MACEDONIAN issues ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΑ θέματα МАКЕДОНСКИЕ вопросы: On the Alleged Differences Between Ancient Macedonians and other Ancient Greeks

Miltiades Elia Bolaris
May 05, 2009

"εξ ιστορίας αναιρεθείσης της αληθείας, το καταλειπόμενον αυτής ανωφελές γίνεται διήγημα"
Πολύβιος, Ιστορίαι Α,14,6

"once the truth is stripped out of history, all that is left of it is but a useless narrative"
Polybios, Histories, I.14.6

Some revisionists of ancient history, in their attempt to promote their modern ultra nationalist agendas in the lower Balkans, have posed a question: what are the differences between the ancient Macedonians and the ancient Greeks?

AN OXYMORON

The question, if posed in this way, is in itself a provocative oxymoron. It is obviously meant to confuse, inviting comparison between the part and the whole, the subtotal and the total, the subset and the set. Philosophically and mathematically such a comparison is an absurdity. To avoid departure from solid ground, the question could have been posed as:

"What are the characteristics that make the Macedonians distinct and make them stand out from the other Greeks ?".

The question as originally posed is as much an oxymoron as attempting to define for example "the differences between Venetians and Italians", or "the differences between the Thebans and the Greeks". True, the Venetians were an independent state for a long time, fighting against the Pisans, the Genovese or the Florentines, and other Italians, but they were then, during the Renaissance, and they are still now, part of the whole to which they belong: the Italian nation. The same analogy holds for the Thebans and the other Greeks, or the Macedonians and the other Greeks.

The question, therefore, has a hidden trap embedded in it, a trap intended for the ill-informed and it has precious little to do with the ancient Macedonians and the other ancient Greeks in themselves. It has rather everything to do with the modern geopolitical situation simmering in the corner of the Balkans that used to be south Serbia, was later on named Vardarska Banovina and is now an independent state recognized by the UN as FYROM. The trap is obvious to the student of the modern Balkans since a lot of trees have been sacrificed in propaganda laced articles in the attempt to create an identity for a Slavic population that is transitional between Bulgarians and Serbs but is neither. The first victim of this attempt has been, since 1944, as expected, the Historical truth.

TRIBAL IDENTITY

The issue of the ethnic character of the ancient Macedonians, and their position in relation to the other Greeks, to the ancients was simply non existent. Ethnicity as it is understood in the modern sense of the word did not even exist as a concept for the ancients. People thought and felt and acted more within the confines of a narrow tribal identification; a tribal identification that contracted and expanded, included or excluded and in a vibrant and dynamic society such as the Greek one, it was never static.

At any time everyone knew who everyone else was. But the perceptions were never as clear as saying today "I am German" and "you are French". Greeks and others knew that a Syracusan of Cicily, an Odessan of Thrace, a Panticapaian of Skythia or a Massalian of Gaul though citizens of cities that were not geographically located in Hellas, were all Hellenes and their city states were Hellenic in nature. Despite the immense geographic distance between them, (one living in today's France or Italy, the others in modern Bulgaria or Ukraine) and the many differences between themselves, they all shared common traits and were all considered, at the end of the day, people of the same extended ethnic group.

The Greeks instinctively also knew that people like the Persians, Egyptians, Thracians, Romans or Illyrians, to name but a few, were completely alien to their own broadly defined ethnic family. The definition of who was a Greek in many respects was clear, and it included language, religion and culture, but not without instances of hazy areas, especially in transitional periods, borderline areas, or for people of mixed parentage, such as was typical in Ptolemaic Egypt.

An example of such a hazy situation comes to us from Homer who in the 8th c BC has the Aetolians participate in the Panhellenic expedition against Troy as Greeks:

Αἰτωλῶν δ' ἡγεῖτο Θόας Ἀνδραίμονος υἱός,
οἳ Πλευρῶν' ἐνέμοντο καὶ Ὤλενον ἠδὲ Πυλήνην
Χαλκίδα τ' ἀγχίαλον Καλυδῶνα τε πετρήεσσαν:
οὐ γὰρ ἔτ' Οἰνῆος μεγαλήτορος υἱέες ἦσαν,
οὐδ' ἄρ' ἔτ' αὐτὸς ἔην, θάνε δὲ ξανθὸς Μελέαγρος:
τῷ δ' ἐπὶ πάντ' ἐτέταλτο ἀνασσέμεν Αἰτωλοῖσι:
τῷ δ' ἅμα τεσσαράκοντα μέλαιναι νῆες ἕποντο.

And the Aetolians were led by Thoas, Andraemon's son, even they that dwelt in Pleuron and Olenus and Pylene and Chalcis, hard by the sea, and rocky Calydon. For the sons of great-hearted Oeneus were no more, neither did he himself still live, and fair-haired Meleager was dead, to whom had commands been given that he should bear full sway among the Aetolians. And with Thoas there followed forty black ships.
Homer, The Iliad, 2.640, Catalogue of the Ships

Yet only a few centuries later Thucydides in the 5th c BC finds the Aetolians to be utterly barbarian and incomprehensible in language:

4] τὸ γὰρ ἔθνος μέγα μὲν εἶναι τὸ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν καὶ μάχιμον, οἰκοῦν δὲ κατὰ κώμας ἀτειχίστους, καὶ ταύτας διὰ πολλοῦ, καὶ σκευῇ ψιλῇ χρώμενον οὐ χαλεπὸν ἀπέφαινον, πρὶν ξυμβοηθῆσαι, καταστραφῆναι. [5] ἐπιχειρεῖν δ' ἐκέλευον πρῶτον μὲν Ἀποδωτοῖς, ἔπειτα δὲ Ὀφιονεῦσι καὶ μετὰ τούτους Εὐρυτᾶσιν, ὅπερ μέγιστον μέρος ἐστὶ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν, ἀγνωστότατοι δὲ γλῶσσαν καὶ ὠμοφάγοι εἰσίν, ὡς λέγονται

The Aetolian nation, although numerous and warlike, yet dwelt in un-walled villages scattered far apart, and had nothing but light armor, and might, according to the Messenians, be subdued without much difficulty before succors could arrive. [5] The plan which they recommended was to attack first the Apodotians, next the Ophionians, and after these the Eurytanians, who are the largest tribe in Aetolia, and speak, as is said, a language exceedingly difficult to understand, and eat their flesh raw.
Thucydides 3.94.4

The expression "ὡς λέγονται / as is said" betrays that Thucydides himself never visited Aetolia and had no personal experience of the Aetolians.

We now know of course that the Aetolians were Greek, and the rest of history after Thucydides records them as such, and all the epigraphic record proves it. But Herodotus also mentions the Aetolians as Greek:

μετὰ δὲ γενεῇ δευτέρῃ ὕστερον Κλεισθένης αὐτὴν ὁ Σικυώνιος τύραννος ἐξήειρε, ὥστε πολλῷ ὀνομαστοτέρην γενέσθαι ἐν τοῖσι Ἕλλησι ἢ πρότερον ἦν. Κλεισθένεϊ γὰρ τῷ Ἀριστωνύμου τοῦ Μύρωνος τοῦ Ἀνδρέω γίνεται θυγάτηρ τῇ οὔνομα ἦν Ἀγαρίστη. ταύτην ἠθέλησε, Ἑλλήνων ἁπάντων ἐξευρὼν τὸν ἄριστον, τούτῳ γυναῖκα προσθεῖναι. [2] Ὀλυμπίων ὦν ἐόντων καὶ νικῶν ἐν αὐτοῖσι τεθρίππῳ ὁ Κλεισθένης κήρυγμα ἐποιήσατο, ὅστις Ἑλλήνων ἑωυτὸν ἀξιοῖ Κλεισθένεος γαμβρὸν γενέσθαι, ἥκειν ἐς ἑξηκοστὴν ἡμέρην ἢ καὶ πρότερον ἐς Σικυῶνα, ὡς κυρώσοντος Κλεισθένεος τὸν γάμον ἐν ἐνιαυτῷ, ἀπὸ τῆς ἑξηκοστῆς ἀρξαμένου ἡμέρης. [3] ἐνθαῦτα Ἑλλήνων ὅσοι σφίσι τε αὐτοῖσι ἦσαν καὶ πάτρῃ ἐξωγκωμένοι, ἐφοίτεον μνηστῆρες: τοῖσι Κλεισθένης καὶ δρόμον καὶ παλαίστρην ποιησάμενος ἐπ' αὐτῷ τούτῳ εἶχε.

In the next generation Cleisthenes the tyrant of Sicyon raised that house still higher, so that it grew much more famous in Hellas than it had formerly been. Cleisthenes son of Aristonymus son of Myron son of Andreas had one daughter, whose name was Agariste. He desired to wed her to the best man he could find in Hellas. [2] It was the time of the Olympian games, and when he was victor there with a four-horse chariot, Cleisthenes made a proclamation that whichever Greek thought himself worthy to be his son-in-law should come on the sixtieth day from then or earlier to Sicyon, and Cleisthenes would make good his promise of marriage in a year from that sixtieth day. [3] Then all the Greeks who were proud of themselves and their country came as suitors, and to that end Cleisthenes had them compete in running and wrestling contests.

2] οὗτοι μὲν ἀπὸ Ἰταλίης ἦλθον, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κόλπου τοῦ Ἰονίου Ἀμφίμνηστος Ἐπιστρόφου Ἐπιδάμνιος: οὗτος δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Ἰονίου κόλπου. Αἰτωλὸς δὲ ἦλθε Τιτόρμου τοῦ ὑπερφύντος τε Ἕλληνας ἰσχύι καὶ φυγόντος ἀνθρώπους ἐς τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς Αἰτωλίδος χώρης, τούτου τοῦ Τιτόρμου ἀδελφεὸς Μάλης. [3] ἀπὸ δὲ Πελοποννήσου Φείδωνος τοῦ Ἀργείων τυράννου παῖς Λεωκήδης, Φείδωνος δὲ τοῦ τὰ μέτρα ποιήσαντος Πελοποννησίοισι καὶ ὑβρίσαντος μέγιστα δὴ Ἑλλήνων πάντων

From Italy came Smindyrides of Sybaris, son of Hippocrates, the most luxurious liver of his day (and Sybaris was then at the height of its prosperity), and Damasus of Siris, son of that Amyris who was called the Wise. [2] These came from Italy; from the Ionian Gulf, Amphimnestus son of Epistrophus, an Epidamnian; he was from the Ionian Gulf. From Aetolia came Males, the brother of that Titormus who surpassed all the Greeks in strength, and fled from the sight of men to the farthest parts of the Aetolian land. [3] From the Peloponnese came Leocedes, son of Phidon the tyrant of Argos, that Phidon who made weights and measures for the Peloponnesians and acted more arrogantly than any other Greek;

Herodotus, The Histories 6b, 1089-1090 Herodotus, Ηροδότου Ιστορίαι 6b, 1089-1090

What prompted the Athenian Thucydides to call the Aetolian Greeks barbarian is first their incomprehensible (to an Attic-speaking Greek of Athens) dialect and, equally important, their primitive way of life (un-walled cities!) which was indistinguishable from that of the barbarians that Thucydides knew. They were in a society that was light ages behind in culture and sophistication compared to that which the Athenians had reached by the fifth century BC. Incidentally, the dialect of the Aetolians, that seemed so ἀγνωστότατη/ incomprehensible, difficult to understand for Thucydides is the same Northwest Greek dialect that the Epeirotes and the Macedonians and the people of Delphoi spoke.

INCLUSION AND EXCLUSIVITY

The Greeks, like the Egyptians and most other people in antiquity were notoriously exclusive. It was always easier for them to define the "other" based on what seemed strange and alien to them, even if that meant excluding from the "inner" family some seemingly distant and unusual relatives.

Being called Hellenic therefore, had acquired not only linguistic but also cultural prerequisites: Do not simply speak some Greek dialect, you must also speak it like a civilized Greek (try Attic), live in a city state (Athens, Corinth, Sparta), not in a village (like the Aetolians, the Epeirotes or the Macedonians) and also act and behave like a civilized Greek (cook your meat Eurytanians!), is the implicit connotation we find in Thucydides.

Mistakes were also made on the other side of the spectrum. When word reached mainland Greece in 387 BC that the Gauls in distant Italy, a place of numerous Hellenic cities, had captured Rome, Ηeracleides of Pontos / Ηρακλείδης ο Ποντικός mentioned Rome as Ρώμη πόλις Ελληνίς/ Rome a Greek city.

Would any credible historian step to the forefront today and make a case that the Romans were a Greek tribe, based solely on this quote by Heracleides, without risking academic ridicule? None yet, but, basing their unhistorical claims on one such lone quote by a hostile Athenian orator, Demosthenes, who calls Philip II of Macedonia (him personally, not the Macedonians) "no Greek, nor related to the Greeks, but not even a barbarian from any place that can be named with honor, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia", the propagandists of pseudomakedonist persuasion ring the loud bells of history falsification proclaiming that this is indeed the thunderous proof that the Macedonians were not Greek!

The answer of course has already been given to them in antiquity:

"Yβρίσαι τούτον βουλόμενος καλείν αυτόν βάρβαρον. "Επεί τό αληθές σκοπήσει, ευρήσει αυτόν Eλληνα Aργείον καί από Hρακλέους τό γένος καταγόμενον ως πάντες οι ιστορικοί μαρτυρούσιν" / "wishing to insult him by calling him a barbarian though if he had looked it up he would have found him to be an Argive Greek and a descendant of Heracles, as all the historians attest".

Oulpianus the Orator, in Prolegomena to the Olynthian and Philippic Speeches / Ουλπιανού Ρήτορος προλεγόμενα εις τούς Ολυνθιακούς καί Φιλιππικούς Λόγους, Note 34,2, taken from: Oratores Attici, By Karl Müller, J. Hunziker, Paris, 1858, page550

An insult by one politician against a political adversary from an enemy state, such as that hurled by Demosthenes of Athens against Philippos II of Macedon, and a reporting mistake put down on paper by the misinformed historian Heracleides the Ponticos, concerning the ethnic identity of the Romans, have to be weighted by the modern reader and taken within the context of their time.

Most Greeks understood that all ethne/έθνη/tribes that were Hellenic in speech were intrinsically part of the greater Hellenic family. Since all neighboring nations, with the possible exception of the (linguistically) distantly related Paionians and Asian Minor Phrygians, all others had radically different tongues. The Greek language was viewed by the Greeks as the first inclusive factor of their Hellenic commonwealth, as we said earlier. But language was not the only factor. Religion played a big part too.

THE PANTHEON OF THE GREEKS

Zeus being their supreme God, the Greeks had a multitude of other Gods and

Goddesses, Demons and other deities whom they worshiped: Apollon, Hermes, Artemis, Hera, Athena, Hestia, Hephestos, Aphrodite and Dionyssos to name a few. They were worshiped throughout the Hellenic world from Spain to Afghanistan, everywhere where Greeks would set their foot. Following Alexander the Great through his Asian campaign we see him constantly sacrificing to Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Heracles, Dionyssos, the Muses, Apollon and a multitude of other Gods of the Hellenic Pantheon. Arrian (Ἀρριανός), in his Alexander's Anabasis/Αλεξάνδρου Ανάβασις highlights for us some of those instances:

11] Ταῦτα δὲ διαπραξάμενος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν. καὶ τῷ τε Διὶ τῷ Ὀλυμπίῳ τὴν θυσίαν τὴν ἀπ' Ἀρχελάου ἔτι καθεστῶσαν ἔθυσε καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐν Αἰγαῖς διέθηκε τὰ Ὀλύμπια. οἱ δὲ καὶ ταῖς Μούσαις λέγουσιν ὅτι ἀγῶνα ἐποίησε.

Having settled these affairs, he returned into Macedonia. He then offered to the Olympian Zeus the sacrifice which had been instituted by Archelaus, and had been customary up to that time; and he celebrated the public contest of the Olympic games at Aegae. It is said that he also held a public contest in honour of the Muses.

ἐλθὼν δὲ ἐς Ἐλαιοῦντα θύει Πρωτεσιλάῳ ἐπὶ τῷ τάφῳ τοῦ Πρωτεσιλάου, ὅτι καὶ Πρωτεσίλαος πρῶτος ἐδόκει ἐκβῆναι ἐς τὴν Ἀσίαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων τῶν ἅμα Ἀγαμέμνονι ἐς Ἴλιον στρατευσάντων.

When he came to Elaeus he offered sacrifice to Protesilaus upon the tomb of that hero, both for other reasons and because Protesilaus seemed to have been the first of the Greeks who took part with Agamemnon in the expedition to Ilium to disembark in Asia.

καὶ, ἐπειδὴ κατὰ μέσον τὸν πόρον τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου ἐγένετο, σφάξαντα ταῦρον τῷ Ποσειδῶνι καὶ Νηρηίσι σπένδειν ἐκ χρυσῆς φιάλης ἐς τὸν πόντον. λέγουσι δὲ καὶ πρῶτον ἐκ τῆς νεὼς σὺν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐκβῆναι αὐτὸν ἐς τὴν γῆν τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ βωμοὺς ἱδρύσασθαι ὅθεν τε ἐστάλη ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης καὶ ὅπου ἐξέβη τῆς Ἀσίας Διὸς ἀποβατηρίου καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ Ἡρακλέους. ἀνελθόντα δὲ ἐς Ἴλιον τῇ τε Ἀθηνᾷ θῦσαι τῇ Ἰλιάδι, καὶ τὴν πανοπλίαν τὴν αὑτοῦ ἀναθεῖναι ἐς τὸν νεών,

and that when he was about the middle of the channel of the Hellespont he sacrificed a bull to Poseidon and the Nereids, and poured forth a libation to them into the sea from a golden goblet. They say also that he was the first man to step out of the ship in full armor on the land of Asia, and that he erected altars to Zeus, the protector of people landing, to Athena, and to Heracles, at the place in Europe whence he started, and at the place in Asia where he disembarked. It is also said that he went up to Ilium and offered sacrifice to the Trojan Athena; that he set up his own panoply in the temple as a votive offering

θῦσαι δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ Πριάμῳ ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Ἑρκείου λόγος κατέχει, μῆνιν Πριάμου παραιτούμενον τῷ Νεοπτολέμου γένει, ὃ δὴ ἐς αὐτὸν καθῆκεν.

A report also prevails that he offered sacrifice to Priam upon the altar of Zeus the household god, deprecating the wrath of Priam against the progeny of Neoptolemus, from whom Alexander himself was descended.
Arrian, Alexander Anabasis Book 1.11

Just in these few sentences we see mention of sacrifices to Olympian Zeus, Poseidon, the Nereids, the Muses, Athena, Heracles, Herkeios (of the home) Zeus, and also sacrifices at the tombs of the Greek hero Protesilaos and the hero king Priamos of the Trojans. Let us look closer for a moment at these two heroes. Protesilaos is the first Greek who stepped on the soil of Asia, and was immediately killed as it was foretold, during the landing of the Greek army on the Asian shore, at the start of the siege of Troy. Alexander, as we are told, was the first one who jumped off the ship into Asia, planting a dory/spear into the Asian sand, creating a powerful

symbolic moment that his Macedonians recognized in an instant from their Homer: Alexander wanted to stress his own identification with the Greek Hero in this Panhellenic campaign against the Persian Shāhanshāh/ King of Kings of Asia, contrasting himself as another Protesilaos, the representative of the Greeks against the Asiatic Trojans. He cleverly made the obvious connection between the Asian Trojans, in the eyes of his army, with the Persians, and he also asked the hero Protesilaos' protection for personal safety and victory. By sacrificing on the tomb of Priamos, who had been slain by Achilles' son Neoptolemos, he also wanted to stress the fact that he, Alexander descended through his Molossian mother Olympias from the house of Achilles. Neoptolemos/Pyrrhos, the son of Achilles had left Thessaly and lived among the Epeirotes having become their king. So Alexander was now asking for Priam's approval to cleanse himself from the old crime of his progenitor, Neoptolemos/Pyrrhos. Symbolism and connection with the Greek mythological past, which his own Macedonians recognized by heart all too well, was as much at play here (providing him with immensely powerful propaganda tools), as was genuine religious piety on his part.

