Ancient/ non-modern historians on Ancient Macedonia and Macedonians

[Ptolemy]

PAUSANIAS

Pausanias, "Description of Greece"

"They say that these were the clans collected by Amphictyon himself in the Greek assembly... The Macedonians managed to join and the entire Phocian race… In my day there were thirty members: six each from Nikopolis, Macedonia, and Thessaly - and from the Boeotoi that were the first that departed from Thessalia and that's when they were called Aioloi - two from each of the Phokeis and Delphi, one from the ancient Dorida, the Lokroi send one from the Ozoloi and one from the ones living beyond Evoia, one from the Evoeis. From the Peloponnesians, one from Argos, one from Sikion, one from Korinthos and Megara, one from Athens..."

Pausanias, Description of Greece, Phocis Book VIII, 4


"...later they added sinorida (race between two-horse-chariots) and horse-riding. In sinorida Velistichi from Makedonia, a woman of the sea, and Tlipolemos Likion were proclaimed victors, he at the 131st Olympiad and Velistichi, in sinorida, at the third Olympiad before that (128th)..."

Pausanias, Description of Greece, Iliaka, VIII, 11


ARRIAN

Arrian, "The Indica"
XXXIII: "...There a man appeared to them, wearing a Greek cloak, and dressed otherwise in the Greek fashion, and speaking Greek also. Those who first sighted him said that they burst into tears, so strange did it seem after all these miseries to see a Greek, and to hear Greek spoken. They asked whence he came, who he was; and he said that he had become separated from Alexander's camp, and that the camp, and Alexander himself, were not very far distant. Shouting aloud and clapping their hands they brought this man to Nearchus..."

XXXV: "...On this Alexander wept the more, since the safety of the force had seemed too good to be true; and then he enquired where the ships were anchored. Nearchus replied: 'They are all drawn up at the mouth of the river Anamis, and are undergoing a refit.' Alexander then called to witness Zeus of the Greeks and the Libyan, Ammon that in good truth he rejoiced more at this news than because he had conquered all Asia since the grief he had felt at the supposed loss of the fleet cancelled all his other good fortune..."

XXXVI: "...Alexander then sacrificed thank-offerings for the safety of his host, to Zeus the Saviour, Heracles, Apollo the Averter of Evil, Poseidon and all the gods of the sea; and he held a contest of art and of athletics, and also a procession..."

XXXVIII: "...The Greeks moved on thence, from the sacred island, and were already coasting along Persian territory..."

XXIX: "...Thence they sailed eight hundred stades, anchoring at Troea; there were small and poverty-stricken villages on the coast. The inhabitants deserted their huts and the Greeks found there a small quantity of corn, and dates from the palms..."

Polyvius

"But if thanks are due to the Aetolians for this single service, how highly should we honour the Macedonians, who for the greater part of their lives never cease from fighting with the barbarians for the sake of the security of Greece? For who is not aware that Greece would have constantly stood in the greatest danger, had we not been fenced by the Macedonians and the honourable ambition of their kings?"
Polybius, Book IX, 35, 2

"...I assert is that not only the Thessalians, but the rest of the Greeks owed their safety to Philip."
Polybius, Book IX, 33, 3

"...because he (Philip) was the benefactor of Greece, that they all chose him commander-in-chief both on sea and land, an honour previously conferred on no one."
Polybius, Book IX, 33, 7

"...he (Alexander) inflicted punishment on the Persians for their outrages on all the Greeks, and how he delivered us all from the greatest evils by enslaving the barbarians and depriving them of the resources they used for the destruction of the Greeks, pitting now the Athenians and now the Thebans against the ancestors of these Spartans, how in a word he made Asia subject to Greece."
Polybius, Book IX, 34, 3

[Ptolemy]

ISOCRATES

"...How could they (the Macedonians) prove themselves more philhellines with what they did so as the rest (the other Greeks) would not be occupied..."

Isocrates, Panigirikos, 96


"...It is your privilege, as one who has been blessed with untrammeled freedom, to consider all Hellas your fatherland, as did the founder of your race..."

Isocrates, To Philip, 127


"Argos is the land of your fathers, and is entitled to as much consideration at your hands as are your own ancestors..."

Isocrates, To Philip, 32


"Now I am not unaware that many of the Hellenes look upon the King's power as invincible. Yet one may well marvel at them if they really believe that the power which was subdued to the will of a mere barbarian--an ill-bred barbarian at that--and collected in the cause of slavery, could not be scattered by A MAN OF THE BLOOD OF HELLAS, of ripe experience in warfare, in the cause of freedom--and that too although they know that while it is in all cases difficult to construct a thing, to destroy it is, comparatively, an easy task.

