Summary of Richard A. Billows's Before & After Alexander

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The North-West Bend of the Aegean Sea forms a great Gulf—the Thermaic Gulf—enclosed by land on three sides. To the west, the gently rolling plains of Pieria and Emathia are surrounded by the rich Amphaxitis plain.

#2 The question of the ethnicity and language of the ancient Macedonians has been caught up in the identity politics of the modern peoples and states of the southern Balkan peninsula. As the Ottoman Empire decayed, four local peoples sought to establish nation-states encompassing as much territory as possible.

#3 The question of who the Macedonians were has always been a mystery. They may have been a group of people who lived in the southern Balkans, but they may have also been a group of people who lived in Asia Minor.

#4 The earliest surviving Greek inscriptions, dating from the middle and second half of the eighth century, do not mention Macedonians. The first literary reference to Macedonia comes in one of the texts belonging to the Hesiodic corpus, the so-called Catalogue of Women, which was probably compiled around 700.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669347880

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Insights on Richard A. Billows's Before & After Alexander

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The North-West Bend of the Aegean Sea forms a great Gulf—the Thermaic Gulf—enclosed by land on three sides. To the west, the gently rolling plains of Pieria and Emathia are surrounded by the rich Amphaxitis plain.

#2

The question of the ethnicity and language of the ancient Macedonians has been caught up in the identity politics of the modern peoples and states of the southern Balkan peninsula. As the Ottoman Empire decayed, four local peoples sought to establish nation-states encompassing as much territory as possible.

#3

The question of who the Macedonians were has always been a mystery. They may have been a group of people who lived in the southern Balkans, but they may have also been a group of people who lived in Asia Minor.

#4

The earliest surviving Greek inscriptions, dating from the middle and second half of the eighth century, do not mention Macedonians. The first literary reference to Macedonia comes in one of the texts belonging to the Hesiodic corpus, the so-called Catalogue of Women, which was probably compiled around 700.

#5

The first fragments of the Catalogue of Women deal with the origins of the Greek people, specifically with the eponymous ancestors of the Greek people. According to this author, the Macedonians were not descendants of Hellen, but closely linked genealogically to them.

#6

The only sources that mention the Macedonians before the fourth century are the two great fifth-century historians Herodotus and Thucydides. They do not address the question of Macedonian ethnicity, but they do say that the Macedonian ruling family was descended from the greatest Greek hero, Heracles.

#7

The expansion of Macedonian power from Pieria northwards and eastwards through Bottiaea and Almopia to the Amphaxitis and beyond into the northern Chalcidice and the Pindus uplands was recorded by the Greek historian Thucydides. He claimed that the original inhabitants of these regions were displaced by the Macedonians.

#8

The argument against including the ancient Macedonians in the Greek world is based on the fact that they were not city-state Greeks. They were a tribal monarchy and landowning aristocracy, and their way of life was revolving around the agora, the gymnasium, and the theater.

#9

The Research Center for Greek and Roman Antiquity in Athens has focused attention on the nomenclature of the Macedonians, which is the list of names used by Macedonians. The majority of these names are Greek, and were typically used by Greeks.

#10

The Macedonian question is a modern-day red herring, based on modern notions of nationality and ethnicity. The ancient Macedonians were speakers of a dialect of Greek, and their names make this clear.

#11

The history of Macedonia begins with the reign of Alexander I, ruler of Macedonia during the first decades of the fifth century, and ends with the death of his son, Cassander, in 479. During this time, the Macedonians expanded their territory to the east and west, taking much of the northern Chalcidice.

#12

Perdiccas, the oldest of Alexander’s sons, had established himself as the ruler of Macedonia. He was weak, vacillating, and untrustworthy, however, and was assassinated in 399.

#13

Amyntas III, the last king of Macedonia, was forced to make a series of pacts with other powerful states in order to retain power. He