macedonia - 4000 years of greek civilization (a brief survey)

7/28/2019 Macedonia - 4000 Years of Greek Civilization (a brief survey)

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lKo B}-|MA =fr

4.000

. Macednia in histoMcedni in ntiqui

istric nd rchaeologicl eidencepints t th,e existence of Geek - spekinginhabinns occupying the ruged northcmsopes f Pind.os mountnin s erty s 2200 -2100 3"C, These Greek tibes - hought tohae split fom the min bulk of the n.do -

MACET)YEARS OF GR NA cIvLAToNMDD0N u ND TH, MACDON N QUE ST2NF:. A bief suey

Seprte phs of expnsion. one grouppushed southwrds towrds Sere(minlnd) Gree ce nd th Peloponne sls. Asecnd settled in the reon of Doris where itmegedwith the locl popuaion to producethe Doriaru. third roup mde iS wy toThessly, hilst fouh, clling themseles-Mx6g (Mkednins), settled in hregion known t these dys s .[|.estem,Souhem nd Centrl Greek Mcedonia.The Mkedniru - speking Greekdilects did ll the other ribes origining from theMkednoi - remined, for few centuries,outside the minstrem of Hellenic culurebecuse, unlike their kinsmen, they neerentured southwrd nd hus did not comeinto ery contct with the Creo - insulnrpopulatior y the 8th cenrury B.C., hweer,the Mcedonins re drwn een moreclsety to the rest of the GreekWorld. orestis(the region known dy s sori) bmenioned s erly s th 7h cenury s th'ebihplce of th Mcedonin dynasty of thegeds nd Temenids, gos b, of cue,thenme of city in Mkedoniwhichothisdy is clled rgos orestikn to distiguish it

uropen fmily in the course of he Sthmillennium - spred thrughout the reknn tody s northem Greece. Duing theerly centuries of the second millennium'C' three bsic roups cn lredy bedistinguished:() The South - stem group mnde upf lonins,(b) The ,stern group lih is twoinguistic subgroups' one speking thercdian nd one h eolian Greek dialect.(c ) The -We stem group, minly cmp o se dof the popuous tibe of the Mkedni'Wth the nins leding the wy nd heeolic - spekingtibes (chins, Lpithes,Minons et, l,) folowing suit, stedySouthwrd expnsion of ll these proto -hcllenic peoples cn be obserued s centuiesgo . Thir migrtion brought them intocontct l'ih th pre-hellen,ic tibes in thsouth such s th Cetans, n insulr peoplewho had eoled sophisticted culure.The Westem roup' i'e. the Mkednoiwere nmerous enough to follow four

Toumba, hessa|oniki: prehistori sett|ement - To, ovi: ooog oooq,

oEE


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=A TEXlKo BF|MAMACEDONA, 4.000 YEARS oF GREE ctvLz^ToN

the reign of the pigones (i'e' lexnder'sSuccessors) nd fostered the cretion fmny city - SteS gemed for lmost t|ryocenturies by Mcedonin kings' t s onlyfterthe decisie btte f \tdn in 168 'C.that Mcedni finlly fell to the Rmnsnd ws subsequently diided int four dminis trti e r egio ns.

Under the Romn occuption theMce donin proinces thi ed nd ttrctednew settlerc frm lhe ,st nd ftom ts,hile ewish communiies mie theirppernce for the first time. nscriptinsshw, howeer, that s fr s lnguge isconcerned most of these Setters ''eregrduly Helenized.During the 3rd century .D., ttcks byGoths nd other kindred tribes weresuccessfully repelled' The indes left noethnic trce in Mcedni, n 324 'D' thecpit of the stem Rmn mpire wstrnsferred to yzntium, fct which hns significn impct on Mcedoni in generlnd on its cpitl city Thessoniki inprticulr, s it grduly deelped tbecme the secnd mst impnt ci|y of theyznine mpire'

Mcedni in the Byzntine er(.Descent of Sas.With the exception of some Ltin ndother tribl setlements, tle bsiclty Greekpopultion f Mcednin remined more orless unchnged up to the 7th century 'D'when rious Sl tribes (Drguite,Strymonite, Sgudite et' l.) begnsettling in he Mcednin regin, Bypermission f the Byzntine uthities thesetribes set up smll Saic encnes encl,esknon to the yzntines s ''Sclninie''.Throughut the 7th century the Slscontinully fought ginst the Byzntineuhorities nd repetedly ttcked - withutSucCeSS - the city of Thessloniki, n 688,