Bear in mind that the men whom the world most admires and honors are those who unite in themselves the abilities of the statesman and the general. When, therefore, you see the renown which even in a single city is bestowed on men who possess these gifts, what manner of eulogies must you expect to hear spoken of you, when AMONG ALL THE HELLENES you shall stand forth as a statesman who has worked for the good of Hellas, and AS A GENERAL WHO HAS OVERTHROWN THE BARBARIANS?"

[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, "To Philip", 5.139, 5.140]


"Well, if I were trying to present this matter to any others before having broached it to my own country, WHICH HAS THRICE FREED HELLAS-twice from the barbarians and ONCE FROM THE LACEDAEMONIAN YOKE--I should confess my error. In truth, however, it will be found that I turned to Athens first of all and endeavored to win her over to this cause with all the earnestness of which my nature is capable,2 but when I perceived that she cared less for what I said than for the ravings of the platform orators,3 I gave her up, although I did not abandon my efforts."

[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, "To Philip", 5.129]


"The Lacedaemonians were the leaders of the Hellenes, not long ago, on both land and sea, and yet they suffered so great a reversal of fortune when they met defeat at Leuctra that they were deprived of their power over the Hellenes, and lost such of their warriors as chose to die rather than survive defeat at the hands of those over whom they had once been masters."

[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, "To Philip", 5.47]


"As I continued to say many things of this tenor, those who heard me were inspired with the hope that when my discourse should be published you and the Athenians would bring the war to an end, and, having conquered your pride, would adopt some policy for your mutual good. Whether indeed they were foolish or sensible in taking this view is a question for which they, and not I, may fairly be held to account; but in any case, while I was still occupied with this endeavour, you and Athens anticipated me by making peace before I had completed my discourse; and you were wise in doing so, for to conclude the peace, no matter how, was better than to continue to be oppressed by the evils engendered by the war. [8] But although I was in joyful accord with the resolutions which were adopted regarding the peace, and was convinced that they would be beneficial, not only to us, BUT ALSO TO YOU AND ALL THE OTHER HELLENES, I could not divorce my thought from the possibilities connected with this step, but found myself in a state of mind where I began at once to consider how the results which had been achieved might be made permanent for us, and how our city could be prevented from setting her heart upon further wars, after a short interval of peace."

[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, "To Philip", 5.8]

[Ptolemy]

PLUTARCH

Plutarch, "Moralia"

"Alexander lived many hundred years ago. He was king of Macedon, one of the states of Greece. His life was spent in war. He first conquered the other Grecian states, and then Persia, and India, and other countries one by one, till the whole known world was conquered by him. It is said that he wept, because there were no more worlds for him to conquer. He died, at the age of thirty-three, from drinking too much wine. In consequence of his great success in war, he was called Alexander the Great."

(Plutarch’s, Moralia, On the Fortune of Alexander, I, 328D, 329A [Loeb, F.C. Babbitt])

"...Yet through Alexander (the Great) Bactria and the Caucasus learned to revere the gods of the Greeks… Alexander established more than seventy cities among savage tribes, and sowed all Asia with Greek magistracies... Egypt would not have its Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia its Seleucia, nor Sogdiana its Prophthasia, nor India its Bucephalia, nor the Caucasus a Greek city, for by the founding of cities in these places savagery was extinguished and the worse element, gaining familiarity with the better, changed under its influence..."

[Plutarch's Moralia, On the Fortune of Alexander I, 328D, 329A (Loeb, F.C. Babbitt)]

"But he said, ‘If I were not Alexandros, I should be Diogenes’; that is to say: `If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things HELLENIC, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, TO PUSH THE BOUNDS OF MACEDONIA TO THE FARTHEST OCEAN, AND TO DISSEMINATE AND SHOWER THE BLESSINGS OF HELLENIC JUSTICE and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and DESIRE THAT VICTORIOUS HELLENES SHOULD DANCE AGAIN
in India [...]"

[Plutarch's Moralia, On the Fortune of Alexander, 332A (Loeb, F.C Babbitt)]

[Ptolemy]

and the Athenians were not ready to concede the leading position among the Greeks to Macedon.

[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.3.2]

Similarly, the Thebans voted to drive out the garrison in the Cadmeia and not to concede to Alexander the leadership of the Greeks.

