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B}-|MA
=
fr
4.000
YEARS
MACET) o NA
OF GR EE
MDD0N
cIvLAToN
TH,
u ND
erly centuries of the second millennium 'C' three bsic roups cn lredy be
distinguished:
Duing
the
Seprte phs of expnsion. one group pushed southwrds towrds Sere (minlnd) Gree ce nd th Peloponne sls. A
secnd settled in the reon of Doris where it megedwith the locl popuaion to produce the Doriaru. third roup mde iS wy to Thessly, hilst fouh, clling themselesMx6g (Mkednins), settled in h
The Mkedniru - speking Greekdilect s did ll the other ribes origining from the
(b) The ,stern group lih is two inguistic subgroups' one speking the
d
.[|.estem,
Wth the nins leding the wy nd he eolic - spekingtibes (chins, Lpithes, Minons et, l,) folowing suit, stedy Southwrd expnsion of ll these proto hcllenic peoples cn be obserued s centuies go . Thir migrtion brought them into contct l'ih th pre-hellen,ic tibes in th
south such s th Cetans, n insulr people who had eoled sophisticted culure.
entured southwrd nd hus did not come into ery contct with the Creo - insulnr populatior y the 8th cenrury B.C., hweer, the Mcedonins re drwn een more clsety to the rest of the GreekWorld. orestis
Mkednoi - remined, for few centuries, outside the minstrem of Hellenic culure becuse, unlike their kinsmen, they neer
The Westem roup' i'e. the Mkednoi were nmerous enough to follow four
menioned s erly s
th 7h cenury
s th'e
=A
TEXlKo BF|MA
MACEDONA,
4.000
fterthe decisie btte f \tdn in 168 'C. that Mcedni finlly fell to the Rmns
dminis trti e
r e gio
the reign of the pigones (i'e' lexnder's Successors) nd fostered the cretion f mny city - SteS gemed for lmost t|ryo centuries by Mcedonin kings' t s only
ns.
Mce donin proinces thi ed nd ttrcted new settlerc frm lhe ,st nd ftom ts,
ppernce for the first time. nscriptins shw, howeer, that s fr s lnguge is
known Peloponnesin nmeske. The fct tht the sme rume' rgos, ppers in ntiquity in plces s fr prt s Mcedonia ndthe Peloponnesus is one more piece of eidence shoing hw much these ncient Greek tribes hd in
[,om
grduly Helenized.
southwrds'
Mcedonin ing wh fought ginst both yzntines nd Bulgrins, Byzntine Sources' howeer, ree tht Smuel's kingdm in tle 10th century S muti ntionl in essence, extending oer ugi nd her regions fuher nofilwcrds nd
common.
Vttie (region of mount Vermion), orde nd lmopi. They crossed the rier xios nd stepped into Chlkidiki either driing wy or ssimilting the indigenous ibes lredy estblished there (such s the Pelsgins).
During the 7th nd 6th centuries the Mcedonins pushed estwrds of orestis nd populted the princes f Pieri,
successfully repelled' The indes left no ethnic trce in Mcedni, n 324 'D' the cpit of the stem Rmn mpire ws trnsferred to yzntium, fct which hns significn impct on Mcedoni in generl
n ny cse, whateer i.ts precise ethnic identity, the fct remins tht Smuel's kingdom, in spite f its dynmism, did not bolish Byzntine suzerinty in Mcedoni
nd did nt signifi cntb lter its ethnologicl cmposition' he lnrge populti,on centres,
certin areS fuher t the south - the Slaic element seemedo be much nnihitin f
th'e
nd'
Bulgrin kingdom by he
From t lestthe 5thcentury nwrds the isoltion of the Mcedonins StrS t be broken down s the more sophisticted South begins - thrugh better se nd and
trnspofi - to infitrte the regin, by Setting up
c
lnie s in C hnlkidiki.
