The "Macedonian Question": Notes to evidence and fingings: Antiquity

The "Macedonian Question"

Notes to

The evidence of the sources and the fingings of historical research: Antiquity

39 - 40 - 41 - 42 - 43 - 44 - 45 - 46 - 47 - 48 - 49 - 50 - 51 - 52 - 53 - 54 - 55 - 56 - 57 - 58

39. Cf. Ul. Wilcken, Alexandre le Grand, op. cit., p. 33: "It seems more and more certain that the Macedonians were a Greek tribe related to the Dorians. However, as they stayed high up in the distant north, they could not participate in the progress of civilization of the Greek people that migrated southward...". Also Herman Bengtson, Griechische Geschichte⁴, Muenchen 1969, p. 305, points out that "the majority of the new generation of historians but with the notable exception of Julius Kaerst (Geschichte des Hellenismus, 1/3, 1927, p. 154 sq.) agree, and rightly so, that the Macedonians were Greeks". See also K.J. Beloch, Griechische Geschichte², IV/1, pp. 1-9.

40. For the Ancient Macedonians there is a most extensive bibliography. I confine myself to referring to the recent work of N.G.L. Hammond, The Macedonian State: Origins, Institutions and History (Oxford, 1989). See also Macedonia, 400 Years of Greek History and Civilization (published by "Ekdotike Athenon") (athens, 1991) and mainly pp. 46-63 which include the chapter "The Nationality of Macedonians" by M. Sakellariou.

41. H. Bengston, Griechische Geschichte, op. cit., p. 305, observes that generally the Macedonians were considered culturally inferior. Cf. also Ul. Wilcken, Alexandre le Grand, op. cit., p. 33.

42. See also Herodotus, I, 56, 2-3 and V, 20-22. (English translation by David Grene, the University of Chicago Press, Chicago-London 1987).

43. See commentary on Thucydides I, 57; commentary on Demosthenes, Olynthiac III, 130; Dion Chrysostom II, 33; Harpocration, in entry Alexander, Anecd. Graeca, 375, 20 Bekker. All the sources that mention the epithet "Philhellene" are subsequent and we cannot be certain that they derive from sources contemporary to Alexander I. The argument, however, that the epithet "Philhellene" confirms that Alexander I was not a Greek is not at all convincing and is contradicted by Alexander's own words, as they have been handed down to us by his contemporary Herodotus (see the above quotation IX, 45, 1-2).

44. Thucydides, II, 99, 3-6, who obviously uses Herodotus as a source, states that the kings of the Macedonians are Temenids from Argos, which means that he agrees that Macedonians were Greeks.

45. Cf. the well-known passage of Arrian, I, 16, 11, where it is stated that after the battle of Granicus, Alexander offered as a votive of thanks to Pallas Athena 300 Persian panoplies with the very eloquent inscription: �� , �� [= Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks, except the Lacedaemonians, from the barbarian inhabitans in Asia], a characteristic inscription which attests that both Alexander and the Macedonian soldiers were Greeks, because the Macedonians were certainly included among the Greeks. Cf. also Arrian, I, 16, 10.

46. Polybius, XXVIII, 8, 9, preserves the following valuable information: in the deputation that Perseus, King of Macedonia, sent to the King of Illyria, in order to form an alliance with him against the Romans, a deputy of Illyrian descent also participated: �� [= becasue he knew the Illyrian language], which means that the Macedoniasns did not know the Illyrian language, since in their conversations with the Illyrians they were compelled to use interpreters. See also IX, 37,7: �� �� �� \;� �� [= To the Achaeans and the Macedonians Belonging to the same race, and to Philip, their leader]. Cf. also IV, 9 and VII, 9, 3.

