Difference between revisions of "Macedonia"

<p> [[Macedonia]] ( ''Măs-E-Ă'' ''Ô'Ni-Ah'' ), ''Extended Land.'' Macedonia is situated in a great basin north of Greece, nearly surrounded by the mountains and the sea. The third great world-kingdom, the Macedonian empire, received its name from this comparatively little spot. Comp. &nbsp;Daniel 8:5-8; &nbsp;Daniel 8:21. The Romans conquered the territory from Perseus. It was at first divided into four districts, afterward consolidated into one with its capital at Thessalonica, where the proconsul resided. In New Testament history Macedonia holds an important place because of the labors of the apostles. Paul was called there by the vision of the "man of Macedonia," and made a most successful missionary tour. &nbsp;Acts 16:10; &nbsp;Acts 17:1-12. He visited it again, &nbsp;Acts 20:1-6, and probably for a third time. Comp. &nbsp;1 Timothy 1:3; &nbsp;Philippians 2:24. His Epistles to the Thessalonians and Philippians show that the Macedonian Christians exhibited many excellent traits. The details of his work can be studied in connection with the cities of Macedonia visited by him. See Neapolis, Philippi, Apollonia, Thessalonica, Beræa. </p>

<p> ''''' mas ''''' - ''''' ḗ ''''' - ''''' dō´ni ''''' - ''''' a ''''' ( Μακεδονία , <i> ''''' Makedonı́a ''''' </i> , ethnic Μακεδών , <i> ''''' Makedṓn ''''' </i> ): </p> <p> I. The Macedonian People And Land </p> <p> II. History Of Macedonia </p> <p> 1. Philip and Alexander </p> <p> 2. Roman Intervention </p> <p> 3. Roman Conquest </p> <p> 4. Macedonia a Roman [[Province]] </p> <p> 5. Later History </p> <p> III. Paul And Macedonia </p> <p> 1. Paul's First [[Visit]] </p> <p> 2. Paul's Second Visit </p> <p> 3. Paul's Third Visit </p> <p> 4. Paul's Later Visits </p> <p> IV. The Macedonian Church </p> <p> 1. Prominence of Women </p> <p> 2. [[Marked]] Characteristics </p> <p> 3. Its [[Members]] </p> <p> [[Literature]] </p> <p> A country lying to the North of Greece, afterward enlarged and formed into a Roman province; it is to the latter that the term always refers when used in the New Testament. </p> I. The Macedonian People and Land. <p> Ethnologists differ about the origin of the Macedonian race and the degree of its affinity to the Hellenes. But we find a well-marked tradition in ancient times that the race comprised a Hellenic element and a non-Hellenic, though Aryan, element, closely akin to the Phrygian and other Thracian stocks. The dominant race, the Macedonians in the narrower sense of the term, including the royal family, which was acknowledged to be Greek and traced its descent through the Temenids of Argos back to [[Heracles]] (Herodotus v. 22), settled in the fertile plains about the lower Haliacmon ( <i> Karasu </i> or <i> Vistritza </i> ) and Axius ( <i> Vardar </i> ), to the North and Northwest of the Thermaic Gulf. Their capital, which was originally at Edessa or Aegae ( <i> Vodhena </i> ), was afterward transferred to Pella by Philip II. The other and older element - the Lyncestians, Orestians, Pelagonians and other tribes - were pushed back northward and westward into the highlands, where they struggled for generations to maintain their independence and weakened the Macedonian state by constant risings and by making common cause with the wild hordes of Illyrians and Thracians, with whom we find the Macedonian kings in frequent conflict. In order to maintain their position they entered into a good understanding from time to time with the states of Greece or acknowledged temporarily Persian suzerainty, and thus gradually extended the sphere of their power. </p> II. History of Macedonia. <p> [[Herodotus]] (viii. 137-39) traces the royal line from [[Perdiccas]] I through Argaeus, Philip I, Aeropus, Alcetas and Amyntas I to Alexander I, who was king at the time of the Persian invasions of Greece. He and his son and grandson, Perdiccas 2 and Archelaus, did much to consolidate Macedonian power, but the death of [[Archelaus]] (399 BC) was followed by 40 years of disunion and weakness. </p> <p> <b> 1. Philip and Alexander: </b> </p> <p> With the accession of Philip II, son of Amyntas II, in 359 BC, Macedonia came under the rule of a man powerful alike in body and in mind, an able general and an astute diplomatist, one, moreover, who started out with a clear perception of the end at which he must aim, the creation of a great national army and a nation-state, and worked consistently and untiringly throughout his reign of 23 years to gain that object. He welded the Macedonian tribes into a single nation, won by force and fraud the important positions of Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidaea, Olynthus, Abdera and Maronea, and secured a plentiful supply of gold by founding Philippi on the site of Crenides. Gradually extending his rule over barbarians and Greeks alike, he finally, after the battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), secured his recognition by the Greeks themselves as captain-general of the Hellenic states and leader of a Greco-Macedonian crusade against Persia. On the eve of this projected eastern expedition, however, he was assassinated by order of his dishonored wife [[Olympias]] (336 BC), whose son, Alexander the Great, succeeded to the throne. After securing his hold on Thrace, Illyria and Greece, Alexander turned eastward and, in a series of brilliant campaigns, overthrew the Persian empire. The battle of the Granicus (334 BC) was followed by the submission or subjugation of most of Asia Minor. By the battle of [[Issus]] (333), in which [[Darius]] himself was defeated, Alexander's way was opened to [[Phoenicia]] and Egypt; Darius' second defeat, at [[Arbela]] (331), sealed the fate of the Persian power. Babylon, Susa, [[Persepolis]] and [[Ecbatana]] were taken in turn, and Alexander then pressed eastward through Hyrcania, Aria, Arachosia, Bactria and Sogdiana to India, which he conquered as far as the Hyphasis ( <i> ''''' [[Sutlej]] ''''' </i> ): thence he returned through Gedrosia, Carmania and [[Persis]] to Babylon, to make preparations for the conquest of Arabia. A sketch of his career is given in &nbsp; 1 Maccabees 1:1-7 , where he is spoken of as "Alexander the Macedonian, the son of Philip, who came out of the land of Chittim" (1:1): his invasion of [[Persia]] is also referred to in &nbsp;1 Maccabees 6:2 , where he is described as "the Macedonian king, who reigned first among the Greeks," i.e. the first who united in a single empire all the Greek states, except those which lay to the West of the Adriatic. It is the conception of the Macedonian power as the deadly foe of Persia which is responsible for the description of [[Haman]] in Additions to &nbsp;Esther 16:10 as a Macedonian, "an alien in truth from the Persian blood," and for the attribution to him of a plot to transfer the Persian empire to the Macedonians (verse 14), and this same thought appears in the Septuagint's rendering of the [[Hebrew]] [[Agagite]] ( אגגי , <i> ''''' 'ăghāghı̄ ''''' </i> ) in &nbsp; Esther 9:24 as Macedonian ( <i> ''''' Makedōn ''''' </i> ). </p> <p> <b> 2. Roman Intervention: </b> </p> <p> Alexander died in June 323 BC, and his empire fell a prey to the rivalries of his chief generals (&nbsp;1 Maccabees 1:9 ); after a period of struggle and chaos, three powerful kingdoms were formed, taking their names from Macedonia, Syria and Egypt. Even in Syria, however, Macedonian influences remained strong, and we find Macedonian troops in the service of the Seleucid monarchs (&nbsp;2 Maccabees 8:20 ). In 215 King Philip V, son of [[Demetrius]] 2 and successor of Antigonus Doson (229-220 BC), formed an alliance with Hannibal, who had defeated the Roman forces at Lake Trasimene (217) and at Cannae (216), and set about trying to recover Illyria. After some years of desultory and indecisive warfare, peace was concluded in 205, Philip binding himself to abstain from attacking the Roman possessions on the East of the Adriatic. The Second Macedonian War, caused by a combined attack of [[Antiochus]] 3 of Syria and Philip of Macedon on Egypt, broke out in 200 and ended 3 years later in the crushing defeat of Philip's forces by T. Quinctius Flamininus at Cynoscephalae in Thessaly (compare &nbsp;1 Maccabees 8:5 ). By the treaty which followed this battle, Philip surrendered his conquests in Greece, Illyria, Thrace, Asia Minor and the Aegean, gave up his fleet, reduced his army to 5,000 men, and undertook to declare no war and conclude no alliance without Roman consent. </p> <p> <b> 3. Roman Conquest: </b> </p> <p> In 179 Philip was succeeded by his son Perseus, who at once renewed the Roman alliance, but set to work to consolidate and extend his power. In 172 war again broke out, and after several Roman reverses the consul [[Lucius]] Aemilius Paulus decisively defeated the Macedonians at Pydna in 168 Bc (compare &nbsp;1 Maccabees 8:5 , where [[Perseus]] is called "king of [[Chittim]] "). The kingship was abolished and Perseus was banished to Italy. The Macedonians were declared free and autonomous; their land was divided into four regions, with their capitals at Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella and Pelagonia respectively, and each of them was governed by its own council; <i> commercium </i> and <i> connubium </i> were forbidden between them and the gold and silver mines were closed. A tribute was to be paid annually to the Roman treasury, amounting to half the land tax hitherto exacted by the Macedonian kings. </p> <p> <b> 4. Macedonia a Roman Province: </b> </p> <p> But this compromise between freedom and subjection could not be of long duration, and after the revolt of Andriscus, the pseudo-Philip, was quelled (148 BC), Macedonia was constituted a Roman province and enlarged by the addition of parts of Illyria, Epirus, the Ionian islands and Thessaly. Each year a governor was dispatched from Rome with supreme military and judicial powers; the partition fell into abeyance and communication within the province was improved by the construction of the <i> Via Egnatia </i> from Dyrrhachium to Thessalonica, whence it was afterward continued eastward to the Nestus and the Hellespont. In 146 the Acheans, who had declared war on Rome, were crushed by Q. [[Caecilius]] Metellus and L. Mummius, Corinth was sacked and destroyed, the Achean league was dissolved, and Greece, under the name of Achea, was made a province and placed under the control of the governor of Macedonia. In 27 BC, when the administration of the provinces was divided between Augustus and the Senate, Macedonia and [[Achea]] fell to the share of the latter (Strabo, p. 840; [[Dio]] [[Cassius]] liii. 12) and were governed separately by ex-praetors sent out annually with the title of proconsul. In 15 AD, however, senatorial mismanagement had brought the provinces to the verge of ruin, and they were transferred to Tiberius (Tacitus, <i> Annals </i> , i. 76), who united them under the government of a <i> legatus [[Augusti]] pro praetore </i> until, in 44 AD, Claudius restored them to the [[Senate]] (Suetonius, <i> Claudius </i> 25; Dio Cassius 60 .24). It is owing to this close historical and geographical connection that we find Macedonia and Achia frequently mentioned together in the New Testament, Macedonia being always placed first (&nbsp; Acts 19:21; &nbsp;Romans 15:26; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 9:2; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 1:7 , &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 1:8 ). </p> <p> <b> 5. Later History: </b> </p> <p> [[Diocletian]] (284-305 AD) detached from Macedonia Thessaly and the Illyrian coast lands and formed them into two provinces, the latter under the name of Epirus Nova. Toward the end of the 4th century what remained of Macedonia was broken up into two provinces, <i> Macedonia </i> <i> prima </i> and <i> Macedonia </i> <i> secunda </i> or <i> salutaris </i> , and when in 395 the Roman world was divided into the western and eastern empires, Macedonia was included in the latter. During the next few years it was overrun and plundered by the [[Goths]] under Alaric, and later, in the latter half of the 6th century, immense numbers of [[Slavonians]] settled there. In the 10th century a large part of it was under Bulgarian rule, and afterward colonies of various Asiatic tribes were settled there by the Byzantine emperors. In 1204 it became a Latin kingdom under Boniface, marquis of Monferrat, but 20 years later Theodore, the Greek despot of Epirus, founded a Greek empire of Thessalonica. During the 2nd half of the 14th century the greater part of it was part of the Servian dominions, but in 1430 Thessalonica fell before the Ottoman Turks, and from that time down to the year 1913 Macedonia has formed part of the Turkish empire. Its history thus accounts for the very mixed character of its population, which consists chiefly of Turks, Albanians, Greeks and Bulgarians, but has in it a considerable element of Jews, Gypsies, Vlachs, Servians and other races. </p> III. Paul and Macedonia. <p> In the narrative of Paul's journeys as given us in &nbsp;Acts 13 through 28 and in the Pauline Epistles, Macedonia plays a prominent part. The apostle's relations with the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea will be found discussed under those several headings; here we will merely recount in outline his visits to the province. </p> <p> <b> 1. Paul's First Visit: </b> </p> <p> On his 2nd missionary journey Paul came to Troas, and from there sailed with Silas, Timothy and Luke to Neapolis, the nearest Macedonian seaport, in obedience to the vision of a Macedonian (whom Ramsay identifies with Luke: see under the word "Philippi") urging him to cross to Macedonia and preach the gospel there (&nbsp;Acts 16:9 ). From Neapolis he journeyed inland to Philippi, which is described as "a city of Macedonia, the first of the district" (&nbsp;Acts 16:12 ). [[Thence]] Paul and his two companions (for Luke appears to have remained in Philippi for the next 5 years) traveled along the Ignatian road, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, to Thessalonica, which, though a "free city," and therefore technically exempt from the jurisdiction of the Roman governor, was practically the provincial capital. Driven thence by the hostility of the Jews, the evangelists preached in Berea, where Silas and Timothy remained for a short time after a renewed outbreak of Jewish animosity had forced Paul to leave Macedonia for the neighboring province of Achaia (&nbsp;Acts 17:14 ). Although he sent a message to his companions to join him with all speed at Athens (&nbsp;Acts 17:15 ), yet so great was his anxiety for the welfare of the newly founded Macedonian churches that he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica almost immediately (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 3:1 , &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 3:2 ), and perhaps Silas to some other part of Macedonia, nor did they again join him until after he had settled for some time in Corinth (&nbsp;Acts 18:5; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 3:6 ). The rapid extension of the Christian faith in Macedonia at this time may be judged from the phrases used by Paul in his 1st Epistle to the Thessalonians, the earliest of his extant letters, written during this visit to Corinth. He there speaks of the [[Thessalonian]] converts as being an example "to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia" (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 1:7 ), and he commends their love "toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia" (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 4:10 ). Still more striking are the words, "From you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth" (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 1:8 ). </p> <p> <b> 2. Paul's Second Visit: </b> </p> <p> On his 3missionary journey, the apostle paid two further visits to Macedonia. During the course of a long stay at [[Ephesus]] he laid plans for a 2nd journey through Macedonia and Achaia, and dispatched two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia to prepare for his visit (&nbsp;Acts 19:21 , &nbsp;Acts 19:22 ). Some time later, after the uproar at Ephesus raised by Demetrius and his fellow-silversmiths (Acts 19:23-41), Paul himself set out for Macedonia (&nbsp;Acts 20:1 ). Of this visit Luke gives us a very summary account, telling us merely that Paul, "when he had gone through those parts, and had given them much exhortation,... came into Greece" (&nbsp;Acts 20:2 ); but from 2 Cor, written from Macedonia (probably from Philippi) during the course of this visit, we learn more of the apostle's movements and feelings. While at Ephesus, Paul had changed his plans. His intention at first had been to travel across the Aegean Sea to Corinth, to pay a visit from there to Macedonia and to return to Corinth, so as to sail direct to Syria (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 1:15 , &nbsp;2 Corinthians 1:16 ). But by the time at which he wrote the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, probably near the end of his stay at Ephesus, he had made up his mind to go to Corinth by way of Macedonia, as we have seen that he actually did (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 16:5 , &nbsp;1 Corinthians 16:6 ). From &nbsp;2 Corinthians 2:13 we learn that he traveled from Ephesus to Troas, where he expected to find Titus. Titus, however, did not yet arrive, and Paul, who "had no relief for (his) spirit," left Troas and sailed to Macedonia. Even here the same restlessness pursued him: "fightings without, fears within" oppressed him, till the presence of Titus brought some relief (&nbsp; 2 Corinthians 7:5 , &nbsp;2 Corinthians 7:6 ). The apostle was also cheered by "the grace of God which had been given in the churches of Macedonia" (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 8:1 ); in the midst of severe persecution, they bore their trials with abounding joy, and their deep poverty did not prevent them begging to be allowed to raise a contribution to send to the Christians in [[Jerusalem]] (&nbsp;Romans 15:26; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 8:2-4 ). [[Liberality]] was, indeed, from the very outset one of the characteristic virtues of the Macedonian churches. The Philippians had sent money to Paul on two occasions during his first visit to Thessalonica (&nbsp;Philippians 4:16 ), and again when he had left Macedonia and was staying at