VI – PREHISTORIC MACEDONIA - Part 02

Even though Ionia gave birth to Herodotus (485-425 BC), the so-called “father of history” it was the merits of Thucydides (460-400) of Athens which lifted historiography to an enviable level and created a masterpiece, one of the largest in antiquity. Thucydides (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, s. II, 99, Dereta, Belgrade, 1991) in his works where he wrote about the war between king Sitalko Odrizhanin and the Macedonian king Perdiccas II in 429 BC, he also wrote about some regions in Macedonia. Here is what he said: “Counted among the Macedonians were also the “Linkesti” and “Elimeici” as well as other people from the upper side, who are their allies who have been subdued, but still have their own kingdoms. Today’s Macedonia near the sea was first acquired by Alexander, father of Perdiccas whose Temenid ancestors originated from Argos a long time ago, and became kings after the battle, chasing the Pierians out of Pieria, who later settled under Pangeia over the Strymon Farget and other places…, and the Botians from Botia who now live in the neighbourhood of the Halkigiani.

The Macedonians acquired a narrow piece of land from the Peonians located along the length of the River Aksios, which stretched from the interior to Pela and to the sea, and over the Aksios up to Strymon where they ruled over the so-called Migdonia persecuting the Edonians. They drove out the Eordians from present today Eordia, during which time many were lost, one small part of them which survived settled around Fisk. They also drove the Almopians out of Almopia. Those Macedonians also overpowered the remaining tribes that lived in Antemunt, Krestonia and Bizaltia and still rule over them. All these lands are now called Macedonia, and Perdiccas son of Alexander, was their king when Sitalko began his attacks on them”.

From this it can be concluded that even in the prehistoric and ancient period there were differentiated socio-political regions in Macedonia.

Geopolitical Regions in Ancient Macedonia

Upper Macedonia

Oristida, Elimeia, Linkestida, Pelagonia, Deuriop, Desaret, Atintania, Timfaia, Paravaia, Bordaia.

Lower Macedonia

Amatia (Ematia), Pieria, Botiaia, Almpija, Amfiaksitida, Migdonia Eastern Macedonia

Krestonia, Edonia, Bisaltia, Pieria, Parorbelia, Halkidiki, Sintika, Peonia, Odomantika

According to Herodotus, the founder of the Argead Macedonian dynasty, who had a state-building role, was king Temen (Temenus) from Argos in Orestida. Unfortunately Herodotus says nothing about his genealogy. Plutarch (46-160 BC) of Heronia in Boeotia, the last Greek writer of any importance, in his famous book “Parallel Biographies” wrote: “Alexander of Macedon by the descent of his father was a descendant of Heracles, over Karan (Caranus)”. (Plutarchus, Vitae parallelae (прев. Напоредни животописи), III, 1, 2, Загреб, 1988)

With regards to Karan, Tiopomp (380 BC), another Greek historian from Chios, in his works entitled “History of Philip of Macedonia”, pointed out that Karan was an eight generation descendant from Hercules’s great grandson Temen who moved from Argos in Orestida ( Rupishte) to Edessa (Voden).

In his chapter about Boetia, Pausanias (Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, IX, 40, (прев. Пасини: Водич низ Хелада), Логос, Сплит, 1989) wrote about the city Chaeronea, which in earlier times was called “Arna” named after Eol’s daughter. Here he said: “It was not customary for Macedonians to erect monuments. Nevertheless the Macedonians spoke about the Macedonian king Karan having defeated Pelasgian king Kisei, who ruled a neighbouring country. Back then, in honour of his victory, Karan erected a monument according to Argivian (Argos Orestikón) tradition. But according to oral accounts, days later a Lion came down from Olympus and knocked down the monument and disappeared. Karan, they said, took that as a sign that it was no good to exhibit hatred towards the neighbouring barbarians, so he made a rule for himself and for future Macedonian kings not to erect such monuments after victories against nations. This was also confirmed by Alexander who did not erect any monuments, not even after his victory over Darius, and not after he conquered India.”