47. Titus Livius, 31, 39, considers the Macedonians to speak the same language as the Aetolians andf the Acarnanians.

48. See Demosthenes, Against Meidias, 150. Cf. also all those that Thucydides characteristically mentions, I, 5-6, for the barbarian custom that the Greeks had in earlier times, and especially I, 6, 1: " ... �� [�� ] �� , �� [= ... and this way of living, to always be armed, was a custom to them, just as it is a custom to the barbarians today. So the fact that in these areas of Greece they live in this way even today, is proof that once all the Greeks lived in the same way] and I, 6, 6: "�� " [= and in many other ways one would be able to prove that the Greeks in the old times lived in the same way as the barbarians of today].

49. Cf. I. Kalleris, Les Anciens Macedoniens. Etude linguistique et historique, vol. I (Athens, 1954), p. 15.

50. About the language of the Ancient Macedonians and the related theories, see N. Andriotis, � �� [= The language and the Greek Character of the Ancient Macedonians] (Thessaloniki, 1952). Ap. Daskalakis, � �� . �� [= The Hellenism of Ancient Macedonia. Descent and Language of the Macedonians] (Athens, 1960) (= L' Hellenisme de l' Ancienne Macedoine) (Thessaloniki, 1965). I. Kalleris, Les Ancient Macedoniens. Etude linguistique et historique, vols I-II (Athens, 1954-1975). Ant. Thavoris, �� [= The History of Greek Writing] (Ioannina, 1983), pp. 31-48, with the bibliography. Cf. P. Kretchmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der Griechischen Sprache (Goettingen, 1896), p. 283 et sq. and p. 415, who expressed the view that the Macedonians were a mixture of Greek and Illyrian populations, a view that is not accepted by H. Bengston, op. cit., p. 305. See also recently � �� (= The language of Macedonia), collective work ed. by G. Babiniotis (Athens, 1992).

51. The inscriptions found in Macedonia increased considerably the number and variety of Macedonian proper names.

52. Cf. Ant. Thavoris, The History of Greek Writing, pp. 44-45.

53. Ibid., pp. 35-36.

54. Cf. ibid, p. 37 et sq.

55. Cf. the characteristic quotation of Theocritus, Idylls, 15, 92, where the Syracusian women, of Corinthian descent, say: " ... �� ... �� ��. �� �' �� " [= We are Corinthian women by extraction. What we talk's Peloponnesian. I suppose Dorians may speak Doric, mayn't they? (English translation by J. M. Edmonds, The Greek Bucolic Poets, ed. Loeb., pp. 188-189). Cf. Ant. Thavoris, The History of Greek Writing, pp. 34-35.

55a. English translation in the Loeb Classical Library ed. by E. Capps - T.E. Page - W.H.O. Rome, London 1919.

56. The introduction of the Attic dialect into wider use, beginning perhaps from official documents and the royal court, must be the result of an age-old process, which was completed in the time of Philip, and not the decision of a reformer King of Macedonia; it should be placed in the more general context of the prevalence, throughout the Greek world, of the Attic dialect, which evolved in the Hellenistic koine [= common dialect]. Consequently, that which happened, and the extent to which it hapenned in Macedonia, i.e. the substitution of the Macedonian dialect by the attic dialect, is not a phenomenon particularly Macedonian: throughout Greece, at a quicker or slower pace, the Attic koine replaced the local dialects.

57. See M. Andronikos, Vergina. The Royal Tombs and the Ancient City (Athens, 1991), pp. 83-84. It should also be noticed that the finds, which the recent excavations by Prof. D. Pantermalis at Dion as well as the excavations at Pella and elsewhere, have brought to light, significantly promote our knowledge of the history of ancient Macedonia.

58. See, for example, D. Samsaris, � �� [= The Hellenization of Thrace during the Greek and Roman Antiquity] (Thessaloniki, 1980), mainly p. 311.

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Cover Page - Preface - Introduction - I. The question and the position of Skopje -
II. Sources and findings of research: 1. Antiquity - 2. Middle Ages - 3. Turkish Domination
Notes: 1-5 - 6-32 - 33-38 - 39-58 - 59-73 - 74-95 --- Maps: 1 - 2 - 3