tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66161919464704246332024-02-20T02:09:39.635-08:00Differences between Macedonians,Greeks and BulgarsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-14522934749525952542007-07-17T13:55:00.000-07:002007-07-18T13:12:42.180-07:00Anthropological Evidence and the Fallmerayer Thesisby MACEDON<br /><br />dedicated to greek nationalist Dienekes Pontikos (and others...)<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRPM4K5Dzg7xAD6DUhweh0Tz3fE3ygqgzgBBMyoS9I4AxPD0G4s3877w4QahqJU6yjI9qu60C8mIqgFO3mXnM89lFY6a5-_ScjG-HnnL6YowQbrG93h37pPmrS6mrmutqKfIFUSIl1jdRq/s1600-h/fallmerayer.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRPM4K5Dzg7xAD6DUhweh0Tz3fE3ygqgzgBBMyoS9I4AxPD0G4s3877w4QahqJU6yjI9qu60C8mIqgFO3mXnM89lFY6a5-_ScjG-HnnL6YowQbrG93h37pPmrS6mrmutqKfIFUSIl1jdRq/s320/fallmerayer.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088273231040869938" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer</span> (1790 – 1861) was an Austrian scholar who proposed, in his Geschichte der Halbinsel Morea während des Mittelalters (Stuttgart, 1830–1836, 2 pts.) that the modern Greeks were not descended from the ancient ones. According to Fallmerayer, they are the descendants of medieval Slavs who inundated Greece during the Middle Ages, with a further adstratum of Albanians of late medieval and Ottoman times. According to Fallmerayer's thesis:<br /><br />Das Geschlecht der Hellenen ist in Europa ausgerottet ... Denn auch nicht ein Tropfen edlen und ungemischten Hellenenblutes fließt in den Adern der christlichen Bevölkerung des heutigen Griechenlands.<br /><br />The Hellenic nation has been annihilated in Europe ... Because not even a drop of pure and unmixed Hellenic blood flows in the veins of the Christian population of today's Greece.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">TRUE OR FALSE?</span>..<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anthropology<br /></span><br /><embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/GENETIKA/BLACKGREEKS_01.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="500" width="600"></embed><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">where greeks lost antic beauty?..<br /><a href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/show.dml/463500">link</a> <a href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/show.dml/466735">link</a><br /><br />Mitochondrial DNA<br /><br /></span>Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited only from the mother and is thus widely used to test the maternal composition of human populations. Mutations that accumulate on human mitochondria define unique clades of the mtDNA phylogeny, and these can be dated using a molecular clock. Thus, populations that are related matrilineally should possess the same types of mtDNA at similar frequencies.<br /><br />HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks<br /><br />HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks.<br /><br />Arnaiz-Villena A, Dimitroski K, Pacho A, Moscoso J, Gómez-Casado E, Silvera-Redondo C, Varela P, Blagoevska M, Zdravkovska V, Martínez-Laso J.<br /><br />Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, H. 12 de Octubre, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. aarnaiz@eucmax.sim.ucm.es<br /><br />HLA alleles have been determined in individuals from the Republic of Macedonia by DNA typing and sequencing. HLA-A, -B, -DR, -DQ allele frequencies and extended haplotypes have been for the first time determined and the results compared to those of other Mediterraneans, particularly with their neighbouring Greeks. Genetic distances, neighbor-joining dendrograms and correspondence analysis have been performed. The following conclusions have been reached:<br />1) <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Macedonians belong to the "older" Mediterranean substratum, like Iberians (including Basques), North Africans, Italians, French, Cretans, Jews, Lebanese, Turks (Anatolians), Armenians and Iranians, </span><br />2)<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"> Macedonians are not related with geographically close Greeks, who do not belong to the "older" Mediterranenan substratum, </span><br />3) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan (Ethiopian) people, which separate them from other Mediterranean groups. Both Greeks and Ethiopians share quasi-specific </span>DRB1 alleles, such as *0305, *0307, *0411, *0413, *0416, *0417, *0420, *1110, *1112, *1304 and *1310.<br />Genetic distances are closer between Greeks and Ethiopian/sub-Saharan groups than to any other Mediterranean group and finally Greeks cluster with Ethiopians/sub-Saharans in both neighbour joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses. The time period when these relationships might have occurred was ancient but uncertain and might be related to the displacement of Egyptian-Ethiopian people living in pharaonic Egypt.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11260506&dopt=Citation">LINK</a> <a href="http://www.makedonika.org/processpaid.aspcontentid=ti.2001.pdf">PDF</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">MACEDONIANS ARE SLAVS?</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">JOK..</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The correlation between languages and genes: the Usko-Mediterranean peoples</span><br /><br />Arnaiz-Villena A, Martinez-Laso J, Alonso-Garciá J.<br /><br />Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, H. 12 de Octubre, Universidad Complutense, 28041, Madrid, Spain. aarnaiz@eucmax.sim.ucm.es<br /><br />The usko-Mediterraneans peoples are defined as ancient and present day populations that have lived in the Mediterranean/Middle-East/Caucasus area and have spoken a Basque related language. The present day existing populations show an HLA genetic relatedness which is more or less close according to geographical distance. The Greek sample is an outlying in all genetic analyses, <span style="font-weight: bold;">because Greeks have a significant genetic input from sub-Saharan Ethiopians and Blacks</span>. This probably occurred in Pharaonic times. Present day comparisons between genes and languages show a lack of correlation: Macedonian, Palestinians, Kurds, part of Berbers, Armenians, and Turks belong to the old Mediterranean substratum, but they do not speak a language included in the old Mediterranean Dene-Caucasian group. This is due to an "elite"-imposed culture and language. Other ethnic groups speak an "old Mediterranean language" or "usko-Mediterranean language" modified by Roman Latin (i.e., Spanish, Italians), or by other not fully explained processes (Jews). Therefore, the correlation between genes and languages may exist at a macrogeographical level, but not when more precise microgeographical studies are done, as shown in the present "usko-Mediterranean" peoples model.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11543906&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum">LINK</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">HLA genes in Southern Tunisians (Ghannouch area) and their relationship with other Mediterraneans</span><br /><br />Hajjej A, Hmida S, Kaabi H, Dridi A, Jridi A, El Gaa l ed A, Boukef K.<br /><br />National Blood Transfusion Centre, Tunis, Tunisia.<br /><br />South Tunisian HLA gene profile has studied for the first time. HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 and -DQB1 allele frequencies of Ghannouch have been compared with those of neighboring populations, other Mediterraneans and Sub-Saharans. Their relatedness has been tested by genetic distances, Neighbor-Joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses. Our HLA data show that both southern from Ghannouch and northern Tunisians are of a Berber substratum in spite of the successive incursions (particularly, the 7th-8th century A.D. Arab invasion) occurred in Tunisia. It is also the case of other North Africans and Iberians. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />This present study confirms the relatedness of Greeks to Sub-Saharan populations. This suggests that there was an admixture between the Greeks and Sub-Saharans probably during Pharaonic period or after natural catastrophes (dryness) occurred in Sahara</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16473309&dopt=Abstract">LINK</a><br /><br />e.t.c....<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Greek Language<br /></span><span><br />Classification of the European Language Families by Genetic Distance<br /><br />Rosalind M. Harding, and Robert R. Sokal<br /><br />PNAS 1988;85;9370-9372<br />doi:10.1073/pnas.85.23.9370<br /><br />This information is current as of October 2006.<br /><br />E-mail Alerts<br /><br />Rights & Permissions<br /><br />Reprints<br /><br />This article has been cited by other articles:<br />www.pnas.org/otherarticles<br /><br />Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article - sign up in the box at the top<br />right corner of the article or click here.<br /><br />To reproduce this article in part (figures, tables) or in entirety, see:<br />www.pnas.org/misc/rightperm.shtml<br /><br />To order reprints, see:<br />www.pnas.org/misc/reprints.shtml<br /><br />Notes:<br /><br />Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. USA<br />Vol. 85, pp. 9370-9372, December 1988<br />Population Biology<br /><br />Classification of the European language families by genetic distance<br />(human variation/gene frequencies)<br /><br />ROSALIND M. HARDING AND ROBERT R. SOKAL<br />Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245<br /><br />Contributed by Robert R. Sokal, August 24, 1988<br /><br />ABSTRACT<br />Genetic distances among speakers of the European language families were computed by using gene- frequency data for human blood group antigens, enzymes, and proteins of26 genetic systems.<br />Each system was represented by a different subset of 3369 localities across Europe. By subject- ing the matrix ofdistances to numerical taxonomic procedures, we obtained a grouping of the language families of Europe by their genetic distances as contrasted with their linguistic relationships.<br />The resulting classification largely reflects geographic propinquity rather than linguistic origins. This is evidence for the primary importance ofshort-range interdemic gene flow in shaping the modern gene pools of Europe.<br />.................<br /><br />RESULTS</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/demekgrci_03.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 484px; height: 429px;" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/demekgrci_03.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=282741"><span style="font-weight: bold;">link</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fallmerayer</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> have no right ..<br />modern Greeks are mix of MACEDONIANS (like people from R. of Macedonia) and sub-saharans and asians,and Turks,Vlachs,Albanians... <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">my dear..<br />dont be ashamed..<br />4.000 y. of Sub-Saharan (African) culture in EU..<br />it`s really big deal..<br />yassou file..<br /><br /><br /></span></span></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-7346097367360942992007-07-08T09:00:00.000-07:002007-07-08T09:01:23.105-07:00КОГА ИСЧЕЗНАЛЕ ВИСТИНСКИТЕ БУГАРИ?<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Уште во првите години по уништувањето на бугарската држава, кога поголемиот дел од Бугарите исчезнале, на нивно место се населиле пред се, најблиските околни етникуми. Бугарското население исчезнало затоа што, уште за време на првото и второто навлегување на Светослав (968 и 969 година), загинале многу Бугари. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Според сведоштвата за таа војна, во неа загинале многу бугарски војници. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Подоцна, за време на навлегувањето на Византија, во 971 година, повторно загинале многу Бугари, посебно за време на одбраната на престолнината Преслав. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Кога се видело дека византискиот цар Јован Цимскиј почнал да ја добива војната, стравувајќи дека бугарската аристократија би можела да се одметне и да побара од императорот сепаратен мир, Светослав ја избил речиси целата бугарска аристократија и сите високи воини (околу 300 до 350 души). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Дел од бугарската војска биле пленети и продадени во ропство, а добар дел избегале кај своите сојузници - Унгарците и Печенезите. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Згора на сето тоа, во согласност со средновековната практика, населението од престолнината, поради стратешки причини, било раселено. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">На нивно место биле населени Даки (Власи) и Словени од племето Севери, кое пред тоа живеело во источниот дел на Стара Планина.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Сепак, тоа не го имале предвид Калојан и епископот Василиј, кога тврделе дека во нивните вени тече римска крв. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Објаснувањето на ова стигнува до еден постар период. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Во помнењето на Власите (што значи и на бугарските првенци), се уште живеел споменот дека тие и навистина имаат одреден процент римска крв, што впрочем се гледа и од латинските зборови во денешниот романски јазик. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Оваа римска крв и лексика кај Власите дошла од први до четврти век од нашата ера, кога Скитија (земја околу Дунав), служела за заточение на илјадници престапници од Рим (политички и криминалци). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Скитија за Рим била тоа што за Руската империја бил Сибир. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Да се потсетиме дека еден од најголемите римски поети Овидиј бил заточен во оваа област. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Тој податок го искористиле Калојан и Василиј, за да ја придобијат довербата на римскиот папа и за да добијат - едниот, царска круна, а другиот титула на патријарх.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Од изложениве соопштенија на византиските и на западните хроничари, како и од бугарските документи, неспорно се потврдува дека, по 972 година, бугарскиот етникум бил заменет од нови дојденци: Власи, Печенези, Кумани, Татари, Трако - Словени, а имало и одделни групи од аспаруховите Бугари, кои сега биле наречени Гагаузи. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Имајќи ја предвид ваквата етничка слика, се поставува прашањето: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Како може овој народ денес да го носи името Бугари? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ако се држиме до реалните факти и до процентуално многу поголемиот дел на споменатите етникуми, во однос на вистинските Бугари, овој народ никако не може да се нарекува бугарски народ, туку најправилно би било да се нарекува турко-влашки народ. Но, денешниот народ во Бугарија себеси се нарекува бугарски народ, според името на некогашното племе кое таму имало своја држава. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Значи, денешниот бугарски народ свесно го носи политичкото име на аспаруховите Бугари.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Да заклучиме дека името на еден народ, не секогаш соодветствува со неговата етничка припадност и во такви случаи се вели дека тој народ го носи своето второ (политичко) име. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Но, затоа таквиот народ секогаш има право да си го смени своето име, како што направија Печенезите и Куманите кои, иако се Турки, не се чисти Турци, па сепак се декларираат како Турци.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-11844484009831308552007-07-08T08:58:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:59:26.776-07:00БУГАРИТЕ СЕ ТУРСКО-ВЛАШКА ПРИМЕСА!?<span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:100%;" >Името на еден народ, не соодветствува секогаш со неговата етничка припадност и во такви случаи се вели дека тој народ го носи своето второ (политичко) име.<br /><br />Автономните кнежества на словените во западна Македонија и го дале новото име на оваа област.<br /><br />Византиските императори и писатели од средината на 6 век, западна Македонија ја нарекуваат со новото име - Славинија (Склавинија).<br /><br />Крстоносецот Вилардуен, третиот брат на Петар и Асан, го нарекол: "Јо-ван, кралот на Влахија" ("Бугарска воена уметност"... стр. 437).<br /><br />Роберт Кларк за нападите на Калојан во 1207 година пишува: "Не помина многу време, а Јован Влавот и Куманите навлегоа во земјата на солунскиот маркиз (Бонифациј Монфератски, з.м.)" (исто, стр. 420).<br /><br />Кларк ги дава и следниве податоци за владеењето на Калојан:"Значи, Влахија е земја која му припаѓа на императорот (византиски, з.м.)"(исто, стр. 479).<br /><br />Најневеројатно е тоа што некои византиски писатели (како, на пример, Македонецот Јован Кантакузин кој, откако доброволно се откажал од византискиот престол, ја напишал својата "Историја" во втората половина на 14. век, т.е. во последните децении од т.н. Втора бугарска држава) продолжиле Бугарија да ја нарекуваат Мизија, а нејзиниот народ - Мизи, иако таму веќе не живеел еден народ, туку шест засебни племиња: Печенези, Кумани, Татари, Власи, Трако - Словени и незначителен број Бугари.<br /><br />Така, на пример, кога Кантакузин ја спомнува смртта на бугарскиот цар Светослав, пишува: "Светослав, царот на Мизите, умрел од болест." (исто, стр. 433).<br /><br />Во врска со походот на Михаил Шишман, во 1323 година, овој писател, запишал: "Во тоа време, царот на Мизите Михаил, навлегол со целата своја војска во земјата на Ромеите" (исто, стр. 434).<br /><br />За последниот бугарски владетел, Кантакузин ги дава следните сведоштва: "Срацимир... води потекло од Мизи и од Кумани" (исто, стр. 443).<br /><br />Уште поинтересно е дека самите бугарски владетели од 13. век, себеси се претставувале како "господари на Власите".<br /><br />Така, на пример, архиерејот на тогашната Бугарска црква, епископот Василиј, во едно од своите писма до папата Инокентие Трети, откако настојува да му се задоволи желбата на Калојан да добие царска круна, пишува: "Тој (Калојан, з.м.) и целото негово царство, како наследници на римската крв, имаат добро чувство на преданост кон Римската црква." (ЛИБИ, т. 3., стр. 314).<br /><br />Врз основа на што епископот Василиј тврдел дека населението во т.н. "Втора бугарска држава" носело во своите вени римска крв, а освен тоа, видовме и дека западните хроничари ги нарекувале Калојан и неговиот народ Власи?<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-34402272964152469832007-07-08T08:56:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:57:48.212-07:00БУГАРИТЕ БИЛЕ НАРЕКУВАНИ И ВЛАСИ!<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">А, кога ги опишува нападите на Асан во Тракија (1189 година) Хонијат им дава ново етничко име на народот од некогашна Бугарија. Тој пишува: "Значи, Власите откако се возгордеале од непрекинатите победи над Ромеите, тие се здобиле со големи богатства и секакви оружја од пљачкосувањето на Ромеите." (исто, стр. 404).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Друг византиски писател (Георги Скутариот), кој бил современик на Петар, Асан и Калојан, пишува за византискиот поход против нив во истата година. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Тој пишува: "Откако работите на запад (од Константинопол, з.м.) станале лоши и Власите, заедно со Куманите, почнале да ја пљачкосуваат ромејската земја, императорот презел поход против нив." (ГИБИ, т. 8. стр. 230). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Во врска со бегството на Иванко, кое се случило по убиството на Асан, Георги Скутариот соопштува: "И така Иванко кришум ја напуштил Мизија и отишол кај императорот." (исто, стр. 255).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Да кажеме дека бугарските историчари денес името на владетелот на т.н. "Втора бугарска држава" - Асан, го пишуваат како "Асен", што не одговара на вистината, затоа што во византиските извори тој е запишан како "Асан", а не како "Асен".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Но, не се само Византијците тие кои од 10 до 14 век го користеле политичкото име за сите народи од онаа страна на Стара Планина (Печенези, Кумани, Татари, Власи, Трако-Словени и неколку "островчиња" остатоци од Бугарите, главно во Провадиско, Варненско и Добричко), туку тоа го правеле и западните хроничари. Така, на пример, учесникот во Третата крстоносна војна презвитер Магнус кога раскажува за преговорите помеѓу бугарскиот цар Петар Втори и Фридрих Барбароса, пишува: "Власите се со нас!" (ЛИБИ, т. 3., стр. 215).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Друг учесник во оваа крстоносна војна - Ансберг во својата "Историја на походот на императорот Фридрих Први" соопштува дека во дунавската рамнина: "... владееја со своите Власи некој си Калопетар, кој бил Влав, и брат му Асан (Assanis, з.м.)." (ЛИБИ, т. 3. стр. 257).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Во врска со преговорите на Петар со Фридрих Барбароса (од кого барал царска круна), Ансберг потенцира: "Додека се вршеше сето тоа, Калопетар, господарот на Власите..." ветил четириесет илјадна војска, составена од "Власи и Кумани" (исто, стр. 279).</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-36962411575476885082007-07-08T08:51:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:52:26.401-07:00КАКО БУГАРИТЕ СТАНАЛЕ МИЗИ?<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Од основањето на бугарската држава во 681 година, па се до нејзиното уништување во 972 година, таа го носи етничкото име на својот народ (Бугари и Бугарија). Но, од 972 година, на овој народ и на нивната земјата им е дадено ново, политичко, име кое исто така претрпува извесни промени. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Византискиот писател Лав Ѓакон е првиот што сведочи за промената на името Бугари во името Мизи, а на нивната земја Бугарија во - Мизија. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Во врска со превземениот поход на византискиот император Никофор Фока против Бугарите во 968 година, Лав Ѓакон за прв пат го употребил новото име за Бугарите. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Тој пишува: "Кога Никифор стигнал пред падините на Стара Планина... тој ја разгледал земјата и скалестите предели, бидејќи, за да се изразиме поетски, во земјата на Мизите, само зла извирале... и за да не ја предаде (својата војска, з.м.) на Мизите да ја исколат..." тој го прекинал походот. (ГИБИ, 5. том, стр. 247). </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Во врска со навлегувањето на Русите во Бугарија во 968 и 969 година и разбивањето на бугарската војска, Лав Ѓакон пишува за смртта на бугарскиот цар Петар, па вели: </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Велат дека тогаш водачот на Мизите Петар... соочен со неочекуваната несреќа, добил апопклептичен удар и недолго потоа го напуштил овој свет" (Исто, стр. 248-249).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Од овие цитати гледаме дека уште пред уништувањето на бугарската држава, на Бугарите им било дадено ново, политичко, име, па нивниот последен реален цар кој 42 години владеел со Бугарите од "цар на Бугарите" наеднаш се престорил во "цар на Мизите".</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Шест децении по Лав Ѓакон, Георги Кедрин, соопштувајќи за навлегувањето од север на Печенезите (кои биле сродни со Турко-Бугарите) во 1032 година, исто така го користи политичкото (а не етничкото) име на остатоците од Аспаруховите Бугари, кои останале во нивната земја. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Тој пишува: "... Печенезите го преминале Истар и ја опустошиле Мизија" (исто, стр. 299). За повторните напади на Печенезите, Кедрин повторно го користи политичкото име на оваа земја, па вели: "Печенезите повторно ги нападнаа Мизија, Тракија и Македонија" (исто, стр. 200).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Друг византиски писател - Скилица Кедрин (11 век) исто така пишува за Мизи и за Мизија, а не за Бугари и за Бугарија (ГИБИ, том 6., стр. 293-294).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Да заклучиме дека од последната година на постоењето на бугарската држава (972 г.), па се до 1235 (значи, речиси три века), за Византија и за византиските писатели нема Бугари и Бугарија од онаа страна на Стара Планина. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Наместо нив, постојат имињата Мизи и Мизија.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">По населувањето на Печенезите во источната дунавска рамнина и по нивното покрстување од страна на Византија, административното име на оваа земја било Паристрон (Подунавие). Јован Зонара кој ги следел настаните околу населувањето на Печенезите предводени од Кеген (кои го убедувале византискиот император да му се спротивстави на Тирах - водачот на преостанатите 14 племиња Печенези, кој се наоѓал од другата страна на Дунав), соопштил: "Бидејќи престојувал во паристрионските области, тој (Кеген, з.м.) ја преминал реката (Дунав, з.м.) и ги поразил луѓето на Тирах." (ГИБИ, том 7., стр. 198). </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ова административно именување на Бугарија било употребено и во врска со востанието на тамошниот византиски управник Нестор, кој пред тоа му бил роб на императорот: "Еден роб на таткото на императорот (Константин Десетти з.м.), по име Нестор, по чин вестарх, кој бил назначен за дука на Паристрион, се кренал со оружје против императорот." (исто, стр. 202).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Најчудно е тоа што дури и откако Печенезите, Власите и Куманите ја создале таканаречената "Втора бугарска држава" византиските писатели, без да водат сметка за новиот етнички лик на населението од онаа страна на Стара Планина, продолжуваат да зборуваат за Мизи, додавајќи ги и Власите. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Така, на пример, Никита Хонијат кој имал висока должност кај византискиот император во својата "Хронографија", известувајќи за востанието на Петар и на Асан во 1185 година, пишува: "Бидејќи Мизите јавно започнале востание и на чело на тоа зло застанале... Петар и Асан..." императорот превзел поход кон Стара Планина. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">И понатаму: "Императорот имал можност поради недостаток од противдејство, да ја преброди цела Мизија и да постави гарнизони во тамошните градови, од кои најмногу биле распоредени по Хемус"("Бугарската воена уметност за време на феудализмот", 1953, стр. 437).