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Summary: An extroadinary look into ancient Macedon with the sources,archaeologicak discoveries and modern scholalry academi to back it up
Comment: One of the most complete compilations of Macedonia and specifically ancient Macedon the academic world has yet seen. Possessing hundreds upon hundreds of photos from archaeological discoveries spanning three continents, a plethora of ancient testimonies which serve in re-assuring what the majority of the field hold to be true to today, the Hellenism of the ancient Macedones.
From Persian inscriptions dating to 510 BCE (!) referring to the Macedones as "Yauna takabaras" [Greeks that wear sunhats] to the independent testimonies of ancient Roman writers such as Quintus Curtius Rufus claiming: "As for Alexander, it is generally agreed that, when sleep had brought him back to his senses after his drunken bout, he regretted his actions and said that the Persians would have suffered a more grievous punishment at the hands of the Greeks had they been forced to see him on Xerxes' throne and in his palace."
(Quintus Curtius Rufus 5.7.11) and clearly labeling Alexander's conquest as a Greek crusade. To Titius Livius veryfing the language of the Macedones: the ten Commissioners took his official seat surrounded by the whole crowds of Macedonians...Paulus announced in Latin the decisions of the Senate, as well as his own, made by the advice of his council. This announcement was translated into Greek and repeated by Gnaeus Octavius the Praetor-for he too was present." (T. Livius,XLV) AND YET AGAIN, "Aetolians, Acarnanians, Macedonians, men of the same language" (T. Livius XXXI,29, 15) placing the Macedones amongst other Greek speaking tribes. Justin ANOTHER Roman writer clearly giving us a backround detail into the foundation of the Macedonian throne: "Caranus also came to Emathia with a large band of Greeks, being instructed by an oracle to seek a home in Macedonia." - Justinus epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Universal History 7.1 And again Plutarch with the obvious: "..he read the inscriptions and then ordered to write under it a translation in Greek..." - Plutarchos Alexandros,69,4
The astonishing amount of literary sources that have survived continually point one way in how to regard the ancient Macedones, is truly amazing. It isnt just the Persians or Romans who clearly regarded the Macedones as Greeks, the list continues with the ancient Hebrew historians such as Josephus, Philo Judaeus and of course the holy scriptures of the Macabees and the Talmud (including the prophet Daniel, chap.8, 1-22 chap.2 para.39 4-13, 26-28, 31, 38 chap. 7, 2-7) Right down to the Bible and the New Testament reaffirming what we already knew: "Paul the Apostle, was summoned to Macedonia by a Macedonian in the form of a vision speaking to him in Greek" (Act Apost. XVI 9,10) and speaking of Greeks in Macedon as natives again: "The Apostles Paul and Silas met Greek men and women in Thessaloniki and Beroea" (Act Apost. XVII 4, 12).
Clearly the Hellenistic nature of the Macedones was not disputed thousands of years ago, not by foreign writers, nor the rest of the Greeks. MOST IMPORTANTLY not by the Macedones THEMSELVES who CLEARLY thought of THEMSELVES as Hellenes and held a common blood-line with the rest of the Greeks. Who then are we to tell the Macedones who they were ?
"...Your ancestors came to Macedonia and the rest of Greece and did us great harm, though we had done them no prior injury. I have been appointed leader of the Greeks, and wanting to punish the Persians I have come to Asia, which I took from you..." - Arrian II (Anabasis) 14, 4
"Now that the men of this family are Hellenes, sprung from Perdiccas, as they themselves affirm, is a thing which I can declare on my own knowledge, and which I will hereafter make plainly evident. That they are so has been already adjudged by those who manage the Pan-Hellenic contest at Olympia"
(Herodotus, The Histories 8.43)
"Now that these descendants of Perdiccas are Hellenes, as they themselves say, I myself chance to know"
(Herodotus V, 22, 1)
"The country by the sea which is now called Macedonia... Alexander, the father of Perdiccas, and his forefathers, who were originally Temenidae from Argos"
(Thuc. II, 99, 3 [Loeb, C. F. Smith])
"Argos is the land of your fathers". Isocrates, To Philip, XII, 32 (Loeb, G. Norlin),
As a famous Greek once said, "time is the father of truth" And if time has given us an indication into the ethnic nature of the Macedones it has remained clear throughout the ages, and that is: MACEDONIA: 4000 YEARS OF GREEK HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION !
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Summary: COLD HARD FACTS
Comment: Macedonia: 4000 years of Greek History and Civilazation is well written and supported by facts and ancient artifacts..
Before I begin my review id like to point out some inaccuracies from previous reviews listed here..First, there was no Greek nation in ancient times but Greek city-states...Athens Sparta Thebes Corinth and yes Macedonia...Ive read previous reviews where the authors claim that the the Greeks revolted under Macedoanian rule which is true...Greek city states greatly valued their independence even from other Greek city states..Such is the case between Athens and Sparta when they tried to dominate each other leading to the Peloponnesian War..It is natural that they would revolt..Claiming that because the other Greek city-states revolted against Macedonia as proof of Macedonians being a non-Greek people is false!!
