Post by albpaion on Nov 25, 2011 19:02:50 GMT -5
The Dorian extraction of Macedones and their relations with Thracians
By: Musë Gurabia
© www.albpelasgian.com
© www.arberiaonline.com
Instead of introduction
The question whether the ancient Macedones were Greeks or not has triggered endless debates among scholarship since XIXth century onwards. The attempts to solve that puzzle were not always of scholar motivation: the involving of modern nationalism in historical domains has tangled the whole issue of Macedones. The question of the actual racial origins of the ancient Macedonians cannot be answered adequately on the basis of the language or of social and religious customs in historical times.
It is, however, historically an unprofitable question, which has only gained in importance in modern times because it has been taken up by nationalists of all kinds in the Balkans and elsewhere and exploited, according to the answer, in the service of territorial and other claims. Hence it is not surprise at all to find out senseless claims either by Greeks and Slavs of Macedonia, whose purpose is to usurp the throne of historical owner of Macedonia.
A scholar who enters on such debate does not have an easy task: first and foremost, he must necessarily refrain from taking any biased political position. What does this mean? The nationalist historiographies systematically have abused with the ancient testimonies and archeological excavations by enhancing the importance of some details in expense of others. Without any scruple, Greek nationalist freaks carry infamous signs like: “Μακεδονία 4000 χρόνια ελληνικής ιστορίας και πολιτισμού (Macedonia: 4000 Years of Greek History and Civilization). In a burst of national pride, they are going to ascribe deceitfully an artificial Hellenism to Macedonia; thereby to justify their nationalist policies in Macedonia.
Actually we have received a number of ancient sources that have been preserved through millennia, who at least are profuse in number. But at the same time, they are quite vague and not clear references; as a matter of fact, the scholars drew up different interpretations. Although the situation is not as hopeless as it seem at the first glimpse: one who is going to dedicate his time on searching the roots of Macedones has to sift with great of caution the ancient sources by omitting corrupted parts.
Who were the Dorians?
It has been assumed that Macedonians owe their origin to the tribes which later were identified as primarily Dorian. In the period which followed the unstable Iron Age, Dorians were established on both sides of the northern extension of the Pindus range. Being restricted into barren mountains, the Proto-Dorians were fond to acquire new arable lands. The trajectory of their migration is treated by a number of scholars in different ways. But all of them principally agree that this migration begun from Pindus range (probably in the early seventh century) with the ultimate destination to the fertile plain of Emathia.
The proponents of Greek origin of Macedones base their claim largely on the groundless assumption that Dorian pool was Greek speaking from the very outset. This assumption led them naturally to suggest that Macedonians were Greeks, although not the same with the rest of Greeks. Such a conclusion leaves much to be desired.
Dorians, to begin with, were a conglomeration of tribes who established themselves as overlords of a large section of historical Greece. Scholars still are unsure about the primordial homeland of Dorians: the Dorians were thought to have come from Northern Danubian regions. Dalmatia and Pannonia might have been the very first seats of them before they swamp into southern part of Balkans.
An Illyrian component among them is recognized by a various range of scholars. According to the tradition, there were three main Dorian tribes: Ὑλλέας καὶ Παμφύλους καὶ Δυμανάτας (Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanatai). Ps-Scylax in his geographical description of eastern shores of Adriatic gives some valuable hints on what we may justly call as Proto-Dorians:
[22]: “The barbarians called Lotus-eaters are the following: Hierastamnai, Boulinoi (Hyllinoi), coterminous with Boulinoi the Hylloi. And these say Hyllos son of Herakles settled them: and they are barbarians. [...] And Boulinoi are an Illyric nation”.
[22]: Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ λωτοφάγοι καλούμενοι βάρβαροι οἵδε• Ἱεραστάμναι, Βουλινοὶ Ὑλλινοί• Βουλινῶν ὁμοτέρμονεςὝλλοι. Οὗτοι δέ φασιν Ὕλλον τὸν Ἡρακλέους αὐτοὺς κατοικίσαι• εἰσὶ δὲ βάρβαροι. [...]Βουλινοὶ δ᾽ εἰσὶν ἔθνος Ἰλλυρικόν.
This leaves some room to doubt that Proto-Dorians seemingly were similar to the historical Illyrians since they used to live in the same territories. There is absolutely no reliable evidence to attribute any Greek origin to them while it is apparently known that Greeks as an ethnos were not yet consolidated. Thucydides tries to recount this chaotic state:
[1.3]: “The feebleness of antiquity is further proved to me by the circumstance that there appears to have been no common action in Hellas before the Trojan War. And I am inclined to think that the very name was not as yet given to the whole country, and in fact did not exist at all before the time of Hellen, the son of Deucalion; the different tribes, of which the Pelasgian was the most widely spread, gave their own names to different districts”.
[1.3]: δηλοῖ δέ μοι καὶ τόδε τῶν παλαιῶν ἀσθένειαν οὐχ ἥκιστα: πρὸγὰρ τῶν Τρωικῶν οὐδὲν φαίνεται πρότερον κοινῇ ἐργασαμένη ἡἙλλάς: [2] δοκεῖ δέ μοι, οὐδὲ τοὔνομα τοῦτο ξύμπασά πω εἶχεν,ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν πρὸ Ἕλληνος τοῦ Δευκαλίωνος καὶ πάνυ οὐδὲ εἶναιἡ ἐπίκλησις αὕτη, κατὰ ἔθνη δὲ ἄλλα τε καὶ τὸ Πελασγικὸν ἐπὶπλεῖστον ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτῶν τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν παρέχεσθαι
Pausanias reports that Dorian expedition took place two generation later after the Trojan War:
[4.3.3 ]: “After the conclusion of the Trojan war and the death of Nestor after his return home, the Dorian expedition and return of the Heracleidae, which took place two generations later, drove the descendants of Nestor from Messenia”.
[4.3.3]: διαπολεμηθέντος δὲ τοῦ πρὸς Ἴλιον πολέμου καὶ Νέστορος ὡς ἐπανῆλθεν οἴκαδε τελευτήσαντος, Δωριέων στόλος καὶ ἡ κάθοδος Ἡρακλειδῶν γενομένη δύο γενεαῖς ὕστερον ἐξέβαλε τοὺς Νηλέως ἀπογόνους ἐκ τῆς Μεσσηνίας.
