The Myths of the Temenids

Home , Archelaus (Heraclid), Choerilus of Samos, Temenus, Temenus (mythology), Timotheus of Miletus

Πάπυροι - Επιστημονικό Περιοδικό τόμος 8, 2019

Papyri - Scientific Journal volume 8, 2019

The myths of the Temenids

VASILEIOS CHRIMATOPOULOS, Historian-Archaeologist, International Hellenic University E-mail: [email protected]

Θεσσαλονίκη 2019 – Thessaloniki 2019 ISSN:2241-5106

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Πάπυροι - Επιστημονικό Περιοδικό Papyri - Scientific Journal τόμος 8, 2019 volume 8, 2019 www.academy.edu.gr [email protected] The myths of the Temenids

The myths of the Temenids

VASILEIOS CHRIMATOPOULOS, Historian-archaeologist, International Hellenic University

Περίληψη Ο μύθος αποτελεί ένα λαογραφικό (προφορικό η γραπτό) μέρος του «λόγου», που αποτε- λείται από αφηγήσεις ή ιστορίες που διαδραματίζουν θεμελιώδη ρόλο ένα κοινωνικό σύνολο. Θα μπορούσε επίσης να χαρακτηρισθεί ως μια παραδοσιακή ή θρυλική ιστορία, που συνήθως αφορά κάποια ύπαρξη, έναν ήρωα, κάποιο γεγονός, με ή χωρίς φυσική εξήγηση. Ένας μύθος αποτελεί ένα από τα βασικά χαρακτηριστικά μιας κοινωνία και χαρακτηρίζει-αντιπροσωπεύει τον τρόπο με τον οποίο αντιλαμβάνονται τον κόσμο γύρω της και πως οι άνθρωποι που ανήκουν σε αυτή, αναπροσδιορίζονται. Ξεκινώντας με τον προσδιορισμό αυτό, στο παρόν πόνημα θα εξεταστούν τα πρώτα ιστο- ρικά στοιχεία τα οποία σχετίζονται με την Μυθολογία των ελλήνων Μακεδόνων, κυρίως από τον Ηρόδοτο και τον Θουκυδίδη. Σύντομη αναφορά βέβαια θα γίνει και σε άλλα ιστορικά στοιχεία και πρωτογενείς πηγές, οι οποίες φανερώνουν στοιχεία σχετικά με το πώς φυλετικά προσδιορίζο- νταν οι αρχαίοι Μακεδόνες. Να επισημανθεί εδώ ό,τι, οι περισσότεροι αρχαίοι ιστορικοί που έγραψαν για την Μακε- δονία ήταν από την δυτική Ελλάδα και την περιοχή της Αθήνας. Αυτό έχει μια διττή σημασία κα- θώς, όχι μόνο μέσα στα γραπτά τους απεικονίζεται ο τρόπος που οι Μακεδόνες αναπροσδιορίζο- νταν αλλά και ο τρόπος με τον οποίον οι Αθηναίοι τους χαρακτήριζαν, αντιλαμβανόντουσαν και φυλετικά προσδιόριζαν. Επιπλέον, θα συνδεθούν τα στοιχεία αυτά με άλλες πρωτογενής πηγές από την ύστερη περίοδο στην προσπάθεια επαλήθευσης των διαθεσίμων γραπτών πηγών.

Λέξεις κλειδιά: Μύθος, Άργος, Τημενίδες, Ηρόδοτος Θουκυδίδης, Ευριπίδης, Περδίκκας, πρω- τογενής πηγές, Κάρανος, Μακεδονία

Abstract Myth is a folklore (spoken or written) part of the "discourse", consisting of narratives or stories that play a fundamental role in a social whole. It could also be described as a traditional or legendary story, usually involving some existence, a hero, an event with or without a physical ex- planation. A myth is one of the key features of a society and it characterizes - represents how the world around it is perceived and how its people are redefined. Starting with this designation, this paper will examine the first historical elements related to the Mythology of the Greek Macedonians, mainly by Herodotus and Thucydides. A brief reference will, of course, be made to other historical data and primary sources which reveal evidence of how the ancient Macedonians were racially identified themselves. Note here that, most of the ancient historians who wrote about Macedonia were from the western Greece and the region of Athens. This has a twofold meaning as, not only does their writing portray the way the Macedonians defined themselves (as Greeks or not) but also, the way the Athenians perceived them. In addition, these data will be linked to other primary sources from the later period, in an effort to verify and cross-examine the available written sources.

Keywords: Myth, Argos, Temenids, Temenidae, Herodotus, Thucydides, Euripides, Perdiccas, primordial sources, Caranus, Macedonia

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“The country by the sea which is now called Macedonia ... Alexander I, the father of Perdiccas (II), and his forefathers, who were originally Temenidae from Argos1”