Corinth (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:9; &nbsp;Philippians 4:15 ). On the present occasion, however, the Corinthians seem to have taken the lead and to have prepared their bounty in the previous year, on account of which the apostle boasts of them to the Macedonian Christians (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 9:2 ). He suggests that on his approaching visit to Achaia he may be accompanied by some of these Macedonians (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 9:4 ), but whether this was actually the case we are not told. </p> <p> <b> 3. Paul's Third Visit: </b> </p> <p> The 3visit of Paul to Macedonia took place some 3 months later and was occasioned by a plot against his life laid by the [[Jews]] of Corinth, which led him to alter his plan of sailing from Cenchrea, the eastern seaport of Corinth, to Syria (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 1:16; &nbsp;Acts 20:3 ). He returned to Macedonia accompanied as far as Asia by 3 Macedonian Christians - S opater, Aristarchus and Secundus - and by 4 from Asia Minor. Probably Paul took the familiar route by the <i> Via Egnatia </i> , and reached Philippi immediately before the days of unleavened bread; his companions preceded him to Troas (&nbsp;Acts 20:5 ), while he himself remained at Philippi until after the [[Passover]] (Thursday, April 7, 57 AD, according to Ramsay's chronology), when he sailed from Neapolis together with Luke, and joined his friends in Troas (&nbsp;Acts 20:6 ). </p> <p> <b> 4. Paul's Later Visits: </b> </p> <p> Toward the close of his 1st imprisonment at Rome Paul planned a fresh visit to Macedonia as soon as he should be released (&nbsp;Philippians 1:26; &nbsp;Philippians 2:24 ), and even before that he intended to send Timothy to visit the [[Philippian]] church and doubtless those of Berea and Thessalonica also. Whether Timothy actually went on this mission we cannot say; that Paul himself went back to Macedonia once more we learn from &nbsp;1 Timothy 1:3 , and we may infer a 5th visit from the reference to the apostle's stay at Troas, which in all probability belongs to a later occasion (&nbsp;2 Timothy 4:13 ). </p> IV. The Macedonian Church. <p> <b> 1. Prominence of Women: </b> </p> <p> Of the churches of Macedonia in general, little need be said here. A striking fact is the prominence in them of women, which is probably due to the higher social position held by women in this province than in Asia Minor (Lightfoot, Philippians4,55 ff). We find only two references to women in connection with Paul's previous missionary work; the women proselytes of high social standing take a share in driving him from Pisidian [[Antioch]] (&nbsp;Acts 13:50 ), and Timothy's mother is mentioned as a [[Jewess]] who believed (&nbsp;Acts 16:1 ). But in Macedonia all is changed. To women the gospel was first preached at Philippi (&nbsp;Acts 16:13 ); a woman was the first convert and the hostess of the evangelists (&nbsp;Acts 16:14 , &nbsp;Acts 16:15 ); a slave girl was restored to soundness of mind by the apostle (&nbsp;Acts 16:18 ), and long afterward Paul mentions two women as having "labored with (him) in the gospel" and as endangering the peace of the church by their rivalry (&nbsp;Philippians 4:2 , &nbsp;Philippians 4:3 ). At Thessalonica a considerable number of women of the first rank appear among the earliest converts (&nbsp;Acts 17:4 ), while at Berea also the church included from the outset numerous Greek women of high position (&nbsp;Acts 17:12 ). </p> <p> <b> 2. Marked Characteristics: </b> </p> <p> The bond uniting Paul and the Macedonian Christians seems to have been a peculiarly close and affectionate one. Their liberality and open-heartedness, their joyousness and patience in trial and persecution, their activity in spreading the Christian faith, their love of the brethren - these are a few of the characteristics which Paul specially commends in them (1,2 Thessalonians; Philippians; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 8:1-8 ), while they also seem to have been much freer than the churches of Asia Minor from [[Judaizing]] tendencies and from the allurements of "philosophy and vain deceit." </p> <p> <b> 3. Its Members: </b> </p> <p> We know the names of a few of the early members of the Macedonian churches - S opater (&nbsp;Acts 20:4 ) or [[Sosipater]] (&nbsp;Romans 16:21 : the identification is a probable, though not a certain, one) of Berea; Aristarchus (&nbsp; Acts 19:29; &nbsp;Acts 20:4; &nbsp;Acts 27:2; &nbsp;Colossians 4:10; &nbsp;Philippians 1:24 ), [[Jason]] (&nbsp;Acts 17:5-9; &nbsp;Romans 16:21 ?) and Secundus (&nbsp;Acts 20:4 ) of Thessalonica; [[Clement]] (&nbsp;Philippians 4:3 ), Epaphroditus (&nbsp;Philippians 2:25; &nbsp;Philippians 4:18 ), [[Euodia]] (&nbsp;Philippians 4:2; this, not [[Euodias]] (the King James Version), is the true form), [[Syntyche]] (same place) , Lydia (&nbsp;Acts 16:14 , &nbsp;Acts 16:40; a native of Thyatira), and possibly Luke (Ramsay, <i> St. Paul the Traveler </i> , 201 ff) of Philippi. Gaius is also mentioned as a Macedonian in &nbsp;Acts 19:29 , but perhaps the reading of a few manuscripts Μακεδόνα is to be preferred to the Textus Receptus of the New Testament Μακεδόνας in which case Aristarchus alone would be a Macedonian, and this Gaius would probably be identical with the Gaius of [[Derbe]] mentioned in &nbsp; Acts 20:4 as a companion of Paul (Ramsay, op. cit., 280). The later history of the Macedonian churches, together with lists of all their known bishops, will be found in Le Quien, <i> Oriens [[Christianus]] </i> , II, 1 ff; III, 1089 ff 1045 f. </p> Literature. <p> General: C. Nicolaides, <i> Macedonien </i> , Berlin, 1899; Berard, <i> La Macedoine </i> , Paris, 1897; "Odysseus," <i> [[Turkey]] in Europe </i> , London, 1900. Secular History: Hogarth, <i> Philip and Alexander of Macedon </i> , London, 1897, and the histories of the Hellenistic period by Holm, Niese, [[Droysen]] and Kaerst. Ethnography and Language: O. Hoffmann, <i> Die Makedonen, ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum </i> , Gottingen, 1906. Topography and Antiquities: Heuzey and Daumet, <i> [[Mission]] archeologique de Macedoine </i> , Paris, 1876; Cousinery, <i> [[Voyage]] dans la Macedoine </i> , Paris, 1831; Clarke, Travels 4, [[Vii, Viii]]  London, 1818; Leake, <i> Travels in Northern Greece </i> , III, London, 1835; Duchesne and Bayet, <i> Memoire sur une mission en Macedoine et au Mont Athos </i> , Paris, 1876; Hahn, <i> Reise von Belgrad nach Saloniki </i> , Vienna, 1861. Coins: Head, <i> Historia Nummorum </i> , 193 f; <i> British Museum Catalogue of Coins: Macedonia, etc </i> ., London, 1879. Inscriptions: <i> Cig </i> , &nbsp;Numbers 1951-2010; <i> Cil </i> , III, 1 and III, Suppl.; Dimitsas, Ἡ Μακεδονία Athens, 1896. </p>

<p> Macedo′nia, a country lying to the north of Greece Proper, having on the east Thrace and the Aegean Sea, on the west the Adriatic and Illyria, on the north Dardania and Mæsia, and on the south Thessaly and Epirus. The country is supposed to have been first peopled by Chittim or Kittim, a son of [[Javan]] [[[Nations, Dispersion Of];]] and in that case it is probable that the Macedonians are sometimes intended when the word Chittim occurs in the Old Testament. Macedonia was the original kingdom of Philip and Alexander, by means of whose victories the name of the Macedonians became celebrated throughout the East, and is often used for the Greeks in Asia generally. The rise of the great empire formed by Alexander is described by the prophet Daniel under the emblem of a goat with one horn . As the horn was a general symbol of power, and as the oneness of the horn implies merely the unity of that power, we are not prepared to go the lengths of some over-zealous illustrators of Scripture, who argue that if a one-horned goat were not a recognized symbol of Macedonia we should not be entitled to conclude that Macedonia was intended. We hold that there could be no mistake in the matter, whatever may have been the usual symbol of Macedonia. It is, however, curious and interesting to know that Daniel did describe Macedonia under its usual symbol, as coins still exist in which that country is represented under the figure of a one-horned goat. There has been much discussion on this subject—more curious than valuable—but the kernel of it lies in this fact. </p> <p> When subdued by the Romans under Paulus Æmilius (B.C. 168), Macedonia was divided into four provinces; but afterwards (B.C. 142) the whole of Greece was divided into two great provinces, Macedonia and Achaia [[[Greece, Achaia]]]  Macedonia therefore constituted a Roman province, governed by a proconsul, in the time of Christ and his Apostles. </p> <p> The Apostle Paul being summoned in a vision, while at Troas, to preach the Gospel in Macedonia, proceeded thither, and founded the churches of Thessalonica and Philippi , A.D. 55. This occasions repeated mention of the name, either alone (;;;;; ), or along with Achaia . The principal cities of Macedonia were Amphipolis, Thessalonica, and Pella (Liv. xlv. 29); the towns of the province named in the New Testament, and noticed in the present work, are Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Neapolis, Apollonia, and Berea. </p>