Later on, at Opis, in India, when his own Macedonians refused to follow him and mutinied, Alexander reluctantly accepted their decision and:

ἔνθα δὴ διελὼν κατὰ τάξεις τὴν στρατιὰν δώδεκα βωμοὺς κατασκευάζειν προστάττει͵ ὕψος μὲν κατὰ τοὺς μεγίστους πύργους͵ εὖρος δὲ μείζονας ἔτι ἢ κατὰ πύργους͵ χαριστήρια τοῖς θεοῖς τοῖς ἐς τοσόνδε ἀγαγοῦσιν αὐτὸν νικῶντα καὶ μνημεῖα τῶν αὑτοῦ πόνων. ὡς δὲ κατεσκευασμένοι αὐτῷ οἱ βωμοὶ ἦσαν͵ θύει δὴ ἐπ΄ αὐτῶν ὡς νόμος καὶ ἀγῶνα ποιεῖ γυμ νικόν τε καὶ ἱππικόν.

then he divided the army into brigades, and ordered twelve altars to be prepared, equal in height to very large towers, and in breadth much larger than towers, to serve as thank-offerings to the gods who had led him so far as a conqueror, and also to serve as monuments of his own labors. When the altars were completed, he offered sacrifice upon them according to his custom, and celebrated a gymnastic and equestrian contest.
Arrian, Alexander Anabasis Book 5.29

Gymnastic, or more properly transliterated "gymnic" contests/ἀγῶνες γυμνικοί, were athletic contests in what we would call today track and field, and the athletes competed in the nude/ gymnoi/γυμνοί.This tradition was unique to Greeks among ancient peoples and exclusive to the Hellenic world, part of which was Macedonia. We find Alexander's Macedonian army engaging in gymnic contests at every opportunity, and we see holding gymnic, athletic contests in Egypt, in Babylon, in India before turning back, etc.

I will need to make a large parenthesis here, to showcase in the next few paragraphs some of the claims from the other side, i.e. those who claim that the Macedonians were not related to the ancient Greeks and who supposedly did not have the same Gods as them.

In one of the numerous Balkan websites among those dedicated exclusively to Macedonian history falsification, we read the following comment about the last quote from Arrian concerning the twelve altars to the Gods which Alexander erected in India:

"This quote does not prove at all that Alexander or the Macedonians were Greek. We also know for a fact that Alexander also sacrificed to Persian, Egyptian, and Indian gods, next to the Greek gods. Does that fact also make him Persian, or Egyptian? Of course not, what was most important to him was his Macedonian nationality and the Macedonian gods. The quote below is taken from Urlich Wilken's Alexander the Great: Alexander sacrificed to "Macedonian gods according to ancestral rituals, and ordered a torch-race and gymnastic contest to follow." p. 187, line 15, we read the following passage referring to his advances to the Hyphasis:

"Alexander built twelve great tower-like altars on the nearer side of the river. We have been informed by those who refer everything to Babylonia, that this was for the twelve signs of the zodiac. In reality it was the twelve gods of Macedonia to whom these altars were raised."

Key words are: Twelve Macedonian gods, not Greek. Based on the religion, we can not conclude that the Macedonians were Greek, since they had their own Macedonian gods. The fact that the Macedonians had their own gods, does prove that they had different religion from the Greeks who worshiped different gods."

Besides the fact that nowhere do we see Alexander making sacrifices to "Persian Gods" (the Zoroastrian Persians were much closer to being monotheistic and the Persian Gods were never identified by the Greeks as similar to their own, making them alien to the polytheist Alexander), in every other instance we see him sacrificing to the local deities under their Greek identity and names. Baal Sur, the Lord of Tyre, for example is identified by the Macedonians as a Heracles:

Ἔστι γὰρ ἐν Τύρῳ ἱερὸν Ἡρακλέους παλαιότατον ὧν μνήμη ἀνθρωπίνη διασώζεται, οὐ τοῦ Ἀργείου Ἡρακλέους τοῦ Ἀλκμήνης. πολλαῖς γὰρ γενεαῖς πρότερον τιμᾶται ἐν Τύρῳ Ἡρακλῆς ἢ Κάδμον...

The reason of this demand was, that in Tyre there existed a temple of Heracles, the most ancient of all those which are mentioned in history. It was not dedicated to the Argive Heracles, the son of Alcmena; for this Heracles was honoured in Tyre many generations before Cadmus...

and:

Τούτῳ τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ Τυρίῳ ἔφη ἐθέλειν θῦσαι Ἀλέξανδρος.
To this Tyrian Heracles, Alexander said he wished to offer sacrifice.
Arrian, Alexander's Anabasis 2.16 / Αλεξάνδρου Ανάβασις, Βιβλίο Β.16

Misquoting credible authors is of course in the daily toil of a well paid history falsifier from FYROM. Quotes are like statistics: it is what you want to make of them. Since the name of the eminent German historian, papyrologist and author Ulrich Wilcken was brought into view, and some isolated quotes of his were taken out of context and used against the Greek identity of the Macedonians, let us read what Ulrich Wilcken himself said on this issue, in a book he wrote about Alexander, the very same book in fact that the pseudomakedonist falsifier used above:

"When we take into account the political conditions, religion and morals of the Macedonians, our conviction is strengthened that they were a Greek race and akin to the Dorians. Having stayed behind in the extreme north, they were unable to participate in the progressive civilization of the tribes which went further south..."
Ulrich Wilcken, Alexander the Great, p. 22

For the record, now, we know that among the twelve altars that Alexander built, some were known to have been were dedicated to Ammon Zeus, Olympian Zeus, Heracles, Athena Pronoia, Helios, the Delphian Apollon, the Cabiri of Samothrace, and, though never mentioned, it is also assumed Dionyssos too. There were four more Gods whose names have not come down to us:

"Strabo (III 5, 170-1) discusses the Greek habit of setting up pillars or altars
to mark the farthest point reached and says that on the Beas
Alexander erected altars. Pliny (VI. 49) says that altars were erected
on the Jaxartes by those conquerors who reached the river, includ-
ing Heracles, Dionysus, Semiramis, Cyrus, Alexander, and Damo-
damus, the general of Antiochus I..."

"...But Apollonius of Tyana (c. 42 A.D.) is stated by Philostratus to
have come during his Indian travels to Alexander's altars which
were 30 stades east of the river. He saw the inscription dedicated
to Father Ammon and his brother Hercules, to Athena Pronaia, to the Olympian Zeus, the Samothracian Cabeiroi, the Indian sun
god and the Delphian Apollo. Beyond the altars was a bronze
pillar with the inscription "Here Alexander halted." 38 The bronze
inscribed pillar certainly recalls the later iron pillar of Samudra-
gupta now at Delhi, and Philostratus does suggest that the bronze
pillar was raised by the Indians, though he gives as a reason the
joy of the Indians at the return homeward of Alexander..."
38 0. de B. Priatilx: The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana, 1873,
pp. 25-6; and J. Gharpentier: The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana,
1934, p. 58.
R A Jairazbhoy, Foreign Influence In Ancient India, Asia Publishing House, 1963

THE ROSETTA STONE HOAX

There are falsifiers as we see above, and then, by Zeus, there are FALSIFIERS! There are people who try to twist the truth but then there are others who try to invent a parallel universe of paranormal reality. A case in point, the two electrical

engineer professors from the university of Skopje, Academic Tome Boshevski and Professor Aristotel Tendov. In a notorious and celebrated work of scientific fraud they recently declared that the language of the middle section of the Rosetta stone, an inscribed black granite stele found in Egypt, is not in the Egyptian Demotic language, but in some hereto never attested Proto-Slavic language, supposedly of the Ancient Macedonians. Needless tyo say, this proto-Slavic language is just about identical to the dialect spoken today in FYROMakedonija! Their work is, very sadly, supported by the "Makedonijan Academy of Arts and Sciences", the UKIM (Sts. Cyrillus and Methodius University of Skopje/Универзитетот „Св. Кирил и Методиј" во Скопје) the most prestigious state university of the country, and the state-sanctioned church of FYROM (the "Makedonijan Orthodox Church" not recognized by any of the other Orthodox Churches). The M.O. Church actually hosts this hoax on its official website: http://www.mpc.org.mk/English/default.asp

To highlight an example of the method employed in their "translation" of the Rosetta

stone, among other numerous pseudoscientific pronouncements, Tendov and Boshevski arbitrarily assume that wherever they see in the Egyptian text three vertical lines they need to be translated as "Bogo", which means God, in their Slavic dialect. Any serious books we read on the Demotic Egyptian (ref: Demotic Grammar in the Ptolemaic Sacerdotal Decrees, by RS Simpson, Griffith Institute, Oxford, 1996) tell us that the three vertical lines (in the Egyptian texts written as: JII) are transliterated by Egyptiologists as representing the sound "Y" in Egyptian Demotic. Here is the joke: In as many "Y's" that the text of the Rosetta has, the eminent professors Tendov and Boshevski read as many "Gods": Here, therefore, is the list of the "Macedonians Gods", according to them (we are supposed to read from right to left, even in Cyrillic or Roman letters). We follow their text:

"4.1. Names of the gods for the Ancient Macedonians According to our research, in the middle text we were able to read the names of most probably all gods of the ancient Macedonians. It is most characteristic that almost all the gods´ names are monosyllabic. Their names and functions are the following:

" [ezd ogob] [as ogob] [ev ogob] [ov ogob] [iv ogob] [ed ogob]
ooh ogob] [oohzd ogob] [il ogob] [ahctl ogob] [ak ogob] [ajg ogob]"

We are instructed by the professors to read from right to left, since this is how the ancient proto-Slavic "Macedonians" of Egypt were supposedly writing.

More detailed information on this pseudoscientific hoax, which is indicative of the methods used by the pseudomakedonists in their attempt to create an imaginary connection between their Slavic root and the ancient Macedonians can be found posted on the UKIM university's state-sponsored website:

http://rosetta-stone.etf.ukim.edu.mk/index.php?q=en/node/39

According to the esteemed Academicians and the state-supported and financed apparatus of historical falsification in FYROM, the Gods of the ancient Macedonians are the following, as attested on the "Proto-Slavic" text of the Rosetta stone exhibited at the British Museum. Here are the "Macedonian Gods" names according to the two professors of the UKIM (Sts. Cyrillus and Methodius University of Skopje/Универзитетот „Св. Кирил и Методиј" во Скопје), one of whom, is as we mentione a full lifeling member of the the "Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences". Warning: Reader beware! Sit tight on your chair, and for a change, read from left to right.

Names of the Macedonian Gods: "De, Vi, Vo, Ve, Sa, Dze, Gja, Ka, Ltcha, Li, Dzhoo and Hoo"

Should someone laugh at their heart's content, or should someone cry at the new abysmal low the FYROM pseudomacedonists have reached, in their futile attempt to "prove" that they are "Makedonskis", and that the Ancient Macedonians were not related to the Greeks, by reading these ludicrous "findings"?

To be certain that I have not been misunderstood, and to make sure that the reader of this article has had time to compose himself after a hearty laugh, here again is the list of "the names of most probably all gods of the ancient Macedonians"(sic):

"De, Vi, Vo, Ve, Sa, Dze, Gja, Ka, Ltcha, Li, Dzhoo and Hoo"

If this historical and linguistic alchemy is not a return to scholarly middle ages and if this is not a gross travesty of university education (note the "edu.mk", on the website above, I suppose it indicates that you can get "education" from the institution represented by this website) in the service of unabashed state propaganda and pseudomacedonism, then I do not know what else it is.

Needless to say the two electrical engineering professors have become true celebrities in their country, FYROM, for their great work in pseudoscientifically "proving" that the ancient Macedonians were protoSlavic and not Greek. Their hoax is all the rage in the newsin the state controlled Television stations in Skopje, FYROM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wad1uP191Ns&feature=related

They are invited to share their academic insights on the Slavic roots of the ancient Macedonians with the people of FYROM in nightly shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdSO1KZq7Q4&feature=related

They even went to Russia to present their science-shattering case among like minded academic nutcases in front of Organismika, a pseudoscientific Slavic cult organization whose "bible" is a book about "The fish of life" by Andrey Aleksandrovich Tiuniayev, a book where the "Basic laws of the Universe" are deciphered (Organismika's website, where the reader can read about the fish of life: http://www.organizmica.org/archive/010/fish-o-e.shtml).

Here is Academic Tome Boshevski's presentation in front of the Organizmika gathering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTIbsU04PaM&feature=related

Here are the two professors on their thunderous return from Russia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJTNfa9da0M

The officially sanctioned Church, the Academy of the Arts and Sciences, the State Universities, the state controlled electronic and print Media, the whole State apparatus of the regime of pseudomakedonism is solidly behind this Rosetta Stone fraud. And of course, their people believe it! They are immensely proud of the academic laurels bestowed upon their professors by "the Russians" for proving once and for all that the antikiste Macedonski/ancient Macedonians were not Greek! Sad but true...when you have to lie, you have to go all the way! In the beginning of this paper, I quoted Polybius:

"εξ ιστορίας αναιρεθείσης της αληθείας, το καταλειπόμενον αυτής ανωφελές γίνεται διήγημα"
"once the truth is stripped out of history, all that is left of it is but a useless narrative"

Now I have to paraphrase him: once the truth is stripped out of history, all that is left of it is but a sad joke!
A demolition of these cooked up theories can be found at the following two websites:

http://issuu.com/eismakedon/docs/boshevski_and_tendov_s_egyptian_illusions
http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3645
and if someone would want to read further, then the following websites may be of assistance:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/r/the_rosetta_stone_translation.aspx
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/dem/
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/ABZU/DEMOTIC_WWW.HTML

A University Student from UKIM, visiting the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki the largest museum of Macedonia, in Greece, from FYROM , would not able to locate any statue of the "Macedonian Gods" that go by any name like: "De, Vi, Vo, Ve, Sa, Dze, Gja, Ka, Ltcha, Li, Dzhoo and Hoo". It must be the work of Greek propaganda, he would rightly assume, that has intervened with the Archaeological Museum to hide the statues and the inscriptions of De, Vi, Vo, Ve, Sa, Dze, Gja, Ka, Ltcha, Li, Dzhoo and Hoo or similar "Macedonian Gods" from public view, lest the truth come out and haunt the Greeks!

The same university student, well trained in Tendov and Boshevski's methods of "translation" of the supposedly "Protoslavic-Makedonski" inscription of the Rosetta stone, visiting the Musej na Makedonija in Skopje, being certain that here at least the "Makedonski" truth will shine, will be left distraught and speechless: to his despair and utter disappointment there are no statues of or dedicative inscriptions to De, Vi, Vo, Ve, Sa, Dze, Gja, Ka, Ltcha, Li, Dzhoo and Hoo, the true and attested "Gods of the Macedonians" found anywhere, which can only mean one thing: That Greek propaganda has probably extended its evil hand into the (Horrors!) ιερόν ιερών / holiest of the holies of Pseudomakedonism, the Musej Na Makedonija!

The Archaeological museum in Skopje is instead full of beautiful Greek statues of Artemis, Athena, Asclepios, Zeus, Hygeia, Aphrodite, all of them with their Greek inscriptions, and all of them from the south of FYROM, from the ancient Macedonian and Paeonian cities of Heracleia Lyncistis, Stoboi, Bylazora, Idomenai, i.e. the land that was truly adjacent to or part of historic Macedonia and Hellenized Paeonia.

Illustrious professors of state universities, well paid members of their country's "Academies of Arts and Sciences" may lie all the way to their bank, receiving payment for work well done in the service of their regime's propaganda, but the speechless stones never do: Inscriptions and marble statues do not lie; they speak the truth loud and clear through their own timeless existence.

When it comes to the most elementary issues as to the monuments documenting language that the ancient Macedonians used in their daily life, the pseudomacedonian scratches his head in total loss when confronted with all the Greek inscriptions at the base of the Greek statues and other Stelae, uncovered in their country. The majority of them are found in the true Macedonian cities in the south part of FYROM, in Heracleia Lyncstis/ Ἤράκλεια Λυγκηστίς, the Paeonian cities of Stoboi/Στόβοι, Stybera/Στύβερα and Idomenai/ Ἴδομεναί, on a strip of land adjacent to modern Macedonia of Greece, cities that were truly part of historic Macedonia. The Greek inscriptions found there were all written by the ancient Macedonians who obviously had no problem reading them. There are thousands of these Hellenic inscriptions, and quite a few of them are on display at the above mentioned Museum in Skopje, the so called Museum of Makedonija.

Let us make an example of a simple votive sentence, that is well attested to Greek cities throughout the Hellenic world. We start with one in Athens:

Attica
Διὶ ὑψίστωι
To Zeus the Loftiest
proclaims this inscription from Athens

FD III 4:471IG II² 4802

Delphi
Δι]ὶ Ὑψίστ[ῳ].
To Zeus the Loftiest
repeats an inscription found at the oracle of Delphi

Agora de Palmyre 242,Annexe 20Syria and Phoenicia: Palmyra
Διὶ ὑψίστῳ
To Zeus the Loftiest
we read on an inscription from Palmyra in Hellenistic (Macedonian conquered) Syria.

MAMA 3 4
Cilicia and Isauria
Διὶ Ὑ[ψίστῳ]
To Zeus the Loftiest
We also read in Hellenistic Cilicia, but also:

Διὶ ὑψίστῳ
To Zeus the Loftiest,
proclaims down to the 21st century the ancient Greek stone inscription which is greeting the modern visitor to the Muzej Na Makedonija in Skopje, standing to the right of the museum's main entry.

In their desperate and futile attempts to make a connection with anything of ancient Macedonia, the pseudomakenonists go as far as to claim that there was never a Slavic descent to the Balkans and that the Slavs are Macedonians and not the SlavoMakedonijans Slavs (http://www.maknews.com/html/articles/ristova/rosetta_stone_boshevski.html,).

In other words, we are told that it is the Poles and the Czecks and the Ukranians and the Russians that originated from Macedonia (having made a trip through Siberia, after the Roman conquest), and not the Slav Macedonians who came into Macedonia (at least one thousand years after Alexander). Where is the evidence for this Macedonia to Siberia theory? Read the maknews.com folks, they must know more about this than we do! As for the Pripyet marshes of Byelorussia and Ukraine...forget them. This is why when the pseudo-makedonists refer to the Slavs (Czecks, Slovenes, Serbs, Russians, etc and not just themselves), they write: "the so called "Slavs" "!

In their efforts to concoct such a joke of a a hoax that could be presented as the fictitious proto-Slavic language of the ancient Macedonians, the apologists of psudomakedonism have forgotten to explain one little paradox in the geographic center of their own country: Why did the ancient Paeonian city of Βυλαζωρα/Vylazoraall of a sudden change its name to Veles/Велес in the middle of the Middle ages, right after what everyone in the academic community accepts was the descent of the Slavs into the areas of Byzantium south of the Danube? Was it maybe because the phonetics were not too friendly to the Slavic newcomers who, additionally, found it so much easier to relate the name of the captured Byzantine city Vylazora with Veles, the hypo-chthonian God of the Slavs, who was protector of the herds, the second most important god of the pre-Christian Slavic religion, after Perun?

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND ACCEPTANCE

Closing the parenthesis above, we continue: The religion of the Greeks was polytheistic and not in the least dogmatic. It allowed for the acceptance of foreign Gods into their pantheon. Bacchus and Orpheus, two distinctly Thracian hero deities around whom in time complex theologies were developed, are cases in point. The Thracian Goddess Bendis, identified by Greeks with Artemis, and the Greco-Egyptian Serapis were two more examples. On the other hand, we also have Macedonian soldiers left in what is now Afghanistan by Alexander, and formed their own Indo-Greek state in Bactria, who became Buddhists like several the of the known kings of the kingdom of Bactria: Menandros I, Soter/Μένανδρος A' Soter, "The Savior" who has entered the Budhist and Hinduist pantheon and whom the Indians now know as Milinda, Demetrios I/Δημήτριος Α' of Bactria, Agathocles/ Ἄγαθοκλής of Bactria, and others, as well as many of their subjects, yet despite their Buddhist faith they were all considered Greek.

In a similar way, many Greeks, especially the Macedonians and the other Greeks of Egypt adopted partially or completely the Egyptian pantheon, and they worshiped it, usually in concert with and parallel to the Hellenic religion. Temples of Serapis/Σἐραπις a deity that took on the attributes of both the chthonian Hermes/Ερμής and the healer Asclepiοs/ Ασκληπιός were built in many Greek cities. Numerous Serapeia were to be found in Macedonia, including the one of Thessalinike.

After the capture of Asia, Alexander, demanded that his own deification be accepted by his subjects, and starting with him, a cult of Alexander and subsequently of all Hellenistic kings was begun. It first took root in the Greek cities of Asia Minor who immediately and in gratitude for their liberation from Persia deified Alexander, but then the practice became commonplace and it was especially strong in Egypt under the Ptolemies.

SACRED MYTHS

A common cultural thread uniting all the Hellenic tribes was their common mythology. Homer/ 'Ομηροςand Hesiod/Ησίοδος were beloved and revered as father figure poets by all Greeks, and their poetic works constituted the main part of children's educational curriculum in language and poetry throughout the Greek world.

It has been said, that the combined corpus of these two poets work, along with the Homeric Hymns represented for the Greek religion what the Bible was for the Jews, or the Vedas for the Hinduists. It is not simply secular poetry about myths of ages past. When Greeks read Homer and Hesiod they did not easily question what was in them, it was considered sacred.