Introduction Once, in the Ancient Macedonia, there were three young Kings, sons of the king Temenos who was a descendant of Heracles and the great-grandson of Zeus. Those three youngsters left Peloponnese and the mainland of Greece in search of their destiny. They walked days and nights through the mountains, met various people on their trip and marveled the wonders of nature around them2……………. This could be the very beginning of a well-said story, maybe a bedtime one, to relax the spirits and provide some quality time for a parent with his breed, but it certainly isn’t. It’s an actual myth brought to us by a great ancient writer, characterized by Cicero as the “Father of History”, Herodotus3. But what is a myth? Myth in the ancient times was originally identical with the “logos” and was purely connected with the oral narration. It was a fictional story based on traditions that mostly included Heroes and Heroines. Its character was instructional and in the passage of time it acquired legendary dimensions4. A myth establishes a perception of a story which in most cases is fictional. In many cases, it occupies a coded-hidden image of the past and the human’s perception and comprehension of a specific region, at a certain period, beyond any logical boundaries. Ancient Greeks paid a great tribute to their myths and traditions. The purpose of the myth was to fill in the gaps of the unknown, dark periods of the past and combine them with the historical present. Therefore, it was part of the historical truth, even if excesses could be traced to tradition. According to Buxton: An ancient Greek myth is a narrative for the actions of gods and heroes and their relationships with ordinary mortals, which is transmitted as a tradition in the ancient world and it occupies a collective importance of a particular social group5. A “Mythos” structured the ideological fundamentals of a community, displayed their perception of the world they lived in, record of what was socially acceptable and vice versa, examined the problems and the potential solutions, all of them taking place at a certain period stimuli. The care of the intellectuals was to improve and rationalize the myth on those points that were hard to accept, rather than rejecting it. This method is widely known today as “rationalization”6. Critics of the myths occurred scarlessly in antiquity and can be only met in Homer and Hesiod’s works. For example in “Theogonia” by Hesiod, the Muses are attested as capable of telling lies but also the truth when they wish to.

1 Thuc., 2.99.3 [Loeb, C. F. Smith] 2 Ηρόδοτος 8, p. 137-139, paraphrased. 3 Herodotus was born at Alikarnasos and lived from 484-425 BC, approximately. He was a historian, an excursionist and a geographer. His main work is called Historiai, an archive about the battles between the Greeks and the Persians, enriched with many topological and geographical pieces of information. He was the first one attested as the “Father of History” by Cicero (T. James Luce, The Greek Historians, 2002, p. 26). 4 Μπέγζος, 2000, p. 401. 5 Buxton, 2002, p. 38. 6 The rationalization of myth seems to have been inaugurated by Ekataios by Miletus. He was the first one who associated in his work many of the new features mentioned above.

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Ποιμένες ἄγραυλοι, κάκ' ἐλέγχεα, γαστέρες οἶον, ἴδμεν ψεύδεα πολλὰ λέγειν ἐτύμοισιν ὁμοῖα, ἴδμεν δ' εὖτ' ἐθέλωμεν ἀληθέα γηρύσασθαι.7

The beginnings of the critique date back to the 6th century, with the parallel evolution of the intellectuals during the period 550-450 BC. In a variety of activities of their intellectuals, who are widely known as “Proverbial philosophers”, ancient Greeks began to criticize the perceived worldview and image. The new scientific but also moral civism set by the procura- tors made it difficult to accept traditional theology and myth8. It was no longer possible to accept unconditionally the tradition. It was desirable to examine it, to relate it to up-to-date knowledge, to modify it (if necessary) or even to reject it (given the inadequacy of an explana- tory interpretation of the world). Undoubtedly, there were still many Greeks, whose knowledge was still as limited as those of Hesiod. Those who, however, accepted the influ- ences of new developments, no longer saw mankind under a one-dimensional prism, but as a complex collection of different peoples in terms of appearance (language, etc.)9. Therefore, comparative ethnography was included in the scientific Interests of the first philosophers-scientists, and later it was also the source of inspiration and information that most probably had a great impact on tragedy plays. The purpose of these intellectuals was to give, through their texts, an image of the then-known world, combining the information and the wealth of material they had gained from both personal tours and the detailed descriptions of travelers (mainly seafarers and merchants)10. The results of the observations of the foreign people and the tribes (those travelers came across during their expeditions), gradually formed the Greek thought. From the late 6th to the 5th century onwards, "scientific" historiography embarked with representatives such were Ekataios the Milesian, Herodotus and Thucydides. Their work is characterized by their critical analysis and the personal awareness of the writer. However, it should not be overlooked that in this new context, notwithstanding the improvement of the knowledge provided by the intellectuals to the public, adhesion to the mythological past and traditions had not completely disappeared. In several cases, the invention of new myths can be detected11. Both Herodotus and Thucydides are part of a wider literary tradition, which was particularly receptive to tradition. The reasons for accepting it should be sought in the original essence of the myth and its position in everyday’ s life. But what is the connection between myth and History? Some scholars, mainly of the previous century, believed that if someone takes such story and extract the fictional elements out, what is left is the remains of actual historical facts12. Nowadays, such an approach is not literally acceptable. What is certain though is the fact that some cultural elements of a myth can be examined in order to convey the values, the standards and the political reality of certain social groups in a specific period. Each version of a story should be critically approached

7 Ησιοδος, Θεογονεία, v. 26-8. 8 Legrand, 1985, p. 3-5. 9 Legrand, 1985, p. 7-10. 10 Cherniss, 1992, p. 37.40. 11 Ibis, p. 63-5. 12 Hammond in his work “A History of Macedonia” used the elements of myth’s in order to extract historical conclusions.

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by a scholar concerning its sources, the period it was written, the backgrounds of the author and if possible cross-examined from other possible sources or authors. Per Karakantza: the myth is no more or no less than a purely historical phenomenon which is fully integrated into the grind of a symbolic society, its relations and structures from which it derives under specific historical circumstances and social conditions13. In this essay, taking for granted the aforementioned statement, the Temenid’s and their myth shall be examined via primordial sources.

