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The Ancient Macedonians had populated the more southerly portions of Macedon since pre-Classical times. The first Macedonian state emerged in the 8th or early 7th century BC under the Argead Dynasty, when the Macedonians are said to have migrated to the region from further west. Their first king is recorded as Perdiccas I.
History of The Macedonian Kingdom
Around the time of Alexander I of Macedon, the Macedonians began to expand into Eordaia, Bottiaea, Pieria, Mygdonia, and Almopia. Near the modern city of Veria, King Perdiccas I (or, more likely, his son, Argaeus I) built his capital, Aigai (modern Vergina). After a brief period of Persian overlordship under Darius Hystaspes, the state regained its independence under King Alexander I (495–450 BC). Prior to the 4th century BC, the kingdom covered a region approximately corresponding to the province of Macedonia in modern Greece. It became increasingly Hellenized during this period, though prominent Greeks appear to have regarded the Macedonians as uncouth. A unified Macedonian state was eventually established by King Amyntas III (c. 393–370 BC ), though it still retained strong contrasts between the cattle-rich coastal plain and the fierce isolated tribal hinterland, allied to the king by marriage ties. They controlled the passes through which barbarian invasions came from Illyria to the north and north-west. Amyntas had three sons; the first two, Alexander II and Perdiccas III reigned only briefly. Perdiccas III’s infant heir was deposed by Amyntas’ third son, Philip II of Macedon, who made himself king and ushered in a period of Macedonian dominance of Greece. Philip’s son Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) managed to briefly extend Macedonian power not only over the central Greek city-states, but also to the Persian empire, including Egypt and lands as far east as the fringes of India. Alexander’s adoption of the styles of government of the conquered territories was accompanied by the spread of Greek culture and learning through his vast empire. Although the empire fractured into multiple Hellenic regimes shortly after his death, his conquests left a lasting legacy, not least in the new Greek-speaking cities founded across Persia’s western territories, heralding the Hellenistic period.
