Chapter 3. Macedonians and Other Greeks

Abstract

By the beginning of the classical period, the archaeological evidence leaves no doubt about integration of Macedonia in the contemporary Hellenic world. If one turn to what the fifth-century authors have to say about the Macedonians, they note that their statements correspond to the picture emerging from the archaeological and epigraphic evidence. Herodotus presents Alexander I claiming both a Macedonian and a Greek identity as perfectly compatible. E. Badian asserted that Greek culture in Macedonia regressed during the first half of the fourth century. The picture of Macedonia in the second half of the fourth century would be incomplete without even a passing mention of its intellectual life. One might say that the distinction-indeed the opposition between and Greeks, went unheeded as long as the identity of the former was a matter of ethnological interest, but surfaced as soon as the Macedonians aspired to become major players in Greek politics. Keywords: Alexander I; archaeological evidence; Greek culture; Greek identity; Macedonians