„Македонска нација“ во целост, без дополнителни коментари, ја пренесува статијата „Македонците според грчки антички извори“ на англиски јазик (https://www.scribd.com/document/372283905/The-Macedonians-According-to-Ancient-Greek-Sources-Dimitri-Michalopoulos) од авторот д-р Димитрис Михалопулос, каде се прави јасна, недвосмислена дистинкција помеѓу елините и македонците во античко време. Д-р Михалопулос е роден во Атина, во 1952 година. Дипломирал историја во Атина, а докторирал на 26 годишна возраст во École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales во Париз. Од 1982 до 1994 е асистент и професор по историја на факултетот Аристотелис во Солун. До 1997 бил професор во Поморскиот воен колеџ во Атина, а, во меѓувреме, од 1990 до 2000 бил директор на градскиот музеј во Атина.

Dr. Dimitris Michalopoulos

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitris_Michalopoulos

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7496-8872

http://www.osdelnet.gr/results?Author_bio=1&Author=1074587

http://www.academie-arts-sciences-mer.com/docteur-dimitris-michalopoulos/

Historian and Archaeologist 
Academician of Arts & Sciences of the Sea 
Academic Commissioner for Greece

Dr. Dimitris Michalopoulos was born in Athens in 1952. After graduating from the National University of Athens, he obtained his PhD in Economic and Social History at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.

Dr. Dimitris Michalopoulos was:

•          Curator of the Archives of the Hellenic President Constantin Karamanlis (1980 – 1982)
•          Professor of Diplomatic History at the University of Thessaloniki (1982 – 1994)
•          Professor of History at the Naval Academy of Greece (1994 – 1997)
•          Professor of History at the School of War of the Greek Navy (1990 – 1997)
•          Director of the Museum of the City of Athens (1990 – 2000).

DimitriMichalopoulos[1]

THE MACEDONIANS ACCORDING TO ANCIENT GREEK SOURCES

(REPUBLICATION)

https://www.scribd.com/document/372283905/The-Macedonians-According-to-Ancient-Greek-Sources-Dimitri-Michalopoulos

From Ancient Times onwards, the Macedonians were a problem. For first of all they spoke a language other than Greek[2] and consequently they were not Greeks/Hellenes[3]. Of course, this is in sharp contrast with the Epirotes, whose Greek stock was irrefutable[4]. Only during the Roman Peace (PaxRomana), therefore, Macedonians started to be regarded   as a branch of the “Hellenic race”[5]; yet the differences were clear cut[6]. Saint Paul’s vision should be always remembered:

“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; there stood a man

of Macedonia, and prayed him saying. Come over into

Macedonia, and help us”[7].

As a matter of fact, Macedonians were a –thanks to their rulers- grecized people and by no means a Greek one. Isocrates (436-338 BC) was explicit:

Argos [in the Peloponnese]… [was] the land of your [i.e. of

Macedonian Kings] fathers…[8]

And further:

“And the founder of your empire, although he aspired higher

than did his fellow citizens and set his heart on a king's power, was not minded to take the same road as others who set out to attain a like ambition. For they endeavored to win this honor by engendering factions, disorder, and bloodshed in their own cities; he, on the other hand, held entirely aloof from Hellenic territory, and set his heart upon occupying the throne of Macedon. For he knew full well that the Hellenes were not accustomed to submit to the rule of one man, while the other races were incapable of ordering their lives without the control of some such power”[9].

                Herodotus agrees with Isocrates:

