Contribution to the Greek War of Independence Thessaloniki remained the largest city where the most Macedonians resided. The matter of the multicultural composition of the people of Macedonia came to be known as the Macedonian Question. In Ottoman Macedonia, Greeks, Aromanians, Slavs, Jews, Albanians and Turks lived side-by-side but in self-contained communities, while in western Macedonia (Greece) there were sizable populations of Greek Muslims such as the Vallahades. Īfter the Ottoman conquest and towards the end of the Ottoman era, the term Macedonia came to signify a region in the north of the Greek peninsula different from the previous Byzantine theme. The territory of western Macedonia was subsequently contested between the main powers in the region, the Byzantine Empire, the Despotate of Epirus, the rulers of Thessaly, the Serbian Empire, and the Bulgarian Empire. In the late Byzantine period much of central Macedonia was ruled by a Latin Crusader state based in Thessalonica, before being ruled for a while by the rival emperor Theodore Komnenos Doukas and his descendants and subsequently re-incorporated into the Byzantine Empire centred in Constantinople. The region had also since ancient times a significant Romaniote Jew population. Under Roman control and later in the Byzantine Empire the region saw also the influx of many ethnicities ( Armenians, Slavs, Aromanians etc.) that settled in the area where the ancient Macedonians lived. Įngraved portrait of scholar Theodorus Gaza ( Thessalonicensis)Īfter the Roman conquest of the Balkans, the Macedonians were an integral component of the people of the Roman province of Macedonia. Ancient Macedonian, whether it was a Greek dialect probably of the Northwestern Doric group in particular, as findings such as Pella curse tablet indicate, or a separate Hellenic language, was gradually replaced by Attic Greek the latter came in use from the times of Philip II of Macedon and later evolved into Koine Greek. In the partition of Alexander's empire among the Diadochi, Macedonia fell to the Antipatrid dynasty, which was overthrown by the Antigonid dynasty after only a few years, in 294 BC. Although the empire fractured into multiple Hellenic regimes shortly after his death, his conquests left a lasting legacy, not least in the new Greek-speaking cities founded across Persia's western territories, heralding the Hellenistic period. Alexander's adoption of the styles of government of the conquered territories was accompanied by the spread of Greek culture and learning through his vast empire. Philip's son, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC), managed to briefly extend Macedonian power not only over the central Greek city-states, but also over the entire Persian empire which he toppled, including Egypt, and later went on towards lands as far east as the fringes of India today Pakistan. The rise of Macedon, from a small kingdom at the periphery of Classical Greek affairs, to one which came to dominate the entire Hellenic world, occurred under the reign of Philip II. Greek populations have inhabited the region of Macedonia since ancient times. See also: Ancient Macedonians, Macedonia (ancient kingdom), History of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), and Byzantine Greeks

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