Hesiod writes about the genealogy of the Greeks, starting with Deucalion and Pyrrha the progenitors of the Greek nation, who survived the great flood/κατακλυσμον. Ιt was from reading Hesiod that the Greeks would learn that:

"ότι Δευκαλίωνος και Πύρρας Έλλην, αφ'ού οποίου Έλληνες και Ελλάς"
that Hellen was the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, from whom Hellen and Hellas (are named)
Ηesiodi, Fragment #2 --Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. Γ 1086, Oxford 1990

Hellas is the preferred name of Greece by the Greeks who call themselves Hellenes, both now and in the ancient times (beginning about 6th c BC), but not in Hesiod's time. Hesiod's Hellas was still only an area in southern Thessaly, a part of what we would now consider central Greece, and Hellen was but the progenitor of one of the several Greek tribes, not all the Greeks.

Another one was Graecos/ Γραικός, the progenitor of the tribe of the Graecoi, whose name has become the name by which all Greeks are known in the western world.

"κούρη δ΄ εν μεγάροισιν αγαυού Δευκαλίωνος
Πανδώρη Διί πατρί θεών σημάντορι πάντων
μιχθεισ΄εν φιλότητι τέκε Γραικόν μενεχάρμην"
And in the palace Pandora the daughter of noble Deucalion
was joined in love with father Zeus, leader of all the gods,
and bare Graecos, staunch in battle.
Hesiodi, Fragment #5 -Ιoannes Laurentius Lydus De mens I. 13, Oxford 1990

According to Hesiod, therefore, Graecos was the nephew of Hellen, being the son of Deucalion's daughter Pandora, who was also sister of Hellen. Then Hellen had three children, Doros, Xouthos and Aeolos who are also first cousins of Graecos.

Eλληνος δ' εγένοντο φιλοπτολέμου βασιλήος
Δώρος τε Ξούθος τε καί Αίολος ιππιοχάρμης
And from Hellen the war-loving king sprang
Doros and Xouthos and Aeolos the one delighting in horses.
Hesiodi Fragment #9 -Plutarch, : Quest. Conviv. ix. 15. 2 π. 747F et alii, Oxford 1990

Interestingly, this is how a student (if not always the best) of Macedonia, Eugene Borza interprets the lines of Hesiod:

"The memory of these early times may be preserved in a fragment of Hesiod; " From the war loving king Hellen sprang Dorus and Xouthous [father of Ion] and Aeolus who took delight in horses". Speakers of these various Greek dialects settled different parts of Greece at different times during the Middle Bronze Age, with one group, the "northwest" Greeks, developing their own dialect and peopling central Epirus. This was the origin of Molossian or Epirotic tribes."

"In the shadow of Olympus.." By Eugene Borza, page. 62

Then Hesiod tells us of two more nephews of Hellen, sons of Thyia, another of Deucalion's daughters: Makedon and Magnes.

"Μακεδονία η χώρα ωνομάσθη από Μακεδόνοςτού Διός καί
Θυίας τής Δευκαλίωνος, ώς φησίν Ησίοδος ο ποιητής"
The district Macedonia took its name from Macedon the son of Zeus
and Thyia, Deucalion's daughter, as Hesiod says:
"η δ' υποκυσαμένη Διί γείνατο τερπικεραάυνοι
υίε δύο, Μάγνητα Μακηδόνα θ΄ιπποχάρμην,
οί περί Πιερίην καί 'Ολυμπον δώματ' ένοιον"
And she conceived and bare to Zeus who delights in the
thunderbolt two sons, Magnes and Macedon, rejoicing in horses,
who dwell round about Pieria and Olympus...
Hesiodi, Fragment #7- Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, de Them. 2, Oxford 1990

Τhe ancient Greek child, going to school and reading his Hesiod, was learning that:

a. Deucalion was the father and grandfather of all Greeks.

b. Graecos, progenitor of the Graecoi, Doros progenitor of the Dorians, Xouthos, progenitor of the Ionians, Aeolos, progenitor of th Aeolians, Makedon, progenitor of the Macedonians and finally Magnes, progenitor of the Thessalian Magnetes, were all closely related, being first cousins to each other, and all were related to Hellen, who was their uncle. Incidentally, Hesiod does not mention the Magnetes in the area around Pelion, in Thessaly, their final home, but on the NORTH side of Olympus, in Pieria (Pieria: the place of the rich land, in Greek). The name Magnes analyzed linguistically betrays by itself a close relationship of Magnes to Macedon, and of the Magnetes to Macedonians, which of course is also confirmed by Hesiod who makes the brothers. Magnes/ Μάγνης is derived directly from Mak-/Μάκ- (macros/μάκρος=height length) + -γενής (genos/γένος=kin, tribe, race, stock, family descent). The combined word gave us *Μακ-γενης which became immediately *Μἀκγενης and by the impossible in Greek combination of "k / κ" followed by "g / γ" forced the dropping of "k / κ" and subsequently for euphonics also the "e/ε" , leaving the ethnic name Magnes/ Μ άγνης. Magnes means the one whose kin is from the Maketes, the Makedonians, both of which in Greek mean : "the highlandes".

To a Greek, Hesiod's sacred family tree of the Greeks meant volumes more than anything an Athenian politician would ever say in the midst of a vicious political struggle, insulting a Macedonian king. To the Greeks, Hesiod's poetic pronouncements were sacred. To us, in the modern age, they should be a guide NOT EASILY DISMISSED (as some modern revisionist Historians do at their own risk), in understanding who the Macedonians were and what their relation to the other Greeks was.

Alexander the Great had Homer's Iliad manuscript placed in a golden box, taken from the Persians after the battle of Issos, and he carried it at all times throughout Asia on his horse, Buccephalas.

Homer does not mention the Macedonians who in his time they were still living a pastoral life in what was later called upper Macedonia. He only speaks of the ancestral home of all the Hellenes, Macedonians included, of Dodona/ Δοδώνη in Epeiros/ Ηπειρος.

When Homer speaks of Greeks he calls them Achaeans/ Αχαιοί or Danaeans/Δαναοί or Argives/Αργείοι.

As for Hellas/ Ελλάς, the preferred name of Greeks for their country, Homer knew Hellas as very limited zone in south Thessaly, distinct from but adjacent to Phthia/ Φθία, the land where the hero king of the Myrmidons, Achilles was from:

οἵ τ' εἶχον Φθίην ἠδ' Ἑλλάδα καλλιγύναικα,
Μυρμιδόνες δὲ καλεῦντο καὶ Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἀχαιοί,
τῶν αὖ πεντήκοντα νεῶν ἦν ἀρχὸς Ἀχιλλεύς.
and those who inhabited Phthia and Hellas of the beautiful women,
and were called Myrmidons and Hellenes and Achaeans,
of these Achilles was the leader of fifty ships.
Homer, Iliad, 2.685-687 Catalogue of Ships

The name Hellas later spread to include all of Thessaly and central Greece, still later including the Peloponnese and finally Macedonia. By the Roman times, The geographic concept of Hellas was weakened by its administrative division into separate two geographic and administrative regions, the southern one called by the Romans Achaia/ Αχαία and the northern part Macedonia/ Μακεδονία.

Macedonia of the Roman times in fact included Thessaly, traditionally part of old Hellas as well as lands traditionally associated with Illyrian tribes, like the northern part of modern Albania as well as lands of Paeonia, which coincide with the central section of modern FYROM. But even Roman Macedonia never actually reached the land of the Thraco-Illyrian Dardanians, leaving out the northern half part of modern FYROM and the Dardanian city of Skupi, modern FYROM's capital Skopje.

At the time Homer was writing his epics, the Greek speaking Macedonians had not yet descended down from their makedna ore/μακεδνα ορη=tall mountains into the plains of Pieria and Ematheia. The land of lower Macedonia/kato Makedonia/κάτω Μακεδονία was still inhabited by Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians and others tribes, whom the Macedonians had to either push out or conquer and eventually the few that remained were in time assimilated:

ὅτι Ἠμαθία ἐκαλεῖτο πρότερον ἡ νῦν Μακεδονία. ἔλαβε δὲ τοὔνομα τοῦτο ἀπ' ἀρχαίου τινὸς τῶν ἡγεμόνων Μακεδόνος. ἦν δὲ καὶ πόλις Ἠμαθία πρὸς θαλάσσῃ. κατεῖχον δὲ τὴν χώραν ταύτην Ἠπειρωτῶν τινες καὶ Ἰλλυριῶν, τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον Βοττιαῖοι καὶ Θρᾷκες· οἱ μὲν ἐκ Κρήτης, ὥς φασι, τὸ γένος ὄντες, ἡγεμόνα ἔχοντες Βόττωνα, Θρᾳκῶν δὲ Πίερες μὲν ἐνέμοντο τὴν Πιερίαν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον, Παίονες δὲ τἆ περὶ τὸν Ἀξιὸν ποταμὸν καὶ τὴν καλουμένην διὰ τοῦτο Ἀμφαξῖτιν, Ἠδωνοὶ δὲ καὶ Βισάλται τὴν λοιπὴν μέχρι Στρυμόνος·
what is now called Macedonia was in earlier times called Emathia. And it took its present name from Macedon, one of its early chieftains. And there was also a city emathia close to the sea. Now a part of this country was taken and held by certain of the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, but mostly by the Bottiaei and the Thracians. The Bottiaei came from Crete originally, so it is said, along with Botton as chieftain. As for the Thracians, the Pieres inhabited Pieria and the region about Olympus; the Paeones, the region on both sides of the Axius River, which on that account is called Amphaxitis; the Edoni and Bisaltae, the rest of the country as far as the Strymon.
Strabo in Fr. 11 e.

This conquering of the fertile Macedonian plain by the Greeks speaking Macedonians found its explanation and expression in Greek myth too, and Isocrates, attempting to explain through mythology why most southern Greeks had Democracy of Oligarchy but the Macedonians had retained the institution of Kingship, assumes that a Greek man conquered and became king of the natives, and makes Perdiccas I, first king and leader - progenitor of the Macedonian family (τὸν τοῦ γένους ἀρχηγόν):

ὁ δὲ τὸν μὲν τόπον τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν ὅλως εἴασε, τὴν δ' ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ βασιλείαν κατασχεῖν ἐπεθύμησεν: ἠπίστατο γὰρ τοὺς μὲν Ἕλληνας οὐκ εἰθισμένους ὑπομένειν τὰς μοναρχίας, τοὺς δ' ἄλλους οὐ δυναμένους ἄνευ τῆς τοιαύτης δυναστείας διοικεῖν τὸν βίον τὸν σφέτερον αὐτῶν.
he, on the other hand, held entirely aloof from Hellenic territory, and set his heart upon occupying the throne of Macedon. For he knew full well that the Hellenes were not accustomed to submit to the rule of one man, while the other tribes were incapable of ordering their lives without the control of some such power.
Isocrates, Letter to Phillip, 107

The truth was of course quite a bit more brutal than mythology chose to remember it: the local barbarians, who lived there, Thracians and others, were either pushed out, subdued to the rule of their new Macedonian masters, assimilated or expelled:

Θρᾷκας...ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ Πίερες· ἐκλιπόντων δ' ἐκείνων Μακεδόνες νῦν ἔχουσι τὰ χωρία ταῦτα.
The Thracians used to be called Pieres, but, now that they have disappeared, the Macedonians hold these places. Strabo of Amaseia, Geographia 9.2.25

The Macedonians of course knew exactly who they were: Αυτός τε γαρ Έλλην ειμί γένος τωρχαίον/ Autos te gar Hellene eimi genos toarchaion/ And because myself I am a Greek by ancient family descend, proclaimed Alexander I of Macedonia, as the father of history Herodotus tells us in The Histories, Kalliopi, 9.45.

The same man, once he became king Alexandros I, he again proclaimed his Hellenic identity when he took part in the Olympic games, in the Peloponnese, by proving to the Hellanodikes/the judges of who was Hellenic, of Greek descent, and could thus participate in the Olympic games! We never hear of a Thracian, an Illyrian or a Roman participate (exception given to Nero whom the Greeks wisely proclaimed victor in all events and gave him all the prices he demanded, for the known reasons: they knew an idiot when they saw one, and they understood that they were dealing with a delusional and paranoid foreign emperor who could have done major damage to the sanctuary if not appeased. We have no record of any non Greek ever been allowed to compete in the Olympic games, while Macedonians, Epeirots and Aetolians were dully accepted as participants. The pseudo-makedonists when faced with this issue they exclaim: give me another argument, I do not want to hear again about the Olympics, the Pythians the Isthmians, the Epidaurians etc! The issue is simple: If these Panhellenic festivals which ere the foremost religious festivals uniting all the Greeks had instituted the position of Hellanodikai (Hellas + dike= judges determining who is Hellenic, Greek, I order to be qualified to participate or not in the contests), then, like it or not, participation in the Panhellenic festivals meant one simple thing:

The other Greeks accepted you as being Greek! End of story: the Macedonians were Greek.

Once we present the question in its proper format, then we can proceed to talk about "the differences between Macedonians and Greeks", or as we said earlier, "the differences between Venetians and Italians". Then we can let the dog start chasing its tail, round and round.

Do Venetians and Romans speak the same language? They do, but go back to the 19th or the 18th century, before standardized language teaching in public schools elevated Florentine Italian into the language of modern Italy, and a villager from the province of Lazzio, ancient Latium, would have a difficulty communicating with a villager from the province of Veneto outside Venice, or with a Calabrian for that matter. Through the spread of standardized Italian, based on the Tuscan dialect of Florence, Italians from Venice and Rome can now communicate perfectly.

Likewise, a Macedonian and an Ionian had a hard time having a normal conversation, yet after the adoption of the common Attic dialect of the Athenians, the Greeks could then communicate easier, and the Doric, Ionian, Northwest Greek, Arcado-Cyprian and Aeolian dialects died out. The new common language, based on Attic and infused by Macedonians' own Northwest Greek dialect, became the common language of all Greeks, and the language was named Coene/Κοινή, the common language, the Greek in which the New Testament Bible was written.

What dialect did the Macedonians speak originally? The Northwest dialect, a dialect spoken originally in Epirus, which then spread south into western Greece and into the Peloponnese. It was related to the Achaean dialect of the Mycenaeans, and it brought it close to the Arcado-Cyprian, and at the same time it was also related to Aeolian. This is what created the confusion with the ancient authors that some claimed the Macedonians to be of Dorian stock, spoken in the Peloponnese, Crete, etc, and others making them to be Aeolian, similar to their Thessalian neighbors.

The ancient Greeks had several different names to identify themselves, the most common one being Hellenes/Ελληνες. But the word Hellene is not known to Homer as an ethnic name for all or even most of the Greeks. Homer calls the Greeks Argives/Ἀργεῖοι or Achaeans/Ἀχαιοί.

Homer only knew the (linguistically related name of the) Epirotan Selloi/Σελλοί :

"Ζευ άνα, Δωδωναίε, Πελασγικέ, τηλόθι ναίων Δωδώνης µεδέων δυσχειμέρου, αµφί δε Σελλοί σοι ναίουσ' υποφήται, ανιπτόποδες, χαµαιεύναι..."
Zeus king, Dodonian, Pelasgian, living afar, being master of the cold Dodona around which live the Selloi, your prophets, the dirty footed who sleep on the floor...
Homer, Iliad Π 233 – 235.

Hellas was originally, according to Aristotle (Meteoreologica. I 14, 352 A) a place in Epirus,and he says that ´ancient Hellas´ was περὶ Δωδώνην/peri Dodonen/in the district around the oracle of Dodona. Epirus seems to be the area all Greeks started from, since most myths and legends tie this place to the progenitors of most Greek ethne, tribes. As for who was called what, Aristotle continues:

"Περί την Ελλάδα την Αρχαίαν. Αύτη δ' εστίν η περί την Δωδώνην και τον Αχελώον... Ώκουν γαρ οι Σελλοί και οι καλούμενοι τότε μεν Γραικοί, νυν δ΄Έλληνες"
Αριστοτέλης, "Μετεωρολογικά, Α, 352B"
"in ancient Hellas, in between Dodona and the Acheloos river [...], the land occupied by Seli and Graecoi who later came to be known as Hellenes"
Aristotle, "Meteorologica, I, 352B

The Epirotes and the Macedonians spoke the same dialect, and this is attested in Plutarch [ Eugene Borza also speaks of "the western Greek people (with affinities to the Epirotic tribes) in Orestis, Lyncus , and parts of Pelagonia"], when Plutarch tells us that Pyrrhus sent Epirotes into Macedonia:

"ησαν δε τινες ους αυτος ο Πυρρος εγκαθυει, προσποιουμενους ειναι Μακεδονας και λεγοντας, οτι νυν καιρος εστι της Δημητριου βαρυτητος απαλλαγηναι, προς ανδρα δημοτικον και φιλοστρατιωτην μεταβαλομενους τον Πυρρον. Εκ τουτου το πλειστον ανηρηθιστο της στρατιας, και τον Πυρρον εζητουν περισκοπουντες"
there were some also whom Pyrrhos himself sent into the camp; they pretended to be Macedonians, and said that now was the favorable time to rid themselves of Demetrios and his severity, by going over to Pyrrhos, a man who was gracious to the common folk and fond of his soldiers. In consequence of this, the greater part of the army was all excitement, and went about looking for Pyrrhos;
Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Pyrrhos 11.9

It is evident that the Epeirote soldiers who went into the army pretending to be Macedonians were not dumb, but they spoke a dialect identical to that of the Macedonians. A WWI French spy into the German army trenches would be immediately identified as not being German once he had opened his mouth, simply by his French accent even if he spoke perfect German. The ancients were not people from a different planet and we have to understand them in full flesh and blood as people that would have acted in the same way as we would given similar circumstances and situations. So it was with the Epeirote soldiers who went into Demetrios' camp, speaking the same Northwest Greek dialect as the Macedonians, pretending to be Macedonians themselves.

(I suppose this also proves that "pretending to be a Macedonian" is an age-old sport in the Balkans!).

Pseudomacedonian pretenders aside, we have to listen to what the ancients tell us, and when Herodotus, the father of History makes Alexandros I/Αλέξανδρος Α' (while he was still a prince in the palace of his father at Aegai) tell the envoys of the Persian king:

"πρὸς δὲ καὶ βασιλέι τῷ πέμψαντι ἀπαγγείλητε ὡς ἀνὴρ Ἕλλην Μακεδόνων ὕπαρχος εὖ ὑμέας ἐδέξατο καὶ τραπέζῃ καὶ κοίτῃ. ταῦτα εἴπας ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος..." / "and tell your king who sent you how the Greek viceroy of Macedonia has received you hospitably, providing food and bedfellows." after said that, Alexander..." Herodotus, Histories 5.20.1, I think we have to listen.

A SUPERSTITIUS BASTARD...
NO GREEK, NOT RELATED TO THE GREEKS,
BUT NOT EVEN A BARBARIAN

Despite the proclamation of their self-identification as Greeks by the Macedonians themselves, some refuse to even agnolege it and instead chose to elevate the now famous oratorical insult by the Athenian politician Demosthenes, who addressing the Athenian assembly shouted:

31] εἰ δέ γε δοῦλος ἢ ὑποβολιμαῖος τὰ μὴ προσήκοντ' ἀπώλλυε καὶ ἐλυμαίνετο, Ἡράκλεις ὅσῳ μᾶλλον δεινὸν καὶ ὀργῆς ἄξιον πάντες ἂν ἔφησαν εἶναι. ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑπὲρ Φιλίππου καὶ ὧν ἐκεῖνος πράττει νῦν, οὐχ οὕτως ἔχουσιν, οὐ μόνον οὐχ Ἕλληνος ὄντος οὐδὲ προσήκοντος οὐδὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ βαρβάρου ἐντεῦθεν ὅθεν καλὸν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ' ὀλέθρου Μακεδόνος, ὅθεν οὐδ' ἀνδράποδον σπουδαῖον οὐδὲν ἦν πρότερον πρίασθαι.

31] "But if some slave or superstitious bastard had wasted and squandered what he had no right to, heavens! how much more monstrous and exasperating all would have called it! Yet they have no such qualms about Philip and his present conduct, though he is not only no Greek, nor related to the Greeks, but not even a barbarian from any place that can be named with honor, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia, whence it was never yet possible to buy a decent slave."

