The Slavic propaganda is often based on quotes from ancient historians (mainly Greek) who seem to suggest that Macedonia was a different nation. However:
# These quotes usually consist of one or two isolated lines which is misleading. Reading the whole document the meaning is completely different.
# The translation is not accurate or some words have been carefully altered to change the meaning.
In this page we will present a number of "mis-interpreted" ancient quotes to prove how the Slavs exploit the ancient sources to dispute the Greek identity of the ancient Macedonians.
Argument: "Herodotus (7.130) speaks of the Thessalians as the first Greeks to come under Persian submission (although the Persians entered Macedonia first), and here using his own words, he clearly exclude the Macedonians from the Greeks. We are therefore, left with the conclusion that Herodotus did not consider the Macedonians as Greeks."
Answer: The text is wrongly translated. What Herodotus actually says in 7.130.3 is:
“This he said with regard in particular to the sons of Aleues, the Thessalians who were the first Greeks to surrender themselves to the king. Xerxes supposed that when they offered him friendship they spoke for the whole of their nation….”
The Thessalians were the first Greeks to surrender to the Persians NOT to come under Persian submission. This does not exclude the Macedonians from the Greeks as the Macedonians did not surrender to the Persians.
This is what the original Greek document says:
“oti protoi Hellenwn eontes Thessaloi edosan euoutous basilei” (= the first of the Greeks who gave up themselves to the king.)
Argument:"Dimosthenis said that the Macedonians were not Greek"
Answer:This argument refers to the following quote from the Athenian statesman Dimosthenis (Dimosthenis, Third Philippic, 31)
"... not only no Greek, nor related to the Greeks, but not even a barbarian from any place that can be named with honors, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia, whence it was never yet possible to buy a decent slave"
This quote appears to accuse king Philippos of Macedonia as a non-Greek. However the majority of today's historians ascribe these claims to the political differences between Dimosthenis and King Philippos. It is well known that Dimosthenis as a passionate supporter of the Athenian democracy was very concerned about the rise of the Macedonan kingdom.
"Demosthenes' allegations were lent an appearance of credibility by the fact apparent to every observer, that the lifestyle of the Macedonians was different from that of a Greek city state. This alien way of life was however, common to the western Greeks in Epeiros, Akarnania and Aitolia, as well as to the Macedonians, and their fundenmental Greek nationality was never doubted. Only as a consequencce of the political disagreement with Macedonia was the question ever raised at all."
[Proffesor M.Errington, "A History of Macedonia", University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1990]
"The speeches of Demosthenes, that deal with Philip as the enemy,should not be interpreted as an indication of the barbarian origins of Macedonians, but as an expression of conflict between two different political systems: the democratic system of the city-state (e.g.Athens) versus the monarchy (Kingdom of Macedonia). Personally, I believe that it is the common language, which gives one the opportunity to share a common civilization. Thus the language is the main factor that forms a national identity."
[Professor Nicholas Hammond, "Macedonian Echo" magazine, February 1993]
Also note that the quote does not suggest that the "Macedonians were not Greek" as the Slavs themselves wrongly assert, it only refers to king Philippos.
Argument: "The Philotas trial - Alexander urges Philotas to speak in his native Macedonian language"
Answer: Another argument they frequently use to prove that the Maceonian were speaking a different language is the so called 'Philotas incident' described by the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus in the "The History of Alexander"
Alexander the Great speaks in front of the Macedones of his army: "The Macedonians are going to judge your case," he said. "Please state whether you will use your native language before them."
Philotas: "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 people to understand you."
Then the king said: "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".
The Slavic propaganda claims that when Philotas started to speak in Greek Alexander asked him to use his "native Macedonian language". Even if we assume that this episode took place exactly like this, it is still very unclear. Curtius does not make any reference to any specific language. He doesn't refer to a "Macedonian language" at all. This is only an assumption made by the Slavs. There is absolutely no evidence to support this assumption - that Philotas' native language was the "Macedonian language" .
It would be more logical to suggest that Philotas started to speak in Persian (since they were in Persia and it would enable more people to understand... ) and Alexander asked him to speak in Greek - his native language.
Argument:"The ancient historians refer to the Macedonian language as a separate language from the Greek"
Answer: This is typical example of ignorance about the Greek history. In fact there is no ancient document referring explicitly to a "Macedonian language". All the ancient documents they quote referring to the "Macedonian language" use the term "Makedonisti" which of course does not mean a different language. It refers to the form of the Greek language spoken in Macedonia. Similarly there are ancient documents referring to the Greek dialect of Athens as "Attikisti" or the Greek dialect of Peloponisos as "Peloponisti" etc. Should we assume that there was an Athenian language from that, or that the Athenians were not Greek?
Argument:"Not only that the Macedonians did not worshiped the Greek gods, but also there is not a single temple discovered on the territory of Macedonia which resembles the temples in Greece."
Answer: Here we have two lies in one sentence!
1. The Macedonians did worship the Greek Gods and there are
numerous quotes from the ancient historians which clearly prove that. On the other hand there is absolutely no historical evidence to support that the Macedonians worshiped different Gods than the rest of the Greeks.
2. Several temples in Maceonia were dedicated to the Greek Gods. Here are a few examples:
# The temple of Afrodite in Dion
# The temple of Eukleia in Vergina
# The temple of Zeus in Dodoni
Argument:"The Macedonians did not take part in the Peloponesean war, therefore they were not Greek"
Answer: The Peloponesean war was a war between two sides Athens and Sparti. A few of their allies took part as well but the vast majority of the Greek states did not participate. The fact that the Macedonians were absent from the Peloponesean war can not be used as an argument against the Greek identity of Macedonia.
Argument:"Pausanias (1.1.3) talks about a war between Greeks and Macedonians: 'Leosthenes at the head of the Athenians and the united Greeks defeated the Macedonians in Boeotia and again outside Thermopylae forced them into Lamia' "
Answer: This is one of the most audacious attempts by the Slavs to twist the Greek history. A war between two ancient Greek states was a very common phenomenon and it certainly did NOT mean that one of the states was not Greek. The war between Athens and Sparti (known as the Peloponesean war) which lasted for 27 years is well known. Should we assume that either the Athenians or the Spartans were not Greek because tey fought agaist each other?
More examles of wars betwwen the Greek states:
# 395-386 bc : the Corinthian War: Corinth, Boeotia, Argos and Athens backed by Persia against Sparta.
# 369 bc : Second invasion of the Peloponnese by Thebes under Epaminondas.
# 364 bc : Battle of Cynoscephalae. Thebes destroyed Orchomenus.
# 362 bc : The battle of Mantinea. Thebes under Epaminondas defeated a force of Spartans, Athenians and Mantineans.
# 356-346 bc : Phocis seized Delphi and provoked the Third Sacred War (Phocis against Thebes, Locris and Thessaly).
It is obvious that a war between the ancient Greek states was a very common phenomenon so a battle between Macedon and Athens can not be used as proof that the Macedonians were not Greek.
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