from Greek neos ‘new’ and polemos ‘war’. In Greek legend this was the name of the son of Achilles, brought into the Trojan War because it was prophesied the Greeks could not win it unless he was present. After the war he was slain by Orestes because of his marriage to Hermione. Neoptolemos was believed to be the ancestor of Alexander the Great on his mother’s (Olympias’) side (Plutarch). The name of two Macedonian soldiers during Alexander’s campaigns (Arrian, Anabasis, Book I, 6 and Book II, 27).
38. PHILOTAS m Ancient Greek
From Greek philotes meaning ‘friendship’. Son of Parmenion and a commander of Alexander the Great’s Companion cavalry.
39. PHILOXENOS m Ancient Greek
Meaning ‘friend of strangers’ derived from Greek philos meaning friend and xenos meaning ‘stranger, foreigner’. The name of a Macedonian soldier on campaign with Alexander the Great (Arrian, Anabasis, Book III, 6).
40. MENELAOS m Greek Mythology
(MENELAUS Latinized)
Means ‘withstanding the people’ from Greek meno ‘to last, to withstand’ and laos ‘the people’. In Greek legend he was a king of Sparta and the husband of Helen. When his wife was taken by Paris, the Greeks besieged the city of Troy in an effort to get her back. After the war Menelaus and Helen settled down to a happy life. Macedonian naval commander during the wars of the Diadochi and brother of Ptolemy Lagos.
41. LAOMEDON m ancient greek
Friend from boyhood of Alexander and later Satrap. His names derives from the greek noun laos (λαός = "people" + medon (μέδω = "the one who governs")
42. POLYPERCHON Ancient Greek
Macedonian, Son of Simmias His name derives from the greek word 'Πολύ' (=much) + σπέρχω (= rush).
43. HEGELOCHOS m
(HEGELOCHUS Latinized)
Known as the conspirator. His name derives from the greek verb (ηγέομαι = "walking ahead" + greek noun λόχος = "set up ambush").
44. POLEMON m ancient Greek
From the house of Andromenes. Brother of Attalos. Means in greek "the one who is fighting in war".
45. AUTODIKOS m ancient greek
Somatophylax of Philip III. His name in greek means "the one who takes the law into his (own) hands"
46. BALAKROS m ancient Greek
Son of Nicanor. We already know Macedonians usually used a "beta" instead of a "phi" which was used by Atheneans (eg. "belekys" instead of "pelekys", "balakros" instead of "falakros"). "Falakros" has the meaning of "bald".
47. NIKANOR (Nικάνωρ m ancient Greek
( Latin: Nicanor)
means "victor" - from Nike (Νικη) meaning "victory".Nicanor was the name of the father of Balakras. He was a distinguished Macedonian during the reign of Phillip II.Another Nicanor was the son of Parmenion and brother of Philotas. He was a distinguished officer (commander of the Hypaspists) in the service of Alexander the Great. He died of disease in Bactria in 330 BC.48. LEONNATOS m ancient GreekOne of the somatophylakes of Alexander. His name derives from Leon (= Lion) + the root Nat of noun Nator (= dashing). The full meaning is "Dashing like the lion".
49. KRITOLAOS m ancient Hellinic
He was a potter from Pella. His name was discovered in amphoras in Pella during 1980-87. His name derives from Κρίτος (= the chosen) + Λαός (= the people). Its full meaning is "the chosen of the people".
50. ZOILOS m ancient Hellinic
Father of Myleas from Beroia - From zo-e (ΖΩΗ) indicating 'lively', 'vivacious'. Hence the Italian 'Zoilo'
51. ZEUXIS m ancient Hellenic
Name of a Macedonian commander of Lydia in the time of Antigonos III and also the name of a Painter from Heraclea - from 'zeugnumi' = 'to bind', 'join together'
52. LEOCHARIS m ancient Hellenic
Sculptor - Deriving from 'Leon' = 'lion' and 'charis' = 'grace'. Literally meaning the 'lion's grace'.
53. DEINOKRATIS m ancient Hellenic
Helped Alexander to create Alexandria in Egypt.From 'deinow' = 'to make terrible' and 'kratein' = "to rule"Obviously indicating a 'terrible ruler'54. ADMETOS (Άδμητος) m Ancient Greekderive from the word a+damaw(damazw) and mean tameless,obstreperous.Damazw mean chasten, prevail
55. ANDROTIMOS (Ανδρότιμος) m Ancient Greek
derive from the words andreios (brave, courageous) and timitis(honest, upright )
56. PEITHON m Ancient Greek
Means "the one who persuades". It was a common name among Macedonians and the most famous holders of that names were Peithon, son of Sosicles, responsible for the royal pages and Peithon, son of Krateuas, a marshal of Alexander the Great.
57. SOSTRATOS m Ancient Greek
Derives from the Greek words "Σως (=safe) +Στρατος (=army)". He was son of Amyntas and was executed as a conspirator.
58. DIMNOS m Ancient Greek
Derives from the greek verb "δειμαίνω (= i have fear). One of the conspirators.
59. TIMANDROS m Ancient GreekMeaning "Man's honour". It derives from the greek words "Τιμή (=honour) + Άνδρας (=man). One of the commanders of regular Hypaspistes.
60. TLEPOLEMOS ,(τληπόλεμος) m Ancient Greek
Derives from greek words "τλήμων (=brave) + πόλεμος (=war)". In greek mythology Tlepolemos was a son of Heracles. In alexanders era, Tlepolemos was appointed Satrap of Carmania from Alexander the Great.
61. AXIOS (Άξιος) m ancient Greek
Meaning "capable". His name was found on one inscription along with his patronymic "Άξιος Αντιγόνου Μακεδών".
62. THEOXENOS (Θεόξενος) ancient Greek
Derives from greek words "θεός (=god) + ξένος (=foreigner).His name appears as a donator of the Apollo temple along with his patronymic and city of origin(Θεόξενος Αισχρίωνος Κασσανδρεύς).
63. MITRON (Μήτρων) m ancient Greek
Derives from the greek word "Μήτηρ (=Mother)". Mitron of Macedon appears in a inscription as a donator
64. KLEOCHARIS (Κλεοχάρης) M ancient greek
Derives from greek words "Κλέος (=fame) + "Χάρις (=Grace). Kleocharis, son of Pytheas from Amphipoli was a Macedonian honoured in the city of Eretria at the time of Demetrius son of Antigonus.
65. PREPELAOS (Πρεπέλαος) m, ancient Greek
Derives from greek words "πρέπω (=be distinguished) + λαος (=people). He was a general of Kassander.
66. HIPPOLOCHOS (Ιππόλοχος) m, ancient Greek
Derives from the greek words "Ίππος" (= horse) + "Λόχος"(=set up ambush). Hippolochos was a Macedonian historian (ca. 300 B.C.)
67. ALEXARCHOS (Αλέξαρχος) m, ancient Greek
Derives from Greek "Αλέξω" (=defend, protect, help) + "Αρχος " (= master). Alexarchos was brother of Cassandros.
68. ASCLEPIODOROS (Ασκληπιοδορος) m
Ancient Greek
Derives from the greek words Asclepios (= cut up) + Doro (=Gift). Asclepios was the name of the god of healing and medicine in Greek mythology. Asclepiodoros was a prominent Macedonian, son of Eunikos from Pella. Another Asclepiodoros in Alexander's army was son of Timandros.
69. KALLINES (Καλλινης) m Ancient Greek
Derives from greek words kalli + nao (=stream beautifully). He was a Macedonian, officer of companions.
70. PLEISTARHOS (Πλείσταρχος) m ancient Greek
Derives from the greek words Pleistos (=too much) + Arhos ((= master). He was younger brother of Cassander.
71. POLYKLES (Πολυκλής) m ancient Greek
Derives from the words Poli (=city) + Kleos (glory). Macedonian who served as Strategos of Antipater.
72. POLYDAMAS (Πολυδάμας) m ancient Greek
The translation of his name means "the one who subordinates a city". One Hetairos.
73. APOLLOPHANES (Απολλοφάνης) m ancient greek.
His name derives from the greek verb "απολλυμι" (=to destroy) and φαίνομαι (= appear to be). Apollophanes was a prominent Macedonian who was appointed Satrap of Oreitae.
