Abstract EN:

By the end of the IVth century, Philip of Macedonia had unified, first northern Greece. Then the whole country. The purpose of this study is to determine the causes of the rise of northern Greece through a close examination of its archaic and classical history. The study of the peopling of those three regions shows that it occurred late. The Dorians, the last to arrive, were shepherds; they started as nomads in the hills, then, moving down to the plains, gradually became a sedentary population. The study of the different sources shows that it is necessary to modify N. G. L. Hammond's theory about Macedonia or Epirus and to discard that of M. Sordi. The different types of populations are evidenced by the organization of the settlements: an urban system can be discerned early in eastern Thessaly where large sections of the Mycenaean populations had settled down and later in western Thessaly, Macedonia and Epirus. However, a real urban way of life, based on a coherent organization of space and a regular layout of the sites existed in the three regions during the classical period. This urbanization explains their rise in power. It is at the origin of a fast expanding demography in the Vth and IVth centuries which has been brought to light thanks to new methods of investigation and to the drawing up of maps showing the different densities of populations. The study of local institutions shows the existence of local government even in Macedonian towns which appear as poleis, through incomplete ones. Lastly, the monarchies are studied. The Thessalian tagos is comparable to an elected which limited power. The rules for succession and the powers of the Macedonian and molossian kings are specified. One fact is brought to light: it is to the most solid political system and to the most populated state that Greece awes its salvation.