Modern Historians about the Macedonian royal house

[Ptolemy]

Herodotus made a special point of emphasizing that the royal house of Macedonia was Greek by descent, and Thucydides, who questioned much of what Herodotus said concurred with him in calling the Macedonian kings "Temenidae from Argos'. Almost a century later Isocrates wrote to Philip II, saying "Argos is your fatherland', and asked Philip to emulate his father (Amyntas) the founder of the monarchy (Perdiccas), and the originator of the family (Heracles)."
[For further references consult Hdt.5.22;Thuc.2.99.3;Thuc.5.80.2; Isoc.5.32 and 105-12]

N.G.L Hammond "A History of Greece to 322 B.C.", pg. 18

There is no doubt that this tradition of a superimposed Greek house was widely believed by the Macedonians."

Eugene Borza: In The Shadow of Olympus: page 80

There was a persistent, well attested tradition in antiquity that told of a group of Greeks from Argos-descendants of Temenus, kinsman of Heracles - who came to Macedonia and established their rule over the Makedones, unifying them and providing a royal house."

Eugene Borza: In The Shadow of Olympus:, page 80

There is no reason to deny the Macedonians' own traditions about their early kings and the migration of the Macedones..The basic story as provided by Herodotus and Thucydides, minus the interpolation of the Temenid connections, undoubtly reflects the Macedonians' own traditions about their early history"

pg 84.


Constance & Crossland: Macedonian Greece:

"Herodotus stated quite clearly that Perdiccas, the first recorded king of Macedonia, and his descendants were Greeks and there is no reason why we should not take the Father of History's word on this fundamental point."

page 16.


N.G.L Hammond: The Macedonian State:

"The matter is of only academic interest to a few scholars today. No one in antiquity doubted the truth of the claim."

page 19

As we have mentioned in Chapter I, Perdiccas and his brothers came from Argos and Peloponnese. They were members of the Royal house of Argos, the "Teminidae", descendants of Temenus, whose ancestor was Heracles, son of Zeus; it was this Temenus who led the Dorian tribes into the Argolid and founded Dorian Argos late in the 12th century. Thus Perdiccas came to Macedonia with the aura of divine favor, and he could claim that the Temenidae and the Argeadae were both descended from Zeus and so were diogeneis. To Greeks of the classical period the Temenid name was well known. Thus the oracle which was concerned post eventum with he following of the new capital, Aegeae, by Perdiccas began with the line "The noble Temenidae have royal rule over a wealth producing land. Herodotus made a special point of emphasizing that the royal house of Macedonia was Greek by descent, and Thucydides, who questioned much of what Herodotus said, concurred with him in calling the Macedonian kings "Temenidae from Argos". Almost a century later Isocrates wrote to Philip II, saying "Argos is your fatherland", and he asked Philip to emulate his father [Amyntas], the founder of the monarchy [Perdiccas], and the originator of the family Heracles)."

page 18.

It seems now that Alexander wanted from the Greek states a public and universal recognition of his benefactions, and that he wanted it as being himself a Greek of the Temenid family

page 235


N.G.L Hammond "A History of Greece to 332 B.C.":

"In the early fifth century the royal house of Macedon, the Temenidae, was recognized as Greek by the presidents of the Olympic games. Their verdict was and is decisive; for modern critics adduce no evidence. It is certain that the Kings considered themselves to be of Greek descent from Heracles, Son of Zeus. The royal house of Lyncus in Upper Macedonia claimed descent from the Bacchiadae, who fled from Corinth about 657. The great wealth of another Royal house has been revealed by the gold masks and furniture discovered in tombs of the late sixth century of Trebenishte near Lake Lynchnitis. The Temenidae and
Bacchiadae certainly spoke Greek."

page 534.

He [Alexander III] believed himself to be of divine descent on both sides, from Heracles, son of Zeus, and Achilles, son of Thetis. At the Temple of Zeus Ammon this belief may have been confirmed; for thereafter he showed a special regard for the temple, and his friends believed it was his wish to be buried there and not at Aegae in Macedonia. He may have felt in 324 that his deeds justified him to emulate Achilles and Heracles, and therefore he sought from the Greeks the recognition which they alone could give, by according him "godlike honors" as a Greek."

page 641

The Macedonian kings had much in common with the Mycenaean kings protrayed in the Iliad. They, too, were 'sprung from Zeus'. For Philip claimed to be a descendant of Heracles, the son of Zeus. He put the head of Heracles on his earliest coins, named the first city-foundation Heraclea, and dedicated a statue of Heracles at the mouth of the Danube. He worshipped Zeus at Dium, dedicated a treasury to Zeus at Olympia, defended Apollo's shrine at Delphi, and placed the heads of Zeus and Apollo on his coins. It is significant that Isocrates asked Philip as a descendant of Heracles to consider all Greece his fatherland."

H. Bengston "A History of Greece: from the beginnings
to the Byzantine era., page 199


Thomas R Martin: Ancient Greece From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times:

"Macedonians had their own language related to Greek, but the members that dominated Macedonian society routinely learned to speak Greek because they thought of themselves and indeed all Macedonians as Greek by Blood"

page 188

[Ptolemy]

The Macedonian people and their kings were of Greek stock, as their traditions and the scanty remains of their language combine to testify." `

John Bagnell Bury, "A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great", 2nd ed.(1913)