'Religious Interactions in the Hellenistic World'. International Conference. Oxford, 18-19 March 2017 (Abstracts) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Macedonia & the Macedonians via the Sources
Historical events in order to be attested and examined by scholars have to derive from some kind of evidence. Such evidence is provided by primordial sources of any kind. It might be a papyrus, an inscription, a votive relief or an archaeological find that may attest to a historical event. Thus, it is like watching an event through the eyes of those who really experienced it. Objectivity is such a subjective issue that it is formed not only by the author who composes a historical document but also by the reader who pores over the document. So, there is no an existing frame of truth but only a common perception of it. Therefore, in order to provide an academic paper on history, one has to consider what was commonly accepted during the specific period examined. Certainly, it is not always easy to come down with such evidence deriving from different sources, but in many cases, such paradigms do exist. Typically, historians, orators or even the tragic poets may provide us with such evidence and today's scholars are challenged to accumulate, compare them and come to a safe conclusion (when examining a historical event or even history itself). The main subject of this dissertation paper shall cover the following subject: What was the image of the Macedonian Kingdom by the southern Greeks during the Classical period. How this image is depicted to us nowadays when studying the primordial sources. How did the Macedonians perceived themselves, living on the fringe of the Helladic space? Furthermore, it shall cover all the later and the updated historical data through the primordial sources available. I am most thankful to Mr. Xydopoulos for all his support, perfect communication and feedback that he very willingly provided to me from the very beginning. This work was established in his previous work “Civil and Social Relations amongst the Macedonians and the Rest of the Greeks”, published in 1998. Furthermore, I included the updated historical and archaeological data available, offering at the same time another perspective. Having the continuous assistance and supervision of the Professor, I am certain that the result will excel my expectations. Lastly, I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Miroslav Vasilev, Dr. Maria Girtzi, Dr. Paschalis Paschidis, my friends and family. The first two for providing me with their valuable articles and suggestions and the last ones, for having to put up and support me while I was working on the project. Vasileios Chrimatopoulos 10.01.2018 Direct Link of the Thesis: https://repository.ihu.edu.gr/xmlui/handle/11544/29119
Ancient Macedonia in the light 689 698
IntroductIon It almost goes without saying that scholarly research on ancient Macedonia cannot, and should not focus on efforts to determine the racial identity of the region's inhabitants; it should rather aim towards gaining an understanding of their cultural behaviour, as recorded in the written sources and as reflected in their material remains. Objectivity on the subject, as a precondition for the historical and archaeological approach of the issue, is not always easy to trace; due to their unfortunate use in modern politics but also to the differing methods of interpretation, history and archaeology do not necessarily coincide in appreciating the cultural past of the ancient Macedonians. Modern historians relying upon ancient texts-which by their very nature may contain a subjective view of things-approach historical records in various-sometimes subjective-ways. Archaeologists, on the other hand, are based on material evidence, which is tangible and measurable; its interpretation may differ from scholar to scholar, but this is usually due to either insufficiency of data or the dubious principle of argumentum e silentio 1. The excavation at Vergina and its results constitute a good case for testing the veracity of these thoughts in a context of essays on history dedicated to a friend and a scholar who has devoted his life to approaching the field in a most objective and creative way. I. HIsTOry and arcHaeOlOgy wOrkIng TOgeTHer
Introduction to Ancient Macedonians in the Greek and Roman Sources
Ancient Macedonians in the Greek and Roman Sources
This introductory chapter introduces the essays of the collection by outlining the ways in which the Greek and Roman sources excerpt, format, reinterpret and even sometimes misinterpret the historical information on ancient Macedonians in order to serve their own literary and political aims and agendas.
Some decades ago, the very notion of a civic elite in Macedonia would probably be frowned upon, or would require a lengthy preliminary discussion about Macedonian civic institutions based on insubstantial evidence. New sources, principally epigraphic, and recent research carried out by M. B. Hatzopoulos and others 1 on the subject, however, allows me to give here only a brief -and, inevitably, misleadingly simple -overview of what these institutions were. After a process which begun under Philip II, the Macedonian kingdom seems to have been systematically and probably exhaustively (with the important exception of royal land), subdivided into local civic units, be they poleis, sympolities, or 'regions' of ethnic origin 2 . By the Antigonid period, when we have sufficient evidence for these civic units, they seem to possess all the institutional apparel of a southern Greek polis : an internationally acknowledged identity, annual elected archons, a local priest as eponymous, a council, an assembly, local legislation and courts, distinct finances etc. As constitutive parts of the Macedonian State, however, Macedonian cities had two differences of seminal importance in comparison with their southern counterparts : 1) they had no autonomy in many important matters which were perceived to belong to the jurisdiction of the central government, and 2) their chief magistrates were accountable not only to the civic unit itself but also to the Head of State, the king.