74. ARCHIAS (Αρχίας) m ancient Greek
His name derive from greek verb Άρχω (=head or be in command). Archias was one of the Macedonian trierarchs in Hydaspes river.
75. ARCHESILAOS (Αρχεσίλαος) m ancient Greek
His name derive from greek verb Άρχω (=head or be in command) + Λαος (= people). Archesilaos was a Macedonian that received the satrapy of Mesopotamia in the settlement of 323.
76. ARETAS (Αρετας) m ancient Greek
Derives from the greek word Areti (=virtue). He was commander of Sarissoforoi at Gaugamela.
77. KLEANDROS (Κλέανδρος) m ancient Greek
Derives from greek verb Κλέος (=fame) + Ανδρος (=man). He was commander of Archers and was killed in Hallicarnasus in 334 BC.
78. AGESISTRATOS (Αγησίστρατος) m ancient greek
Father of Paramonos, a general of Antigonos Doson. His name derives from verb ηγήσομαι ( = lead in command) + στρατος (= army). "Hgisomai" in Doric dialect is "Agisomai". Its full meaning is "the one who leads the army"
79. AGERROS (Αγερρος) M ancient Greek
He was father of Andronikos, general of Alexander. His name derives from the verb αγέρρω (= the one who makes gatherings)
80. AVREAS (Αβρέας) m ancient Greek
Officer of Alexander the great. His name derives from the adj. αβρός (=polite)
81. AGATHANOR (Αγαθάνωρ) m ancient Greek
Son of Thrasycles. He was priest of Asklepios for about 5 years. His origin was from Beroia as is attested from an inscription. His name derives from the adj. αγαθός (= virtuous) + ανήρ (= man). The full meaning of his name is "Virtuous man"
82. AGAKLES (Αγακλής) m ancient Greek
He was son of Simmihos and was from Pella. He is known from a resolution of Aetolians. His name derives from the adj. Αγακλεής (= too glorious)
83. AGASIKLES (Αγασικλής) m ancient Greek
Son of Mentor, from Dion of Macedonia. It derives from the verb άγαμαι (= admire) + Κλέος (=fame). Its full meaning is "the one who admires fame"
84. AGGAREOS (Αγγάρεος) m ancient Greek
Son of Dalon from Amphipolis. He is known from an inscription of Amphipolis (S.E.G vol 31. ins. 616) It derives from the noun Αγγαρεία (= news)
85. AGELAS (Αγέλας) m ancient Greek
Son of Alexander. He was born during the mid-5th BCE and was an ambassador of Macedonians during the treaty between Macedonians and Atheneans. This treaty exists in inscription 89.vol1 Fasc.1 Ed.3"Attic inscrip."His name was common among Heraclides and Bacchiades. One Agelas was king of Corinth during the first quarter of 5 BCE. His name derives from the verb άγω (= lead) and the noun Λαός (= people or even soldiers (Homeric)). The full meaning is the "one who leads the people/soldiers".
86. AGIPPOS (Άγιππος) m ancient Greek
He was from Beroia of Macedonia and lived during middle 3rd BCE. He is known from an inscription found in Beroia where his name appears as the witness in a slave-freeing. Another case bearing the name Agippos in the Greek world was the father of Timokratos from Zakynthos. The name Agippos derives from the verb άγω (= lead) + the word ίππος (= Horse). Its full meaning is "the one who leads the horse/calvary".
87. AGLAIANOS (Αγλαϊάνος) m ancient Greek
He was from Amphipolis of Macedonia (c. 4th BC) and he is known from an inscription S.E.G vol41., insc. 556His name consists of aglai- from the verb αγλαϊζω (= honour) and the ending -anos.
88. AGNOTHEOS (Αγνόθεος) m ancient Greek
Macedonian, possibly from Pella. His name survived from an inscription found in Pella between 300-250 BCE. (SEG vol46.insc.799)His name derives from Αγνός ( = pure) + Θεός (=God). The full meaning is "the one who has inside a pure god"
89. ATHENAGORAS (Αθηναγόρας) m ancient Greek
General of Philip V. He was the general who stopped Dardanian invasion in 199 BC. His name derives from the verb αγορά-ομαι (=deliver a speech) + the name Αθηνά (= Athena).
90. PERIANDROS (Περίανδρος) m ancient Greek
Son of the Macedonian historian Marsyas. His name derives from Περί (= too much) + άνηρ (man, brave). Its full meaning is "too brave/man".
91. LEODISKOS (Λεοντίσκος) m ancient Greek
He was son of Ptolemy A' and Thais, His name derives from Λέων (= lion) + the ending -iskos (=little). His name's full etymology is "Little Lion"
92. EPHRANOR (Ευφράνωρ) m ancient Greek
He was General of Perseas. It derives from the verb Ευφραίνω (= delight). Its full meaning is "the one who delights".
93. DIONYSOPHON m Ancient Greek
It has the meaning "Voice of Dionysos". The ending -phon is typical among ancient greek names.
MACEDONIAN WOMEN
94. ANTIGONE f ancient GreekUsage: Greek MythologyPronounced: an-TIG-o-neeMeans ‘against birth’ from Greek anti ‘against’ and gone ‘birth’. In Greek legend Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. King Creon of Thebes declared that her slain brother Polynices was to remain unburied, a great dishonour. She disobeyed and gave him a proper burial, and for this she was sealed alive in a cave. Antigone of Pydna was the mistress of Philotas, the son of Parmenion and commander of Alexander the Great’s Companion cavalry (Plutarch, Alexander, ‘The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans’).
95. VOULOMAGA (Βουλομάγα) f ancient greek
Derives from greek words "Βούλομαι (=desire) + άγαν (=too much)". Her name is found among donators.
96. ATALANTE (Αταλαντη) f ancient Greek
Her name means in Greek "without talent". She was daughter of Orontes, and sister of Perdiccas.97. AGELAEIA (Αγελαεία) f ancient GreekWife of Amyntas, from the city of Beroia (S.E.G vol 48. insc. 738)It derives from the adj. Αγέλα-ος ( = the one who belongs to a herd)98. ATHENAIS (Αθηναϊς) f ancient GreekThe name was found on an altar of Heracles Kigagidas in Beroia. It derives from the name Athena and the ending -is meaning "small". Its whole meaning is "little Athena".
99. STRATONIKE f Ancient Greek (STRATONICE Latinized)
Means ‘victorious army’ from stratos ‘army’ and nike ‘victory’. Sister of King Perdiccas II. “…and Perdiccas afterwards gave his sister Stratonice to Seuthes as he had promised.” (Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Chapter VIII)
100. THETIMA f Ancient Greek
A name from Pella Katadesmos. It has the meaning "she who honors the gods"; the standard Attic form would be Theotimē.
Bibliography:
"Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire" by Waldemar Heckel
"The Marshals of Alexander's empire" by Waldemar Heckel"
Macedonians Abroad: A Contribution to the Prosopography of Ancient Macedonia" by A. B. Tataki"
The Greek identity of Ancient Macedonians" by Athanasios Sakalis
source
http://history-of-macedonia.com/wordpress/2006/12/26/etymology-of-the-100-most-famous-ancient-macedonian-names/
Monday, December 18, 2006
Ancient Writers and Macedonia
Strabo - “Geography”
“There remain of Europe, first, Macedonia and the parts of Thrace that are contiguous to it and extend as far as Byzantium; secondly, Greece; and thirdly, the islands that are close by. Macedonia, of course, is a part of Greece, yet now, since I am following the nature and shape of the places geographically, I have decided to classify it apart from the rest of Greece and to join it with that part of Thrace which borders on it and extends as far as the mouth of the Euxine and the Propontis. Then, a little further on, Strabo mentions Cypsela and the Hebrus River, and also describes a sort of parallelogram in which the whole of Macedonia lies.”
[Strabo, Geography,book 7,Fragm,9]
“And even to the present day the Thracians, Illyrians, and Epeirotes live on the flanks of the Greeks (though this was still more the case formerly than now); indeed most of the country that at the present time is indisputably Greece is held by the barbarians — Macedonia and certain parts of Thessaly by the Thracians, and the parts above Acarnania and Aetolia by the Thesproti, the Cassopaei, the Amphilochi, the Molossi, and the Athamanes — Epeirotic tribes.”
