Quotes about Ancient Macedonian religion

[Ptolemy]

Having settled these affairs, he returned into Macedonia. He then offered to the Olympian Zeus the sacrifice which had been instituted by Archelaus, and had been customary up to that time;

(Arrian Anab. I 11.1)

It is said he [Alexander] also held a public contest in honour of Muses

(Arrian Anab. I 11.2)

when he was about the middle of the channel of the hellespont he sacrificed a bull to Poseidon and the Nereids and poured forth a libation to them into the sea from a golden goblet

(Arrian Anab. I 11)

they say also that he was the first man to step out of the ship in full armour on the land of Asia, and that he erected altars to Zeus, the protector of people landing, to Athena and to Heracles

(Arrian Anab. I 11.6)

Philip, after this vision, sent Chaeron of Megalopolis to consult the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, by which he was commanded to perform sacrifice, and henceforth pay particular honour, above all other gods, to Zeus;

(Plutarch, The life of Alexander)

He [Alexander he Great] erected altars, also, to the gods, which the kings of the Praesians even in our time do honour to when they pass the river, and offer sacrifice upon them after the Greek manner.

(Plutarch, The life of Alexander)

Along with lavish display of every sort, Philip included in the procession statues of the twelve Gods brought with great artistry and adorned with a dazzling show of wealth to strike awe to the beholder, and along with these was conducted a thirteenth statue, suitable for a god, that of Philip himself, so that the king exhibited himself enthroned among the twelve Gods.

(Diodorus Histories, Chapter 16, 95.2)

He (King Philip) wanted as many Greeks as possible to take part in the festivities in honour of the gods, and so planned brilliant musical contests and lavish banquets for his friends and guests. Out of all Greece he summoned his personal guest-friends and ordered the members of his court to bring along as many as they could of their acquaintances from abroad.

(Diodorus Histories, Chapter 16, 91.5-6)

The future prosperity [of the historical general] Seleukos was foreshadowed by unmistakable signs. When he was about to set forth from Makedonia with Alexandros [the Great], and was sacrificing at Pella [in Makedonia] to Zeus, the wood that lay on the altar advanced of its own accord to the image and caught fire without the application of a light.

Pausanias, Guide to Greece 1.16.1

Delos would win the foremost guerdon from the Mousai, since she it was that bathed Apollon, the lord of minstrels, and swaddled him, and was the first to accept him for a god. Even as the Mousai abhor him who sings not of Pimpleia [town in Pieria/Macedonia sacred to the Mousai] so Phoibos abhors him who forgets Delos.

Callimachus, Hymn IV to Delos 3

They say that afterwards [the establishment of a shrine to three Mousai on Mount Helikon in Boiotia] Pieros, a Makedonian, after whom the mountain in Makedonia was named, came to Thespiae and established nine Mousai, changing their names to the present ones

Pausanias, Guide to Greece 9.39.3

[Ptolemy]

Speaking of Alexander the Great¢s luxury, Ephippus of Olynthus in his book On the Death of Hephaestion and Alexander says that in the park there was erected for him a golden throne and couches with silver legs, on which he sat when transacting business in the company of his boon companions. And Nicobule says that during dinner every sort of contestant exerted their efforts to entertain the king, and that in the course of his last dinner Alexander in person acted from memory a scene from the Andromeda of Euripides, and pledging toasts in unmixed wine with zest compelled the others also to do likewise. Ephippus, again, says that Alexander also wore the sacred vestments at his dinner parties, at one time putting on the purple robe of Ammon, and thin slippers and horns just like the gods, at another time the costume of Artemis, which he often wore even in his chariot, wearing the Persian garb and showing above the shoulders the bow and hunting-spear of the goddess, while at still other times he was garbed in the costume of Hermes; on other occasions as a rule, and in every-day use, he wore a purple riding-cloak, a purple tunic with white stripes, and the Macedonian hat with the royal fillet; but on social occasions he wore the winged sandals and broad-brimmed hat on his head, and carried the caduceus in his hand; yet often, again, he bore the lion¢s skin and club in imitation of Heracles. What wonder that the Emperor Commodus of our time also had the club of Hercules lying beside him in his chariot with the lion¢s skin spread out beneath him, and desired to be called Hercules, seeing that Alexander, Aristotle¢s pupil, got himself up like so may gods, to say nothing of the goddess Artemis? Alexander sprinkled the very floor with valuable perfumes and scented wine. In his honour myrrh and other kinds of incense went up in smoke; a religious stillness and silence born of fear held fast all who were in his presence. For he was hot-tempered and murderous, reputed, in fact, to be melancholy-mad. At Ecbatana he arranged a festival in honour of Dionysus, everything being supplied at the feast with lavish expense, and Satrabates the satrap entertained all the troops.

Ath. Deipn. Book XII. 537 d – 540 a

Concerning the professional “companions” Philetaerus says this in The Huntress: “No wonder there is a shrine to the Companion everywhere, but nowhere in all Greece is there one to the Wife.” But I know also of a festival, the Hetairideia, celebrated in Magnesia, not in honour of these “companions” (hetaerae) but for a different reason, which is mentioned by Hegesander in his Commentaries, writing thus: The Magnesians celebrate the festival of the Hetairideia. They record that Jason the son of Aeson, after gathering the Argonauts together, was the first to sacrifice to Zeus Hetaireios* and that he called the festival Hetairideia. And the kings of Macedonia also celebrate with sacrifices the Hetairideia.

Ath Deipn. Book XIII. 572 d – e

[Orphic_Hymn]

Diogenes Laertius 1.8

....but there is an inscription at Dium in Macedonia, saying that he was killed by lightning, and it runs thus:

Here the bard buried by the Muses lies,
The Thracian Orpheus of the golden lyre;
Whom mighty Zeus, the Sovereign of the skies,
Removed from earth by his dread lightning's fire.