However, this does not explain for instance what was the ethnic relation of Dorians with the old inhabitants like Achaians who got heavily contracted in the most barren sections of the country. Strabo makes it explicit that many of the former inhabitants were simply driven out by the newcomers:
[009.001.007]: But after the return of the Heracleidae and the partitioning of the country, it came to pass that many of the former inhabitants were driven out of their homelands into Attica by the Heracleidae and the Dorians who came back with them.
[009.001.007]: μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν κάθοδον καὶ τὸν τῆς χώρας μερισμὸν ὑπ’ αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν συγκατελθόντων αὐτοῖς Δωριέων ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς οἰκείας συνέβη πολλοὺς εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν
It is quite plausible that Dorians were at least perceived as not having the slightest tie with the Achaians. With the drift of time, they were apparently influenced by the much-advanced Achaians to the degree they were assimilated.
[Herodotus: 68]: Thus he had done to Adrastos; and he also changed the names of the Dorian tribes, in order that the Sikyonians might not have the same tribes as the Argives; in which matter he showed great contempt of the Sikyonians, for the names he gave were taken from the names of a pig and an ass by changing only the endings”.
[Herodotus: 68]: ταῦτα μὲν ἐς Ἄδρηστόν οἱ ἐπεποίητο, φυλὰς δὲ τὰς Δωριέων, ἵνα δὴ μὴ αἱ αὐταὶ ἔωσι τοῖσι Σικυωνίοισι καὶ τοῖσι Ἀργείοισι, μετέβαλε ἐς ἄλλα οὐνόματα. ἔνθα καὶ πλεῖστον κατεγέλασε τῶν Σικυωνίων• ἐπὶ γὰρ ὑός τε καὶ ὄνου τὰς ἐπωνυμίας μετατιθεὶς αὐτὰ τὰ τελευταῖα ἐπέθηκε, πλὴν τῆς ἑωυτοῦ φυλῆς• ταύτῃ δὲ τὸ οὔνομα ἀπὸ τῆς ἑωυτοῦ ἀρχῆς ἔθετο
It is again Strabo who points out that Dorians lost the intercourse with the rest of Dorians, and as a matter of fact they were no longer a part of the same tribe as before:
[Strabo 008.001.002]: “...the Dorians too, since they were few in number and lived in a most rugged country, have, because of their lack of intercourse with others, changed their speech and their other customs to the extent that they are no longer a part of the same tribe as before. And this was precisely the case with the Athenians”.
[Strabo 008.001.002]: “…καὶ τοὺς Δωριέας δὲ ὀλίγους ὄντας καὶ τραχυτάτην οἰκοῦντας χώραν εἰκός ἐστι τῷ ἀνεπιμίκτῳ παρατρέψαι τὴν γλῶτταν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἔθη πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὁμογενές, ὁμογενεῖς πρότερον ὄντας. τοῦτο δ’ αὐτὸ καὶ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις συνέβη”.
The mutual animosity between Dorians and Achaians lasted as we may infer from ancient sources at least until the Classical period. According to Herodotus, Dorians were strictly prohibited from entering to the Achaian temples on the grounds they were foreigners. According to him, Cleomenes tried to trick the women priests by faking his origin: “Woman, I am not a Dorian, but an Achaian.” ( «ὦ γύναι, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ Δωριεύς εἰμι ἀλλ᾽ Ἀχαιός.»).
It should be duly pointed out that there was a gigantic gap between the external name of a tribe and its real origin. It was a common practice in the very antiquity to label a people on the basis of a noteworthy king. We may note in passing, Eurpides in his ‘Archelaus’ who has preserved an interesting glimpse which cast some light to our idea:
“Danaus, who was the father of fifty daughters, having arrived in Argos inhabited the city of Inachus, and made a law that those who had before borne the name of Pelasgiotæ throughout Greece should be called Danai.”
Also we have seen in the quoted fragment of Herodotus, the Sikyonians desired to count themselves as equal with the Arigives. For that purpose, Adrastos is said to have changed only the endings of names. This seems to suggest that Hellenism (if we are to use the Classical connotation of the term) never affected Dorians, who preserved a distinct individuality during all the time.
Let us turn back to the scope of chapter. Does the Dorian extraction of Macedones indicate any kind of Hellenism? The answer is a doubtless NO. We have squarely argued that Dorians got Hellenized during their intercourse with the Achaians to the level they were no longer similar with the rest of Dorians. Anyway, the warped assumption that the Dorians of Pindus were Greeks at that time is not sustained at best or groundless at worst.
It has been even assumed that historical Macedonians sprung from Southern Dorians on the grounds that the same southern toponymes could be found as well in Pindus:
[STRABO 008.003.031]: “…and they point out the site of the city on a lofty place between Ossa and Olympus, two mountains that bear the same name as those in Thessaly”.
[STRABO 008.003.031]: “…Πῖσαν εἰρῆσθαι, οἷον πίστραν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ ποτίστρα• τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἱδρυμένην ἐφ’ ὕψους δεικνύουσι μεταξὺ δυεῖν ὀροῖν, Ὄσσης καὶ Ὀλύμπου, ὁμωνύμων τοῖς ἐν Θετταλίᾳ”.
In all probability, a bunch of northern names (like Ossa, Olympus, etc) were spread most likely by any wave of Dorian wanderers. Their presence around the mount Olympus is backed up even by the authority of Diodorus Siculus. He furnishes us with the following excerpt:
[V.80.2]: “The third people to cross over to the island, we are told, were Dorians, under the leadership of Tectamus the son of Dorus; and the account states that the larger number of these Dorians was gathered from the regions about Olympus…”
[V.80.2]: τρίτον δὲ γένος φασὶ τῶν Δωριέων παραβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν νῆσον ἡγουμένου Τεκτάμου τοῦ Δώρου• τούτου δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ μέρος τὸ μὲν πλέον ἀθροισθῆναι λέγουσιν ἐκ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον τόπων”.