[Strabo, Geography,book 7,VII,1]
“What is now called Macedonia was in earlier times called Emathia. And it took its present name from Macedon, one of its early chieftains. And there was also a city emathia close to the sea. Now a part of this country was taken and held by certain of the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, but most oii by the Bottiaei and the Thracians. The Bottiaei came from Crete originally, so it is said, along with Botton as chieftain. As for the Thracians, the Pieres inhabited Pieria and the region about Olympus; the Paeones, the region on both sides of the Axius River, which on that account is called Amphaxitis; the Edoni and Bisaltae, the rest of the country as far as the Strymon. Of these two peoples the latter are called Bisaltae alone, whereas a part of the Edoni are called Mygdones, a part Edones, and a part Sithones. But of all these tribes the Argeadae, as they are called, established themselves as masters, and also the Chalcidians of Euboea; for the Chalcidians of Euboea also came over to the country of the Sithones and jointly peopled about thirty cities in it, although later on the majority of them were ejected and came together into one city, Olynthus; and they were named the Thracian Chalcidians.”
[Strabo, Geography, book 7, Fragm 11]
“When the Euboeans were returning from Troy, some of them, after being driven out of their course to Illyria, set out for home through Macedonia, but remained in the neighborhood of Edessa, after aiding in war those who had received them hospitably; and they founded a city Euboe”
[Strabo, Geography,book 10,I,15].
“From its melody and rhythm and instruments, all Thracian music has been considered to be Asiatic. And this is clear, first, from the places where the Muses have been worshipped, for Pieria and Olympus and Pimpla and Leibethrum were in ancient times Thracian places and mountains, though they are now held by the Macedonians;”[Strabo, Geography,book 10,III,17]
“….and again, of the Epeirotes, the Molossi became subject to Pyrrhus, the son of Neoptolemus the son of Achilles, and to his descendants, who were Thessalians. But the rest were ruled by men of native stock.”
[Strabo, Geography, book 7, VII, 8]
“It is said that Orestes once took possession of Orestias — when in exile on account of the murder of his mother — and left the country bearing his name; and that he also founded a city and called it Argos Oresticum.”
[Strabo, Geography,book 7,VII,8]
“After having described as much of the western parts of Europe as is comprised within the interior and exterior seas, and surveyed all the barbarous nations which it contains, as far as the Don and a small part of Greece, [namely, Macedonia,] we propose to give an account of the remainder of the Helladic geography. ”
[Strabo, Geography, BOOK VIII, 1]
“…but after they had intrusted to Lycurgus the formation of a political constitution, they acquired such a superiority over the other Greeks, that they alone obtained the sovereignty both by sea and land, and continued to be the chiefs of the Greeks, till the Thebans, and soon afterwards the Macedonians, deprived them of this ascendency”
[Strabo, Geography, VIII- V]
“The veneration for this god prevailed so strongly among the Greeks, that the Macedonians, even when masters of the country, nevertheless preserved even to the present time the privilege of the asylum, and were restrained by shame from dragging away the suppliants who took refuge at Calauria
[Strabo, Geography,VIII-VI]
“The Acarnanians, and the Ætolians, like many other nations, are at present worn out, and exhausted by continual wars. The Ætolians however, in conjunction with the Acarnanians, during a long period withstood the Macedonians and the other Greeks ”
[Strabo, Geography, Book 10, Chapter 2, 23]
Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”
“It is your privilege, as one who has been blessed with untrammeled freedom, to consider all Hellas your fatherland, as did the founder of your race.”
[Isokrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip” 127]
“Argos is the land of your fathers, and is entitled to as much consideration at your hands as are your own ancestors…”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 32]
“Now I am not unaware that many of the Hellenes look upon the King’s power as invincible. Yet one may well marvel at them if they really believe that the power which was subdued to the will of a mere barbarian–an ill-bred barbarian at that–and collected in the cause of slavery, could not be scattered by A MAN OF THE BLOOD OF HELLAS, of ripe experience in warfare, in the cause of freedom–and that too although they know that while it is in all cases difficult to construct a thing, to destroy it is, comparatively, an easy task.Bear in mind that the men whom the world most admires and honors are those who unite in themselves the abilities of the statesman and the general. When, therefore, you see the renown which even in a single city is bestowed on men who possess these gifts, what manner of eulogies must you expect to hear spoken of you, when AMONG ALL THE HELLENES you shall stand forth as a statesman who has worked for the good of Hellas, and AS A GENERAL WHO HAS OVERTHROWN THE BARBARIANS?”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.139, 5.140]
“Well, if I were trying to present this matter to any others before having broached it to my own country, WHICH HAS THRICE FREED HELLAS-twice from the barbarians and ONCE FROM THE LACEDAEMONIAN YOKE–I should confess my error. In truth, however, it will be found that I turned to Athens first of all and endeavored to win her over to this cause with all the earnestness of which my nature is capable,2 but when I perceived that she cared less for what I said than for the ravings of the platform orators,3 I gave her up, although I did not abandon my efforts.”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.129]
“The Lacedaemonians were the leaders of the Hellenes, not long ago, on both land and sea, and yet they suffered so great a reversal of fortune when they met defeat at Leuctra that they were deprived of their power over the Hellenes, and lost such of their warriors as chose to die rather than survive defeat at the hands of those over whom they had once been masters.”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.47]
“As I continued to say many things of this tenor, those who heard me were inspired with the hope that when my discourse should be published you and the Athenians would bring the war to an end, and, having conquered your pride, would adopt some policy for your mutual good. Whether indeed they were foolish or sensible in taking this view is a question for which they, and not I, may fairly be held to account; but in any case, while I was still occupied with this endeavour, you and Athens anticipated me by making peace before I had completed my discourse; and you were wise in doing so, for to conclude the peace, no matter how, was better than to continue to be oppressed by the evils engendered by the war. [8] But although I was in joyful accord with the resolutions which were adopted regarding the peace, and was convinced that they would be beneficial, not only to us, BUT ALSO TO YOU AND ALL THE OTHER HELLENES, I could not divorce my thought from the possibilities connected with this step, but found myself in a state of mind where I began at once to consider how the results which had been achieved might be made permanent for us, and how our city could be prevented from setting her heart upon further wars, after a short interval of peace.”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.8]
Plutarch - Moralia, “On the Fortune of Alexander”
“Alexander lived many hundred years ago. He was king of Macedon, one of the states of Greece. His life was spent in war. He first conquered the other Grecian states, and then Persia, and India, and other countries one by one, till the whole known world was conquered by him. It is said that he wept, because there were no more worlds for him to conquer. He died, at the age of thirty-three, from drinking too much wine. In consequence of his great success in war, he was called Alexander the Great.”
[Plutarchos, Moralia, On the Fortune of Alexander, I, 328D, 329A ]
“But he said, `If I were not Alexandros, I should be Diogenes’; that is to say: `If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things Hellenic, to traverse and civilize every every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to diseminate and shower the blessings of the Hellenic justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorius Hellenes should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos…’ “
[Plutarchos, On the Fortune of Alexander, 332 a-b]
“Yet through Alexander, Bactria and the Caucasus learned to revere the gods of the Hellenes … Alexander established more than seventy cities among savage tribes, and showed all Asia with Hellenic magistracies … Egypt would not have its Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia its Seleucia, nor Sogdiana its Prophthasia, nor India its Bucephalia, nor the Caucasus a Hellenic city, for by the founding of cities in these places savagery was extinguished and the worse element, gaining familiarity with the better, changed under its influence.’
[Plutarchos Moralia. On the Fortune of Alexander, I, 328D, 329A]
Diodoros of Sicily, Histories
Such was the end of Philip … He had ruled 24 years. He is known to fame as one who with but the slenderest resources to support his claim to a throne won for himself the greatest monarchy among the Hellenes, while the growth of his position was not due so much to his prowess in arms as to his adroitness and cordiality in diplomacy.”
[Diodoros of Sicily 16.95.1-2]
“Along with lavish display of every sort, Philip included in the procession statues of the twelve Gods wrought with great artistry and adorned with a dazzling show of wealth to strike awe to the beholder, and along with these was conducted a thirteenth statue, suitable for a god, that of Philip himself, so that the king exhibited himself enthroned among the twelve Gods. Every seat in the theater was taken when Philip appeared wearing a white cloak and by his express orders his bodyguard held away from him and followed only at a distance, since he wanted to show publicly that he was protected by the goodwill of all the Hellenes, and had no need of a guard of spearmen.”