Demosthenes, Against Philip, III, 31

"Philip", Demosthenes tells his Athenian audience, "is not a Greek, not related to Greeks, he is not even a barbarian from any honorable place!" The answer that Oulpianos offered to explain the emptiness of Demosthenes' slanders, is already known, but the view of Demosthenes' contemporaries should also be reviewed:

Let us follow what one of Demosthenes' political adversaries the orator Hyperides had to say in his speech "Against Demosthenes":

"...The people accused you, Demosthenes, of having accepted twenty talents illegally, against the interests of the state...For your mad conduct, Demosthenes, has made you champion of all these criminals, foremost in danger as you are in impudence. In my opinion the fact that you took the gold is proved to the jury well enough by your being condemned by the council to which you entrusted yourself...But of all these things, Demosthenes...It was you who decreed that a guard should be posted over the person of Harpalos. Yet when it relaxed its vigilance you did not try to restore it...I suppose you went unpaid for your shrewd handling of the crisis? If Harpalos distributed his gold among the lesser orators, who had nothing to give but noise and shouting, what of you who control our whole policy? Did he pass you over? That is incredible. So supreme is the contempt, gentlemen of the jury, with which Demosthenes has treated the affair...he admitted having taken the money but said that he had used it on your behalf......he was not content to have taken bribes himself but thought fit to infect the people too...There is some likelihood, it seems, that you, Demosthenes, are deaf to prayers and not to be persuaded into taking bribes? Do not imagine, gentlemen, that only trivial matters are affected by the venal conduct of these men. For it is no secret that all who conspire for power in Greece secure the smaller cities by force of arms and the larger ones by buying the influential citizens in them; and we know that Philip reached the height he did because, at the outset, he sent money to the Peloponnese, Thessaly, and the rest of Greece, and those with power in the cities and authority...and that you appropriated money, which was sent from Asia to buy help, for your own personal use, spending most of it; and now you engage in sea commerce and make bottomless loans, and having bought a house..."

Hyperides, "Against Demosthenes"

So, this was Demosthenes, the way his contemporaries viewed him: a shrewd yet corrupt politician, who used his oratorical skills to shamelessly enrich himself. Demosthenes welcomed and took Persian gold as Aeschines tells us:

"But this same man (meaning Dareius), overtaken by the dangers which are now upon him, sent, not at the request of the Athenians, but of his own accord, three hundred talents to the people, which they were wise enough to refuse. Now what brought the gold was the crisis, and his fear, and his need of allies. And this same thing it was that brought about the alliance with Thebes. But you, Demosthenes, tire us out with your everlasting talk of Thebes and of that most ill-starred alliance, while you are silent as to the seventy talents of the king's gold which you have seized and embezzled.".

Aeschines, Speeches, Against Ctesiphon. 3.239

Was Demosthenes stirred to action only by money and for personal gain? No, he was actually a narrow minded patriot to his own Athenian city state, and whenever Gold came his way, if he thought it benefited him and what he considered to ne in the best interests of the Athenian republic, he gleefully went along, pocketing all the Persian gold he could in the mean time. Should his characterization against Philip calling him a barbarian, be elevated to the status of an irrefutable proof of the ethnic identity of the ancient Macedonians, the way modern pseudo-makedonists do?

In the first pages of his recent book on Macedonia, Eugene Borza makes an obvious clarification, cutting down the "barbarian" Macedonian arguments of the FYROM's apologists on its tracks:

"Only recently have we begun to clarify these muddy waters by revealing the Demosthenean corpus for what it is: oratory designed to sway public opinion and thereby to formulate public policy. That elusive creature, Truth, is everywhere subordinate to Rhetoric; Demosthenes´ pronouncements are no more the true history of the period than are the public statements of politicians in any age. "

Eugene Borza, "In the shadows of Olympus"

But we do not need professor Borza to tell us this (yet we should note here that professor Eugene Borza is the darling of the FYROMakedonskis, because of his theory that the Macedonians were not originally Greek and were only Hellenized later. Despite the obvious pitfalls to that theory, professor Borza would have never damage his academic standing by claiming any relation between the ancient Macedonians -whom he definitely considers completely Hellenized by the arrival of the Romans, and the current Slavic or Albanian speaking inhabitants of FYROM), since none other Demosthenes himself is indirectly accepting the charge of verbal abuse, speaking ironically of Philip and of of himself in the third person:

308] εἶναί τε τὸν Φίλιππον αὐτόν, Ἡράκλεις, Ἑλληνικώτατον ἀνθρώπων, δεινότατον λέγειν, φιλαθηναιότατον: οὕτω δ' ἀτόπους τινὰς ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ δυσχερεῖς ἀνθρώπους εἶναι ὥστ' οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθαι λοιδορουμένους αὐτῷ καὶ βάρβαρον αὐτὸν ἀποκαλοῦντας. ἔστιν οὖν ὅπως ταῦτ' ἄν, ἐκεῖνα προειρηκώς, ὁ αὐτὸς ἀνὴρ μὴ διαφθαρεὶς ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν; τί δ';
308] And as for Philip, why, by Heracles, he was more Greek than all Greeks, the finest orator and in speech friendliest than everyone towards Athens you could find in the whole world. And yet there were some queer, ill-conditioned fellows in this city who did not blush to abuse him, and even to call him a barbarian!

I will not even try to explain further here who the queer, ill conditioned fellow Demosthenes is speaking of, the one who did not even blush to (verbally) abuse him (Philip), and even to calling him a barbarian! Sy eipas! / Σύ είπας! / You said, it yourself!...is all I would add...had I been there!

In their book "Bring 'em on", pages 90 and 91, Lee Artz and Yahya R. Kamalipour recount the dehumanizing ways in which syndicated cartoonists portrayed Sadam Husein and the Iraqis, prior to (and in preparation of the American public for) the US invasion of Iraq. Sadam Husein and his people were portrayed as:

Enemy-as-animal, Enemy-as-Desecrater-of-Civilians, Enemy-as-Torturer-of-Prisoners Enemy-as-Barbarian, Enemy-as-Criminal, Enemy-as-Greedy, Enemy-as-Enemy of God, Enemy-as-Death, Enemy-as-Faceless, Enemy-as-Aggressor, Enemy-as-(non Human)Abstraction and even Enemy-as-Human, for a change! And these were simply the cartoonists! Should we remember how the Iraqis and Saddam Husein were portrayed in the speeches of President Bush, the media and other US politicians?

All Demosthenes did, by comparison, was to call Philip (not even all the Macedonians, just their king) a non Greek and a non barbarian. Coming from the mouth of a sophisticated Athenian, this could not mean anything but cultural contempt for Macedonia, a country from which not even a good slave could be bought (horrors!).

Let us read the original text again:

31]...οὐ μόνον οὐχ Ἕλληνος ὄντος οὐδὲ προσήκοντος οὐδὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ βαρβάρου ἐντεῦθεν ὅθεν καλὸν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ὀλέθρου Μακεδόνος, ὅθεν οὐδ᾽ ἀνδράποδον σπουδαῖον οὐδὲν ἦν πρότερον πρίασθαι.
31] ...though he is not only no Greek, nor related to the Greeks, but not even a barbarian from any place that can be named with honor, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia, whence it was never yet possible to buy a decent slave.

What Demosthenes tells his Athenian listeners is that:

A. Philippos is no Greek / οὐχ Ἕλληνος ὄντος

B. Not related to The Greeks / προσήκοντος οὐδὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν the verb used is proseko/προσήκω which means το be near to, belong to, being close to, being related to according to Liddell and Scott.

Therefore Demosthenes tells us:
Philippos is not at all near to the Greeks.
Philippos is not at all close to the Greeks.
Philippos is not at all belonging to the Greeks.
Philippos is not at all related to the Greeks.

In other words, Demosthenes is telling his Athenian audience: Philippos is not acting as a Greek, he does not keep his word, he uses bribery, he is conniving etc etc etc

But, Philippos in fact is, not even a barbarian from any place that can be named with honor / ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ βαρβάρου ἐντεῦθεν ὅθεν καλὸν εἰπεῖν
but not even from some place that a good word can be said about, is another way to translate it, which means exactly the same, that Philippos is not even to be called a barbarian from a decent barbarian place, but then he is what, if he is not a Greek nor a barbarian?

He is, Demosthenes tells us: but a pestilent knave from Macedonia / ἀλλ᾽ ὀλέθρου Μακεδόνος. Olethros / Ολεθρος, Liddell and Scott informs us, means among other things also: II that which causes destruction, pest, plague, contemptuously of persons; and it brings among other examples: ο Μακεδών, of Philip. Philippos, is, Demosthenes tells the Athenian people, a destructive pest from Macedonia!, Not a Greek, not a barbarian of some honor, but a destructive pest from the state of Macedonia, the mortal enemy of the state of Athens for the control of the north Aegean waters and the cities on them!

I spent time on this quote because this is the main argument the pseudomakedonists use to make their thin as ether claim that the Macedonians were not Greeks but barbarians! In other words, the man whom Demosthenes calls in some translation of olethron/όλεθρον as "a pestilent knave from Macedonia" or I translated as "a destructive pest from Macedonia", basically the same thing, but both a personal insult against the king of Macedonia by an Athenian politician, is being elevated to the highest level of ethnological proof of a whole tribe of ancient people who left us literature, statues, cities, their names, inscriptions by the thousands scattered throughout the southern Balkans, north Africa, the middle East and further east to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, all in Greek. And all that is erased by an insult by Demosthenes meant to demean the enemy of Athens, the king of Macedonia.

One more reason why this should never be taken as an ethnic slur is the obvious one: Someone could answer back to Demosthenes that he was ethnically -yet not culturally- an ethnic semi barbarian himself, due to his maternal Skythian grandmother!

Politicians are politicians and in surveys of American public time after time Politicians rank at the bottom of the list, just slightly above used-car dealers, when reliability and honesty are measured.

Before we completely close the page on Demosthenes, and his famous not Greek not barbarian quote on Philippos, I thought it amusing to recall what Aeschines wrote in his Speech on the Embassy. We have to imagine a congress of the representatives of all the Greek states, who got together in Sparta to resolve burning issues of the day. Among others, Demosthenes was there, along with several other men, including Aeschines, representing the state of Athens, and representing Macedonia was king Philippos himself.

Let us give the podium to Aeschines, who was there, and let him tell us what happened:

34] ῥηθέντων δὲ καὶ τούτων καὶ ἑτέρων λόγων, ἤδη καθῆκεν εἰς Δημοσθένην τὸ τῆς πρεσβείας μέρος, καὶ πάντες προσεῖχον ὡς ὑπερβολάς τινας δυνάμεως ἀκουσόμενοι λόγων: καὶ γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν Φίλιππον, ὡς ἦν ὕστερον ἀκούειν, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἑταίρους ἐξήγγελτο ἡ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν ὑπερβολή. οὕτω δὲ ἁπάντων διακειμένων πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόασιν, φθέγγεται τὸ θηρίον τοῦτο προοίμιον σκοτεινόν τι καὶ τεθνηκὸς δειλίᾳ, καὶ μικρὸν προαγαγὼν ἄνω τῶν πραγμάτων, ἐξαίφνης ἐσίγησε καὶ διηπορήθη, τελευτῶν δὲ ἐκπίπτει ἐκ τοῦ λόγου.
34] Now when I had said this and more beside, at last came Demosthenes' turn to speak. All were intent, expecting to hear a masterpiece of eloquence. For, as we learned afterwards, his extravagant boasting had been reported to Philip and his court. So when all were thus prepared to listen, this creature mouthed forth a poem--an obscure sort of thing and as dead as fright could make it; and getting on a little way into the subject he suddenly stopped speaking and stood helpless; finally he collapsed completely.

35] ἰδὼν δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ Φίλιππος ὡς διέκειτο, θαρρεῖν τε παρεκελεύετο καὶ μὴ νομίζειν, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις, διὰ τοῦτό1 τι πεπονθέναι, ἀλλ' ἡσυχῇ καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀναμιμνῄσκεσθαι, καὶ λέγειν ὡς προείλετο. ὁ δ' ὡς ἅπαξ ἐταράχθη καὶ τῶν γεγραμμένων διεσφάλη, οὐδ' ἀναλαβεῖν αὑτὸν ἐδυνήθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλιν ἐπιχειρήσας2 ταὐτὸν ἔπαθεν. ὡς δ' ἦν σιωπή, μεταστῆναι ἡμᾶς ὁ κῆρυξ ἐκέλευσεν.
35] Philip saw his plight and bade him take courage, and not to think, as though he were an actor on the stage, that his collapse was an irreparable calamity, but to keep cool and try gradually to recall his speech, and speak it off as he had prepared it. But he, having been once upset, and having forgotten what he had written, was unable to recover himself; nay, on making a second attempt, he broke down again. Silence followed; then the herald bade us withdraw.

And later on that night, after the speeches:

41] ... συνδειπνούντων δ' ἡμῶν ἁπάντων ἐν Λαρίσῃ, αὑτὸν μὲν ἔσκωπτε καὶ τὴν ἀπορίαν τὴν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ συμβᾶσαν ἑαυτῷ, τὸν δὲ Φίλιππον τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον ἀνθρώπων ἔφη πάντων εἶναι δεινότατον.
41] ... And when we were all dining together at Larisa, he made fun of himself and the embarrassment which had come upon him in his speech, and he declared that Philip was the most wonderful man under the sun.
Aeschines, Speeches, Περὶ τῆς Παραπρεσβείας / The Speech on the Embassy 34,35

In this vivid description of that moment in history at the congress of Sparta where all the Greek states had been invited, Μacedonia included, and where the most celebrated orator of ancient times came to speak, we see Demosthenes overawed and overwhelmed by the presence of Philp II, the charismatic king of Macedonia. Aeschines captures for us a unique moment that brings these extraordinary persons

down to earth and full of flesh and blood alive for us, like no movie ever could. The tension of the moment where the two political archenemies of the Greek world Demosthened and Philippos II are ready to fight it out in the field of diplomacy, and make convincing speeches attaching each other, in their attempt to convince the rest of the Greek states, is electrifying. Yet we see Demosthenes collapsing like a high school girl in front of the auditorium during a drama presentation, obviously overwhelmed by the pressure of the powerful personality of Philip. The awkwardness of the moment reaches its crescendo when the Macedonian King (the "not a Greek, not related to the Greeks and not even a barbarian" Philip) is actually offering Demosthenes his paternal-like encouragement and urges him on to continue with his speech, like a kindergarten teacher urges and assists the preschoolers to recite their poems! And then, later that night, at the banquet, Demosthenes speaking of "the not Greek not related to the Greeks and not even a barbarian" king of Macedonia "he declared that Philip to be the most wonderful man under the sun! (τὸν δὲ Φίλιππον τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον ἀνθρώπων ἔφη πάντων εἶναι δεινότατον).

The fact that Philippos II of Macedonia is a participant in this political congress of Greek states, representing Macedonia, a congress where where no Scythians, Illyrians, Persians or Thracians were invited, but only Greek states, is in itself proof enough of how the other Greeks viewed the Macedonians. The fact that Macedonians organized the Pythian games at Delphi, and acted as its defenders against the Phoceans, in the sacred war, is a non issue for the pseudo-makedonists: these are considered insignificant issues to them, but they are indeed the most obvious proof of the Hellenism of the Macedonians and their commonality with the other Greeks. The Macedonian phalangers, the pezhetairoi/πεζεταίροι (πεζος+εταίρος=infantryman companion), wore the laurel wreaths of Apollo on their helmets at the battle of Crocus fields in 352BC against Onomarchos and his sacrilegious Phocians, defending the Panhellenic oracle of Delphi. Philip was rewarded by being alloted the two votes of the Phoceans at the Amphictyonic council of the Delphic Oracle. We can hardly imagine an Illyrian, a Thracian or a Persian in that position, presiding over the most Hellenic of Hellenic institutions!

Was Philip maybe invited to the congress of Sparta as a non-Greek participant, because of the strength of Macedonia in Hellenic issues and events? Hardly so. He was indeed a full participant, representing Macedonia. Was this maybe because under Philip Macedonia had acquired for the first time in its history a place of strength among other states? Not necessarily so, because his own father had also been invited to participate in a congress of Lacedaemonians/Spartans and the other Greeks, and Macedonia's king was invited as "being entitled to a seat". Macedonia was anything but strong during Amyntas' times, before Philip. Here what Aeschines informs us:

32] συμμαχίας γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων συνελθούσης, εἷς ὢν τούτων Ἀμύντας ὁ Φιλίππου πατὴρ καὶ πέμπων σύνεδρον καὶ τῆς καθ' αὑτὸν ψήφου κύριος ὤν, ἐψηφίσατο Ἀμφίπολιν τὴν Ἀθηναίων συνεξαιρεῖν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων Ἀθηναίοις. καὶ τούτων τὸ κοινὸν δόγμα τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τοὺς ψηφισαμένους ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων γραμμάτων μάρτυρας παρειχόμην.
32] becauser at a congress of the Lacedaemonians and the other Greeks, in which Amyntas, Philip's father, being entitled to a seat, was represented by a delegate whose vote was absolutely under his control, he joined the other Greeks in voting to help Athens to recover possession of Amphipolis. As proof of this I presented from the public records the resolution of the Greek congress and the names of those who voted.
Aeschines, Speeches The Speech on the Embassy, 32

The fact that Macedonia was invited as a full participant at a congress of all the other Greeks is revealing in itself of how they were viewed (we never hear of the Persians for example coming to participate in Greek congresses, though they always played a great role in Greek affairs, mostly through bribing of politicians, and as arbitrators, but NEVER as participants at a Panhellenic congress) by the other Greeks. I think it is revealing to note the language used by Aeschines, and we know that the words used had their own weight one by one. I transliterate each word to make this point clearer:

a. Lacaedaemonion kai ton allon Hellenon / Lacaedemonians AND THE OTHER GREEKS,
b. eis on touton Amyntas o Philippou pater / ONE OF WHICH being Amyntas Philipp's father
c.tis kath' auton psyphou kyrios / being ENTITLED TO HIS OWN VOTE
d.synexairein meta ton allon Hellenon / he joined THE OTHER GREEKS

CIVIC IDENTITY OF THE MACEDONIANS

The Macedonians knew very well that they were Greek, and they casually called themselves Macedonians and the other Greeks they called them the OTHER Greeks. An inscription from Olympia, from 143BC describes a votive dedication to a Roman consul by a Macedonian man:

Regions : Peloponnesos (IG IV-[VI]) : Elis
IvO 325
Elis — Olympia — ca. 143 BC
Δάμων Νικάνορος Μακεδὼν ἀπὸ
Θεσσαλονίκης Κόϊντον Καικέλιον
Κοΐντου Μέτελλον, στρατηγὸν ὕπατον
Ῥωμαίων, Διὶ Ὀλυμπίωι
5
ἀρετῆς ἕνεκεν καὶ εὐνοίας ἧς ἔχων διατε-
λεῖ εἴς τε αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν πατρίδα καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς
Μακεδόνας καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας.
Damon son of Nikanor a Macedonian from
Thessaloniki to Kointos Kaikelios
son of Kointos Metellos, general consul
of the Romans, to to Zeus of olympia
in virtues' grace and good will to which he is
endowed for himself and for his country and the rest of

Macedonians and the other Greeks

The Macedonians thought of themselves as part of the Greek family, calling themselves by who they were: Macedonians...in the same exactly way others called themselves Thessalians or Cretans or Boeotians, and when referring to the other Greeks they simply called them just that:

the OTHER GREEKS.

Like all other Greeks of antiquity the Macedonians were more narrowly tribalistic and nationalistic of their own tribal Hellenism rather than of the whole Greek nation. Were they different in this respect that all the other Greeks? Not in the least! All Greeks owed their own allegiance first and foremost to their own city or state and they went to war against each other all the time, habitually destroying each other's cities. Thebes destroyed Plataea, Argos destroyed Mycenai, Athens destroyed Melos. It was actually very few times that some of the Greeks (and then not all of them), united against the Persians in Greece or against the Carthaginians in Cicily in the earlier part of the 5th century and then again with Alexander the Great against Persia. Rome did not have a chance in becoming the power it became had not succeeded in bidding one Greek state of group of Greek states against the other, allying itself once with this group and then with the other.

A major difference between most most other Greeks and the Macedonians was that by the fifth and fourth century BC, all other Greeks had moved away from their Homeric and heroic age of hero kings into a more modern political system of city states, self governing and independent. There were no kings to be found in mainland Greece, except among the Epeirotes, the Macedonians and in a very limited and ceremonial way also in Sparta. The Macedonians were royalist to their core and their social and political conservatism was something that aggravated other differences they may have had with other Greeks in the south. It is indicative that the Thessalians who were not only linguistically but also politically and socially closer to the Macedonian socio-political system, once Philip became their Tagos/Archon/leader, they followed him and his son Alexander after him, without uttering a word (tell that to the rebellious and radically democratic Athenians!) anywhere and everywhere loyally. Alexander could have never won neither at Issos nor at Gaugamela had he not had the Thessalian cavalry defending his army's left flank.

Most other Greeks and in some way or another instituted Tyranny (dictatorships), Oligarchy or direct Democracy. Kingship by then was looked down as something very barbarian-like and regressive to the progressive minded Greeks. It is revealing of the strength of the Greek mindset about the poleis and the strong civic spirit it created that even Philip and later Alexander and the other Hellenistic kings after them promoted the establishment of Greek cities in their new lands, identical to the other Greek cities in everything but the control of the foreign policy decisions.