</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-65193757591157352062007-07-08T08:47:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:56:29.663-07:00БУГАРСКИ ШПЕКУЛАЦИИ И НЕВИСТИНИ<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Тешко дека во светот можат да се најдат понечесни шпекулации со името на еден народ од оние што бугарските историчари, политичари и идеолози ги прават во однос на македонскиот народ.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Тие многу грижливо го негираат фактот дека името "Бугари" дадено на северните Македонци во средновековието, претставува политичко (а не етничко) име. Но, тие тенденциозно ја кријат оваа вистина. Тие исто така многу добро знаат дека честопати разни народи носеле (а и денес носат) политички имиња во кои не е содржана етничката припадност на дотичниот народ. Уште во средината на минатиот век, англискиот мисионер во Турција А. Лонг изјавил: "Народите обично имаат по две имиња. Едното си го даваат самите на себе, а другото им се дава или им се наложува од соседните народи" (А. Лонг, "Славјаните и Бугарите", Цариград, 1870, стр. 20).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Името кое народите самите си го даваат е таканареченото етничко име, а второво е политичкото име кое се дава од соседните народи и кое претставува одраз на одредени историски настани кои довеле до неговото наложување. Да се потсетиме дека, пред да се појават од устието на Дунав, Бугарите биле нарекувани со општото име "Скити". Византиските автори со ова име честопати ги нарекувале Бугарите се до крајот на постоењето на нивната држава, во 972 година. Така било и со Византија. Името на оваа империја не е етничко име, кое се однесува на еден народ, туку тоа е политичко име, наследено од Римјаните. Државата Византија била основана од (родениот во Ниш) Тракиец Константин Велики, во 330 година, и таа го носела своето име според името на тракискиот цар Визас, кој во антиката направил Босфор да биде град којшто (според своето име) го нарекол Византион. Во оваа империја не живеел еден, туку повеќе народи, како на пример: Тракијци, Македонци, Илири, Елини, Ерменци, Грузијци, Сиријци, Египјани и други.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Поради тоа, оваа империја го носела политичкото име "Ромејска", а народите во неа биле нарекувани со заедничкото име "Ромеи". Од своја страна, етнонимот "Ромеи" значи Римјани, па во случајов испаѓа дека Византијците (иако не се Римјани), го носеле етничкото име Римјани. Дури и цели три векови Византијците зборувале на официјалниот латински јазик, но и тој факт, исто така не значи дека тие станале етнички Римјани. Одвај околу 615 - 640 година, императорот Ираклиј (610-641) го заменил латинскиот јазик со грчки, јазик кој и за време на Римската империја во југоисточна Европа и во Мала Азија бил пораспростанет од латинскиот јазик. Значи, еве како народите на една голема империја, без да имаат каква било етничка врска со Римјаните, во текот на едно цело илјадалетие, го носеле името Римјани (Ромеи) како свое етничко име.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Во денешно време ист е случајот со Французите. Нивното етничко име е наследено од етничкото име на германското племе Франки, кои, на крајот од 5. век, на територијата на месното население во Франција (Галите) основале своја држава. Оваа држава, на месните Гали, им го наложила своето име - Французи. Но, овој народ не го заборавил своето етничко потекло и име, ниту пак се обидува да докаже дека тие се Гали, а не Германци. Поради ова, никој денес не вели "Француски петел", туку - "Галски петел".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Иста е состојбата и со денешните Руси. Според своето етничко потекло тие се чисти Словени. Но, во 862 година, варјашката орда, предводена од Рурик и од неговите браќа, го основала т.н. "Новогородско царство". Токму ова варјашко племе им го оставило на североисточните Словени името Руси. Денес, меѓутоа, никој не тврди дека Русите се "Варјажи" (скандинавци), туку, како Русите, така и преостанатите народи, знаат дека тие се Словени.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Историскиот развиток на македонскиот народ исто така придонел, во Средновековието, извесно време да ни биде наметнато туѓото име "Бугари". Но, тоа име е политичко, а не етничко име и тоа не докажува дека ние имаме каква било врска со етничките Бугари (Турко-Бугарите).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Овде ќе се обидеме хронолошки да ги проследиме периодичните промени на името на западна Македонија и на дел од северна Македонија, кои се во тесна врска со промените на името на Бугарите и на Бугарија, за на тој начин да ги откриеме факторите кои ни помогнале во 19 век посигурно да го востановиме нашето сопствено етничко име - Македонци.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ќе видиме дека и Бугарите низ својата историја носеле неколку туѓи политички имиња, во сообразност со промените во политичкиот живот на Полуостровот.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-60350387649903461152007-07-08T08:35:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:44:27.821-07:00The Myth of Greek language 'Purity'<span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Classification of the European Language Families by Genetic Distance</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rosalind M. Harding, and Robert R. Sokal</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">PNAS 1988;85;9370-9372</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">doi:10.1073/pnas.85.23.9370</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This information is current as of October 2006.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">E-mail Alerts</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rights & Permissions</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reprints</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This article has been cited by other articles:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">www.pnas.org/otherarticles</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article - sign up in the box at the top</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">right corner of the article or click here.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">To reproduce this article in part (figures, tables) or in entirety, see:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">www.pnas.org/misc/rightperm.shtml</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">To order reprints, see:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">www.pnas.org/misc/reprints.shtml</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Notes:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. USA</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Vol. 85, pp. 9370-9372, December 1988</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Population Biology</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Classification of the European language families by genetic distance</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(human variation/gene frequencies)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">ROSALIND M. HARDING AND ROBERT R. SOKAL</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Contributed by Robert R. Sokal, August 24, 1988</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">ABSTRACT</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Genetic distances among speakers of the European language families were computed by using gene- frequency data for human blood group antigens, enzymes, and proteins of26 genetic systems.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Each system was represented by a different subset of 3369 localities across Europe. By subject- ing the matrix ofdistances to numerical taxonomic procedures, we obtained a grouping of the language families of Europe by their genetic distances as contrasted with their linguistic relationships.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The resulting classification largely reflects geographic propinquity rather than linguistic origins. This is evidence for the primary importance ofshort-range interdemic gene flow in shaping the modern gene pools of Europe.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yet, some language families-i.e., Basque, Finnic (including Lappish), and Semitic (Maltese)-have distant genetic relation- ships with their geographic neighbors. These results indicate that European gene pools still reflect the remote origins ofsome ethnic units subsumed by these major linguistic groups.</span><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/demekgrci_01.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 481px; height: 200px;" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/demekgrci_01.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The aim of analyses of current gene frequency patterns is to infer the microevolutionary processes that have generated these patterns.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such inferences are facilitated when the investigator can employ other relevant variables in the analysis. In human populations such variables are geographic distance and language.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Genetic similarity may be due to (i) geographic proximity or (ii) relationships reflected by lan- guage phylogeny. Ifgenetic relations among languages reflect their linguistic origins, we expect strong congruence between genetic affinities and linguistic relationships.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The common origin and phylogenetic divergence ofseveral ofthe language families of Europe is well established, see ref. 1.) Alternatively, if genetic affinities between language families are inversely proportional to spatial distance, they may be attributed to localized gene flow. This is Malecot's isolation- by-distance model (2), which assumes stochastic divergence of populations from a common origin. The fit of these alternative models will be tested by comparing the observed genetic distances between pairs of language-family regions with (i) their spatial distances and (ii) their linguistic distances.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/demekgrci_02.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 324px; height: 430px;" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/demekgrci_02.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> We prefer, with Lalouel (3), to calculate genetic distances based on a minimum ofgenetic assumptions. Generally, most calculations of genetic distances among human populations are highly correlated (4), giving good reason to choose the simplest computational method. However, one particular feature of the data set on which this study is based requires special attention. To examine variability on a continental scale, it was necessary to combine data from a large number of independent studies and, as a result, each genetic system</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">is based on a different sampling scheme. Although there is</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">some overlap in the sampling localities for different genetic systems, the final data matrix is unbalanced by the absence of observations at a given locality for various genetic sys- tems. Thus, genetic distances had to be computed separately</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The publication costs ofthis article were defrayed in part by page charge</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement"</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">for each genetic system among the particular set of locality</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">samples representing that system.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">MATERIALS AND METHODS</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The 12 living language families in Europe fall into five language phyla as follows (1):</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indo-European (Albanian, Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Greek, Romance, and Slavic);</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finno-Ugric [Finnic and Ugric (Hungarian)];</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Altaic (Turkic);</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Afro-Asiatic [Semitic (Maltese)]; and</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Language Isolates (Basque).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">A linguistic distance matrix of language-family relationships was constructed by setting the Baltic-Slavic distance to 1 (these are the only two Indo-European families for which close genetic affinities are generally accepted, see ref. 1), all other distances between language families within</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">a phylum to 2, and distances between language families</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">belonging to different phyla to 4. Thus, language distances mostly contrast intraphylum and interphylum distances.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">A geographic distance matrix between all pairs oflanguage</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">families was computed from great-circle distances between subjectively chosen centers of language-family regions. Genetic distances were calculated by using frequency data for human blood antigens, enzymes, and proteins of 26 genetic systems, each for a different subset of 3369 localities across Europe.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Because of the different spatial sampling for each genetic system, we computed genetic distances sepa- rately for each system. All localities were also assigned a language-family affiliation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The systems and the sources of the data are described elsewhere (5-7).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sample sizes range from 50 to many thousands ofpersons. Previous work (5) has shown that the simplest of these distances, that due to Prevosti et al. (8), provided essentially the same information</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">as more elaborate formulations.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It was, therefore, adopted here.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">To allowforpossible bias due to different ranges ofgene frequencies, we also standardized the distances.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">For each system we first calculated genetic distances for all pairs oflocalities and subsequently averaged over all locality pairs representing a particular pairwise combination of language families.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This yielded, for a given system, an average genetic distance for each pair oflanguage families. However, for some systems, we lacked localities to represent one or more language families and could not compute distances for certain pairwise combinations of language families.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This resulted in genetic distance matrices for some systems with missing values for some pairwise comparisons. Since different genetic systems are based on different sets of localities, the particular pairwise combinations missing in the genetic distance matrices vary among systems.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The final genetic distance matrix (Table 1) was obtained by averaging over all systems.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nine of the language families are well represented by genetic systems, but genetic distances for Semitic, Baltic, and Albanian are based on only seven, three, and two systems, respectively.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">These few systems may furnish unreliable estimates of distances between language families. For this reason, we analyze both the reduced set of 9 language families and the total set of 12. Our conclusions are based</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">largely on the 9 families, with added consideration of the larger data set when appropriate.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The average genetic distance matrix between pairs of language families was subjected to standard numerical tax- onomic clustering and ordination procedures (9).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hierarchic classifications of the language families were achieved by UPGMA (unweighted pair-group) clustering of the average distance matrices (9).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ordinations ofthese distance matrices were obtained by nonmetric multidimensional scaling in three dimensions.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">All computations were carried out by the NTSYS program (10).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Congruence between genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances was tested for significance as described (5).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Using methods ofquadratic assignment (11), we calculated pairwise Mantel matrix correlations (12, 13) and investigated three- way relations between the distance matrices by computing partial correlations (14).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">These correlations were tested for significance by Monte Carlo permutation methods. These computations were carried out by using the R package for multivariate data analysis (15).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">RESULTS</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/demekgrci_03.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/blog/demekgrci_03.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fig. 1 shows the hierarchic clustering ofgenetic distances for 9 language families.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">A Germanic-Celtic cluster isjoined later by Romance, and a Slavic-Ugric cluster isjoined by Turkic.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finnic, Basque, and Greek are outliers to these clusters.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Including Albanian, Baltic, and Semitic in the analysis changes the phenogram by affiliating Greek with Albanian, Baltic with Turkic, and clustering Germanic-Celtic with Slavic-Ugric before adding Romance. Semitic, Basque, and Finnic are outliers to the clusters of 12 language families.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">An ordination ofthe genetic distance matrix (Fig. 2) depicts the relative genetic distances between the nine language families.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finnic and Basque are outliers at opposite ends of the ordinated space.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Celtic-Germanic and Slavic-Ugric language-family pairs are evident along the first axis which runs roughly East-West.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The second axis approximates a North-South gradient.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the minimum spanning tree, Turkic links Ugric and Greek with Romance.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The position of Romance is central on the first and second axes, but isolated by the third, explaining its variable affiliation during cluster-</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">ing.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Genetic distance (Gen) correlates significantly with geog- raphy (Geo) but not with language (Lan). The pairwise correlations of distance matrices based on nine language families are as follows: Gen x Geo = 0.468 (P <><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">x Lan = 0.182 (P>0.05), and Geo x Lan = 0.177 (P>0.05).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The partial correlations are (Gen x Geo)-Lan = 0.451 (P <</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">0.01) and (Gen x Lan)-Geo = 0.114 (P > 0.05). Geography</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">determines 20.3% of the variance of the genetic distances, language determines only 1.0%o, and factors common to geography and language determine 1.6%.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">One might have expected a high and significant Gen x Lan correlation, because speakers ofa particular language (family) tend to be found settled near each other.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In other words, when geographic distances between samples are small we expect linguistic distances to be small, and vice versa.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ifgeography is likewise correlated with genetics, then genetic and linguistic distances should also be positively correlated.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">But the Geo x Lan correlation in this study is low because centers of</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">language phyla are positioned in Europe both relatively close and far apart spatially causing the relationship between geography and language to break down.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Therefore, the common effect ofgeography does not produce a high correlation between genetics and language.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This finding contrasts with the significant correlation between genetic and language distances reported by Sokal (5).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In that study correlations among genetics, linguistics, and geography were calculated for pairwise locality distances. Since a finer scale ofdistances was used, both the correlation ofgeography and of language and the common effect of geography were greater.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">DISCUSSION</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This study shows that genetic distances between the European language families do not reflect their accepted linguistic relationships.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">If we group the language families by their linguistic origins, there should be a cluster of the Indo- European language families, Baltic and Slavic being most closely related, a separate branch for the Finnic and Ugric speakers, and separate coordinate branches for the Turkic, Semitic, and Basque language families.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The genetic distances of some interphylum language-family pairs, such as those between Slavic and Ugric speakers, or between Turkic and Ugric speakers, however, are closer than some distances within a phylum, as between Greek and Celtic speakers or between Finnic and Ugric speakers.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The low matrix correlation between genetics and language confirms the lack of agreement between presumed language phylogeny and the observed genetic distances.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">If genetic distances reflect geographic proximity, we should be able to predict genetic affinity from a clustering of the great-circle distances between language families.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This yields Germanic-Celtic and Romance-Basque as mutually closest pairs, with the two pairs together forming a major cluster.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Likewise, Slavic-Ugric and Greek-Turkic both cluster as pairs.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finally, Finnic is an outlier.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Clustering all 12 language families by great-circle distance enlarges the Greek Turkic cluster into one that also includes Albanian and Semitic and places Baltic-Finnic as an outlying pair. Considerable concordance between geographic proximity and observed genetic relations is evident and confirmed by the significant correlation between geographic and genetic dis- tances.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The role of geography can also be seen in the ordinations.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Disregarding the outliers, Fig. 2 demonstrates an East-West separation of geographically adjacent language family pairs, Germanic-Celtic from Turkic-Greek with Slavic-Ugric intermediate.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The small Greek-Albanian genetic distance is also consistent with geographic proximity, although we attach less confidence to this value.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The observations made here are supported by a largely geographic clustering of European map quadrats characterized by gene frequencies (16).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">A geographic gene flow model does not, however, explain why the Basque and Finnic language families are outliers both in the ordinations and phenograms, nor why Semitic is an outlier in the extended dataset.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">These results reflect the distant origins of speakers of these language groups.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Finnic language family is given its unique genetic profile by inclusion of the Lapps.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">These populations, ethnically different from other Finnic speakers, apparently migrated to northern Scandinavia from northern Eurasia (17).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Basques have long been an isolated enclave, presumably descended from the pre-Indo-European inhabitants of Europe (18, 19).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Semitic speakers have North African origins.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">These results suggest that some modification of the strictly geographic gene flow model by language origin may provide greater concordance with the genetic relationships between language families.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">We conclude that affinities between modern European</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">gene pools have been formed primarily by relatively short- range gene flow between geographically adjacent populations.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yet, between the speakers of some language families and their geographic neighbors, there are genetic differences that apparently reflect their remote historical and linguistic origins.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">We thank Barbara Thomson for computational assistance. Prof. L. L. Cavalli-Sforza and Dr. Neal Oden provided helpful comments.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This research was supported by Grant GM28262 from the National Institutes of Health.