Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/156

Rh 138 M A C M A C the mountains and their vegetation ; and in most respects it corresponds so well to what the Greeks desired for their settlements that we cannot be surprised at finding its shores fringed with Hellenic colonies. Several of these were founded from Chalcis in Eubcea, which city gave its name to the district ; but the important town of Potidsea was a Corinthian colony. The most eastern of the three peninsulas, that of Acte, is far the highest, and rises from its isthmus until it forms a steep central ridge, which gradu ally attains the height of 4000 feet, and finally throws up the vast conical peak of Mount Athos (6400 feet). The isthmus, which is about a mile and a half broad, still shows traces of the canal made by Xerxes for the passage of his fleet, in order to avoid the dangers of shipwreck on the rocks of Athos, which had destroyed the expedition of Mardonius. On the land side of the isthmus stood the city of Acanthus. Separated from Acte by the Singitic Gulf was the promontory of Sithonia, with the town of Torone ; and still farther to the west, beyond the Toronaic Gulf, was that of Pallene. The former of these, though of lower elevation than Acte, is intersected by a well-marked ridge ; but the latter is almost level, and from the traces of volcanic action that are found there was called by the Greeks Phlegra, and was said to have been the scene of the conflict between the giants and the gods. On the southern side of Pallene were the towns of Mende and Scione, and its isthmus was occupied by Potidsea, near which, at the head of the Toronaic Gulf, stood Olynthus, The Greek cities on this coast were a continual thorn in the side of the Macedonian monarchs, and caused them to take part against Athens during the Peloponnesian War. The northern part of Chalcidice is mountainous, and beyond these mountains is a considerable depression, in which lies the Lake of Bolbe. Macedonia first comes into notice in history in the reign of Amyntas (about 500 B.C.) and in that of liis son Alexander, who was king at the time of Xerxes s invasion of Greece. But whatever historical interest attaches to it is due rather to the great empire which sprang from it than to the importance of the country itself. During the Peloponnesian War we notice it chiefly as it affects the principal contending parties, but in the time of Demosthenes it attracts our attention as furnishing the keynote of the policy of that statesman, and being the proximate cause of the overthrow of Greek liberty. After the MACEDONIAN EMPIRE (q.v. ) was subjugated by the Romans in 168 B.C., the country was left with a nominal autonomy, but lost its national unity by being divided into four districts, which were separated from one another by rigid political and social .limita tions. Before long it was reduced to the form of a province, and this, at the division of the provinces in the time of Augustus, was assigned to the senate. Thenceforward it followed the fortunes of the Roman empire, and, after the partition of that dominion, of the eastern branch of it. In the time of Alaric it was frequently plun dered by the Goths, and in the interval which elapsed between Justinian I. and Heraclius a considerable part of it was colonized by Slavonians. During the prosperous period of the great Bulgarian monarchy in the 10th century a large portion of Macedonia was included in that kingdom. After that age extensive depopulation must have ensued, for in the llth and 12th centuries colonies of various tribes of Asiatic origin Uzes, Turks, and Patzinaks were established there by the emperors of Constantinople. In the par tition of the Eastern empire, which followed the capture of that city by the Latins at the time of the fourth crusade, in 1204, Mace donia was assigned to Boniface, marquis of Monferrat, who assumed the title of king of Saloniki. This kingdom in turn was brought to an end in 1224 by the Greek despot of Epirus, Theodore I., and by him a Greek empire of Thessalonica was founded, which for a time seemed likely to become the heir of the Byzantine power, but afterwards was merged in that of Nicsea, and on the recapture of Constantinople by Michael Paljeologus once more formed part of a united Greek empire. In the latter half of the 14th century the greater part of Macedonia was in the possession of the Servians, whose kingdom was now at the height of its power ; but before the middle of the 15th it had passed into the hands of the Ottoman Turks, by whom it has been held ever since. At the present day the population of the inland part of the country is mainly composed of Bulgarian Christians, mixed with Turks, while the Greeks occupy the coasts, the whole of Chalcidice, the plain of Seres, and some other districts. (H. F. T.) MACEDONIAN EMPIRE, THE. The attention of the Greeks was drawn at an early time to the danger that the northern tribes might combine to invade the south. Sitalces, king of Thrace, spread great alarm by an inroad daring the Peloponnesian War, but the real peril was from Macedonia rather than from Thrace. The Macedonians had been gradually pushing their way down towards the coast, and, though Alexander I. was a vassal of Xerxes, the retreat of the Persians, 478 B.C., left these hardy tribes free. They were still in a primitive state, mountain shepherds, ill clothed and ill housed, many of them clad only in skins. They wore the kausia or broad-brimmed hat ; they ate and drank from wooden platters and cups ; they differed little from what they had been when the first Perdiccas came to the country, when the king s wife baked cakes with her own hand on the hearth. But the peasants were freemen, not serfs like the Penesta3 of Thessaly. It was still neces sary for the young warrior to slay a foe before he could take his place in the tribe; and Cassander had to sit instead of reclining at the banquet of his father Antipater, because he had not yet killed a wild boar. The drunken bouts at these banquets led to some of the deeds which are a blot on the fame of both Philip and Alexander. The king held large domains, and had a choice body of &quot; com panions &quot; around him, but the warriors used much freedom of speech towards him, and the chiefs could only be condemned by the assembled host. When, however, any one was thus convicted of treason, his kindred were also put to death. If any blood guilt was incurred, a dog was cut in two and the soldiers passed between the halves laid out in the open air, that so they might be purified. There were still but few towns, or even strongholds, to which the people could fly when the Illyrians came in over Mount Bermius from the west, or the Thracians across the Stry- mon from the east, or the Paeonians down the river. Axius from the north. The western tribes too were at this time being pushed onward into Macedonia by a migration of the Gauls. Archelaus, son of Perdiccas II., however, built forts, cut straight roads, and collected horses and arms. The cavalry of the richer landowners was good ; but the foot soldiers were armed only with wicker shields and rusty swords. Archelaus also courted the friendship of leading Athenian statesmen, philosophers, and poets; and later on the Athenian general Iphicrates did essential service to the royal house. But the advance made by Archelaus, who died 399 B.C., was almost all lost before Philip II. came to the throne, and the kingdom was reduced to a narrow district round Edessa, shut out from the sea by Greek cities. Olynthus, the chief of these cities, had in the reign of Philip s father, Amyntas II., induced many places to make themselves in dependent of the king, but the jealousy of Sparta proved fatal to the Olynthian confederacy, and destroyed what would have been a bulwark against the barbarians of the north (379). Philip himself had the best of all trainings, that of ad versity. During the reign of his eldest brother Alexander II., Pelopidas took hostages for the fidelity of Macedonia, and among them was Philip, then about fifteen years old. He remained two or three years at Thebes, profiting by literary training, and above all by the living example of Epaminondas, the ablest organizer and most scientific tactician of the age, who had trained the soldiers that broke through the Spartan line at Leuctra. When Philip returned home, his brother Perdiccas III. entrusted him with the government of a district, where he organized a force on the Theban model. On the death of Perdiccas, though he left an infant son Amyntas, Philip was called to the throne (359), for the reign of a child in an early state of society means anarchy. Philip s energy soon made itself