Modern historians on the Ancient Macedonians and ancient Macedonia

[Ptolemy]

"Where the Hellenic city-states had failed, the culturally backward GREEK kingdom of Macedon came within an ace of success;..."

<A.J.Toynbee,1st Korais Professor of Greek Studies>

"...and King Philip II's momentous decision to make, not the NATIVE Macedonian variety of North-East GREEK, but Attic, the official language of the kingdom of Macedon which, in the next generation, had generated the Greek successor- states of the Persian Empire."

<A.J.Toynbee,1st Korais Professor of Greek Studies>

" Few, however, of the peoples that possess distinctive identities today have had as long a history as the Greeks, if we interpret history as meaning, not simply chronological duration of existence, but continuity which has never ceased to be recognized and to be remembered.

FOUR THOUSAND YEARS OF GREEK HISTORY have produced four Greek heritages, each of which has had an effect on the life of the Greeks in later stages of their history. The Hellenic Greeks received a heritage from the Mycenean Greeks, the Byzantine Greeks received on from the Hellenic Greeks, the Modern Greeks have received one heritage from the Byzantines and a second from the Hellenes."

<_The Greeks and their Heritage_, A.J Toynbee, 1st Korais
Professor of Greek Studies>

[Ptolemy]

"Alexander the Great transformed the Greek World by opening up for the resources of the Middle East. In 334 BC he crossed the Hellespont from
Europe to Asia, swept through Asia Minor, past Syria to Egypt, then east
and south east down the Tigris and Euphrates, pressing on into the heartlands of Iran and then through the Caspian Gates and the Hindu Kush to the neighbourhood of Bakhara and Tashkent. He hoped to reach Ocean, the great mythical river which the Greeks believed to encircle the landmass of the world.

He died in 323 BC and his mighty empire broke up between his warring generals.
Among them, three major powers gradually emerged. One, with its capital at
Pella, was the old kingdom of Macedon a great power of northern Greece. (...)

"The time ATLAS of the World History" (Times Books Limited, London, 1986):

[Ptolemy]

The Balkan situation was far from secure, with the Odrysians and Scythians only recently defeated and with the TRiballi still defiant. Yet Philip was confident of success in the interest of the Greek-speaking world and OF MACEDONIA IN PARTICULAR

"The Genius of Alexander the Great" By Nicholas G Hammond, page 21

The strand in his[Alexander] personality which needs to be emphasised in his religious faith. Since childhood he had worshipped Heracles Patrous, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman and through his mother he was descended from Achilles, son of the goddess Thetis and a mortal Peleus. In his mother's veins there was also the blood of a son and a daughter of Priam, king of Troy. To Alexander, Heracles and Achilles were not fantasies of poetic imagination but real people, who expected their descendants to excel as warriors and as benefactors of mankind.

"The Genius of Alexander the Great" By Nicholas G Hammond, page 7

[Ptolemy]

But regardless of whether the Macedonians were truly Greek or not, the culture that Philip's son Alexander and his successors spread around the Near East was Hellenic: in its art and architecture, its literature and language, its cults and festivals.

"The Ancient Mediterranean World: From the Stone Age to A.D. 600" By Robin W Winks, Susan P Mattern-Parkes, Page 102-103

Today, scholars debate the effects of "Hellenization" - Greek influence- on the native populations of the Greco-Macedonian kingdoms. Some argue that Greek and native populations were segregated from one another, with little social or cultural mixing. In this view, the rulling class was composed almost exclusivel of Greco-Macedonians, and greek cultural institutions (like the gymnasia or Hellenic religious festivals) appealed only to Greeks, while indigenous traditions continued undisturbed among natives.

"The Ancient Mediterranean World: From the Stone Age to A.D. 600"
By Robin W Winks, Susan P Mattern-Parkes, page 105-106

page 105

[Ptolemy]

Looking round [Isocrates], in vain, for a strong Greek leader, he believed that the suitable man was Philip, king of Macedonia, who combined the high qualities of both warrior and statesman

"Alexander the Great and His Time" By Agnes Savill, Page 4

With Philip as Head, the Greek cities became united under a treaty known as the League of Corinth. Only Sparta stood out for independece

"Alexander the Great and His Time" By Agnes Savill, Page 5

[Ptolemy]

The Macedonians were Greeks. Their language was Greek, to judge by their personal names and by the names of the months of the calendar; Macedonian ambassadors could appear before the Athenian assembly without needing interpreters; in all Demosthenes' sneers about their civilization there is no hint that Macedonians spoke other than Greek. But it was a distinct dialect not readily intelligible to other Greeks; linguistically as geographically, Macedonia was remote from the main stream of Greek life.

George Cawkwell's (Fellow of the University College, Oxford), "Philip of Macedon," Faber & Faber, London, 1978, pp. 22

[Ptolemy]

"THE MONARCHS OF MACEDONIA:
Macedonia (or Macedon) was an ancient, somewhat backward kingdom in northen Greece. Its emergence as a Hellenic power was due to a resourceful king, Philip II (359-336), whose career has been unjustly overshadowed by the deeds of his son, Alexander the Great".

"The Western Experience", by Mortimer Chambers (University of California),
Raymond Grew (University of Michigan), David Herlihy (Harvard University),
Theodore Rabb (Princeton University) and Isser Woloch (Columbia University)
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2nd edition 1997, Page 79

[Ptolemy]

This was Macedonia in the strict sense, the land where settled immigrants of Greek stock later to be called Macedonians

"The tutorial history of Greece, to 323 B.C. : from the earliest times to the death of Demosthenes" by W. J. Woodhouse (Universiy of Sydney, Australia) University Tutorial Press, 1904, (reprinted 1944), Page 216

[Ptolemy]

In 350 BCE Philip of Macedonia UNITED Greece under Macedonian rule. His son Alexander, surnamed the Great, in turn CONQUERED the entire Persian empire UNITING GREECE with the Ancient Near east.

"Understanding Jewish History: Text and Commentaries" By Steven Bayme, page 50

[Ptolemy]

One of these was a Macedonian prince, Philip who spent three years, in Thebes while in his teens, absorbing much statecraft and military strategy from Epaminodas. The Macedonians were backward Greeks but their ruling class was eager to absorb greek Culture

"Ancient History, Ancient Warriors and Stories of Courage" By Stephen J Bost, page 84