The Dorian extraction of Macedones is indicated originally from the authority of Herodotus who points out that people who later began to be called as Dorian dwelt initially in Pindos and were called “Makednian”:
[Herodotus, Book I. 56]: “…for in the reign of Deucalion this race dwelt in Pthiotis, and in the time of Doros the son of Hellen in the land lying below Ossa and Olympos, which is called Histiaiotis; and when it was driven from Histiaiotis by the sons of Cadmos, it dwelt in Pindos and was called Makednian; and thence it moved afterwards to Dryopis, and from Dryopis it came finally to Peloponnesus, and began to be called Dorian”.
[I,56]… ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ Δευκαλίωνος βασιλέος οἴκεε γῆν τὴν Φθιῶτιν, ἐπὶ δὲ Δώρου τοῦ Ἕλληνος τὴν ὑπὸ τὴν Ὄσσαν τε καὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον χώρην, καλεομένην δὲ Ἱστιαιῶτιν• ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἱστιαιώτιδος ὡς ἐξανέστη ὑπὸ Καδμείων, οἴκεε ἐν Πίνδῳ Μακεδνὸν καλεόμενον• ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ αὖτις ἐς τὴν Δρυοπίδα μετέβη καὶ ἐκ τῆς Δρυοπίδος οὕτω ἐς Πελοπόννησον ἐλθὸν Δωρικὸν ἐκλήθη.
If we are to believe Herodotus opinion, Dorians began to be called with this name in the moment they finally came to Peloponnesus. Hence it is not far from the truth that Macedones owe their origin not to Hellenized Dorians of Peloponnesus but to the ones living in Pindos.
The emergence of Macedonian ethnos: the story of Argeads
Much has been written for the establishment of Argead Macedones in the Emathia plain. The ancient writers were somehow more focused on the chief leaders rather than people around them. Herodotus in his story recounts the wanderings of three ‘Macedonian’ brothers and their itinerary:
[137]. Now of this Alexander the seventh ancestor was that Perdiccas who first became despot of the Macedonians, and that in the manner which here follows: From Argos there fled to the Illyrians three brothers of the descendents of Temenos, Gauanes, Aëropos, and Perdiccas; and passing over from the Illyrians into the upper parts of Macedonia they came to the city of Lebaia.
[137]. τοῦ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου τούτου ἕβδομος γενέτωρ Περδίκκης ἐστὶ ὁ κτησάμενος τῶν Μακεδόνων τὴν τυραννίδα τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. ἐξ Ἄργεος ἔφυγον ἐς Ἰλλυριοὺς τῶν Τημένου ἀπογόνων τρεῖς ἀδελφεοί, Γαυάνης τε καὶ Ἀέροπος καὶ Περδίκκης, ἐκ δὲ Ἰλλυριῶν ὑπερβαλόντες ἐς τὴν ἄνω Μακεδονίην ἀπίκοντο ἐς Λεβαίην πόλιν.
The link with the Peloponnesian Argos is either tenuous and is devoid from historical reality and as such it has been a subject of reproach. Robert M. Errington concedes:
“Herodotos, who probably visited Macedonia at the time of this Alexander, recounts the first, perhaps semiofficial, version, which depends on the similarity of sound between the name of the Peloponnesian town Argos and that of the royal famiy name Argeadai” (1990: 2).
Judging from the geographical description given by Herodotus, we may plainly invoke that this Argos is to be found in Orestia. Strabo gives additional hints on the foundation of that city:
[BookVII,8]: It is said that Orestes once took possession of Orestias – when in exile on account of the murder of his mother – and left the country bearing his name; and that he also founded a city and called it Argos Oresticum.
[BookVII,8]: λέγεται δὲ τὴν Ὀρεστιάδα κατασχεῖν ποτε Ὀρέστης φεύγων τὸν τῆς μητρὸς φόνον καὶ καταλιπεῖν ἐπώνυμον ἑαυτοῦ τὴν χώραν,κτίσαι δὲ καὶ πόλιν, καλεῖσθαι δ’ αὐτὴν Ἄργος Ὀρεστικόν.
The so-called ‘Argive’ Macedonians emerged most likely in the proximity of Ἰλλυριοὺς, Ἄργεος and Λεβαίην. Although we have slender evidences about the inhabitants of these districts, it can be safely conjectured that Illyrians prevailed there.
As a matter of fact, original Macedonians were more akin to them rather to any other people. All of these territories were constantly excluded from Hellas proper; the Greek presence is barely to be found at the period we are speaking about. As Argive Macedonians became a powerful clan they swamp eastwardly by conquering a multitude of tribes in the Emathia plain. For a clear picture of this expansion we have to utilize Thucydides records:
[2.99]: “Assembling in Doberus, they prepared for descending from the heights upon Lower Macedonia, where the dominions of Perdiccas lay; for the Lyncestae, Elimiots, and other tribes more inland, though Macedonians by blood and allies and, dependents of their kindred, still have their own separate governments. The country on the sea coast, now called Macedonia, was first acquired by Alexander, the father of Perdiccas, and his ancestors, originally Temenids from Argos.This was effected by the expulsion from Pieria of the Pierians, who afterwards inhabited Phagres and other places under Mount Pangaeus, beyond the Strymon indeed the country between Pangaeus and the sea is still called the Pierian gulf of the Bottiaeans, at present neighbors of the Chalcidians, from Bottia, and by the acquisition in Paeonia of a narrow strip along the river Axius extending to Pella and the sea; the district of Mygdonia, between the Axius and the Strymon, being also added by the expulsion of the Edonians. From Eordia also were driven the Eordians, most of whom perished, though a few of them still live round Physca, and the Almopians from Almopia. These Macedonians also conquered places belonging to the other tribes, which are still theirs— Anthemus, Crestonia, Bisaltia, and much of Macedonia proper. The whole is now called Macedonia, and at the time of the invasion of Sitalces, Perdiccas, Alexander’s son, was the reigning king.”