,mperor ustinin defeted them in decisie bttle nd deped mny f them tihyni in si Minor. For considerbleperiod f time fier thb, the Ss lied tpece with their enirn,ment while mny fthenwere hellenized'n tle follwing centuries the Slsthemseles cme under thret hen, iusFinnish - Ttric tribes, collectiely known sPrto - ulgrins, begn, in trn, tinfiltrte the lknn penirsul nd subjugtethe Sls in the territies hich mke uptdy's ulgri, These tribes 'ere Soonlinguis t ic lly s s imi l te d by th e S l s nd there s ulting rnix ture p r duc e d te'' B ugi nS''

who estblished the mediel BulgrinSte, one ought t mention. this pont thatthere is considerble controersy monStscholrs s to the extent which the Sls,,ho settled in Mcedonin territories ere''Bulgrised''' Histrins frm Skopjeugoslli for instnce, nintin th therewere no Bulrins in Mcedoni duingtheMiddle ges, tht Smuel ws Sl -Mcedonin ing wh fought ginst bothyzntines nd Bulgrins, ByzntineSources' howeer, ree tht Smuel'skingdm in tle 10th century S muti -ntionl in essence, extending oer ugind her regions fuher nofilwcrds ndsouthwrds'n ny cse, whateer i.ts precise ethnicidentity, the fct remins tht Smuel'skingdom, in spite f its dynmism, did notbolish Byzntine suzerinty in Mcedonind did nt signifi cntb lter its ethnologiclcmposition' he lnrge populti,on centres,still thriing in Greek Mcedni, hdremined slidly nd continuusly Greek' nthe countryside, n the otherhnd, especilyin Nhem Mcedoni - ie, in the territriesshred tody beteen ugsli nd'Bulgri, nd in, certin areS fuher t thesouth - the Slaic element seemedo be muchbetter entreched, Neertheless thennihitin f th'e Bulgrin kingdom by he

Byzntine nperr Vssilis Vugrktoos ('.-he Sllyer of Bulgrs'') inth.e 1]th century' nrked Hellenic reilin the wlle re'During he 14th century' the Serbinempire of Ducn encomp(]Ssed Mcedoni.Howeer, this sho - lied mpire, 'yhichpreceded the ottom(ln occuption f thelkn's, di d nt subs tnti'ly le r th e ethniccomposition of the popultin fMcednic' S Prfessor . Vklpusexpins in his History f Mcedni.Serbin rule left in this wke few moreSlic ences long itl tles of gre't,lb e it trns ient, e mpire' on'e shul dd heretht such sneht hazy rnemories of pstgrndeur were instrumentl in fomenti,ng thenaionlistic nd irredentist wkening f theSerbin ntion duing the 19th century ndin the fornultion f it,s clims onMcedni,t must be pinted out .t this juncture thtin yzntine S well s in ottomntimes themening of the term Mced,ni hd teredsomeht' Byzntine uthors usedMcedoni S blnket erm to coer thegreter p f lbni, Nhem. Thrce(sem Rumeli) s'ell s ,reS belongingt Westem (i'e, tdy Greek) Thrce' So, t

[,om its rther better known Peloponnesinnmeske. The fct tht the sme rume'rgos, ppers in ntiquity in plces s frprt s Mcedonia ndthe Peloponnesus isone more piece of eidence shoing hwmuch these ncient Greek tribes hd incommon.

During the 7th nd 6th centuries theMcedonins pushed estwrds of orestisnd populted the princes f Pieri,Vttie (region of mount Vermion), ordend lmopi. They crossed the rier xiosnd stepped into Chlkidiki either driingwy or ssimilting the indigenous ibeslredy estblished there (such s thePelsgins).From t lestthe 5thcentury nwrds theisoltion of the Mcedonins StrS t bebroken down s the more sophistictedSouth begins - thrugh better se nd andtrnspofi - to infitrte the regin, by Setting upc lnie s in C hnlkidiki.