reil is t its hi.ghest point' The fc that the ncient Mcedonins belonged to the v,orld of the ellenes is hardly disputedby schoars'
Howeer, this sho - lied mpire, 'yhich preceded the ottom(ln occuption f the Mcednic' S Prfessor
personl nd plnce nnmes' the dffisin of Greek anguge nd culture throughout the then knwn 'ord by lexnder the Gre
with linguistic nlyses, the discoery of Scores of new inscripins with Greek
continuiy f Greek culture in time nd the Strong bonds uniting the Mcedonins t ther Greeks geogrphiclly. The ltestfinds t Vergin nd Dion' fully corroborte this
iew'
uhorities nd repetedly ttcked - withut - the city of Thessloniki, n 688, ,mperor ustinin defeted them in decisie bttle nd deped mny f them t ihyni in si Minor. For considerble period f time fier thb, the Ss lied t pece with their enirn,ment while mny f thenwere hellenized'
SucCeSS
Serbin rule left in this wke few more Slic ences long itl tles of gre't,
lb
e it trns ient, e mpire' on'e shul dd here tht such sneht hazy rnemories of pst grndeur were instrumentl in fomenti,ng the naionlistic nd irredentist wkening f the Serbin ntion duing the 19th century nd
Finnish
themseles cme under thret hen, ius - Ttric tribes, collectiely known s
Mcedni,
in
the fornultion
it,s clims on
Mcedoni' S geogrcphicl
the Sls in the territies hich mke up tdy's ulgri, These tribes 'ere Soon
linguis
imi l te d by th e S l s nd the re s ulting rnix ture p r duc e d te'' B ugi nS''
t
entity,
ic
lly
ss
Mcedoni S blnket erm to coer the greter p f lbni, Nhem. Thrce (sem Rumeli) s'ell s ,reS belonging t Westem (i'e, tdy Greek) Thrce' So, t
t must be pinted out .t this juncture tht in yzntine S well s in ottomntimes the mening of the term Mced,ni hd tered
TX|KO BHMA
q=
MACEDONIA,
4.000
meningless ten in he ethnic Sense; it hd gegrphic connottion- The'' Mcedonin Dynsty'' f yzn ti n e mp erors for instnce included sereigns cming fm Thrce.
dmi.nnt culture in the Qre. Drwing Suppo, guidnce nd mrl sustennce frm the Greek c|egl, mSSeS of Chrbtins in Mced'oni becme re f their Greek identity' Mny Sa - speking Christins sent their child.ren to Greek schools, fought
ginst the ottm.ns during the Greek wr reutionry moements of Mcedni in the 19th centu|y' fighting fr he union of Mcedni with the free Greek Stte'
the hrshness of ottomn rule nd the humilitins reseedfornon - Muslims took to slm. These Greek - speking Muslims, knon s VIdS' were to be found in certinprts of the zniregin, srecently s 1912, when Mcedoniaws liberted. on the other hnd Turkmns uruks) were brought in by the ottomns to settle the depopulted region in Centrl Mcedoni,
Mcedoni s the coeted pple f discord' n effect, the strugle consisted f ech side tryingto scefiinthe ntionlidentiy f the
saonic idim ws the Bulgrins 'bsic cierion fr distinguishing between the tto min ethnic groups' Ntionl cnsciousness
sitution sbilized somewht nd the Christins retumed to the plins frm the
mountins, one must nt forget, in this contet, tht the st ottomn mpire ws continuly criss - crossed by popultion moements' T quote from Professor Vklpoulos istory of Mcedoni (pge
7):
''
n the fermth of Greece's defet in the 1897 wr ginst Turkey, Buli mnged
Sphones' n the summer f 1903, during the religius festil of the Prphet lis n
_
inhabitnts, creting ne settlements' new ys of ffi nd ne' prblems, Whie Turks re coming nd settling in rious prts f West, Centrl nd st Mcedoni, Gree|<s of Thessy nd picullnry of Mcedoni end 'piruS' re moing nd dncing pecefully towrds the Nofih, to Serbi,
Muslims nd Christins he the in eery directin wrds nd within Mcedoni, to intermrry nd fuse ith the locl
chnce to moe freely
broke out with disstrous corSequences' The ottomn rmy suppressed the rebellion in bloodbth nd in the prcess destroyed mny
