The Suspicious Games of the West against Hellas: The Fabricated Macedonian Question
The Suspicious Games of the West against Hellas:
(Historical Evidence)
by
Dr. Ioannis N. Kallianiotis
Economics/Finance Department
The Arthur J. Kania School of Management
University of Scranton
Scranton, PA 18510-4602
<<Εστίν ουν Ελλάς και η Μακεδονία >>
Στράβων
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to provide some information and a scientifically true analysis on the 8,000 years of Hellenic (Greek) history and to examine what this information means to us and to the world as a whole. We will offer some thoughts and unshaken historic events that may help to answer questions concerning today’s conditions in south-eastern Europe, the distressful Balkan peninsula, the borders of the “Christendom” (currently, European Union). It is imperative that all scholars, politicians, decision makers, students, and intellectual human beings have this information regarding an artificial state (protectorate), Skopje, created recently between Greece and Serbia, because we are responsible, as educators, for all young people of this planet and we must tell them the plain truth in simple words, away from any expediency, propaganda, and anti-scientific delusion. This new state has unlawfully chosen the Greek name “Macedonia” for its nation and Greece is objecting with historical evidence their aggressiveness and their expansiveness. It is historically wrong for them to use Greek names and symbols because they have nothing in common with Greeks and their old name was Vardarska Banovina. Of course, it is very suspicious the persistence of the West towards this fabrication, which is against the science of history.
I. Prologue
Hellenic history and culture have contributed a great deal to the European and the entire western civilization that we find their seal everywhere, today. The democracy of ancient Greece,[1] the accomplishments of her people,[2] the great ideas of her moral philosophers,[3] scientists and artists,[4] and finally, the dramatic events which have unfolded in the glorious history of the Greek nation because of its geographical position, its language, its paideia, and its persistence in Christian truth have always been a source of creative inspiration to all nations.[5] Ancient and Byzantine Greece has truly improved mankind.
The ancient Hellenic civilization is called the “classical” one; later the word “classical” became the source of standards by which subsequent achievements can be measured.[6] “There is a quality of excellence about Ancient Greece that brooks few comparisons.”[7] These peoples (Greeks) shared the same language (in an oral and written literature)[8] and they recognized a common heritage “Hellenes” ({Ellhne~), which they did not share with other men. They belonged, as they felt, to “Hellas”.[9] The non-Greeks were “barbarians”. The achievement and importance of Greece comprehended all sides of life. “The Greeks did more for future civilization than any of their predecessors.”[10] All Europe drew interest on the “capital” Greece laid down, and through Europe the rest of the world has benefited from what Greeks offered to human civilization.
Alexander, the son of Philip, is one of those historical Greek figures called “Great”. He was a passionate Hellene,[11] who believed Achilles[12] was his ancestor and carried with him on his campaigns a treasured copy of Homer. He had been tutored by Aristotle. Alexander the Great had a staggering record of success, even though that he died at the age of 33 years old.[13] The history of Europe is the history of the Western civilization (a Greek-Christian civilization).[14] Indisputable, Roman civilization was descended from the earliest Greek (Hellenic) civilization.[15] Today, the European Union has changed drastically because of so many influences by different sub-cultures, especially, by the latest Muslim “invasion” from Asia and Africa. “European, or Western, civilization originated from the fusion of German (barbarian) culture and Roman (Hellenic-Christian) civilization during the Dark Ages from the 5th to the 10th century A.D.”[16] Of course, history repeats itself. There were even monetary and economic unions in Ancient Greece, i.e., “the Common of Euboeans”, in 2nd century B.C.,[17] where they issued a common currency, but they did not last for very long time because of the oppression on their small member-states (i.e., Karystos in Euboea).
History, scientific truth, divine justice, morality, and human respect are social necessities and they require satisfaction. Each man enjoys existence according to his labor and by himself he determines his future, his heritage, his nation and thus, affects the world.[18] Mutual solidarity, joint responsibility, revealed truth, and real love are essential not only for the life of families, but also for the history of nations and the coexistence of this Cosmos (Kovsmo~ = order, ornament). Moral, ethical, independent, and uncorrupted leadership is necessary to promote patriotism and indigenous value system of a sovereign nation.
Today, the Hellenes (Greeks), even though that they are members of NATO, European Union (EU), and Euro-zone,[19] remain ever-vigilant against the expansionistic plans of their neighbors and especially now, since the fall of the communism, Skopjeans have begun to make claims against northern Greece. They have spread far and wide propaganda that Macedonians are not Greeks and they style themselves as the true Macedonians (sic). They have spread lies and disinformation everywhere in all the “controlled” nations,[20] the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. But the question remains, how can they be Macedonians without being Greeks? And, how dared some nations to turn a blind eye to the historic and scientific truth and recognize this pseudo-state as “Macedonia”? A world that bases its existence on lies has no future!