[2.99]:“ξυνηθροίζοντο οὖν ἐν τῇ Δοβήρῳ καὶ παρεσκευάζοντο, ὅπωςκατὰ κορυφὴν ἐσβαλοῦσιν ἐς τὴν κάτω Μακεδονίαν, ἧς ὁΠερδίκκας ἦρχεν. τῶν γὰρ Μακεδόνων εἰσὶ καὶ Λυγκησταὶκαὶ Ἐλιμιῶται καὶ ἄλλα ἔθνη ἐπάνωθεν, ἃ ξύμμαχα μέν ἐστιτούτοις καὶ ὑπήκοα, βασιλείας δ᾽ ἔχει καθ᾽ αὑτά. τὴν δὲ παρὰθάλασσαν νῦν Μακεδονίαν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Περδίκκου πατὴρ καὶοἱ πρόγονοι αὐτοῦ, Τημενίδαι τὸ ἀρχαῖον ὄντες ἐξ Ἄργους, πρῶτοιἐκτήσαντο καὶ ἐβασίλευσαν ἀναστήσαντες μάχῃ ἐκ μὲν ΠιερίαςΠίερας, οἳ ὕστερον ὑπὸ τὸ Πάγγαιον πέραν Στρυμόνος ᾤκησανΦάγρητα καὶ ἄλλα χωρία καὶ ἔτι καὶ νῦν Πιερικὸς κόλποςκαλεῖται ἡ ὑπὸ τῷ Παγγαίῳ πρὸς θάλασσαν γῆ, ἐκ δὲ τῆςΒοττίας καλουμένης Βοττιαίους, οἳ νῦν ὅμοροι Χαλκιδέωνοἰκοῦσιν: τῆς δὲ Παιονίας παρὰ τὸν Ἀξιὸν ποταμὸν στενήντινα καθήκουσαν ἄνωθεν μέχρι Πέλλης καὶ θαλάσσηςἐκτήσαντο, καὶ πέραν Ἀξιοῦ μέχρι Στρυμόνος τὴν Μυγδονίανκαλουμένην Ἠδῶνας ἐξελάσαντες νέμονται. ἀνέστησαν δὲκαὶ ἐκ τῆς νῦν Ἐορδίας καλουμένης Ἐορδούς, ὧν οἱ μὲν πολλοὶἐφθάρησαν, βραχὺ δέ τι αὐτῶν περὶ Φύσκαν κατῴκηται, καὶ ἐξἈλμωπίας Ἄλμωπας. ἐκράτησαν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν οἱΜακεδόνες οὗτοι, ἃ καὶ νῦν ἔτι ἔχουσι, τόν τε Ἀνθεμοῦντα καὶΚρηστωνίαν καὶ Βισαλτίαν καὶ Μακεδόνων αὐτῶν πολλήν. τὸ δὲξύμπαν Μακεδονία καλεῖται, καὶ Περδίκκας Ἀλεξάνδρουβασιλεὺς αὐτῶν ἦν ὅτε Σιτάλκης ἐπῄει.
The above excerpt does not satisfy our curiosity at all if the previous inhabitants were simply driven out or overlaid by the new rulers. Strabo candidly asserts that:
[ 7.5.11]: “But of all these tribes the Argeadae, as they are called, established themselves as master”.
[7. 5. 11]: “Vτούτων δὲ πάντων οἱ Ἀργεάδαι καλούμενοι κατέστησαν κύριοι”.
If the Strabo’s account carries any validity, then we may surmise that there was no massive expulsion of the native inhabitants. The adjacent areas around original seats of Macedonians are not to be ignored, as some desire. It is very common among Greek nationalist historians to dissociate original Macedonians from their nearby neighbors like Illyrians (the progenitors of modern Albanians), Bryghes and various Thracian tribes.
Macedonia’s first dwellers
The continuous intercourse with them had a great importance in the formation of classical Macedonians, which were strictly excluded from Greece, either in terms of ethnicity and geography. It would be an anomaly of its kind to consider that the traces of previous inhabitants were entirely lost with the arrival of Macedonians. We are going to reveal some of these mysterious tribes:
[Herodotus, VII,73]: “Now the Phrygians, as the Macedonians say, used to be called Brigians during the time that they were natives of Europe and dwelt with the Macedonians; but after they had changed into Asia, with their country they changed also their name and were called Phrygians”.
[Herodotus, VII,73]: οἱ δὲ Φρύγες, ὡς Μακεδόνες λέγουσι, ἐκαλέοντο Βρίγες χρόνον ὅσον Εὐρωπήιοι ἐόντες σύνοικοι ἦσαν Μακεδόσι, μεταβάντες δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην ἅμα τῇ χώρῃ καὶ τὸ οὔνομα μετέβαλον ἐς Φρύγας.
The ancient sources do not clarify about the identity of Bryghes, but nonetheless a couple of sources assign to them as Thracians. Hence, Strabo hammered home:
[7. 3.2]: “And the Phrygians themselves are Brigians, a Thracian tribe...”.
[7. 3.2]: καὶ αὐτοὶ δ’ οἱ Φρύγες Βρίγες εἰσί, Θρᾴκιόν τι ἔθνος…”.
The cultural impact of Bryghes, Mysians, Pierians and the rest of Thracians is yet to be interpreted. Optimistically, we can say that the examination of extant sources reveal that original Macedonians blended to a certain degree with the Thracians who previously occupied a large section of historical Macedonia. The stubbornness of classical Greeks to not accept Macedonians as their own is at least historically justified. The Hellenization of upper strata of Macedonian society was never enough as to eradicate the non-Greek component of Macedonian people.
Ancient sources:
1. Graham Shipley,The Periplous of Pseudo-Scylax: An Interim Translation, 2008
2. Thomas Hobbes, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
3. W. H. S. Jones and H. A. Ormero, Pausanias , Description of Greece
4. Loeb Classical Library edition, The Geography of Strabo
5. George Rawlinson, The History of Herodotus
Modern sources:
1. Robert Malcolm Errington, A history of Macedonia, University of California Press, 1990
2. M. V. Sakellariou, Macedonia, 4000 years of Greek history and civilization, Ekdotikè Athenon, 1992
3. Apostolos Vasileiou Daskalakēs, The Hellenism of the ancient Macedonians, Institute for Balkan Studies, 1965
Originally taken from: www.albpelasgian.com/the-dorian-extraction-of-macedones-and-their-relations-with-thracians.html
By: Musë Gurabia
© www.albpelasgian.com
© www.arberiaonline.com
Instead of introduction
The question whether the ancient Macedones were Greeks or not has triggered endless debates among scholarship since XIXth century onwards. The attempts to solve that puzzle were not always of scholar motivation: the involving of modern nationalism in historical domains has tangled the whole issue of Macedones. The question of the actual racial origins of the ancient Macedonians cannot be answered adequately on the basis of the language or of social and religious customs in historical times.
