The Greek-Macedonia Issue: Macedonia Is Grecian! Essay, Research Paper

In 1912, after the Balkan wars, the geographical district known as Macedonia, in ancient times known as the Grecian Kingdom at the northern terminal of Greece, was divided-up between Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. The ownership of the district, or more significantly, the individuality of it, has been an of import issue of all time since. This is a profoundly political and historical issue & # 8211 ; an issue that is doubtless one of a really complex and frequently colored nature. The Issue, I believe, can be summed-up in the undermentioned questions:

1 ) Where does Macedonia lie?

2 ) Was Macedonia considered/regarded as Greek?

3 ) Who are the True dwellers of Macedonia today?

And, of class, what is possibly the nucleus of the Greek statement –

4 ) Do the actions of FYROM ( Former Yugoslav. Republic of Macedonia ) constitute a larceny of an ancient civilization and individuality, to which they have no legal or hereditary rights?

There are two chief groups at drama in the & # 8216 ; Macedonian issue & # 8217 ; :

1 ) Greek Macedonians & # 8211 ; those who are considered to hold some kind of genetic/ancestral nexus to the Ancient Macedonians.

2 ) FYROM/non-Greek & # 8216 ; Macedonians & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; a Slavonic state trying to follow the history and civilization of Ancient Macedonia as its ain.

The most onvious job the Greeks have with these non-Greeks claiming to be Macedonians, is the acceptance of a Grecian name for a non-greek people ( Macedonia/ns ) . Macedonians were Grecian, but these people are non. One merely necessitate expression to the names of antediluvian Macedonians & # 8211 ; they are Grecian! For case: Alexander ( the Great ) . & # 8216 ; alex & # 8217 ; = protects + & # 8216 ; andros & # 8217 ; = adult male. ( & # 8221 ; he who protects work forces & # 8221 ; ) Or even Philip. & # 8216 ; philo & # 8217 ; = friendly + & # 8216 ; ippos & # 8217 ; = Equus caballus. ( & # 8221 ; he who is friendly to horses & # 8221 ; ) .

Another job, are the names of the part. The Slav frequently name them by different names & # 8211 ; for case Thessaloniki becomes & # 8216 ; Solun & # 8217 ; and Edessa becomes & # 8216 ; Voden & # 8217 ; . Unfortunately for them, there is cogent evidence that these topographic points were normally known, many centuries ago, by their Grecian names. One merely necessitate expression to the New Testament to see Paul & # 8217 ; s letters to the Thessalonians & # 8230 ;

Naming a state after a neighbouring part is evidently a scheme to seek to destabilise the part, in the hope that the state will absorb the neighbouring part. Even after the great exapnsion by Philip II and Alexander the Great in the 400 & # 8217 ; s, when Macedonia was the most powerful Grecian province, it was merely at really most 10 % of the FYROM district was originally portion of the Grecian Kingdom. Yet FYROM passports no longer even stamp-in travelers from Grecian metropoliss, as they claim they are all the same people & # 8230 ; One person, a non-Greek Macedonian, Ljupce Georgievski, takes the affair to an even higher political standing: & # 8220 ; The Macedonia of Piriin, the Aegean and the

Vardar is non Greater Macedonia. We shall be speaking of Greater Macedonia when we claim Belgrade, Sofa, Thessaly, Valona and elsewhere.” [ Borba, Nov7. 1990 ]

Yet even their linguistic communication betrays them. It is more Bulgarian than Grecian. It is here that non-Greek & # 8216 ; Macedonians & # 8217 ; inquiry the linguistics of the ancient Macedonians. In Arrhianos, there are cases demoing Alexander talking Greek to the soldiers & # 8211 ; which suggests either a Mother Tongue, or a great acquaintance with the linguistic communication ( to be utilizing it in such an of import affair, all of the soldiers would hold to be near to fluent in it ) . A Grecian idiom has even been found on artifacts and graves in Macedonia. Historians, while claiming that they do non truly cognize if the Ancient Macedonians were really Grecian or non, freely admit that by the Roman Period, Macedonia was to the full homogenized with Classical civilization. However FYROM presently teaches their young person the & # 8216 ; new, revised & # 8217 ; history of Macedonia.

These non-ethnic Macedonians even adopt ancient Macedonian symbols which don & # 8217 ; t belong to them. The Vergina Sun ( which is featured on the Macedonian Flag ) , was Philip & # 8217 ; s Dynastic emblem. It symbolized the birth of the Macedonian state and the first clip that the Greek mainland, with the same linguistic communication and civilization, was united. Excavations in Greece show this symbol to hold been used throughout history, and prior to the Slavonic claims of Macedonian ethnicity, was alone to Greece. Now what is the ground for that? Could it perchance be that the non-Greeks have no right claiming the lineage of the antediluvian Macedonians? FYROM & # 8217 ; s first President, Kiro Gligorov, even pointed this out: & # 8220 ; we are slavs who came to this state in the sixth century & # 8230 ; we are non posterities of the antediluvian Macedonians. & # 8221 ; Then why call themselves and the linguistic communication & # 8220 ; Macedonia/n & # 8221 ; ? Or utilize Macedonian symbols? Does the fact that they occupy a infinitesimal part of antediluvian Macedonian district give them the right to make these things? Of class they don & # 8217 ; T.

They do, of class, effort to reply such inquiries. They claim that Greece stole Macedonian history. The inquiry we ask, is why. Greece has one of the most influential and widely-respected histories of any state in the universe. Why would it necessitate to steal history from another state, particularly one that had been long Hellenized? !

And a genuinely stupid accusal frequently given for the deficiency of archeological grounds back uping FYROM positions, is that Grecian archaeoligists destroy any grounds every bit shortly as it is excavated, so as non to compromise the place of & # 8216 ; Imperalist Greece & # 8217 ; . One inquiry: what about the grounds found that supports the Greek place? Philip II grave, for case. Make the Greeks & # 8216 ; physician & # 8217 ; the symbols and letterings? ? ?

Overall, one can clearly see the world of the issue at manus & # 8211 ; Macedonia was Greek. Macedonia is Greek. Macedonia will be everlastingly Greek.