Coin of the Macedonian League Numismatic Museum of Athens

The League of the Macedonians ( el, Κοινὸν τῶν Μακεδόνων, ''Koinòn tōn Makedónōn'') was a confederationally-organized commonwealth institution (i.e., an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

regional state or '' koinon'') consisting of all

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...

communities united around a

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

.. It can be paralleled from the ''koinon'' of the Molossians, but it seems that the Macedonian ''koinon'' had far less power than that of the

Molossians The Molossians () were a group of ancient Greek tribes which inhabited the region of Epirus in classical antiquity. Together with the Chaonians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribal groupings of the northwestern Greek group. On t ...

. The capital, or headquarters, of the Macedonian ''koinon'' was the city of

Beroia Veria ( el, Βέροια or Βέρροια), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Berea or Berœa, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of ...

History

Both numismatic and inscriptional evidence attest to the existence of the Macedonian ''koinon'' before and after the Roman conquest of Macedon.. Coinage in the name of the "Macedonians" (i.e., ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΩΝ) was in continuous production from the reigns of Philip V (r. 238–179 BC) and

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus ( /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek: Περσεύς, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer ...

(r. 212–166 BC) well into the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. It was reorganized under the early

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

and transformed into an institution related to the imperial cult as happened to all the ''koina'' of the period. The ''koinon'', administered by local elite members, organized and financed games and festivals and were awarded Roman citizenship. Using traditional ethnic symbols depicted on its coins, such as the Macedonian shield and the winged thunderbolt, the ''koinon'' preserved a sense of Greek/Macedonian civic identity within the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

until the end of the 2nd century AD. The last attestation of a person "ethnically" identified as Macedonian is dated to the beginning of the 4th century AD..

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koinon Of Macedonians Government of Macedonia (ancient kingdom) Antigonid Macedonia Government of Roman Macedonia