Modern historians on the Ancient Macedonians and ancient Macedonia

[Ptolemy]

Amyntas belonged to a collateral branch of the Temenidæ of Agros. During the disturbances which interrupted the legitimate succession of the Argive kings (vol. i. p. 271), about the middle of the ninth century B. C., Caranus had come into Macedonia and had obtained royal power among the mountain tribes; and this royal power became hereditary in his house. Their power was not that of despotic princes, but one regulated from the first by laws and mutual agreement. The whole history of the empire connects itself with the dynasty of the Temenidæ, and commences with Perdiccas, who pushed his conquering march forward from the mountain fastness of Ægæ into lower Macedonia, the ancient Emathia, by the conquest of which the Macedonian Temenidæ established their imperial power.

The History of Greece Vol. 2
Book by Ernst Curtius, Adolphus William Ward; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1871, page 188

In the house of Amyntas Greek culture reigned and his son Alexander had adopted it with his whole heart and soul. Alexander was a thorough Greek, and recognized the future of Macedonia as depending on her intimate connection with the Hellenic states.

The whole Alpine country of Northern Greece was now under vassals of the Achæmenidæ; and as formerly the Dorians had advanced from Macedonia to the south, so the Barbarians now wished at the opportune moment to penetrate into the lower country, in order to surround the sea on the west side also with their power.

The History of Greece Vol. 2
Book by Ernst Curtius, Adolphus William Ward; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1871, page 189

On the present occasion Mount Athos protected the western Greeks

The History of Greece Vol. 2
Book by Ernst Curtius, Adolphus William Ward; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1871, page 216

[Ptolemy]

There is no proof that the mint at which Cleomenes' and Soter's coinages were struck was situated in Alexandria, but when we bear in mind that Egypt had previously had virtually no coinage, it hardly seems likely that Soter would have established a mint at Memphis; while the new city by the sea, open to Greek commerce, would have had immediate need of coin, quite apart from the necessity of Ptolemy, for reasons of prestige, issuing his coinage from a Greek rather than from a native Egyptian city

Ptolemaic Alexandria
Book by P. M. Fraser; Clarendon Press, 1972,page 7

Another set, with identical wording, was found in 1945 at the north end of the site, north of Diocletian's Column, in the south-east corner of the temple of Sarapis itself.194 These plaques, inscribed in Greek and hieroglyphics, read: ' King Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy and Arsinoe, the Theoi Adelphoi, 〈dedicated〉 the temple and the sanctuary to Sarapis

Ptolemaic Alexandria
Book by P. M. Fraser; Clarendon Press, 1972,page 28

The site is so completely bare that the structure of the Ptolemaic temple is wholly conjectural,201 though there are indications that the architecture and furniture of the shrine may have been a mixture of Greek and Egyptian.

Ptolemaic Alexandria
Book by P. M. Fraser; Clarendon Press, 1972,page 28

These latter form one of the largest and most important groups of painted stelai, comparable to those from Demetrias-Pagasae and Sidon. Like them they are purely Greek in style and execution, with no Egyptian elements, and differ from contemporary funerary reliefs primarily in respect of their technique, which is dictated by a very different material, rather than in any fundamental distinction of tradition

Ptolemaic Alexandria
Book by P. M. Fraser; Clarendon Press, 1972,page 33

The general development of the necropoleis of Alexandria was probably, then, as follows: in the earliest period of which we have record, from the foundation of the city until the middle of the second century, the Greek population was for the most part buried or cremated east of the city in the areas of Chatby, Ibrahimiya, and Hadra. Subsequently the main necropoleis shifted to the west, to the areas of Gabbari and Wardian, the 'Necropolis' par excellence, which was in use in the time of Strabo and continued for a long time afterwards

Ptolemaic Alexandria
Book by P. M. Fraser; Clarendon Press, 1972,page 34

THE population of Alexandria in its early period may be divided constitutionally into seven main categories, most of which survived in different degrees until the end of the Ptolemaic period. These groups are: first, the Greek population consisting of
(i) the citizen-body (πολι + ̑ται),
(ii) partial and probationary citizens, whose exact status is problematical and obscure,
(iii) Greeks with no particular civil status, and
(iv) Greeks with external ethnics (Κυρηναι + ̑οι, 'Ρόδιοι, Σάμιοι and so on); and secondly the non-Greek population consisting originally of (v) the native Egyptian population, (vi) foreign, non-Greek immigrants (Jews, Syrians, and others), and (vii) slaves.