Regarding the language spoken by the Macedonians when preparing for talks with the Persian leader Mardonius during the war against the Greeks at Platea in 479 BC, Herodotus (Херодот, Историја, VIII, 133-135, Матица Српска, Београд, 1988) said: “They spoke in king Karan’s language”. Here is some more information: “... and Mardonius found himself in Thessaly for the winter. From there he sent a person named Mii, from Europe (from a town in Macedonia, to the right of Aksios), to go to the Oracle… he went directly to the temple of Apollo Ptoiski... which belonged to the Thebans and was located behind Lake Kopaida. And when this Mii entered the temple, three Theban citizens entered with him. These three were sent there by Theban city authorities to note everything that the Oracle said to Mii. The Oracle immediately began to speak but in a foreign language. The Thebans who were listening to the Oracle found themselves mystified. Instead of hearing the Hellenic language, they were hearing a language that they could not understand so they did not know what was said. But Mii, from Europe, pulled out a tablet and wrote down everything the Oracle said, because the Oracle was speaking in king Karan’s language. After he had written what the Oracle said, Mii immediately left for Thessaly.”

King “Kisei”, mentioned earlier, was an eponimecal hero of the mountain and city named “Kisos” (Kissos) located near today’s Solun (Strabo, Geographia, p. 729, Meineke, Lipsiae, I, II, III, 1913; Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to-Proistoriko Algaio, p. 180, Athina, 1954) in Krestonia and Migdonia where Pelasgian colonists from the Caucasus lived. The above mentioned city Kisos, now called Kisseh, is located between Batum and Trapezung. The Macedonian city Kisos is also mentioned in relation to the god Dionysus, where he stopped with his companions when he began his victorious campaign of travel. There, Dionysus acquired many followers and was crowned with a wreath of ivy and received the title “Dionysus Kissos”.

Given that Dionysus’s teacher Silen was a guest of king Midas at Bermion, and taking into consideration that the Brigians had left Macedonia before the Trojan War of 1193 BC, then the battle between Macedonian king Karan and Pelasgin king Kisei chronologically must have taken place before the Trojan War, and after Hercules’s adventures in Hyporborea, the country of the Scythians or proto-Slavs. Hercules had a son named “Skit” (Scythian) with Echidna, queen of the Hileia. According to Herodotus (Херодот, Историја, IV, 6-10, Матица Српска, Београд, 1988) “all Scythian kings have descended from Skit, this Herculean son”. This includes king Karan, the entire Macedonian Argide dynasty and Alexander the Great of Macedonia.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (905-959 AD), Byzantine Emperor from 913 AD, used old sources to research the origin of the Byzantine System and on a tract “About the Themes” (Porphyrogenitus, Peri ton thematon -De thematibus) gave a picture of the geography of the kingdom in the VI century. On theme 2 he wrote about Macedonia and said: “Macedonia was named after Macedon son of Zeus and Tia, Deukalion’s daughter, who, according to Hesiod, gave Zeus two sons - Macedon and Magnet...” Hellanikos (Hellanikos, V century BC, of Mytilene of Lesbos who has published 23 books), however, believes that Macedon was Eol’s son. And that the Macedonians who then lived alone with the Mizimi received their name from this Macedon, son of Eol…