It is, however, historically an unprofitable question, which has only gained in importance in modern times because it has been taken up by nationalists of all kinds in the Balkans and elsewhere and exploited, according to the answer, in the service of territorial and other claims. Hence it is not surprise at all to find out senseless claims either by Greeks and Slavs of Macedonia, whose purpose is to usurp the throne of historical owner of Macedonia.
A scholar who enters on such debate does not have an easy task: first and foremost, he must necessarily refrain from taking any biased political position. What does this mean? The nationalist historiographies systematically have abused with the ancient testimonies and archeological excavations by enhancing the importance of some details in expense of others. Without any scruple, Greek nationalist freaks carry infamous signs like: “Μακεδονία 4000 χρόνια ελληνικής ιστορίας και πολιτισμού (Macedonia: 4000 Years of Greek History and Civilization). In a burst of national pride, they are going to ascribe deceitfully an artificial Hellenism to Macedonia; thereby to justify their nationalist policies in Macedonia.
Actually we have received a number of ancient sources that have been preserved through millennia, who at least are profuse in number. But at the same time, they are quite vague and not clear references; as a matter of fact, the scholars drew up different interpretations. Although the situation is not as hopeless as it seem at the first glimpse: one who is going to dedicate his time on searching the roots of Macedones has to sift with great of caution the ancient sources by omitting corrupted parts.
Who were the Dorians?
It has been assumed that Macedonians owe their origin to the tribes which later were identified as primarily Dorian. In the period which followed the unstable Iron Age, Dorians were established on both sides of the northern extension of the Pindus range. Being restricted into barren mountains, the Proto-Dorians were fond to acquire new arable lands. The trajectory of their migration is treated by a number of scholars in different ways. But all of them principally agree that this migration begun from Pindus range (probably in the early seventh century) with the ultimate destination to the fertile plain of Emathia.
The proponents of Greek origin of Macedones base their claim largely on the groundless assumption that Dorian pool was Greek speaking from the very outset. This assumption led them naturally to suggest that Macedonians were Greeks, although not the same with the rest of Greeks. Such a conclusion leaves much to be desired.
Dorians, to begin with, were a conglomeration of tribes who established themselves as overlords of a large section of historical Greece. Scholars still are unsure about the primordial homeland of Dorians: the Dorians were thought to have come from Northern Danubian regions. Dalmatia and Pannonia might have been the very first seats of them before they swamp into southern part of Balkans.
An Illyrian component among them is recognized by a various range of scholars. According to the tradition, there were three main Dorian tribes: Ὑλλέας καὶ Παμφύλους καὶ Δυμανάτας (Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanatai). Ps-Scylax in his geographical description of eastern shores of Adriatic gives some valuable hints on what we may justly call as Proto-Dorians:
[22]: “The barbarians called Lotus-eaters are the following: Hierastamnai, Boulinoi (Hyllinoi), coterminous with Boulinoi the Hylloi. And these say Hyllos son of Herakles settled them: and they are barbarians. [...] And Boulinoi are an Illyric nation”.
[22]: Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ λωτοφάγοι καλούμενοι βάρβαροι οἵδε• Ἱεραστάμναι, Βουλινοὶ Ὑλλινοί• Βουλινῶν ὁμοτέρμονεςὝλλοι. Οὗτοι δέ φασιν Ὕλλον τὸν Ἡρακλέους αὐτοὺς κατοικίσαι• εἰσὶ δὲ βάρβαροι. [...]Βουλινοὶ δ᾽ εἰσὶν ἔθνος Ἰλλυρικόν.
This leaves some room to doubt that Proto-Dorians seemingly were similar to the historical Illyrians since they used to live in the same territories. There is absolutely no reliable evidence to attribute any Greek origin to them while it is apparently known that Greeks as an ethnos were not yet consolidated. Thucydides tries to recount this chaotic state:
[1.3]: “The feebleness of antiquity is further proved to me by the circumstance that there appears to have been no common action in Hellas before the Trojan War. And I am inclined to think that the very name was not as yet given to the whole country, and in fact did not exist at all before the time of Hellen, the son of Deucalion; the different tribes, of which the Pelasgian was the most widely spread, gave their own names to different districts”.
[1.3]: δηλοῖ δέ μοι καὶ τόδε τῶν παλαιῶν ἀσθένειαν οὐχ ἥκιστα: πρὸγὰρ τῶν Τρωικῶν οὐδὲν φαίνεται πρότερον κοινῇ ἐργασαμένη ἡἙλλάς: [2] δοκεῖ δέ μοι, οὐδὲ τοὔνομα τοῦτο ξύμπασά πω εἶχεν,ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν πρὸ Ἕλληνος τοῦ Δευκαλίωνος καὶ πάνυ οὐδὲ εἶναιἡ ἐπίκλησις αὕτη, κατὰ ἔθνη δὲ ἄλλα τε καὶ τὸ Πελασγικὸν ἐπὶπλεῖστον ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτῶν τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν παρέχεσθαι
Pausanias reports that Dorian expedition took place two generation later after the Trojan War:
[4.3.3 ]: “After the conclusion of the Trojan war and the death of Nestor after his return home, the Dorian expedition and return of the Heracleidae, which took place two generations later, drove the descendants of Nestor from Messenia”.
[4.3.3]: διαπολεμηθέντος δὲ τοῦ πρὸς Ἴλιον πολέμου καὶ Νέστορος ὡς ἐπανῆλθεν οἴκαδε τελευτήσαντος, Δωριέων στόλος καὶ ἡ κάθοδος Ἡρακλειδῶν γενομένη δύο γενεαῖς ὕστερον ἐξέβαλε τοὺς Νηλέως ἀπογόνους ἐκ τῆς Μεσσηνίας.