[Diodoros of Sicily 16.92.5-93.2]
“After this Alexandros left Dareios’s mother, his daughters,and his son in Susa, providing them with persons to teach them the hellenic dialect,…”
[Diodoros of Sicily 17.67.1]
“Alexandros observed that his soldiers were exhausted with their constant campaigns. …The hooves of the horses had been worn thin by steady marching. The arms and armour were wearing out, and the Hellenic clothing was quite gone. They had to clothe themselves in materials of the barbarians,…”
[Diodoros of Sicily 17.94.1-2]
“Is considered this king (Philip) began his monarchy with the bad conditions and he conquered the bigger monarchy of Hellenes (Macedonia) increasing the hegemony no so much with the heroism of arms, as long as with the skilful handlings and his diplomacy.”
[Diodorus Sikeliotis, 16-95]
“and the Athenians were not ready to concede the leading position among the Greeks to Macedon.”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.3.2]
“Similarly, the Thebans voted to drive out the garrison in the Cadmeia and not to concede to Alexander the leadership of the Greeks.”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.3.4]
“First he [Alexander] dealt with the Thessalians, reminding them of his ancient relationship to them through Heracles”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.1]
“where he convened the assembly of the Amphictyons and had them pass a resolution granting him the leadership of the Greeks”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.2]
“He [Demosthenes] was generally believed to have received large sums of money from that source [King of Persian] in payment for his efforts to check the Macedonians and indeed Aeschines is said to have referred to this in a speech when he taunted Demosthenes with his venality:At the moment, it is true, his extravagance has been glutted by the king’s gold, but even this will not satisfy him; no wealth has ever proved sufficient for a greedy character”"
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.8]
“he spoke to them in moderate terms and had them pass a resolution appointing him general plenipotentiary of the Greeks and undertaking themselves to join in an expedition against Persia seeking satisfaction for the offences which the Persians had committed against Greece”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.9]
“There remain of Europe, first, Macedonia and the parts of Thrace that are contiguous to it and extend as far as Byzantium; secondly, Greece; and thirdly, the islands that are close by. Macedonia, of course, is a part of Greece, yet now, since I am following the nature and shape of the places geographically, I have decided to classify it apart from the rest of Greece and to join it with that part of Thrace which borders on it and extends as far as the mouth of the Euxine and the Propontis. Then, a little further on, Strabo mentions Cypsela and the Hebrus River, and also describes a sort of parallelogram in which the whole of Macedonia lies.”
[Strabo, Geography,book 7,Fragm,9]
“And even to the present day the Thracians, Illyrians, and Epeirotes live on the flanks of the Greeks (though this was still more the case formerly than now); indeed most of the country that at the present time is indisputably Greece is held by the barbarians — Macedonia and certain parts of Thessaly by the Thracians, and the parts above Acarnania and Aetolia by the Thesproti, the Cassopaei, the Amphilochi, the Molossi, and the Athamanes — Epeirotic tribes.”
[Strabo, Geography,book 7,VII,1]
“What is now called Macedonia was in earlier times called Emathia. And it took its present name from Macedon, one of its early chieftains. And there was also a city emathia close to the sea. Now a part of this country was taken and held by certain of the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, but most oii by the Bottiaei and the Thracians. The Bottiaei came from Crete originally, so it is said, along with Botton as chieftain. As for the Thracians, the Pieres inhabited Pieria and the region about Olympus; the Paeones, the region on both sides of the Axius River, which on that account is called Amphaxitis; the Edoni and Bisaltae, the rest of the country as far as the Strymon. Of these two peoples the latter are called Bisaltae alone, whereas a part of the Edoni are called Mygdones, a part Edones, and a part Sithones. But of all these tribes the Argeadae, as they are called, established themselves as masters, and also the Chalcidians of Euboea; for the Chalcidians of Euboea also came over to the country of the Sithones and jointly peopled about thirty cities in it, although later on the majority of them were ejected and came together into one city, Olynthus; and they were named the Thracian Chalcidians.”
[Strabo, Geography, book 7, Fragm 11]
“When the Euboeans were returning from Troy, some of them, after being driven out of their course to Illyria, set out for home through Macedonia, but remained in the neighborhood of Edessa, after aiding in war those who had received them hospitably; and they founded a city Euboe”
[Strabo, Geography,book 10,I,15].
“From its melody and rhythm and instruments, all Thracian music has been considered to be Asiatic. And this is clear, first, from the places where the Muses have been worshipped, for Pieria and Olympus and Pimpla and Leibethrum were in ancient times Thracian places and mountains, though they are now held by the Macedonians;”[Strabo, Geography,book 10,III,17]
“….and again, of the Epeirotes, the Molossi became subject to Pyrrhus, the son of Neoptolemus the son of Achilles, and to his descendants, who were Thessalians. But the rest were ruled by men of native stock.”
[Strabo, Geography, book 7, VII, 8]
“It is said that Orestes once took possession of Orestias — when in exile on account of the murder of his mother — and left the country bearing his name; and that he also founded a city and called it Argos Oresticum.”
[Strabo, Geography,book 7,VII,8]
“After having described as much of the western parts of Europe as is comprised within the interior and exterior seas, and surveyed all the barbarous nations which it contains, as far as the Don and a small part of Greece, [namely, Macedonia,] we propose to give an account of the remainder of the Helladic geography. ”
[Strabo, Geography, BOOK VIII, 1]
“…but after they had intrusted to Lycurgus the formation of a political constitution, they acquired such a superiority over the other Greeks, that they alone obtained the sovereignty both by sea and land, and continued to be the chiefs of the Greeks, till the Thebans, and soon afterwards the Macedonians, deprived them of this ascendency”
[Strabo, Geography, VIII- V]
“The veneration for this god prevailed so strongly among the Greeks, that the Macedonians, even when masters of the country, nevertheless preserved even to the present time the privilege of the asylum, and were restrained by shame from dragging away the suppliants who took refuge at Calauria
[Strabo, Geography,VIII-VI]
“The Acarnanians, and the Ætolians, like many other nations, are at present worn out, and exhausted by continual wars. The Ætolians however, in conjunction with the Acarnanians, during a long period withstood the Macedonians and the other Greeks ”
[Strabo, Geography, Book 10, Chapter 2, 23]
Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”
“It is your privilege, as one who has been blessed with untrammeled freedom, to consider all Hellas your fatherland, as did the founder of your race.”
[Isokrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip” 127]
“Argos is the land of your fathers, and is entitled to as much consideration at your hands as are your own ancestors…”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 32]
“Now I am not unaware that many of the Hellenes look upon the King’s power as invincible. Yet one may well marvel at them if they really believe that the power which was subdued to the will of a mere barbarian–an ill-bred barbarian at that–and collected in the cause of slavery, could not be scattered by A MAN OF THE BLOOD OF HELLAS, of ripe experience in warfare, in the cause of freedom–and that too although they know that while it is in all cases difficult to construct a thing, to destroy it is, comparatively, an easy task.Bear in mind that the men whom the world most admires and honors are those who unite in themselves the abilities of the statesman and the general. When, therefore, you see the renown which even in a single city is bestowed on men who possess these gifts, what manner of eulogies must you expect to hear spoken of you, when AMONG ALL THE HELLENES you shall stand forth as a statesman who has worked for the good of Hellas, and AS A GENERAL WHO HAS OVERTHROWN THE BARBARIANS?”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.139, 5.140]
“Well, if I were trying to present this matter to any others before having broached it to my own country, WHICH HAS THRICE FREED HELLAS-twice from the barbarians and ONCE FROM THE LACEDAEMONIAN YOKE–I should confess my error. In truth, however, it will be found that I turned to Athens first of all and endeavored to win her over to this cause with all the earnestness of which my nature is capable,2 but when I perceived that she cared less for what I said than for the ravings of the platform orators,3 I gave her up, although I did not abandon my efforts.”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.129]
“The Lacedaemonians were the leaders of the Hellenes, not long ago, on both land and sea, and yet they suffered so great a reversal of fortune when they met defeat at Leuctra that they were deprived of their power over the Hellenes, and lost such of their warriors as chose to die rather than survive defeat at the hands of those over whom they had once been masters.”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.47]
“As I continued to say many things of this tenor, those who heard me were inspired with the hope that when my discourse should be published you and the Athenians would bring the war to an end, and, having conquered your pride, would adopt some policy for your mutual good. Whether indeed they were foolish or sensible in taking this view is a question for which they, and not I, may fairly be held to account; but in any case, while I was still occupied with this endeavour, you and Athens anticipated me by making peace before I had completed my discourse; and you were wise in doing so, for to conclude the peace, no matter how, was better than to continue to be oppressed by the evils engendered by the war. [8] But although I was in joyful accord with the resolutions which were adopted regarding the peace, and was convinced that they would be beneficial, not only to us, BUT ALSO TO YOU AND ALL THE OTHER HELLENES, I could not divorce my thought from the possibilities connected with this step, but found myself in a state of mind where I began at once to consider how the results which had been achieved might be made permanent for us, and how our city could be prevented from setting her heart upon further wars, after a short interval of peace.”