“The Macedonian empire began to strengthen during Karan, Hercules’s third son’s rule and became very powerful during Philip II, and especially during Alexander the Greats’ (336-323 BC) rule, a time when the Macedonian Empire became huge, stretching to the ends of the known world…” In addition to the enormous historiography written about the autochthonous Third Macedonian Dynasty as a whole, there are also rich archaeological discoveries which confirm the unique identity of the Macedonians. The archeological discoveries by Andronikos (1985) in the Vergina (Kutlesh) site, near the Haliakmon (Bistrica) River, are well-known and greatly publicized. Similarly, there is the rich and famous Trebilishte Locality archaeological site where an ancient helmet with the “Star of Vergina” on it and other artifacts were found near a grave site. There are also similar archeological sites in Tetovo, Gevgelia, Ohrid, Bitola etc. that prove that towards the end of the VI and the beginning of the V century BC, Macedonia was hit by a new wave of cultural and artistic understanding of an autochthonous nature. These artifacts are proof that Macedonia at that time was the Central Cultural Broadcasting Centre. This enables a comparative analysis between archaeological material evidence and linguistic data, which supports a connection between culture, language and ethnos.

The newest archaeological discoveries in Ohrid and in Solun have confirmed that Macedonia was experiencing a “golden age” during Alexander the Greats’ time. There are rare artifacts from that period also found by Macedonian archeologist Pasko Kuzman in Ohrid during the reconstruction of the St. Clement Church in Plaoshnik Locality and during digs at Samuel’s Fortress in Ohrid. Pasko Kuzman revealed details of these findings during an interview published by “Vest”, a daily newspaper, on April 23 and 24 in 2005. Besides those mentioned above, there are also other archaeological sites and many other discoveries in Macedonia such as a variety of jewelry made of glass, amber and gold and all sorts of coins. Also discovered were a golden death mask and a golden hand which were dated to the first half of the V century BC. Similarly, glass vessels ornamented with the “Sun of Vergina”, coins with Macedonian shields, and many other such objects, were found with all kinds of Ancient Macedonian symbols. Based on the aforementioned, we can conclude that: “St. Kliment is our Troy”. Also discovered in Samuel’s Fortress in Ohrid was a bronze figurine of Hercules wearing the skin of a lion. By use of the skin of a lion Alexander the Great too identified with Hercules.

On October 17, 2008 the Belgrade newspaper “Blits” published a “Daily Mail” report (JC) entitled “A discovery at the birthplace of the great military leader - The Golden Age of Alexander the Great”. Along with the story there was a photograph published showing an overview of the site where 14 ancient tombs were discovered while a new metro line was being constructed in Solun. The report detailed comments made by archeologist Hrisostomos P. who said that a total of 43 tombs belonging to soldiers were discovered in Pela, Alexander’s birthplace. These soldiers lived during the period from 580 to 460 BC. Some soldiers were buried with their bronze helmets on their heads and beside them were deposits of iron swords and knives. Their eyes, mouth and chests were covered with richly decorated gold foil with drawings of lions... The discovered tombs confirm the assumption that overseas trade was developed very early, even in the second half of the VII century BC... Archaeologists, in the framework of this project, will have a chance to explore 915 such graves...

By summarizing the information we have on the Ancient Argaid Macedonian Dynasty of the Temenids of Orestida, we can reach the following conclusion: While the first two “Devine Dynasties” originated from the god Osiris or Zeus, the Third Dynasty received its origin from Heracles, the son of Zeus, a well-known and celebrated hero of the then world.

From the kings who were born from gods we have the toponym “Macedonia” and the ethnonym “Macedonians”. We have the language of the Paleo Balkan Glossology preserved throughout the entire Balkans. We have their own mythology and their own Pannonian gods whose names were preserved in the Danube hydronym system, and whom they later placed at the peak of Mount Olympus.

With the migration of the Temenids, who according to Thucydides (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, c, II, 99 Dereta, Belgrade, 1991) “originated from Argos a long time ago… and who by way of war forced out the Pierians from Pieria... the Boeotians out of Beotia... the Eorgiani… Almopi... and those same Macedonians ruled over the remaining tribes who were still left on those lands… and a large part of Macedonian lands. All this together was called Macedonia and king Perdiccas son of Alexander was their king…” Since the Temenids were descendants of the Scythian king Skit and Skit was the son of Heracles and Ehidna, the next chapter will be devoted to the Scythians or proto-Slavs.