[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.3.4]

First he [Alexander] dealt with the Thessalians, reminding them of his ancient relationship to them through Heracles

[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.1]

where he convened the assembly of the Amphictyons and had them pass a resolution granting him the leadership of the Greeks

[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.2]

He [Demosthenes] was generally believed to have received large sums of money from that source [King of Persian] in payment for his efforts to check the Macedonians and indeed Aeschines is said to have referred to this in a speech when he taunted Demosthenes with his venality:At the moment, it is true, his extravagance has been glutted by the king's gold, but even this will not satisfy him; no wealth has ever proved sufficient for a greedy character

[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.8]

he spoke to them in moderate terms and had them pass a resolution appointing him general plenipotentiary of the Greeks and undertaking themselves to join in an expedition against Persia seeking satisfaction for the offences which the Persians had committed against Greece

[Diodorus of Sicily, 17.4.9]

[Ptolemy]

Here are many quotes from "The Campaigns of Alexander" by Arrian sent to me by a friend.

1)page 42, paragraph 1, lines 3-9

The story goes that Alexander, upon his succession to the throne, went into the Peloponnese, where he assembled all the Greeks in that part of the country and asked them for the command of the campaign against Persia, which they had previously granted to Phillip.

(he says in "that part of the country" refering to a Macedonian and all other Greeks. Otherwise he would have just stated "where he assembled all the Greeks of the Peloponnese". But he didn't he said "that part of the country")

2)page 103, paragraph 1, lines 2-4

They then sent a demand to the islanders for the abrogation of their agreements with Alexander and the Greeks.

(Note he didn't say ALexander and the Macedonians"

3)page 127, paragraph 1, lines 1-4

Your ancestors invaded Macedonia and Greece and caused havoc in 'OUR' country...As supreme commander of all Greece I invaded Asia because I wished to punish Persia for this act.

(Notice he says our country, refering to all the different city-states)

4)same page, lines 15-17,

...your agents corrupted my friends and tried to wreck the peace which I established in Greece...

5)page 131, par.3, lines 6-9

With our army on the track of Darius, far inland, in the direction of Babylon, the Persians might well regain control of the coast, and thus be enabled with more power behind them to transfer the war to Greece...

(this refering to his country)

Speaking about the founding of Alexandria

6)page 149, par. 1, lines 10-14

He himself designed the general layout of the new town, indicating the position of the market square, the number of temples to be built, and what gods they should serve - the gods of Greece Egyptian Isis...

(Notice he said Greek gods not Macedonian)

New topic

7)page 174, par. 2, lines 1-2

Here in Susa, Alexander offered the traditional sacrifices and celebrated games and a torch race;

(These are all tradionally Greek)

Mercenaries

8)page 187, par. 2, lines 17-21

...Alexander categorically refused Greek soldiers, he maintained, who fought for the Persians against their own country were little better than criminals and had acted contrary to the resolutions of Greece.

9)page 228, par. 1, lines 9-12

His own thoughts were at present with India, and he pointed out that once India was his he would be master of all Asia, after which his intention was to return to Greece and to make from thence an expedition to the Black Sea region...

(He says Greece not Macedonia, like it Alexanders homeland.)

Hyphasis

10)page 367, par. 2, lines 1-3

Craterus' instructions were to take them home and on arrival there, to assume control of Macedonia, Thrace and Thessaly and assure the freedom of Greece.

(he didn't say the freedom of Macedonia.)

11)pg. 292, par. 3, lines 3-7

But let me remind you: through your courage and endurance you have gained possession of Ionia, the Hellespont, both Phrygias, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Lydia, Caria, Lycia, Pamphylia, Phoenicia and Egypt; the Greek part of Libya is now yours...

(If he was speaking to non-Greeks he would not have said "the Greek part of Libya" because Libya was part of Egypt. This shows that when he was speaking to his troops his was talking to them as Greeks.)

12)pg.294, par.2, lines 1-2

Are you not aware that if Heracles, my ancestor, had gone no further than Tiryns or Argos...

13)pg.294, par.2, lines 13-17

...living at ease in Macedon, merely to guard our homes, accepting no burden beyond checking the encroachment of the Thracians on our borders, or ILLYRIANS, and Tribullians, or perhaps SUCH Greeks as might prove a menace to our comfort?

(He says "such Greeks" like they are Greeks themselves refering to other Greek city-states. The Greek city-states always fought each other.)