nd payed n furs to either of the two ril ethnic groups in, Mcedoni. The
b'
Goemor
results:
n 1904, they respnded by gnising rmed bnds f Greek Mcednins, whose struggle ginst the Turl<s nd Bulgrins lsted unti 1908. rmed detchments of
olunteers from the free Greek stte, from Crete nd ther regins stil under the ottomnyke, ere fomed, trined, rmed
Greeks
Bulgrins
settlements dting from the Mile ges, or crete new settlements for themseles'''
ulgrins'' Grecomns',, mening,' fntic Gre eE<s''' Such mobilistion wS effe ctie in counterccting the Bulgrin expnsinry
schemes in the re nd mnged to presere Greek scendncy in Southem, nd, Centrl Mcedni unti| the libertin of te whole regin during the lkn wrs'
were composed' of Slophones, fighting fr the Hellenic cuse. Fr their Greek ntionl consciousness, they were lbeled by the
The Blkn wrs (1912 - 1913) ge Greece the mjor p f the Thesslniki nd Monstir (ito) ilyets (with the exception of certin nohem proinces which now beong t ugosn nd ulgrin Mcedni)' More precis ey the M cedonin regions were ppoioned s follows: Greek Mcedoni34,603 sq. km 51.57o ugsl Mcedoni25,74 sq' km 38.32 ulgrin Mcedni6,789 sq, km 10.11%
groundbthinthe Noh (i'e. inwhatis tdy ugosl Mcedoni) nd in the centrl region. Horyeers of the l\th century, Greek scendncy in the econmic, socil nd eductionl fields tumed Greek into the
the height of the Grec - ulgin cnJlict in Mcedoni both sides published
their wn sttistics of the ethnic composition
Duing the next 10 - 5 ye|S (913 925) the ethnologicl mp of Mcedoni becme lmost unrecognisble' |hile the
the 'twenties, s result of oluntry exhcnge of popuations between Greece nnd' Bulgi,
=g
XlKo BHMA
MACEDOA,
4.000
which ws foreseen by the Trety f Neuilly, 0n,the Slaphones of Westem Mcedoni styed behind S most of them considered thenseles t be Greeks, t the Sme time flwingtle Grec - Turkishexchnge, er 700'a00 Greeks from Turkey estbished hemseles in Greek Mcedoni'
populltions wS completed, the Legue of Ntins prduced the fllwing sttisticl d't peining Greek Mcedoni:
88.8o 0.1o
2,000
77,000
5,7ok
6,0
Miscellneus (ews)
9,000
1,51],000 100.0o
Two yers erlier, in 1924, Greece nd ulgri signed protcol within the frmework f the Legue of Ntions kno,n s the Protocol f r - Politis, Under it,g Slophone ppultins within her borders ulgin' Serbi which, in the mentime hld recognized he Sla inhbitnts f her p f Mcedoni' S Serbs, ws strongfo
s
Serbin brder, To ,show her disgreement, Serbi immeditey retlited by declaring the Greco - Serbi.n llince pct of 913 null nd id' Men,while, public outcry ginst this protocl with'in Greece itself - especilly
Mcedoni - reched such propoion.S that Legue of Ntions ccepted this decisin, nd the Prtcl neer becme binding greement' Since then, Greece cnsidered
the remining S - speking inhbitnt,y s
Pe||a, whih
the prehistori years with the name Bounomeia |is by the foot of two hi||s. The ity was first a|led
Pe||a by Herodotus,|ts important geographial position, near the mouth of the river Axios, was reognized by king Arheaos (413-399 B,c,), patron of the arts, progressive and well known to a|| Greeks, who moved there from Aigaithe apital of Macedonia.ln Pella, Archelaos brought together great artists in his ourt, among them the great painter Zeuxis and the tragi poet Eurypides. |t beame the birthp|ae of Phi|ip || and his son Alexander the Great.This is the city where, after Philip's exhortations, the great philosopher Aristotle ame and taught poIitis and phiIosophy
he iron cuirass is unique, as it is on|y example to have suh br}tliant go|d decoration on a| sides' So is a pair of gi|ded bronze greaves, whih are oa different size and shape, implying that the deeased was lame, and thus proving that the tomb belongs to Phitip ll.