NORTHWEST GREEK DIALECT

The Macedonians spoke a Doric-related dialect, the Northwestern dialect of Greek, which was spoken from Macedonia and Epeiros to Aetolia and Delphi. The dialect spoken by the people of Elis in the Peloponnese, home of the Olympic games was in fact very similar to the one spoken in Macedonia, and the Achaean-related Arcadian-Cyprian of central Peloponnese and Cyprus retain some ancient similarities to Macedonian. The Macedonian dialect was never a fully developed written language, only an oral one and when the Macedonian kingdom decided to get organized beyond its archaic semi-barbarian ways, it simply adopted (5th c. BC) the Athenian Attic dialect. Attic became the spoken language at the court, besides being the official language of the state. This does not mean that all Macedonians suddenly became Attic speakers, though the aristocrats did.

The Philotas incident is revealing in showing that some of the children of the Macedonian aristocracy did not even know how to speak the Macedonian dialect. This gave Alexander (who spoke it as his mother tongue. His mother was after all an Eipeirotan princes herself. She spoke the same Northwest dialect as the Macedonians) a propaganda advantage against Philotas in the trial where the pezhetairoi/πεζεταιροι phalanx infantrymen became Philotas' jurors and executioners.

All the written documents of the Macedonians, their civic lists and declarations, their religious and votive inscriptions, their funerary inscriptions are all written in Greek. Their Attic was not pure of course, and many Macedonian dialect words found their way into it. The spoken and written Attic used by the Macedonians eventually developed in its own way after the conquests of Alexander, forging a dialectical linguistic amalgam of the two dialects, that brought us the Coene/Koine/Κοινή/Common or Alexandrian/Aλεξανδρινή common Greek language.

The Macedonians, like all other Greeks except the south Italian ones who were geographically detached from this development lost their particular dialects and slowly adopted the new Alexandrian Common Greek language. This is the language used later on to write the New Testament, the sacred bible of the Christian religion. The rapid spread of Christianity is attributed to, among other things, its early adoption of the Alexandrian Coene Greek language, the language which Alexander and his Macedonians helped forge through their conquests, the mixing of all the Greeks into Alexander's army and then into the cities he founded, and the eventual unification of Europe and Asia in the Hellenictic centuries BC that followed Alexander's passing.

THE PELLA CATADESMOS

A small lead sheet containing a curse, called the Pella Katadesmos/Κατάδεσμος Πέλλας is the only written document to have survived in the original dialect of the Macedonians, in Macedonia itself. While all official and business transactions were contacted in the Attic, for such a deeply personal issue as the curse of an opponent for the heart of a man the desperate writer of the karadesmos tablet had to use a more informal, more personable, more closer to her heart language, her own maternal Macedonian dialect:

1. [ΘΕΤΙ]ΜΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΟΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΓΑΜΟΝ ΚΑΤΑΓΡΑΦΩ ΚΑΙ ΤΑΝ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΠΑΣΑΝ ΓΥ

2. [ΝΑΙΚ]ΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΧΗΡΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΘΕΝΩΝ ΜΑΛΙΣΤΑ ΔΕ ΘΕΤΙΜΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΚΑΤΤΙΘΕΜΑΙ ΜΑΚΡΩΝΙ ΚΑΙ

3. [ΤΟΙΣ] ΔΑΙΜΟΣΙ ΚΑΙ ΟΠΟΚΑ ΕΓΟ ΤΑΥΤΑ ΔΙΕΛΕΞΑΙΜΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΑΓΝΟΙΗΝ ΠΑΛLΙΝ ΑΝΟΡΟΞΑΣΑ

4. [ΤΟΚΑ] ΓΑΜΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΑ ΠΡΟΤΕΡΟΝ ΔΕ ΜΗ ΜΗ ΓΑΡ ΛΑΒΟΙ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΑ ΑΛΛ Η ΕΜΕ

5. [ΕΜΕ Δ]Ε ΣΥΝΚΑΤΑΓΗΡΑΣΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΜΗΔΕΜΙΑΝ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΙΚΕΤΙΣ ΥΜΩΝ ΓΙΝΟ

6. [ΜΑΙ ΦΙΛ]ΑΝ ΟΙΚΤΙΡΕΤΕ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΕΣ ΦΙΛ[Ο]Ι ΔΑΓΙΝΑΓΑΡΙΜΕ ΦΙΛΩΝ ΠΑΝΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΡΗΜΑ ΑΛΛΑ

7. [....]Α ΦΥΛΑΣΣΕΤΕ ΕΜΙΝ Ο[Π]ΩΣ ΜΗ ΓΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΤΑ[Υ]ΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΚΑ ΚΑΚΩΣ ΘΕΤΙΜΑ ΑΠΟΛΗΤΑΙ

8. [....]ΑΛ[-].ΥΝΜ .. ΕΣΠΛΗΝ ΕΜΟΣ ΕΜΕ ΔΕ [Ε]Υ[Δ]ΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΚΑΙ ΜΑΚΑΡΙΑΝ ΓΕΝΕΣΤΑΙ

9. [-]ΤΟ[.].[-].[..]..Ε.Ε.Ω[?]Α.[.]Ε..ΜΕΓΕ [-]

1. On the formal wedding of [Theti]ma and Dionysophon I write a curse, and of all other

2. wo[men], widows and virgins, but of Thetima in particular, and I entrust upon Makron and

3. [the] demons that only whenever I dig out and unroll and re-read this,

4. [then] may they wed Dionysophon, but not before; and may he never wed any woman but me;

5. and may [I] grow old with Dionysophon, and no one else. I [am] your supplicant:

6. Have mercy on [your dear one], dear demons, Dagina(?), for I am abandoned of all my dear ones.

7. But please keep this for my sake so that these events do not happen and wretched Thetima perishes miserably

8. and to me grant [ha]ppiness and bliss.

A man from Dorian Crete or Rhodes could actually read the Pella katadesmos much easier than an Athenian could, and a Spartan could communicate with a Macedonian easier than he could with an Athenian Greek.

Looking at the language of the tablet, which an average Athenian would not have an easy time understanding completely, I can confidently say that an average modern Greek from Thessaloniki or another Macedonian city of Greece can with some effort grasp the basic meaning of the text, as it is written in the original.

Could any of the pseudomakedonist apologists who beat the drums about being Macedonians and waste rivers of ink and waste trees for paper trying to convince everyone (themselves more than anyone else) that the ancient Macedonians were not Greeks, could they try to read it? Many of them could, but they are the ones who are bilingual and speak Greek and Slavonic too. Maybe they should be the ones that can bring the truth home to the rest.

It so happens that some bloggers in historic Macedonia, the province of Greece, have been teasing their northern Slavic neighbors in FYROM by offering one million Euros to anyone that could find an old inscription anywhere in Greece or FYROM in the language of the modern claimants of the Macedonian name from Skopje. Why do they offer one million Euro? Because Greeks know that it is conceivably more plausible to find an ancient Sanskrit inscription in Greece (the Macedonians and other Greeks at least had contact with India and Nearchos who made the trip from the delta of Indus to Mesopotamia) but never one in Slavic or Proto-Slavic before the 7th century AD: it is simply a safe bet! You can make this a ten or a hundred million Euros bet and no proto-Slavic inscription will be found anywhere south of the Pripyet marshes and anywhere close to Macedonia for that time frame, the Classic Greek or Hellenistic age of the real Macedones.

HESECHIOS'S LEXICON OF GREEK LANGUAGE GLOSSES

A lot is made of the Glosses of Hesychios, a collection of Macedonian words that Hesychios of Alexandria collected and saved in the 5th c AD, long after the Macedonian dialect AND ALL OTHER GREEK DIALECTS had fused into the common Alexandrian Coine language of all the Greeks.

Of the hundred or so Macedonian "glosses" (difficult to decipher Macedonian words), the vast majority are actually dialectical forms perfectly understood from Greek and only a handful (ten to fifteen) are borrowed from Thracian, Persian or Illyrian. Compared to ANY modern European language (not to speak of Englich that is a complete mix) Macedonian was as Greek as any other Greek dialect. What about Hesechios' collection? We only need to remember that his collection was a broad collection of difficult Greek words: it was a Greek language dictionary.

Let us take a few words in random from it:

κάγχαμος κισσὸς ὑπὸ Κροτωνιατῶν
kagchamos ivy by Crotonians
κάγχαρμον τὸ τὴν λόγχην ἄνω ἔχον. [Μακεδόνες]
kagcharmon to hold the spear upwards. [Macedonians]
καγχᾶται γελᾷ ἀτάκτως
kagchatai laughinmg uncontrolably

The third word is standing by itself. It is a word that Hesychios finds unusual, though to a modern Greek it is actually familiar since it is still in wide usage with a slight altered meaning: καγχάζei/kangchazei, to laugh sardonically at someone. But the first and second words are one from the southern Italian Greek city of Croton and the other from Macedonia, which show that although both describe completely different items, one the plant ivy, and the other the act of holding the spear in a vertical way, both are clearly Greek words, both indicating an upward stance. This is only the case of one word, and this is the case of a word that nobody could claim that the Crotonians borrowed from the Macedonians or vice-versa, since the South Italian Greeks did not partake in the Hellenistic movement of the other Greek people in Asia. These are words that both the Doric-related Macedonians and the Doric-speaking South Italian Greeks had in common each in their own archaic oral tradition, and it meant upward stance in both cases. Other dialects had lost this ancient word, and this is why Hesychios put it down on paper, without even attempting to make a connection between them. A further note on this: Only the Macedonians and indeed the last few lines of the Macedonian Phalanx would ever hold a spear (the famous 18-22 ft long sarissa/σάρισσα of the Macedonians) in this way, vertically.

If every word that Hesychios mentions would prove that that the word belongs to language that is not Greek, then in a few lines someone could idiotically "prove" that none of the Greeks spoke Greek:

κλάγος γάλα. Κρῆτες
klagos milk. Cretans

Then this would indicate that since the Cretans called milk klagos and not gala, like most of the other Greeks then Cretans could not have been Greek. Or:

κοιπποίβα πᾶν σπέρμα. Ἀχαιοί
koippoiba every sperm/seed. Achaeans

Since other Greeks besides the Achaeans did not use the word koippoiba for the sperms (seeds) then the Achaeans must not be Greek.

What about the Thebans, in the province of Baeotia, who had a word like:

κριδδέμεν γελᾶν. Βοιωτία δὲ ἡ λέξις
kriddemen to laugh. From Boeotia this word

Are we to come to the conclusion that the Boeotians were not Greek either? Hesechios also mentions a prosonym that the Athenians gave to God Poseidon that sounded strange to him:

Κυνάδης Ποσειδῶν Ἀθήνησιν οὐ τιμᾶται
Kynades Poseidon By the Athenians who worship him

Should we now also doubt the Hellenism of the Athenians? Why not? Leave it to the pseudo-makedonists and they will prove it for you that Athena was just a simple Slavic girl, until the evil Greeks abducted her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CpeL2mZw6I

Who would ever come up with this kind of delusional etymologies? "Thank you Donski!" exclaims the grateful college student who made the Anti-Greek propaganda video above...

Hesychios' Greek language lexicon contained unusual (unusual to Hesychios, in the 5th century AD, a thousand or so years after the age of Aristotle and Alexander), words of the Greek lnguage. For some to claim that the Macedonian was not a Greek dialect based on the hundred or so Macedonian "glosses" attested in this lexicon, is simply absurd and it only shows that the ones making the claim have not even bothered to open and read it and see what it is all about (and even if they open it, their Slavic derived language will not be of much help in deciphering the Macedonian glosses anyway, but they stay away from this linguistic manhole: ALL THEY TRY TO ATTEMPT IS TO INSTILL A DOUBT ON THE HELLENISM OF THE MACEDONIANS. Now if someone were to ask these "Makedonskis" to try to explain the Hesychius' Macedonian glosses, using their own Bulgaro-Serbian dialect, they will run away faster than a Yugo with broken breaks going downhill!

HELLENIC DIALECT OR "HELLENIC BRANCH" LANGUAGE

The defenders of the idea that Macedonian was a language and not a dialect of Greek concede that if it were not a Greek dialect then it must have been a Hellenic language, tightly related to Greek, and, at any rate, IT HAD ABSOLUTELY NO CONNECTION OR RELATION whatsoever TO THE SLAVIC IDIOM SPOKEN NOW in FYROM. Theirs is a Slavic dialect mutually intelligible by both Serbs and Bulgars with almost equal ease. A Serb or even more so a Bulgarian visiting Skopje needs not to bring along his dictionary, as a New Yorker visiting small town Texas has no need of one either.

The "Linguist List" takes the ultra cautious approach on the language versus dialect issue, and places Macedonian in the Hellenic branch group of the larger Indo-European family of languages:

( http://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/get-familyid.cfm?CFTREEITEMKEY=IE ).

Under Ancient Macedonian it reads:
The Ancient Macedonian Language

Language Name : Ancient Macedonian Alternate Name(s) : Macedonian Once Spoken in : Macedonia Greece Language Code : xmk (Former code: XMK ) Status : Extinct Family : Indo-EuropeanSubgroup : Macedonian Subgrouping Code : IEGB See Map of Language:Map Ancient Macedonian Brief Description : The ancient language of the Macedonian kingdom in N. Greece and modern Macedonia during the later 1st millennium BC. Survived until the early 1st millennium AD. Not to be confused with the modern Macedonian language, which is a close relative of the Slavic Bulgarian.

I repeat their last sentence: Ancient Macedonian is "Not to be confused with the modern Macedonian language, which is a close relative of the Slavic Bulgarian." Yet precisely this confusion is what the pseudomakedonist apologists are constantly seeking to spread, employing hundreds of unemployed foreign language speaking college students in FYROM to fill every conceivable corner of the inter net with all kinds of false information supporting their propaganda, from the scientific sounding to the absolutely loony.

Here below is a partial list of books by probably the most celebrated promoter of pseudomakedonism in FYROM:

Ancient Macedonian Heritage of Today's Macedonian Nation (2000)
Ethnological Differences Between the Macedonians and the Bulgarians (2000)
Jesus Christ and the Macedonians (2000)
Byzantine Kings of Macedonian Origin (2007)
Supernatural Signs (1994)

The Genealogical Lineage Between Queen Elizabeth II and the Medieval Macedonian Czar Samuel (Štip and Sydney, 2005)

The Descendants of Alexander the Great of Macedon (Štip and Sydney, 2004)

What will happen to us after death? (1995)

Today's Descendants of the Ancient Macedonian Royal Dynasty (2007)

The Macedonian Heritage of Some American Presidents (2006)

These books are not only widespread in their native FYROM, but they are religiously copied and translated by university "professors" and others from Florida and elsewhere, and then published and distributed to the US, Canada and Australia, spreading historical falsification and ethnochauvinisticnationalistic poison to expatriates thirsting for pride in their roots.

The list above is sadly indicative of the utter confusion that the state sanctioned falsifiers of history in FYROM are spreading about the Macedonians, in their futile attempt to be find credible connections to the ancient Macedonians. When credible connections are nowhere to be found, and they are contradicted daily by the archaeological finds, then in-credible connections suffice:

Here is a news video, from the Slavo-"Macedonian" television, where the author of the books mentioned juts above is making some very out of this world contacts to support the case of FYROM. A famous "Czar" (The word is a Slavic paraphrase of Caesar, and it means king. The ancient Macedonians used the Greek epithet Basileus / Bασιλεύς meaning king, as shown in all their coins) comes to their rescue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZE-v5Iqmvk

The famous Czar made contact with "his descendants", and he did not fail to ask

about the dialect spoken in FYROM today: "I want to know about your linguistics", says the ancient "Czar", obviously unable to comprehend a word out of what was spoken by "his descendants" in his occult presence!...

In return, the self proclaimed "historian" without a history degree ("I am a highly educated historian and a writer from European country Republic of Macedonia") pseudomakedonist apologist, offered his occultist "testimonial" http://www.stevehermannmedium.com/steve.html

Naked propaganda by the Skopje regime is bombarding daily its Slavic population through the state controlled media for the last sixty plus years with "news" like this, in their attempt to subliminally support this fake "Macedonski" identity. The Tito regime, went so far as to create a "Macedonian Church" breaking it off the Orthodox Patriarchate of Serbia, in their attempt to better advance their nation-creating plans. For the Socialist People's Republic of Macedonia spearheading the creation of a church in an otherwise atheist state, is indicative of the hermaphroditic creature they were determined to create.

A FLAWED EQUATION

The math of the pseudomakedonists is as simple in conception as it is flawed. The equation they propose is as follows:

a. Makedonski/Македонски = Slav speaking person of south Yugoslavia/FYROM

b. Every Macedonian and anyone called in history Macedonian = Makedonski/Македонски

c. Therefore, ancient Macedonians and the so called Macedonian Dynasty of Byzantium, and Greeks of antiquity or middle ages or the Ottoman empire or even modern Greeks living today in Macedonia = Makedonskis. A duck, according to their equation, is something/someone walking on two legs. Everything or anyone walking on two legs is a duck. Chickens, ostriches, gorillas and humans, according to this equation, are all ducks!

The equation is based on the wrong assumption of "b", above, which expands a particular to include the general. It is not simply wrong due to an honest mistake or oversight; it is intentionally a false assumption that is the mother-creator of all the problems associated with this issue. It is a Procrustean equation that starts by trying to fit Serbian and Bulgarian speaking Slavs into the mold of a Makedonski, then forces Greeks and Greek speaking Sarakatsanoi, Greek and Latin speaking Vlachs, and Slavic speaking Muslims into the mold, then extends the umbrella and anyone and everyone that identifies with the local identification of "Macedonian", like all the 2.5 million of Greeks of northern Greek province of Macedonia, like myself, as "Makedonski".

Following this simplistic and moronic equation, anything and everything in history that bears the name Macedonia, from the "Macedonian Dynasty" of Byzantium (which was started by Basil I, the Macedon, an ethnic Armenian from Andrianople, a city of Thrace which at that time was part of the Thema Makedonias) to the "Macedonian school of Byzantine Painting" are therefore wholesale claimed as "Makedonski".

It is a historic fact that no "Macedonian" ethnic identification existed before Tito decided in 1944 that this would be politically advantageous to Yugoslavia post war. When the pseudomakedonists are confronted with this fact they immediately produce any and every document of the past from Plutarch and St. Paul Italian maps of the the Renascence where the word Macedonia is mentioned, as proof that the "Macedonian" and Macedonians always existed.

This is the same as saying: the name Calabria is to be found on medieval and Renascence maps, the Calabresi are mentioned in all sorts of books, therefore the nation of the Calabrians exists as independent of the modern Italian nation and has been historically attested: Absurdity in Apotheosis! Yet in the Balkans this is acceptable!

Our contention is that Macedonia/Μακεδονία and Makedonija/Македонија are not to be equated. Macedonian and Makedonski/Македонски are not to be equated. Α land and the name of the land is one thing, an ethnic identification based on residence on that land is a whole different story. No Slavic speaking intellectual had even though of calling the Bulgari-speaking people "Macedonski" before the very end of the 19th century.

Nobody disclaims that Macedonia as a name of a land existed, or that the people inhabiting that land (which after the Roman times included not only Greeks but also Latin speakers, then later in the middle ages Slavs, even later Gypsies and Albanians and later yet Turks and Circasians. All of the inhabitants of a land can claim its name, but this does not make them persons of the same ethnicity.

An Illinoian today can be anyone living in Illinois. The fact that someone calls himself an Illinoian does not mean that he also takes a ethnic identification based on his residence on the land. And for sure it does not imply that the son of a European or or an African or Asian living in Illinois today can claim ancestry from the indigenous tribe of the Illini Indians, or worse yet, claim their identity as his. The question: are you an Illinoian or an American should sound as stratnge to a Chicagoan, who is asked to chose which one of the two he is, as it is to a person from Thessaloniki being provocatively asked the same question by a pseudomakedonist: are you a Greek or a Macedonian? This question is driving 2.5 million Greeks of Macedonia mad up the wall, so to speak. It implies that only the 1.2 Slavs who live in FYROMakedonija are "Macedonians". The hijacking of the name of Macedonia and the elevation of the geographic identity of a Macedonian (who could be a Greek, a Bulgarian, an Albanian, a Serb, a Jew or a Gypsy, a Turk, a Slavomacedonian or a Vlach) into an ethnonym, a national identity that seeks to describe ONLY the Slavic speakers to the EXCLUSION of everyone else (the vast majority!) residing in historic Macedonia, is unacceptable to the "excluded" ones, the absolute majority of whom are Greek Macedonians.

The anti-historic and utterly provocative equating of the name of Macedonia, with only one particular ethnic group of that land, the Slavic speakers only, who, besides not being the majority group are nor even the oldest attested inhabitants of Macedonia, and then, jumping over logic geography and history and claiming every person having ever lived on that land as a Makedonski/Македонски is plainly wrong and utterly unsupported.