II. Hellas’ Indisputable Historical Journey
Archeological evidence suggests that the Hellenic peninsula, the island of Crete, and the Aegean Cycladic Islands had been inhabited as far back as 6000 B.C. During the Bronze Age (3000-2800 B.C.) these inhabitants developed great cities, powerful navies and rich commerce, resulting in two great civilizations, the Cycladic-Minoan (2500-1400 B.C.) that we can see in Thera (Santorini), Knossos, and Phestos, and the Mycenaean (1600-1100 B.C.) found in Peloponnesos. The Iliad, the Homeric epic, written in approximately the 9th century B.C. illustrates this point through the story of the famed Trojan expedition of the Mycenaeans and many other famous Greek city-states led by the glorious king Agamemnon. Therefore, Greeks are in Asia Minor since 11th century B.C.[21]
The Dorian migration to the Greek mainland about 1100 to 900 B.C., marked the beginning of the Geometric Period (900-700 B.C.), which is the first period of recorded history. During the Geometric Period the various tribes developed a common alphabet (that Greece uses up to now)[22] and religious system (the twelve Olympian gods),[23] and a uniform, though separate (city-state), form of government. Also, cultural unity was further enhanced by the establishment of the Olympic Games in 776 B.C., an athletic event involving all of the Greek city-states in peaceful competition[24] and social unity. Pan-Hellenic sanctuaries were also constructed.[25] It should be noted that such unity included the cultural and commercial development in the various colonies established by some of the city-states of the mainland Greece –spreading from the Black Sea and Asia Minor to Italy, Sicily, North Africa, and expanding to the coastal areas of France and Spain; even they crossed the Atlantic and went to the Americas.[26]
The Archaic Period (800-550 B.C.) was a time, in which cultural integration progressed, though tribes continued to divide politically into the two most powerful and rival city-states, Athens and Sparta. Sparta developed a semi-totalitarian society with a rigid military code based on territorial conquest; while Athens, a more loosely ordered and democratic society encouraged cooperation between city-states and cultivation of the intellect and the fine arts. The two rivals united for a time against a common foreign enemy, during the Persian wars, which lasted from the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.[27] to the battle of Thermopylae (480 B.C.) to the naval battle of Salamis (479 B.C.), and the battle of Plataea in 479 B.C.[28]
The Classical Period (480-323 B.C.) marked the height of Greek cultural development. As the leader of the Delian Confederacy, an alliance among the main Greek city-states, Athens flourished both economically and culturally. The wealth that they accumulated from shipping, trading, and tribute from allies enabled the Athenians to beautify their city with buildings, temples, theaters, and other magnificent monuments. Under their leader Pericles, architects designed and constructed buildings on the Acropolis, in the Agora and the surrounding area. In the cultural sphere, philosophers, poets, historians, orators, and artists produced some of the greatest works of art and literature. The playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes; the architects Ictinus and Callicrates; the sculptors Pheidias, Scopas, and Praxiteles; the historian Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon; the orator Demosthenes; the philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all lived during this time. The Golden Age of Athens.[29]
The Spartans, jealous of Athenian political hegemony conquered Athens in the fifth century after the 27 year Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). Even though Athens never regained her former military strength, Athenian cultural life continued to prosper. From 450 B.C. to 300 B.C., it was the intellectual period, where Socrates taught about the soul and spoke of the Unknown God hoping that He would reveal Himself. Plato and Aristotle made significant contributions to human thought with their moral philosophy and their foundations on almost every science (except Probability Theory),[30] while sculptors such as Pheidias, Scopas, Praxiteles, and others experimented with new forms of artistic expression by putting the standard for the future and beautified Athens.