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This article is contribution 681 in Ecology and Evolution from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. Ruhlen, M. (1987) A Guide to the World's Languages (Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA), Vol. 1.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Maldcot, G. (1948) Les Mathematiques de l'Hewredite6 (Masson et Cie, Paris) [Maldcot, G., trans. (1969) The Mathematics of</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Heredity (Freeman, San Francisco)].</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. Lalouel, J.-M. (1980) in Current Developments in Anthropological Genetics, eds. Mielke, J. H. & Crawford, M. H. (Plenum, New York), Vol. 1, pp. 209-250.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. Jorde, L. B. (1985) Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 14, 343-373.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">5. Sokal, R. R. (1988) Proc. NatI. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 1722-1726.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">6. Sokal, R. R., Oden, N. L. & Thomson, B. A. (1988) Am. J.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">7. Sokal, R. R., Oden, N. L., Legendre, P., Fortin, M. J., Kim,</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">8. Prevosti, A., Ocana, J. & Alonso, G. (1975) Theor. Appl. Genet. 45, 231-241.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">9. Sneath, P. H. A. & Sokal, R. R. (1973) Numerical Taxonomy (Freeman, San Francisco).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">10. Rohlf, F. J. (1985) Numerical Taxonomy System ofMultivariate Statistical Programs, Technical Report (State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook).Hubert, L. (1987) Assignment</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Methods in Combinatorial Data</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">12.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">13.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Analysis (Dekker, New York).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mantel, N. (1967) Cancer Res. 27, 209-220.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sokal, R. R. (1979) Syst. Zool. 28, 227-231.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">14. Smouse, P. E., Long, J. C. & Sokal, R. R. (1986) Syst. Zool. 35, 627-632.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">15. Legendre, P. (1985) The R Package for Multivariate Data Analysis, Technical Report (Universitd de Montreal, Mon- treal).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">16. Derish, P. A. & Sokal, R. R. (1988) Hum. Biol., 60, 801-824.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">17. Bunak, V. V. (1976) in Rassengeschichte der Menschheit, ed.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">18.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">19.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Schwidetzky, I. (Oldenbourg, Munich), Vol. 4, pp. 7-101.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Allieres, J. (1986) Les Basques (Univ. of France Press, Paris).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cavalli-Sforza, L. L. (1987) The Basque Population and An-</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">cient Migrations in Europe, Second World Basque Congress, in</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">press</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-9247604239414003192007-07-08T08:31:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:32:40.361-07:00Differences between Macedonians and Greeks 05<span style="font-family: VERDANA;"><strong><span style="color: crimson;">Differences between ancient and modern Macedonians and the ancient and modern Greeks</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>WHO ARE GREEKS?<br /></strong></span><br /><embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/GENETIKA/BLACKGREEKS_04.swf" width="600" height="500" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" ></embed><br /><br /><br />GREEKS OR OTHERS?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-38661201960467937022007-07-08T08:29:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:30:50.056-07:00Differences between Macedonians and Greeks 04<span style="font-family:VERDANA;"><strong><span style="color:crimson;">Differences between ancient and modern Macedonians and the ancient and modern Greeks</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>WHO ARE GREEKS?<br /></strong></span><br /><embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/GENETIKA/BLACKGREEKS_02.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="500" width="600"></embed><br /><br />GREEKS OR OTHERS?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-84531381103760620442007-07-08T08:25:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:29:09.837-07:00Differences between Macedonians and Greeks 03<span style="font-family:VERDANA;"><strong><span style="color:crimson;">Differences between ancient and modern Macedonians and the ancient and modern Greeks<br /><br /></span></strong></span><span style="font-family:VERDANA;"><strong>WHO ARE GREEKS?<br /><br /></strong></span><br /><embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/GENETIKA/BLACKGREEKS_01.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="500" width="600"></embed><br />GREEKS OR OTHERS?..Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-26548667145214646342007-07-08T08:20:00.000-07:002007-07-08T08:47:40.898-07:00Differences between Macedonians and Greeks 02<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Differences between ancient and modern Macedonians and the ancient and modern Greeks<br />The Myth of Greek Ethnic 'Purity'<br /></span> </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/blog/ALEXANDER%20III%20THE%20GREAT_01.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 199px;" src="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/blog/ALEXANDER%20III%20THE%20GREAT_01.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />ALEXANDER..<br />WHITE MACEDONIAN KING..</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />but WHO ARE "GREEKS" ?</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">HLA GENES REPORT:</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan (Ethiopian) people, which separate them from other Mediterranean groups. Both Greeks and Ethiopians share quasi-specific DRB1 alleles, such as *0305, *0307, *0411, *0413, *0416, *0417, *0420, *1110, *1112, *1304 and *1310. Genetic distances are closer between Greeks and Ethiopian/sub-Saharan groups than to any other Mediterranean group and finally Greeks cluster with Ethiopians/sub-Saharans in both neighbour joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />TRUE OR FALSE?<br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">FROM HISTORY...</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />following Greek legend, that Inachus, the founder of Argos (1856 BC), and Cecrops, the founder of Athens (1556 BC), were Egyptians.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Other histories claim that Inachus was a Phoenician.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Cadmus, the founder of Thebes (1493 BC), was a Phoenician.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">These men may be historical or legendary; we cannot know. We do know that in the 15th century BC, the Egyptian empire encompassed a great area, which included Palestine (Phoenicia) and the Aegean Sea (Crete). Suffice it to say that Egypt and Phoenicia had the greatest influence on early Minoan (Crete), Mycenaean (Argos), Spartan, Athenian and Theban civilization.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">The Pelasgi, or Pelasgians, were the primitive inhabitants of Greece, according to Herodotus. Now Pelasgus I was an early king (1684 BC), and it was from this ruler that the Pelasgians took their name.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Pelasgus was a grandson or great-grandson of Inachus, the Egyptian or Phoenician that founded Argos.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Herodotus says of the Phoenicians that they “lived of old, so they say, about the Red Sea (Erythraean Sea), but they then came out of there and settled in that part of Syria that is next the Sea (Mediterranean Sea).</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">That piece of Syria, and all as far as Egypt, is called Palestine” (The History, 7.89).</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Scholars believe that Herodotus’ Erythraean Sea is our Indian Ocean (The History, 1.1), but whether it is the Indian Ocean or the Red Sea, its proximity to Egypt in either case is well known.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />TRUE OR FALSE?</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">THE NEGRO PRESENCE IN CLASSICAL GREECE<br /><br /></span></span><br /><embed pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://files.myopera.com/ancientmacedonia/GENETIKA/THE%20NEGRO%20PRESENCE%20IN%20CLASSICAL%20GREECE.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="500" width="600"></embed><br />TRUEUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-16859586463657308022007-07-08T08:18:00.001-07:002007-07-08T08:18:43.535-07:00HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub-Suharan origin of the Greeks<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://www.makedonika.org/processpaid.aspcontentid=ti.2001.pdf"></a><br />Abstract:<br />HLA alleles have been determined in individuals from the Re¬public of Macedonia by DNA typing and sequencing. HLA-A, -B, -DR, -DQ allele frequencies and extended haplotypes have been for the first time determined and the results compared to those of other Mediterraneans, par¬ticularly with their neighbouring Greeks. Genetic distances, neighbor-join¬ing dendrograms and correspondence analysis have been performed. The following conclusions have been reached:<br />1) Macedonians belong to the "older" Mediterranean substratum, like Iberians (including Basques), North Africans, Italians, French, Cretans, Jews, Lebanese, Turks (Anatolians), Ar¬menians and Iranians,<br />2) Macedonians are not related with geographically close Greeks, who do not belong to the "older" Mediterranenan substratum,<br />3) Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan (Ethiop¬ian) people, which separate them from other Mediterranean groups. Both Greeks and Ethiopians share quasi-specific DRB1 alleles, such as *0305, *0307, *0411, *0413, *0416, *0417, *0420, *1110, *1112, *1304 and *1310. Genetic distances are closer between Greeks and Ethiopian/sub-Saharan groups than to any other Mediterranean group and finally Greeks cluster with Ethiopians/sub-Saharans in both neighbour joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses.<br />The time period when these relationships might have occurred was ancient but uncertain and might be related to the displace¬ment of Egyptian-Ethiopian people living in pharaonic Egypt.<br /><br />The highly polymorphic HLA system has been validated as useful for distinguishing and/or relating populations (and individuals) in many research studies since the first International HLA Anthropology Workshop (Evian, 1973) and in all the subsequent seven International Workshops. HLA gene frequencies correlate with geographically re¬lated populations.<br />The existence or absence of gene flow among neighbouring ethnic groups may be assessed with the study of HLA frequencies and the corresponding genetic distances (1,2).<br />Ancient Macedonians were among the peoples that lived be¬tween northern Greece (Thessaly) and Thrace in the Balkans and were considered by the classical Greeks as ‘‘non-Greek barbarians’’ that could not participate in the Greek Olympic Games (3).<br />Hero dotus wrote that "Macedonians" were "Dorians" and were never admitted to the Greek community (4).<br />They did not speak Greek but another language presently unknown and of which only proper names remain; nowadays, they speak a Slavic language (5).<br />Mace¬donians fought against the Greeks between 357-336 B.C. under King Philip II. They defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Chaironea (338 B.C.). The Macedonian empire extended from the Balkan Penin¬sula to the Himalayas and to North Africa during the reign of Phil¬ip's son, Alexander the Great (6).<br />Thereafter, Macedonia was conqu¬ered by the Romans and has been disputed in more recent times by Serbs and/or Bulgars. Ottoman Turks controlled Macedonia be¬tween 1380-1912 A.D., and it was integrated into Yugoslavia in 1946. In 1991, after the partition of Yugoslavia, a referendum gave Macedonia its independence.<br />The present ethnic groups within the country are:<br />1) Macedonians: 1,279,000;<br />2) Albanians: 377,000;<br />3) Turks: 87,000;<br />4) Serbs: 44,000; and<br />5) others: 40,000.<br />The northern¬most region of Greece is also known as Macedonia and this is why Greece has opposed the independence of the country while it bears the same name (7).<br />Furthermore, we have found that the Greeks did not cluster to¬gether with other Mediterranean populations, including both west¬ern (Iberians, Algerians, Berbers) and eastern (Cretans, Jews, Leb¬anese, Egyptian, Turks-Anatolians) Mediterraneans (8-10).<br />The aim of the present work is to determine the relative contri¬butions of Macedonians and Greeks to the present-day genetic pool of Mediterranean peoples.<br />For these purpose, both HLA class I and class IIDNA typings have been studied in Macedonians for the first time.<br />The genetic relationship of Macedonians and Greeks to other Mediterraneans, including North Africans (Berbers from Agadir and El Jadida areas and Algerians from Algiers), Iberians (Spani¬ards, Basques and Portuguese) and Greeks (from Attica, Aegean and Cyprus) were calculated.<br />In addition, sub-Saharan and other Africans were compared with all available Mediterranean groups in order to solve the question of the unique Greek HLA profile.<br /><br /><br />Material and methods<br /><br />Population samples<br /><br />Samples from one hundred and seventy-two unrelated Macedonians in Skopje (Institute of Blood Transfusion, Tissue Typing Labora¬tory), the Republic of Macedonia capital, were used for HLA geno-typing and phylogenetic calculations. All were Macedonian lan¬guage speakers and their ancestors did not belong to a country minority group (detailed above). The origin of all other populations used for comparisons is given in Table 1.<br /><br />Populations used for the present work<br /><br />Table 1<br />HLA genotyping, DNA sequencing and statistics<br /><br />Generic HLA class I (A and B) and high-resolution HLA class II (DRB1 and DQB1) genotyping was performed using a reverse dot-blot technique with the Automated Innolipa system (Innogenetics N.V., Zwijndrecht, Belgium).<br />HLA-A, -B, -DRB1, and -DQB1 allele DNA sequencing was only done when indirect DNA typing (reverse dot-blot) yielded ambiguous results (11).<br />Statistical analysis was performed with Arlequin v1.1 software kindly provided by Ex-coffier and Slatkin (12).<br />In summary, this program calculated HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 and -DQB1 allele frequencies, Hardy-Weinberg equilib¬rium and the linkage disequilibrium between two alleles at two dif¬ferent loci.<br />Linkage disequilibrium (Dø; also named LD, see ref. 13) and its level of significance (P) for 2x2 comparisons were deter¬mined using the formulae of Mattiuz and co-workers (14) and the 11th International Histocompatibility Workshop methodology (13).<br />In addition, the most frequent complete haplotypes were deduced following a methodology used in the 11th International Histocom¬patibility Workshop:<br />1) the 2, 3, and 4 HLA loci haplotype frequen¬cies (2,15,16);<br />2) the haplotypes previously described in other popu¬lations (2, 16); and<br />3) haplotypes which were assigned if they ap¬peared in two or more individuals and the alternative haplotype was well defined.<br />In order to compare allelic and haplotype HLA frequencies with other populations, the reference tables used were those of the 11th and 12th International HLA Workshops (2, 16; see also Table 1).<br />Phylogenetic trees (dendrograms) were constructed with the allelic frequencies by applying the Neighbor-Joining (NJ) method (17) with the genetic distances between populations (DA, 18) and using DISPAN software containing the programs GNKDST and TREEVIEW (19, 20).<br />A three-dimensional correspondence analysis and its bidimensional representation was carried out using the VISTA v5.02 computer program (21, http:/forrest.psych.unc. edu).<br />Correspondence analysis comprises a geometric technique that may be used for displaying a global view of the relationships among populations according to HLA (or other) allele frequencies.<br />This methodology is based on the allelic frequency variance among populations (similarly to the classical principal components method¬ology) and on the display of a statistical projection of the differ¬ences.<br /><br />Table 2<br /><br />Genetic distances between populations (DA) between Macedonians and other populations (xlO2) obtained by using HLA-DRB1 allele frequencies (see Table 1 for populations identification)<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_03a.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 651px;" src="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_03a.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Table 3<br /><strong><span style="color:crimson;">Results</span></strong><br /><br />Characteristic HLA allele frequencies of the Macedonian population compared to other Mediterraneans<br /><br />The expected and observed allele frequencies for HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 and -DQB1 loci do not significantly differ and the population sample is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Table 2 shows the HLA allele frequencies found in the Macedonian population. Fourteen different HLA-A and twenty-eight different HLA-B alleles were observed in the Macedonian population. Six HLA-A alleles and seven HLA-B alleles had frequencies higher than 5% (A*01, A*02, A*03, A* 11, A*24, A*26, B*07, B*08, B*18, B*35, B*38, B*44 and B*51) and these are characteristic of Mediterranean populations (8-10, 22).<br /><br />With regard to the HLA class II alleles, thirty-one different DRB1 alleles were found and only six had frequencies higher than 5%; DQ allele frequencies reflect the DRB1 locus allele distribution due to the strong linkage disequilibrium between these two loci.<br />Two types of analyses were carried out to compare Macedonian HLA frequencies with other Mediterranean population frequencies: 1) with DRB1 data, which is probably a more informative and discrimi¬nating methodology; and 2) with generic (low-resolution) DR-DQ data. These two types of analysis were both performed because some of the populations used for comparison lacked HLA-A and -B data [Berbers (from Souss, Agadir area, Morocco), Jews (Ashkenazi), Jews (Morocco), Jews (non-Ashkenazi), Lebanese (NS and KZ), see Table 1], or high resolution HLA-DQ data [(Greeks (Attica), Greeks (Cyprus), Greeks (Attica-Aegean), see Table 1]], or only generic HLA-DR and DQ data were available [Portuguese, Turks, Iranians, Armenians and Egyptians, see Table 1]. These partially HLA-typed populations should have been ignored, but they could be analyzed conjointly tak¬ing into account only either DRB1 or generic DR and DQ frequencies (Tables 3, 6, Figs 1-3). Analyses using DRB1and DQB1 conjointly were made but are not shown because only a few populations could be used and the results are concordant with the DRB1 analysis. Finally, it should be pointed out that class I generic typing tends to homogenize the comparisons based on DRB1 high-resolution typing (see ref. 22); one class I allele obtained by generic DNA typing may contain several class I alleles, while this is not the case for most DRB1 alleles.<br />Fig. 1 depicts an HLA class II (DRB1) neighbor-joining tree. Populations are grouped into three main branches with high boots¬trap values: the first one groups both eastern (including Macedoni¬ans, Cretans, Jews, Lebanese) and western Mediterraneans (Euro¬peans and North Africans; Sardinians are also included in the first group). The second branch is formed by African Negroid popula tions and the third one includes Greek and sub-Saharan popula¬tions. This distribution is also confirmed in the correspondence analysis (Fig. 2): the three groups are clearly delimited and a west to east Mediterranean gradient is shown. The Macedonian population shows the closest genetic distance with Cretans (Table 3) and no discontinuity is observed with eastern and western Mediterraneans reflecting the genetic similarity among these populations. It is evi¬denced that Cretans-Greeks distance is high. These results are con¬firmed using DR and DQ generic typings (see Fig. 3 and data not shown) which were used in order to include other Mediterranean populations (Iranians, Armenians, Egyptians and Turks, see Table 1). A DR-DQ neighbour-joining tree (data not shown) maintains the West to East Mediterranean gradient and also the group formed by Greeks and sub-Saharan populations. Turks (old Anatolians), Kurds, Iranians and Armenians have been shown specifically to cluster with the eastern Mediterranean groups (Arnaiz-Villena et al., submitted). On the other hand, genetic distances obtained by using DR-DQ generic typing allele frequencies (data not shown) show that Iranians (LlOxlCr2) and Cretans (1.54X1CT2) are the two populations closest to the Macedonians followed by the other Mediterranean populations. A discontinuity is found between Berbers (Souss) and Greeks (Attica) (9.59X1CT2 vs. 12.42X1CT2) showing that the latter have a distant relationship with Mediterran ean populations as previously described (10, 22) and cluster together with the sub-Saharan populations.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_04a.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_04a.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Fig. 2. Correspondence analysis showing a global view of the re¬lationship between Mediterraneans and sub-Saharan and Black African populations according to HLA allele frequencies in three dimensions (bidimensional representation). HLA-DRB1 allele fre¬quencies data.</span><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_05a.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_05a.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Fig. 3. Correspondence analysis showing a global view of the re¬lationship among West Mediterraneans (green),<br />East Mediterran¬eans (orange),<br />Greeks and sub-Saharan populations (red) and<br />Blacks (grey)<br />according to HLA allele frequencies in three dimen¬sions (bidimensional representation).<br />HLA-DR and DQ (low-resolution) allele frequencies data.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Common HLA-DRB1 alleles between Greeks and sub-Saharan Africans</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_06a.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_06a.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br />Fig. 1. Neighbor-Joining dendrogram showing relatedness be¬tween Macedonians and other populations. Genetic distances between populations (DA) were calculated by using HLA-DRB1 (high-resolution). Data from other populations were from references detailed in Table 1. Boots¬trap values from 1000 replicates are shown.<br /><br />Most frequent HLA-A, -B, -DRB1, and -DQB1 extended haplotypes in the Mace¬donian population and their possible origin<br /><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_07a.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_07a.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">HF: Haplotype frequency. aAlso found in Basques (2.4%), Spaniards (3.4%), Britons (2.9%), Danes (3.4%), Cretans (1.1%), Germans (4.8%), Austrians (5.3%) and Yugoslavs (7.7%) (2, 9, 10, 15, 16). bThis haplotype has been found in Albanians (3.9%), Italians (2.1%), Yugoslavs (3.5%), Turks (1.1%), Spaniards (1.1%) and Greeks (4.0%) (2, 16 and our own unpublished results). candd Pres¬ent only in Macedonians. ePartially (B52-DRB1*1502-DQB1*0601) found in Moroccans (1.5%), Cretans (2.5%), Spaniards (1.1%) and Italians (0.8%) (2, 16, 22). fHaplotype found in Armenians (2.1%) and Italians (0.7%) (2, 16). gOnly found in Italians (0.8%) (2, 16). hHaplotype found only in Iberians, Portuguese (1.5%) and Spaniards (0.3%) (15). iPresent in Turks (0.9%) and in Jews (our own unpublished results and 33). Other low frequency haplotypes present in Macedonians are also shared with central Europeans (A*03-B*07-DRB1*1501-DQB1*0602, HF: 0.8; A*02-B*13-DRB1*0701-DQB1*02, HF: 0.8; A*02-B*44-DRB1*0701-DQB1*02, HF: 0.6), western Europeans (A*02-B*07-DRB1*1501-DQB1*0602, HF: 0.6), north Africans (A*02-B*07-DRB1*1001-DQB1*0501, HF: 0.6) and Mediterranean-Europeans (A*23-B*44-DRB1*0701-DQB1*02, HF: 0.6) (2, 8-10, 16 and our own unpublished results)<br /><a href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_08a.gif" target="_blank">Table 4</a><br />AF: Allele frequency. Some of these HLA-DRB1 alleles are also present in other populations: aNot found in other populations. bPresent in Hungarians (0.4%). cFound in Amerindians and some Pacific peoples. dNot found in other populations. eFound in Hungarians (1.2%). fPresent in Hva Island (Croatia, 0.3%) and Amerindian Yukpa (2.3%). gFound in Lebanese 0.1%. hFound in Hva Island (Croatia, 0.9%) and Hungarians (2.6%). iAlso found in Lebanese (2.3%) and Hungarians (2.6%). jNot found in other populations. kAlso present in Hvar Island (Croatia, 1.0%) (2, 23)<br />Table 5<br />HLA-A, -B, -DRB1, and -DQB1 linkage disequilibria in Macedonians<br /><br />Extended HLA haplotypes were determined in Macedonians and compared with those previously reported in other populations (Table 4). HLA-A-B and DRB1*-DQB1* two-loci linkage disequilib¬rium data (not shown) show that the most frequent combinations are characteristic of European and Mediterranean (western and eastern) populations (B*18-DRB1*1104, Haplotype Frequency (HF): 9.0; A*02-B*18, HF: 8.1; A*01-B*08, HF: 5.5; B*08-DRB1*0301, HF: 5.2; A*24-B*35, HF: 4.9 and B*07-DRB1*1501, HF: 4.1). The HLA-A-B-DR-DQ extended haplotypes found in the Macedonian population (Table 4) reflect common characteristics with the other "older" Medi¬terranean background (see footnote to Table 4). These haplotype results are concordant with those obtained by the allele frequency analyses (genetic distances, neighbor-joining trees and correspon¬dence, see above).