The Temenid’s myths origin Two different views of the story, concerning the origins of the Macedonian dynasty of the Temenid’s, have been attested. The first one was written from Herodotus and Thucydides in the early 5th century and the second one is attributed to Euripides and other writers in the late 5th and 4th century BC. What is significantly interesting though is the fact that all of them appear to have three common elements in their stories. Those are: 1. The common origin of the Macedonians from the Peloponnesian city of Argos 2. They were all descendants of Heracles 3. The authors of those myths were not Macedonians

Herodotus & Thucydides The oldest story attested and generally accepted by most scholars derives from Herod- otus. According to him: Three brothers of the lineage of Temenus came as banished men from Argos to Illyria, Gauanes and Aeropus and Perdiccas; and from Illyria, they crossed over into the highlands of Macedonia till they came to the town Lebaea. There they served for wages as thetes in the king's household, one tending horses and another oxen. Perdiccas, who was the youngest, tended the lesser flocks. Now the king's wife cooked their food for them, for in old times the ruling houses among men, and not the common people alone, were lacking in wealth. Whenever she baked bread, the loaf of the thete Perdiccas grew double in size. Seeing that this kept happening, she told her husband, and it seemed to him when he heard it that this was a portent signifying some great matter. So he sent for his thetes and bade them depart from his territory. They said it was only just that they should have their wages before they departed. When they spoke of wages, the king was moved to foolishness and said, “That is the wage you merit, and it is that I give you,” pointing to the sunlight that shone down the smoke vent into the house. Gauanes and Aeropus, who were the elder, stood astonished when they heard that, but the boy said, “We accept what you give, O king,” and with that he took a knife which he had with him and drew a line with it on the floor of the house round the sunlight. When he had done this, he three times gathered up the sunlight into the fold of his garment and went his way with his companions. So they departed, but one of those who sat nearby declared to the king what this was that the boy had done and how it was of set purpose that the youngest of them had accepted the gift offered. When the king heard this, he was angered, and sent riders after them to slay them. There is, however, in that land a river, to which the descendants from Argos of these men offer sacrifice as their deliverer. This river, when the sons of Temenus had crossed it, rose in such flood that the riders could not cross. So

13 Karakantza, 2004, p. 183.

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the brothers came to another part of Macedonia and settled near the place called the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance. In this garden, according to the Macedonian story, Silenus was taken captive. Above it rises the mountain called Bermius, which none can ascend for the wintry cold. From there they issued forth when they had won that country and presently subdued also the rest of Macedonia. From that Perdiccas Alexander was descended, being the son of Amyntas, who was the son of Alcetes; Alcetes' father was Aeropus, and his was Philippus; Philippus' father was Argaeus, and his again was Perdiccas, who won that lordship14. According to Hammond, Herodotus had visited Macedonia most probably during the last years of the reign of Alexander I (498-454 π.Χ.)15. During his stay in the region of Macedonia, the historian gathered all the information required concerning the creation of the Macedonian Kingdom. This fact invoked certain scholars, who wrote about the authenticity of the Greek origin of the Macedonians, to doubt Herodotus as a reliable source due to the possibility that he had acquired the Macedonians perception of their origin rather than stating historical facts16. Herodotus reliability has been questioned several times both in antiquity and later scholars (such is Borza and Badian). Plutarch himself wrote an essay “On the Malice of Herodotus” (Περί της Ηροδότου Κακοηθείας17) in which he strongly criticized his work and credibility as a historian. But as Burns suggested, should Plutarch be considered as a credible writer himself? After all, he was Boeotian, originating from the region o Thebes. Herodotus had castigated his region for they had Medized (gone over to the Persian side during the war)18. Personal differences could very well explain why he accused Herodotus as being unreliable etc. There are many examples though that astonish today's scholars about the accuracy of his work, such paradigms are: 1. He correctly records 6 of the 7 names of the Persian conspirators against the Magian usurper, King Gaumata in 522 B.C.19 2. He accurately reports that the Caspian is an inland sea, even though later geographers argued that it was open to the ocean to the north20. 3. He has a quite reasonable understanding of certain aspects of Greek religion associated with Osiris and the funerary cult21. Moreover, certain of his most unbelievable stories, both in antiquity and in modern times, turned out to be proven as real due to the excavation finds by the archaeologists. Such are: 1. The local customs of the Scythians, embalming their deceased in honey 2. The flood of the Nile is partly caused in by the melting snow of the mountains far to the south of Egypt, etc.

14 Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. 15 Hammond, 1979, p. 3. 16 See Borza, E. N., 1982. Athenians, Macedonians and the Origins of the Macedonian Royal House, in Studies in Attic Epigraphy, History and Topography. Presented to Eugene Vanderpool, [Hesperia Suppl. 19], Princeton Uni- versity Press and Badian, E., 1982. Greeks and Macedonians, in B. Barr-Sharrar & E. N. Borza edit. Macedonia and Greece in Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Times. Studies in the History of Art 10, Washington D.C. 17 Πλούταρχος, Ηθικά 854E-874C 18 Burns, 1972, p. 15. 19 Olmstead, 1978, p. 107-8. 20 Burns, 1972, p. 22-3. 21 Avdijev, 1977, p. 185- 89.

