In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon

By Eugene N. Borza

Book Overview

In tracing the emergence of the Macedonian kingdom from its origins as a Balkan backwater to a major European and Asian power, Eugene Borza offers to specialists and lay readers alike a revealing account of a relatively unexplored segment of ancient history. He draws from recent archaeological discoveries and an enhanced understanding of historical geography to form a narrative that provides a material-culture setting for political events. Examining the dynamics of Macedonian relations with the Greek city-states, he suggests that the Macedonians, although they gradually incorporated aspects of Greek culture into their own society, maintained a distinct ethnicity as a Balkan people. "Borza has taken the trouble to know Macedonia: the land, its prehistory, its position in the Balkans, and its turbulent modern history. All contribute...to our understanding of the emergence of Macedon.... Borza has employed two of the historian's most valuable tools, autopsy and common sense, to produce a well-balanced introduction to the state that altered the course of Greek and Near Eastern history."--Waldemar Heckel, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691008809
• ISBN13: 9780691008806
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book..

An excellent book, even though it was written 20 years ago. As he was writing it, he had the foresight to recognise that new and exciting discoveries were happening or would certainly happen that could not be included in the original text. An appendix in the paperback addition does briefly discuss the known ones then.. Besides being a fair and balanced historian, he acknowledges the contemporary conflict with sadness and regret that it so interferes with the search for the truth. As can be seen by the one star reviews here..just sad. I recommend this book highly to anyone truly interested in the history of the ancient Macedonians.

Professor Borza knows his job

Dr.Eugene Borza, professor emeritus at the Penn State University - USA, have done a wonderfull job by publishing this fascinating book. As a revisionist, he does not concur on many important points with the few living traditionalists such as Hammond, but his views can be compared to those of Green, Badian, Danforth and the majority of modern scholars who find it rather difficult if not impossible to settle Macedonians among the Hellenic ethnos. He expresses serious doubts that the ancient Macedonians were Hellenes and corroborates his conclusions with a wealth of archaeological and linguistical arguments. However his aim in the book is not to confirm or deny the alleged Hellenism of Macedonians which view dates from the middle 19-th century. His job is to trace the emergence of the Macedonian state,power and culture through detailed analysis of the events and processes spaning several centuries. There lies the real value of the book. His deep knowledge of the subject is undeniable and that fact just increases the verisimilitudiness of the book. I strongly recomend this nice scholarly text.

Nice piece of unbiassed scholar work

Eugene Borza is one of the leading revisionists of the history of ancient Macedonia. That is why Greek ultra - nationalists and Greek nazi - fashists are attacking this wonderfull, unbiassed and consequently objective piece of scholar work. Actually, there are very few important historians left that backing up the thesis of the putative Hellenic origins of the ancient Macedonians. This out of date thesis has its roots in the 19-th century german historical school. This school of thought was politically motivated to create an artificial justification for the ambitions of Otto I of Bavaria, (the German king of Greece:1830 -1860) and his German-Danish successors to enlarge Greece to the north. Of course, Greece (with a little help of its friends) managed to realize that during the Balkan wars (1912 -1913) and did a classical ethnical cleansing to the majority of Macedonian inhabitants, afterwards. The empty houses of Macedonians were inhabited by the newcomers from Asia Minor. Today, those people represent themselfs as real Macedonians, although their ancestors settled there only 80 years ago. Mostly during the second half of the 20-th century the thesis of the Hellenic roots of the ancient Macedonians has been completelly discarted many times by a number of important scholars. So, from that point of view, Borza's work is not new.However, Borza has a unique ability to take the evidence as a whole, cut it to the tiniest details and synthetise them again in a convincing and thrilling argumentation. That is why I strongly recommend this book to everyone interested in the ancient Balkan history.

Excelent

Eugene Borza indeed deserves the title "Macedonian Specialist". This book, reconstructing the history of Macedonia before Alexander the Great, and the conditions contributing to the rise of the Macedonian power, is incredibly well written. Borza pays special attention to the ethnicity of the ancient Macedonians whom he argumentatively proves, are distinct nation, which have left a mark in the world history under their ethnic name. He takes detailed look at the writings of ancient Greek writers Herodotus and Thucydides, who did not consider the Macedonians as Greeks, in order to examine the historical events and the personalities of all Macedonian Kings from Amyntas I to Philip II, and their strong sense of separate ethnic identity. Borza puts a strong dose of criticism for the modern literature regarding the ancient Macedonians, particularly of the works by N.G.L. Hammond and the Modern Greek writers, whom Borza corrects on many matters, especially on the issue of the ethnicity of the ancient Macedonians. Borza cuts through the ancient myths, analyzes the religion and language of the Macedonians, brings the archeological discoveries into light, applying professionalism,, ancient facts, and common sense to arrive at his conclusions. The book is a must for every person interested in Macedonian studies, history, geography, anthropology, and ethnicity.