Upper Macedonia

History

During the late Bronze Age numerous matt painted vases have been unearthed in the region that are connected to the middle Helladic ware found southern Greece. This type of ware has been typically used by northwestern Greek tribes. Various unearthed artifacts of that time also point to the possible existence of Mycenaean Greek settlements in Upper Macedonia.

Following the withdrawal of the Bryges in c. 800 BC the local populations of the Eordoi, Elimiotae, Orestae, Lyncestae and Pelagonians formed their separate political entities. As early as the 7th century BC occasional Illyrian invasions against Argead Macedonia inevitably also involved the Upper Macedonian regions of Lynkestis, Orestis, Eordaea, Elimiotis and Tymphaea, because they were located between Illyrian territory and the lands of the Argeads, who were based at Aegae.

The populations of Upper Macedonia shared a common language and a common way of life with that of Lower Macedonia which differed from those inhabiting Illyria and Thrace. Available inscriptional and ancient literature points that the local population spoke a Northwest Greek dialect in contrast to those of Lower Macedonia whose dialect may have been related to Aeolic Greek. The region witnessed occasional raids and Illyrian invasions became a constant threat from the rise of the Argead dynasty until the reign of Philip II of Macedon.

Unification of Upper and Lower Macedonia into a single kingdom was achieved by Phillip II in the mid-4th century. From that date, its inhabitants were politically equal to Lower Macedonians. Eordaea had been incorporated to the Argead kingdom earlier than the rest of Upper Macedonia, before the reign of Philip II. Upper Macedonia consisted of the regions of Orestis, Elimiotis with Tymphaea, Eordaea, Lynkestis, Pelagonia with Derriopos, Atintania and Dassaretis (although Dassaretis and Atintania belonged to Epirus). Later in 294 BC, Tymphaea and Parauaea were under the control of the kingdom of Epirus of Pyrrhus. Pelagonia was used as a name for the westernmost part of Paionia while the nort-westernmost part of Pelagonia was referred to as Derriopos.

Three of the six brigades that Alexander the Great deployed in 330 BC, came from Upper Macedonia, Elimiotis, Orestis together with Lynkestis and Tymphaea. They were led by Coenus from Elimiotis, Perdiccas from Orestis and Amyntas from Tymphaea. Three of the most important Hellenistic dynasties originated from Upper Macedonia: the Ptolemies from Eordaea, the Seleucids from Orestis and the Antigonids from Elimiotis.

References

Sources

• Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography https://books.google.com/books?id=tJIfAAAAMAAJ&dq=Orestis+Elimeia+Lyncestis&pg=PA236 by William Smith, Mahmoud Saba
• JSTOR:Philip II and Upper Macedonia http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=In+196+B.c.+the+Roman+decemviri+declared+the+people+of+Orestis+independent+because+they+had+adhered+to+the+Roman+cause+in+the+recent+war+against+Philip+V.&btnG=Search A. B. Bosworth
• Relations between Upper and Lower Macedonia https://web.archive.org/web/20080119020638/http://www.history-of-macedonia.com/wordpress/
• JSTOR: Epigraphes Ano Makedonias http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Epigraphes+Ano+Makedonias+%28Elimeia%2C+Eordaia%2C+Southern+Lynkestis%2C+Orestis%29.+%5BInscriptions+of+Upper+Macedonia%5D.+Volume+1%2C+Catalog+of+Inscriptions&btnG=Search-Epigraphical Database
• Dimitrios C. Samsaris, Historical Geography of the Roman province of Macedonia (The Department of Western Macedonia today) (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1989 (Society for Macedonian Studies).http://www.ems.gr/analytikos-katalogos-ekdoseon/makedoniki-vivliothiki/070-samsaris.html

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