Lower Macedonia

File:Macedon 4BC.1.JPG

Kingdom of Macedon after Philip's II death with Lower Macedonia as distinct entity.

Lower Macedonia (Greek: Κάτω Μακεδονία, Kato Makedonia) or Macedonia proper or Emathia is a geographical term used in Antiquity referring to the coastal plain watered by the rivers Haliacmon, Axius on the west and bounded by Strymon on the east. Its districts were: Pieria, Bottiaea, Amphaxitis, Crestonia, Mygdonia, Anthemous, Crousis and Bisaltia. The region corresponds roughly to the modern Greek region of Central Macedonia, except for the Chalcidice peninsula.

The center and two capitals (Aigai and Pella) of the ancient Macedonian kingdom lay in Bottiaea, from where the Macedonians conquered gradually the Thracian-inhabited areas east of the Axius in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. For this reason the regions of Edonis, Sintica, Odomantica and Pieris, conquered by Philip II, were termed in Latin Macedonia Adjecta (Επίκτητος Μακεδονία).

External links

• Map of the growth of Macedonia 4th BC - Lower Macedonia is shown in brown - Retrieved from Eliznik. com.

Sources

• A Manual of Ancient Geography. by Heinrich Kiepert, George Augustin. Macmillan. p 182 ISBN 1-146-40082-9
• The Greek World in the Fourth Century. by Lawrence A. Tritle. p 167 ISBN 0-415-10583-8
• The Classical Gazetteer. Hazlitt. p 210

See also

• Upper Macedonia
• Ancient Greek geography