<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:crimson;">Common alleles of Greeks with sub-Saharan Africans</span></strong><br /><br />In order to study the possible origin of the Greeks who remain outliers among Mediterraneans (10, 22), specific DRB1 alleles pres¬ent in Greeks and not present in the other Mediterranean popula¬tions were searched in other geographically not very distant popu lations. Our own data, the 11th and 12th International Histocom-patibility Workshops reference panels (2, 16, 23) and other previously described data were used (see Table 1). Table 5 shows the presence of these Greek alleles mainly in sub-Saharan popula¬tions from Ethiopia (Amhara, Oromo), Sudan (Nuba) and West Africa (Rimaibe, Fulani, Mossi). Some of these alleles are sporadi¬cally present in other populations without any relationships among them (see footnote to Table 5). It may be deduced from these data that sub-Saharans and Greeks share quasi-specific HLA-DRB1 alleles. The neighbor-joining tree (Fig. 1) and the cor¬respondence analyses (Figs 2 and 3) confirm this Greek/sub-Sahar-an relatedness. The HLA-DRB1 genetic distances between Greeks and other Mediterraneans are shown in Table 6 and also support a sub-Saharan/Greek relatedness; genetic distances with HLA-DR and -DQ generic typings (not shown) give essentially the same re¬sults. No relationship of Greeks is seen with the Senegalese and South African Blacks (Bantu and people coming from the Guinea Gulf after the Bantu expansion, respectively (24)), nor with the present day Bushmen (24).<br />Two different types of problem regarding the obtained data are discarded: 1) mistakes in the HLA typings and 2) mistakes in the assignation of these specific alleles (DRB1*0417, *1112, etc, see Table 5). These problems are not likely to exist in the present work because; 1) HLA typings have been made by genetic technologies in three different Greek populations (2, 23) and 2) similar results are obtained when generic typing is used (DR-DQ analysis in Fig. 3; see also ref. 22).<br /><br />Genetic distances (DA) between the different groups of Greeks and other populations (xlO2)<br />obtained by using HLA-DRB1 allele frequencies <br />(see Table 1 for identification of populations)<br /><br /><a href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_09a.gif" target="_blank">Table 6</a><br /><br />Discussion<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:crimson;">Macedonians</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:crimson;">Our results show that Macedonians are related to other Mediterran¬eans and do not show a close relationship with Greeks</span></strong>; however they do with Cretans (Tables 3, 4, Figs 1-3). This supports the theory that Macedonians are one of the most ancient peoples existing in the Balkan peninsula, probably long before arrival of the Mycaenian Greeks (10) about 2000 B.C. Other possible explanation is that they might have shared a genetic background with the Greeks before an hypothetical admixture between Greeks and sub-Saharans might have occurred. The cultural, historical and genetic identity of Macedonians is established according to our results. However, 19th century historians focused all the culture in Greece ignoring all the other Mediterranean cultures present in the area long before the classical Greek one (25).<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:crimson;">Greeks are genetically related to sub-Saharans</span></strong><br /><br />Much to our surprise, the reason why Greeks did not show a close relatedness with all the other Mediterraneans analyzed (Tables 5, 6 and Figs 1-3) was their genetic relationship with sub-Saharan eth¬nic groups now residing in Ethiopia, Sudan and West Africa (Burki-na-Fasso). Although some Greek DRB1 alleles are not completely specific of the Greek/sub-Saharan sharing, the list of alleles (Table 5) is self-explanatory. The conclusion is that part of the Greek gen¬etic pool may be sub-Saharan and that the admixture has occurred at an uncertain but ancient time.<br />The origin of the West African Black ethnic groups (Fulani, Mossi and Rimaibe sampled in Burkina-Fasso) is probably Ethiopian (26, 27) (Fig. 4). The Fulani are semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers and one of the few people in the area to use cows' milk and its by¬products to feed themselves and to trade; their facial parameters show a Caucasian admixture. The Rimaibe Blacks have been slaves belonging to the Fulani and have frequently mixed with them (27). The Nuba people are now widespread all over Sudan, but are de¬scendants of the ancient Nubians that ruled Egypt between 8th-7th centuries B.C. (28) and later established their kingdom at Meroe, North Khartoum. Two kinds of Nubians were described in ancient times: Reds and Blacks, probably reflecting the degree of Caucasian admixture. Both the Oromo and Amharic peoples live in the Ethiop¬ian mountains (27). They obviously have in common a genetic back¬ground with the west-African groups mentioned above. Linguistic, social, traditional and historical evidence supports an east-to-west migration of peoples through the Sahel (southern Sahara strip), al¬though this is still debated (26, 27).<br />Thus, it is hypothesized that there could have been a migration from southern Sahara which mixed with ancient Greeks to give rise to a part of the present day Greek genetic background. The admix¬ture must have occurred in the Aegean Islands and Athens area at least (Figs 1 and 2). The reason why this admixture is not seen in Crete is unclear but may be related to the influential and strong Minoan empire which hindered foreigners establishment (10). Also, the time when admixture occurred could be after the overthrown of some of the Negroid Egyptian dynasties (Nubian or from other periods) or after undetermined natural catastrophes (i.e.: dryness). Indeed, ancient Greeks believed that their religion and culture came from Egypt (4, 25).<br /><br /><a href="http://my.opera.com/ancientmacedonia/homes/albums/57269/arnaiz_vilena_10a.jpg" target="_blank">Fig. 4. </a><br />Map showing the location of the populations tested in the present work..<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >The complete scientific report on the Macedonian Genes done by the Spanish University of Complutense, now is back online for free (at the original website you must pay in order to view the complete report).<br /> The address is <a href="http://www.makedonika.org/processpaid.aspcontentid=ti.2001.pdf">http://www.makedonika.org/processpaid.aspcontentid=ti.2001.pdf</a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-15526531163763223812007-07-06T01:32:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:33:26.331-07:00Who Were (and Are) the Macedonians<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">by Eugene Borza </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This paper seeks to illuminate the problems associated with determining the ethnicity of the ancient Macedonians (were they Greek?), and to discuss the "reverberations" (to use the organisers' term) of that issue in modem times. While the 1971 OED may regard the use of the word "ethnicity" as obsolete, no adequate substitute for the word exists. Indeed, part of the discussion in my paper will, following the lead of Loring Danforth in his recent The Macedonian Conflict.- Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World (Princeton 1995), attempt to illustrate some principles by which the "ethnicity" of the ancient Macedonians -- and, perhaps, other ancient peoples -- can be discussed in a coherent manner.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Among the questions asked as appropriate to a methodological model of determining ethnicity are:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I. What were a people's origins and what language did they speak? From the surviving literary sources (Hesiod, Herodotus, and Thucydides) there is little information about Macedonian origins, and the archaeological data from the early period is sparse and inconclusive. On the matter of language, and despite attempts to make Macedonian a dialect of Greek, one must accept the conclusion of the linguist R. A. Crossland in the recent CAH, that an insufficient amount of Macedonian has survived to know what language it was. But it is clear from later sources that Macedonian and Greek were mutually unintelligible in the court of Alexander the Great. Moreover, the presence in Macedonia of inscriptions written in Greek is no more proof that the Macedonians were Greek than, e.g., the existence of Greek inscriptions on Thracian vessels and coins proves that the Thracians were Greeks. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">II. Self-identity: what did the Macedonians say or think about themselves? Virtually nothing has survived from the Macedonians themselves (they are among the silent peoples of antiquity), and very little remains in the Classical and Hellenistic non-Macedonian sources about Macedonian attitudes.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">III. What did others say about the Macedonians? Here there is a relative abundance of information from Arrian, Plutarch (Alexander, Eumenes), Diodorus 17-20, Justin, Curtius Rufus, and Nepos (Eumenes), based upon Greek and Greek-derived Latin sources. It is clear that over a five-century span of writing in two languages representing a variety of historiographical and philosophical positions the ancient writers regarded the Greeks and Macedonians as two separate and distinct peoples whose relationship was marked by considerable antipathy, if not outright hostility.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">IV. What is the nature of cultural expressions as revealed by archaeology? As above we are blessed with an increasing amount of physical evidence revealing information about Macedonian tastes in art and decoration, religion, political and economic institutions, architecture and settlement patterns. Clearly the Macedonians were in many respects Hellenized, especially on the upper levels of their society, as demonstrated by the excavations of Greek archaeologists over the past two decades. Yet there is much that is different, e. g., their political institutions, burial practices, and religious monuments.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I will argue that, whoever the Macedonians were, they emerged as a people distinct from the Greeks who lived to the south and east. In time their royal court -- which probably did not have Greek origins (the tradition in Herodotus that the Macedonian kings were descended from Argos is probably a piece of Macedonian royal propaganda) -- became Hellenized in many respects, and I shall review the influence of mainstream Greek culture on architecture, art, and literary preferences.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Finally, a look at contemporary Balkan politics. The Greek government firmly maintains that the ancient Macedonians were ethnic Greeks, and that any claim by the new Republic of Macedonia (The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) to the name "Macedonia" and the symbols of ancient Macedonia is tantamount to an expropriation of Greek history. Moreover, it is claimed that there is no such thing as a distinct Slavic Macedonian identity and language separate from Bulgaria and Serbia.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I shall review the evidence for the existence of a modern Macedonian ethnicity with reference to my recent work in a Macedonian ethnic community in Steelton, Pennsylvania. Both the gravestones in a local cemetery and US census reports from the early twentieth century provide evidence that émigrés from Macedonia who lived and died in Steelton in the early twentieth century considered themselves to be distinct from their Serbian and Bulgarian neighbours.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I shall conclude with a summary showing how the present conflict between Greeks and Macedonians in the Balkans is characterised by both sides reaching back to antiquity to provide an often false historical basis to justify their respective modern positions: the theme of "reverberations" as mentioned by the organisers of the panel.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This file is located at: http://scholar.cc.emory.edu/scripts/APA/abstracts/borza.html</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-62211929502083094262007-07-06T01:31:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:32:21.016-07:00Ulrich Wilcken<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Perusing through Ulrich Wilcken's book "Alexander the Great" we find on p. 22 the following passage:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The beginnings of Macedonian history are shrouded in complete darkness. There is keen controversy on the ethnological problem, whether Macedonians were Greek or not."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">P. 22, line 4: "Linguistic science has at its disposal a very limited quantity of Macedonian words, and the archaeological exploration of Macedonia has hardly begun."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Page 167 line 5, we find: (Describing the all familiar episode with Cleitus)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"He shouted in Macedonian for his hypaspists, and ordered the trumpeter to sound the alarm". (The most revealing point in Alexander's psyche; the time when he felt that conspiracy against his life is in the making, when he felt his life is in danger, forgetting his "Hellenic" mask, he shouts in his native Macedonian language. Yes, indeed, a very revealing point. Stripped from any artificiality, and pretentiousness, he reverts to the most instinctive/primitive response and shouts to his guards in Macedonian language.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Line 6. "And yet when we take into account the political conditions, religion and morals of the Macedonians, our conviction is strengthened that they were Greek race and akin to the Dorians."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let us take a closer look:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(a) Religion transcends borders and ethnicity. I find this argument weak but have included it in fairness. As for politics, Greeks did not live in a kingdom, nor did Macedonians live in city-states.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">p. 187, line 15, we read the following passage referring to his advances to the Hyphasis:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"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."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">p. 170, line 31 we find: (Referring to the conspiracy involving the royal pages, the sons of Macedonian nobles. These royal pages who "waited on the king's person", were brought, and tried, in front of the Macedonian army, and consequently executed by stoning. By the way, these royal pages were tutored by Callisthenes.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"As Callisthenes was a Greek, there was no question of trying him by the Macedonian army."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[He, Callisthenes, a Greek, cannot be tried by the Macedonian army. Is this not a political differentiation based on ethnic classification or national separation?]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">for on p.171, line 33, we see the following reference:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"On the march and in battle he was just the same as ever, he (Alexander) was the king of the Macedonian nation, who shared with them the unspeakable fatigues, and the hunger and thirst of this guerrilla warfare."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(c) "Morals"?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This must be the weakest link of the three. As it was indicated above, people who inhabit same geographical area, share common borders and fight common enemies, and most of all, trade with each other, sooner or later, they are not only going to borrow from one another, imitate each other's styles (to a certain extent), but even steal ideas from each other. That is, surely, inevitable. Nevertheless, the morals of the ancient Macedonians were quite different from those of the ancient Greeks. They were not branded "barbarians" for nothing. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Line 20, p. 22. Referring to the episode of Alexander I who desired to take part in the Olympic Games, to which only Hellenes had access to:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"He was at first refused as a barbarian, and it was only when by a bold fiction he traced back the pedigree of his house, the Argead, to the Herald Temenids of Argos, that he was admitted as a competitor."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Line 28, p. 22 and cont. on p. 23.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Even in Philip's day the Greeks saw in the Macedonians a non-Greek foreign people, and we must remember this if we are to understand the history of Philip and Alexander, and especially the resistance and obstacles which met them from the Greeks. The point is much more important than our modern conviction that Greeks and Macedonians were brethren, this was equally unknown to both, and therefore could have no political effect."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is same Wilcken who previously stated that:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"When we take into account the political conditions, religion and morals of the Macedonians our convictions are strengthened..."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now, after further consideration of the existing conditions in the fifth and fourth century BC, he, Wilken, states:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The point is much more important than our modern conviction that Greeks and Macedonians were brethren, this was equally unknown to both, and therefore could have no political effect."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[so much for consistency...]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Line 37, p.23 "A strong Illyrian and Thracian can thus be recognised in Macedonian speech and manners. These however are only trifles compared with the Greek character of the Macedonian nationality; for example, the names of the true full-blooded Macedonians, especially of the princes and nobles, are purely Greek in their formation and sounds".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[But how do we know how the Macedonians themselves referred to each other. This assumption is based on Greek sources for the names...but I'm being fair.] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Line 4 on p. 26 we find the following statement:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Macedonians were thoroughly healthy people, trained not by Greek athletics, but, like the Romans, by military service."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Line 9, p. 26 reads:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The dislike was reciprocal, for the Macedonians have grown into a proud masterful nation, which with highly developed national consciousness looked down upon the Hellenes with contempt. This fact too is of prime importance for the understanding of later history."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Note: If in fact the ancient Macedonians were regarded as Greeks, like the Thebans, Athenians, Spartans and the other city-states of Greece, why do not find any Greek city-state elevated as a nation. Is the usage of "Macedonian nation" by Wilcken and others accidental? He uses the terms "Macedonians and Greeks" repeatedly throughout his book. Obviously, he finds a strong need to differentiate between these two peoples.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This differentiation is obvious in the following passages: p.69, line 26, p.128, line 28, p.129, line 21, p.150, line 12, p.168, line 32, p.169, line 2, p.193 line 11, p.177, line 3, etc.]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Line 8, p. 44, we follow:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Philip was the Hegemon, the federal general, selected for life by the congress. His kingdom of Macedon naturally did not belong to the Hellenic League..."</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-35270300087090476272007-07-06T01:29:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:31:11.546-07:00Speaking of Eugene Borza<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The American Philological Association refers to Eugene Borza as the "Macedonian specialist". </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the introductory chapter of "Makedonika" by Carol G. Thomas, Eugene Borza is also called "the Macedonian specialist", and his colleague Peter Green describes Eugene's work on Macedonia as "seminal."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Please read what P. Green thinks of Borza's approach to the studies of ancient history, and of his method of abstraction of truth: "Never was a man less given to the kind of mean-spirited odium philologicum that so often marks classical debate. Gene could slice an argument to pieces while still charming its exponents out of the trees."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ernst Badian from Harvard University writes: "It is chiefly Gene's merit that recognisably historical interpretation of the history of classical Macedonia has not only become possible, but it is now accepted by all historians who have no vested interest in the mythology superseded by Gene's work. Needless to say, I welcome and agree with that approach and have never disagreed with him except on relatively trivial details of interpretation."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here are some excerpts from Borza's writings regarding the Ancient Macedonians and the Ancient Greeks.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the matter of distinction between Greeks and Macedonians:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">1) "Neither Greeks nor Macedonians considered the Macedonians to be Greeks." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the composition of Alexander's army:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">2) "Thus we look in vain for the evidence that Alexander was heavily dependent upon Greeks either in quantity or quality."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">3) "The pattern is clear: the trend toward the end of the king's life was to install Macedonians in key positions at the expense of Asians, and to retain very few Greeks."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">4) "The conclusion is inescapable: there was a largely ethnic Macedonian imperial administration from beginning to end. Alexander used Greeks in court for cultural reasons, Greek troops (often under Macedonian commanders) for limited tasks and with some discomfort, and Greek commanders and officials for limited duties. Typically, a Greek will enter Alexander's service from an Aegean or Asian city through the practice of some special activity: he could read and write, keep figures or sail, all of which skills the Macedonians required. Some Greeks may have moved on to military service as well. In other words, the role of Greeks in Alexander's service was not much different from what their role had been in the services of Xerxes and the third Darius."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the policy of hellenization with Alexander's conquest of Asia and the Greek assertion that he spread Hellenism:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">5) "If one wishes to believe that Alexander had a policy of hellenization - as opposed to the incidental and informal spread of Greek culture - the evidence must come from sources other than those presented here. One wonders - archaeology aside - where this evidence would be."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the issue of whether Alexander and Philip "united" the Greek city-states or conquered them:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">6) "In European Greece Alexander continued and reinforced Philip II's policy of rule over the city-states, a rule resulting from conquest."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the ethnic tension between Macedonians and Greeks:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Referring to the episode of Eumenes of Cardia and his bid to reach the throne:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"And if there were any doubt about the status of Greeks among the Macedonians the tragic career of Eumenes in the immediate Wars of succession should put it to rest. The ancient sources are replete with information about the ethnic prejudice Eumenes suffered from Macedonians."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">7) "The tension at court between Greeks and Macedonians, tension that the ancient authors clearly recognised as ethnic division."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On Alexander's dismissal of his Greek allies:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">8) "A few days later at Ecbatana, Alexander dismissed his Greek allies, and charade with Greece was over." On the so called Dorian invasion:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">9) The theory of the Dorian invasion (based on Hdt. 9.26, followed by Thuc. I.12) is largely an invention of nineteenth-century historography, and is otherwise unsupported by either archaeological or linguistic evidence."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">10) "The Dorians are invisible archeologically."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">11) "There is no archaeological record of the Dorian movements, and the mythic arguments are largely conjectural, based on folk traditions about the Dorian home originally having been in northwest Greece.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">12) "The explanation for the connection between the Dorians and the Macedonians may be more ingenious than convincing, resting uncomfortably on myth and conjecture."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the Macedonian own tradition and origin:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">13) "As the Macedonians settled the region following the expulsion of existing peoples, they probably introduced their own customs and language(s); there is no evidence that they adopted any existing language, even though they were now in contact with neighbouring populations who spoke a variety of Greek and non-Greek tongues." On the Macedonian language:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">14) "The main evidence for Macedonian existing as separate language comes from a handful of late sources describing events in the train of Alexander the Great, where the Macedonian tongue is mentioned specifically."