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Several scholars question whether Herodotus did visit Macedonia or not. Professor Vasilev documented this fact in his work, “The date of Herodotus’ visit to Macedonia”. Ac- cording to him, Herodotus did visit Macedonia at the very end of Alexander’s I rule (450 BC) and he stayed there until the last days of his life. Though Herodotus recorded everything he had heard, but not witnessed them himself as he claims, it is probable that he “simply nar- rated the stories heard in Macedonia without expressing any emotions of himself”22. As an objective writer he considered himself, he felt the need of making such a statement available to his readers. This possibility attests to Vasilev’ s suggestion that his relation to the Court didn’t necessarily mean that he had become a “herald of Alexander’s propaganda”23. In his work, Herodotus also stated that:

Ἀλεξάνδρου γὰρ ἀεθλεύειν ἑλομένου καὶ καταβάντος ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, οἱ ἀντιθευσόμενοι Ἑλλήνων ἐξεῖργόν μιν, φάμενοι οὐ βαρβάρων ἀγωνιστέων εἶναι τὸν ἀγῶνα ἀλλὰ Ἑλλήνων· Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ἐπειδὴ ἀπέδεξε ὡς εἴη Ἀργεῖος, ἐκρίθη τε εἶναι Ἕλλην καὶ ἀγωνιζόμενος στάδιον συνεξέπιπτε τῷ πρώτῳ24.

In the specific passage, the author clearly states his personal opinion about the Ar- gead origin of the Macedonian court. Thucydides was completely convinced that they were true descendants of Temenos of Argos. After all, his personal contact with Alexander I during his stay at the Macedonians Court doesn’t necessarily mean that “he was enchanted by Alex- ander or that he had any deep sympathy of him”25. Furthermore, the author states himself that “he did not feel obliged to believe anything he was told” by the people of the Court or Alexan- der in person: ἐμοὶ δὲ παρὰ πάντα [τὸν] λόγον ὑπόκειται ὅτι τὰ λεγόμενα ὑπ᾽ ἑκάστων ἀκοῇ γράφω26. ἐγὼ δὲ ὀφείλω λέγειν τὰ λεγόμενα, πείθεσθαί γε μὲν οὐ παντάπασιν ὀφείλω, καί μοι τοῦτο τὸ ἔπος ἐχέτω ἐς πάντα τὸν λόγον· ἐπεὶ καὶ ταῦτα λέγεται27 Therefore, it is safe enough to conclude that what he stated in his work was what he believed himself also and what was commonly accepted by his readers. Otherwise, he would not have jeopardized his reputation as a writer and as a historian. Herodotus provided political and academic education not only to the Greeks of his own period but contemporaries as well. He provided a different aspect of view of the world to the Athenians other than the one they had established and perceived for themselves by providing a wide range of foreign accounts and stories. He achieved a comparative and critical approach to the world surrounding them. As very eloquently Aubrey de Selincourt wrote: He was able to keep before his reader the sense that Greece, the centre of his interest, was still only one country in an immense and diverse world which it was yet to dominate by virtue of certain qualities which that world lacked, above all by that passion for independence and self-deter- mination which was both her glory and her bane; to be aware of the past, not only the imme- diate but the most remote, as a living element in the present; and to find - unlike, in this, most

22 Vasilev, 2016, p. 49. 23 Ibis. 24 Herodotus, Histories, (5.22.1). 25 Ibis. 26 Ηροδος, Ἱστορίαι (2.123.1). 27 Ηροδος, Ἱστορίαι (7.152.3).

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historians writing today - a continuing moral pattern in the vicissitudes of human fortune the world over28.

The facts in Herodotus work about the Macedonians The new land of Macedonia, according to Herodotus was near Pella, at Midas’s gardens. The fine details he provided us with (wild nature, 60 leaf aromatic roses etc.) describe a new, wild land of such beauty, where the newcomers are invoked to acquire and civilize the Phrygians under the Greek customs and cults. The author though does not continue with this mythical description but continues by a series of battles of the Temenid’s to subdue the rest of the land. In his Histories, Herodotus not only wrote that the Macedonians were Greeks but more precisely he stated that their origin was of the Dorian, the same race of the Lacedaemonians, the Corinthians and others. This race which at the Peloponnese was called Dorian, in Pindos and Olympus were the “Makednoi”29. According to him:

For in the days of King Deucalion it (i.e. a Macedonian tribe) inhabited the land of Phthiotis, then in the time of Dorus, son of Hellen, the country called Histiaean, under Ossa and Olympus; driven by the Cadmeians from this Histiaean country it settled about Pindus in the parts called Macedonian; thence again it migrated to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into Peloponnesus, where it took the name of Dorian30.

Other references concerning the Greek origin of the Macedonians can be also found in several other places of Herodotus’s work. They, not all refer to the myth which was brought to him “straight from the Macedonian kingship” but he was also based on earlier oral and written sources. Possible sources for Herodotus derived from Charon of Lampsacus, Dionysius of Miletus, Xanthus (who wrote a history of the kingdom of Lydia), and Hellanicus of Lesbos31. Also, from the oral stories he had heard and of the evidence his own research provided32.