However, this does not explain for instance what was the ethnic relation of Dorians with the old inhabitants like Achaians who got heavily contracted in the most barren sections of the country. Strabo makes it explicit that many of the former inhabitants were simply driven out by the newcomers:
[009.001.007]: But after the return of the Heracleidae and the partitioning of the country, it came to pass that many of the former inhabitants were driven out of their homelands into Attica by the Heracleidae and the Dorians who came back with them.
[009.001.007]: μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν κάθοδον καὶ τὸν τῆς χώρας μερισμὸν ὑπ’ αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν συγκατελθόντων αὐτοῖς Δωριέων ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς οἰκείας συνέβη πολλοὺς εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν
It is quite plausible that Dorians were at least perceived as not having the slightest tie with the Achaians. With the drift of time, they were apparently influenced by the much-advanced Achaians to the degree they were assimilated.
[Herodotus: 68]: Thus he had done to Adrastos; and he also changed the names of the Dorian tribes, in order that the Sikyonians might not have the same tribes as the Argives; in which matter he showed great contempt of the Sikyonians, for the names he gave were taken from the names of a pig and an ass by changing only the endings”.
[Herodotus: 68]: ταῦτα μὲν ἐς Ἄδρηστόν οἱ ἐπεποίητο, φυλὰς δὲ τὰς Δωριέων, ἵνα δὴ μὴ αἱ αὐταὶ ἔωσι τοῖσι Σικυωνίοισι καὶ τοῖσι Ἀργείοισι, μετέβαλε ἐς ἄλλα οὐνόματα. ἔνθα καὶ πλεῖστον κατεγέλασε τῶν Σικυωνίων• ἐπὶ γὰρ ὑός τε καὶ ὄνου τὰς ἐπωνυμίας μετατιθεὶς αὐτὰ τὰ τελευταῖα ἐπέθηκε, πλὴν τῆς ἑωυτοῦ φυλῆς• ταύτῃ δὲ τὸ οὔνομα ἀπὸ τῆς ἑωυτοῦ ἀρχῆς ἔθετο
It is again Strabo who points out that Dorians lost the intercourse with the rest of Dorians, and as a matter of fact they were no longer a part of the same tribe as before:
[Strabo 008.001.002]: “...the Dorians too, since they were few in number and lived in a most rugged country, have, because of their lack of intercourse with others, changed their speech and their other customs to the extent that they are no longer a part of the same tribe as before. And this was precisely the case with the Athenians”.
[Strabo 008.001.002]: “…καὶ τοὺς Δωριέας δὲ ὀλίγους ὄντας καὶ τραχυτάτην οἰκοῦντας χώραν εἰκός ἐστι τῷ ἀνεπιμίκτῳ παρατρέψαι τὴν γλῶτταν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἔθη πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὁμογενές, ὁμογενεῖς πρότερον ὄντας. τοῦτο δ’ αὐτὸ καὶ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις συνέβη”.
The mutual animosity between Dorians and Achaians lasted as we may infer from ancient sources at least until the Classical period. According to Herodotus, Dorians were strictly prohibited from entering to the Achaian temples on the grounds they were foreigners. According to him, Cleomenes tried to trick the women priests by faking his origin: “Woman, I am not a Dorian, but an Achaian.” ( «ὦ γύναι, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ Δωριεύς εἰμι ἀλλ᾽ Ἀχαιός.»).
It should be duly pointed out that there was a gigantic gap between the external name of a tribe and its real origin. It was a common practice in the very antiquity to label a people on the basis of a noteworthy king. We may note in passing, Eurpides in his ‘Archelaus’ who has preserved an interesting glimpse which cast some light to our idea:
“Danaus, who was the father of fifty daughters, having arrived in Argos inhabited the city of Inachus, and made a law that those who had before borne the name of Pelasgiotæ throughout Greece should be called Danai.”
Also we have seen in the quoted fragment of Herodotus, the Sikyonians desired to count themselves as equal with the Arigives. For that purpose, Adrastos is said to have changed only the endings of names. This seems to suggest that Hellenism (if we are to use the Classical connotation of the term) never affected Dorians, who preserved a distinct individuality during all the time.
Let us turn back to the scope of chapter. Does the Dorian extraction of Macedones indicate any kind of Hellenism? The answer is a doubtless NO. We have squarely argued that Dorians got Hellenized during their intercourse with the Achaians to the level they were no longer similar with the rest of Dorians. Anyway, the warped assumption that the Dorians of Pindus were Greeks at that time is not sustained at best or groundless at worst.
It has been even assumed that historical Macedonians sprung from Southern Dorians on the grounds that the same southern toponymes could be found as well in Pindus:
[STRABO 008.003.031]: “…and they point out the site of the city on a lofty place between Ossa and Olympus, two mountains that bear the same name as those in Thessaly”.
[STRABO 008.003.031]: “…Πῖσαν εἰρῆσθαι, οἷον πίστραν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ ποτίστρα• τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἱδρυμένην ἐφ’ ὕψους δεικνύουσι μεταξὺ δυεῖν ὀροῖν, Ὄσσης καὶ Ὀλύμπου, ὁμωνύμων τοῖς ἐν Θετταλίᾳ”.
In all probability, a bunch of northern names (like Ossa, Olympus, etc) were spread most likely by any wave of Dorian wanderers. Their presence around the mount Olympus is backed up even by the authority of Diodorus Siculus. He furnishes us with the following excerpt:
[V.80.2]: “The third people to cross over to the island, we are told, were Dorians, under the leadership of Tectamus the son of Dorus; and the account states that the larger number of these Dorians was gathered from the regions about Olympus…”
[V.80.2]: τρίτον δὲ γένος φασὶ τῶν Δωριέων παραβαλεῖν εἰς τὴν νῆσον ἡγουμένου Τεκτάμου τοῦ Δώρου• τούτου δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ μέρος τὸ μὲν πλέον ἀθροισθῆναι λέγουσιν ἐκ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον τόπων”.
