Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/252

 236 MACEDONIA. like Acliaia, after the destruction of Corinth, which occurred two years afterwards, B.C. 146. From that time to the reign of Augustus the Romans had the troublesome duty of defending Macedonia, against the people of Illyricum and Thrace ; during that period, they established colonies at Philippi, Pella, Stobi, and Dium. At the division of the provinces, Macedonia fell to the senate (Dion Cass. liii. 12 ; Strab. xvii. p. 840). Tiberius, united the provinces of Achaia and Mace- donia to the imperial government of Moesia, in order to deliver them from the weight of the proconsular administration (Tac. Ann. 176—80, v. 10), and this continued till the time of Claudius (Suet. Claud. 25 ; Dion Cass. Ix. 24). Afterwards it was again under a " propraetor," with the title " proconsul" (Orelli, Inscr. n. 1170 (Vespasian); n. 38.51 (Caracalla), while mention often occurs of " legate" (Orelli, n. 3658) and " quaestores" (Orelh, un. 822, 3144). Thessalonica, the most populous city in JIacedonia, was the seat of government, and -s-irtually the capital of Greece and Illyricum, as well as of JIacedouia. Under Constantine, Macedonia, was one of the two governments of the praefecture of Illyricum, and consisted of six provinces, Achaea, Macedonia, Crete, Thessaly, Old Epirus, and New Epirus (Marquardt, in Becker. Rum. Alterthum, vol. iii. pt. i. pp. 115 — 119). The ravages inflicted by the northern na- tions on the frontier provinces were so continual that the inhabitants of Thrace and ]Iacedonia were greatly diminished, the uncultivated plains were traversed by armed bands of Sclavonians, who gradually settled in great numbers in JIacedonia, while many moim- tainous districts, and most of the fortified places still remained in the possession of the Greeks, who were driven into the Chalcidic peninsula, or into the low grounds near the sea, where the marshes and rivers which intersect them, offered means of resistance; but the existence of the ancient race may be said to terminate with the reign of Heraclius. (Comp. Scha- farik, Slav. Alt. vol. ii. pp.153 — 164.) The em- perors of Constantinople attempted to remedy the depopulation of their empire by transporting Asiatic colonies. Thus a colony of Persians was established on the banks of the Axius ( Vardar) as early as the reign of Theophilus, a. d. 829 — 842, and it long continued to furnish recruits for a cohort of the im- perial guard, which bore the name of Vardariots. In A.D. 1065 a colony of Uzes was settled in Mace- donia, whose chiefs rose to the rank of senators, and filled high official situations at Constantinople (Scy- litz. ad calc. Cedreni, p. 868; Zonar. vol. ii. p. 273; Ann. Comn. p. 195). Anna Comnena (pp. 109, 315) mentions colonies of Turks established near Achrida before the reign of her father (a. d. 1081). These and other nations were often included under the ge- neral name of Turks, and indeed most of them were descended from Turkish tribes. (Finlay, Mediaeval Greece, p. 31.) IV. Physical and Comparative Geography. The large space of country, which lies to the N. of the Cambunian chain, is in great part mountainous, occupied by lateral ridges or elevations, which con- nect themselves with the main line of Scardus. It also comprises three wide alluvial basins, or plains which are of great extent, and well adapted to ■cultivation ; the northernmost of the three, contains the sources and early course of the Axius, now the ■plain of Tettovo or Kalkandele : the second is that of Bitolia, coinciding to a great extent, with that of MACEDONIA. ancient Pelagonia, wherein the Erigon flows towards the Axius; and the larger and more undulating basin of Grevend and Anaseltiza, containing the Upper Haliacmon with its confluent streams. These plains, though of high level above the sea, are yet very fertile, each generally bounded by mountains, which rise precipitously to an alpine height, and each leaving only one cleft for drainage by a single river, the Axius, the Erigon, and the Haliacmon respectively. The fat rich land to the E. of Pindus and Scardus is de.scribed as forming a marked con- trast with the light calcareous soil of the Albanian plains and valleys on the W. side (comp. Grote, Hist. of Greece, cxxv.). Upper Macedonia was divided into Elimeia, EoRDAEA, Orestis and Lyncestis; of these sub- divisions, Elimeia comprehended the modern districts of Grevend, Verija, and Tjersembd ; Eordaea those of Budjd, Sarighiul, and 'Ostrovo; Orestis those of Grdmista, AnaseUtza,and Kastoria ; and Lyncestis Filurina, and all the S. part of the basin of the Erigon. These seem to have been all the districts which properly belonged to Upper Macedonia, the country to the N. as far as Illyricum to the W. and Thrace to the E. constituting Paeonia, a part of which (probably on the Upper Axius) was a separate kingdom as late as the reign of Ciissander (Diod. XX. 19), but which in its widest sense was the great belt of interior country which covered on the N. and NE. both Upper and Lower Macedonia ; the latter containing the maritime and central provinces, which were the earliest acquisition of the kings, namely, Pieria, Bottiaeis, Emathia and Mtgdoxia. Pieria, or the district of Katerina, forms the slope of the range of mountains of which Olympus is the highest peak, and is separated from jMagnesia on the S. by the Peneius (^Salamavria}. The real Emathia is in the interior of Macedonia, and did not in its proper sense extend towards the sea, from which it is separated by Pieria and part of the ancient Bottiaeis. Mygdonia comprehended the plains around Saloniki, together with the valleys of Klisali and Besikia, extending westward to the Axius, and including the lake Balbe to the E. The name Chalcidice is applied to the whole of the great peninsula lying to the S. of the ridge of Mt. Khortidtzi. An account of these subdivisions will be found under their different heads, with a list of the towns belonging to each. Macedonia was traversed by the great militaiy road — the Via Egnatia ; this route has been already described [Vol. II. p. 36] as far as Hera- cleia Lyncestis, the first town on the confines of Illyricum : pursuing it from that point, the following are the stations up to Amphipohs, where it entered Thrace, properly so called : — Heracleia. Celiac - - 'Ostrovo. Edessa - - Vodhend. Pella - - Aldklisi. JIutatio Gephyra - Bridge of the Vardhdri. Thessalonica - - Saloniki. Melissurgis - - Melissurgiis. Apollonia - - Pollina. Amphipolis - - Neokhoirio. From the Via Egnatia several roads branclied off to the N. and S., the latter leading to the S. provinces of Macedonia and to Thessaly; the former into Paeonia, Dardania, Jloesia, and as far as the Danube.