Thucydides Thucydides, the Historian of the Peloponnesian War, seem to have had acquired the Herodotean reference to the origin of the Macedonians. He appears to have been very well informed on Macedonian’s history. It is generally accepted that Thucydides was a historian who extracted all the unnecessary and not proven theories from his sources and concentrated mainly to the historical facts. He wrote that before King Archelaus, eight different kings ruled

28 Selincourt, 1962, p. 23. 29 Strabo in his work Geographica book 7 also reports that the Macedonians were of Greek origin: “Εστίν μεν ουν Ελλάς και η Μακεδονία, νυνί μέντοι τη φύσει των τόπων ακολουθούντες και τω σχήματι χωρίς έγνωμεν από της άλλης Ελλάδος τάξαι και συνάψαι προς όμορον αυτής Θράκης…” (Στράβων Γεωγραφικά, 7). According to Xydo- poulos, Stravo in the specific passage refers to the geographical proximity of the Macedonia to Thessaly, Xydo- poulos, 2006. 30 Herod. 1.56.3, Translated by Godley A. D., Vol. I.: Books 1 and 2. 31 Burns, 1972, p. 24-5. 32 Gschnitzer, 2003, p. 30-34.

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the Macedonians33. This piece of information he referred to, most probably derived from a different historical source, other than Herodotus and confirmed his attestation34. All the new insertions to the myth of the Macedonians origin and the predecessors before Perdiccas do not deviate far from the genealogical lineage of Herodotus. In later sources where, as will be shown, Karanus was considered the establisher of the Temenid’s dynasty. Even though that was the case, the value of the position the king Perdiccas in the dynasty is not diminished by those sources. For example, Diodorus stated that:

“Stands o'er wealthy land a might of kings Of Temenus' right noble line, Of Aegis-bearing Zeus. But swiftly go To Bottiaïs, rich in flocks; and then Where thou shalt see white-horned goats, with fleece Like snow, resting at dawn, make sacrifice Upon the blessed gods upon that spot And raise the chief city of a state.”35.

For Justin, Perdiccas was a very important King who had established the King’s burials at the site of Aigae36. In another case, the Roman historian Julius Solinus describes the importance of the King Perdiccas as: “Primus in Macedonia rex nominatus”37. All those references to Perdiccas by Herodotus and the later historian sources (even though they might refer to Karanus as the founder of the Temenid’s dynasty), not only prove the importance of Perdiccas himself but also the credibility of the story because it has been reconfirmed in several different cases. Questioning on whether Thucydides considered the Macedonians as Greeks or not Prof. Xydopoulos wrote: Thucydides references to the Macedonian people and their country have a clearly circumstantial character38. Several times in his work he referred to the Macedonians in an ambiguous way, Greeks or Barbarians (?). Someone could very easily in- terpret those meanings in his work wrongly. Mr. Xydopoulos stated the following views and what he meant by the reference, “circumstantial character”:

1. Thucydides in his work “didn’t intent to ascribe any negative value to the Macedonians”. His main concern was to create an accurate narrative39. 2. His use of the word diglosson (speaking two languages), should be interpreted as meaning speaking Greek and non-Greek languages40.

33 Θουκ. 2.100.2. «..ο Αρχέλαος του Περδίκκα, όταν έγινε βασιλεύς, έχτισε τα όσα σήμερα υπάρχουν φρούρια και χάραξε ίσιους δρόμους. Οργάνωσε και την πολεμική μηχανή του κράτους, δηλαδή ιππικό, όπλα και άλλα εφόδια, καλύτερα από τους οκτώ προκατόχους του.» 34 According to Gschnitzer, Herodotus work was based on earlier sources than him such was Ekataios from Mile- tos. Gschnitzer, 2003, p. 30-3. 35 Diod. Sic. 7.16. 36 Iustin. 7.2.1-4. 37 Solin. 9.13. 38 Xydopoulos, 2007, p. 7. 39 Xydopoulos, 2007, p. 7. 40 αἳ οἰκοῦνται ξυμμείκτοις ἔθνεσι βαρβάρων διγλώσσων, καί τι καὶ Χαλκιδικὸν ἔνι βραχύ, τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον Πελασγικόν, τῶν καὶ Λῆμνόν ποτε καὶ Ἀθήνας Τυρσηνῶν οἰκησάντων, καὶ Βισαλτικὸν καὶ Κρηστωνικὸν καὶ Ἠδῶνες· κατὰ δὲ μικρὰ πολίσματα οἰκοῦσιν. Θουκιδίδης, Ἱστορίαι (4.109.4),

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3. His construction of a specific Macedonian or Thracian identity was influenced by the presence of other non-Greek populations within the boundaries of what had become known as Thrace in the era of colonization, part of which was during his time Macedonian territory41. 4. Modern scholars, considering ancient population groups and trying to define ethnicity, tend to apply anachronistic criteria, such as a shared language, which can be problematic42. 5. Thucydides approached the northern communities of the Macedonians and the Thracians from a Hellenic perspective. However, he treated neither of these ethne as extremely exotic and barbarian43.

Several other historians attested to the Greek origin of the Macedonians. For instance, Polyvios in his work “Histories” in several passages states that Macedonia was Greek, part of Greece, and considered the Achaeans and the Macedonians of the same race44. It is also interesting to note that Polyvios when describing the Balkan Peninsula, he says that it included Greece, Illyria and Thrace. One can thus deduce that he includes Macedonia in Greece. Had he not done so, he could have listed her separately. In another case, Plutarch clearly displays the Greek origins of the Macedonians. He describes to Titus Contus Flamininus, during the Isthmian celebrations, that Macedonia prevented the barbarian attacks against Southern Greece45. Numerous paradigms concerning the ethnicity of the Macedonians could be displayed but are beyond the purposes of this essay.