to Alexander the Great.Philip ll, under whose reign Pel|a became the enter of He||enism, \/as an
exciting personality and his asent to the throne of Maedonia opened new roads in Greek history, his important king aS a great so|dier and, main|y, an inomparable dip|omat, one of the best of a|| ages'The exavations have brought to |ight the ity of Pe||a of the he||enisti years, with straight streets and water - supply and sewage systems, laid out under the Hippodamean system, |ike the ity of O|ynthos in Cha|kidiki,The forum of Pe|a oupied an area as |arge as other anient ities and had shops and workshops. The he|lenisti two - storey houses, with ourtyards f|anked by o|umns, and o|orfu| mosaideorated foors, are spetau|ar.
|t
is we|l known that the anient Greeks p|aed in the tombs of their dead many items, which they
believed would be essentialto them in the next life. his exp|ains the presence of otferings of great value made from many materials in the royal tombs of Vergina.he so|id go|d |arnax, shaped |ike a smal| wooden box, was found p|aed in a marb|e sarophagus, and is deorated with the sixteen pointed Maedonian Star, symbo| of the Maedonian Dynasty.The opening of the |arnax rea||ed to those present Homer,s desription of the buria| of l-lector: the bones of the deeased and a precious go|den reath with oak leaves and a0rns.
population exchnges, Thus, so fr s Greek Mcedoni wS concemed, there ws n serius problem lefi, p fro* ugri's irredentismwhich still sought n pporunity to stke once gin clims on' Greek nd Serbin ugoslin - Mcedoni'
few yers lter (1927) new Greek ulgrin ccord settled l utstnding econmic issues rising from the mss
t ws on, duing the Secon'd World Wr that these clims tok concrete frm, with the ccuption of prt of Greek Mcedoni nd Thrce by the ulgrin' aW, lredy Hitler's lyl lty in the Blkns, s for the Sl,ophones, number of hem went
thrugh n identity crisis. While most remrined firmy ttched to Helenism, others joined the ulgrin nd Nzi
XlKo BHMA
r_
MCEDONA,
4.000
intem centrifugl trends in country with So rnny ntionlities, mkes it imperIie for elgrde to be seen t c(ter penly nd
Germny, hese cllbortors deseed the ulgincmp' nd joinedthe dherents of the ''Mcednin'' policy ini,tited by the new
. Special issues
Mcedonin Questin in ur dys is pliticl dispue between ugosli nd Bulgri in which Greece is only indirectly
The
Greek side refrins' aS best s it cn, f,om ggrting the sitution by undulging in public inectie, unless penly prooked'
inoled' The fc thtugosli des try to inole Greece by rising the issue f non existent minrity shuld be ttributed minly to elgrde's tcticI mneuering nd hs nthing to do with present relities in Greek criticisms of Greece coud be interpreted s
n eeny blnced policy towrds ll ccupiers of ''Mcedonins'', be they Bulgrins, Greeks r bnins, n
century' duringthe Greek - Bugrin Strugge for predominn'ce in the still ottomn - held Mced.ni, there ws, of cource, mention f Mcedonins but nly in the sense thnt they (Bulgins or Greeks) were inhbitnts of
Bulgins or Sls' There is no mention f ethnic ''Mcednins'' whtsoeer' t the end f the ]9th nd beginning f the 20tl
Mcedoni'
follwers f Tno. During'the periocl beween the two World Ws, he cnmunist
but ithout consisent Set of guments 's t the distinctie ntionl idenity of these
The conflict tht o,)uo,d in the peiod of this struggle (904 - 1908) mng the rious orgnistions - i.e. the Verhoists, ryho were guided by the 7oenxment of Sofi
struggles
From the tomb of th Great umu|us of Vergina, there is one more testimony that Maedonia as part of Greee.There are 47 marble grave stelai of the Sth, 4th, and 3rd entury B.C., which deorated the tombs of common Maedonian itizens, with Greek names'
s n one coud ttribute Seprte Cretn or Cypit ntionl identiy to the d,ctes f utnorny or independence' So no one culd think f cknwledging Seprte