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">15) "The evidence suggests that Macedonian was distinct from ordinary Attic Greek used as a language of the court and of diplomacy."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">16) "The handful of surviving genuine Macedonian words - not loan words from Greek - do not show the changes expected from Greek dialect."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the Macedonian material culture being different from the Greek:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">17) "The most visible expression of material culture thus far recovered are the fourth - and third-century tombs. The architectural form, decoration, and burial goods of these tombs, which now number between sixty and seventy, are unlike what is found in the Greek south, or even in the neighbouring independent Greek cities of the north Aegean littoral (exception Amphipolis). Macedonian burial habits suggest different view of the afterlife from the Greeks', even while many of the same gods were worshipped." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">18) "Many of the public expressions of worship may have been different."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">19) "There is an absence of major public religious monuments from Macedonian sites before the end of the fourth century (another difference from the Greeks)."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">20). "Must be cautious both in attributing Greek forms of worship to the Macedonians and in using these forms of worship as a means of confirming Hellenic identity."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">21) "In brief, one must conclude that the similarities between some Macedonian and Greek customs and objects are not of themselves proof that Macedonians were a Greek tribe, even though it is undeniable that on certain levels Greek cultural influences eventually became pervasive."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">22) "Greeks and Macedonians remained steadfastly antipathetic toward one another (with dislike of a different quality than the mutual long-term hostility shared by some Greek city-states) until well into the Hellenic period, when both the culmination of hellenic acculturation in the north and the rise of Rome made it clear that what these peoples shared took precedence over their historical enmities."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">23) "They made their mark not as a tribe of Greek or other Balkan peoples, but as 'Macedonians'. This was understood by foreign protagonists from the time of Darius and Xerxes to the age of Roman generals."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">24) "It is time to put the matter of the Macedonians' ethnic identity to rest.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-81495990692742540532007-07-06T01:28:00.002-07:002007-07-06T01:29:39.128-07:00Quintus Curtius Rufus<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The History of Alexander </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Introduction</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I have selected several passages from Rufus' book in order to provide the readers with documented evidence about the ancient Macedonians. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Modern Greeks claim that:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(a) Alexander the Great was Greek</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(b) The ancient Macedonians were Greeks,</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(c) The ancient Macedonians spoke Greek, i.e., there was no separate Macedonian language,</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(d) Alexander's army was a Greek army.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(e) Philip II and Alexander the Great of Macedon united the Greek city states.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, these claims are disputed by ancient accounts. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Quintus Curtius Rufus</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The History of Alexander</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[1]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Alexander meanwhile dealt swiftly with the unrest in Greece - not only did the Athenians rejoice at Philip's death, but the Aetolians, the Thebans, as well as Spartans and the Peloponnesians, were ready to throw off the Macedonian yoke. (Diod. 17.3.3-5) - and he marched south into Thessaly, demanding the loyalty of its people in the name of their common ancestors, Achilles (Justin 11.3.1-2; cf. Diod. 17.4.1). And with speed and diplomacy Alexander brought the Thebans and Athenians into submission (Diod. 17.4.4-6) [p.20]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are two important points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(1) "unrest in Greece" and</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(2) "Thebans and Athenians into submission"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(1) The "unrest in Greece" encompasses all the city-states in Greece. These city-states were ready to throw off the Macedonian yoke. Here we have a clear delineation between Greek city-states, who were the conquered party, and Macedonia, the conqueror. This passage/quote in a very unambiguous way illustrates how pitiful and ridiculous is the Greeks' position when they claim, or equate, Macedonia as being one of, or the same as, the Greek city states. If Macedonia is regarded as part of Greece, then Greece, in this case, is being conquered by Greece itself. (In the Greeks' schemes of web-threading this contradiction, is not only overlooked, but readily promoted.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(2) "Thebans and Athenians into submission" means one thing: There was no peaceful dialogue between the warring parties. There was no negotiation, no debate and no embassy deputation's. It was a battle with spears. It was a land won by the spear; it was a war of conquest. Therefore, Greeks' position that Alexander united the Greek city-states, rests on euphemistic foundation, and as such, has no validity with historical justice. Bottom line is, that there was no "unification" of the Greek states by Alexander or his father Philip II. When one "unifies" one does not force submission of the subjects, there is no "yoke" to be thrown off.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[2]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"It was decided to raze the city to the ground as a lesson to all Greek states which contemplated rebellion." [p.21]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Notes of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"As a lesson to all Greek states". This statement indicates that Macedonia was not, and could not be included in Greece, for Macedonia was the one "giving" the lesson. Another example where the modern Greek position is untenable. Macedonia was never a part of Greece, and "Macedonia" cannot be used in a same breath with the Greek city states.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[3]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Alexander also referred to his father, Philip, conqueror of Athenians, and recalled to their minds the recent conquest of Boeotia and the annihilation of its best known city." [p.41]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(1) "Philip, a conqueror of Athenians"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It would be redundant if I re-emphasize the fact that there was a "conquest" and not a "unification" of the Greek city-states by Philip from Macedon.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[4]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander, in a letter, responds to Darius: "His Majesty Alexander to Darius: Greetings. The Darius whose name you have assumed wrought utter destruction upon the Greek inhabitants of the Hellespontine coast and upon the Greek colonies of Ionia, and then crossed the sea with a mighty army, bringing the war to Macedonia and Greece." [p.50-1]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[5]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"From here the Macedonians crossed to Mitylene which had been recently seized by the Athenian Chares, and was now held by him with a garrison of Persians, 2,000 strong. Unable to withstand the siege, Chares surrendered the city on condition that he be allowed to leave in safety, after which he made for Imbros. The Macedonians spared those who surrender." [p.63]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Athenian" Chares with 2,000 of Persian soldiers fighting against Alexander's Macedonians. Another example of Greeks fighting against Macedonia. If this was a war of revenge on Persia, Greeks have no business fighting with Persians against the Macedonians. The conclusion still remains the same: There was no Greek army with Alexander, and there was no Greek conquest.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[6]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"There is a report that, after the king had completed the Macedonian custom of marking out the circular boundary for the future city-walls with barley-meal, flocks of birds flew down and fed on the barley. Many regarded this as an unfavorable omen, but the verdict of the seers was that the city would have a large immigrant population and would provide the means of livelihood to many countries." [p.69]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[7]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"As it happened, Alexander had been sent from Macedonia a present of Macedonian clothes and a large quantity of purple material." [p.97]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Macedonian clothes, and purple material. (Macedonian customs 2) Macedonians dressed differently than the Greeks. One very peculiar feature being the kautsia, the well known Macedonian hat. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[8]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"...but the king's conscience would not permit him to leave his men unburied, for by Macedonian convention there is hardly any duty in military life as binding as burial of one's dead." [p.100]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[9]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Inflamed with greed for kingship, Bessus and Nabarzanes now decided to carry out the plan they had long been hatching. (The plot to kill Darius the III.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"If, as they feared, Alexander rejected their treacherous overtures, they would murder Darius and head for Bactria with the troops of their own people. However, open arrest of Darius was impossible because the Persians, many thousands strong would come to the aid of their king, and the loyalty of the Greeks also caused apprehension." [p.111]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Loyalty of the Greeks" serving and guarding Darius. Strangely enough, this is supposedly at a time when Alexander and his Macedonians were "avenging" Greece for the past wrongs done to her by the Persians. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The uncomfortable question still remains: What were these [over 50,000 strong] Greeks doing with Darius fighting the Macedonians when "Greece" was fighting Persia? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[9]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Patron, the Greek commander, speaks with Darius:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Your Majesty", said Patron, 'we few are all that remain of 50,000 Greeks. We were all with you in your more fortunate days, and in your present situation we remain as we were when you were prospering, ready to make for and to accept as our country and our home any lands you choose. We and you have been drawn together both by your prosperity and your adversity. By this inviolable loyalty of ours I beg and beseech you: pitch your tent in our area of the camp and let us be your bodyguards. We have left Greece behind; for us there is no Bactria; our hopes rest entirely in you - I wish that were true of the others also! Further talk serves no purpose. As a foreigner born of another race I should not be asking for the responsibility of guarding your person if I thought anyone else could do it."[p.112-13]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">50,000 Greeks serving with Darius's army. Let us sift through this, rather obvious, knot: Alexander of Macedon is fighting Darius from Persia. Alexander crossed Hellespont into Asia with a force of 43,000 troops. (7,000 of these 43,000 were Greek allies, supplied by the league as per their arrangement. Most of these Greeks were dismissed and returned to the mainland. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Over 50,000 Greeks and over 100,000 Persians are fighting Alexander's Macedonians. The Greek loyalty and numerical superiority lies with Darius and his Persians, not with Alexander and his Macedonians. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Modern Greeks claim that Alexander's conquest was a Greek conquest to avenge Greece's wrongs done by Xerxes, a Persian commander. Do these numbers indicate a Greek conquest? Perhaps they indicate a Macedonian conquest and a Greco-Persian defeat.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">As Peter Green puts it: "if this was a Greek conquest where were the Greek troops?" </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[10]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Men! If you consider the scale of our achievements, your longing for peace and your weariness of brilliant campaigns are not at all surprising. Let me pass over the Illyrians, the Triballians, Boeotia, Thrace, Sparta, the Aecheans, the Peloponnese - all of them subdued under my direct leadership or by campaigns</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">conducted under my orders of instructions." [p.121-22]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">When one unites, one does not force submission of the conquered people.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[11]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"In capital cases it was a long-established Macedonian practice for the king to conduct the trial while the army (or the commons in peace-time) acted as jury, and the position of the king counted for nothing unless his influence had been substantial prior to the trial." [p.135]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[12]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander speaks:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Macedonians are going to judge your case," he said. "Please state whether you will use your native language before them."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Philotas:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Besides the Macedonians, there are many present who, I think, will find what I am going to say easier to understand if I use the language you yourself have been using, your purpose, I believe, being only to enable more</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">people to understand you."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then the king said:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Do you see how offensive Philotas find even his native language? He alone feels an aversion to learning it. But let him speak as he pleases - only remember he as contemptuous of our way of life as he is of our language." [p.138]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(a) "Your native language"</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(b) "Macedonians are going to judge your case"</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(c) "Contemptuous of our way of life"</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(d) "Contemptuous of our language"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander the Great speaks of his Macedonian language, His Macedonian way of life,</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">His Macedonian native language. In lieu of these facts isn't it a gross distortion of history to claim that the Macedonian language did not exist? Isn't it a colossal lie to claim that Macedonians were Greeks? Isn't this the king of the Macedonians claiming to have used his native language? Isn't this the king of Macedon, Alexander the Great, speaking of "our way of life"? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[13]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The general feeling was that Philotas should be stoned to death according to Macedonian customs, but Hephaestion, Craterus, and Coenus declared that torture should be employed to force the truth out of him, and those who had advocated other punishment went over to their view." [p.142]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[14]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"What they feared was the Macedonian law which provided the death penalty also for relatives of people who had plotted against the king." [p.143]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[15]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"While Alexander was in stationary camp here, reports arrived from Greece of the insurrection of the Peloponnesians and the Laconians."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Insurrection in Greece. Once again there is a compelling thought that needs to be addressed: If, in fact, Alexander's conquest of Asia was a "Greek conquest", and Alexander's army was a "Greek army", then, how is it possible for the Greeks to insurrect/rebel against their own king who leads them on a conquest of Asia to avenge Greece? Something smells rotten with modern Greek revisionism.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[16]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Roxane's father was transported with unexpected delight when he heard Alexander's words, and the king, in the heat of passion, ordered bread to be brought, in accordance with their traditions, for this was the most sacred symbol of betrothal among the Macedonians." [p.187]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[17]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Alexander attempts to appropriate divine honours to himself)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"He wished to be believed, not just called, the son of Jupiter, as if it were possible for him to have as much control over men's minds as their tongues, and to give orders for the Macedonians to follow the Persian customs in doing homage to him by prostrating themselves on the ground. To feed this desire of his there was no lack of pernicious flattery - over the course of royalty, whose power is often subverted by adulation than by an enemy. Nor were the Macedonians to blame for this, for none of them could bear the slightest deviation from tradition; rather it was the Greeks, whose corrupt ways had also debased the profession of the liberal arts." [p.187-8]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[18]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Accordingly, one festive day, Alexander had a sumptuous banquet organized</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">so that he could invite not only his principle friends among the Macedonians</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">and Greeks but also the enemy nobility." [p.188]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Macedonians and Greeks".</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">If ancient Macedonians were Greeks, then, one identifier would have been sufficient. As you can see, the ancient authors knew the difference between Greeks and Macedonians.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[19]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The trial of Hermolaus)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"As for you Callisthenes, the only person to think you a man (because you are an assassin), I know why you want him brought forward. It is so that the insult which sometimes uttered against me and sometimes heard from him can be repeated by his lips before this gathering. Were he a Macedonian I would have introduced him here along with you - a teacher truly worth of his pupil. As it is, he is an Olynthian and does not enjoy the same rights." [p.195]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Were he a Macedonian [Callisthenes]?</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is there a difference between Greeks (Olynthian) and Macedonian? Calisthenes could not be brought in front of the army (the jury), because he was a Greek and not a Macedonian. Callisthenes' ethnicity is of primary significance here. (Similarly, Eumenes' ethnicity was the primary determining factor in the final outcome. It is also suggested in Plutarch Eum. 3.1, where Eumenes expresses his belief that, being a foreigner, he had no right to take sides in the dispute which broke out among the Macedonians over the succession to Alexander after the latter's death. Furthermore, in Diodoros' narrative 19.13.1 Seleucos urges Eumenes' officers and men to desert him because he is a foreigner, who, furthermore, has killed many Macedonians.) The wealth of evidence supporting the fact that ancient Macedonians were a separate ethnos from the Greeks is overwhelming. Eumenes and Callisthenes, being foreigners - Greeks - did not stand a chance among the Macedonians. At the end, their Greek ethnicity cost them their lives.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[20]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Alexander speaks to his Macedonians)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Where is that shout of yours that shows your enthusiasm? Where that characteristic look of my Macedonians?" [p.217]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"My Macedonians" not my Greeks.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[21]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Starting with Macedonia, I now have power over Greece; I have brought Thrace and the Illyrians under my control; rule the Triballi and the Maedi. I have Asia in my possession from the Hellespont to the Red Sea." [p.227]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Points of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Simply, Alexander does not say that he united Greece. He shows no distinction between Thrace, Maedi, or Greece. He has control over all of them. They are all conquered lands.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[22]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">At a banquet prepared by Alexander for the ambassadors of certain tribes from India, among the invited guest present was the Macedonian Horratas and the Greek boxer named Dioxippus. Now at the feast the Macedonian Horratas who was already drunk, began to make insulting comments to Dioxippus and to challenge him, if he were a man, to fight a duel. Dioxippus agreed and the two men fought rather short fight with Dioxippus emerging a victor. A huge crowd of soldiers, including the Greeks, supported Dioxippus. "The outcome of the show dismayed Alexander, as well as the Macedonian soldiers, especially since the barbarians had been present, for he feared that a mockery had been made of the celebrated Macedonian valour." [p.229]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Point of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Two fighters, one Macedonian, one Greek. Macedonian lost the fight. Alexander is dismayed. Why?</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">How can a mockery be made of the Macedonian valour if in this fight the Greek won? Weren't the Macedonians Greeks? Again, the Greek claim that ancient Macedonians were Greeks, bristles with distortions and rests on a liquid foundation. If Alexander the Great felt that Macedonians were Greeks, then, the outcome of the battle, between these two fighters, should not have dismayed him at all. As Peter Green stated, "it was a matter of national prestige". The truth is, that Alexander never considered his Macedonians to be Greeks. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[23]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"But destiny was already bringing civil war upon the Macedonian nation." [p.254]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Point of interest:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">How can you have a nation (Macedonian) within another nation (Greece)?</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[24]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The customary purification of the soldiers by the Macedonian kings involved cutting a bitch in two and throwing down her entrails on the left and right at the far end of the plain into which the army was to be led. Then all the soldiers would stand within that area, cavalry in one spot, phalanx in another." [p.255]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Summation:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The difference between ancient Macedonians and the ancient Greeks is obvious. It is not a matter for debate. Language, customs, traditions and the every-day soldier's behavior, all point to two distinct and separate ethnicities. In short, the ancient Macedonians were, simply Macedonians and the Greeks, to them, were a foreign people. </span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-69736456300252302012007-07-06T01:28:00.001-07:002007-07-06T01:28:46.061-07:00Polybius<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Rise of the Roman Empire</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Polybius was a Greek statesman and historian. [c 200-118]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Rise of the Roman Empire</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">introduction by F.W.Walbank</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The fact is that we can obtain no more than an impression of a whole from a part, but certainly neither a thorough knowledge nor an accurate understanding. We must conclude then that specialized studies or monographs contribute very little to our grasp of the whole and our conviction of its truth. On the contrary, it is only by combining and comparing the various parts of the whole with one another and noting their resemblances and their differences that we shall arrive at a comprehensive view, and thus encompass both the practical benefits and the pleasure that the reading of history affords." Polybius [p 45]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[How true, indeed. By combining and comparing various statements from the ancient authors can we arrive to the truest picture of the ancients themselves. Let them speak of themselves, and let their true sentiments flood the pages uncorrupted and free of any biased and preconceived prejudices. Only then, can we assess the magnitude of their purity of soul, and the passion for their national aspirations.]