If I remember correctly, and I may not because I was very young when Philip of Macedon was dating Alexander's mother, I don't think the Macedonians were exactly invited anywhere they went.
They weren't invited to Greece, they weren't invited to Persia, they weren't invited to India. I think they just went and if they weren't made welcome, they became surly, and sometimes got a little unruly.
So, given that your memory seems to stretch back seventeen centuries, why would it surprise you that the Greeks still remember unfavorably the particulars of Philip's visit?
2007-09-26 10:51:01
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answer #2
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answered by open4one 7
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The above question has a lot of wrong information!
Macedonians (the authentic ones of authentic Macedonia of Greece) like every other Greeks, and like every one that leaves in Greece, share and have as a privilege, every human and political rights!
The asker is referring to Slav-Macedonians or Slav-Macedonians of Bulgarian descent. In authentic Macedonia of Greece there are only a few hundreds that claim to be of Slav-Macedonian (or Bulgarian ) decent.
Ancient Macedonians were Greeks and so the modern authentic Macedonians of Greece!
Alexander was of course Greek from the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia.
(The modern Slavic/Albanian republic of Macedonia is a modern Slavic/Albanian state and only few fanatics claim Alexander as non Greek.)
As for his family Alexander and Philip were descendants of the Argead Dynasty {the royal family of authentic Macedonia (Greek-Macedonia)}. The Argeads originated from the southern Greek city state of Argos and they had established the Greek kingdom of Macedonia in 808BC.
The Argeads –and thus Philip- claim descent from the famous Greek hero Hercules and they had blood ties with the Spartans. (The mother of Philip –Eurydice- was a princes from the Greek royal house of Lyncestes (a small Greek kingdom in the northern Greek Macedonia) and was a descendant of the Beachhead dynasty of the northern Greek city of Corinth.)
The mother of Alexander was Olympias a princes from the ancient Greek kingdom of Epirus. Her family –the royal house of Epirus- claim descend from Neoptolemus, son of the most heroic Achilles.
Philip never invaded Greece. He only attacked Athens and Thebes and he managed to unify the Greek states under his hegemony mainly by treaties and sometimes by brutal force.
Therefore Alexander was a Greek not only by blood descent but also by Heroic and even Devine Greek descent. (The royal emblem of the Royal house of Macedonia was the club of Hercules!)
As for the ancient Macedonians it is a well established fact by historians that they were a typical Greek tribe.
Macedonians as every other Greeks they spoke and wrote in Greek! The most important evidence is the archaeological discoveries! The archaeological discoveries from real Macedonia are the strongest proof that ancient Macedonia was part of the ancient Greek world. All the inscriptions on monuments, tombs, inscriptions, coins and other artifacts are written only in Greek. There are no ancient monuments with a different language. Furthermore there are a large number of discoveries in Asia in the route of Alexander the Great. All these monuments, discovered in Pakistan, India and many more countries, prove that Alexander’s quest was Greek and that his goal was to spread the Greek civilization all over the world. (Alexander founded 70 Greek cities in his effort to spread the Greek language and culture.)
Herodotus gives clear descriptions for the Greek origin of the Macedonians using their own words: “... Had I not greatly at heart the common welfare of Greece I should not have come to tell you; but I AM MYSELF GREEK by descent, and I would not willingly see Greece exchange freedom for slavery.... consider the risk I have run, out of zeal for the Greek cause, to acquaint you with what Mardonius intends, and to save you from being surprised by the barbarians. I am Alexander of Macedon."
(Herodotus, The Histories, 9.45)
and >"Tell your king who sent you how a Greek his viceroy of Macedonia has received you hospitably... "
(Herodotus V, 20, 4)
and >"Now that the men of this family are Greeks, sprung from Perdiccas, as they themselves affirm, is a thing which I can declare on my own knowledge, and which I will hereafter make plainly evident. That they are so has been already adjudged by those who manage the Pan-Hellenic contest at Olympia"
(Herodotus, the Histories 8.43)
and > "...but the Dorians on the contrary have been constantly on the move; their home in Deucalion's reign was Phthiotis and in the reign of Dorus son of Hellen the country known as Histiaeotis in the neighbourhood of Ossa and Olympus; driven from there by the Cadmeians they settled in Pindus and were known as Macedons; thence they migrated to Dryopis, and finally to the Peloponnese, where they got their present name of Dorians."
And “Arrian, "Anabasis of Alexander"
"There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service -- but how different is theirs 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."
(Arrian, 11.7)
"But Alexander said, `If I were not Alexandros, I should be Diogenes'; that is to say: `If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things Greek, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to spread and shower the blessings of the Greek justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Heracles, and emulate Pursues, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysus, the divine author and PROGENOTOR of my family, and desire that VICTORIOUS GREEKS should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos...' "
(Plutarchos, On the Fortune of Alexander, 332 a-b)
There are of course many more quotes but not enough room!
As for the Slav-Macedonians in Greece there isn’t any minority since authentic Macedonia of Greece is inhabited by 2,600,000 authentic Macedonians who are pure Greeks.
Even during the multinational period of the Ottoman conquer, the authentic Macedonians(Greeks) were the majority in the Ottoman region of Macedonia!
The official Ottoman census of the Hilmi Pasha (1904) gives the following numbers:
Vilaeti of Thessaloniki Greeks: 373,227 Bulgarians: 207,317
Vilaeti of Monastiri (now called Bitola!) Greeks: 261,283 Bulgarians: 78,412
Santzaki of Scopje Greeks: 13,452 Bulgarians: 172,735
As you can see there is no trace of any non-Greek Macedonian or non-Bulgarian Macedonian.
In recent years a political party appeared which was a coalition of an extreme left party (called OAKKE “group for the restoration of the communist party of Greece), with few gay/lesbian activist groups, and a small group of people claiming that they were Slav-Macedonians of Greece.
That coalition used the name rainbow and it expressed views of the extreme left and tried to link every unprivileged group to their caused.
That coalition received in the area of real (Greek) Macedonia the total amount of 2,955 votes (0.008% of the votes). In the election of 2004 and 2007 the party did not participate as it could not raise any members! OAKKE group participate alone in the elections with only one candidate!
2007-09-26 16:19:10
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answer #4
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answered by ragzeus 6
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