''Mcednin'' ntinl consciousness to the
In the Sth entury A.D,, the bui|ding of the Rotunda, which was origina||y a santuary of eus, was onerted into a churh and was deorated with mosaics whih are among the best exam|es of early - christian art.ln 860 4.D., the monks Cyril and Methodius, natives of Thessaloniki, translated the Holy Bible to the slavic language, creating at the same time the slavi a|phabet, and went on to c0nvert the slaves to Christianity,
:-El
MACEDONA,
4.000
EX|KO BHMA
inhbitnts of nrthern Mcedni -i'e' regins f southem ugsi nd SW ugri - wS wys cnsidered to be ulgri.n dilect, n regi.ns borderin,g lbni, r in the nhem' border zne f Greece, it tok the frm of lcl idim repete wih' lbnin nd Greek words, respectiely, t ws spoken idiom with
ndeed, the infiuence of Greekws suchthlt Slphone inhbitnts in pre - ryr Greek M ce doni, c ould h rdly unde rstnd nti e s f Sofi or Skopje'
fterWorldWr '
of this is tht
the
distinguished hemseles s Greek ptiots fighting ginst schemes to in,corporte Gre ek Mcedni t n eighbouing countries, These persons 're tolly integrted in Greek sciety nd mke lube contribution to the Greekntin's wefre nd' de,elopmen'
the locl Sa popultion' n dditin, n,umber f Sl - conscius Greek citizens, wh did nt flee to ugosli emigrted to ious oe|SeS cunties, Cein bilingul
nl s
lingeingbonds between the nguge f ugosla Mcedonins nd Bulgrin. Their net Step wS to crete Seprte vlritten lnguge funded n the diect spken in centrl ugosl Mcedoni s well s on nssie borrowings frm Serbin, Russin n,d ther Sl lnguges' The nguge thus constructed s chistened ,'iterry Mcedonin,' nd So Sooner ,s it lunched thn it wS reco7nized in the ugsl constitution S one of tle three officil anguges f the Federtin,
off ny
'' Scilist Republi'c of Mcedoni'{'' S Set up inugosli, the new regime there, mde n ll ut effort, to rise the lcl dilect t the rnk of respectble nguge' Swrms f linguists, phioogist nd other such scholrs conegedin Skpje nd set outfirst, to bre.k
the
Bulgrirs s rue'
scholrs tht such Sls s lied, in Mcedoni in the 19th nd ery 20th centuries cnsidered hemseles to be
being lbeled '' Mcednin'S'' ' Greek histrins Suppo the ,iew of most foreign
ugsl Mcedonia cn y no lid clim to the use of the Ierm Mcedoni een S purely gegrphic term' Wi.th the exceptin
Mcedoni, t woud' be historiclly more ccurte to cl this region Drdni' This rgument is histoicly lid but it hs lst
this re
'yS
m,uch
o remin in
Greece
few geing Slophones still liing in the border reS nd sti ble t spek their
rther
s Shr (Scrdus) muntin (i.e' noh of Skpje) be'cme ppulrly - lthoug"h unscientificlly - knn s Mcedoni,
Tday, fier Mce dni's
the
Turks
Greeks tke ffence when the ugsls peddle the ntion of Mcedni not nly s
constiutes the S. Rep' of Mcedni, ulgri hold the remining 10, The
ntionl, histoicl nd gegrphicl enti.ty, but trisected ne, known underthe regionl
equilent to 51 of the whle constitute the region of Greek Mcedni. pproximtely 39 belongs tugosli nd., since 1944,
in 1912 - t91j,
li
t *r
in ed'uctin' nd rpid
stndrd f iinghae drmticlly reduced bilinguism. Wht does hppen now is tht
Greel<s in Nohem Greece, ctie in the touist business, re emingnot just nglish, lnguges ofugosni in ordert cpe with Greece from their neighbuing country'
Mcedni'' (ulgin). n the Greek iew, '' Gre e k M c e d o ni '','' g o S l M c e d o ni,'' nd ulgrin Mcedoni,c'' re more ppropite terms' S they cerly denoe ech
''
re gin's
on the ''Mcednin
.nguge',
Until the Second Word Wr, there ws no such ting S ''Mcedonin'' lnguge,
ll of 'hich ber Greek nmes' These tombstones, fr instnce, proide strng e,idence of the hellenic origin's of the
remote er. t flies in he fce of recent finds inVegin nd. Dion of score,s of tombstones
ech belongs' The bstinte insistence on newlycined terms which im t show the unity of the geogrphicl re of Mcedoni
''
dentifiction
onfidence
ffi