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(1)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Polibius reports on the speech made by Agelaus of Naupactus at the first conference in the presence of the King and the allies. He spoke as follows:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[A selected segment from his speech]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"I therefore beg you all to be on your guard against this danger, and I appeal especially to King Philip. [Philip V] For you the safest policy, instead of wearing down the Greeks and making them an easy prey for the invader, is to take care of them as you would of your own body, and to protect every province of Greece as you would if it were a part of your own dominions. If you follow this policy, the Greeks will be your friends and your faithful allies in case of attack, and foreigners will be the less inclined to plot against your throne, because they will be discouraged by the loyalty of the Greeks towards you." [p .300] book 5.104</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(2)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Book XVIII, 1]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Philip V from Macedon invites Flamininus (Roman commander) to explain what he, Philip, should do to have peace:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Roman general replied that his duty dictated an answer which was both simple and clear. He demanded that Philip should withdraw from the whole of Greece, restore to each of the states the prisoners and deserters he was holding, hand over to the Romans the region of Illyria which he had seized after the treaty that had been made in Epirus, and so on...."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(3)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Book XVIII. 3)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">A man named Alexander of Isus, who had the reputation of being both an experienced statesman and an able orator, rose to speak:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">'Why,' he asked Philip V, 'had he sold into slavery the people of Cius, which was also a member of the Aetolian League, when he himself was on friendly terms with the Aetolians?' </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(4)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Book XVIII. 5)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Philip V from Macedon responds to the Greek and Roman demands:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"But what is most outrageous of all is that they should attempt to put themselves on the same footing as the Romans and demand that the Macedonians should withdraw from the whole of Greece. To use such language is arrogant enough in the first place, but while we may endure this from the Romans, it is quite intolerable coming from the Aetolians. In any case,' he continued, 'what is this Greece which you demand that I should evacuate, and how do you define Greece? Certainly most of the Aetolians themselves are not Greeks! The countries of the Agraae, the Apodotea, and the Aphilochians cannot be regarded as Greek. So do you allow me to remain in those territories."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(6)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">..."For there can be no doubt that by their indefatigable energy and daring they raised Macedonia from the status of a petty kingdom to that of the greatest and most glorious monarchy in the world. And apart from what was accomplished during Philip's lifetime, the successes that were achieved by Alexander after his father's death won for them a reputation for valour which has been universally recognised by posterity."...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Polybius: The Rise of the Roman Empire, published by Penguin Classics,</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Book VIII.9 page 371.] </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">As with other ancient authors, Polybius clearly separates the ancient Macedonians from the ancient Greeks. As a matter of fact, the ethnic difference between these two people was not a matter of debate -- it was obviously a commonly known fact.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-58013451459579560782007-07-06T01:27:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:28:01.786-07:00PLUTARCH<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Age of Alexander </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">All ancient writers have something unique to contribute. Here, one will find a number of cited references concerning the ancient Macedonians. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[In Plutarch The Age of Alexander, noted by J.T.Griffith]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[1]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Alexander was born on the sixth day of the month Hecatombaeon, which the Macedonians call Lous, the same day on which the temple of Artemis at Ephesus was burned down." [p.254]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[2]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander was only twenty years old when he inherited his kingdom, which at the moment was beset by formidable jealousies and feuds, and external dangers on every side. The neighboring barbarian tribes were eager to throw off the Macedonian yoke and longed for the rule of their native kings: As for the Greek states, although Philip had defeated them in battle, he had not had time to subdue them or accustom them to his authority.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander's Macedonian advisers feared that a crisis was at hand</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">and urged the young king to leave the Greek states to their own devices</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">and refrain from using any force against them. [p.263]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Alexander chose the opposite course)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Did Plutarch say Philip "united" the Greek states or "defeated" them in battle?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[3]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander returns from the campaigns at the Danube, north of Macedon.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">When the news reached him that the Thebans had revolted and were being supported by the Athenians, he immediately marched south through the pass of Thermopylae.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">'Demosthenes', he said, 'called me a boy while I was in Illyria and among the Triballi, and a youth when I was marching through Thessaly; I will show him I am a man by the time I reach the walls of Athens.' [p.264]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[4]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Thebans countered by demanding the surrender of Philotas and Antipater and appealing to all who wished to liberate Greece to range themselves on their side, and at this Alexander ordered his troops to prepare for battle."</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[p.264]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Question:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">'To liberate Greece' from whom? From the Macedonians? But today's Greeks claim that the Macedonians were Greeks? Either Plutarch is mistaken, or else the Modern day Greeks have got it wrong.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[5]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander asks a women, who was being taken captive, who she was, she replied: 'I am the sister of Theogenes who commanded our army against your father, Philip, and fell at Chaeronea fighting for the liberty of Greece.'</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[p.265]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Question:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Wasn't it unification of Greece by Philip? How strange, every time ancient Greeks fight for the liberty of Greece, Macedonia and the Macedonians are on the opposite side.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[6]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is a story that on one occasion when a large company had been invited to dine with the king, Callisthenes (Alexander's biographer) was called upon, as the cup passed to him, to speak in praise of the Macedonians. This theme he handled so eloquently that the guests rose to applaud and threw their garlands at him. At this Alexander</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">quoted Euripides' line from the Bacchae On noble subjects all men can speak well. 'But now', he went on, 'show us the power of your eloquence by criticizing the Macedonians so that they can recognize their shortcomings and improve themselves.' Callisthenes then turned to the other side of the picture and delivered a long list of home truths about the Macedonians, pointing out that the rise of Philip's power had been brought about by the division among the rest of the Greeks, and quoting the verse</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once civil strife has begun, even scoundrels may find themselves honoured.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The speech earned him the implacable hatred of the Macedonians, and Alexander noted that it was not his eloquence that Callisthenes had demonstrated, but his ill will towards them. [p.311]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[7]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander's letter to Antipater in which he includes Callisthenes in the general accusation, he writes: 'The youths were stoned to death by the Macedonians, but as far as the sophist I shall punish him myself, and I shall not forget those who sent him to me, or the others who give shelter in their cities to those who plot against my life.' In those words, at least, he plainly reveals his hostility to Aristotle in whose house Callisthenes had been brought up, since he was a son of Hero, who was Aristotle's niece.' [p.133]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[8]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cassander's fear of Alexander 'In general, we are told, this fear was implanted so deeply and took such hold of Cassander's mind that even many years later, when he had become king of Macedonia and master of Greece, and was walking about one day looking at the sculpture at Delphi, the mere sight of a statue of Alexander struck him with horror, so that he shuddered and trembled in every limb, his head swam, and he could scarcely regain control of himself.' [p.331]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Question:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Was Macedonia a Greek land, or is it the other way around?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[9]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">'It was Asclepiades, the son of Hipparchus, who first brought the news of Alexander's death to Athens. When it was made public, Demades urged the people not to believe it: If Alexander were really dead, he declared, the stench of the corpse would have filled the whole world long before.' [p.237]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[10]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lamian War 323-322 is also known as the "Hellenic War" by its protagonists. The Greeks, the Hellenes, were fighting the Macedonians led by Antipater at Lamia.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[11]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Modern day Greeks would like to dispatch off Demosthenes castigations of Philip II as political rhetoric, and yet Demosthenes was twice appointed to lead the war effort of Athens against Macedonia. He, Demosthenes, said of Philip that Philip was not Greek, nor related to Greeks but comes from Macedonia where a person could not even bye a decent slave. 'Soon after his death the people of Athens paid him fitting honours by erecting his statue in bronze, and by decreeing that the eldest member of his family should be maintained in the prytaneum at the public expense. On the base of his statue was carved his famous inscription:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">'If only your strength had been equal, Demosthenes, to your wisdom</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Never would Greece have been ruled by a Macedonian Ares' [p.216]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Greece "ruled" not "united" by Macedonian Ares]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[12]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"While Demosthenes was still in exile, Alexander died in Babylon, and the Greek states combined yet again to form a league against Macedon. Demosthenes attached himself to the Athenian convoys, and threw all his energies into helping them incite the various states to attack the Macedonians and drive them out of Greece." [p.212]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[13]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The news of Philip's death reached Athens. Demosthenes appeared in public dressed in magnificent attire and wearing a garland on his head, although his daughter had died only six days before. Aeshines states:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"For my part I cannot say that the Athenians did themselves any credit in putting on garlands and offering sacrifices to celebrate the death of a king who, when he was the conqueror and they the conquered</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">had treated them with such tolerance and humanity. Far apart from provoking the anger of the gods, it was a contemptible action to make Philip a citizen of Athens and pay him honours while he was alive, and then, as soon as he has fallen by another's hand, to be besides themselves with joy, trample on his body, and sing paeans of victory, as though they themselves have accomplished some great feat of arms." [p.207]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[14]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Next when Macedonia was at war with the citizens of Byzantium and Perinthus, Demosthenes persuaded the Athenians to lay aside their grievances and forget the wrongs they had suffered from these peoples in the Social War and to dispatch a force which succeeded in relieving both cities. After this he set off on a diplomatic mission, which was designed to kindle the spirit of resistance to Philip and which took him all over Greece. Finally he succeeded in uniting almost all the states into a confederation against Philip." [p.202]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[15]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The maladies and defects in the Greek scene of the fourth century were not hard to find. But its great and overriding merit is summed up in the word 'freedom.' With allowance made for the infinite variety promoted by</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">so many independent governments, Greece was still broadly speaking a free country. This freedom was threatened and in the end extinguished by the coming of the great Macedonians." [p.8] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[In Plutarch The Age of Alexander, noted by J.T.Griffith]</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-14969801467291465102007-07-06T01:26:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:27:10.323-07:00Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Pierre Jouguet</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[1]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The mythical imagination was always fertile in Greece, and it would have found Greek ancestors for the Macedonian people as easily as it had done for the royal line" [p.70]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[2]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Except for the Macedonian kingdom, the Hellenistic monarchies were not national" [p.173]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[3]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Speaking of Eumenes:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"He knew from experience that in the eyes of the Macedonians he was still a Greek, a foreigner. Plutarch praised his charming and refined manners, which were very unlike the haughty airs of the noble Macedonian officer." [p.142] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[4]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">More on Eumenes:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"But he was not a Macedonian, and the Macedonians did not look upon him as an equal. This may have been one reason for his tenacious loyalty to the cause of the Kings; his fortune was bound up with the Empire, and in the case of a partition he would not have received the support of the Macedonian troops in securing a portion for himself." [p.129]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[5]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On Isocrates:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"At the end of his speech, Isocrates, summarizing the programme which he was proposing to Philip, advised him to be a benefactor to the Greeks, a king to the Macedonians, and to the barbarians not a master, but a chief." [p.106] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[6]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On stationing garrison in Greek cities</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"To endure and maintain a royal garrison must have been, for a city, one of the most certain signs of servitude. As a rule, except in the cases of strategical necessity, Alexander seems to have abstained as much as possible from inflicting the presence of his soldiers and the duty of maintaining them on Greek cities." [p.87] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[7]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Between Macedonia, Greece, and Asia, the three worlds which made up the Empire, union was maintained by the power of the King." [p.74] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[8]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[On Greece's role with Antalcidas Treaty, versus that of the King of Macedon]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"So Greece was in a peculiar situation. It was not properly incorporated in the Empire. It was attached to it by a treaty of alliance which consecrated the hegemony of one ally, without injuring the autonomy of the states. It was directed rather than ruled. But it did not resign itself readily to this secondary role, or to the menace which was always suspended over its liberties. And, indeed, while it was to be feared that Alexander could not be content with this hazardous limited authority, it might also be foreseen that the most serious obstacles to the accomplishments of his designs would come from Greece." [p.71] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[9]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Athens accepted the terms of the Confederation of Corinth, because Alexander had required only a moderate effort of the allies, and had demanded only a few ships from herself. The Empire to which he aspired was to be made chiefly by Macedonians, and for the King of Macedon." [p.70] </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[10]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[After Chaeronea]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"But there were more serious difficulties- the resentment of those defeated at Chaeronea, the political selfishness of each city, the historical past, binding the great states to their traditions, and an invincible repugnance for accepting national unity imposed by a foreign sovereign." [p.70] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[11]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[On Macedonian ethnicity]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">So little do the Macedonians seem to have belonged to the Hellenic community at the beginning, that they did not take part in the great Games of Greece, and when the Kings of Macedon were admitted to them, it was not as Macedonians, but as Heraclids. Isocrates, in the 'Philip' praises them for not having imposed their kingship on the Hellenes, to whom the kingship is always oppressive, and for having gone among foreigners to establish it. He, therefore, did not regard the Macedonians as Greeks." [p.68] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[12]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[On the membership in the Delphic Amphictiony]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"So, too, when, after the Sacred War, Philip obtained a voice in the Delphic Amphictiony, it was given to the King, not to the people of Macedonia." [p.68] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[13]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[On Macedonians and Greeks]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"It is sufficient for our purposes to note that the Hellenes and the Macedonians regarded themselves as different nations, and this feeling did not ceased to be the source of great difficulties for the union of Greece under Macedonian rule. When the union was achieved, it was only by policy of force." [p.68] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[14]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[On Macedonian Empire and Alexander]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The architect was a King of Macedon, and he never forgot his origin, even when, after he had accumulated many crowns, his suspicious comrades accused him of denying it. Alexander always wore the insignias of his national kingship -- the purple cloak, the Kausia, or great hat adorned with purple, and the Macedonian boots. With the insignia, he retained to the end of his life the simple, free manners of his forbears." [p.62] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[15]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[On the Macedonian conquest]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"It was quite certain that Alexander would not be content. He had called himself the avenger of Greece, and had begun the war in the capacity of Strategos of all the Hellenes, but he meant the war chiefly to serve the greatness of Macedonia. That is why there were so few Greeks in the army, which was mainly Macedonian; the Macedonians alone were sufficiently attached to the royal house of their country to follow Alexander in an undertaking for which Asia Minor was already too small a prize." [p.20] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[16]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[On Macedonia and its neighbors]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Alexander had left Antipatros 12,000 foot and 1,500 horse, to protect Macedonia and to watch Greece." [p.9] </span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-34398545758632720412007-07-06T01:25:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:26:14.785-07:00Peter Green on the Ancient Macedonians<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here you will find a number of quotes lifted from Green's books </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Alexander of Macedon" and "Alexander to Actium"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[1]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Colonels, as it happened, promoted Alexander as a great Greek hero, especially to army recruits: the Greeks of the fourth century BC, to whom Alexander was a half-Macedonian, half-Epirote barbarian conqueror, would have found this metamorphosis as ironic as I did.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[2]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Macedonia was the first large territorial state with an effective centralized political, military and administrative structure to come into being on the continent of Europe." [p.1]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[3]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"No one had forgotten that Alexander I, known ironically as the philhellene, had been debarred from the Olympic Games until he manufactured a pedigree connecting the Argeads with the ancient Argive kings." [p.7]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(On p.9 Green refers to this Argive link as "fictitious".)</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[4]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Isocrates' letter to Philip II where he, Isocrates refers to Philip as one who has been blessed with untrammeled freedom to consider Hellas your fatherland Green calls this a rhetorical hyperbole. Indeed, taken as a whole the Address to Philip must have caused its recipient considerable sardonic amusement." [p. 49]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Its ethnic conceit was only equalled by its naivety. [p.49]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[5]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"And though Philip did not give a fig for Panhellenism as an idea, he at once saw how it could be turned into highly effective camouflage (a notion which his son subsequently took over ready-made). Isocrates had, unwittingly, supplied him with the propaganda-line he needed. From now on he merely had to clothe his Macedonian ambitions in a suitable Panhellenic dress." [p.50]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[6]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Greeks had done a deal with Artaxerxes, (Persian commander), and if Philip did not move fast it would be they who invaded his territory, not he theirs. In the event, he moved faster than anyone could have predicted". [p.69]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[This happened before the so-called unification of the Greek states under Philip and the planned invasion of Persia.]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[7]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Greek states retained no more than a pale shadow of their former freedom". [p.80]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[This is how Philip "united" the Greek states.]