[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.8]
Plutarch - Moralia, “On the Fortune of Alexander”
“Alexander lived many hundred years ago. He was king of Macedon, one of the states of Greece. His life was spent in war. He first conquered the other Grecian states, and then Persia, and India, and other countries one by one, till the whole known world was conquered by him. It is said that he wept, because there were no more worlds for him to conquer. He died, at the age of thirty-three, from drinking too much wine. In consequence of his great success in war, he was called Alexander the Great.”
[Plutarchos, Moralia, On the Fortune of Alexander, I, 328D, 329A ]
“But he said, `If I were not Alexandros, I should be Diogenes’; that is to say: `If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things Hellenic, to traverse and civilize every every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to diseminate and shower the blessings of the Hellenic justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorius Hellenes should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos…’ “
[Plutarchos, On the Fortune of Alexander, 332 a-b]
“Yet through Alexander, Bactria and the Caucasus learned to revere the gods of the Hellenes … Alexander established more than seventy cities among savage tribes, and showed all Asia with Hellenic magistracies … Egypt would not have its Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia its Seleucia, nor Sogdiana its Prophthasia, nor India its Bucephalia, nor the Caucasus a Hellenic city, for by the founding of cities in these places savagery was extinguished and the worse element, gaining familiarity with the better, changed under its influence.’
[Plutarchos Moralia. On the Fortune of Alexander, I, 328D, 329A]
Diodoros of Sicily, Histories
Such was the end of Philip … He had ruled 24 years. He is known to fame as one who with but the slenderest resources to support his claim to a throne won for himself the greatest monarchy among the Hellenes, while the growth of his position was not due so much to his prowess in arms as to his adroitness and cordiality in diplomacy.”
[Diodoros of Sicily 16.95.1-2]
“Along with lavish display of every sort, Philip included in the procession statues of the twelve Gods wrought with great artistry and adorned with a dazzling show of wealth to strike awe to the beholder, and along with these was conducted a thirteenth statue, suitable for a god, that of Philip himself, so that the king exhibited himself enthroned among the twelve Gods. Every seat in the theater was taken when Philip appeared wearing a white cloak and by his express orders his bodyguard held away from him and followed only at a distance, since he wanted to show publicly that he was protected by the goodwill of all the Hellenes, and had no need of a guard of spearmen.”
[Diodoros of Sicily 16.92.5-93.2]
“After this Alexandros left Dareios’s mother, his daughters,and his son in Susa, providing them with persons to teach them the hellenic dialect,…”
[Diodoros of Sicily 17.67.1]
“Alexandros observed that his soldiers were exhausted with their constant campaigns. …The hooves of the horses had been worn thin by steady marching. The arms and armour were wearing out, and the Hellenic clothing was quite gone. They had to clothe themselves in materials of the barbarians,…”
[Diodoros of Sicily 17.94.1-2]
“Is considered this king (Philip) began his monarchy with the bad conditions and he conquered the bigger monarchy of Hellenes (Macedonia) increasing the hegemony no so much with the heroism of arms, as long as with the skilful handlings and his diplomacy.”
[Diodorus Sikeliotis, 16-95]
“and the Athenians were not ready to concede the leading position among the Greeks to Macedon.”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.3.2]
“Similarly, the Thebans voted to drive out the garrison in the Cadmeia and not to concede to Alexander the leadership of the Greeks.”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.3.4]
“First he [Alexander] dealt with the Thessalians, reminding them of his ancient relationship to them through Heracles”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.1]
“where he convened the assembly of the Amphictyons and had them pass a resolution granting him the leadership of the Greeks”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.2]
“He [Demosthenes] was generally believed to have received large sums of money from that source [King of Persian] in payment for his efforts to check the Macedonians and indeed Aeschines is said to have referred to this in a speech when he taunted Demosthenes with his venality:At the moment, it is true, his extravagance has been glutted by the king’s gold, but even this will not satisfy him; no wealth has ever proved sufficient for a greedy character”"
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.8]
“he spoke to them in moderate terms and had them pass a resolution appointing him general plenipotentiary of the Greeks and undertaking themselves to join in an expedition against Persia seeking satisfaction for the offences which the Persians had committed against Greece”
[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.9]
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Etymology of the Macedonian name
Is generally accepted that the today observers agree that there is more than one variant of Macedonians. Ironically, all these variants are usually defined in foreign languages (major English) by the same name: Macedonians, Macedoniens, Macedoni etc..
Of course with the notable exception of the Germans, who use two names: “Makedonen” for the Ancient Macedonians, and “Mazedonier” for the various contemporary brands of Macedonians).Let explain one by one the various brands of Macedonians.
GENERAL
The Macedonian (Makedon) derives from the ancient Greek adjective makednos (μακεδνός). The latter was formed by the stem of the noun makos=mekos (this mean length) with the suffix –d-(delta) and the ending –nos.This came from the Homer (Od h-106).
From the Greek name "Makedon", there are many derivative names, such as the Greek "Makedonianos","Makedonios", "Makedonas" and of course the Slavonic terms such as "Makedonci" and "Makedonjia".
A. HELLENIC VIEW
MACEDONIANS OF ANTIQUITY
MAKETH(D)W(Omega)NES
A tribe of Greek culture and language The etymology of their name is further proof of their greek identity as I explained previous. They gave their name to the land and self-identified themselves in their Greek vernacular as , [pronounced ‘makethnΙ’ (a as in about, e as in bet, Ι as ea in eat’)]. Under Alexander the Great they united the Greeks and spread the Greek language and Greek civilisation to the known limits of the world.
MACEDONIANS AS A REGIONAL GREEK NAME
MAKETH(D)ONES
For centuries, in Byzantine and Ottoman times, Greek-speakers of the wider and usually ill-defined Macedonian regions identified themselves as Macedonians in the regional as well as in a cultural sense. Particularly after the revival of Greek cultural heritage, educated Makethones also compounded their Greek identity with elements of the ancient Macedonian heritage and proud references to the Kings Alexander and Philip and their generals such as Philotas, Krateros, etc. It is interesting to notice that such names were given only by the Greeks of Macedonia to their children, not by the Slavs of Macedonia, who opted for names of the medieval Bulgarian tradition (Boris, Ivan). How popular the Macedonian name is among the Greeks of Macedonia, is attested by its widespread use. Since the 19th century, and especially during the 20th until today, numerous Greek firms, shops, associations, schools (both private and state institutions) have used the adjective “Macedonian” as part of their trade mark
Today the name Makedonia is the name of a provivance of the Hellenic republic.
B. BULGARIAN VIEW
MACEDONIANS AS A REGIONAL BULGARIAN NAME
MAKEDONC(TS)I
At the time of the Bulgarian renaissance of the 19th century, and during the national liberation struggles, the Bulgarians, like the Greeks, used regional names, in addition to their ethnic Bulgarian name, to identify themselves. Thus the name Makedonc(ts)i was used to differentiate the Bulgarians of Macedonia from the Dunavtsi, Trakiitsi etc. The name Makedonc(ts)I gained more prominence after the establishment of the Bulgarian state (1878) and during the Bulgarian armed fighting in Macedonia in the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. It was used to describe the Bulgarians of Macedonia and distinguish them from those of the Bulgarian Principality. The term is still being used in this sense by Bulgarian Macedonians in Bulgaria and the diaspora.
