Mycenean population settles in Macedonia

[Ptolemy]

One of the passages of Pausanias informs us that during the time of Alexander I of Macedon, an Argive attack forced the population of Mycenae to leave their city. Some departed for Cleonae but as Pausanias explicitly says More than half of the Mycenean population was resettled to Macedon since Alexander I provided them refuge. Even Borza accepts the Mycenean ressetlement by writing "we have seen that a number of refugees from Mycenae were resettled in Macedon" while Cole in his "Alexander Philhellene and Themistocles" goes further to connect Themistocles' actions in Peloponnese for this resettlement. (Themistocles also after his exile spent some time in Pydna of Macedonia before going to Asia). Its interesting that there was no mentioning from literary sources of any conflicts between the Mycenean settlers and the local Macedonian population, something that would happen certainly if the two people were of different ethnicity as it happened with the conflicts between the greek settlers of Thrace with the native Thracian population. The above seems even more certain by the fact that the Macedonian king wouldnt allow settlement inside his dominion of an alien population to his own.


The entire passage of Pausanas is the following.

To this part came as settlers Mycenaeans from Argolis because of a catastrophe. Though the Argives could not take the wall of Mycenae by storm, [6] built as it was like the wall of Tiryns by the Cyclopes, as they are called, yet the Mycenaeans were forced to leave their city through lack of provisions. Some of them departed for Cleonae, but more than half of the population took refuge with Alexander in Macedonia, to whom Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, entrusted the message to be given to the Athenians.

[Pausanias 7.25.6]

[Flipper]

Fragments from various texts and findings show us that the Mycenean connection of Macedonia is making sense.

[Ptolemy]

Macedonia had also suffered an overal decline in population not only through the continuous wars, abroad, but also through ravages cause by the marauding Romans, Illyrians and Dardanians who swept thousands of people into slavery as spoil. Philip filled some of the gaps at once by withdrawing his garrison troops from abroad - perhaps 20,000 or so they were mainly mercenaries but they were likely to accept settlement on the land. And he resettled in Macedonia the populations which he withdrew from cities in Thessaly, especially those of the Enipeus Valley. The constant party warfare of the Greek city-states gave off waves of refugess who might be tempted to settle in Macedonia on land which the king could make available.

"History of Macedonia" by Frank W. Walbank - N.G.L Hammond page 283.