While Athens and Sparta struggled for military supremacy, a new, more powerful political force began to emerge in Macedonia (the Northern part of Greece). In the four decades before the Hellenistic Period (323-146 B.C.), the Macedonians under King Philip II (359 B.C.) forcefully united most of the Greek city-states after defeating Athens and Thebes in battle at Chaeronea, and built a powerful Hellenic confederacy.[31] The illustrious Alexander the Great, the son of King Philip, schooled by Aristotle, embarked on a historic expedition in 336 B.C. to conquer the vast empire of the Persians (punish them for their past invasions of Greece). In only eleven years he subdued this mighty foe and extended Hellenic influence far into Africa and Asia, as far as India.[32] Alexander’s achievement marked the height of Hellenic military power.[33]
Following Alexander’s death (323 B.C.), violent and frequent warfare among rival Greek leagues tore apart the Empire. These conflicts rendered the Greek city-states vulnerable to invasion. Finally, in 146 B.C., after fifty years of war, Roman legions conquered Greece. Although conquered, the Greek culture “subjugated” the Roman culture. During and after the Hellenistic Period, the classical Greek culture and Greek language were dominant throughout the Orient.[34] In A.D. 50, the Apostle Paul preached Christianity in Greece, and from the time when he spoke to the Athenians about their “Unknown God”, for whom they already had a temple, a common religion, the Hellenic Orthodoxy united them and made them an inseparable group, the Greek-Orthodox people.[35] Also, the use of the Greek language in writing the Gospel and by the Eastern Church and her fathers gave a new dimension to Hellenic culture and created the spiritual Medieval Hellenic (Byzantine) culture.
The Christianization of the Roman Empire in 313 A.D. and the building of Constantinople (325 A.D.) by Saint Constantine the Great launched Greece along a different historical and cultural path. The relocation of the capital from Rome to the site of ancient Byzantium contributed to the preeminence of Greek culture and paideia as a source of political power, and in the end the impact of Hellenism proved irresistible. For the next eleven centuries, until the fall of Constantinople on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, the Greek language and culture refashioned by Orthodox Christianity, formed the sinews of the Byzantine Empire, the Medieval Hellenic Empire.
During those eleven centuries of the Byzantine Period (324-1453 A.D.), Byzantine and Greek history were virtually inseparable. All Greeks had abandoned paganism and adopted Christianity. This led to a magnificent flowering of Byzantine spiritual culture, hymnography, architecture, literature, art, mostly in the form of monastic frescoes and new religious iconography. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans propelled Greece into her darkest period. Muslim Turks, who came from the Far East Asia and had nothing in common with the Hellenic-Orthodox values, ruled Greece with a cruel and ruthless hand throughout much of the Middle Ages. Even though, Greeks kept an inextinguishable awareness of their glorious past and ethnicity and their true faith through the Orthodox Church, monasteries, and the memories passed on from generation to generation.
The Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire.[36] It was its evolution and transformation in the East. The transposition of the center of gravity of the Roman nation from West to East (4th century A.D.), the transfer of the capital to an area predominance of the Greek spirit, civilization, and language and the intense effect of Orthodoxy combined, and created the starting point of one autonomous historic march of the eastern sphere of the Empire. Byzantium was a new political form, where Hellenism and Orthodoxy created a new ( JEllhnorqovdoxon) culture.[37]
The Byzantine Orthodox hymns emphasize that the people of Byzantium are the “people of the Lord”. The same can be seen in other historic texts and it is clear that the perception of the Empire’s role as a divinely guided entity prevailed throughout the world of Byzantium.[38] The citizens of the Byzantium are understood to be the “chosen” people of God, the genuine Christian people of the “God guarded” Christian-Orthodox nation, compared with the heterodox of the west; of course, no comparison can be made with the allodox or pagans of today. During its whole journey in history, Byzantium had the same strong perception that among the fundamental goals of the nation was the protection of the Christian faith, its propagation, and its perpetuation until the Second Coming. Surrounded most of the time by nations of other religions, the Christian people were obliged to defend their faith, because in this way, they saved their national identity.[39] They had a strong involvement in religious strifes, an exceptional sensitivity towards heresies, and dogmatic opposition.
Byzantines were defending their religious unity because in it they viewed the unity of their communities, “in a community where all, laymen and clergymen relied on the Christian faith for their existence, and reach a point where every act was judged from a religious point of view”.[40] The faithful awaited the blessing of the church to attain a better life, not only in the other world but also in this earthly one. Every faithful was giving to the church, without reservation, the right to involve in his every day life. The church blessed his marriage, his house, his animals, his fields, his crops, his bread, his water, and the schools. The church exercised a leading and deterministic role in every aspect of his existence.[41] Of course, when a nation will lose God’s protection, loses the Holy Spirit and has no future, it become a palioyavqa (an old straw rug).[42]
Uprising against the Turk conquerors occurred sporadically throughout the Middle Ages, but it was not until the early nineteenth century that the modern Greek Sate evolved (confined by her allies only on the European side of the Byzantine Empire), commensurate with the decline of the Ottoman Empire. On March 25, 1821, Greeks resumed their march through history again.[43] A revolutionary army composed of patriots from Peloponnesos, Sterea Ellada, and the Aegean Islands began to battle the Turkish armies. Although both sides scored success, the conflict soon reached a stalemate. At the request of the Sultan, the Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha invaded Greece, thus allowing for intervention by the three great European powers –France, England, and Russia- on the side of the Greek insurgents.