“Three brothers of the lineage of Temenus came as banished

men from Argos to Illyria, Gauanes and Aeropus and Perdiccas; and from Illyria they crossed over into the highlands of Macedonia till they came to the town Lebaea.There they served for wages as thetes in the king's household, one tending horses and another oxen. Perdiccas, who was the youngest, tended the lesser flocks. Now the king's wife cooked their food for them, for in old times the ruling houses among men, and not the common people alone, were lacking in wealth.Whenever she baked bread, the loaf of the thetePerdiccas grew double in size. Seeing that this kept happening, she told her husband, and it seemed to him when he heard it that this was a portent signifying some great matter. So he sent for his thetes and bade them depart from his territory.They said  it was only just that they should have their wages before they departed. When they spoke of wages, the king was moved to foolishness and said, “That is the wage you merit, and it is that I give you,” pointing to the sunlight that shone down the smoke vent into the house.Gauanes and Aeropus, who were the elder, stood astonished when they heard that, but the boy said, “We accept what you give, O king,” and with that he took a knife which he had with him and drew a line with it on the floor of the house round the sunlight. When he had done this, he three times gathered up the sunlight into the fold of his garment and went his way with his companions. So they departed, but one of those who sat nearby declared to the king what this was that the boy had done and how it was of set purpose that the youngest of them had accepted the gift offered. When the king heard this, he was angered, and sent riders after them to slay them. There is, however, in that land a river, to which the descendants from Argos of these men offer sacrifice as their deliverer.This river, when the sons of Temenus had crossed it, rose in such flood that the riders could not cross. So the brothers came to another part of Macedonia and settled near the place called the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance.In this garden, according to the Macedonian story, Silenus was taken captive. Above it rises the mountain called Bermius, which none can ascend for the wintry cold. From there they issued forth when they had won that country and presently subdued also the rest of Macedonia”[10].

In short, the Macedonians of Ancient Times were so different from the populations of classical Greece[11] as to exist a deep hatred  between them[12]. The ancient sources are clear on the matter:

“… But the bucklers of the Macedonians themselves he [:Pyrrhus, King of Epirus] dedicated to Dodonian Zeus. They too have an inscription: «These once ravaged golden Asia, and brought slavery upon the Greece. Now ownerless they lie by the pillars of the temple of Zeus, spoils of boastful Macedonia»”[13].           

And further:

“For the disaster at Chaeronea was the beginning of misfortune for all the Greeks, and especially did it enslave those who had been blind to the danger and such as had sided with the Macedonians. Most of their cities Philip captured; withAthens he nominally came in terms, but really imposed the severest penalties upon her, taking away the islands and putting an end to her maritime empire. For a time the Athenians remained passive, during the reign of Philip and subsequently of Alexander. But when on the death of Alexander the Macedonians chose Aridaeus to be their king, though the whole empire was entrusted to Antipater, the Athenians now thought it intolerable if Greece should be for ever under the Macedonians, and themselves embarked on war besides inciting others to join them. The cities that took part were, of the Peloponnesians, Argos, Epidaurus, Sicyon, Troezen, the Eleans, the Phliasians, Messene; on the other side of the Corinthian isthmus the Locrians, the Phocians, the Thessalians, Carystus… Each city ranged under the alliance had its own general, but as commander-in-chief was chosen the Athenian Leosthenes, both because of the fame of his city  and also because he had the reputation of being an experienced soldier. He had already proved himself a general benefactor of Greece. All the Greeks that were serving as mercenaries in the armies of Darius and his satraps Alexander had wished to deport to Persia, but Leosthenes was too quick for him, and brought them by sea to Europe. On this occasion too his brilliant actions surpassed expectation, and his death produced a general despair…”[14].

And also:

“… A few men called to mind their forefathers, and the contrast between their present position and the ancient glory of Athens, and without more ado forthwith elected Olympiodorus to be their general. He led them [: the Athenians] against the Macedonians, both the old men and the youths, and trusted form military success more to enthusiasm than to strength. The Macedonians came out to meet him, but he overcame them, pursued them to the Museum, and captured the position. So Athens was delivered from the Macedonians…”[15].

The Aftermath

In the first millennium of our era, the Greek peninsula, especially its southern extremity, was overrun by Slavs, who met little resistance by the autochthone populations; for the latter were decimated by the plague[16]. Thus, the newcomers settled more or less peacefully in the Morea and Mainland Greece and gave vigour to the indigenous dwellers[17]. A lot of place names, such as Ezeros (<ezero/ozero/jezero= “marsh”, “swamp”); Divri, a town in the Northern Peloponnese, whose etymonis the Slavonic worddobrameaning “good, beautiful”[18]; Arahova (= place of walnut trees), Mistras(= fir plantation) and Bardounia (<bardo= mountain [in the tongue of Illyria’s Slavs][19])bear testimony today to the story of Slavs’ medieval migration into Greece[20]; and even the place name Morea is derived from the Slavic word more(= sea)[21].