The FYROMakedonijan nationalist falsifier's intend is to create complete confusion on the issues by intentionally twisting, misreading and misrepresenting the historical record. The Slavic speaking population of Macedonia is simply that: The Slavic speaking people of Macedonia. So are the Greek and Latin speaking Vlach Macedonians, the Macedonian Turks, the Macedonian Albanians, the Macedonian Roma/Gypsies, etc. FYROM which only has less than one third of the Ottoman Macedonia and only a tiny fraction of Philip's ancient Macedonia should never have the right to claim exclusivity over the name of ALL of Macedonia.

The Macedonia name issue is not an easy one, precisely because the facade and the real face are not one and the same: The name issue is not -as it is naively presented by some- as one of the poor weaklings being deprived of their right to self determination and self identification by being refused the name of their choice: the FYROM derived Macedonia name claims, hide an ugly irredentism of the

worse and most virulent and regressive Balkan type full of hatred and spite: "One Macedonia", "United Macedonia", "Unification of "Pirin (Bulgarian) Macedonia" and "Aegean (Greek) Maceedonia" with the R of Macedonia", "Makedonija na Makedoncite/Macedonia to the Macedonians", etc: a 19th century Balkan irredentism is all that is hidden behind the "victim of history" facade. The maps of Greater Macedonia, that include half of Greece and part of Bulgaria are not giving Greeks any reason to negotiate the historic name of Macedonia away, unless the irredentism issue is resolved. Unfortunately, fake "Makedonist" history and make believe "ancient" identity and the ussurped "Makedonijan" name and land grab irredentism are all part and parcel of the same strategy, and all is wrapped in the cloak of thinly veiled pseudomakedonism:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iIiLUUh48U&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdUv0gajb7E&feature=related

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/82398

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/81102

BALKAN NEOFASCISM : THE SNAKE OUT OF THE PIT

Whatever does not support their historically unsupported equation and the absurdities that come part and parcel to back it up are immediately branded a product of 19th century western scholarship tainted by Greek propaganda. Then they move to the attack, a vicious, racially charged and ethnically deleterious attack on anything Greek or of Greece, from the ancient language to the modern people of Greece, in a way that would make Joseph Goebbels smile approvingly. The most absurd is the pseudoscientific study by a group of students from FYROM Dimitroski K, Pacho A, Moscoso J, Blagoevska M, Zdravkovska V, along with students from Spain, Martínez-Laso J., Gómez-Casado E, Silvera-Redondo C, Varela P, under the direction of the controversial (see Internet site below) doctor Arnaiz-Villena A, which they managed to publish in Tissue Antigens. 57:118-27.

The since then discredited study was provocatively named: "HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks." and it was trying to prove that: 1) Macedonians belong to the "older" Mediterranean substratum, like Iberians (including Basques), North Africans, Italians, French, Cretans, Jews, Lebanese, Turks (Anatolians), Armenians and Iranians, 2) Macedonians are not related with geographically close Greeks, who do not belong to the "older" Mediterranenan (sic) substratum, 3) Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan (Ethiopian) people, which separate them from other Mediterranean groups.

Neil Risch and L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza of the Department of Genetics, Stanford University and Alberto Piazza of the Department of Genetics, Biology and

Biochemistry, of the University of Torino, went immediately on the counterattack and thrashed the study saying "the paper should have been refused for publication on the simple grounds that it lacked scientific merit", because, "Even a cursory look at the paper's diagrams and trees immediately indicates that the authors make some extraordinary claims. They used a single genetic marker, HLA DRB1, for their analysis to construct a genealogical tree and map of 28 populations from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Japan. Using results from the analysis of a single marker, particularly one likely to have undergone selection, for the purpose of reconstructing genealogies is unreliable and unacceptable practice in population genetics."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Arnaiz-Villena

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/printFriendly/97926

The paid propagandists obviously do not care for peer review. Once the genie of THE BIG LIE is out of the box, it is free for all the pseudomakedonist propagandists to use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYDJ_i4cZxY

The Internet is now full of the "Macedonians (who) belong to the "older" Mediterranean substratum, along with...Turks and...Iranians", "Macedonians are not related with geographically close Greeks, who do not belong to the "older" Mediterranenan (sic) substratum", and of course, "Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan (Ethiopian) people, which separate them from other Mediterranean groups": Scatological pseudoscience at the service of the most regressive "New Europe" mafiosi-type national socialism. The Nazi party ideology is resurfacing its ugly head out of a till recently nascent Balkan snake pit, and for lack of blacks, the "sub-Saharan Ethiopian" Greeks, related through DNA to the Japanese, of all people, are being invented and they, along with the "mongoloid Bulgarians" and being targeted. All this is done in the name of the "oppressed" nation of the "Makedonskis" whose (fraudulent) "ancient identity" is being refused (horrors!) by Greeks and Bulgarians alike. This is how a known pseudomakedonist koprologist views his own contribution to the Big Lie and Macedonia's history falsification: "Dear Macedonians(sic), one way to defend ourselves from the Greek onslaught and gain back our identity and dignity is to fight back to the level to which the Greeks have reduced us; that is to attack their identity as they have attacked ours. We need prove nothing to them except to expose them as the artificial identity they truly are and to uncover their design to wipe us out in order to usurp our Macedonian heritage." Translation: all the pseudomakedonists need to do to legitimize their fraudulent theories in support of the fake identity that was chosen for them by Tito, in the 1940's, is to excremate untold amounts of pseudoscientific kopros and attack with it the identity of the Greeks, calling them anything from being related to Ethiopians and Japanese, to Albanians and Slavs, and (of course!) not at all related to their ancient Greek progenitors. In this way, the koprologist's theory goes, the Greeks will be overcome by the stench created by the kopros thrown at them that they will finally give up and allow the "Filip" & "Aleksandar" worshiping but Bulgarian speaking Slavic inhabitants of FYROM to usurp the Macedonian identity from the Greeks and to call themselves anything they want, even (pseudo) Slavomakedonski/славомакедонски! It is, I suppose, a good fascist method, which uncle Joe Goebbels refined and described long ago, before even the pseudomakedonists had been assigned their "Makedonski/Македонски" identity (way before 1944, in other words): "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

This fully explains why intellectuals like the Historian, political activist and exposer of the pseudomakedonist ideology of FYROM Vasko Gligorijevic (a valuable and serious contributor to the American Chronicle) was arrested by police late this January 2009 and thrown into a psychiatric prison. FYROM's Gruevski regime, true to its Goebelite State methods of protecting the BIG LIE, needed to "correct" Vasko Gligorijevic's pronouncements about the Slavic identity of his compatriots. It was making a mess out of the pseudomakedonist nationalist soup. And what a better place to send a dissenting intellectual but a mental institution, like the fascistostalinist-inspired Bardovci clinic, outside Skopje! Two months later, following a world wide mobilization of activists from Brussels and Athens to Washington DC, and facing a major international embarrassment due to this civil rights fiasco, that included questions in both the Greek parliament in Athens and the European parliament in Brussels, forced the VMRO regime to have Historian Vasko Gligorijevic quietly released. Trying to get invited to accession talks to join the European Union and locking up historians who denounce pseudomakedonism did not go too well...

MACEDONIAN EPIGRAPHY

I can not even imagine what an thunderous uproar would have been created had a non-Greek inscription ever to be found among the thousands upon thousands of Greek inscriptions that the Macedonian earth has given to the Archaeological spade till now. I am not referring to the Latin inscriptions of course, since several hundred of those are to be found, especially in areas that received Roman colonists, like Thessaloníki and Philippoi. The curious thing is that the multitude of Roman names that we see on the tombs in Macedonia and on the Roman coins issued in Macedonia are in their vast majority written in the Greek script and even their Roman names were promptly Hellenized.

As a point of fact, we bring to our attention a typical Roman era Roman administrative inscription from none other place than Philip's and Alexander's capital of Macedonia, the city of Pella:

Regions : Northern Greece (IG X) : Macedonia
Mel. Laourda 98 Previous Inscription Mel. Laourda 97 Mel. Laourda 104 Next Inscription
Makedonia (Bottiaia) — Pella — 44/45 AD — RA 20 (1869) 62, 1 — Dimitsas, He Makedonia 366 — cf. SEG 51.837 (on prov.)
ἔτους ϛοʹ σεβαστοῦ ∙ τοῦ καὶ βϟρʹ.
Αὐτοκράτορι Τιβερίῳ Κλαυδίῳ
Καίσαρι Σεβασστῷ {Σεβαστῷ} Γερμανικῷ
ἀρχιερῖ, δημαρχικῆς ἐξουσίας
τὸ τέτα̣ρτον, ὑπάτῳ ἀποδεδιγμέν̣ῳ {ἀποδεδειγμένῳ}²⁶
τὸ τέταρτον, αὐτοκράτορι τὸ ὄγδοον,
πατρὶ πατρίδος· ἡ πόλις· πολιταρ̣-
χούντων
Νεικηράτου τοῦ Θεοδᾶ,
Ἡρακλείδου τοῦ Δημητρίου,
vv ἐπιμελητοῦ Μενάνδρου τοῦ
Πεληγείνου.

It is a long inscription and we do not need to reproduce it all here. The inscription starts with a dedication in dotive form to: Autocratori Tiberioi Klaudioi Kaisari Sebastoi Germanikoi, archhieri, in Latin script transliteration, and it continues...

If when transliterated in the Latin script, it is still all Greek to you, then the point has been well taken: This is precisely what it is. It is written in the language the Macedonians understood. The Latin speaking Romans administering Macedonia at the time (44 – 45AD) were forced to write their inscriptions in Greek for the Macedonians to understand them, and even the Latin names Tiberius, Claudius, Caesar, Germanicus had to be be written not simply in the Greek script, but completely transformed grammatically to conform to the Greek language: to Claudius/ toi Kladioi, to Tiberius/ toi Tiberioi, to Caesar/ toi Kaisari, to Germanicus/ toi Germanikoi.

This of course happened throughout the Greek world, not only in Macedonia, BUT THIS DID NOT HAPPEN IN NON GREEK SPEAKING AREAS, where the Latin script and the Latin language was always used, from Iberia and the Gaul to Illyria and Dacia. Move from Pella to modern Skopje and the Greek inscriptions are already in the small minority and most of the inscriptions are in Latin. You have to move to the Christian era and Byzantium for the Greek inscriptions to become the norm in that area too. Why so? Because Skopje, which the psedomakedonists flout as the "capital of Macedonia" was never in Macedonia: it was a Dardanian city, a Thraco-Illyrian inhabited area, and never in its ancient histrory part of historic Macedonia.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ANCIENT MACEDONIANS AND OTHER ANCIENT GREEKS

The dialect of the Macedonians had one pronounced difference when compared with most other Greek dialects, which ancient authors never failed to mention. The Macedonians converted the indo-european voiced aspirates bh, dh, gh into voiced stops b( beta) d( delta) g (gamma) while in most other Greek dialects these became ph/φ (phi) th/θ (theta) ch/χ (chi). Thus, they pronounced the "Ph" sound as "B": Philippos as Bilippos, Pherenike as Berenike, etc. Although in written form the dialect seemed closer to standard Doric, the pronunciation was much harsher than Attic or Ionian. The other Greeks did not fail to notice this and they noted it down time and again as a difference between their pronunciation and the pronunciation of the Macedonians.

The Macedonians had a king, while kingship had fallen out of fashion in most Greek areas except Sparta where it was only ceremonial and military, and in Epirus, with some appearances also in Cicily. All other Greeks had adopted either direct Democracy or Oligarchic and Aristocratic types of Government. The Greek city states fought tooth and nail to preserve their city state independent existence and self government, way into the Roman era. The Macedonians on the other hand were Governed as a kingdom and their cities though left to govern the internal affairs as they saw fit, they also had a representative of the king putting the demos in order, and making sure the city follows the king's orders in matters of foreign policy.

The Macedonians had a collective tribal identity, something only the Cretans and the Thessalians among other Greeks seemed to have, and while Dorians and Ionians held their own internal religious festivals and other common identity boosting events, they still fought each other savagely, something the Macedonians did only after Alexander, when the Macedonian State was enlarged to include virtually all of Asia, most of the Balkans and Egypt, or before Philip II united the main Upper Macedonian principalities into the State of Pella and Aegai.

In order to better understand Macedonia, we have to read Homer. Once we understand the epic era of the Greeks, then we can start understanding the differences between the Macedonians and the OTHER Greeks. The Macedonians had been stuck in the age of Homer, while the Athenians had progressed into the age of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Greece had moved from its primitive epic age into the classical age of Athens, a civilization that shaped all other Greeks states, including also Macedonia. And while some Greeks like the Spartans hung on to their old traditions like fossilized dicta, the Macedonians through Archelaos, Philippos II and Alexandros III and later on through Ptolemaios I Soter of Egypt, they not only accepted Athenian culture and dialect but they helped propagate it to the known corners of the world.

The library of Alexandria is after all, a continuation in a sense, of the idea of Aristotle's private library, which his student Ptolemaios pushed to its ultimate development, and let us not forget that Alexander to become Alexander the Great he had The Macedonian Philippos as a father, the Epirotan/Molossian Olympias/Myrtale as a mother and Aristoteles of Stageira as a tutor. All the best attributes of Hellenic culture met in creating the wonder child that Alexander became: The Bacchic nature of his mother's spirituality giving him high spirits and limitless self confidence, his father's determination in action and unwavering rationalism, his tutor's scientific method and philosophical insights guiding his every careful and measured step and shaping his ever expanding world outlook, Alexander was the epitome of Hellenic achievement all combined in one person. While the average Macedonian Pezhetairos was probably as close minded and tribal as any Theban, Elian or Corinthian of his age, Alexander and the brilliant group of young Basilikoi Hetaeroi around him who helped him achieve his dreams, were as much product of the Hellenic world as Plato and Aristotle themselves, and they all helped in shaping it and pushing it to develop even further, from the classic into the Hellenistic age that the Macedonians created.

SPREADING THE ATTIC GREEK, CREATING THE HELLENISTIC LINGUA FRANCA

It was not the Athenians who spread the Attic dialect into the Bactrian lands of Afghanistan and into India and Egypt, it was the Macedonians who, recognizing the provincialism of their own dialect opted to adopt the refined Attic in all public aspects of their kingdom. The Romans, when they conquered western Europe, they left the legacy of their language, Latin, behind them for the French and the Spanish and the Portuguese or Romanians to speak. When the Arabs came out of the Arabic peninsula they converted the Christian Orthodox and Monophysites of the Middle East into Islam, and at the same time people who till then spoke Syriac, Egyptian and Greek now had to learn Arabic. When the British conquered new lands in north America, Africa and Australia, the language they left behind them was English. So did the Spanish and Portuguese with their respective languages in Latin America, and the French in Africa or their other dominions, including Canada. It was the same with the Russians who, starting originally from Kiev and later from Moscow, eventually brought the Russian language among the indigenous peoples of Siberia, till Vladivostok. What language, should we ponder here, did the Macedonians propagate? The Macedonian language obviously! They could not have been any different than any other imperialist power in the world! Latin was but a barbarian language too, in its infancy, and though all educated Romans spoke and wrote Greek, this was not the language that the Roman army propagated: It was Latin. The same holds true with everyone else. All empires propagate their own state language.

The language that the Macedonians propagated was the Hellenic language yet not their local oral dialect. It was the more refined Attic dialect which the Macedonian state had adopted since Archelaos, around 400 BC. After all, when a person moves from Chicago's west side into a courtroom, despite his use of dialectical "ghetto" English in his "hood", he or she still has to use the standard English, not far different from the queen's English if he or she has a chance to be understood in the courthouse in downtown Chicago, although Chicago was built way after the original thirteen colonies had broken off any attachment to their king and queen. So it was with the Macedonians and the Attic dialect. It simply had a more developed vocabulary, it was a written dialect of immense prestige in the Greek world, to which all Greeks, Doric, Aeolian or Ionian bowed to after the literary developments of the 5th and the first part of the 4th c BC.

There appear occasionally some skeptics among academics, who are still waiting to see more finds like the Pella Katadesmos before they pronounce this a closed and shut case. Still others try to find excuses in the Eumenes incident or in the Philotas and the Kleitos incidents to claim that Makedonisti means a language and not simply a dialect. They claim that "ανεβόα Μακεδονιστί/aneboa Makedonisti"/he screamed in Macedonian means that Alexander spoke in a different language. This is the same as arguing that the Spartans were not Greek because the Athenians (respecting the Spartan way of speaking in great depth using small sentences) had the expression "to Laconizein esti philosophein". Speaking Lakonisti, Lakonizein, simply meant speaking in the Laconian dialect or in the way of speech of the Dorian Spartans and when Alexander aneboa Makedonisti, we understand that he shouted the order to the guards in dialect and not in Attic Greek. There are also the expressions of speaking Boiotisti, like the Boiotians, Lesbizein, like the people from Lesbos, Dorizein, like the Dorians, and finally Attikizein, Attikisti, speaking like the Attics, the Athenians.

Returning to Alexander who aneboa Makedonisti, we need to remember that we do not speak the same way when we are in front of an audience, in church in the classroom or in a business meeting as we we do when we are in utter distress and we fight for our life or even when we cheer for our favorite sports team in the field. In these instances we revert to the dialect we spoke playing as children in the streets and not in the scholarly and cultivated language we employed to write our papers in the University.

Speaking of a cultivated language, Diodoros of Sicily/Διόδωρος Σικελός tells us that

before Alexander left Susa, one of the Royal capitals of the Persian empire, he left his royal captives, the family of king Dareius, there and he continued on, not without making certain that they would learn the language of the new regime he was establishing, so that the Persian aristocracy could communicate with the new masters the Macedonians:

67 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὴν μὲν Δαρείου μητέρα καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἀπέλιπεν ἐν Σούσοις καὶ παρακατέστησε τοὺς διδάξοντας τὴν ῾Ελληνικὴν διάλεκτον,
67 After this Alexander left Dareius's mother, his daughters, and his son in Susa, providing them with persons to teach them the Greek language,
Diodoros of Sicily/Διόδωρος Σικελός XVII 67.1

When some use the argument that Eumenes lost his life because he did not speak the Macedonian dialect is obviously intended for historically challenged imbeciles: Eumenes won the battle against the Macedonian Antigonos, but he lost his life because the losing side was able to steal his baggage train, containing the payments of thirty years of service of his soldiers, along with the soldiers' wifes, children and slave girls.

5 Ταύτῃ μὲν οὖν ὁ Ἀντίγονος ἡττᾶτο κατὰ κράτος, τοῖς δ' ἱππεῦσιν ἐπεκράτει, τοῦ (δὲ) Πευκέστου παντάπασιν ἐκλελυμένως καὶ ἀγεννῶς ἀγωνισαμένου, καὶ τὴν ἀποσκευὴν ἔλαβε πᾶσαν,
5 At this point, then, Antigonus was defeated overwhelmingly, but with his cavalry he got the upper hand; for Peucestas fought in a way that was altogether lax and ignoble, and Antigonus captured all the baggage.

17. Παυσαμένης δὲ τῆς μάχης εὐθὺς οἱ περὶ τὸν Τεύταμον ἐπρεσβεύοντο [2] περὶ τῆς ἀποσκευῆς. Ἀντιγόνου δὲ καὶ ταύτην ἀποδώσειν ὑπισχνουμένου τοῖς ἀργυράσπισι, καὶ τἆλλα χρήσεσθαι φιλανθρώπως, εἰ παραλάβοι τὸν Εὐμενῆ, βούλευμα δεινὸν οἱ ἀργυράσπιδες ἐβουλεύσαντο, ἐγχειρίσαι ζῶντα [3] τοῖς πολεμίοις τὸν ἄνδρα.
17 After the battle was over, Teutamus at once sent an embassy to treat for the baggage. And when Antigonus promised not only to give this back to the Silver-shields but also to treat them kindly in other ways, the Silver-shields formed a dire design to put the man alive into the hands of his enemies.