However, this foreign intervention was also influenced by the intelligentsia in Western European countries.[44] Learned men who were well-read in Ancient Greek history[45] and were inspired by the heroism of the fighting Greeks and their suffering from the Turkish atrocities, forced their governments to change their policies to a more sympathetic attitude towards the Greek revolutionists, who want their freedom. So, many came to help not only from Europe, but also from United States, that we call them “Philellines” (friends of Greeks).[46] The final military solution came at the Battle of Navarino, in which British, French, and Russian navies decimated a joint Turkish-Egyptian fleet, breaking the Turkish hold on Greece and Europe. The Sultan, after eight and a half years of revolution, recognized Greece as an independent nation with full diplomatic statues. Yet only one part of the mainland and a few islands were freed. It took other wars to maintain the free status that Greece enjoys today, but even now many parts are still under occupation.[47] These Greeks gave their lives to liberate their country from the Muslim Turks and today, the Greek pseudo-leaders handed Greece over without any resistance towards the new “Muslim invaders”, the illegal immigrants.
In the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth, the Greek government tried to extend her sovereignty over all adjacent lands inhabited by Greeks for many centuries (since the 10th century B.C. and earlier, according to historic evidences). Greece was euphoric over the success of her armies in the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and in World War I. In spite of frustrating oppositions between King Constantine and Prime Minister Venizelos, part of Greece had at least been freed and was able to join the “entente” and contribute to the allies’ final victory, thus assuring the country’s good will, which future plans would require. After all these war successes, came and the just ultimate objective of the country, “the Great Idea”.[48] Venizelos lobbied hard at the 1918 Paris peace conference, urgently presenting his views for an expanded Greece not to include all the territories that Medieval Greece had in the 15th century, but to include only the large Greek Communities in Asia Minor (today occupied, Western Turkey). Most important was the real need to protect the Greek population in that part of Asia Minor, which was subjected to harsh treatment by the Turks during World War I.
On May 15, 1919, the Greek army landed on Asia Minor. Over the next two weeks, the Greek occupation spread north and continued. By mid-June 1920, a Turkish nationalist attack on the British position on the Ismid peninsula at the eastern end of the Sea of Marmara gave Greece the chance to demonstrate her military effectiveness. At the request of the allies, Greece sent her troops to their aid. The troops advanced east from their agreed-upon holding line, and occupied an area from the old capital of Bursa, south to Alashehir and east to Ushak. For good measure, in late July, they also mopped up nationalistic forces in Thrace and entered Adrianople (Edirne).
In this optimistic atmosphere, the treaty of Serves was finally signed on August 10, 1920. The Sultan’s representatives had signed the treaty, but Kemal’s nationalists did not agree. This treaty gave the Greeks all that they asked for. Having been obliged at the time by circumstances to sign the Treaty of Serves, subsequently none of the allies ratified it, nor did Turkey. The treaty remained a piece of paper, the contents of which Greece alone celebrated rather optimistically and prematurely. Even though, earlier in December 1920, the Greek army had advanced to Eski Shehir, where it had found stiff resistance and was forced to retire to its former positions. Anticipating the likelihood that events in Asia Minor could go from bad to worse, a conference was called by the allies in London in late February 1921 inviting delegations from Greece and Turkey. It ended in failure because neither the Greeks nor the Turks would budge.
Meanwhile, the French and the Italians took the opportunity to conclude private agreement with the Kemalists in recognition of their mounting strength.[49] In March 1921, the advance was more in earnest, but so was the defense by the entrenched Turkish Nationalists, who were better prepared and equipped like a regular army. Not willing to go backwards, the Greek government decided to go forward against Kemal and Ankara. The army was increased, reinforced, and reorganized. King Constantine arrived in Smyrna in early June 1921. The Greek army again advanced to Eski Shehir and Afyon Karahisar and this time was successful. The principal objective was Ankara and the Greeks convinced themselves that if they could capture this nationalist capital, they would destroy the Turkish resistance and victory would be theirs. On August 14, 1921, the Greek assault began. In an all-out effort they managed to reach the Sakaraya River and the area near Polatli, about 40 miles from Ankara, before the exhausted Greek armies halted in the first days of September 1921.
