| Timeline of the History of Macedonia |
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Timeline of the History of Macedonia Macedonia is located in the center of the Southern Balkans, north of ancient Hellas (Greece), east of Illyria, and west of Thrace. The name "Macedonia" is the oldest surviving name of a country on the continent of Europe. The ancient Macedonians were a distinct nation, ethnically, linguistically, and culturally different from their neighbors. Their origins are in the ancient Brygian (Phrygian) substratum that occupied the whole of Macedonian territory and in Indo-European superstratum, which settled here at the end of the 2nd millennium. Archaeological evidence shows that old European civilization flourished in Macedonia between 7000 and 3500 BC. [808-399 BC] Caranus establishes the ancient Macedonian kingdom and is the first known Macedonian king (808-778 BC). Alexander I "Philhellene" (498-454 BC) expend the kingdom and fight as Persian ally in the Greek-Persian wars. Alexander’s son Perdiccas II (453 - 413 BC) instigates a conflict between Athens and Sparta which turns into a 27 year long Peloponnesian War resulting in a near exhaustion of almost every Greek city-state. Archelaus (413-399 BC) turns Macedonia into an economic power and reorganizes the Macedonian army. [359-336 BC] Philip II (359-336 BC) raises Macedonia into the greatest European Power after subduing all of Macedonia's neighbors - Illyrians, Thracians, and Greeks. The Battle of Chaeronea where the Macedonians defeat the Greeks on August 2, 338 BC, marks an end of Greek history and the beginning of the Macedonian Era. The ancient Greek writer Theopompus declares Philip “the greatest man that Europe had ever given.” [336-323 BC] Philip’s son Alexander III the Great (356-323 BC) carries the Macedonian armies into Asia and conquers the Persian Empire. Macedonia becomes the world’s largest Empire stretching from Europe, to North Africa and India. [323-300 BC] The death of Alexander the Great plunges the Macedonian nation into a civil war as the leading Macedonian generals fight over the rule of the Empire. By 300 BC, the Macedonian Empire is carved up between the dynasties of Alexander’s generals Antigonus I (Macedonia and Greece), Ptolemy I (Egypt), and Seleucus I (Asia). [300-146 BC] Under Antigonus II Gonatas (276-239), the grandson of Antigonus I, Macedonia achieves a stable rule and strengthens its occupation of Greece. His grandson Philip V (222-179 BC) clashes with Rome that begun expanding eastward. The two "Macedonian Wars" against the Romans end up in defeat of Philip V’s armies. Macedonia loses the whole of Greece and is reduced to its original borders. In the third "Macedonian War", Rome defeats the Macedonian army under the last Macedonian king, Philip's son Perseus (179-168 BC). Perseus dies prisoner in Italy, a rebellion against the Roman rule fails, and by 146 Macedonia is a Roman province. [65 BC] Rome conquers the Seleucid Macedonian kingdom in Asia under its last king Antiochus XII. [30 BC] The Roman victory over Cleopatra VII puts an end to the last of the Macedonian descendants in Egypt, and with it to the last remains of the Macedonian Empire. [AD 51-63] “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a Macedonian man, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us" (Bible, Acts 16:9). Apostle Paul and his epistles preach Christianity for the first time on European soil, in the Macedonian towns Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroea. The first European to convert to Christianity is a Macedonian girl by the name of Lydia. [395] The Roman Empire splits into Western and Eastern. Macedonia falls to the Eastern (Byzantine), a multi-national empire stretching over three continents at its height. The earlier Byzantine Emperors are Romans but in time, people of Macedonian, Syrian, Armenian, Phrygian (Amorian), and other ethnic backgrounds become rulers. [535] The Slavs overrun Macedonia, Greece, Illyria, and Thrace and mix into the Macedonians, Greeks, Illyrians, and Thracians. |
