A History Of Macedonia

In this single-volume history, R. Malcolm Errington provides a modern account of the political and social framework of ancient Macedon. He places particular emphasis on the structure of the Macedonian state and its functioning in different stages of historical development from the sixth to the second century B.C. Errington's main emphasis is not on the biographies of the great kings but rather on the flexible political interplay between king, nobility, and people; on the growth of cities and their political function within the state; and on the development of the army as a motor of military, social, and politicalchange.

Throughout history, every power that has aspired to dominate the Balkans, a crucial crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa, has sought to control Macedonia. But although Macedonia has figured prominently in history, its name was largely absent from the historical stage, representing only a disputed territory of indeterminate boundaries, until the nineteenth century. Successive invaders— Roman, Gothic, Hun, Slav, Ottoman— passed through or subjugated the area and incorporated it into their respective dynastic or territorial empires. This detailed volume surveys the history of Macedonia from 600 BC to the present day, with an emphasis on the past two centuries. It reveals how the "Macedonian question" has long dominated Balkan politics and how, for nearly two centuries, it was the central issue dividing Balkan peoples, as neighboring nations struggled for possession of Macedonia and denied any distinct Macedonian identity— territorial, political, ethnic, or national. The author concludes that Balkan acceptance of a Macedonian identity, nation, and state has become a necessity for stability in the Balkans and in a united Europe.

These two volumes cover the entire period of Macedonia’s written history. Volume 1 moves from the Temenid kingdom in the Fifth Century BC, through Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian rule, to the overthrow of Christian rule by the Ottoman Turks. Many of the highlights in ancient Macedonian history were created by King Philip II and his son Alexander, and by the struggles of the Antigonid regime to withstand the ambitions of the Romans. High points in the Byzantine rule were achieved under Emperor Justinian in the 6th Century, and again under Basil II in the 11th. Geography made Macedonia a transit territory for the Crusades, but their passage was marked nevertheless by wanton brutality. By the beginning of the 13th Century, Byzantine power had passed its apogee, and it suffered the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade. The ensuing establishment of the Latin Empire exposed Macedonia to repeated rounds of devastation by Latin, Bulgarian and Greek warlords. Despite the recovery of Constantinople by Michael Palaeologus, the much-weakened Byzantine Empire could no longer withstand its foes. Despite the transient displacement of Greek power by Serbian rule, Macedonia was destined to succumb to the Ottomans. The emphasis in Volume 1 is weighted geographically towards Aegean Macedonia – northwestern Greece – where the ancient kingdom was rooted. Vardar Macedonia – the lands that now comprise the Macedonian Republic – only emerged as a civilised historical entity during the Middle Ages. This voyage through history not only documents the Macedonian past, but also discovers its cultural heritage. This includes the mosaics and sculptures of the Alexandrine era, and its Christian churches, for Christianity left its indelible mark on Macedonian civilisation. The book follows the emergence of early Christianity from the time of St. Paul, but gives emphasis to the artistic culture of late antiquity. A further chapter is devoted to Orthodox mysticism and its fourteenth century role in the creation of the secret churches in the lakes of Ohrid and Prespa. Another charts the strange history of Athos, Macedonia’s Holy Mountain peninsula, in its formative period.

The history of Macedonia--the most remarkable of all monarchic states--is here presented from the death of Philip II through the state's loss of independence in 167 B.C. Recent discoveries about Macedonian arts and institutions have aided the authors in recounting the impact of Alexander's career, the civil war between the generals, and the final phase of Macedonian history, the wars with Rome.

An introduction to one of the significant peoples of the Balkan peninsula, this book presents the achievements and problems of the Macedonians from ancient times to the present. Most Macedonians today live in Yugoslavia, where they comprise one of the five major national groups and dominate one of the six federated Republics, but a sizable number reside in Bulgaria and Greece. The introductory chapter outlines the complex geography, ethnography, and ancient history of the Balkans. The mysterious Macedonians of the Classical Period vanished with Philip and Alexander, to be replaced in the 6th and 7th centuries AD by a Slavic people who came from the Russo-Polish-Ukranian plains in the Great Migration to the Byzantine empire. The Macedonians adopted Eastern Orthodoxy, and their language, written in Cyrillic script, became one of three principal languages of Yugoslavia. The Macedonians have preserved a rich cultural identity through thirteen centuries of political turmoil and partition. Macedonia--including the Greek and Bulgarian parts--has distinctive customs, folklore, art, and architecture.

Based on the three-volume history of Macedonia by Hammmond, Griffith, and Walbank, this one-volume history looks in particular at the nature of the Macedonian State and its institutions.