Euripides The genealogical line of the origin of the Macedonians in the Myths presented by the historians remained the same all through the 5th century BC. It was only due to the very end of this period, during Archelaus reign, that the story was to be altered (413 to 399 BC). The King, who is attested as the person who in order to enhance the power and prestige of the Macedo- nian kingdom, succeeded in transforming Macedonia into a center for poetry and arts. He established a festival at Dion both with dramatic and lyric poetry acts. Therefore, he attracted to his court a wide range of artists, including the great poet of the new music Timotheus, the epic poet Choerilus of Samos and the painter Zeuxis46. Agathon and Euripides, two of the tragic poets were also invited to produce theatrical plays. Their plays competed in the dramatic contests that took place during the Archelaus festival47. The play discourses the adventures of the king until the foundation of the Kingdom. The trilogy consisted of the three plays: “Temenos”, “Temenidae” and “Archelaus”.

41 Xydopoulos, 2007, p. 13. 42 Ibis, p. 16. 43 Ibis, p. 17. 44 Polyvios (VII 11,4, V 103,9, XVIII, XXXiV 7,13, VII 9,1 IX 37,7) 45 Plutarchos(Flam. XI) 46 The Fragments of Timotheus of Miletus, 177b = fr. 801 PMG Oxford, 2002, p. 4-5. 47 “He made lavish sacrifices to the gods at Dium in Macedonia and held the dramatic contests in honor of Zeus and the Muses which Archelaus, one of his predecessors, had instituted”. Diodorus Siculus XVII.16.4. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni- versity Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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Unfortunately, the plays are fragmentary48. In the first two plays, the myth of the origin of the family was displayed while at the third, the King was presented as the son of Temenos of Ar- gos once in the region of Macedonia and Thrace. In a papyri fragment from Hamburg (P. Hamb. 118 a), dated in the 3rd or the 2nd century BC, a prolog of Euripides is included. In this Prolog, there is an extended reference about the genealogy of Archelaus down to the generation of Hercules49. On the other hand, the Oxyrhynchus papyri combined with the one from Hamburg completes the blanks of frag. 245n50. They present the dialogue between the King and Kisseas. Harder suggested that it is thanks to the Roman author Gaius Iulius Hyginus (64 BC – 17 AD) that a whole passage has been saved. This piece of his works (fabula 219), compared to the papyri (P. Hamb. 118a & frag. 245n), provided the scholars with evidence that they belong to the same play of Euripi- des. According to Hyginus’ passage of Euripides: Archelaus, son of Temenos, was banished from his brothers and asked for the assistance and hospitality of the Thracian King, Kisseas. Because the former was in dispute with his neighbor tribes, he promised to Archelaus his kingship and his daughter's hand in order to protect him from his enemies. That was due to the fact that Archelaus was a descendant of Hercules, so he was considered to be strong and brave enough to save his kingdom. Archelaus indeed won the Kings enemies and demanded what Kisseas had promised to him. The King though misled of his companions, withdrew of his promises and began making plans of killing Archelaus in a devious way. He ordered his soldiers to dig a deep ditch, fill it up with burning coal and cover it with branches so as Archelaus would fall in it. A slave of the King though revealed the conspiracy to Archelaus who immediately requested to speak to him in person. When Kisseas guards withdrew, Archelaus threw him in the ditch and therefore killing him. Afterward, he left from Thrace and according to Apollo’s prophecy he received from the Oracle left for Macedonia, led by a goat. There, when the goat (aiga) stopped he founded a city and named it after her, Aigae. From this very person, Archelaus is said that Alexander the great descended from51. As can be deduced, the play begins with the introduction of Archelaus as the son of Temenos (something that can be attested in the fragment of Hamburg 118a)52. His origins are well established in the city of Argos in the city of Argos in the Peloponnese and Hercules in advance. According to the same fragment, Temenos who was childless, after having received a prophecy from the oracle at Dodona, would be blessed with the birth of Archelaus, who would become of great importance. Under the protection of the divine, he managed to avoid all different short of traps (as witnessed in the play) and he finally managed not only to succeed but to excel as well and create the foundations of a new ethnos, the Macedonian. But was the whole story a Euripidean fiction, whose only purpose was to please the King? Harder dated this dramatic play in the late 5th century BC. In P.Oxy.2455 fr.9 Archelaus’ name is referred: ἀριστεύσαντι τῶν υἱῶν. τὸ μὲν οὖν κρῖμα τῆς μάχης ἐγέ νετο κατὰ τοὺς Ἡρακλείδας, ἄριστος δὲ ἐκρίνετο Ἀρχέλαος

48 Harder, 1985, p. 128-30. 49 Harder, 1985, p. 139. 50 Harder, 1985, p. 229-30. 51 Gaius Iulius Hyginus, fabula 219. 52 Harder, 1985, p. 148.

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ὁ πρεσβύτατος τῶν [[ ]] Τημενιδ[ῶν]· π[ ]δ53

In another fragment (PMich.1319), it is stated that Archelaus, the first son of Temenos, escorted his father to Argos and succeeded to the battle against the King Teisamenos who was the son of Orestes. Temenos had promised to offer his kingdom to the son that would win the battle against Teisamenos.