The Dorian extraction of Macedones is indicated originally from the authority of Herodotus who points out that people who later began to be called as Dorian dwelt initially in Pindos and were called “Makednian”:
[Herodotus, Book I. 56]: “…for in the reign of Deucalion this race dwelt in Pthiotis, and in the time of Doros the son of Hellen in the land lying below Ossa and Olympos, which is called Histiaiotis; and when it was driven from Histiaiotis by the sons of Cadmos, it dwelt in Pindos and was called Makednian; and thence it moved afterwards to Dryopis, and from Dryopis it came finally to Peloponnesus, and began to be called Dorian”.
[I,56]… ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ Δευκαλίωνος βασιλέος οἴκεε γῆν τὴν Φθιῶτιν, ἐπὶ δὲ Δώρου τοῦ Ἕλληνος τὴν ὑπὸ τὴν Ὄσσαν τε καὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον χώρην, καλεομένην δὲ Ἱστιαιῶτιν• ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἱστιαιώτιδος ὡς ἐξανέστη ὑπὸ Καδμείων, οἴκεε ἐν Πίνδῳ Μακεδνὸν καλεόμενον• ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ αὖτις ἐς τὴν Δρυοπίδα μετέβη καὶ ἐκ τῆς Δρυοπίδος οὕτω ἐς Πελοπόννησον ἐλθὸν Δωρικὸν ἐκλήθη.
If we are to believe Herodotus opinion, Dorians began to be called with this name in the moment they finally came to Peloponnesus. Hence it is not far from the truth that Macedones owe their origin not to Hellenized Dorians of Peloponnesus but to the ones living in Pindos.
The emergence of Macedonian ethnos: the story of Argeads
Much has been written for the establishment of Argead Macedones in the Emathia plain. The ancient writers were somehow more focused on the chief leaders rather than people around them. Herodotus in his story recounts the wanderings of three ‘Macedonian’ brothers and their itinerary:
[137]. Now of this Alexander the seventh ancestor was that Perdiccas who first became despot of the Macedonians, and that in the manner which here follows: From Argos there fled to the Illyrians three brothers of the descendents of Temenos, Gauanes, Aëropos, and Perdiccas; and passing over from the Illyrians into the upper parts of Macedonia they came to the city of Lebaia.
[137]. τοῦ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου τούτου ἕβδομος γενέτωρ Περδίκκης ἐστὶ ὁ κτησάμενος τῶν Μακεδόνων τὴν τυραννίδα τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. ἐξ Ἄργεος ἔφυγον ἐς Ἰλλυριοὺς τῶν Τημένου ἀπογόνων τρεῖς ἀδελφεοί, Γαυάνης τε καὶ Ἀέροπος καὶ Περδίκκης, ἐκ δὲ Ἰλλυριῶν ὑπερβαλόντες ἐς τὴν ἄνω Μακεδονίην ἀπίκοντο ἐς Λεβαίην πόλιν.
The link with the Peloponnesian Argos is either tenuous and is devoid from historical reality and as such it has been a subject of reproach. Robert M. Errington concedes:
“Herodotos, who probably visited Macedonia at the time of this Alexander, recounts the first, perhaps semiofficial, version, which depends on the similarity of sound between the name of the Peloponnesian town Argos and that of the royal famiy name Argeadai” (1990: 2).
Judging from the geographical description given by Herodotus, we may plainly invoke that this Argos is to be found in Orestia. Strabo gives additional hints on the foundation of that city:
[BookVII,8]: It is said that Orestes once took possession of Orestias – when in exile on account of the murder of his mother – and left the country bearing his name; and that he also founded a city and called it Argos Oresticum.
[BookVII,8]: λέγεται δὲ τὴν Ὀρεστιάδα κατασχεῖν ποτε Ὀρέστης φεύγων τὸν τῆς μητρὸς φόνον καὶ καταλιπεῖν ἐπώνυμον ἑαυτοῦ τὴν χώραν,κτίσαι δὲ καὶ πόλιν, καλεῖσθαι δ’ αὐτὴν Ἄργος Ὀρεστικόν.
The so-called ‘Argive’ Macedonians emerged most likely in the proximity of Ἰλλυριοὺς, Ἄργεος and Λεβαίην. Although we have slender evidences about the inhabitants of these districts, it can be safely conjectured that Illyrians prevailed there.
As a matter of fact, original Macedonians were more akin to them rather to any other people. All of these territories were constantly excluded from Hellas proper; the Greek presence is barely to be found at the period we are speaking about. As Argive Macedonians became a powerful clan they swamp eastwardly by conquering a multitude of tribes in the Emathia plain. For a clear picture of this expansion we have to utilize Thucydides records:
[2.99]: “Assembling in Doberus, they prepared for descending from the heights upon Lower Macedonia, where the dominions of Perdiccas lay; for the Lyncestae, Elimiots, and other tribes more inland, though Macedonians by blood and allies and, dependents of their kindred, still have their own separate governments. The country on the sea coast, now called Macedonia, was first acquired by Alexander, the father of Perdiccas, and his ancestors, originally Temenids from Argos.This was effected by the expulsion from Pieria of the Pierians, who afterwards inhabited Phagres and other places under Mount Pangaeus, beyond the Strymon indeed the country between Pangaeus and the sea is still called the Pierian gulf of the Bottiaeans, at present neighbors of the Chalcidians, from Bottia, and by the acquisition in Paeonia of a narrow strip along the river Axius extending to Pella and the sea; the district of Mygdonia, between the Axius and the Strymon, being also added by the expulsion of the Edonians. From Eordia also were driven the Eordians, most of whom perished, though a few of them still live round Physca, and the Almopians from Almopia. These Macedonians also conquered places belonging to the other tribes, which are still theirs— Anthemus, Crestonia, Bisaltia, and much of Macedonia proper. The whole is now called Macedonia, and at the time of the invasion of Sitalces, Perdiccas, Alexander’s son, was the reigning king.”
