Ancient Quotes on the Macedonians as Distinct Nation

The ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish historians, geographers, and orators, speak of the Macedonians as distinct
nation, separate from their Greek, Thracian, and Illyrian neighbors. They are clear that Macedonia was never part o
Greece and that the Macedonians conquered Greece, Thrace, and Illyria, and kept the Greeks, Thracians, and Illyria
enslaved, until Rome defeated the Macedonian armies and turned the country into its first province in 168 BC. The
assertion of those modern historians that propagate that the Macedonians "were Greeks" which have "united" Greec
absurd and is completely unsupported by the words of the ancients who clearly considered Greece subjected by the
Macedonian foreigners. The Macedonians garrisoned the Greek cities (like the Thracian and Illyrian cities) to enforce
their occupation, and later used the Greeks (along with equal numbers of the Thracians and Illyrians) for their conq
of Persia.

1) Diodorus

12) Plutarch

2) Justin

13) Livy

3) Arrian

14) Polybius

4) Curtius Rufus

15) Thracymachus

5) Thucydides

16) Herodotus

6) Isocrates

17) Demosthenes

7) Ephoros

18) Josephus

8) Ptolemy

19) Strabo

9) Pausanias

20) Dionysius Periegetes

10) Medius of Larisa

21) Pseudo-Scylax

11) Pseudo-Herodotus

22) Dionysius son of Kalliphon

The ancient Greeks did not regard the Macedonians as Greeks, nor the Macedonians regarded themselves to be Gre
They were proud of their Macedonian nationality and way of life, and looked down upon the Greeks and with contem
The Greeks called them barbarians, along with the Persians, Illyrians, and Thracians, a label that they attributed to

non-Greeks who neither spoke nor understood the Greek language. Alexander's Macedonian Army was not a "Greek
army" as some modern writers have erroneously claimed, nor the Macedonian conquest of Asia was a "Greek conqu
The fact is that not one ancient writer has called the Macedonian empire "Greek" or the Macedonian army and conq
"Greek", but specifically Macedonian. When Rome clashed with Macedonia, the Macedonians were ordered by the
Romans to evacuate from the whole of Greece and withdraw to Macedonia. They were hated by the Greeks ever sin
Philip II defeated the Greeks at Chaeronea in 338 BC and brought Greece to its kneel, and the Greeks fought fierce
first on the side of the Persians and later on the side of the Romans to expel the Macedonians from their country. T
late would they realize that the Macedonian occupation would only be replaced by the Roman. In between the Gree
fought many unsuccessful wars against the Macedonians to drive them out of Greece, among which the Lamian Wa
the most famous. It should be noted that the Lamian War was triggered by the death of Alexander the Great, which
encouraged the Greeks to rebel.

The purpose of this page is to provide the reader with the actual quotes of the ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish
historians, geographers, and orators that speak of the above assertions, and show that the ancient Macedonians we
not Greeks (as the modern Greeks claim today) but a distinct nation. The reader is cautioned that these ancient qu
are not found at the Greek Internet pages which propagate that the Macedonians "were Greek". Since these
overwhelming quotes confirm the fact that the ancient Macedonians were not Greek, the Greek Internet pages purp
avoid them, as they have no way of explaining them. But to the ancient peoples and to the ancient authors the
distinctive ethnicity of the Macedonians was not a matter for debate - it was simply a fact.