PMich.131954 What is evident from those two passages is that Archelaus was not a fictional person, invented by Euripides to act the leading part in his play. Webster accepted in this theory and according to him, the real existence of such a story could adequately explain the origins of the Macedonians as Greeks, connecting them with Argos and the Temenids55. However, today’s scholars do not accept this suggestion because it is believed that Euripides trilogy is far more recent than Archelaus. They argue that Euripides ever visited Macedonia and if that was the case indeed, at what period this fact took place and what were his connections with the Court. Those arguments are proved to be wrong based on the following: According to Aristoteles, Euripides was hospitalized by the King Archelaus at “Are- thusa56” and after his death (he was mangled by fierce dogs near Vromiskos/ Arethusa, Hesteritses in the Macedonian dialect, that attacked him in 406 BC57), he was so terribly dis- tressed that he mourned for him and in order to honor him he had a monumental tomb erected in his memory58. Aristoteles also wrote about an epigram that was inscribed on the tomb. Ου σε κυνών γένος είλ 'Ευριπίδη, ουδέ γυναικός οίστρος, τον σκοτίης Κύπριδος αλλότριον,

53 DOI: 10.4159/DLCL.euripides-dramatic_fragments.2008 54 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-1387/1319r___tif 55 Webster, 1967, p.252. 56 Arethousa was an ancient city founded by settlers from Boeotia or from Chalcis. The region is mentioned by Thucydides when Brasidas marched against Amphipolis. Arethousa was part of the Athenian League. http://www.mlahanas.de/Greece/Cities/ArethousaThessaloniki.html 57 Moutsopoulos, 1995, p. 107-9. 58 Αριστοτέλης, Πολιτικά 3.8.13.

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Αλλ Αίδης και γήρας υπαί Μακέτη δ' Αρεθούση Κείσαι, εταιρεί η τίμιος Αρχέλεω Σον δ'ου τούτον εγώ τίθεμαι τάφον αλλά του Βάκχου βήματα και σκηνάς ενβάδι πειθόμενας59

At the same time, the Athenians requested from the Macedonian King to return his bones to them in order to honor Euripides. Because Archelaus refused to comply with their request, they constructed a cenotaph in his memory on the road to Piraeus with an epigram inscribed on it60. The specific inscription displays concrete evidence of how the Athenians perceived the Macedonians as far as their origin was concerned. The inscription wrote : Μνήμα μεν Ελλάς άπασ΄ Ευριπίδου. οστέα δ΄ ίσχει γή Μακεδών. η γαρ δέξατο τέρμα βίοο61.

Conclusions Those are the two main myths concerning the origin of the Temenid’s. Still in the mid- 4th century BC, the genealogical line of Archelaus was slightly altered. Caranus was added in the genealogical line. He was considered as the founder of the Macedonian kingdom. He replaced Perdiccas in the lineage, therefore, he was considered the one who had founded the kingdom and the ancient city of Aigae. According to Theopompus from Chios, Caranus was the 11th descendant of Hercules and the 7th of Temenos62. Hammond claims that it was due to Theopompus that this genealogical line was altered, by replacing Perdiccas with Caranus63. It is assumed that during Theopompus’ stay at Macedonia in Phillip’s II reign, he came upon all the information he required, in order to provide us with the official version of the myth about the origin of the Macedonians. For Daskalakis, the replacement of Perdiccas by Caranus was due to the eastern Greeks’ perception of the Macedonians. He claims such, based on the east etymological terms. For Caranus (head-leader) defined the title of the King of the Macedonians at first but after several years, it replaced the archetypical name of the founder of Macedonia64. Badian, on the other hand, wrote that the addition of Caranus at the genealogical tree of the Temenid’s occurred because of the following reasons65: 1. To provide tighter bonds of the Macedonian royal family with the Heraclids and the Dorian Argos 2. To offer greater prestige of the glorious myth and to combine it with the ancient Phrygian King, Midas and gain the enhanced dignity of a more ancient heritage

59 Αριστοτέλης, Πολιτικά 3.8.13. 60 Παυσανίας, Ελλάδος περιήγησής, 1.2.2. 61 The epigram, which was supposed to decorate Euripides' cenotaph in Athens, is attributed to a famous contemporary Thucydides (according to a different tradition, the poet Timothy). Cod. Pal. graec. 252. http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cpgraec252. 62 Θεόπομπος, FGrHist 115 F393 63 Hammond, 1979, p. 12. 64 Δασκαλάκης, 1970, p. 157. 65 Badian, 1982, p. 34-5.

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Arguing to Badian, the eloquent question that up rises is why the name of Perdiccas wasn’t the one who appeared in the Delphic record rather than a new one66. Greenwalt disa- grees with Badian’s assumption, for as he describes: There is no internally significant reason why the name Perdiccas should not have appeared in the Delphic record instead of Caranus, except that by the time the Oracle was rendered, Caranus was the accepted founder of the dynasty. If the name Caranus was invented to tie the Argead’s closer to the Peloponnesian city of Argos, and thereby supplement the claim to Hellenic ancestry, one would expect the choice of a name with an established significance in the south and whose repetition would thus con- jure up associations desired by the dynasty. That Caranus could serve such a purpose be- comes doubtful in the absence of a prominent mythological or historical predecessor of that name67. In other words, the name Caranus does not invoke any kind of connection, either mythical or historical, personalities of the Doric Peloponnese and has no roots connected with any mythological traditions. As Greenwalt suggests the answer should be searched at the beginnings of the 4th century. After the death of Archelaus in 399 the accession followed the pattern of the dynastic succession as recorded by Herodotus68. The son of the reigning monarch succeeded the later upon his death69.