[2.99]:“ξυνηθροίζοντο οὖν ἐν τῇ Δοβήρῳ καὶ παρεσκευάζοντο, ὅπωςκατὰ κορυφὴν ἐσβαλοῦσιν ἐς τὴν κάτω Μακεδονίαν, ἧς ὁΠερδίκκας ἦρχεν. τῶν γὰρ Μακεδόνων εἰσὶ καὶ Λυγκησταὶκαὶ Ἐλιμιῶται καὶ ἄλλα ἔθνη ἐπάνωθεν, ἃ ξύμμαχα μέν ἐστιτούτοις καὶ ὑπήκοα, βασιλείας δ᾽ ἔχει καθ᾽ αὑτά. τὴν δὲ παρὰθάλασσαν νῦν Μακεδονίαν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Περδίκκου πατὴρ καὶοἱ πρόγονοι αὐτοῦ, Τημενίδαι τὸ ἀρχαῖον ὄντες ἐξ Ἄργους, πρῶτοιἐκτήσαντο καὶ ἐβασίλευσαν ἀναστήσαντες μάχῃ ἐκ μὲν ΠιερίαςΠίερας, οἳ ὕστερον ὑπὸ τὸ Πάγγαιον πέραν Στρυμόνος ᾤκησανΦάγρητα καὶ ἄλλα χωρία καὶ ἔτι καὶ νῦν Πιερικὸς κόλποςκαλεῖται ἡ ὑπὸ τῷ Παγγαίῳ πρὸς θάλασσαν γῆ, ἐκ δὲ τῆςΒοττίας καλουμένης Βοττιαίους, οἳ νῦν ὅμοροι Χαλκιδέωνοἰκοῦσιν: τῆς δὲ Παιονίας παρὰ τὸν Ἀξιὸν ποταμὸν στενήντινα καθήκουσαν ἄνωθεν μέχρι Πέλλης καὶ θαλάσσηςἐκτήσαντο, καὶ πέραν Ἀξιοῦ μέχρι Στρυμόνος τὴν Μυγδονίανκαλουμένην Ἠδῶνας ἐξελάσαντες νέμονται. ἀνέστησαν δὲκαὶ ἐκ τῆς νῦν Ἐορδίας καλουμένης Ἐορδούς, ὧν οἱ μὲν πολλοὶἐφθάρησαν, βραχὺ δέ τι αὐτῶν περὶ Φύσκαν κατῴκηται, καὶ ἐξἈλμωπίας Ἄλμωπας. ἐκράτησαν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν οἱΜακεδόνες οὗτοι, ἃ καὶ νῦν ἔτι ἔχουσι, τόν τε Ἀνθεμοῦντα καὶΚρηστωνίαν καὶ Βισαλτίαν καὶ Μακεδόνων αὐτῶν πολλήν. τὸ δὲξύμπαν Μακεδονία καλεῖται, καὶ Περδίκκας Ἀλεξάνδρουβασιλεὺς αὐτῶν ἦν ὅτε Σιτάλκης ἐπῄει.
The above excerpt does not satisfy our curiosity at all if the previous inhabitants were simply driven out or overlaid by the new rulers. Strabo candidly asserts that:
[ 7.5.11]: “But of all these tribes the Argeadae, as they are called, established themselves as master”.
[7. 5. 11]: “Vτούτων δὲ πάντων οἱ Ἀργεάδαι καλούμενοι κατέστησαν κύριοι”.
If the Strabo’s account carries any validity, then we may surmise that there was no massive expulsion of the native inhabitants. The adjacent areas around original seats of Macedonians are not to be ignored, as some desire. It is very common among Greek nationalist historians to dissociate original Macedonians from their nearby neighbors like Illyrians (the progenitors of modern Albanians), Bryghes and various Thracian tribes.
Macedonia’s first dwellers
The continuous intercourse with them had a great importance in the formation of classical Macedonians, which were strictly excluded from Greece, either in terms of ethnicity and geography. It would be an anomaly of its kind to consider that the traces of previous inhabitants were entirely lost with the arrival of Macedonians. We are going to reveal some of these mysterious tribes:
[Herodotus, VII,73]: “Now the Phrygians, as the Macedonians say, used to be called Brigians during the time that they were natives of Europe and dwelt with the Macedonians; but after they had changed into Asia, with their country they changed also their name and were called Phrygians”.
[Herodotus, VII,73]: οἱ δὲ Φρύγες, ὡς Μακεδόνες λέγουσι, ἐκαλέοντο Βρίγες χρόνον ὅσον Εὐρωπήιοι ἐόντες σύνοικοι ἦσαν Μακεδόσι, μεταβάντες δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην ἅμα τῇ χώρῃ καὶ τὸ οὔνομα μετέβαλον ἐς Φρύγας.
The ancient sources do not clarify about the identity of Bryghes, but nonetheless a couple of sources assign to them as Thracians. Hence, Strabo hammered home:
[7. 3.2]: “And the Phrygians themselves are Brigians, a Thracian tribe...”.
[7. 3.2]: καὶ αὐτοὶ δ’ οἱ Φρύγες Βρίγες εἰσί, Θρᾴκιόν τι ἔθνος…”.
The cultural impact of Bryghes, Mysians, Pierians and the rest of Thracians is yet to be interpreted. Optimistically, we can say that the examination of extant sources reveal that original Macedonians blended to a certain degree with the Thracians who previously occupied a large section of historical Macedonia. The stubbornness of classical Greeks to not accept Macedonians as their own is at least historically justified. The Hellenization of upper strata of Macedonian society was never enough as to eradicate the non-Greek component of Macedonian people.
Ancient sources:
1. Graham Shipley,The Periplous of Pseudo-Scylax: An Interim Translation, 2008
2. Thomas Hobbes, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
3. W. H. S. Jones and H. A. Ormero, Pausanias , Description of Greece
4. Loeb Classical Library edition, The Geography of Strabo
5. George Rawlinson, The History of Herodotus
Modern sources:
1. Robert Malcolm Errington, A history of Macedonia, University of California Press, 1990
2. M. V. Sakellariou, Macedonia, 4000 years of Greek history and civilization, Ekdotikè Athenon, 1992
3. Apostolos Vasileiou Daskalakēs, The Hellenism of the ancient Macedonians, Institute for Balkan Studies, 1965
Originally taken from: www.albpelasgian.com/the-dorian-extraction-of-macedones-and-their-relations-with-thracians.html