The Borders of Ancient Makedonia I: To Perdikkas III

Abstract

At a time that cannot be closely determined, about 1,000 B.C., the Makedones began to es-tablish themselves in a small area north of Mount Olympos. At a later date their kings were buried at Aigai (close to Vergina), which must have been the centre of the territory that they began to control. By the beginning of the 4th century B.C. they had expanded (with a few short periods of contraction) in a remarkable manner, ‘absorbing’ or expelling the neighbouring groups of people until their territory extended further to the north and west and to the sea (although not at first to Chalkidike, where there were many colonies estab-lished by southern Hellenic cities) and to the Axios river. However, it is clear that many of the groups that they had ‘absorbed’ still retained their identity and independence, even if they were in some way under the control of the rulers of Makedonia. For this reason, the ‘borders’ of Makedonia are difficult to define, at least before the time of Philippos II.