Alexander the Great

[Matthew]

I need to know the age of Greece that alexander the great lived in?
Or waht age came after the Golden Age?
Thanks

[yiannis]

He lived in the Classical period, which starts at 500BC and ends at 323BC.After his death, the Hellenistic period starts (323-31 BC).PS
You could find this info very easily by yourself. Just search a bit!

[susa]

Hi YiannisThis post's given me a bit of curiosity about the Macedonian counting at the time. Do you possibly know how was the counting of years by the time of Alexander? I mean, without the B.C. formula...

[agesilaos]

Years were reckoned from the first Olympiad 776BC in groups of four; the first Olympiad running from 776 to 773 inclusive; States dated things either from the regnal year of a monarh or the Administration of their chief official.

[yiannis]

Good point Susa, but I don't know the answer! :-)Basically, every region, not to mention every city-state had a (more or less) different way of counting time!A widely used system of dating in classical antiquity was that of the Olympic Games, which were regularly held in Greece since 776 BC every four years up until their abolition in AD 393 by the Emperor Theodosius.
Another chronology system was the list of archons, the rulers of Athens. The official list ran back to 1068 BC.The Macedonians probably had a similar system (based on kings). Their months were called:Dios
Apellaios
Audynaios
Peritios
Dystros
Xanthikos
Artemisios
Daisios
Panemos
Loos
Gorpiaios
Hyperberetaios

[kate]

Hi Yiannis,
Where did you find out the names for Macedonian months? I did some research on this subject a while ago, but found very little. Did your source give any comparison to modern months? I know Loos is roughly the same as July, but I'd like to find out about the others.
Thanks for any information you can pass on.
Cheers
Kate

[yiannis]

Hi Kate, I found it here:
http://www.geocities.com/etaireiadeukalion/8.htmlThere are all the names of the months in the various Greek regions, as well as (no 10) the names of the monehts during the French revolution or 1789!Peritios = Jan, Dystros = feb, Xanthikos = Mar, Artemisios = Apr, Daisios = May, Panemos = Jun, Loos = Jul, Gorpiaios = Aug, Hyperberetaios = Sep, Dios = Oct, Apellaios = Nov, Audynaios = December.

[marcus]

Oh Yiannis, that was good. Thank you very much.I did have all the Attic months, but only a few of the Macedonian ones. But to be honest, I didn't realise that there were so many others - so it was particularly helpful to see the Cretan, Delphic etc. ones.That must be one of the most useful links anyone has ever put on this forum (in my opinion).CheersMarcus

[yiannis]

You're very kind! :-)Btw, can you read Greek?

[marcus]

I can read it. I don't really speak it, although I have a few words (I learned Ancient at school and I learned Modern for a year at university).So the site is fine for me.CheersMarcus