Macedonia Calendar

• A major factor in a nation's identity is how it categorizes time. The Macedonian calendar appears in the historical record during the Ptolemaic period (323 to 331 B.C.) when Macedonia ruled in Egypt. The Macedonians had a method of keeping a 365-day calendar in step with a 365 1/4-day solar cycle by occasionally adding a month to it. According to the book "Ancient Inventions," Alexander the Great himself tried to impose this calendar on the Egyptians, but they wouldn't have it. During the time Ptolemy III ruled (247 to 222 B.C.), the Macedonian calendar was made to conform to Egyptian style.
  
  

Macedonian Phalanx

• A Macedonian phalanx, or group of soldiers in battle formation, wasn't just any old phalanx. It had some style. It was invented by Macedonia's king Philip was comprised of soldiers holding a sarissa, an 18-foot long spear. When held horizontally in the phalanx's front rows, the sarissa could run people through from 20 feet away. The soldiers in the rear rows, who held the spears vertically, formed a sort of screen that prevented enemies behind the phalanx from seeing what the soldiers were doing.
  
  

Diplomatic Style

• Another invention credited to Philip comes from the political realm, in which Philip used his inventiveness to form alliances, primarily through marriage. The book "Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great," calls this inventiveness a tendency of Philip's, which he used to exploit situations because of a conquering thirst for political gain. One example is the marriage to Olympias from the Epirus region. It's been said that Philip was more proud of his political inventiveness than his military strategy.
  
  

Inventing History

• Inventions have not just come from Macedonian culture, they've also been made against Macedonian culture. The website historyofmacedonia.org lists modern historians who affirm that ancient Macedonia was a nation distinct from ancient Greece. There are some written works, however, that assert a different view.
  
  The website notes professor Eugene Borza who wrote "In the Shadow of Olympus, The Emergence of Macedon." Borza is quoted form this book as saying, "long before there was a sufficient ancient evidence to argue about the ethnic identity -- as revealed by language -- of the ancient Macedonians, there emerged a 'Greek' position claiming that the Macedonian language was Greek, and that thus the inhabitants were Greek."
  
  Historians still take the position that Macedonia was an independent nation.