Emathia ( gr, Ἠμαθία) was the name of the plain opposite the Thermaic Gulf when the kingdom of Macedon was formed. The name was used to define the area between the rivers

Aliakmon The Haliacmon ( el, Αλιάκμονας, ''Aliákmonas''; formerly: , ''Aliákmon'' or ''Haliákmōn'') is the longest river flowing entirely in Greece, with a total length of . In Greece there are three rivers longer than Haliakmon, Maritsa ( el ...

and

Loudias The Loudias ( el, Λουδίας) or Lydias (Λυδίας), popularly called Mavroneri (Μαυρονέρι, "Blackwater", from its Ottoman Turkish name ''Kara Asmak'' قره آصماق) is a river in Central Macedonia that flows through the r ...

, which, because it was the center of the kingdom, was also called Macedonia. Emathia was one of the six earliest provinces of Macedon and was bordered on the west by Orestis, on the north was separated from

Bisaltia Bisaltia ( el, Βισαλτία) or Bisaltica was an ancient country which was bordered by Sintice on the north, Crestonia on the west, Mygdonia on the south and was separated by Odomantis on the north-east and Edonis on the south-east by river ...

by river

, and on the south was separated from Pieria by river

Etymology

Emathia was named after the Samothracian king Emathion and not after the local

Emathus :''See also Emathion'' In Greek mythology, Emathus, Emathius or Amathus (Ancient Greek:), was son of Makednos, from whom Emathia (the Homeric name of Lower Macedonia) was believed to have derived its name. The daughters of his brother Pierus, the ...

. The etymology of the name is of Homeric Greek origin - ‘''amathos’= sandy soil, opp. to sea-sand (psámathos = ψάμαθος); in plural the links or dunes by the sea, [compare êmathóeis = ἠμαθόεις/ἠμᾰθόεις (masc.), ēmathóessa = ἠμαθόεσσα (fem.), ēmathóen = ἠμαθόεν (neut.) epic for amathóeis/ámathos = ἀμᾰθόεις ἄμαθος'' and ''êmathoessa (see above)'' 'sandy', i. e. the coastal, sandy/swampy land around Axius river, in contrast to mountainous Macedonia, probably also intended as 'laying large land' (cf. PIE *mē-2, *m-e-t- 'to mow, to reap').

Classical sources

Homer, who makes no mention of Macedonia, places Emathia as a region next to Pieria. The Homeric name was renewed mainly in Roman times and Ptolemy mentions some cities of Emathia. In Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.6 Typhoeus having stripped the mountains of Emathia, he cast the rocky missiles at

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

. In Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.313 the daughters of

Pierus Pierus (; grc, Πίερος), in Greek mythology, is a name attributed to two individuals: * Pierus, the eponym of Pieria, son of Makednos and father of the Pierides.Antoninus Liberalis, 9 * Pierus, son of Thessalian Magnes and father of Hyac ...

say: ''we grant Emathia's plains, to where uprise Paeonia's peaks of snow''. The Emathian or ''Emathius dux'' is a frequently used name by Latin poets for Alexander the Great, as in

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

, ''the Emathian conqueror'' . Strabo relates that ''what is now called Macedonia was in earlier times called Emathia'' but since Homer, the earliest source considers Emathia only a region next to Pieria, Strabo's reference should be interpreted in the Roman era context of Emathia's name reviving. The same stands for Latin writers who name Thessaly as Emathia ;

Macedonia (Roman province) Macedonia ( grc-gre, Μακεδονία) was a province of the Roman Empire, encompassing the territory of the former Antigonid Kingdom of Macedonia, which had been conquered by Rome in 168 BC at the conclusion of the Third Macedonian War. The pro ...

included Thessaly. In 12.462 of Metamorphoses, an Emathian Halesus is killed by the

centaur A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

Latreus and in Catullus 64. 324, Peleus is Emathiae tutamen (protector).

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

(23.10.4) mentions that Emathia was earliest called Paeonia and Strabo (frg 7.38) that Paeonia was extended to Pieria and

Pelagonia Pelagonia ( mk, Пелагонија, Pelagonija; el, Πελαγονíα, Pelagonía) is a geographical region of Macedonia named after the ancient kingdom. Ancient Pelagonia roughly corresponded to the present-day municipalities of Bitola, Pri ...

. According to

Hammond Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in South ...

Prehistoy of Macedonia, i. 418 n. 2 the references are related to Bronze Age period before the Trojan War.

Towns

The most important towns of Emathia were: * Aigai (first capital and holy city of Macedonia) *Beria (modern Veria) *Kition (modern Naoussa) Alexander the Great with settlers from this area founded

Emathia Emathia ( gr, Ἠμαθία) was the name of the plain opposite the Thermaic Gulf when the kingdom of Macedon was formed. The name was used to define the area between the rivers Aliakmon and Loudias, which, because it was the center of the kingdom ...

in Syria.

References

{{reflist Locations in Greek mythology Geography of ancient Macedonia Locations in the Iliad Plains of Greece