Macedonia, or Macedon, was by people whom the cultured Greeks to the south scorned as rude and . But in the reign of Philip II (382-336 B.C.), Macedon became a kingdom.

Philip a great army and the borders of the kingdom to the north. In 338 B.C. he conquered Greece. His son, Alexander the Great, Persia and Eqypt and extended the Macedonian Empire across Asia to northern India.

When Alexander succeeded by weaker rulers, the empire broke up into smaller kingdoms, which engaged each other in exhausting wars. In 197 B.C. Macedonia was conquered by . Shortly afterward it was made a Roman province. in the 4th century A.D., it was overrun by Goths, Huns, Vandals, Slavs, Bulgars, and Turks.