During the reign f mynts, Philip nd lemnder he Gret, the Mcedoninreil is t its hi.ghest point' The fc that thencient Mcedonins belonged to the v,orldof the ellenes is hardly disputedby schoars'Recent rchaeolgic finds, in cnjunctionwith linguistic nlyses, the discoery ofScores of new inscripins with Greekpersonl nd plnce nnmes' the dffisin ofGreek anguge nd culture throughout thethen knwn 'ord by lexnder the Grend the Mcedonins, estblish thecontinuiy f Greek culture in time nd theStrong bonds uniting the Mcedonins tther Greeks geogrphiclly. The ltestfindst Vergin nd Dion' fully corroborte thisiew'Mcedni under the Romns

Mcedoni' S geogrcphicl entity,retined its eenic chrcteristics duing


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TX|KO BHMA q=MACEDONIA, 4.000 YEARS oF GREEK ctvtL^ToN

be '' Mcedonin'' |aS not only meningless ten in he ethnic Sense; it hdlso grdully ost Some f its formergegrphic connottion- The'' McedoninDynsty'' f yzn ti n e mp erors for instnceincluded sereigns cming fm Thrce.Mcedoni under ottomn rue

The ottomn rue in the 15th cenrurybrought bout gret chnges in thepopuation of the Blkns in gener nd ofMcedoni in pfiiculnr, Rughly speking,the Christins tookto the mountins, the elitetook t the West, Thse unble to cope withthe hrshness of ottomn rule nd thehumilitins reseedfornon - Muslims tookto slm. These Greek - speking Muslims,knon s VIdS' were to be found incertinprts of the zniregin, srecentlys 1912, when Mcedoniaws liberted. onthe other hnd Turkmns uruks) werebrought in by the ottomns to settle thedepopulted region in Centrl Mcedoni,

From he 17th century onwrds thesitution sbilized somewht nd theChristins retumed to the plins frm themountins, one must nt forget, in thiscontet, tht the st ottomn mpire wscontinuly criss - crossed by popultionmoements' T quote from ProfessorVklpoulos istory of Mcedoni (pge7):

'' Muslims nd Christins he thechnce to moe freely in eery directinwrds nd within Mcedoni, tointermrry nd fuse ith the loclinhabitnts, creting ne settlements' newys of ffi nd ne' prblems, Whie Turksre coming nd settling in rious prts fWest, Centrl nd st Mcedoni, Gree|


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=g XlKo BHMAMACEDOA, 4.000 YEARS oF GREE ctvLz^ToN

which ws foreseen by the Trety f Neuilly,0n,the Slaphones of Westem Mcedonistyed behind S most of them consideredthenseles t be Greeks, t the Sme timeflwingtle Grec - Turkishexchnge, er700'a00 Greeks from Turkey estbishedhemseles in Greek Mcedoni'n 926, ft,er the exchnge of

Pe||a, whih has been inhabited ontinuous|y fromthe prehistori years with the name Bounomeia |isby the foot of two hi||s. The ity was first a|ledPe||a by Herodotus,|ts important geographial

position, near the mouth of the river Axios, wasreognized by king Arheaos (413-399 B,c,),patron of the arts, progressive and well known toa|| Greeks, who moved there from Aigaithe apitalof Macedonia.ln Pella, Archelaos brought together

great artists in his ourt, among them the greatpainter Zeuxis and the tragi poet Eurypides. |tbeame the birthp|ae of Phi|ip || and his sonAlexander the Great.This is the city where, afterPhilip's exhortations, the great philosopher

Aristotle ame and taught poIitis and phiIosophyto Alexander the Great.Philip ll, under whose reign

Pel|a became the enter of He||enism, \/as anexciting personality and his asent to the throne ofMaedonia opened new roads in Greek history,

his important king aS a great so|dier and,main|y, an inomparable dip|omat, one of the bestof a|| ages'The exavations have brought to |ight

the ity of Pe||a of the he||enisti years, withstraight streets and water - supply and sewagesystems, laid out under the Hippodamean system,

|ike the ity of O|ynthos in Cha|kidiki,The forum ofPe|a oupied an area as |arge as other anient

ities and had shops and workshops. Thehe|lenisti two - storey houses, with ourtyards

f|anked by o|umns, and o|orfu| mosaideoratedfoors, are spetau|ar.

populltions wS completed, the Legue ofNtins prduced the fllwing sttisticld't peining Greek Mcedoni:Greeks 1,341,000 88.8oMuslims 2,000 0.1oBulgrins 77,000 5,7okMiscellneus (ews) 9,000 6,0