Ptolemaic Alexandria
Book by P. M. Fraser; Clarendon Press, 1972,page 38

They in fact represent one of the major developments of later antiquity: the emergence of an unprivileged Greek-speaking population, numerically superior to the citizen population, which in Alexandria in the course of time usurped effective authority from the demesmen and transferred it into mob rule

Ptolemaic Alexandria
Book by P. M. Fraser; Clarendon Press, 1972,page 51

The civilian Macedonian immigrants are a very different story. As to Alexander's actions concerning them we know nothing, but if the Ptolemies wanted to show favour to the Macedonians, the natural way for them to have done so was to appoint them to posts in their gift, and this, to judge by the available evidence, they did not do, reserving such appointments as a general rule for Greeks from overseas and for Alexandrians. There does not seem therefore any reason to attribute to the Macedonian civilians in Alexandria a privileged or especial status either juridically or de facto.

We may NOW TURN to the NON-GREEK population of Alexandria, consisting of Egyptians, Jews, Syrians, and others, and slaves of varied nationality

Ptolemaic Alexandria
Book by P. M. Fraser; Clarendon Press, 1972, page 53-54

[Ptolemy]

Archelaus, with Greek mercenaries in his pay, laid the foundations for a centralized administration, built roads, coined money and organized local markets in the interior. His court was similar to that of a Greek tyrant; Zeuxis was often there, and Euripides settled there, after leaving Athens where he had not been understood.

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, 227

Philip, however, did not exactly conquer the country; by uniting all the Greeks in a confederation, the Panhellenic Corinthian League, he took up once again the policy previously employed by Darius towards the Ionian cities; he forced the Greek states to accept a statute establishing a permanent peace between them, and obliged them to refer all disputes to the arbitration of the League, while guaranteeing freedom of trade and navigation. All the members of the League were represented on his Council by delegates whose number was proportional to their military contingents. This system reversed the ancient order of supremacy; it gave predominance to Thessaly. The cities were grouped into districts, and Sparta, which had refused to belong to the League, had her territory taken from her. Henceforward she was to be no more than a city, isolated and powerless.

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, 230

With these resources he organized a national army, based on conscription and equipped in the Greek manner. The court at Pella became a centre of Greek thought. Aristotle, son of a doctor from Stagira, was hired to act as tutor to the young crown-prince, Alexander.

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, 229

Philip immediately declared himself the champion of Hellenism against the Persian Empire. Even as Xerxes had earlier called on the solidarity of Asia against Greece, so Philip tried to rally the whole Hellenic world in a campaign of liberation of the Ionian Greeks

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, 230

The fate of Greece, from then on, was sealed. Her unity was to be achieved by the King of Macedonia, even as formerly the unity of Egypt had been imposed on the cities of the Delta by the Kings of Nekhen.

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, 229

The party of the wealthy and the business men turned to Macedonia. The democratic party, on the other hand, stood for independence and patriotism. At Athens, its chief was Demosthenes. But he was unable to see beyond the ideal of the city. A prisoner of archaic formulae, his cause was lost in advance.

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, 229

[Ptolemy]

Tyre alone, ancient rival of the Greeks, resisted desperately. It was razed to the ground, and those of its inhabitants who escaped massacre were sold as slaves. The old hatred of the Hellenes for the Tyrians was sated ferociously

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, page 232

Alexander did not hesitate; he penetrated into Egypt, where he was hailed as a liberator. His presence sealed the alliance which, since Marathon, had united the Greeks and the Egyptians of the party of independence. The 'Greek King' bowed before the god Apis at Memphis and assumed the double crown of Egypt ( 332 bc).

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, page 233

After restoring the unity of the Greek world by the conquest of the Ionian cities, which were immediately incorporated into the Corinthian League, and completing the occupation of Syria, Alexander restored the Egyptian Empire within the frontiers formerly given it by Tutmes III, and united Greece and Egypt for the first time under the same sovereignty

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, page 233

The union of the world into a single economic system led to an imperial policy of cosmopolitanism. Philip had begun his conquests by proclaiming himself the champion of the Greeks. Alexander, while making himself the instrument of Hellenism, let himself be seduced by Egypt and the East. His whole policy tended to create a new 'climate' by the destruction of the nationalist sentiments which, since the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian conquests, had already been greatly weakened in Asia. That was why he favoured the mixture of races. He himself set the example by marrying Statira, daughter of Darius III, and Parysatis, daughter of Artaxerxes III, thus allying himself to the dynasty of the Achaemenids. He offered rewards to the Macedonian soldiers who married Asiatic women, and practised a policy of religious toleration and respect for local institutions. Trade had made Greek an international language in Egypt and in Asia Minor; Alexander made it the official language of the empire. It was to penetrate, in the wake of the Greek soldiers, colonists and merchants, as far as Central Asia. The Greek language was to become one of the bonds to unite all parts of the Empire, bonds that Alexander wished should be both intimate and spontaneous. Economic interpenetration must be accompanied by moral interpenetration, which would be shown in a double form; the Egyptian theory of monarchy by divine right was to spread over the Greek world, while Greek philosophical conceptions would spread rapidly throughout the whole Mediterranean East.

