Ancient Macedonia

The author, a professor of ancient history in Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridksi”, presents a rather brief overview of ancient Macedonia’s history. A short geographic review is offered in the beginning of the article; the problem of the ethnical identification of the ancient Macedonians is also slightly touched upon. 

Described in a successive order are the early history of the Argead dynasty in the 7th – 6th century BC, the rules of Alexander I, Perdicas II and Archelaos in the 5th century BC, the crisis in the early decades of the 4th century, the impressive rise of the Macedonian kingdom under Philip II, the conquests of his son Alexander the Great, and the subsequent decline of his enormous empire. 

Outlined in short are also the history of the Macedonian kingdom of the Antigonid dynasty in the Hellenistic period (3rd – 2nd century BC), the Roman province of Macedonia in the periods of the Late Republic and the Empire in the first three centuries of its existence, as well as Late antique Macedonia in the period from the end of the 3rd to the end of the 6th century...