1,51],000 100.0oTwo yers erlier, in 1924, Greece ndulgri signed protcol within the

frmework f the Legue of Ntions kno,ns the Protocol f r - Politis, Under it,gterns Greece wS to recognise theSlophone ppultins within her borderss ulgin' Serbi which, in the mentimehld recognized he Sla inhbitnts f herp f Mcedoni' S Serbs, ws strongfopposed to Greece's inititie t cnferulgrin ethnic identity to the s _speking inhbitnts just suth of theSerbin brder, To ,show her disgreement,Serbi immeditey retlited by declaringthe Greco - Serbi.n llince pct of 913 nullnd id' Men,while, public outcry ginstthis protocl with'in Greece itself - especillyby slophne brder cornmunities inMcedoni - reched such propoion.S thatthe Greek prliment refused to rtify it, TheLegue of Ntions ccepted this decisin,nd the Prtcl neer becme bindinggreement' Since then, Greece cnsideredthe remining S - speking inhbitnt,y s

|t is we|l known that the anient Greeks p|aed inthe tombs of their dead many items, which theybelieved would be essentialto them in the next life.his exp|ains the presence of otferings of greatvalue made from many materials in the royaltombs of Vergina.he so|id go|d |arnax, shaped |ike

a smal| wooden box, was found p|aed in a marb|esarophagus, and is deorated with the sixteen -pointed Maedonian Star, symbo| of theMaedonian Dynasty.The opening of the |arnaxrea||ed to those present Homer,s desription of

the buria| of l-lector: the bones of the deeased anda precious go|den reath with oak leaves anda0rns.

he iron cuirass is unique, as it is on|y example tohave suh br}tliant go|d decoration on a| sides' Sois a pair of gi|ded bronze greaves, whih are oadifferent size and shape, implying that thedeeased was lame, and thus proving that thetomb belongs to Phitip ll.Slophone Greeks, nd this ws cceptedwith re|ief by their s mjrity, s theirntinI cnsciouSneSS wS Greekirrespectie f hei.r emnculr.

few yers lter (1927) new Greek -ulgrin ccord settled l utstndingeconmic issues rising from the msspopulation exchnges, Thus, so fr s GreekMcedoni wS concemed, there ws nserius problem lefi, p fro* ugri'sirredentismwhich still sought n pporunityto stke once gin clims on' Greek ndSerbin ugoslin - Mcedoni'

t ws on, duing the Secon'd World Wrthat these clims tok concrete frm, withthe ccuption of prt of Greek Mcedonind Thrce by the ulgrin' aW, lredyHitler's lyl lty in the Blkns, s for theSl,ophones, number of hem wentthrugh n identity crisis. While mostremrined firmy ttched to Helenism,others joined the ulgrin nd Nzi


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MCEDONA, 4.000 YEARS oF GREE ctvLAToNoccuption uthoities nl persecuted theircom'ptriots. ryith he defet f NziGermny, hese cllbortors deseed theulgincmp' nd joinedthe dherents ofthe ''Mcednin'' policy ini,tited by the newugsl regime. Thus, oernight, in chmeleon trnsformti on, ulgin fscistcollbortors turned int ugosl'' Mcedni n'' communi-sts'

. Special issueson the ''Mcednn Question''

The Mcedonin Questin in ur dys is pliticl dispue between ugosli ndBulgri in which Greece is only indirectlyinoled' The fc thtugosli des try toinole Greece by rising the issue f non -existent minrity shuld be ttributed minlyto elgrde's tcticI mneuering nd hsnthing to do with present relities in GreekMcedoni. ugslic's occsinlcriticisms of Greece coud be interpreted sn eeny blnced policy towrds llccupiers of ''Mcedonins'', be theyBulgrins, Greeks r bnins, n

From the tomb of th Great umu|us of Vergina,there is one more testimony that Maedonia aspart of Greee.There are 47 marble grave stelai ofthe Sth, 4th, and 3rd entury B.C., which

deorated the tombs of common Maedonianitizens, with Greek names'

r_dditin to this, the need to countercintem centrifugl trends in country withSo rnny ntionlities, mkes it imperIiefor elgrde to be seen t c(ter penly ndpublicly fr ech one'S pfiicular ntinlspirtirs, CertinEy in so doing, it often gieGreece good cSe fr offence' Fulty wreof these inteml prbems nd. moties, theGreek side refrins' aS best s it cn, f,omggrting the sitution by undulging inpublic inectie, unless penly prooked'

on the ''Mcednin ntion''s redy mentioned' the Greeks do notrecognize tht ''Mcedonin ntion', hnsbeen in existence for ]3 centuries (sic), s theugosn,s clim' n tking this ttitude heyre consistent with histry s there is no

