Ancient Macedonian Ethnic Identity
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Ancient Macedonian Ethnic Identity A Study with Emphasis on the Literary Sources From the 5th c. B.C. to the 2nd c. A.D. by Alexander Harmantas A thesis submitted to the Department of Classics in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada August, 2017 Copyright © Alexander Harmantas, 2017 Abstract The ethnic identity of the ancient Macedonians continues to be the most debated subject within Macedonian historiography. The debate has fixated on a simple question: were the Macedonians Greeks, or a separate ethnic group? Rather than attempting to trace the exact origins of the Macedonians – an exceedingly difficult task in dealing with any ancient people – this thesis will focus on the ethnic presentation of the Macedonians: how do the ancient literary sources identify the Macedonians? How did the Macedonians identify themselves? What factors shaped the Greeks’ perspectives towards the Macedonian kings and their people? How much can we reasonably infer about the Macedonians’ ethnic self-perception and identification in the absence of their own literary testimony? This thesis will seek to answer these essential questions by providing a comprehensive analysis of the relevant ancient literary sources dating from the th nd mid-late 5 c. B.C. to the early 2 c. A.D., devoting careful attention to all of those passages which particularly relate to the subject of Macedonian ethnic identity. It will be demonstrated that the first established ruling dynasty of Macedon, the Argeads, may be considered Greek according to both modern and ancient Greek criteria for ethnicity; they held a conscious identity as Greeks and were accepted as such at a fairly early point by the intellectual and literary elite of southern Greece. Regarding the wider Macedonian populace, however, more direct evidence is required for us to readily ascertain their sense of ethnic identity. While an ethnocultural merging of Greeks and Macedonians does appear in literature by a later point in antiquity, the Greeks of the Classical period were consistent in designating the Macedonian people as ‘barbarians.’ Although further literary evidence (especially in the form of an average Macedonian communicating their sense of ethnic self-perception) is needed before any definitive conclusions can be drawn, we may perhaps best understand the Greeks and Macedonians as ethnically i related yet distinct groups, gradually placed in close ethnocultural alignment by Greek writers only in the centuries following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Near East. ii Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Anne Foley for her insight, careful attention to detail, and constant encouragement, all of which were invaluable to the completion of this study. Our lengthy discussions over our shared passion for Greece and Classical studies were undoubtedly amongst the highlights of my time at Queen’s. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the remainder of the Department of Classics for having provided me with an excellent environment in which to engage in my work. iii Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ......................................................................................................... vi List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................. vii Chapter I) Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 The Ancient Sources: Problems and Limitations .................................................... 3 Modern Sources for Ancient Macedon .................................................................... 9 The Importance of Ethnic Self-Identification: a Personal Anecdote ..................... 12 Chapter II) Early Macedonia: A General Overview ........................................ 15 Basic Geography ................................................................................................... 16 Macedonia at the End of the Bronze Age .............................................................. 17 Dark Age Evidence for the Origin of the Ancient Macedonians .......................... 19 The Emergence of the Macedonians in the Literary Sources ................................ 21 Chapter III) Macedonian Culture ..................................................................... 26 Macedonian Pastoralism ........................................................................................ 27 Cultural Parallels: Macedon and Epirus ................................................................ 28 The ‘Macedonian Tomb’ ....................................................................................... 31 Macedonians vs. Thracians and Illyrians .............................................................. 33 Political Organization: the Macedonian Monarchy and Other Institutions ........... 34 Macedonian Religion ............................................................................................. 38 Macedonian Culture: 4th c. ‘Atticization’ and General Conclusions .................... 40 Chapter IV) Macedonian Ethnic Identity, Part I: The Argeads ..................... 47 Defining Ethnicity ................................................................................................. 48 Ethnic Identification of the Macedonian Royal Family: the Argive Connection .. 50 Archelaus I: the first ‘Barbarian’ King .................................................................. 54 Attitudes towards Philip II: Demosthenes and Isocrates ....................................... 56 Chapter V) Macedonian Ethnic Identity, Part II: The People ........................ 62 The Greeks’ Views on the Relationship between the Argeads and the Macedonian Populace ................................................................................................................ 63 The Macedonians’ Ethnic Identity in the Late Classical Period ........................... 65 Cultural Alignment of the Greeks and Macedonians in the Alexander Historians 66 The Merging of Greek and Macedonian Identity in the Hellenistic Period and Late Antiquity ................................................................................................................ 69 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 70 iv Chapter VI) Ancient Macedonian Speech: Literary and Epigraphic Evidence ............................................................................................................................... 72 ‘Macedonian’: Language or Dialect? .................................................................... 72 The Pella Curse Tablet .......................................................................................... 73 Epigraphic Discoveries at Vergina and Macedonian Toponyms .......................... 75 Literary Evidence for Ancient Macedonian Speech .............................................. 78 ................................................................................................................................... Other Evidence and General Conclusions on ‘Macedonian’ ................................ 81 Chapter VII) Conclusion .................................................................................... 87 Alexander the Great’s Panhellenism and Ethnic Self-Perception ......................... 91 Alleged Instances of Alexander drawing an Ethnic Distinction between Greeks and Macedonians .......................................................................................................... 96 Final Remarks: the Legacy of the Ancient Macedonians ...................................... 99 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 105 Primary Sources ................................................................................................... 105 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................... 106 v List of Figures Fig. 1: Map of mainland Greece (Roisman and Worthington 2010: xx) Fig. 2: Map showing the constituent territories of ancient Macedon (Hatzopoulos 1996: 557) Fig. 3: The gradual expansion of the Macedonian kingdom (Roisman and Worthington 2010: xxi) Fig. 4: ‘Family tree’ of the Argead Dynasty (Borza 1990: 1) Fig. 5: Façade of king Philip II’s tomb, Vergina (Andronikos 1984: 101) Fig. 6: Layout of Philip’s tomb (Andronikos 1984: 98) Fig. 7: Interior of Thracian tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria, 3rd c. B.C. (retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/359/gallery/: 8 Jan. 2017) Fig. 8: Façade of ‘Rhomaios tomb’ at Vergina (reconstruction), dated to first half of 3rd c. B.C (Andronikos 1984: 33) Fig. 9: Fresco of Macedonian soldiers from tomb at Agios Athanasios near Thessaloniki, dated to last quarter of 4th c. B.C. (retrieved from: https://hellinon.net/2016/11/16/η-ελληνική-ασπίδα-την-εποχή-των-μακεδό/ 8 Jan. 2017) Fig. 10: Detail of artwork in Thracian tomb of Kazanlak, late 4th c. B.C. (retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/44/gallery 8 Jan. 2017) th Fig.