C. Slav-MACEDONIAN VIEW
MACEDONIANS AS AN ETHNIC TERM OF CERTAIN SLAVS OF THE WIDER MACEDONIAN REGION
MAKEDONC(TS)I
According theirs scholars derives from the Makedonjia that mean mother land. Nationalists and scholars continue their debate over their diametrically opposing views concerning the origins of the name Makedontsi as an ethnic term. It is still a controversial issue. It is true, however, that at the beginning of the 20th century, certain Slav- (Bulgarian-) speaking intellectuals and nationalists from Macedonia sought to define themselves, through the Macedonian name, as a separate national group from the Bulgarians. But the main impetus came during the 1930s when the Comintern and the communist parties of the Balkan states, motivated by political reasons, adopted the term not only as a regional but as an ethnic one. It was on this basis, that during the Second World War and after the Liberation, the Yugoslav communists accepted and sanctioned the Macedonian name as the ethnic and national name of a separate people within the Yugoslav federation.
This is also today the name of the citizens of the UN recognized state of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). By this name, the state recognizes not only the ethnic Slav Macedonians, but also the Albanians, the Vlachs, the Serbs and other citizens of the country. The constitutional name is Republic of Makedonja.
sources:
-History of the Name Macedonia,Nikolaos Adriotis,Thessaloniki 1960
-Macedonia and Macedonians,C Antonovski,Skopje 1974
-The Macedonian Question ,Dimiter Minchev, Ph.D.,Sofia, 2002
-www.macedonia-heritage.gr
Of course with the notable exception of the Germans, who use two names: “Makedonen” for the Ancient Macedonians, and “Mazedonier” for the various contemporary brands of Macedonians).Let explain one by one the various brands of Macedonians.
GENERAL
The Macedonian (Makedon) derives from the ancient Greek adjective makednos (μακεδνός). The latter was formed by the stem of the noun makos=mekos (this mean length) with the suffix –d-(delta) and the ending –nos.This came from the Homer (Od h-106).
From the Greek name "Makedon", there are many derivative names, such as the Greek "Makedonianos","Makedonios", "Makedonas" and of course the Slavonic terms such as "Makedonci" and "Makedonjia".
A. HELLENIC VIEW
MACEDONIANS OF ANTIQUITY
MAKETH(D)W(Omega)NES
A tribe of Greek culture and language The etymology of their name is further proof of their greek identity as I explained previous. They gave their name to the land and self-identified themselves in their Greek vernacular as , [pronounced ‘makethnΙ’ (a as in about, e as in bet, Ι as ea in eat’)]. Under Alexander the Great they united the Greeks and spread the Greek language and Greek civilisation to the known limits of the world.
MACEDONIANS AS A REGIONAL GREEK NAME
MAKETH(D)ONES
For centuries, in Byzantine and Ottoman times, Greek-speakers of the wider and usually ill-defined Macedonian regions identified themselves as Macedonians in the regional as well as in a cultural sense. Particularly after the revival of Greek cultural heritage, educated Makethones also compounded their Greek identity with elements of the ancient Macedonian heritage and proud references to the Kings Alexander and Philip and their generals such as Philotas, Krateros, etc. It is interesting to notice that such names were given only by the Greeks of Macedonia to their children, not by the Slavs of Macedonia, who opted for names of the medieval Bulgarian tradition (Boris, Ivan). How popular the Macedonian name is among the Greeks of Macedonia, is attested by its widespread use. Since the 19th century, and especially during the 20th until today, numerous Greek firms, shops, associations, schools (both private and state institutions) have used the adjective “Macedonian” as part of their trade mark
Today the name Makedonia is the name of a provivance of the Hellenic republic.
B. BULGARIAN VIEW
MACEDONIANS AS A REGIONAL BULGARIAN NAME
MAKEDONC(TS)I
At the time of the Bulgarian renaissance of the 19th century, and during the national liberation struggles, the Bulgarians, like the Greeks, used regional names, in addition to their ethnic Bulgarian name, to identify themselves. Thus the name Makedonc(ts)i was used to differentiate the Bulgarians of Macedonia from the Dunavtsi, Trakiitsi etc. The name Makedonc(ts)I gained more prominence after the establishment of the Bulgarian state (1878) and during the Bulgarian armed fighting in Macedonia in the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. It was used to describe the Bulgarians of Macedonia and distinguish them from those of the Bulgarian Principality. The term is still being used in this sense by Bulgarian Macedonians in Bulgaria and the diaspora.
C. Slav-MACEDONIAN VIEW
MACEDONIANS AS AN ETHNIC TERM OF CERTAIN SLAVS OF THE WIDER MACEDONIAN REGION
MAKEDONC(TS)I
According theirs scholars derives from the Makedonjia that mean mother land. Nationalists and scholars continue their debate over their diametrically opposing views concerning the origins of the name Makedontsi as an ethnic term. It is still a controversial issue. It is true, however, that at the beginning of the 20th century, certain Slav- (Bulgarian-) speaking intellectuals and nationalists from Macedonia sought to define themselves, through the Macedonian name, as a separate national group from the Bulgarians. But the main impetus came during the 1930s when the Comintern and the communist parties of the Balkan states, motivated by political reasons, adopted the term not only as a regional but as an ethnic one. It was on this basis, that during the Second World War and after the Liberation, the Yugoslav communists accepted and sanctioned the Macedonian name as the ethnic and national name of a separate people within the Yugoslav federation.
This is also today the name of the citizens of the UN recognized state of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). By this name, the state recognizes not only the ethnic Slav Macedonians, but also the Albanians, the Vlachs, the Serbs and other citizens of the country. The constitutional name is Republic of Makedonja.
sources:
-History of the Name Macedonia,Nikolaos Adriotis,Thessaloniki 1960
-Macedonia and Macedonians,C Antonovski,Skopje 1974
-The Macedonian Question ,Dimiter Minchev, Ph.D.,Sofia, 2002
-www.macedonia-heritage.gr
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
E.N.Borza and Macedonia
E.N.Borza, "On the Shadows of Olympus" (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990),
"This larger Macedon included lands from the crest of the Pindus range to the plain of Philippi and the Nestos River. Its northern border lay along a line formed by Pelagonia, the middle Axios valley and the western Rhodopi massif. Its southern border was the Haliac- mon basin, the Olympus range and the Aegean, with the Chalcidic peninsula as peripheral... We thus have a conception of Macedonia both more and less extensive than Hammonds's -less in that IT REDUCES EMPHASIS ON THE north western LANDS that lie today WITHIN THE YUGOSLAV STATE, but more in that it takes into greater account the territory east of the Axios. It is a definition BASED on the political DEVELOPMENT of the MACEDONIAN STATE OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME,..."
page 29-31
The macedonians themselves may have originated from the same population pool that produced other Greek peoples
page 84
"There is NO reason to deny the Macedonians' own tradition about their early kings and the migrations of the Makedones. "
page 84
"The basic story as provided by Herodotus and Thucydides minus the interpolation of the Temenid connection, UNDOUBTEDLY reflects the Macedonians' own traditions about their early history "
page 84
""Their daughter, who would be the half-sister of Alexander the Great and, later the wife of Cassander, was appropriately named Thessalonike, to commemorate Philip's victory in Thessaly. In 315 Cassander founded at or near the site of ancient Therme the great city that still bears her name. ""
page 220
""It is difficult to imagine that Philip's policy toward Greece was an end in itself. Once his Balkan borders had been secured his general course seems to have been directed toward the establishment of stability in Greece, NOT CONQUEST. ""
page 230
"Macedonia Redux", Chapter 16, The Eye Expanded: Life and the Arts in Greco-Roman Antiquity, Frances B. Titchener and Richard F. Moorton, Jr., editors
""During medieval and modem times, Macedonia was known as a Balkan region inhabited by ethnic Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs, Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, and Turks. ""
""The emergence of a Macedonian nationality is an offshoot of the joint Macedonian and Bulgarian struggle against Hellenization. With the establishment of an independent Bulgarian state and church in the 1870s, however, the conflict took a new turn. Until this time the distinction between "Macedonian" and "Bulgarian" hardly existed beyond the dialect differences between standard "eastern" Bulgarian and that spoken in the region of Macedonia.""