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[8]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The dedication of the Philipeum was a salutary reminder that from now on, whatever democratic forms might be employed as a salve to the Greeks' self-respect, it was Philip who led and they who followed." [p.86]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[9]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Greek states were to make a common peace and alliance with one another, and constitute themselves into a federal Hellenic League. Simultaneously, the league was to form a separate alliance with Macedonia, though Macedonia itself would not be a league member." [p.86]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Macedonians were not Hellenes, nor were they uniting the Greek states.]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[10]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Philip's Panhellenism was no more than a convenient placebo to keep</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">his allies quiet, a cloak for further Macedonian aggrandizement." [p.87]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[11]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Most Greek statesmen recognized this only too well. To them, their self-styled hegemon was still a semi-barbarian autocrat, whose wishes had been imposed on them by right of conquest; and when Alexander succeeded Philip, he inherited the same bitter legacy of hatred and resentment - which his own policies did little to dispel." [p.87]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[how ironic for modern Greeks to contradict "their" elders]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[12]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The military contingent they supplied were, in reality, so many hostages for their good behavior. As we shall see, whenever they saw the slightest chance of throwing off the Macedonian yoke, they took it." [p. 87]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[13]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Some 15,000 Greek mercenaries, not to mention numerous doctors, technicians and professional diplomats, were already on the Persian payroll; twice as many men, in fact, as the league ultimately contributed for the supposedly Panhellenic crusade against Darius." [p.95]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Modern Greeks claim that Alexander's conquest of Persia was a "Greek conquest." They would be well advised to consider the magnitude of Greeks in service with the Persian king Darius against Macedon.]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[14]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"In the early spring of 336, an advance force of 10,000 men, including a thousand cavalry, crossed over to Asia Minor. Its task was to secure the Hellespont, to stockpile supplies, and in Philip's pleasantly cynical phrase, to 'liberate the Greek cities'." [p.98]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">['cynical phrase' to "liberate the Greek cities".]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[15]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Only the Spartans held aloof. The traditions of their country, they informed the king, did not allow them to serve under a foreign leader. (So much for Macedonia's pretensions to Hellenism.) Alexander did not press the point....." [p.121]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Modern Greeks claim that ancient Macedonians were "Hellenes.". Apparently they know more than the ancient Greeks themselves.]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[16]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Regarding the news of Alexander's death.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"If anyone had doubts about the report, he quickly supressed them: this, after all, was just what every patriotic Greek had hoped and prayed might happen." [p.136]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[A bit strange, given today's revisionism. Ancient Greeks celebrating the death of their alleged unifier?]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[17]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Darius reversed his earlier policy of non-intervention, and began to channel gold into Greece wherever he thought it would do most good. He did not, as yet, commit himself to anything more definite: clearly he hoped that the Greek revolt would solve his problem for him. But the mere thought of a Greeko-Persian coalition must have turned Alexander's blood cold." [p.138]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[18]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"This was the Panhellenic crusade preached by Isocrates, and as such the king's propaganda section continued - for the time being - to present it. No one, so far as we know, was tactless enough to ask the obvious question: if this was a Panhellenic crusade, where were the Greek troops?" [p. 157]</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[19]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Indeed, despite the league's official veto, far more Greeks fought for the Great King - and remained loyal to the bitter end - than were ever conscripted by Alexander." [p.157]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Can Alexander's Macedonian conquest seriously be called a "Greek" conquest? Perhaps the Persian defeat should be referred to as the Greek defeat instead.]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[20]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"What is more, the league's troops were never used in crucial battles (another significant pointer) but kept on garrison and line-of-communication duties. The sole reason for their presence, apart from propaganda purposes, was to serve as hostages for the good behavior of their friends and relatives in Greece. Alexander found them more of an embarrassment than an asset, and the moment he was in a position to do so, he got rid of them." [p.158]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[21]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Alexander lost no time in getting rid of the league's forces which accompanied him - another ironic gloss on his role as a leader of a Panhellenic crusade." [p.183]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[22]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the subject of liberating the Greek cities in Asia: "But the euphemism of a "contribution" did not carry the same unpleasant associations; and the whole scheme, with its implication of a united Greek front, must have made splendid propaganda for home consumption." [p. 188]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[23]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the league's crews: "Their own crews, he pointed out, were still half-trained (the cities</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">of the league must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel when they chose them); and - a revealing admission - a defeat at this point might well trigger off a general revolt of the Greek states. So much for the Panhellenic crusade. Alexander's main fear, we need scarcely doubt, was that the league's fleet might actually desert him if the chance presented itself." [p.190]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[24]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The truth of the matter seems to have been that Alexander distrusted his Greek allies so profoundly - and with good reason - that he preferred to risk the collapse of his campaign in a spate of rebellion rather than entrust its safety to a Greek fleet." [p.192]</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[25]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The case of Aspendus exposes, with harsh clarity, Alexander's fundamental objectives in Asia Minor. So long as he received willing cooperation, the pretense of a Panhellenic crusade could be kept up. But any resistance, the least opposition to his will, met with instant and savage reprisals." [p.208]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[26]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The burning of Persopolis had written finis to the Hellenic crusade as such, and he used this excuse to pay off all his league's troops, Parmenio's Thessalians included. The crisis in Greece was over: he no longer needed these potential trouble makers as hostages." [p. 322]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[27]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"But Greek public opinion was something of which Alexander took notice only when it suited him; and the league served him as a blanket excuse for various questionable or underhand actions, the destruction of Thebes being merely the most notorious." [p.506-7]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[28]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"It is significant that two native uprisings occured on the news of Alexander's death, and both of these, as we shall see in a moment, involved Greeks; there were otherwise no inigenous revolts against the colonial government."[p.6. "Alex. to Actiu m"]</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[29]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"But then, Eumenes was a Greek, and Macedonian troops, especially the old sweats who had served under Philip II, were never really comfortable being led by non-Macedonians." [p.7. "Alex. to Actium".]</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[30]</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Nearcus never came to much among the Successors: but then he, like Eumenes, was a Greek; worse still, he was a Cretan, and thus a proverbial liar." [p.7. "Alex. to Actium"]</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-84275000863628001232007-07-06T01:24:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:25:26.290-07:00Michael Grant<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As was the case with the other authors, here you will find several passages where ancient Macedonians are clearly separated from the ancient Greeks. Their ethnic distinction does not even come into question.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Several passages are lifted from "From Alexander to Cleopatra the Hellenistic world."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Philip II of Macedonia (359 - 336), who made his country into a major power, virtually controlling the mainland Greek city-states, intended to lead his and their forces against the two-centuries-old Persian (Achaemenid) empire, which ruled over huge territories extending from the Aegean to Egypt and central Asia. Philip's motives were mixed: revenge for the Persian invasion of Macedonia and Greece in the previous century, annoyance because the contemporary Persians had at times aided the king's own Greek opponents, a desire to wipe out the only large-scale potential enemy to the Macedonians that was still in existence - and pure lust for expansion." [p.1]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is hardly any serious support for the claim that Macedonia was part of Greece.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"In 334 BC, at the head of 40,000 Macedonian and Greek troops, he (Alexander) crossed the Hellespont (Dardanelles) and confronted the Persian advanced forces on the river Granicus (Can Cayi), winning a victory which enabled him to conquer western and southern Asia Minor." [p.1] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"His motives for undertaking these vast enterprises seem to have been mixed. As a Macedonian, he wanted to show that he could do better than any of the Greeks, who considered his people barbarians." [p.4]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The loyalest of all the successors was Eumenes of Cardia, not a Macedonian but a Greek, which meant that even his first-rate generalship could not gain him the continued support of Macedonian soldiery." [p.101]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Alexander's various successors, to whom Greece was still the most coveted prize, held two conflicting opinions of the city-states (with many nuances in between): that they were still free allies (a view upheld ostensibly, and perhaps genuinely, by the philhellenic Antigonus I Monophtholmos), and, conversely, that they were little better than subjects (the attitude of Antipater and Cassander). [p.105]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Hellenistic kings talked a lot about 'liberating' cities, which (as the realistic Polybius remarked) generally meant seazing them from their rivals - and only rarely signified their exemption from tax. However, the monarchs, for the most part, soon stopped proclaiming that all Greeks must be free, and instead offered 'freedom' as a reward or prize for loyalty to themselves, though this was often a matter of prestige rather than substance, since such freedom, in effect, did not make much difference to the cities one way or the other." [p.106]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once again, there is nothing to suggest that ancient Macedonians were regarded as anything but Macedonians. Greeks were a separate people.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-50101747589954154322007-07-06T01:23:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:24:34.978-07:00The Macedonian Race<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Livy </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Macedonian Race</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ancient Athenians regarded the ancient Macedonians as people of a different race than themselves.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The passage below is copied verbatim from Livy's book XXXI.44.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Such were the activities of the Romans and of Philip on land during that summer. At the beginning of the same summer, the fleet, commanded by the legate Lucius Apustius, left Corcyra, rounded Cape Malea, and joined King Attalus of Scyllaeum, in the region of Hermoine. Hitherto the resentment of the Athenian community against Philip had been kept in check by fear; but now, with the hope of assistance ready at hand, they gave free rein to their anger. There is never any lack at Athenian tongues ready and willing to stir up the passion of the common people; this kind of oratory is nurtured by the applause of the mob in all free communities; but this is especially true of Athens, where eloquence has the greatest influence. The popular assembly immediately carried a proposal that all statues of Philip and all portraits of him, with their inscriptions, and also those of his ancestors of either sex, should be removed and destroyed; that all feast-days, rites, and priesthoods instituted in honour of Philip or his ancestors should be deprived of sanctity; that even the sites of any memorials or inscriptions in his honour should be held accursed, and that it should not be lawful thereafter to decide to set up or dedicate on those sites any of those things which might lawfully be set up or dedicated on an undefiled site; that whenever the priests of the people offered prayer on behalf of the Athenian people and their allies, their armies and navies, they should on every occasion heap curses and execrations on Philip, his family and his realm, his forces on land and sea, and the whole race and name of the Macedonians"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"There was appended to this decree a provision that if anyone afterwards should bring forward a proposal tending to bring on Philip disgrace or dishonour then the Athenian people would pass it in its entirety; whereas if anyone should by word or deed seek to counter his disgrace, or to enhance his honour, the killing of such a person would be lawful homicide. A final clause provided that all the decrees formerly passed against the Pisistratidae should be observed in regard to Philip. This was the Athenians' war against Philip, a war of words, written or spoken, for that is where their only strength lies."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">What is clear from this:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(a) The ancient Greeks regarded the ancient Macedonians as foreigners.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(b) They regarded the ancient Macedonians as people of different race.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(c) They regarded the ancient Macedonians as barbarians, as people who</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">enslaved the Greeks.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(d) This episode describes the situation in Athens around 200 BC</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">(e) It should constantly be borne in mind the intensity of hatred expressed towards the conqueror from the north -- the Macedonians.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">If anyone as much as uttered a positive word for Philip of Macedon, then this person should be killed, and the killing of that person would be taken as a lawful homicide. The feelings were mutual. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Given the above remarks by Livy, the notion, held by some -- that the ancient Macedonians and ancient Greeks were the same people -- becomes rather incredulous. Obviously, the ancient Greeks did not consider the ancient Macedonians to be Greek. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The modern revisionist claim -- that ancient Macedonians were Greek -- is diametrically in conflict with the position of the ancient Greeks.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-77387396604421535172007-07-06T01:22:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:23:38.372-07:00Differences Between Ancient Macedonians and Ancient Greeks<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">by J.S. Gandeto</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">An impressive book on the differences between the two ancient nations - Macedonians and Greeks. "To understand the history of the ancient Macedonians, their ethnogenesis and their innermost drives as people, we need to analyze and comprehend, first and foremost, their deeply rooted material culture. Only by sifting meticulously through the thick layered strata of their rich culture can we discover and appreciate who this ancient people were. The rare glimpses into their intricate and deeply carved traditions afford us a window of luxury through which the plumage of their race emerges and becomes recognizable. Coupled with numerous anecdotes recorded and preserved through time and epitaphs that are impervious to politics and change, we now have a sizeable body of truth to know and believe that ancient Macedonians were, what they said they were—Macedonians" (from the publisher). "It is an illusion to think that ancient Macedonians were Greeks" (synopsis). </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">PREFACE </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The aim of this paper is to acquaint students with the basic differences between ancient Macedonians and the ancient Greeks. For too many years it was an accepted practice to view the ancient Macedonians as Greeks. Little attention was paid to the fact that, ancient biographers and chroniclers left us with no impression that these two dissimilar people were of the same ethnicity or nationality. On the contrary, their reporting is clear and unambiguously explicit and leaves little room for subsequent second-guessing and interpretation. To them, ancient Macedonians constituted people, and a nation quite separate, and in stark contrast, to the Greeks. They militarily subdued the Greeks and subsequently treated them as conquered people; albeit more favorably then the rest of the people in the empire, but conquered subject they were, nevertheless. Roman and Greek biographers, like Curtius Rufus, Polybius, Plutarch, Arrian, Diodorus, Justin and Herodotus described the ancient Macedonians as being a people quite distinct and separate from the ancient Greeks. Neither from an historical point of view, nor from a philosophical or military one, were these people ever regarded as one and the same with the ancient Greeks. Their neighborly discourse, as destiny will have it, was regularly embroidered with constant hostility and mutual antipathy (Borza 1990). </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Whether the reasons for the inclusion of Macedonian studies under Greek history are the result of western sentiments felt toward Greek cultural heritage, or towards Greece as the land where western Christianity took up roots for the first time, or the obvious sympathies they held so dear for the first democratic form of government that originated with the ancient Greek city-states, or not, are of secondary importance to us, and carry no relevancy to the issue of ethno-genesis of the ancient Macedonians. Surely, these are compelling elements that carry enormous influence, but, by the same token, these same elements, if used and employed in the service of securing lasting and verifiable body of historical knowledge would both, distort the truth and undermine the trust in scholarly research. In my opinion, there was a void that needed to be filled, since the scholarship concerning the Argead Dynasty of Macedon slowly and progressively, in the last forty years, has been steadily gaining ground, not as an extension of Greek history, as it was viewed and included under, but as a separate and unique unit of ancient history under the Macedonian period. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although, the term "Hellenistic" period may still be acceptable as a cultural classification of the time during and after Alexander the Great, the term "Macedonistic" period should, and ought to be, used to cover any other historical references. There is no denying that the period from Alexander the Great until well into the Roman time deals with Macedonian Dynasties, their rule, succession and their eventual interaction, or lack there of with the indigenous local populations throughout the Balkan Peninsula, Asia and Egypt. Here, the term "Hellenistic” can hardly do any justice to historical scholarship since its coverage/domain leaves a huge section of history barely touched. Hellenism, the term Johan Gustaf Droysen gave to this era, is such a narrow cultural belt of history that its usage is not only misleading and inappropriate but it also distorts and minimizes the greatness of the ancient Macedonians. Even though the Greek contribution, from a cultural point of view, may be argued to have occupied a place of pivotal importance in the administrative sector of the empire, the organizational, the military and the structural components of this Macedonian Empire must have been obtained, delivered and maintained strictly from Macedonian resources and for Macedonian interests. The concept of an empire, an esoteric notion for the Greeks, was born with the first few initial successes of Alexander, and its meaning, magnitude, scope and structure grew as the string of victories and the success on the battlefields allowed Alexander to enlarge, coordinate and control huge land areas in Asia and Egypt. For almost 3 centuries after Alexander, it was his successors that carried the symbols and the name of the Macedonian Empire. Thus, the very narrow strip of "Hellenism" that comes, as a residue, attached to the period in question, cannot, in any meaningful way, embrace and encompass the scope and the magnitude of an empire that was built, organized and maintained on the strength and the efficiency of the Macedonian army. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Greeks in antiquity were in possession of diverse arrays of sophisticated disciplines of the first order: dramas, tragedies, myths, biographies, histories, sciences, material culture and a flair for exoticism, but not empire. And here, lies the greatest obstacle for the circle to be completed. Macedonians, on the other hand, were in possession of an empire and a handful of other disciplines necessary for the immediate needs and sustenance of it. Droysen's idea to combine both, the Greeks and the Macedonians under one name is certainly appealing from a German point of view, since it finds analogous development of the German states under the strong leadership of Prussia; but it falls significantly short in balancing the immiscible union of contrastingly separate peoples. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nineteenth century Greeks did not regard the Macedonians as people of the same ethnicity (Politis 1993:36; Dimaras 1958; Karagatsis, 1952).(1) Greeks in the late eighteen hundreds and earl nineteenth century viewed the Macedonians as conquerors of Greece. Only after the Megale Idea took up roots in the Greek scholarship, did Greeks embark on providing and securing 'evidence' for their new political vision; which was born and bred from the limbs of the rapidly decaying Ottoman Empire. Macedonia was the only Balkan country left under the Turkish rule after the congress of Berlin in 1878. After the national uprising in 1903 that ended with catastrophic consequences for the Macedonian populace, the leadership of the country was largely decimated by the lawless bands of Turkish marauders, who mercilessly and indiscriminately slaughtered the defenseless masses. Consequently, the Macedonians found themselves too exhausted and leaderless, and lacked political will and stamina to rise up again and unite their bewildered and poor brethren into a cohesive political unit. This calamitous situation, coupled with the prevailing lawlessness and the "illness of the Sultan", was exploited by the neighbors of Macedonia who launch their own armed bands and political agitators to prepare, and secure for themselves a piece of the Macedonian territory.(2) Thus, the Serbs, the Bulgarians and the Greeks succeeded in partitioning Macedonia among themselves in 1913 with the treaty of Bucharest, and with this act most of ancient Macedonia was incorporated into the Greek state for the first time (Borza 1990). </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ever since then, Greece has fervently attempted to stamp a permanent Hellenic imprint on this land. The latest dispute about the name "Macedonia" between Greece and the newly proclaimed Macedonian Republic, which was created by the break up of Yugoslavia, signifies the enormity of the weight to establish and maintain connection with the ancient Macedonians. From the Republic of Macedonia's point of view, it is a matter of human rights and people's rights to call its own country any name its people wished to choose for it, while Greece views it as appropriation of cultural rights. For a more detailed analysis of the ongoing saga between Republic of Macedonia and Greece regarding ownership of the names "Macedonia", and "Macedonian", please see the recently published work "Macedonia: Cultural Right or Cultural Appropriation?" by Larry Reimer.