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, page 236

But the monarchy of Alexander also adapted itself to Greek democratic principles which were applied to all the new cities endowed with governments elected by the middle classes. Thus was prepared the fusion, in a single political system, of the oriental type of monarchy and Greek democracy, creating a new political formula which marked the end of the era of independent cities and at the same time announced the expansion of Hellenism. Up to the IVth century bc Greece had only had a slight influence, save for the diffusion of the Greek language by trade, on the countries around her. From the times of Alexander, Greek culture set out to conquer the world and to become, side by side with Egyptian mysticism which spread more and more with the diffusion of the mystery cults, the moral bond which was to unite the Mediterrancan peoples in a single civilization.

The Tides of History Vol. 1 Book by Lovett Edwards, Jacques Pirenne; E. P. Dutton, 1962, page 237

[Ptolemy]

After that victory Philip imposed his own conditions on the whole Greek mainland, making a treaty with all significant cities except Sparta, the so-called 'League of Corinth'. This treaty obliged the Greek cities to provide soldiers for Philip's campaigns, but it did not, contrary to what had been feared at Athens, interfere with the constitutions of the individual cities.

Greek History Book by Robin Osborne; Routledge, 2004, page 127

Although Macedonians were accepted as Greek, after some discussion, for the purposes of competing at the Olympic games, and although the language of the Macedonians appears most probably to have been a dialect of Greek related to the dialects of north-west Greek, some Macedonian customs were distinct

Greek History Book by Robin Osborne; Routledge, 2004, page 127

Babylon surrendered and Alexander now had the Persian empire and its capitals at Sousa and Persepolis under his control. After Granikos Alexander had already sent back spoils to the Athenian Acropolis, to mark his taking revenge on the Persians who had sacked Athens, and when he took Sousa he sent back to Athens the statues of the tyrannicides who had assassinated Peisistratos' son Hipparchos, statues which Xerxes had taken in 480 (Arrian Anabasis 3.18.7-8).

Greek History Book by Robin Osborne; Routledge, 2004, page 128

[Ptolemy]

He made it a point to characterize his campaigns as fought in the name of Apollo. He depicted the war against the Persians as a crusade against their profanation of the temples of the Greek gods, as well as to free the Greeks of Asia from the yoke of the enemies of Hellenic culture and beliefs. The Common Peace that he established was predicated on the oath taken by all, except for Sparta and Epirus, in the name of the Greek pantheon, to maintain the peace among the members of the alliance and to provide for their collective security.

The Pre-Islamic Middle East, Book by Martin Sicker; Praeger, 2000, page 2001

[Flipper]

Frank Ezra Adcock, Greek and Macedonian Art of War, pg 1,University of California

So much for my title except that I may add, in passing, that the words "Greek and Macedonian" are not meant ot deny the strong possibility that a Macedonian was ethnically Greek.

[Ptolemy]

While there [Egypt] Alexander showed himself a true Greek by sending a scientific expedition to the Soudan."

Ulrich Wilcken, "Alexander the Great", p.130

[Ptolemy]

His policy of racial fusion between Greeks and Orientals, like his adaptation of Persian court Protocol, stemmed in the first instance from
practical administrative needs...Whatever our assessment of Alexander the man, there can be no doubt as to his immense impact on the Greek-speaking world...he certainly promoted the Hellenization of an area stretching far beyond the Hindu Kush...Greek dynasties in regions as remote as Bactria
brought Hellenic government, ideas even sculptural iconography to alien cultures one might thought wholly immune to such influences"

Peter Green, "Ancient Greece, a Concise History", Thames and Hudson Ltd,
London, 1973

[Ptolemy]

The Macedonian army, accordingly, chose Python and Arridaeus as guardians, and as rulers with unlimited power over the whole of Alexander's conquests; but thought none of the Greek generals who now held Asia Minor, Syria, Babylonia, Thrace, or Egypt, dared to acknowledge it to the soldiers

The History of Egypt Under the Ptolemies By Samuel Sharpe, page 35

the Greek armies of Macedonia, Egypt, and Syria were made up either of natives who bowed their necks in slavery, or of mercenaries who made war their trade

The History of Egypt Under the Ptolemies By Samuel Sharpe, page 129