Id like to ask or suggest some food for thought to my FYROM readers(Former YugoSLAV Republic Of Macedonia) or disbelievers that the MAcedonians were Greek these FACTS:
1)Why is there no evidence of a non-Greek Macedonian language?
the ancient Macedonians spoke Greek and had Greek names..
2)Where is this non-Greek Macedonian culture hiding?
All ancient Macedonian artifacts are Greek
Are we suppose to believe the that the ancient Macedoanians were not Greek and then one day out of the blue they said the hell with it let's be Greek? Lets speak Greek, worship Greek gods, write in Greek, structure our conquered territory based on Greek ideas and culture, setting up gymnasiums, theater, agoras..etc.. common on people!!! No conquerer has ever conquered a country or territory and then poof in an instant forgot his roots..I once heard someone use Rome as an example regarding its conquering of the ancient Greek city states and adopting Greek culture.Id like to point out that Rome never adopted Greek as its official language. Romans never adopted Greek names ( cicero ceasar aurelias are not greek)and most of all you can clearly see a distinction between Roman literature and Greek..
3)Why did Alexander idolize Greek heroes such as Achilles, why did he keep a copy of the Illiad around as if it were his bible written by another Greek Homer..How is Aristotle his tutor Greek and Alexander isnt when they are both Macedonians?
4) Why would the ancient Greeks place the home of their gods( Zeus Athena Poseidon etc) on MT OLYMPUS which is located in ancient Macedonia??
Does it make sense for a people to place their holy sites in a foreign land??? Doesnt anyone think logically anymore?
Todays inhabitants of FYROM are a mix of Bulgarians, Albanians, Gypsies.
Slavic people arrived in the Balkans in the 6th and 7th century AD...
It is LOGICALLY incorrect for these citizens to believe they are Macedonians...They are Slavs and there is ZERO evidence of the ancient Macedonians being Slavic!!!!
Todays FYROM scholars have NO TANGIBLE EVIDENCE to claim that the ancient Macedonians were not Greek just revisionistic lies!!!!
Furthermore,FYROM's former president Kiro Gligorov in the Toronto Star on March 15, 1992 said: "We are Macedonians but we are Slav Macedonians. That's who we are! We have no connection to Alexander the Greek and his Macedonia. The ancient Macedonians no longer exist, they had disappeared from history long time ago. Our ancestors came here in the 5th and 6th century (AD)."
In an interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Gyordan Veselinov, Macedonia's Ambassador to Canada said: "We are not related to the northern Greeks who produced leaders like Philip and Alexander the Great. We are a Slav people and our language is closely related to Bulgarian" and that "there is some confusion about the identity of the people of this country."
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Summary: When pictures talk
Comment: Over the past fifteen, I have heard a lot of claims by nationalists and anthropologists that the Ancient Macedonians and, in general the Macedonians weren't Hellenes. I guess they focus their teachings on misinformed people that haven't opened a book on Ancient Greece.
Unfortunately, social anthropologists have replaced historians however, they can't distort archeological findings found in Macedonia that prove them wrong. This book, gives the reader not only an analytic description of the history of Macedonians from Ancient times till present (Ottoman,Balkan wars,EU) but it also includes plenty of pictures of items from different macedonian museums and the Royal Tombs in Vergina that disapprove current overlooked scholars of anthropology that the Macedonians weren't Hellenes or were Hellenized.
Furthermore, the quotes from different sources are translated properly and in whole without paste and deleting. An example is: "Macedonians and the other Hellenes" and not what we have been taught today "Macedonians and Hellenes". Another example is the emphasis of Demosthenes calling Phillipo 'barbaric' but modern scholars have omitted the words 'hegemony of our lands'.
Before you call this book biased, the book has been written by different international and hellene authors that cover different historic periods.
Anyway, I recommend this book to anyone, especially the Hellenic diaspora, whose interested in Ancient Hellenic History. This is one out of six books of (Greek lands in History).
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Summary: Book Review
Comment: The book in question is a perspective of the author done to perfection. It is not written with any notion of promoting scholarly balance in mind. Nor does it reflect on its use as a tool for propagating disinformation. This book merely discounts any information and evidence that presents itself as contrary to the views proposed by this work. As such, its value as a research tool outside of the study of propaganda is significantly diminished. The work is presented as pure research, but rather it shows itself to be a tiresome quagmire of propaganda which ultimately achieves no purpose other than fuelling continued ill feeling between two distinct ethnic groups.
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Summary: Macedonia will always be a part of Greece
Comment: This book is excellent. If you really want to know the truth about the history of Macedonia, go out and read this book. To the people of F.Y.R.O.M..... It's harder to steal when everyone knows your a thief.
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