Macedonian Legacies

The people of Alexander the Great, the Ancient Macedonians, had a profound and lasting impact on world history. Macedonian Legacies, dedicated to one of the foremost experts in the field, Eugene N, Borza, traces many of the important cultural and historical contributions of Alexander's people. In 13 essays, field experts offer new research on such topics as war on land and sea, sport and athletics, empire and rule, and cultural reception In some cases, the balance shifts more towards the 'literary' and in others more towards the 'historical', but what all of the essays have in common is a critical attention to the contribution of Macedon on the world of the ancient Mediterranean.

The most comprehensive and up-to-date work available on ancient Macedonian history and material culture, A Companion to Ancient Macedonia is an invaluable reference for students and scholars alike. Features new, specially commissioned essays by leading and up-and-coming scholars in the field Examines the political, military, social, economic, and cultural history of ancient Macedonia from the Archaic period to the end of Roman period and beyond Discusses the importance of art, archaeology and architecture All ancient sources are translated in English Each chapter includes bibliographical essays for further reading

“[A] splendid and scholarly work . . . an essential guide for all serious students of military history and warfare in the age of Alexander.”—Professor Waldemar Heckel, University of Calgary The army that emerged from the reforms of Philip II of Macedon proved to be one of the most successful in the whole of the ancient period. Much has been written on aspects of Macedonian warfare, particularly the generalship of its most famous proponent, Alexander the Great, yet many studies retread the same paths and draw conclusion on the same narrow evidential base, while leaving important aspects and sources of information untouched. David Karunanithy concentrates on filling the gaps in existing studies, presenting and studying evidence frequently overlooked or ignored. The book is divided into four sections, each presenting a wealth of detail on various aspects: Preparation (including chapters on training techniques, various aspects of arms and armor production and supply and the provision and management of cavalry mounts); Support (eg noncombatant specialists, bridge building, field engineering, construction of field camps and little-known combat units in Asia); Dress and Battle Equipment (drawing on much neglected evidence and including such details as officers’ plumes, wreaths and finger rings); Alexander’s Veterans and Life on Campaign (the Silver Shields; baggage trains and personal kit, servants and families, camp life and recreation). “Karunanithy’s achievement is to draw together all the available evidence—artistic, numeristic, archaeological and literary—producing a thoroughly readable and coherent work . . . it should be a mandatory acquisition for anyone with an interest in the history of ancient Macedonia and its military.”—Ancient Warfare

This is a rich yet succinct account of an underexplored story: the consequences of the Great War for the region which ignited it. It offers a fascinating tapestry: the collapse of Empires, the birth of Turkey and Yugoslavia, Greece as both victor and loser, Bulgaria's humiliating defeat; bitter memories, forced migrations, territorial implications and collective national amnesias. The legacies live on. The contributions in this volume significantly enhance the debate about how the Great War is remembered in South East Europe, and why it still evokes such strong emotions and reactions, more than a century after its beginnings.

Recent scholars have analysed ways in which authors of the Roman era appropriated the figure of Alexander the Great. The essays in this collection cast a wider net, to show how Classical Greek, Hellenistic and Roman authors reinterpret and sometimes misinterpret information on ancient Macedonians to serve their own literary and political aims. Although Roman ideas pervade the historiographical tradition, this volume shows that the manipulation of ancient Macedonian history largely occurred much earlier. It reflected the complicated dynastic politics of the Argead royal house, the efforts of Alexander himself to redefine Macedonian kingship, and the competing strategies of the Successors to claim his legacy. Facing the complexity of the source tradition about the ancient Macedonians yields a richer and more balanced reflection of both the history and the historiography of this important and controversial people.

In this study of Macedonian Slavs in the Greek Civil War, the author examines how their participation in the conflict, and the attempts by other groups to manipulate them, gave rise to modern issues that continue to affect politics in the region today. The Macedonian Question has confounded academics, politicians and the people of the Balkans since the nineteenth century. While the countries have resolved the territorial component of the Macedonian Question, the critical and confusing question surrounding the ethnic and linguistic identity of the people of the region continues to be the source of international debate. Part of the reason for this confusion is because the history of the Macedonian Question is shrouded in nationalist polemics. The role of the Macedonian Slavs involvement in the Greek Civil War is particularly contentious and embedded in nationalist polemics, which has impacted academic inquiry. This book argues that the preponderance of Macedonian Slavs within the communist forces during the Greek Civil War influenced the actions of all the major actors involved, and is a significant factor in shaping the modern Macedonian national identity.

Nearly two centuries have passed since K. O. Müller published the first "scientific" study "on the habitat, the origin and the early history of the Macedonian people". An ever growing number of publications appearing each year has rendered urgent a critical appraisal of this exuberant production, the more so that many aspects of ancient Macedonia remain controversial, if not problematic. Yet after seventy years of large-scale systematic excavations the activity of Greek archaeologists, as well as the labour of scholars from all over the world, have revealed a heretofore terra incognita and given a consistency to the people that Alexander led to the end of the known world. Now more than ever before we can tackle the "main problems" that have been contested without conclusion: Where exactly was Macedonia? Which were its limits? Where did the Macedonians come from? What language did they speak? What cults did they practice? Did they believe in an afterlife? What political and social institutions did they have? What was Alexander's role in his father's death? What were his aims? To what extent can we trust ancient historians? Alexander failed to provide a stable successor to the Achaemenid multiethnic empire, and the sands of Egypt have effaced even the traces of his last abode, yet if he returned to life, he could still boast in the words of Cavafy, a modern Alexandrian in every sense, “a new Hellenic world, a great one, came to be ... with the extended dominions, with the various attempts at judicious adaptations. And the Greek koine language all the way to outer Bactria we carried it, to the peoples of India”.