4] ἔπειτα προσπεσόντες ἐξήρπασαν τὸ ἐγχειρίδιον αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ ζώνῃ τὰς [5] χεῖρας ἀποστρέψαντες ἔδησαν. ἐπεὶ δ' ὑπ' Ἀντιγόνου Νικάνωρ ἐπέμφθη παραληψόμενος αὐτόν, ἐδεῖτο λόγου τυχεῖν ἀγόμενος διὰ τῶν Μακεδόνων, οὐκ εἰς δέησιν ἢ παραίτησιν, ἀλλ' ὡς περὶ τῶν ἐκείνοις συμφερόντων δια[6]λεξόμενος. γενομένης δὲ σιωπῆς, ἐν ὑψηλῷ τινι καταστὰς καὶ τὰς χεῖρας δεδεμένας προτείνας, "ποῖον" εἶπεν "ὦ κάκιστοι Μακεδόνων τρόπαιον Ἀντίγονος ἐθελήσας ἀνέστησε καθ' ὑμῶν, οἷον ὑμεῖς καθ' αὑτῶν [7] ἀνίστατε, τὸν στρατηγὸν αἰχμάλωτον ἐκδιδόντες; οὐκ ἄρα δεινὸν ἦν κρατοῦντας ὑμᾶς ἧτταν ἐξομολογεῖσθαι διὰ τὰς ἀποσκευάς, ὡς ἐν τοῖς χρήμασιν, οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις τοῦ κρατεῖν ὄντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἡγεμόνα πέμ[8]πετε λύτρον τῆς ἀποσκευῆς; ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ἀήττητος ἄγομαι, νικῶν τοὺς πολεμίους, ὑπὸ τῶν συμμάχων ἀπολλύμενος· ὑμεῖς δέ, πρὸς Διὸς στρα[9]τίου καὶ θεῶν ὁρκίων, ἐνταῦθά με δι' αὑτῶν κτείνατε. πάντως κἀκεῖ κτεινόμενος ὑμέτερον ἔργον εἰμί· μέμψεται δ' οὐδὲν Ἀντίγονος· νεκροῦ [10] γὰρ Εὐμενοῦς δεῖται καὶ οὐ ζῶντος. εἰ δὲ φείδεσθε τῶν χειρῶν, ἀρκέσει τῶν ἐμῶν ἡ ἑτέρα λυθεῖσα πρᾶξαι τὸ ἔργον. εἰ δ' οὐ πιστεύετέ μοι ξίφος, [11] ὑπορρίψατε τοῖς θηρίοις δεδεμένον. καὶ ταῦτα πράξαντας ὑμᾶς ἀφίημι τῆς ἐπ' ἐμοὶ δίκης, ὡς ἄνδρας ὁσιωτάτους καὶ δικαιοτάτους περὶ τὸν αὑτῶν στρατηγὸν γενομένους."

Then they fell upon him, snatched their sword away from him, and tied his hands fast with his girdle. And when Nicanor had been sent by Antigonus to receive him and he was being led along through the Macedonians, he begged for leave to speak to them, not with a view to supplication or entreaty, but in order to set forth what was for their advantage.

3 Silence was made, and standing on an eminence he stretched forth his hands, bound as they were, and said: "What trophy, O ye basest of Macedonians, could Antigonus have so much desired to set up over your defeat, as this which ye yourselves are now erecting by delivering up your general as a prisoner? It is not a dreadful thing, then, that in the hour of your victory ye should acknowledge yourselves defeated for the sake of your baggage, implying that victory lies in your possessions and not in your arms, but ye must also send your leader as a ransom for that baggage. 4 As for me, then, ye lead me away undefeated, a victor over my enemies, a victim of my fellow-soldiers; but as for you, by Zeus the god of armies and by the gods who hallow oaths, I bid you slay me here with your own hands. Even should I be slain yonder, it will be wholly your work. Nor will Antigonus find any fault; for he wants a dead and not a living Eumenes. And if ye would spare your own hands, one of mine, if released, will suffice to do the business. 5 And if ye cannot trust me with a sword, cast me under the feet of your elephants, all bound as I am. If ye do this, I will absolve you from your guilt towards me, holding that ye have shown yourselves most just and righteous in your dealings with your own general."

18. Ταῦτα τοῦ Εὐμενοῦς λέγοντος, τὸ μὲν ἄλλο πλῆθος ἄχθει κατείχετο καὶ κλαυθμὸς ἦν, οἱ δ' ἀργυράσπιδες ἄγειν ἐβόων καὶ μὴ φλυαροῦντι προσέχειν·
18 As Eumenes said this, the rest of the throng was overwhelmed with sorrow, and some wept, but the Silver-shields shouted to lead him along and pay no attention to his babbling;

Claiming that Eumenes lost his life because he did not speak the "Macedonian language" is beyond ludicrous and a gross misrepresentation of historic events, as anyone can realize reading the texts. In what language did Eumenes speak, and how was he able to move the veterans of Philip and Alexander to tears through his speech? Obviously the reason for his treason lay elsewhere and not in any imaginary linguistic missunderstanding. The argyraspids betrayed Eumenes to Antigonos, because they would not accept that:

ἀλλ' εἰ τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Φιλίππου στρατιωτῶν οἱ κράτιστοι τοσαῦτα καμόντες ἐν γήρᾳ στέρονται τῶν ἐπάθλων καὶ τροφὴν παρ' ἑτέρων λαμβάνουσιν, αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες αὐτῶν ἤδη τρίτην νύκτα τοῖς πολεμίοις συγκαθεύδουσιν·
the best of the soldiers of Philip and Alexander, after all their toils, should in their old age be robbed of their rewards and get their support from others, and that their wives should be spending the third night now in the arms of their enemies.
Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Eumenes of Cardia. Πλουτάρχου Βίοι Παράλληλοι, Εὐμενῆς Καρδιανὸς

If anything, Eumenes had a similar fate to what befell his patron the regent Perdiccas, who was also betrayed by his own Macedonians in Egypt, having had senselessly lost many of his best soldiers in the botched crossing of the Nile.

Alexander had put these issues to rest much earlier by giving the answer himself, when he ordered his fresh Persian recruits to learn the language in which the commands were given in the Macedonian army. He gave orders that they should train in the Macedonian way of fighting and in the Greek language, and this to him was enough: Trained to fight and able to understand the commands, in Greek. An army that cannot understand the commands cannot follow the commands, and we know that the Macedonian army's command language was Greek:

Οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὴν δίαιταν ἔτι μᾶλλον ὡμοίου τε τοῖς ἐπιχωρίοις ἑαυτόν, ἐκείνους τε προσῆγε τοῖς Μακεδονικοῖς ἔθεσιν, ἀνακράσει καὶ κοινωνίᾳ μᾶλλον δι´ εὐνοίας καταστήσεσθαι τὰ πράγματα νομίζων ἢ βίᾳ, μακρὰν ἀπαίροντος αὐτοῦ. διὸ καὶ τρισμυρίους παῖδας ἐπιλεξάμενος ἐκέλευσε γράμματά τε μανθάνειν Ἑλληνικὰ καὶ Μακεδονικοῖς ὅπλοις ἐντρέφεσθαι, πολλοὺς ἐπιστάτας καταστήσας, καὶ τὰ περὶ Ῥωξάνην ἔρωτι μὲν ἐπράχθη, καλὴν καὶ ὡραίαν ἔν τινι χορῷ παρὰ πότον ὀφθεῖσαν, ἔδοξε δ´ οὐκ ἀνάρμοστα τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις εἶναι πράγμασιν. ἐθάῤῥησαν γὰρ οἱ βάρβαροι τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τοῦ γάμου, καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ὑπερηγάπησαν, ὅτι σωφρονέστατος περὶ ταῦτα γεγονὼς οὐδ´ ἧς μόνης ἡττήθη γυναικὸς ἄνευ νόμου θιγεῖν ὑπέμεινεν.

Πλούταρχος, Βίοι Παράλληλοι: Αλέξανδρος, 47.5-6

5 Under these circumstances, too, he adapted his own mode of life still more to the customs of the country, and tried to bring these into closer agreement with Macedonian customs, thinking that by a mixture and community of practice which produced good will, rather than by force, his authority would be kept secure while he was far away. 6 For this reason, too, he chose out thirty thousand boys and gave orders that they should learn the Greek language and be trained to use Macedonian weapons, appointing many instructors for this work.
Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Alexander, 47.5-6

If the pezhetaeroi / the foot soldiers of the Macedonian phalanx, who represented the lower socioeconomic strata of the Macedonian society, sons of peasants and herders, were able to understand Attic Greek, the language of the Army, then Macedonian could not have been an alien to Attic language, but a language closely related to it, a Hellenic dialect. We know that the Macedonian army was using Greek as its command language, and this why Alexander had the Persian recruits learn Greek. The other Greeks as we know were but a fraction of Alexander's army, and many had been replaced by fresh reinforcements some of them local Persian or even Indian, so, there was no need for the army to accommodate them as they did not need to accommodate to the local recruits, who probably outnumbered southern Greeks by the time the army was in India anyway. The operative language of the army was indeed Greek and the epigraphic record throughout Asia, Egypt and in Macedonia itself is catalytic on this issue and it fully corroborates the literary record.

Alexander as we know was following in many respects the footsteps of his father and on the organization that Philip II had built before him. Special care had always been given to the organization of the army. The Macedonian army, a fully professional army but still at its heart basically a conscript army, where you could join at will, but a minimum amount of citizens had to join, like in the Roman army. This was especially important in times of war, or anticipation of war. For this reason, and to minimally disrupt the agrarian economy of Macedonia, the conscription was well regulated, to the minutest detail. In times of urgent peril the Macedonian state had to be able to call its citizenry to the arms and to be able to arm them in a short notice.

THE CASSANDREIA INSCRIPTION IN THESSALONIKI

In the Arcaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, we find exhibited a marble stele that was found in ancient Potidaia/Cassandreia, dated 197 BC. Cassandreia was a city of the kingdom of Macedonia and the Macedonia king at the time was Philippos V / Φίλιππος Ε' (221-179 BC).

The marble stele of Cassandreia (Inscriptions : Northern Greece (IG X) : Macedonia SEG 49:722), is a historical document of tremendous importance, giving us a wealth of information on the organization of the Macedonian army and state. It constitutes a general order of civilian conscription, a regulation on the details of recruitment of civilians into the Macedonian Army. It provides the modern researcher of the Macedonian state and its army with a wealth of information not found elsewhere.

From other fragments of copies of the same inscription which were found in Berrhoia, Amphipolis and other places we know that this stele was not unique: it was one of a series of identical inscriptions that were carved in marble to be displayed in every town of the extensive Macedonian kingdom.

The stones do not lie, as the expression goes in Greece, and what the expression conveys is that no matter how much the pseudomakedonists labor over twisting, mistranslating and copy and paste ancient texts out of context to prove a barbarian identity for the Macedonians, the inscriptions on the tombs and the statues of the Macedonians and the public religious or secular pronouncements of the Macedonian people, inscribed on thousands upon thousands of marble stelae scattered throughout Macedonia and in every place the Macedonians conquered and administered from Thessaloniki to Philippoupolis and from Taxila in India to Alexandria in Egypt or Antioch in Syria and Jerusalem in Palestine, the epigraphic documentation is always and only in one language: Greek, the language of the Macedonians. When a second language appears it is always the local language: Demotic or Hieroglyphic Egyptian, Hindu script or Aramaic (the lingua franca of the Persian empire before Alexander) in the Indo-Greek kingdoms of India and Bactria, and Aramaic in Palestine or Persia, etc.

What was the second language, written in the inscriptions found in Macedonia? Was it in proto-Slavic "Makedonski", as some pseudomakedonists proclaim in ultra nationalistic delirium in their state controlled press? The truth is hard for the history falsifiers: There is no other language, to be found as historically attested in Macedonia, and this confirms that the Macedonians understood perfectly well what was written in these stones, in Greek. If the Macedonians were so kind as to make translations of their decrees for the benefit of their occupied nations why were they so brutal to their own people, if we were for a moment to assume that a Macedonian language independent linguistically from Greek was spoken by them? This alone should be enough to end all arguments about a supposed existence of a separate Macedonian language.

An American living in Los Angeles, may have a hard time understanding a Scotsman or a Welshman when he hears hear them speaking in their native Scottish or Welsh dialects, due to the difficulties in understanding their native accent and dialectical words to which he is not accustomed or exposed. Once they all write something down though, in standard written English, they can all communicate perfectly. The difference between two dialects or accents within a language, is qualitatively on another lever when compared to the difference between two languages, even if the accent is the same (two east Indians speaking one in Hindi and the other in English, will not be able to communicate if one of them does not know English, though their accent is the same).

Let us move on then to the Cassandria inscription:

Regions : Northern Greece (IG X) : Macedonia
SEG 49:722
Regulation concerning military service. Left part of a marble stele.
Makedonia (Chalkidike) — Poteidaia-Kassandreia — late 3rd/early 2nd c. BC — Anc. Macedonia 6 (1999) 807-822 — Meletemata 30 (2001) 157, 2II

Herebelow are the first few lines of it:

τὸ κηρύκειον, τῶι δὲ ἐπιστάτει καὶ τῶι ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας ἐμφα[νιζέτωσαν ․․․․․․․c.18․․․․․․․]
ἄλλους ἀντικαθιστάναι δοκίμους ἵππους· ἐὰν δέ v τινας̣ [․․․․․c.15․․․․․․ ἀποτινέτωσαν εἰς μὲν τὸ βασι]-
λικὸν κ̣αθ̣´ ἕκαστον ἵππον δραχμὰς χιλίας, τῶι δὲ μ[ντι
․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․c.36․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․]-
χθέ̣ν̣τ̣ο̣ς̣ κ̣ρ̣ιτηρίου δοθήσεται τοῦ πραχθέντος τὸ v τρίτον̣ [․․․․․․․․․․․c.27․․․․․․․․․․․․ ἐὰν δέ τις τῶν]
σαντι τούτων τι καὶ ἐλέγξαντι διδόσθω τοῦ ἐπιίμ[ου τὸ ἥμισυ(?) ․․․․․․․․․․․․․․c.32․․․․․․․․․․․․․․]
καὶ τὴν ναυτικὴν ἐξ ὧν εἴθισται τόπων λαμβαν[ωσαν δὲ ἐκ τῶν κατακεχωρισμένων ἐν τοῖς πολιτεύμασι]
καθ´ ἑκάστην πυρόκαυσιν τοὺς δοκοῦντας ἐπ[ιτηδείους εἶναι μένειν ἐν τῶι ὑπαίθρωι ἀπὸ πεντε]-
καιδεκαετοῦς ἕως πεντηκονθέτους, ἐὰν μὴ v [․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․c.46․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․․]
ὦσι καὶ ἐπιτήδειοι μένειν ἐν τῶι ὑπαίθρωι ὑπ⁸⁰[αρχέτωσαν βοηθοὶ ․․․․․․c.17․․․․․․․ καταγραφέ]-
etc

Why did I choose this inscription among thousands of others? I think that the reason is obvious. This is a public document of the Macedonian state, on order by their king, an order to call the Macedonian citizenry to arms. It is full of military words and description of military equipment, horses, ships, homesteads, who and how they are to be available to their king and state, which families are exempt and for what reasons, ho old can the youngest person be to enlist and how old and what exceptions to the rules must be considered, etc etc.

This document was intended to be read by the local Macedonian population, the Macedonian citizens, not people in some land in the mountains of Bactria in Afghanistan or Mesopotamia in Iraq. This is not a letter intended to be used in international diplomacy and to be sent to other kings or independent city states that only understood Greek, the international lingua Franca of the age. I mention this since it is the argument of last resort by pseudomakedonists of all shades and colors, who hide behind the "Attic Greek being the lingua franca" of antiquity arguments to justify all the Hellenic inscriptions in the lands of the Macedonian empire (slithering away from the obvious historic fact that IT WAS PRECISELY THESE Macedonians following Alexander the Great in the depths of Asia that elevated Attic into the "lingua franca" of antiquity, not the Athenians themselves!).

Using Greek to correspond in letters of diplomacy does not make a state Greek. This is a clear and obvious. But how many of these letters have survived to our day? Nobody is using this as an argument for the Hellenic nature of the Macedonians. Others claim that the fact that Macedonian coins were inscribed in Greek does not in itself make the Macedonians Greek either, and this is true too, though it indicates that Greek is the language everyone reads and understands in the area. The issue becomes more serious when religious and funerary inscriptions are brought into the foreground. All the religious and funerary inscriptions in Macedonia are written in Greek. There are thousands and thousands of them, and they cannot be ignored because of their huge numbers, the Greek language in which they are written and the Greek names inscribed on them. In the cemetery you are not communicating with foreigners, therefore writing in the lingua Franca is not at all important. It is the beloved ones of the deceased that will be reading the tombstone inscription. Funerary inscriptions are not written in a foreign language, they are always written in a language that people in the area speak and understand. If the Macedonians had a different language and not Greek, this would have been attested. There are scattered inscriptions (few but there are) in the Thracian and the Illyrian languages, and these are conquered people not conquerors, yet none among the thousands of inscriptions found in Macedonia is in any elusive and imaginary language of the Macedonians, not even the demotic Egyptian of Aristotel Tendov and Tome Boshevski: only in Attic Greek, then the Alexandrian Coene Greek and an occasionall scattered text like the Pella katadesmos in the Northwest Greek dialect which they spoke.

The Cassandreia inscription, whose photograph, taken by the author, is shown at the very beginning of this article, is a much more serious case than either funerary or religious documents: here is a publicly displayed inscribed royal document by the king of Macedonia, Philip V, ordering his Macedonian citizens to prepare for war and to follow directions on how to join the Macedonian army. The Roman threat was near, other Greek states had either capitulated or allied themselves with the Romans and the danger to the Macedonian kingdom was existential, and deadly serious. King Philippos V / Φιλιππος Ε' needed his army to be assembled on a short notice when he would need it. In the Cassandreia decree Philippos V explained to his subjects through a precise document who and how and where to show up to be conscribed to the Macedonian army, what they should bring along and how they would be compensated for their time etc, everything to the smallest bureaucratically detail. This is not simply a personal funerary inscription in memoriam of a deceased person, written in the "lingua franca" of the era. The very existence of the state depended on the citizens of Macedonia following what was asked of them in this decree.

The King of Macedonia had to make sure that his royal subjects clearly understood his orders and that the ones who read it would have no doubt as to what was being asked of them in these urgent times. The Roman Legions were preparing themselves, Carthage had been defeated in the second Punic war, Hannibal, Rome's nightmare with whom Philippos V had signed an alliance was now a harmless Carthaginian statesman, the Aetolians were idiotically inviting the Romans into Greece and the urgency was felt to the bone in Macedonia. Philippos V was preparing his army for an all out war of survival. Part of this preparation was a series of marble stelae he ordered placed throughout Macedonia: The question for the historian of the future, who would have doubts as which was the language spoken by the Macedonians, is simple: in what language should Philippos V have his orders inscribed, so that his orders would be perfectly understood by all his citizens, so he would be understood?

10,000 YEAR OLD SLAVIC PETROGRAPHY IN LOWER BALKANS

The argument of the language and the inscriptions is so catalytic to the identification of Macedonians a a Greek tribe, that paid apologists of the pseudomacadonist ideology have gone as far as to attract the ridicule of the academic community world wide with pseudohistoric and pseudolinguistic pronouncements and theories of supposedly Proto-Slavic inscriptions written on rocks in the southern Balkans, seven thousand years BC:

"According to Ilyov´s palaeographic and paleolinguistic research, the signs on the

rocks are actual letters of an old pre Slavic phonetic alphabet that belongs to the Macedonian language of Aegean Macedonia. In other words, the language of the Pelazgian and other Macedonian tribes, like the Payonian(sic), Piertian(sic), Brygian or Phrygian, Venets(sic) or Enets(sic), etc., is in fact the language of the ancient Macedonians which dates back to prehistoric times.

Symbols found on Prevedic solar and cosmographic artifacts that belong to the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Eneolithic cultures, place the inscriptions somewhere between 7,000 to 3,000 B.C. (Page 37, October 15, 1999, number 560, Makedonija magazine)."

http://ancient-macedonia.jimdo.com/a-linguistic-analysis/
http://www.unet.com.mk/ancient-macedonians-part2/nezapirliva1-e.htm

Who is the famous archaeologist and paleolinguist Vasil Iliov? He is a successful restaurateur in Skopje, with no formal training whatsoever in anything he professes. But his pseudo-scientific pronouncements are being accepted as divine dogma in FYROM, cheered on by the "makedonist" local media with the backing of the whole state apparatus in FYROM. Anything that will help support the official national pseudomakedonist mythology is unconditionally accepted and summarily promoted regardless of its containing any grain of truth. This leaves many a serious scientist in that country scratching their head in amazement and running for cover from embarrassment. If they raise their voice in protest, they are either ignored, ridiculed in the media, or worse, denounced and shouted down in a chorus of epithets that start with "treason" and end with "traitor" to Makedonija": http://vardaraxios.wordpress.com/category/pseudomacedonism/

NAMING MACEDONIANS

The language of the Macedonians is also reflected on their names. We talked earlier about the Romans though in most respects accepted to be Hellenized in culture, they nevertheless kept, developed and propagated their own language, making it the "lingua Franca" of western Europe and west North Africa, even into the northern Balkans, Dacia and Illyria, but never in Macedonia, the rest of Greece or the other Hellenistic lands which the Macedonians had Hellenized previously. Another thing the Romans, naturally, kept was their own Latin names.