""Modern Slavs, both Bulgarians and Macedonians, cannot establish a link with antiquity, as the Slavs entered the Balkans centuries after the demise of the ancient Macedonian kingdom. Only the most radical Slavic factions—mostly émi-grés in the United States, Canada, and Australia—even attempt to establish a connection to antiquity. """
""...the Macedonians are a newly emergent people in search of a past to help legitimize their precarious present as they attempt to establish their singular identity in a Slavic world dominated historically by Serbs and Bulgarians. """
""The twentieth-century development of a Macedonian ethnicity, and its recent evolution into independent statehood following the collapse of the Yugoslav state in 1991, has followed a rocky road. In order to survive the vicissitudes of Balkan history and politics, the Macedonians, who have had no history, need one. They reside in a territory once part of a famous ancient kingdom, which has borne the Macedonian name as a region ever since and was called ''Macedonia'' for nearly half a century as part of Yugoslavia. And they speak a language now recognized by most linguists outside Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece as a south Slavic language separate from Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian. Their own so-called Macedonian ethnicity had evolved for more than a century, and thus it seemed natural and appropriate for them to call the new nation "Macedonia" and to attempt to provide some cultural references to bolster ethnic survival. ""
""It is difficult to know whether an independent Macedonian state would have come into existence had Tito not recognized and supported the development of Macedonian ethnicity as part of his ethnically organized Yugoslavia. He did this as a counter to Bulgaria, which for centuries had a historical claim on the area as far west as Lake Ohrid and the present border of Albania.""
"This larger Macedon included lands from the crest of the Pindus range to the plain of Philippi and the Nestos River. Its northern border lay along a line formed by Pelagonia, the middle Axios valley and the western Rhodopi massif. Its southern border was the Haliac- mon basin, the Olympus range and the Aegean, with the Chalcidic peninsula as peripheral... We thus have a conception of Macedonia both more and less extensive than Hammonds's -less in that IT REDUCES EMPHASIS ON THE north western LANDS that lie today WITHIN THE YUGOSLAV STATE, but more in that it takes into greater account the territory east of the Axios. It is a definition BASED on the political DEVELOPMENT of the MACEDONIAN STATE OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME,..."
page 29-31
The macedonians themselves may have originated from the same population pool that produced other Greek peoples
page 84
"There is NO reason to deny the Macedonians' own tradition about their early kings and the migrations of the Makedones. "
page 84
"The basic story as provided by Herodotus and Thucydides minus the interpolation of the Temenid connection, UNDOUBTEDLY reflects the Macedonians' own traditions about their early history "
page 84
""Their daughter, who would be the half-sister of Alexander the Great and, later the wife of Cassander, was appropriately named Thessalonike, to commemorate Philip's victory in Thessaly. In 315 Cassander founded at or near the site of ancient Therme the great city that still bears her name. ""
page 220
""It is difficult to imagine that Philip's policy toward Greece was an end in itself. Once his Balkan borders had been secured his general course seems to have been directed toward the establishment of stability in Greece, NOT CONQUEST. ""
page 230
"Macedonia Redux", Chapter 16, The Eye Expanded: Life and the Arts in Greco-Roman Antiquity, Frances B. Titchener and Richard F. Moorton, Jr., editors
""During medieval and modem times, Macedonia was known as a Balkan region inhabited by ethnic Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs, Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, and Turks. ""
""The emergence of a Macedonian nationality is an offshoot of the joint Macedonian and Bulgarian struggle against Hellenization. With the establishment of an independent Bulgarian state and church in the 1870s, however, the conflict took a new turn. Until this time the distinction between "Macedonian" and "Bulgarian" hardly existed beyond the dialect differences between standard "eastern" Bulgarian and that spoken in the region of Macedonia.""
""Modern Slavs, both Bulgarians and Macedonians, cannot establish a link with antiquity, as the Slavs entered the Balkans centuries after the demise of the ancient Macedonian kingdom. Only the most radical Slavic factions—mostly émi-grés in the United States, Canada, and Australia—even attempt to establish a connection to antiquity. """
""...the Macedonians are a newly emergent people in search of a past to help legitimize their precarious present as they attempt to establish their singular identity in a Slavic world dominated historically by Serbs and Bulgarians. """
""The twentieth-century development of a Macedonian ethnicity, and its recent evolution into independent statehood following the collapse of the Yugoslav state in 1991, has followed a rocky road. In order to survive the vicissitudes of Balkan history and politics, the Macedonians, who have had no history, need one. They reside in a territory once part of a famous ancient kingdom, which has borne the Macedonian name as a region ever since and was called ''Macedonia'' for nearly half a century as part of Yugoslavia. And they speak a language now recognized by most linguists outside Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece as a south Slavic language separate from Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian. Their own so-called Macedonian ethnicity had evolved for more than a century, and thus it seemed natural and appropriate for them to call the new nation "Macedonia" and to attempt to provide some cultural references to bolster ethnic survival. ""
""It is difficult to know whether an independent Macedonian state would have come into existence had Tito not recognized and supported the development of Macedonian ethnicity as part of his ethnically organized Yugoslavia. He did this as a counter to Bulgaria, which for centuries had a historical claim on the area as far west as Lake Ohrid and the present border of Albania.""
Friday, December 01, 2006
Caranos and Pheidonas
In 500 BC, flush with his country’s new-found wealth and importance, the young Makedonian prince Alexander I had presented himself at the Olympic Games as a contestant in the men’s foot race. His Greek competitors had tried to have him excluded on the grounds that as a Makedonian he was a non-Greek and therefore ineligible under the rules to enter any panhellenic contest. Alexander, however, proved to the satisfaction of the games’ marshals that he was of Argive descent and he was accordingly accepted by them as a bona fide competitor. In the race itself he came in equal first (Herodotus 5.22), making one suspect that the original protest by his rivals may well have a claim to be regarded as one of the earliest recorded examples of those ‘dirty tricks’ which so beset modern sport.
What Alexander had been able to demonstrate was something which, if not unique in Greek history, must nevertheless be regarded as extremely unusual. He was an Argive Greek ruling over a Kingdom. His descent, he claimed, could be traced back to Temenus, a legendary king of Argos who was himself a descendant of Heracles, the son of Zeus. Herodotus (8.137-8) tells a charming folktale of how three brothers of that line, who had been exiled from Argos, had ended up in Lebaea in Upper Makedonia. Herodotus recited the Macedonian pedigree as it was known to him: Perdiccas -- Argaios -- Philippos -- Aeropos -- Alcetas -Amyntas -- Alexander. The alleged Argive connection began with Perdiccas:who obtained the royal power in Macedon as I shall show. Three brothers of the lineage of Temenos, Gouanes, Aeropos and Perdiccas were banished from Argos to Illyria; they crossed into Macedonia and took service as bondsmen with the king for an agreed wage.The story goes on as a fairy-tale, with the deception of the brothers by the wicked king and their magical deliverance by the youngest, who received with open arms the sunbeam offered to them by the king. A later enlargement of the pedigree is more plausible as a narrative but no more credible as history. Perdiccas is there fourth in descent from Caranos(Κάρανος), a reputed brother of Pheidon (Φείδων) of Argos, of whom Georgius Syncellus reports: He raised a force from his brother ( Pheidon) and the whole of Peloponnese, with which he made an expedition against the regions above Macedonia and took half the country.
Who was the Pheidon of Argos ?
