Fact #1 “Alexander the Great was Greek”
Alexander’s Greek descent, and in general Argead
Greek lineage went unquestioned by ancient Greek
and Roman writers, revealing a widely belief in
ancient Greek and Roman world (including of
course Macedonians themselves), the Argead royal
house were Greeks descended from Argos of
Peloponnese. The founder of their house belonged
to the royal house of Argos, the “Temenidae”,
descendants of Temenus, whose ancestor was
Heracles, son of Zeus. (Diod. 17.1.5, 17.4.1;
Plut, Alex 2.1-2, Fortuna 1.10 = Moratia 332a;
Justin 11.4.5, 7.6.10-12, Theop. (FGTH US F3SS -
Tzetzes, ad Lycophr 1439); Paus. ‘Description of
Greece’ 1.9.8, 7.8; Velleius Paterculus: “The
Roman History” Book I.5; Isocrates: ‘To Philip’
32; Herod. 5.22.1-2, 8.43; Thuc. 2, 99, 3; Curt. 4.6.29)
Fact #2 ‘Earliest accounts verify the earliest
Macedonians as Greeks”
The earliest literary accounts like Hesiodus (700
BCE) identified the earliest Macedonians as part
of the greek world thus greek-speakers. Obviously
if Macedonians werent Greeks but foreign people
to Greeks, they wouldnt be part at all in
Hesiodus’ account as Greek. After all its really
irrational to have a supposedly ‘non-greek’
people while migrating to rename existing foreign
toponymies into Greek, like the renaming from the
earliest Macedonians of the original Phrygian
place-name ‘Edessa‘ to the Greek ‘Aigae‘.
Fact #3 “Ancient Macedonians considered themselves as Greeks”
The surviving literary and archaeological
evidence during Classical and Hellenistic Ages
shows clearly that Macedonians considered
themselves to be Greek, carriers to spread the
Greek language and civilization to Asia while
revenging Persians for their “crimes against
Macedonia and the rest of Greece”.(Herod. 9.45;
Diod. 16.93.1; Arrian 2.14.4, 3.18.11-12,
I.16.10, “Indica” XXXIII; Plut- Alex. XXXIII, Moralia 332A; Curt. 5.6.1, 5.8.1; Joseph 11.8.5; Polyvius 7.9.4, 18.4.8; Liv. XXXI,29, 15; IG X,2 1 1031)
Fact #4 “Ancient Greeks viewed Macedonians as Greeks”
Ancient Greeks considered Macedonians as Greeks
and specifically of Dorian stock. In fact ancient
Greek accounts attributed some of the most
patriotic Greek sentiments ever expressed to
Macedonian rulers (Herodotos), described memories
of the Greekness of the Makedones (Hesiodos,
Hellanikos, Herodotos), mentioned their
participations among Greek troops and folk,
membership of Macedonia in the associations of
the Greeks, namely the Delphic Amphictyony which
had long been an important Panhellenic
(Herodotos, Thucydides, Aichines). Hence they all
verify the same conclusion. Greeks viewed
Macedonians as Greeks. (Polyb., IX.35.2 (Loeb,
W.R. Paton), IX.37, 38.8; Isocr, “To Philip”,
5.139, 5.140, 5.8; Callisth. ‘Oration of
Demosthenes’ 2.3.4.-5, 2.4.5, 2.4.7-8 ; Curtius
3.3; Arrian ‘Anab. Alex’ 2.14. 4, 3.27.4-5;
Pausanias, ‘Phocis’ VIII.4, Eleia VIII, 11
[Loeb]) ; Strab. VII.Frg. 9 [Loeb, H.L. Jones]),
VII. Fr 7.1, 10.2.23; Herod. VIII.137. 1 [Loeb]), I.56.3 [Loeb, A.D. Godley]); Hesiod, Catalogues of Women and Eoiae 3 [Loeb, H.G. Evelyn-White])
Fact #5 “Foreign nations considered Macedonians as Greeks”
The ancient Roman, Persian, Indian, Jewish,
Babylonian and Carthagenian testimonies are
listing Macedonians among the other Hellenes,
speaking the same language and in general
Macedonians are portrayed as Hellenes fighting
the Barbarians. (Curt. 3.3.6, 3.7.3, 3.12.27,
4.1.10, 4.5.11, 4.5.14, 4.6.29, 4.8. 13-14, 4.10.1, 5.6.1, 5.7.3, 5.7.11, 6.9.35, 7.5.36, 7.6.1, 7.6.35; Liv. XXXI.29.15, XLV, 32.22; Cicero Orations; Ceasar ‘Civ. Wars’ 111.103.3; Vel. Patercul. ‘Roman history’ I.5; Justinus Un. History 7.1, 11.3.6; Aelian ‘Var Historia’ VII.8, 12.37(39); Pliny ‘Natural history’; Tacitus ‘Annals of Imperial Rome’ Chap. 8 pg 221; Persian inscr. of ca 513, Persian story of Zulqarneen, Bahram Yasht 3.34; Edicts of Ashoka V & XIII; Maccabees 1:10, 8:18, Megillah 11a, Dan 11:2, 10:20, Isiaiah chap. 19.20, 19.23, Joel Cahp 3.v6, Habacoum cap. 2.v5; Josephus ‘Antiquities of the jews’ Book 11 par 337, 109, 148, 184, 286, Book 8 para. 61, 95, 100, 154, 213, Book 10 para. 273, Book 12 para. 322, 414, Philo of Alexandria, Maimonides; Babylonian Diaries Diary No -168. A14-15)
Fact #6 “Macedonian names are Greek”
In contrast with all their non-greek neighbours
(Illyrians, Thracians, etc) ancient Macedonian
names are either Greek or derive from Greek roots
in a percentage of over 95%. According to the
encyclopaedia Bolsaya Sovetskaya “In 200 names
born from Macedonians born before the ascent of
Philip II (359b.C.), hardly 5% are of non-greek
origin. Non Greek names in small numbers can also
be found in other Greek tribes.