The changes in the Kings list display the importance of the genealogical record of the early Macedonian history. All the descendants of the Argead’s Temenid’s wished to enhance their status and their claim to the Throne by claiming their authority70. Within this struggle, each king would have provoked them to manipulate the past in a certain way that would serve their claim over the reign and establish them effectively as leaders of their realm71. According to Greenwalt, “by inserting Caranus Amyntas III diminished the pre-eminence of the royal name “Perdiccas” which had been carried by Perdiccas II and was relevant to his successor- kin, Amyntas’ rivals”72. All those various stories (mythical or not) can attest to one thing. They were oriented inwards the Macedonian region to construct traditions, beliefs and an identity for internal consumption. Stories of the Macedonians for the Macedonians. Those stories were impreg- nated with historical facts and provided an ethnic identity. It was how they perceived them-

66 Caranus came to Emathia with a large band of Greeks, being instructed by an oracle to seek a home in Macedo- nia. Here, following a herd of goats running from a downpour, he seized the city of Edessa, the inhabitants being taken unawares because of heavy rain and dense fog. Remembering the oracle’s command to follow the lead of goats in his quest for an empire, Caranus established the city as his capital, and thereafter he made it a solemn observance, wheresoever he took his army, to keep those same goats before his standards in order to have as leaders in his exploits the animals which he had had with him to found the kingdom. He gave the city of Edessa the name Aegae and its people the name Aegeads in memory of this service. According to Justin (7.1) citing Marsyas of Pella. 67 Greenwalt, 1985, p. 46-7. 68 «ἀπὸ τούτου δὴ τοῦ Περδίκκεω Ἀλέξανδρος ὧδε ἐγένετο· Ἀμύντεω παῖς ἦν Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀμύντης δὲ Ἀλκέτεω, Ἀλκέτεω δὲ πατὴρ ἦν Ἀέροπος, τοῦ δὲ Φίλιππος, Φιλίππου δὲ Ἀργαῖος, τοῦ δὲ Περδίκκης ὁ κτησάμενος τὴν ἀρχήν». Ηροδοτος, Ιστορίαι, 8.139.1. 69 Greenwalt, 1985, p. 47. 70 Ibis, p. 49. 71 Ibis. 72 Fox, 2011, p. 220.

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selves when compared to the Greeks and to the “others”. They felt Greek and clearly distin- guished their ethnos as “Hellenes” and as Macedonians apart from “the others”, the barbarians. Little much was of their interest to provide an image as the “Temenid’s from Argos”.

Epilogue Myths are stories under which people of a certain period live, think and function within the limits of a society. They are ideological conceptions that offer guidance in the way of living, thinking and acting. They distinguish the difference for the humans of what is proper or improper to do. Myths can be characterized as historical phenomena affiliated within the symbols and functions of a “topos”, a society, an “ethnos”. Does the mythos differ in any way today than it was for the Macedonians in antiquity? Consider oneself questioning a Christian, a Muslim or a Buddhist whether he/she rejects the stories told or taught that are inaccurate and false. Someone could very easily be rejected from within the communities, characterized as “blasphemous” or even punished and expelled from it. Of course, there are always the skepticists. What is important is the way people per- ceive the world and through this perception, their position and function in it. Macedonians were Greeks; they differed from the “others”. That’s how they under- stood themselves undoubtfully. Both historical and archaeological evidence are here to provide us with such a conclusion. Western Greece’s historians, orators and tragic poets believed also that Macedonians were Greek. Isn’t that the whole essence of the story, the core of the problem of one’s identity? Certainly, there have always been the denialists, both in the past and up to this very moment. When it comes to politics, chaos flourishes. Political acts and beliefs have always had their foundations in sophism and served certain purposes. In this essay, it has been witnessed what the Macedonians perception of themselves was all through within the historical sources. “Descendants of the Temenid’s”, a “strong” and “heroic” community that managed to plant a small seed of civilization and founded a whole empire.

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Articles Badian, E., 1982. Greeks and Macedonians, in Studies in the History of Art Vol. 10, SYMPOSIUM SERIES I: Macedonia and Greece in Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Times Washington: Studies in the History of Art. Cherniss, Harold, F., 1992. Οι προσωκρατικοί φιλόσοφοι: Χαρακτηριστικά και επιδράσεις, μετάφρ. Βασίλης Κάλφας. Παλίμψηστον, 12 (1992). Eugene N. Borza, 2017. Athenians, Macedonians, and the Origins of the Macedonian Royal House Source: Hesperia Supplements, Vol. 19, Studies in Attic Epigraphy, History and Topography. Presented to Eugene Vanderpool (1982), pp. 7-13. Published by: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1353964. Accessed: 12-03-2017 11:12 UTC.

Greenwalt, W., 1985. The Introduction of Caranus into the Argead King List. Link: grbs.library.duke.edu/article/download/5341/5329. Accessed: 12-03-2017 11:12 UTC.

Vasilev, M., 2016. The Date of Herodotus' Visit to Macedonia, Ancient West & East Journal. Peeters online journals.

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