Argive tyrant (or king) Pheidon, was a central figure of early Greek history according to the ancients, has long been one of the most disputed questions in the history of Archaic Greece. The reason is obvious – even in antiquity there was no agreement on this point. According to Herodotos, Pheidon’s son Leokedes was among the suitors of Agariste, the daughter of the Sikyonian tyrant Kleisthenes.Since the wedding must be dated to the 570s BC, this suggests that Pheidon must have livedroughly at the end of the seventh and the beginning of the sixth centuries BC. But allthe authors who wrote after Herodotos dated him much earlier.They do, however,make contradictory statements. According to Ephoros, Pheidon was the 10th descendant of Temenos, the Herakleid founder of Dorian Argos. Argive tyrant (or king) Pheidon, was a central figure of early Greek history according to the ancients, has long been one of the most disputed questions in the history of Archaic Greece. The reason is obvious – even in antiquity there was no agreement on this point. According to Herodotos, Pheidon’s son Leokedes was among the suitors of Agariste, the daughter of the Sikyonian tyrant Kleisthenes. Since the wedding must be dated to the 570s BC, this suggests that Pheidon must have livedroughly at the end of the seventh and the beginning of the sixth centuries BC. But allthe authors who wrote after Herodotos dated him much earlier. They do, however,make contradictory statements. According to Ephoros, Pheidon was the 10th descendant of Temenos, the Herakleid founder of Dorian Argos. Since Ephoros dated the invasion of the Herakleids to 1069 BC, counting inclusively6 and probably equating three generations to a century, the 10th generation from Temenos should have fallen somewhere in the eighth century BC, presumably in the years ca. 769– 736 BC. Ephoros’ younger contemporary,Theopompos, on the other hand, regarded Pheidon as Temenos’ 6th descendant (inclusively), which would lead roughly to the first third of the ninth century BC. Of the later sources, Marmor Parium, considering Pheidon to be the 11th descendant of Herakles (which means that he must have been the 7th descendant of Temenos) and dating him to 895 BC, was fairly close to Theopompos’ point of view, while Pausanias, dating Pheidon’s intervention and agonothesia at Olympia to Ol.8 (748 BC), conforms to Ephoros’ opinion. But we have two other datings which do not at first sight accord with any of the previous statements: the chronicle of Eusebios introduces Pheidon at Abr. 1220, that is, 797 BC, while Isidorus of Sevilla dated him to the time of the first Olympic games in 776 BC. As I said according to Ephoros, Pheidon was the 10th descendant of Temenos, and so presumably active in the years ca. 769–736 BC, while Pausanias dated his agonothesia at Olympia to Ol.8. (748 BC). These statements obviously agree with each other.
Also this chronology synchronisation can be demonstrated in other ways as well.
VelleiusPaterculus explicitly synchronised three epochal events of world history:
(1) the destruction of Assyria by the Medes and the beginning of the Median hegemony in Asia, (2) the foundation of the Argead dynasty in Macedonia by Karanos, and
(3) Lykourgan legislation in SpartaAll these cases demonstrate that the synchronisation of Pheidon (and Karanos) with Lykourgan legislation was a basic assumption of the ancient chronographers. The synchronisation was dated in two basically different ways.
Proceeding from the standard Lykourgan genealogy, it led to the 6th and 7th generations from Temenos. In this way Theopompos and the Parian chronicler achieved their datings.Except of course the ancient writers in recent decades,, archaeologists (Andronikos, Hammond) have revealed the remains of the early Macedonian capital of Aegae and the adjacent royal cemetery, the important sanctuary of Zeus at Dion, and an Archaic Age cemetery rich in spectacular gold jewelry at Sindos. The combination of literary and archaeological sources has made it possible for historians to reconstruct the history of Makedonia in greater detail than ever before.
Sources
Herodotus, Histories
Georgios Sykellos, Chronograpies
Diodoros Sikeliotis
E.J. Forsdyke, Greece Befor Homer
Mait Koiv,The Dating Of Pheidon in Antiquity
Ancient Greece, Oxford University Press
Ancient Greece, Cambringe University Press
Hammond, History of Macedonia
What Alexander had been able to demonstrate was something which, if not unique in Greek history, must nevertheless be regarded as extremely unusual. He was an Argive Greek ruling over a Kingdom. His descent, he claimed, could be traced back to Temenus, a legendary king of Argos who was himself a descendant of Heracles, the son of Zeus. Herodotus (8.137-8) tells a charming folktale of how three brothers of that line, who had been exiled from Argos, had ended up in Lebaea in Upper Makedonia. Herodotus recited the Macedonian pedigree as it was known to him: Perdiccas -- Argaios -- Philippos -- Aeropos -- Alcetas -Amyntas -- Alexander. The alleged Argive connection began with Perdiccas:who obtained the royal power in Macedon as I shall show. Three brothers of the lineage of Temenos, Gouanes, Aeropos and Perdiccas were banished from Argos to Illyria; they crossed into Macedonia and took service as bondsmen with the king for an agreed wage.The story goes on as a fairy-tale, with the deception of the brothers by the wicked king and their magical deliverance by the youngest, who received with open arms the sunbeam offered to them by the king. A later enlargement of the pedigree is more plausible as a narrative but no more credible as history. Perdiccas is there fourth in descent from Caranos(Κάρανος), a reputed brother of Pheidon (Φείδων) of Argos, of whom Georgius Syncellus reports: He raised a force from his brother ( Pheidon) and the whole of Peloponnese, with which he made an expedition against the regions above Macedonia and took half the country.
Who was the Pheidon of Argos ?
Argive tyrant (or king) Pheidon, was a central figure of early Greek history according to the ancients, has long been one of the most disputed questions in the history of Archaic Greece. The reason is obvious – even in antiquity there was no agreement on this point. According to Herodotos, Pheidon’s son Leokedes was among the suitors of Agariste, the daughter of the Sikyonian tyrant Kleisthenes.Since the wedding must be dated to the 570s BC, this suggests that Pheidon must have livedroughly at the end of the seventh and the beginning of the sixth centuries BC. But allthe authors who wrote after Herodotos dated him much earlier.They do, however,make contradictory statements. According to Ephoros, Pheidon was the 10th descendant of Temenos, the Herakleid founder of Dorian Argos. Argive tyrant (or king) Pheidon, was a central figure of early Greek history according to the ancients, has long been one of the most disputed questions in the history of Archaic Greece. The reason is obvious – even in antiquity there was no agreement on this point. According to Herodotos, Pheidon’s son Leokedes was among the suitors of Agariste, the daughter of the Sikyonian tyrant Kleisthenes. Since the wedding must be dated to the 570s BC, this suggests that Pheidon must have livedroughly at the end of the seventh and the beginning of the sixth centuries BC. But allthe authors who wrote after Herodotos dated him much earlier. They do, however,make contradictory statements. According to Ephoros, Pheidon was the 10th descendant of Temenos, the Herakleid founder of Dorian Argos. Since Ephoros dated the invasion of the Herakleids to 1069 BC, counting inclusively6 and probably equating three generations to a century, the 10th generation from Temenos should have fallen somewhere in the eighth century BC, presumably in the years ca. 769– 736 BC. Ephoros’ younger contemporary,Theopompos, on the other hand, regarded Pheidon as Temenos’ 6th descendant (inclusively), which would lead roughly to the first third of the ninth century BC. Of the later sources, Marmor Parium, considering Pheidon to be the 11th descendant of Herakles (which means that he must have been the 7th descendant of Temenos) and dating him to 895 BC, was fairly close to Theopompos’ point of view, while Pausanias, dating Pheidon’s intervention and agonothesia at Olympia to Ol.8 (748 BC), conforms to Ephoros’ opinion. But we have two other datings which do not at first sight accord with any of the previous statements: the chronicle of Eusebios introduces Pheidon at Abr. 1220, that is, 797 BC, while Isidorus of Sevilla dated him to the time of the first Olympic games in 776 BC. As I said according to Ephoros, Pheidon was the 10th descendant of Temenos, and so presumably active in the years ca. 769–736 BC, while Pausanias dated his agonothesia at Olympia to Ol.8. (748 BC). These statements obviously agree with each other.
Also this chronology synchronisation can be demonstrated in other ways as well.
VelleiusPaterculus explicitly synchronised three epochal events of world history:
(1) the destruction of Assyria by the Medes and the beginning of the Median hegemony in Asia, (2) the foundation of the Argead dynasty in Macedonia by Karanos, and
(3) Lykourgan legislation in SpartaAll these cases demonstrate that the synchronisation of Pheidon (and Karanos) with Lykourgan legislation was a basic assumption of the ancient chronographers. The synchronisation was dated in two basically different ways.
Proceeding from the standard Lykourgan genealogy, it led to the 6th and 7th generations from Temenos. In this way Theopompos and the Parian chronicler achieved their datings.Except of course the ancient writers in recent decades,, archaeologists (Andronikos, Hammond) have revealed the remains of the early Macedonian capital of Aegae and the adjacent royal cemetery, the important sanctuary of Zeus at Dion, and an Archaic Age cemetery rich in spectacular gold jewelry at Sindos. The combination of literary and archaeological sources has made it possible for historians to reconstruct the history of Makedonia in greater detail than ever before.
Sources
Herodotus, Histories
Georgios Sykellos, Chronograpies
Diodoros Sikeliotis
E.J. Forsdyke, Greece Befor Homer
Mait Koiv,The Dating Of Pheidon in Antiquity
Ancient Greece, Oxford University Press
Ancient Greece, Cambringe University Press
Hammond, History of Macedonia
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