(3)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">At first glance the dispute appears to be centered on judicial matters of human rights, and people's right for self-determination, versus cultural inheritance, and cultural appropriation. This is the tip of the iceberg, wile the remaining bulk of the impasse is more splenetic one, and deals with who has the right to claim the ancient Macedonians as their progenitors; and thereby stake the claim on anything Macedonian. Even though, establishing and proving a connection with the ancients is a tenuous adventure, the impetus and the stakes involved decidedly override the issue.(4) Thus, it is not surprising to find the Greeks passionately embroidered in support of their well known stands that ancient Macedonians were Greeks, and that ancient Macedonia was a Greek land.(5) Most of the Greek authors tend to show, and present uniformly packaged convictions that ancient Macedonians spoke the Greek language, had practiced the same religion as the other Greeks, that their personal names and place names are inevitably Greek (6) , and that ancient Macedonians came from the same stock as Greek people. In other words, these authors, as opposed to others whose believes are derived from their own personal convictions, tend to strictly adhere and taw the government line.(7) </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is interesting to note Peter Green's passage about modern Greeks' view of Alexander: "The Colonels, as it happened, promoted Alexander as a great Greek hero, especially to army recruits: the Greeks of the fourth century BC, to whom Alexander was a half-Macedonian, half Epirote barbarian conqueror, would have found this metamorphosis as ironic as I did" (Green 1991: xv).</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">One of the well-known Greek author A P Daskalakis in 1965 wrote a book entitled "The Hellenism of the Ancient Macedonians," where he meticulously elaborates on all issues of dispute regarding the ethnicity of the ancient Macedonians. While the work is quite extensive in its coverage of all pertinent aspects currently in contention, his omission of some is telling.(8) Professor Daskalakis-who, to a large extent, can be viewed to represent the prevailing "Greek position"--provides evidence in support of his thesis as he sees it fit. On our part, we will endeavor to present the other side of the story, and also to provide scholarly evidence as we see it fit. The reader is free to pick and choose what he wishes. Other aspects of the alleged "Greekness" of the ancient Macedonians will be covered and addressed accordingly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Notes Preface </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. Politis (1993: 40-42) cites fourteen examples from the Greek literature of the 1794-1841 period in which the ancient Macedonians are not considered to be part of the ancient Greek world. Karagatsis said that 'it was an illusion to think that ancient Macedonians were Greeks'. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Useful and quite persuasive reading one can find in Ferdinand Schevill's book A History of the Balkans-From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Published by Dorset Press 1991. We shall bring forward one particular passage that succinctly depicts the Macedonian position before the Balkan wars. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Thus, before the close of the nineteenth century, Macedonia was the scene of a triangular struggle conducted chicfly with the tools of church and schools for the conquest of the mind of the inhabitants; and if by that time the bulk of the Vardar Slavs had gone over to the Bulgar camp, the Serbs had at least managed to gain a foothold to the north of the Shar Dagh mountain, while the Greeks solidly maintained their traditional grip on the southern district contiguous to Thessaly" (p.433-4). </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. Larry Rimer reviews the ongoing conflict between Republic of Macedonia and Greece from a judicial point of view. The article gives an excellent in-depth presentation of difficulties associated with adjudicating international cultural rights vis-a-vis peoples' or human rights issues. European courts may eventually arbitrate the issue that has antagonized the members of the European Union itself. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. (The 'Greek position' regarding the so-called "Greekness" of the ancient Macedonians). The politics of the modern era in the services of national historiography are combined with the reality of today's ever increasing demand for profit. The reader can gain an insight of the intricate interplay between politics, history, and modern-day nationalism. In Peter Green's chapter X, "The Macedonian Connection" in Classical Bearings-Interpreting Ancient History and Culture, one will find the scenes that usually develop behind the curtains, brought up to the forefront. The book was published by University of California Press, Ltd. First Paperback Printing 1998. Please see my commentaries in chapter 17. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">5. See Salonica Terminus by Fred A. Reed, published 1996; Victor Roudometof's The Macedonian Question Colombia University Press, 2000. The most chauvinistic account can be</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">found in Martis' Falsification of Macedonian History, and AP Daskalakis The Hellenism of the Ancient Macedonians 1965. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">6. Personal names. The author listed below has a list of Macedonian names found on inscriptions. J. Gabbert (Wright State University) "The Language of Citizenship in Antigonid Macedonia" The Ancient History Bulletin 2.1 (1988) 10-11. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[If we were to assume that some of the Macedonian names have Greek meanings and thereby must be considered Greek names, then, we must look elsewhere for comparable evidence in order to make a conclusive decision about it. Since Philip and Alexander have Greek etymology, we are willing to "give them" to the Greeks, after all "Philipos" lover of horses, and "Alexander" the protector of men, have Greek meanings. But, then again, we ask: what about the Persian names? Greeks have Greek etymology for all Persian names that we find in the literature. For example: Darius, the Persian king, means "worker" (erxies) Xerxes, another Persian king, means "warrior" (areios), Habrocomes, which means soft in Greek (habro) Harmarnithres, which means "chariot" in Greek (harma) Harpagus, which means "plunderer" in Greek (harpage) and so on.] Detailed elaboration on names and language one can find in Thomas Harrison's "Herodotus' Conception of Foreign Languages" HYSTOS vol 2, 1998. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Macedonians did not worship the same Gods as the Greeks either. The fact that many Gods were found worshiped by both peoples can be attributed to the Greek desire to find Greek equivalent God with other people's deities. Pan, Poseidon, Asiris, Hera, Hestia, Themis, Dioscuri have no Greek origin and are not "Greek" Gods, but they all have a Greek equivalent. Besides, aren't all Greek Gods in fact Egyptian Gods? Didn't Herodotus state that? (Hdt.2. 50 (schedon de kai panton ta aunomata to theon ex Aiguptou eleluthe es ten Hellada). See also Hoddinott, The Thracians, 169-70. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">7. An excellent work by Anastasia Karakasidou Fields of Wheat fields of Blood illuminates the deep-seated Greek distrust in people of 'Slavic' origin in Aegean Macedonia. It is quite interesting to note that Cambridge University Press reneged on publishing this work under the threat of Greek reaction/violence. The author's life was also threatened and many of the Greek intellectuals obediently lined in support behind the government's position. Please read also The Macedonians of Greece-Denying Ethnic Identity Published by Human Rights Watch 1999. Persuasive elaboration of Macedonian and Greek discourse can be obtained from the journal of Modern Greek Studies 14.2 (1996) 253-30 1, l John Hopkins University Press] in Victor Roudometof's article "Nationalism and Identity Politics in the Balkans: Greece and Macedonian Question" </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">8. In his book The Hellenism of the Ancient Macedonians Daskalakis covers all the pertinent "areas of sameness" currently in dispute between ancient Macedonians and the ancient Greeks like names, religion, language, origin and mythology (the 'Greek' position), but fails to even acknowledge the material culture of the ancient Macedonians. The material culture of the ancient Macedonians, in our opinion, represents the crux of the "otherness" that clearly separates these two ancient peoples. The so-called "Greek" position it seems, is held only by modern Greeks, writes Eugene Borza (1990: 91 n. 27), citing George Cawkwell's Philip of Macedon reference on p. 22.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">-end-</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">You can read parts of this important book at: http://books.iuniverse.com/viewbooks.asp?isbn=0595233066&page=fm1</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The book can be purchased at at Barnes and Noble's www.bn.com or Amazon www.amazon.com where it is competitively priced.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-61449173118477511222007-07-06T01:21:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:22:34.715-07:00Herodotus - The Histories<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Translated by Betty Radice </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Herodotus was one of the foremost biographers in antiquity and he lived in Greece at the time when the Macedonian king, Alexander I, was in power. He is said to have visited the Macedonian Kingdom and supposedly, profited from this excursion. He wrote several short passages about the Macedonians. What he said, and to what extent can these passages be taken as evidence for the alleged 'greekness' of the ancient Macedonians, will be briefly presented for your adjudication. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Herodotus describes the episode with the Persian envoys, who apparently visited Macedon when Alexander I's father, Amyntas, was in power, and how Alexander I succeeded in 'taking care of the Persians' by murdering all of them and removing their luggage and carriages. When the Persians attempted to trace the lost envoys, Alexander I cleverly succeeded in manipulating the Persians by giving his own sister Gygaea as a wife to the Persian commander Bubares.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here Herodotus writes:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"I happen to know, and I will demonstrate in a subsequent chapter of this history, that these descendants of Perdiccas are, as they themselves claim, of Greek nationality. This was, moreover, recognized by the managers of the Olympic games, on the occasion when Alexander wished to compete and his Greek competitors tried to exclude him on the ground that foreigners were not allowed to take part. Alexander, however, proved his Argive descent, and so was accepted as a Greek and allowed to enter for the foot race. He came in equal first." Book 5. 22.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now, let us peruse the modern literature and see if we can shed some light on this particular passage from Herodotus.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Eugene Borza [In the Shadow of Olympus p. 112]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Herodotus' story is fraught with too many difficulties to make sense of it. For example, either (1) Alexander lost the run-off for his dead heat, which is why his name does not appear in the victor lists; or (2) he won the run-off, although Herodotus does not tell us this; or (3) it remained a dead heat, which is impossible in light Olympic practice; or (4) it was a special race, in which case it is unlikely that his fellow competitors would have protested Alexander's presence; or (5) Alexander never competed at Olympia.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is best to abandon this story, which belongs in the category of the tale of Alexander at Plataea. In their commentaries on these passages Macan and How and Wells long ago recognized that the Olympic Games story was based on family legend (Hdt. 5.22: "as the descendants of Perdiccas themselves say [autoi legousi]"), weak proofs of their Hellenic descent. Moreover, the Olympic Games tale is twice removed: Herodotus heard from the Argeadea (perhaps from Alexander himself) that the king had told something to the judges, but we do not know what those proofs were.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The theme of the Olympic and Plataea incidents are the same: "I am Alexander, a Greek" which seems to be the main point. The more credible accounts of Alexander at Tempe and at Athens do not pursue this theme; they state Alexander's activities without embellishment or appeal to prohellenism. Moreover, the insistence that Alexander is a Greek, and descendant from Greeks, rubs against the spirit of Herodotus 7.130, who speaks of the Thessalians as the first Greeks to come under Persian submission--a perfect opportunity for Herodotus to point out that the Macedonians were a non Greek race ruled over by Greek kings, something he nowhere mentions.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In sum, it would appear that Olympia and Plataea incidents---when taken together with the tale of the ill--fated Persian embassy to Amyntas' court in which Alexander proclaims the Greek descent of the royal house--are part of Alexander's own attempts to integrate himself into the Greek community during the postwar period. They should be discarded both because they are propaganda and because they invite suspicion on the general grounds outlined above.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In support of his position Borza brings forward many interesting questions.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">He asks:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Why is it that no "Spartan or Athenian or Argive felt constrained to prove to the others that he and his family were Hellenes? But Macedonian kings seem hard put to argue in behalf of their Hellenic ancestry in the fifth century BC, and that circumstance is telling. Even if one were to accept that all the Herodotian stories about Alexander were true, why did the Greeks, who normally were knowledgeable about matters of ethnic kinship, not already know that the Macedonian monarchy was Greek? But--following Herodotus--the stated race competitors at Olympia thought the Macedonian was a foreigner (Hdt. 5.22: barbaros)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Second, for his effort on behalf of the Greek cause against the Persians Alexander is known as "Philhellene". Now this is kind of odd to call a Greek a "friend of the Greeks".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"This title", writes Borza, "is normally reserved for non--Greeks".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Borza concludes: "It is prudent to reject the stories of the ill--fated Persian embassy to Amyntas's court, Alexander's midnight ride at Plataea, and his participation in the Olympic Games as tales derived from Alexander himself (or from some official court version of things)."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Peter Green - [Classical Bearings p.157] "All Herodotus in fact says is that Alexander himself demonstrated his Argive ancestry (in itself a highly dubious genealogical claim), and was thus adjudged a Greek---against angry opposition, be it noted, from the stewards of the Games. Even if, with professor N.G.L. Hammond, we accept this ethnic certification at face value, it tells us, as he makes plain, nothing whatsoever about Macedonians generally. Alexander's dynasty, if Greek, he writes, regarded itself as Macedonian only by right of rule, as a branch of the Hanoverian house has come to 'regard itself as English'. On top of which, Philip II's son Alexander had an Epirote mother, which compounds the problem from yet another ethnic angle."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ernst Badian - "Studies in the History of Art Vol. 10: Macedonia and Greece in Late Classical Early Hellenistic Times"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"We have no way of judging the authenticity of either the claim or the evidence that went with it, but it is clear that at the time the decision was not easy. There were outraged protests from the other competitors, who rejected Alexander I as a barbarian -- which proves, at least, that the Temenid descent and the royal genealogy had hitherto been an isoteric item of knowledge. However, the Hellanodikai decided to accept it -- whether moved by the evidence or by political considerations, we again cannot tell. In view of the time and circumstances in which the claim first appears and the objections it encountered, modern scholars have often suspected that it was largely spun out of fortuitous resemblance of the name of the Argead clan to city of Argos; with this given, the descent (of course) could not be less than royal, i.e., Temenid."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Badian, like Borza, believes that Alexander I "invented the story (in its details a common type of myth) of how he had fought against his father's Persian connection by having the Persian ambassadors murdered, and that it was only in order to hush this up and save the royal family's lives that the marriage of his sister to a Persian had been arranged."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Badian sums it up:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"As a matter of fact, there is reason to think that at least some even among Alexander I's friends and supporters had regarded the Olympic decision as political rather than factual -- as a reward for services to the Hellenic cause rather than as prompted by genuine belief in the evidence he had adduced. We find him described in the lexicographers, who go back to fourth-century sources, as "Philhellene" -- surely not an appellation that could be given to an actual Greek."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here, I would like to offer another episode, reported by Herodotus, which clearly indicates that ancient Greeks did not regard the ancient Macedonians as brethren.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Persian armies were ready and poised to strike Greece. Greek allies were assembled and prepared to defend their nation. Mardonius, the Persian commander, sends Alexander I to Athens with a message. On his arrival to Athens as Mardonius' ambassador Alexander spoke to the Athenians urging them to accept the terms offered by Mardonius.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In Sparta, the news that Alexander brought a message from the Great King, caused great consternation. Sparta feared that an alliance between Athens and Persia was in the making. She, then, quickly rushed an envoy to Athens herself. As it happened, Alexander I and the Spartan envoy had their audience at the same time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">When Alexander I was done the Spartan envoys spoke in their turn:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Do not let Alexander's smooth-sounding version of Mardonius' proposals seduce you; he does only what one might expect of him -- a despot himself, of course he collaborates with a despot. But such conduct is not for you - at least, not if you are wise; for surely you know that in foreigners there is neither truth nor trust." (Hdt. 8.142)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Please note the reference to Alexander I as a foreigner.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then, the Athenians gave answer to Alexander I.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Among the other things, they told Alexander that they, the Athenians, will never make peace with Mardonius, and will oppose him 'unremittingly'. As to Alexander I's advice and urgings that they accept the terms offered by Mardonius they said:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Never come to us again with a proposal like this, and never think you are doing us good service when you urge us to a course which is outrageous - for it would be a pity if you were to suffer some hurt at the hands of the Athenians, when you are our friend and benefactor." (Hdt. 8.143)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">To the Spartan envoys they said the following:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"No doubt it was natural that the Lacedaemonians should dread the idea of our making terms with Persia; none the less it shows a poor estimate of the spirit of Athens. There is not so much gold nor land so fair that we would take for pay to join the common enemy and bring Greece into subjection. There are many compelling reasons against our doing so, even if we wished: the first and greatest is the burning of the temples and images of our gods - now ashes and rubble. It is our bounded duty to avenge this desecration with all our might - not to clasp the hand that wrought it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Again there is the Greek nation - the community of blood and language, temples and rituals, and our common customs; if Athens were to betray all this, it would not be well done. We, would have you know, if you did not know it already, that so long as a single Athenians remains alive we will make no peace with Xerxes." (Hdt. 8.144)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This expressed kinship between the Greeks is evident and stands in stark contrast to the reference they used for the Macedonians -- that of foreigners. </span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6616191946470424633.post-33137847001588282642007-07-06T01:19:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:21:26.413-07:00The Greek view of the Macedonians and their monarchy<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">N.G.L. Hammond</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"We have already inferred from the incident at the Olympic Games c.500 that the Macedonians themselves, as opposed to their kings, were considered not to be Greeks. Herodotus said this clearly in four words, introducing Amyntas, who was king c.500, as ' a Greek ruling over Macedonians' (5.20. 4), and Thucydides described the Macedonians and other northern tribes as 'barbarians' in the sense of 'non-Greeks', despite the fact that they were Greek-speaking. (Thuc. 2. 80. 5-7; 2. 81. 6; 4. 124.1) When it comes to political controversy, it was naturally good invective to call the king a barbarian too. Thus a Greek speech-writer called the Thessalians 'Greeks' and Archelaus, the contemporary Macedonian king, 'a barbarian'. Demosthenes spoke of Philip II as 'the barbarian from Pella'. Writing in 346 and eager to win Philip's approval, Isocrates paid tribute to Philip as a blue-blooded Greek and made it clear at the same time that Macedonians were not Greeks. (Isoc. 5. 108 and 154) Aristotle, born at Stageira on the Macedonian border and the son of a Greek doctor at the Macedonian court, classed the Macedonians and their institution of Monarchy as not Greek, as we shall see shortly. It is thus not surprising that the Macedonians considered themselves to be, and were treated by Alexander the Great as being, separate from the Greeks. They were proud to be so."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">******</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">[Interesting (inadvertent) reversals in Hammond narrative: "Philip and Alexander attracted many able foreigners, especially Greeks, to their service, and many of these were made Companions (e.g., Nearchus a Cretan, Eumenes a citizen of Cardia, and Sitalces a member of the Odrysian royal family). Some of them, if they served in the King's Army, were given Macedonian citizenship, which apparently was in the gift of the king." p. 141]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">******</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"These instances show us that even Philip II and Alexander III introduced very few Greeks into the Assembly of Macedones. They wanted the 'Macedones' to have their own esprit de corps; and those of them who came from Lower Macedonia continued to speak the Macedonian dialect among themselves and to address the king or a commander in that dialect as a sign of affection."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">53-an ordinary soldier is represented as speaking in the Macedonian dialect to the dying Alexander in Ps-Callisthenes B 32. 14 (ed. Kroll), and the Macedonian soldiers greeted Eumenes in the Macedonian dialect when he came to command them (Plu. Eum. 14. 11). [p.64]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The name of the ancient Macedonians is derived from Macedon, who was the grandchild of Deukalion, the father of all Greeks. This we may infer from Hesiod's genealogy. It may be proven that Macedonians spoke Greek since Macedon, the ancestor of Macedonians, was a brother of Magnes, the ancestor of Thessalians, who spoke Greek." [Professor Nicholas Hammond, University of Cambridge, 1993] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">As you probably know, there were many tribes in Macedonia. If we accept Macedon to be the progenitor of his tribe, where is the connection for the rest of the Macedonian tribes? What about the Lynchestians, Elimiotes, Eordians, Orestians etc. Besides, in the 'Catalogue of Women', the eponimous founder of Makedonia, Makedon, was the son of Zeus and Deukalion's daughter Thuia. This line of descent EXCLUDES him from the Hellenic genealogy - and hence, by implication, the Macedonians from the ranks of Hellenism." [Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity, by J. Hall, p.64]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0