What was the relationship between Ancient Macedonians and the Slavs? The answer to this very question is beyond the scope of this paper. Nonetheless, there are two points to be kept in mind:

I. The Slavs were known to Ancient Greeks far prior to the first millennium of our era[22].

II. There some important terms in the ancient Greek tongue, the etymon of which is most likely Slavonic.

Be that as it may, the Slavic populations were so compact in Macedonia during the sixth century of our era, as to produce the Justinian Dynasty, i.e. the last Imperial House of the unified Roman world[23]. Emperor Justin I, in fact, the founder of the Dynasty was born near Skopje[24]. His nephew’s name was Upravda, translated later into Latin as Justinianus (> Justinian)[25]. And last but not least: there is no doubt any longer about the  Slavic stock of the last Byzantine Emperor, namely Constantine XI Palaeologus[26].

* * *

Whatever the facts of the matter, it was  the compulsory Exchange of Populations between Greece and Turkey, formally agreed in Lausanne on January 30, 1923, but practically inaugurated  as early as August, 1922, that had a direct impact on the fate of Macedonian Slavs. For as early as 1914 Eleutherios Venizelos had explained to Take Ionescu, the well-known Romanian statesman and his friend, that Greece was in need of Lebensraum in Macedonia in order to be installed there the Greeks, i.e. the Greek-Orthodox populations, scattered in Anatolia[27]. In fact, save İzmir and the adjacent regions, namely the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, the Turkish authorities did not wish the Greek-Orthodox populations to emigrate during the critical years 1922 and 1923[28]. That is why the Turkish-Orthodox Church was established[29]. Yet, the compulsory Greco-Turkish Exchange of populations was practically an expedient to force the Slav-Macedonian populations to leave Greece[30]…

Appendix

The letter addressed by Eleutherios Venizelos to Take Ionescu, late in 1914. (Source: Eleutherios Venizelos Papers.

[Athens: Historical Institute for Studies on Eleutherios Venizelos and his Era], I/35/1.)

... Je suis d’accord… que la victoire allemande serait un désastre pour la liberté de l’Europe en général et l’indépendance des petits États en particulier. Je suis donc persuadé que nous [tous] devons contribuer à ce que la Triple Entente soit victorieuse. La Grèce, en outre, serait prête à s’associer à ces puissances [de la Triple Entente], si la Bulgarie était convaincue de marcher avec nous ou au moins se retrancher dans la neutralité. En ce qui nous concerne donc, on n’est pas du tout contraire à une augmentation territoriale de la Bulgarie, soit en Thrace aux dépens de la Turquie soit en Macédoine par le biais de concessions territoriales de la part de la Serbie, si évidemment celle-ci allait y acquiescer en échange d’un accroissement ailleurs. Nous ne sommes pas opposés, en outre, aux concessions territoriales que la Roumanie voudrait bien faire à la Bulgarie. Dans ce cas-là pourtant, il faudrait tenir compte de ce que l’agrandissement territorial de la Bulgarie ne pourrait être accompli que si l’équilibre de forces entre celle-ci et la Grèce ne fût pas perturbé… La Grèce donc n’est pas en mesure de faire de concessions territoriales à la Bulgarie; cela pourtant n’est pas le cas de la Serbie et de la Roumanie…. La Grèce cependant, si elle était appelée à faire des concessions [territoriales]à la Bulgarie, elle se verrait obligée soit de donner à celle-ci des régions habitées  par des populations purement grecques soit de dégarnir de façon périlleuse ses frontières du côté de Salonique. Or, la Grèce ne peut faire ni l’un ni l’autre… parce qu’elle n’a pas le droit desonger à des annexions considérables. En effet, les millions des Grecs qui vivent dans l’Empire ottoman sont dispersés [çà et là]…  Étant donné toutefois que tous les Grecs seront finalement contraints de venir vivre dans l’État grec [indépendant], nous exigeons un espace qui ne serait en aucun cas moindre que celui attribué aux Bulgares. Qui aurait le droit de nous blâmer pour cela?...

[1] Greek Historian (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7496-8872).

[2] Pausanias, Description of Greece. Messenia, 29.3; Strabo, Geographica, C 327.