Battle of Granicus

14)pg.76, par.1, lines 11-14

...sent to Athens 300 full suits of armour, with the following inscription: 'Alexander, son of Phillip, and the Greeks(except the Lacedaemonians) dedicate these spoils, taken from the Persians who dwell in Asia.

(The inscription refers to Alexander as being the son of Phillip and the Greeks, thus refering to his parentage and heritage)


15)pg.219, par.2, lines 11-14

...Dionysus belonged to Thebes, and Heracles to Argos - the latter's only connection with Macedon was through Alexander, who had his blood in his veins.

(Heracles was Greek and Olympias was part of the cult of Dionysus, who was of Thebes(Greeks))

God or Man?

16)pg.221, par.2, lines 7-9

...but of Phillip's son, a man with the blood of Heracles and Aeacus in his veins.

(Aeacus is the grandfather of Achilles who was the ancestor of Olympias, who was the daughter of Neoptolemos, the king of Epirus. Note the name and family line are all Greek.)

17)pg.221, par.2, lines 6-8

I beg you, Alexander, to remember Greece, it was for her sake alone, that you might add Asia to her empire, that you undertook this campaign.

(You will notice he said "to remember Greece...for her sake alone, that you might add Asia to HER EMPIRE(Greece)..." He never said to add to the Macedonian empire.)

[pankration]

As we on this site and others engage ourselves in endless debate with the FYROM revisionists we cite historical records from hundreds of sources to prove our point. Our intellectual adversaries do the same. We both think we're right and present (manipulate?) evidence to prove it. What we Greeks sometimes fail to do is make one important point that easily overrides the claims the FYROM supporters make to Alexander's ancestry: ALEXANDER IN EVERY SPEECH, EVERY CORRESPONDENCE AND EVERY CHALLENGE CLAIMED GREEK HERITAGE DATING BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS. ALEXANDER, IN HIS MIND WAS GREEK. HE SPOKE IT, HE LIVED IT AND FOR THE LOVE OF IT SPREAD IT THROUGHOUT THE KNOWN WORLD. A non-Greek Macedonian (is there such a thing in the ancient world) would have imposed HIS culture on Hellas, not the other way around. No conqueror of note, regardless of origin or era, has ever taken over another country so that he could adopt its culture. Accept it: Alexander the Great was Greek. He would run a sword up your ass and out your ears if he heard you saying otherwise.

[PhiliptheUniterchaeronea]

So very true. Literally true.With a speach like that we should call you Dioxupus.

By the way Pankration, how's the sequel to PATRIDA going? How about your website? I will give it another plug, www.fightingbest.com

Hope they make the novels into movies. I really enjoyed PATRIDA.

[pankration]

Thanks to sites like this the information-gathering required to write an historical novel becomes much easier. To maintain our historical integrity I want to make the sequel to Patrida as accurate as possible within a novel format. So as you and your colleagues in this forum post articles and other sources, I am bookmarking them, making notes and creating a story. The sequel will follow Dioxippus into Asia with Alexander so I am particularly interested in the various campaigns. But I would especially like information on the ordinary people who inhabited Asia Minor. I want this novel to be written from the point of view of the "grunt" in Alexander's army. So if you guys can help, post here or go to the websites' feedback forms.
The magazine (which always has a Greek component) <www.fightingbest.com> or
<www.pankration-novel-patrida.com>

[Ptolemy]

One more i found from Polyvius 38.8

[quote]The 38th book contains the completion of the disaster of the Hellenes. For though both the whole of Hellas and her several parts had often met with mischance, yet to none of her former defeats can we more fittingly apply, the name of disaster with all it signifies than to the events of my own time. In the time I am speaking of a comon misfortune befell the Peloponnesians, the Boiotians, the Phokians, the Euboians, the Lokrians, some of the cities on the Ionians Gulf, and finally the Macedonians."

[akritas]

He set the Persian palace on fire, even though parmenio urged him to save it, arguing that it was not right to destroy his own property, and that the Asians would not thus devote themselves to him, if he seemed determined not to rule Asia, but only to pass through as a conqueror.

but Alexander replied that he intended to punish the persians for their invasion of Greece, the destruction of Athens, the burning of the temples, and all manner of terrible things done to the Greeks: because of these things, he was exacting revenge.

but Alexander does not seem to me to have acted prudently, nor can it be regarded as any kind of punishment upon Persians of long ago.

[Arrian Anab. 3. 18. 11-12].