Ancient Macedonia before Alexander the Great and Philip II

Our historical animated documentary series on the ancient civilizations continues with a video on the ancient origins of the kingdom of Macedonia before it became an empire under Philip and Alexander with a focus on its relationship with other Hellenic states.

The video was made by our friend András Szente-Dzsida while the script was researched and written by Leo Stone

#Documentary #Macedon #Alexander

[KingsandGenerals]

9 hours 28 minutes before we start getting death threats. Again. :-) Weren't able to release the battle episode due to the insane render time, but we will release 2 battle episodes during one of the upcoming weeks.

[nightviber]

Herodotus when he says "The Macedonians were neither fully Greek neither fully Barbaric"
Was because of the way of Life compaired to Athenian lifestyle. Remember to the Athenians even Spartans were concidered Barbarians, the spiritual level of the Greek world was so high at the time that if a kingdom couldn't prosper in Architecture, Lyricism, Poetry etc.etc. as much as the Athenians, they were concidered "Low-Life people" . Tribalism in Greek world was also extreme thats why Xenophobes were amongst Greek people.The Greek city states who never had contact with foreign people, like Athens would concider the Greeks that bordered with foreign people as "Not Pure" but that was an Athenian mindset and not an actual historical fact, simply shows how Athenian Greeks viewed the Greek world.

[roussos]

using Σ instead of E always gives headache to the greeks

[geoffreyMTW]

Epirus and Thessaly were also ruled by kings and had their own dialects as well as mainly rural societies. Several Greek city states in Southern Italy were also ruled by kings - as were the Spartans. The Macedonians were not unique in that regard. Moreover, even the Greek dialects in the south diverged from city state to city state and each city even had its own unique alphabet, its own festivals and its own names for the months of the year. In addition, the few dozen words mentioned by Hesychius as being of Macedonian origin are often mentioned beside other words from Lacaedemonian, Argive, Epirotan, Rhodian and other local dialects around the Greek world. Hesychius had the habit of comparing words among different dialects of his time. That does not necessarily mean that all these city states had totally unique vocabularies or that they spoke distinct languages.

[katamarranollper]

I visited last summer Thessaloniki, Chalkidiki and ancient Pella in Macedonia region southern Greece. Just gorgeous no words, i envy you Greeks!

[heronofalexandria]

“Who were you when my father found you? Hide clad Vagabonds, feeding a few stray sheep. Who are you now? The kings of the Earth!”
—Alexander to his men at Opis

[LeoWarrior]

Guys, before you start screaming in the comments, let me speak the undeniable truth: The Ancient Macedonians were Korean.

[most_wanted_gsxr]

Macedonians had:

a) Greek language, which was a doric dialect as proven by artifacts and linguistic evidence.(e.g. pella curse table, Isychios dictionary)

b) Greek names, which were all of Greek origin and had Greek etymology with the exception of a handful of names considered as loans.

c) Greek symbols, such as the Sun of Vergina, which was used by the other Greeks before the ancient Macedonians used it. (e.g. lacedaemon crater from luvre 7th century and many more)

d) participation in Pan-Hellenic Games, where no foreigners were allowed. Many Macedonians participated, starting from Alexander I.

e) they used Greek toponyms (e.g. Thessalonike, Aiges, Pella),

f) they worshiped Greek heroes (e.g. Achilles, Hercules),

g) they used a calendar using Greek months.

h) they believed in the Greek gods and had Greek customs.

i) they listened to Greek theater (e.g. Euripides at Pella has been well-documented).

j) they even called themselves Greek and they never called themselves non-Greek. In fact, they would call non-Greeks as barbarians, just like the rest of the Greeks did (e.g. when Philip V saw the Roman camp.

k) Even foreigners called them Greek (e.g. Yauna takabara by the Persians that means Greeks with funny hats).

l) they used Greek terminology for their military ranks without the need to do so.

m) they spread Hellenism and Greek language
🇬🇷🔆

[Peristerygr]

Αccording to the video athenians thought that everyone but themselves was a barbarian.

[napolien]

"The Macedonians lived under the rule of a king, this was unfathomable to the Greeks"

Spartans: * cough cough *

[blazeron]

Before during and After Alexander the Great are some of my favorite periods of history. PLEASE KEEP IT UP!

[timopappas]

Southern Greek: You guys sound kind of weird?
Northern Greeks: nah you guys sound weird?!

Persians: it's all Greek to me.... EARTH!! AND WATER!!

[dlugi]

Pre Philip Macedonia: I play both sides, so I always come out on top.
Philip and Alexander Macedonia: there is no god up here. Other than me!

[ktvindicare]

Dude I'm only halfway through this video and I already love it.

The animation style, the narration (as delightfully monotone as it is) and the information are all top notch. I never knew much about Macedon before King Philip, this is an awesome topic for one of your videos.

I'm especially enjoying the segment on language.

[WilliamTehConqueror]

"Alexander the Third, yes that one"
Third time's the charm...

[JapanMonAmourTheJapanHouse]

according to scholars such as Borza and Hammond the Macedonians were of Greek stock and proto Greek speakers. The Orestian highlands is the are of north western Greece which is regarded as proto Greek territory, this area is the birth place of the Greek speaking race.

[philtkaswahl]

"So, those are the Greeks and their neighbors the Funny Hat Greeks." -- Casual Persians

[chris]

"No greeks could live under a monarch"
Sparta: Am i a joke to you??

[vx]

So tradition holds that the Macedonians are the real-life actual living descendants of the Greek god Hercules. Wow... I love this ancient stuff!

[theotheo]

With much respect to our nothern friends and neighbours i want to ask the following questions:
1) Why the ancestors of Alexander considered themselves as descendants of Hercules (Argead Dynasty)?
2) Why Macedonians believed in the same Gods as the Greeks?
3) Why Alexander the 1st was let by ellanodikes to participate in the Olympic Games (if he was not a Greek)?

4) Why the period that Alexander lived was named by historians "Hellenistic Period"?

5) What does the following words mean in your language?
-Philip.
-Alexandros
-Thessaloniki
-Alexandria Eschate
-Voukefalas
-Macedonia
(In Greek they all mean something significant)


*ps to anyone who wants to reply " i want a documented explanation"
Thanks