We know some names of Gods and Heroes worshiped
by the Macedonians. Among them, 39 are either
pan-hellenic or worshiped by other Greek tribes,
either purely macedonian, but with a Greek
etymology [root]. 2 come from names of cities
with a non-hellenic root but with a greek
termination syllabe 3 are Thracian 1 is Egyptian
All of the names of Macedonian Feasts that we
know are Greek. Regarding the names of the
months, 6 are common with other Greek calendars,
and at least two more are also purely Greek. The
idea that the Macedonians took the names of the
months during their ‘hellenisation’ is out of the
question, as in that case they would have taken
an integral Greek calendar instead of creating an
amalgam of different greek calendars and, more
important, they would never invent themselves two
Greek names of months. ” All these of course are
taking place at a time where the Illyrian and
Thracian names have in their vast majority
non-greek etymologies.
Fact #7 “Ancient Macedonian was a Greek dialect”
According to the eminent linquist, Olivier
Masson, writing in 1996 for the “Oxford Classical
Dictionary: ‘Macedonian Language”. “For a long
while Macedonian onomastics, which we know
relatively well thanks to history, literary
authors, and epigraphy, has played a considerable
role in the discussion. In our view the Greek
character of most names is obvious and it is
difficult to think of a Hellenization due to
wholesale borrowing. ‘Ptolemaios’ is attested as
early as Homer, ‘Ale3avdros’ occurs next to
Mycenaean feminine a-re-ka-sa-da-ra- (’Alexandra’), ‘Laagos’, then ‘Lagos’, matches the Cyprian ‘Lawagos’, etc. The small minority of names which do not look Greek, like ‘Arridaios’ or ‘Sabattaras’, may be due to a substratum or adstatum influences (as elsewhere in Greece). Macedonian may then be seen as a Greek dialect, characterised by its marginal position and by local pronunciations (like ‘Berenika’ for ‘Ferenika’, etc.). Yet in contrast with earlier views which made of it an Aeolic dialect (O.Hoffmann compared Thessalian) we must by now think of a link with North-West Greek (Locrian, Aetolian, Phocidian, Epirote). This view is supported by the recent discovery at Pella of a curse tablet (4th cent. BC) which may well be the first ‘Macedonian’ text attested (provisional publication by E.Voutyras; cf. the Bulletin Epigraphique in Rev.Et.Grec.1994, no.413); the text includes an adverb ‘opoka’ which is not Thessalian. We must wait for new discoveries, but we may tentatively conclude that Macedonian is a dialect related to North-West Greek.”
(Pausanias Messeniaka XXIX.3; Strabo 7.7.8; Plutarch Pyrrhus II.1, XI.4; . Livius XXXI.29.15, XLV; Curtius VII.5.29, VII 9.25 - 11.7)
Fact #8 “Alexander’s campaign Pan-Hellenic character”
Alexander the Great launched a Pan-hellenic
campaign against Persia and through his conquests
spread Hellenism in a vast colonizing wave
throughout the Near East and created economically
and culturally, a single world stretching from
Greece to the Punjab in India with Greek (koine)
as lingua franca. He built a network of almost
thirty Greek cities throughout the empire, a
building program that was expanded by later
Hellenistic rulers. These became enclaves of
Greek culture. Here gymnasia, baths, and theaters
were built. The upper classes spoke koine Greek,
wore Greek dress, absorbed Greek learning,
adopted Greek customs, and took part in Greek
athletics. Ancient sources reports as such and
the pan-hellenic character of his campaign were
the definitive statements of the Macedonian
royalty and nobility. (Aelian ‘Varia Historia’
13.11; Arrian I.16.7, I12.1-2, Plutarch Ages.
15.4, Moralia I, 328D, 329A, Alex. 15, 33,
37.6-7; Diod. 16.95.1-2, 17.67.1; Callisthenes
2.3.4-5, 2.4.5, 2.4.7-8, 3.1.2-4; Arrian “Indica”
XXXIII, XXXVIII, XXIX, ‘Anab.’ Arrian I.16.7, II,
14, 4, 3.18.11-12 ; Polybius IX.35.2, IX.34.3,
17.4.9; Curtius 3.3.6, 4.1.10-11, 4.5.11,
4.14.21, 5.6.1, 5.7.3, 5.7.11, 8.1.29)
Fact #9 “Macedonians shared the same religion as the rest of Greeks”
Nowadays historians agree that Macedonians had the religious and cultural features of the rest Hellenic world. Like other Greek regions, regional characteristics have also to be noted especially near the borders.
Its quite interesting the fact that Macedonians also gave these deities the familiar Greek epithets, such as Agoraios, Basileus, Olympios, Hypsistos of Zeus, Basileia of Hera, Soter of Apollo, Hagemona and Soteira of Artemis, Boulaia of Hestia, etc.
The worship of the twelve Olympian gods in Macedonia is undoubted
and it is shown explicitely in the treaty between Philip V and Hannibal of Carthage “`In the presence of ZEUS, HERA and APOLLO…and in the presence of ALL THE GODS who possess Macedonia AND THE REST OF HELLAS“. (Arrian I 11.1-2, I.11.6; Diod. 16.95.2, 16.91.5-6; Pausanias 6.18.3, 9.39.3; Ath. Deipnos. XII.537d-540a, XIII 572d-e; Diogenes Laert. 1.8; Curtius 3.7.3, 3.12.27, 4.13.15, 6.10.14, 8.2.32, 8.11.24, Plutarch ‘Alexander’ 33; Polybius 7.9.1-7)
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