Let us then look at some of the names of the Macedonians. The onomastics of the Ancient Macedonians runs in the thousands of names. Simply printing in a line the names of the most famous Macedonians found through a quick search on the internet will fill several pages. An interested party can easily reference them in the internet, in web pages like this:

a. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Macedonians
b. http://historyofmacedonia.wordpress.com/2006/12/26/etymology-of-the-100-most-famous-ancient-macedonian-names/

Many Macedonian names can also be sourced in the following books by Waldemar Heckel:

"Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire" by Waldemar Heckel, "The Marshals of Alexander's empire" by Waldemar Heckel.

Personal names, the original names in the language spoken by an ancient people, the Macedonians, in this case, cannot be dismissed as unimportant, for they lie at the crux of the linguistic identity of people under study. All the macedonian names wholesale adopted. The Romans may have adopted Alexandrus, or Philippus from the Greek, for example, but their own Latin names is what counts, names like Julius, Luculus, Cicero, Augustus or even nicknames like Caligula. These are names derived from and explainable from Latin.

When we look at the names of the Macedonians, what language do we see forming 95% of their onomasticon? They are all Greek names. Phonetically, linguistically, etymologically they are all fully explainable and historically attested Greek names, some of which are unique only to Macedonia.

It has been explained (Vasko Gligorijevic) that sounds like Δ=th as in THis, (but written as "d" in Latin transliterations), as pronounced in ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ/Demetrios, and Θ=th as in ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ/Thessaloniki, do not even exist in any of the Slavic languages. The sound of the letter Ξ=ks as in the name ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ/Alexandros is so rare in Slavic that no letter exists to represent it, opting to use its component letters KS instead. Alexandros is written as Александар/AleKSandar in the Serbo-bulgarian Slavic dialect of FYROM which according to the pseudomakedonists is the continuation of the elusive language of the ancient Macedonians. It seems strange that the Macedonians would chose such unusual phonetics to name some of their beloved ones (both Alexander and Thessaloniki were children of Philip II).

The Universtity of Thessaloniki in Greece is working in a joint program with the University of Oxford in England to create a database of Macedonian prosopography. This means creating the family tree of all the Macedonians of antiquity, as attested in the epigraphic and literary record as far as the record allows. It is of course a monumental labor that is still in progress (considering the amount of the areas still undisturbed by the archaeologist's spade, it probably never will. It will remain an open project to be continued ad infinitum, as long as the land of Macedonia keeps of revealing new inscriptions with even more names of Macedonians of tears past.

We all have heard the names of the kings of Macedon, like Caranos, Archelaos, Argeios, Alcetas, Amyntas etc. We also know the names of the Macedonian kings of all the Hellenistic kingdoms the Antigoneides of Macedonia, the Ptolemies of Egypt, Lycimachean Thrace, the Seleucids of Asia, and the Antiochides of Syria. Then there are the names of all the famous Macedonians who served in Alexander's army, like Hephaestion, Crateros, Peukestas, etc. there are also scientists and writers like Marsyas of Pella, and the names of the Macedonian women we know like Cleopatra, Berenice, . The web page above has more than enough of them, and someone should consult that list and study the names.

I will simply bring here the list of the Macedonian athletes who won first prices in the Olympic games, the Panhellenic athletic, cultural and religious festival where only people with confirmed Hellenic ancestry could participate:

The following is a list of recorded Macedonian victors at the Olympics:

Olympic Year (BC)/Name in Greek/Transliterated Name/Event Won

504ΑλἐξανδροςΑ'/AlexandrosI/Stadion

408ΑρχέλαοςΑ'/ArchelaosI/Tethrippon

356ΦίλιπποςΒ'/PhilipposII/Kelis

352ΦίλιπποςΒ'/PhilipposII/Synoris

348ΦίλιπποςΒ'/PhilipposII/Tethrippon

328Κλίτων/Kliton/Stadion

320Δαμασίας/Damasias/Stadion

304/Λἀμπος/Lampos/Tethrippon

292/Αντίγονος/Antigonos/Stadion

288/Αντίγονος/Antigonos/Stadion

268/Σέλευκος/Seleucos/Stadion

268/Βελιστίχη/Belistiche/Tethrippon

264/Βελιστίχη Belistiche/Synoris

Other Macedonian victors on record are Ptolemaios Ι/ Πτολεμαίος Α', Ptolemaios II/ Πτολεμαίος Β' , Arsinoe/Αρσινόη, Berenike I/ Βερενίκη Α', Berenike II/ Βερενίκη Β', Etearchοs/ Ἐτέαρχος, Molycοs/ Μόλυκος, Plangon/ Πλαγγών, Trygaios Τρυγαῖος. The lιsit is not complete. Ιt simply contains the names that are known till now.

During the 1979's excavation by Manolis Andronikos in the ancient capital of Aegai, an early 5th century BC athletic prize tripod with an congratulatory inscription showing that the recipient had received it for his victory at the Heraia / Hραία of Argos.

ΠΑΡ ΗΡΕΑΣ ΑΡΓΕΙΑΙΣ ΕΜΙ ΤΟΝ ΑΕΘΛΟΝ, translated as:
From The Argive Hera's I am the victory price

It was found in a royal tomb, which proved the literary information we had that the Macedonians had also competed in the Heraean games of Argos, in the Peloponnese:

Perdiccas III in 365 BC served as Theorodokos/ Θεοροδὀκος at the Epidauria games of the sanctuary of Aclepios at Epidaurus in the Peloponnese.

Here is the epigraphic evidence, in the form of an inscription found at the Asclepeion at Epidauros, where the list of cities has been recorded and the men who were elected to be Therodokoi:

Regions : Peloponnesos (IG IV-[VI]) : Epidauria (IG IV²,1)
IG IV²,1 94
Epidauria — Epidauros — ca. 365-311 BC
θεαροδό[κοι]· Thearodokoi
Μέγαρα· [— —] / Megara...
Ἀθᾶναι· ΔιοΙ̣[— —] / Athens Dio...,
Θῆβαι· Χαρικ[λῆς] / Thebes Charicles,
Θεσπιαί· Δα[— —] / Thespiae Da,
Κορ]ώνεια· Πυθ̣[— —] / Koroneia Pyth...
Ὀρχο]μενός· [— —] / Prchomenos...
Λεβάδ]ε̣ι[α· — —] / Lebadeia...
Ὀξύνιο̣[ν· — —] / Oxynion
Φαρκαδ[ών· — —] Pharkadon ......
Ἄδρακας· Εὐκρά̣[της] / Adrakas Eukrates
Γύρτων· Ἀρκεσίλ[ας] / Gyrton Arkesilaos
Λάρισα· Ἀριστίων / Larisa Aristion
Ὁμόλιον· Δωριεύς / Omolion Dorieus
Πύδνα· Δαμάτριος / Pydna Damatrios
Μεθώνα· Πολύφαντος / Methona Polyphantos
Μακεδονία· Περδίκκας / Macedonia· Perdikkas
Αἴνεια· Εὔβουλος / Aineia Euboulos
Δίκαια· Νυνφόδωρος / Dikaia Nynphodoros
Ποτείδαια· Καλλικράτης / Potidaia Kallikrates
Καλίνδοια· Παυσανίας / Kalindeia Pausanias
Ὄλυνθος· Ἄρχων / Olynthos Archon
Ἀπολλωνία· Ἐπίξενος / Apollonia Epixenos
Ἀρέθουσα· Βόλων / Arethousa Bylon
Ἄρκιλος· Ὀνήσανδρος / Arkilos Onesandros
Ἀμφίπολις· Ἱάραξ / Amphipolis Ierax
Βέργα· Ἀντιφάνης / Berga Antiphanes
Τράγιλα· Πεισίης / Tragila Peisies
Στάγιρα·... / Stageira...
Ἄκανθος· Ἐπικράτης / Acanthos Epicrates
Στῶλος· Λεύκων / Stolos Leukos
Ἄφυτις· Διόγνητος / Aphytos Diognetos
Σκιώνα· Σώπολις / Skiona Sopolis
Μένδα· Κνώπων / Menda Knopon
Νεάπολις· Πυθόδωρος / Neapolis Pythodoros
Ἄβδηρα· Εὐρύλοχος / Abdera Eurylohos
Μαρώνεια· Ἀνάψυξις / Maroneia Anapsyxis
Αἶνος· Θεμισταγόρας / Aenos Themistagoras
Θάσος· Ἀρτυσίλας / Thasos Artysilas
Δάτος· Τίμανδρος / Datos Timandros

This is a only partial list and it includes 39 names of independent Greek states along with the name of their representative who is the Thearodokos for the Epidauria Games for the time frame they were appointed. There is no Thracian, Egyptian, Illyrian or Skythian names of persons or cities being represented here. No foreign states were allowed to send their best men to participate in the Panhellenic religious athletic contests: these are all Greek states, mutually recognizing each others Hellenic identity, states like Athens, Thebes, Abdera, Apollonia, Leapolis, and of course Macedonia is one of them, represented by Perdiccas.

Starting with Alexander I, at the beginning of the 5th c BC, participation of Macedonian athletes in Panhellenic Games and festivals like the Olympian, the Pythian, the Nemean, the Heraian, the Isthmian etc, became commonplace. Macedonian kings had also been guarantors of the Pythian games and they held a seat in them, so it is almost certain that Macedonian athletes competed there too.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MACEDONIAN CALENDAR

While the Macedonians had accepted the Attic dialect, there are many other aspects of their society and organization as a tribal group and as a state, that remained wholly unchanged. We have the Calender, for example, which is fully exclusive to them. The Macedonian calendar took an importance far beyond Macedonia, since it became the standard calendar to be used throughout Asia in the areas conquered by Alexander. All the Macedonian months have Greek names and though some sound difficult to comprehand at first sight, they still remain Greek, and several of them attested in many other Greek calendars, far away from Macedonia, BEFORE Macedonia became a superpower. This betrays that the Macedonian calendar was original and it was distantly related to the Cretan the Rhodian and other Greek calendars, proving their common beginnings lost in the distant past in very archaic times. If the Macedonians had imported it from other Greeks, they would have simply adopted a fully operational calendar, the way they did with the state language. The importance of the calendar in an ancient and traditional society as the Greeks, was of great religious, economic and social importance, since all religious and state festivals, were being regulated by it, and all economic activities including herding and agricultural events were being determined by it. This is why calendars remained in use late into the roman times, when they were summarily replaced by the new Roman calendar of Julius Cesar, which, with some alterations is still in use today. Here are the months of the Macedonian calendar:

Δίος / Dios, of Zeus (the genitive of Zeus is Dios)

Απελλαίος/Apellaios, (of Apollon), also a Dorian month, and Apellaiōn was a month of the calendar of the island of Tinos in the Cyclades.

Αυδυναίος/Audunaios or Αυδναίος/Audnaios. The Macedonians shared this name with the Dorian Cretans.

Περίτιος/Peritios, hence the festival of the month; Peritia/Περίτεια. Peritio/περιτίω means to honor very highly, according to Liddel and Scott.

Δύστρος/Dystros. Alsmost certanly from dys-/δυσ- and τρώω, τρώσις, words identified with wounding, injury to trees, miscarriage to animals, etc. It is the month of February.

Ξανδικός/Xandikos or Ξανθικός/Xanthikos, with festival of the month; Xanthika/Ξανθικά, purifying the army, as per Hesychios. Ξανθός/Xanthos means bright yellow, reddish yellow or blond in Greek.

Ξανδικός Εμβόλιμος/Xandikos Embolimos(=inserted), a month which was intercalated 6 times over a 19-year cycle)

Αρτεμίσιος/Artemisios or Αρταμίτιος/Artamitios, (of Artemis) a name shared also with the (Dorian) Spartans, Rhodians and Epidaurians, while Artemisiōn was an Ionic month.

Δαίσιος/Daisios.

Πάνημος/Panēmos or Πάναμος/Panamos, the month of June, which means all day long, the month of the long days, a month also in the calendar of the Dorian Corinthians and Epidaurians in the Peloponnese, the Miletians in Asia Minor, and the Ionian island of Samos.

Λώιος/Lōios. Ομολώιος, Homolōios, was the name of a month in the Aetolian, Beotian and Thessalian calendars. The name means the desirable, the good one, in Homeric Greek)

Γορπιαίος/ Gorpiaios.

Υπερβερεταίος/Hyperberetaios. Hyperberetos was the name of a Cretan month. The month of September, from hyper/υπέρ and phero/bero/φέρω to bring, to carry, since September is the month when most fruits in Macedonia, including figs and grapes become ripe for picking).

IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE IN THE MACEDONIAN ERA – HELLENISTIC AGE

The post Alexander years till Rome are called Hellenistic because of the Hellenic language the Macedonians spread and the Hellenic culture they helped establish in the lands they conquered and administered. How did this happen? The language of the Macedonian court, since the fifth century BC, as we know was Attic Greek. The Macedonian / Northwest Greek dialect never reached the level of sophistication and complexity that the fast rise of the Macedonian kingdom experienced and instead of reinventing the wheel, the Macedonians simply adopted Attic.

There are the skeptics who can see that the Macedonians were clearly speaking and using Coene Greek after the 4th century, and surely by the time of the arrival of the Romans of the Hellenic identity of the Macedonians (and also that of the Aetolians and the Epeirotes) was now not in question, but they assume that the Macedonians adopted the Greek language wholesale, starting from a completely different language. This argument is simply too shallow to be accepted. The Macedonians cannot be compare to the many conquered nations that they Hellenized. The Macedonians, like the Romans later were the conquerors,a nd they are the ones forcing their language down on their subjects, they were never conquered by the Athenians, and therefore, claiming their Hellenization simply by decree of the king is ludicrous. The modern Cypriots, though they still retain their particular Cypriot accent, speak the standard Greek of Athens, and Thessaloniki, though they were never part of the modern Greek state. The change, from one dialect of Greek to another was not as drastic as learning to speak a different language, and it was achieved easily through the educational curriculum. The British had never made the Cyptiots speak English, through they had Cyprus for a much longer time that Cyprus is independent. The change from one dialect to another can be flawless, and is achievable within a generation, while the change from one language to another if achieved takes generations.

MYTH AS POISON

Everyone needs myths, and everyone needs to be proud of their roots. But there is a demarcation point where acceptable becomes unacceptable, and that is when your pride becomes part and parcel of my humiliation and that can create problems. We have no problem with the German nation being proud in their ancient Teutonic virtues, but when these virtues are hijacked by the Nazi party ideologues and are compared to the baseness of the subhuman races of the Slavs and Jews and other undesirables, then we have to know that a break needs to be applied. Hitler was doing everything in defense of the oppressed German minority of Sudetenland, so he invaded Czechoslovakia to save it from the claws of the Czechs. Then he invaded Poland to rescue the Germans of the Danzig strip from the oppression of the subhuman Poles, who needed to be taught a lesson. This is the kind of ideology that is finding fertile soil among Albanian and south-Slavic Nationalist Socialists who are masquerading as democratic and victimized protectors of human rights, waving the American flag, seeking the only superpower's protection against their real and imaginary ethno-racial enemies. The break up of Yugoslavia and the Bosnia/Herzegovina and Kossovo experiments of NATO being used as creator of semi-colonial protectorates where the previously "oppressed" now get their chance to destroy the newly weak, has fueled the dreams of many a Balkan mafia mega pimp and drug dealer turned politician in that region of the world.

Some are already in power, or influential in the corridors of power in their own fiefdoms. They have the resources of the regime at their disposal, and the propaganda they create to promote their national socialist agenda, hiding behind the slogans of pseudomakedonism are as ludicrous in concept and historical detail, as they are frightening in their overt Nazi symbolism. A recent propaganda video shown in "Makedonskata" government supported television MRTV, in Skopje, FYROM, shows the true colors of the pseudomakedonist ideology, exposing its Nazi mythology:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ITEdiSBl3Y&feature=channel_page

So, then, rephrasing the question of what are the differences between the ancient Macedonians and ancient Greeks, I would say that the real question should be:

Is there ANY similarity between the modern, Serb, Albanian, Turkish and Bulgarian speaking citizens of FYROM on one hand and the ancient Macedonians whom the pseudomakedonist regime in Skopje claims as their ancestors?

Is there ANY professor ("professors" on State Universities of FYROM in the payroll of their state excluded) and this includes the pseudomakedonists' favorites, Eugene Borza and Ernest Badian, who would gamble their Academic reputation by claiming that there is indeed such a linguistic or other connection? Nations are not automata, they are living organisms that develop and grow, or shrink and die. The ancient Greek tribes who made up the totality of the Greek nation in antiquity shared many common features, like language, religion and common descent, while they were being distinguished from each other by many others, like political and other cultural considerations. The Macedonians were an integral part of the ancient Greek cosmos with their uniqueness and their strong personality, sharing with the other Greeks language and religion, being separated by them by political considerations : city state versus centralized state, democracy of oligarchy versus kingship.

Alexander, more than anyone else knew the common traits of the macedonians and the other Greeks, and uniting their forces used their labor against the Persian empire, taking Asia for his price as a result of this. And this is how he encouraged his soldiers, leading them into the battle of Issos/ Ἴσσός:

ὅσοι τε Ἕλληνες Ἕλλησιν, οὐχ ὑπὲρ τῶν αὐτῶν μαχεῖσθαι, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ξὺν Δαρείῳ ἐπὶ μισθῷ καὶ οὐδὲ τούτῳ πολλῷ κινδυνεύοντας, τοὺς δὲ ξὺν σφίσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἑκόντας ἀμυνομένους. βαρβάρων τε αὖ Θρᾷκας καὶ Παίονας καὶ Ἰλλυριοὺς καὶ Ἀγριᾶνας τοὺς εὐρωστοτάτους τε τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην καὶ μαχιμωτάτους πρὸς τὰ ἀπονώτατά τε καὶ μαλακώτατα τῆς Ἀσίας γένη ἀντιτάξεσθαι.
There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service — but how different is their cause from ours ! They will be fighting for pay— and not much of it at that; WE on the contrary shall fight for GREECE, and our hearts will be in it. As for our FOREIGN troops —Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians,Agrianes — they are the best and stoutest soldiers of Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia.
Arrian, Alexander Anabasis 2.7

ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ / ALEXANDROS SON OF PHILIPPOS

Let the modern pseudomakedonists built statues to Alexander III of Macedon, and name their airport Aleksandar Veliki/Alexander the Great. They simply give homage to a great king of the Greeks. Alexander knew who his Macedonians and his other Greek allies were, and what they were fighting for, and what great commonality was uniting them (despite their superficial differences) : their language, their religion and the common interests of ALL OF GREECE, against the interests of Persia; he also knew who his foreign troops were; no confusion there. He knew that Greeks would only be great if they could unite, surpassing their own city state petty squabbling. This is why when he wrote to Darius, he talked as representative of all the Greeks:

Οἱ ὑμέτεροι πρόγονοι ἐλθόντες εἰς Μακεδονίαν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἄλλην Ἑλλάδα κακῶς ἐποίησαν ἡμᾶς οὐδὲν προηδικημένοι. ἐγὼ δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμὼν κατασταθεὶς καὶ τιμωρήσασθαι βουλόμενος Πέρσας διέβην ἐς τὴν Ἀσίαν, ὑπαρξάντων ὑμῶν.
Your ancestors came into Macedonia and the rest of Greece and treated us ill, without any previous injury from us. I, having been appointed commander in chief of the Greeks, and wishing to take revenge on the Persians, crossed over into Asia, hostilities being begun by you.
Arrian Anabasis Book 2.14

Alexander, commander in chief of the Greeks / τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμὼν / ton Hellenon Hegemon, victorius after the battle of Granikos/Γρανικός sent the best Persian shields that his army captured from the vanquished enemy as votive gift to the Athenians to be placed on the Doric metopes of the Parthenon (the round shape of these shields and the holes of the bronze nails that held them can still be seen on

the Parthenon, even on photographs, which means that the Athenians kept them up for centuries. Alexander the Great, wanted to create a monument to the ages, reminding all Greeks of what great things Hellenism could achieve in union, and he wanted to castigate the spoilers (the Spartans) of this great Panhellenic adventure into Asia, an adventure led by him the leader/hegemon of ALL Greeks.

ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ
ΠΛΗΝ ΛΑΚΕΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΩΝ
ΑΠΟ ΤΩΝ ΒΑΡΒΑΡΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΤΗΝ ΑΣΙΑΝ ΚΑΤΟΙΚΟΥΝΤΩΝ

ALEXANDROS SON OF PHILIPPOS AND THE GREEKS
EXCEPT THE LACEDAEMONIANS
FROM THE BARBARIANS WHO ΙΝΗΑΒΙΤ ASIA

Arrian, Alexander Anabasis, Book 1.16

MACEDONIAN issues ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΑ θέματα МАКЕДОНСКИЕ вопросы

Friday, January 22, 2010

On the Alleged Differences Between Ancient Macedonians and other Ancient Greeks

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