|
Macedonia or Macedon (; (ギリシア語:Μακεδονία), '; ) was an ancient kingdom on the northern periphery of Classical Greece〔Simon Hornblower, "Greek Identity in the Archaic and Classical Periods" in Katerina Zacharia, ''Hellenisms'', Ashgate Publishing, 2008, pp. 55–58.〕 and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece.〔M. M. Austin, "The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest: a selection of ancient sources in translation", Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp. 3, '' ''.〕 It was ruled during most of its existence initially by the legendary founding dynasty of the Argeads, the intermittent Antipatrids and finally the Antigonids. Home to the Macedonians, the earliest kingdom was centered on the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south. Prior to the fourth century BC, Macedonia was a small kingdom in northern Greece, outside the area dominated by the great city-states of Athens, Sparta and Thebes, and at one time was subordinate to Achaemenid Persia. The reign of Philip II (359–336 BC) saw the rise of Macedonia, which would overthrow Persian rule and come to control the entire Greek world. With the innovative Macedonian army, Philip defeated the old powers of Athens and Thebes in the decisive Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC and subdued them, while keeping Sparta in check. His son Alexander the Great pursued his father's effort to command the whole of Greece through the federation of Greek states, a feat he finally accomplished after destroying a revolting Thebes. Young Alexander was then ready to lead this force, as he aspired, in a large campaign against the Achaemenid Empire, in retaliation for the invasion of Greece in the 5th century BC, in which he succeeded. In the ensuing wars of Alexander the Great, he was ultimately successful in conquering a territory that came to stretch as far as the Indus River. For a brief period his Macedonian Empire was the most powerful in the world, the definitive Hellenistic state, inaugurating the transition to this new period of Ancient Greek civilization. Greek arts and literature flourished in the new conquered lands and advancements in philosophy and science were spread to the ancient world. Of most importance were the contributions of Aristotle, a teacher to Alexander, whose teachings carried on many centuries past his death. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, the following wars of the Diadochi and the partitioning of his short-lived empire, Macedonia proper carried on as a Greek cultural and political center in the Mediterranean region along with Ptolemaic Egypt, the Seleucid Empire, and the Attalid kingdom. Important cities like Pella, Pydna, and Amphipolis were involved in power struggles for control of the territory, and new cities were founded, like Thessalonica by the usurper Cassander, which is now the second largest city of modern-day Greece. Macedonia's decline of influence began with the rise of Rome until its ultimate subjection during the second Macedonian Wars. ==Etymology== The name Macedonia ((ギリシア語:Μακεδονία), ') comes from the Greek Μακεδόνες (''Makedónes''), deriving ultimately from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός (''makednós''), meaning "tall, taper", possibly descriptive of the people.〔(μακεδνός ), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus〕 It also shares the same root as the noun μάκρος (''mákros''), meaning "length" in both ancient and modern Greek.〔(μάκρος ), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus〕 The name is originally believed to have meant either "highlanders" or "the tall ones",〔(Macedonia ), Online Etymology Dictionary〕〔Eugene N. Borza, ''Makedonika'', Regina Books, ISBN 0-941690-65-2, p.114: The "highlanders" or "Makedones" of the mountainous regions of western Macedonia are derived from northwest Greek stock; they were akin both to those who at an earlier time may have migrated south to become the historical "Dorians".〕〔Nigel Guy Wilson, ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 2009, p.439: The latest archaeological findings have confirmed that Macedonia took its name from a tribe of tall, Greek-speaking people, the Makednoi.〕 However, according to modern research by Robert S. P. Beekes, both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. The shorter English name variant ''Macedon'' developed in Middle English, based on a borrowing from the French form of the name, ''Macédoine''.〔''Oxford English Dictionary'', s.v. 'Macedon'〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Macedonia (ancient kingdom)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|