Source either in the yzntine er or duringthe ottmn rule tht hs eer mentined theexistence f such ntion, t is well knon,that yzntine ,mperrVssilis hs beenclled the '' Slyer f Bulgrs''(Vulgrktonos) nd nt the ''Slyer ofMcedonins''' Th.is is histoicl fct ndcnnot be disputed' on the other hnd,rius trellers, s well s foreign crsulsof the 17tl, 18th nd l9h centuries,frequently mention in their reporrsBulgins or Sls' There is no mention fethnic ''Mcednins'' whtsoeer' t theend f the ]9th nd beginning f the 20tlcentury' duringthe Greek - Bugrin Struggefor predominn'ce in the still ottomn - heldMced.ni, there ws, of cource, mention fMcedonins but nly in the sense thnt they(Bulgins or Greeks) were inhbitnts ofMcedoni'

The conflict tht o,)uo,d in the peiodof this struggle (904 - 1908) mng therious orgnistions - i.e. the Verhoists,ryho were guided by the 7oenxment of Sofind were seeking the integrtion ofMcedoni in BuEgri; 'nd'the ''ntemlMcedonin Reolutionry ognistion''(MRo)' who docted the cretion f ncutonomous Mcedniln Stte - wS not conflict between Bulgrin's nd''Mcednins'', but between unionist ndutonomist Bulgins' n ther words, it]'.S debte similnr to the one tht wsrised during the Cretn nd Cypriotstruggles fr libertion between supporters fensis n the ne hncl nd self - goemmentor independence on the other, respectie,s n one coud ttribute Seprte Cretnor Cypit ntionl identiy to the d,ctesf utnorny or independence' So no oneculd think f cknwledging Seprte''Mcednin'' ntinl consciousness to the

Thessa|oniki; Statue of Otavian Augustus 27 Bc -AD 14follwers f Tno. During'the periocl be-ween the two World Ws, he cnmunistp(]rties of the kns spke of the existencef ''Mcedonin'' nd ''Thrci(n'' peoples,but ithout consisent Set of guments 'st the distinctie ntionl idenity of these

In the Sth entury A.D,, the bui|ding of theRotunda, which was origina||y a santuary of eus,was onerted into a churh and was deoratedwith mosaics whih are among the best exam|esof early - christian art.ln 860 4.D., the monks Cyriland Methodius, natives of Thessaloniki, translatedthe Holy Bible to the slavic language, creating atthe same time the slavi a|phabet, and went on toc0nvert the slaves to Christianity,

fL


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:-El EX|KO BHMAMACEDONA, 4.000 YEARS oF GREE ctvtLI^ToN

''peoples''. The proof of this is tht the''Thrcin people'' 'were neer herd of ginfterWorldWr 'on the ''Mcedonin minorit''in GreeceThe concept of ''Mcedonin'' minityin Greece is dfficu one to grsp. t isindisputble tht in the pst there he beenin Greece persons consideing themsees tobe Sls, who decared themsees nw sulgrins nd no, s Sn - Mcedonins.fter the Nzi occuption nd, the ensuingciil wr hese persons took refuge minfo inugsli, once there, Ihey were thorughly

indctinted in the new ehnic ''i'deolog/''nl s re sult hey ide ntifie d thems ele s w iththe locl Sa popultion' n dditin, n,umber f Sl - conscius Greek citizens,wh did nt flee to ugosli emigrted toious oe|SeS cunties, Cein bilingulpersons who chose o remin in Greecedistinguished hemseles s Greek ptiotsfighting ginst schemes to in,corporteGre ek Mcedni t n eighbouing countries,These persons 're tolly integrted in Greeksciety nd mke lube contribution tothe Greekntin's wefre nd' de,elopmen'Durin8 the lst 30 yerS' bettercommunictions nd trnsp rt,improements in ed'uctin' nd rpidurbnistion' together with much higherstndrd f iinghae drmticlly reducedbilinguism. Wht does hppen now is thtGreel

macedonia - 4000 years of greek civilization (a brief survey)

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