[3] Strabo, Geographica, C 127.

[4] Pausanias, Description of Greece. Attica, 11.7 (Loeb).

[5]Dio Chrysostom, The Fourth Discourse on Kingship, 48 (Loeb).

[6]Dio Chrysostom, The Fourth Discourse on Kingship, 55 (Loeb).

[7]Acts, 16: 9.

[8] Isocrates, To Philip, 32 (Loeb); cf. Kōnstantinos Paparrēgopoulos, Historiatou Hellēnikou Ethnous apotōnarchaiotatōnchronōn mechri tōn kath’hēmas (= History of the Greek Nation from the most Ancient Times up to our Era), vol. VI (Athens: Galaxias, 1969), p. 9.

[9]Isocrates, To Philip, 106-108 (Loeb).

[10] Herodotus, The Histories, 8.137-138 (Loeb).

[11]Strabo, Geography, C 127 (Papyrus).

[12]Plutarch, Aratus, 38 (Teubner), and Camillus, 19 (Papyrys); Pausanias, Description of Greece. Attica, 8.3 (Loeb); K.Paparrēgopoulos, HistoriatouHellēnikouEthnous…, vol. VII (Athens : Galaxias, 1969), pp. 34, 68.

[13]Pausanias, Description of Greece. Attica, 13.3 (Loeb).

[14] Pausanias, Description of Greece. Attica, 25.3-5 (Loeb).

[15] Pausanias, Description of Greece. Attica, 26.1-2 (Loeb).

[16]GeōrgiosKollias, HistorikēGeōgraphiatouHellēnikouchōrou (= Historical Geography of the Greek Space), Athens, 1969², p. 94.

[17]DimitrisMichalopoulos, Fallmerayer et les Grecs, Istanbul: Les éditions Isis, 2011.

[18]J. Phil. Fallmerayer, Das Albanische Element in Griechenland .vol. III (Munich: Verlag der K.Akademie, 1857), pp. 24-25; DimitrisMichalopoulos, “The True Story of the FallmerayerIssue”, Parnassos(Athens), vol. XLVIII (2006), p. 219.

[19] J. Phil. Fallmerayer, Geschichte der HalbinselMoreawährend des Mittelalters, vol. I (Stuttgart and Tübingen: J. G. Cotta’schenBuchandlung, 1830), p.283.

[20]Ibid.,  pp. 292-293.

[21]DimitrisMichalopoulos, “The True Story of the Fallmerayer  Issue”, Parnassos, vol. XLVIII (2006), p. 219.

[22]Cf. N. Moschopoulos, entry “Slauoi” (= Slavs), MegalēHellēnikēEnkyklopaideia (= The Great Greek  Encyclopedia), vol. XXII (Athens: Pyrsos, 1933), p. 29.

[23]At least according to KōnstantinosPaparrēgopoulos, the national historian of Modern  Greece.

[24]AikaterinēChristophilopoulou, VyzantinēHistoria (= Byzantine History), vol. I (Athens, 1975), p. 248.

[25]K.Paparrēgopoulos, Historia touHellēnikouEthnous…, vol. IX (Athens : Galaxias, 1969), p. 94.

[26]Ibidem, vol. X (Athens: Galaxias, 1971), p. 381.

[27]Eleutherios Venizelos Papers (Historical Institute for Studies on Eleutherios Venizelos and his Era, Athens), I/35/1. Published in: DimitrisMichalopoulos, Attitudes parallèles : ÉleuthériosVénisélos etTakeIonescu dans la Grande Guerre (Athènes : Institut de recherches  sur ÉleuthériosVénisélos et son époque, 2005²), pp. 35-36. The translation from Greek into French : ibid. pp. 23, 25-27.

[28] See mainly MarkosVapheiadēs, Apomnēmoneumata (=Memoirs), vol. I (Athens: Diphros, 1984), pp. 34-35, 43-45.

[29] The relevant documents: AYE, 1965, 102. 1.

[30]DimitrisMichalopoulos, “The Compulsory Exchange of Populations between Greece and Turkey: A Necessity or an Absurdity?”,Birzamanlar Balkanlar (Samsun Mübadeleve Balkan TürkKültürü Araştırmaları Derneği, 2014), pp. 112-117.