The casualties on both sides were enormous, but the Turks remained undestroyed. The enemy now counter attacked, and the Greeks fell back to where they started from, at Eski Shehir. They were at a stalemate and low on military hardware and even in food supplies, and their country was in difficult financial straits. A year later, having gathered strength and aided by a supply of arms from Russia, Kemal Pasha began his final offensive at the end of August 1922. Overwhelmed, the Greeks retreated nearly 120 miles and tried to hold their lines. When that failed, the retreat became a rout. The armed forces were evacuated from Chesme, near Smyrna, September 8-14, 1922 and the massive Greek population tried to flee in panic before the avenging Turks.[50] It is estimated that as many as 30,000 civilians lost their lives, and more than a million refugees fled to Greece as the Greek, Armenian, and European quarters were burned to the ground in a huge fire.[51] These refugees joined half a million or so Greeks who had fled earlier. The large Greek presence in the area had lasted nearly three millennia, but it was now substantially at the end. The “Great Idea” was another one of the victims, at least for one more century.[52] Under the terms of the new treaty of Lausanne, signed in June 1923, Turkey kept Eastern Thrace, Constantinople, Bosporus (today’s European Turkey) and the strategic Greek populated islands of Imvros and Tenedos that had been given to Greece under the Treaty of Serves. Greece’s borders with Turkey were (unfairly for Greece) confirmed. Most importantly, the treaty provided for the massive population exchange that became necessary. Unfortunately, the Greek genocide by Turks continued in Constantinople (1955) and in Cyprus (1974).[53]
In 1939, World War II broke out in Europe and by 1940 most countries of Europe had surrendered and Hitler had the Continent of Europe in his grip. On October 28, 1940 Mussolini decided to take over Greece with an easy victory based on his numbers and mechanized forces. He attacked Greece from Albania with a lot of support from Albanians.[54] The Greeks with their Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas stood up and said “Ochi” (OXI = No, you shall not pass) and these heroic forefathers of today’s Greeks fought with a will, hurling back the aggressors. The Duce’s divisions were soon pushed back into Albania and for six months were fighting to maintain a hold on the sea-cost, desperately calling for help. When Germany entered the war against Greece with the most powerful army in Europe, the Greeks continued to fight both of these great empires although reason must have told them that their position was hopeless. Beside their British comrades, they continued to resist stubbornly on the Island of Crete.
Finally, Greece fell, but it cost Hitler thousands of his finest youth, and delayed for two months his attack against Russia. German troops ran into the dreadful Russian winter and the Russians imposed such appalling losses that it contributed to the ultimate defeat of Germany.[55] The occupation, great famine, resistance and subsequent liberation of Greece followed, and then came the “December Movement”, in which Greek communists fought their brother Greeks; especially, they went against the heroic Hellenic Gendarmery (JEllhnikhv Cwrofulakhv).[56] This civil war (kommounistosummoritopovlemo~) ended in August 29, 1949 with the defeat of communists.[57] England helped Greece first and later, the United States helped with the Marshall plan, which lent Greece to a new era and made her one of the most important allies of the West. But, west’s envy has caused and continues to create serious problems to Greece, even though that Greece is a member of NATO, EU, and EMU. Greece, due to her uniqueness, history, and civilization ought to stay neutral and out of any pseudo-alliance, pseudo-coalition, and pseudo-union.
III. Scientifically Apodictic Historical Evidence
Historical and archaeological evidence point to the existence of Greek-speaking inhabitants occupying the rugged northern slopes of Pindos mountain as early as 2200-2100 B.C. These Greek tribes (thought to have split from the main bulk of the [Indo]-European family in the course of the 5th millennium) spread throughout the area known today as northern Greece. During the early centuries of the second millennium B.C. three basic groups can already be distinguished. First, the South-Eastern group made up of Ionians; second, the Eastern group with its two linguistic subgroups, one speaking the Arcadian and the other the Aeolian Greek dialect; and third, the Western group, mainly composed of the populous tribe of the Makedni.
During the 7th and 6th centuries B.C., the Macedonians pushed eastward of Orestis and populated the provinces of Pieria, Vottiaea (region of mount Vermion), Eordaea (today’s Ptolemaida) and Almopia. They crossed the river Axios and stepped into Chalkidiki either driving away or assimilating the indigenous tribes already established there (such as the Pelasgians). They enjoyed rapid cultural growth in this Macedonian area and reached their highest point in the era of their Kings Amyntas, Philip II, and Alexander the Great. From at least the 5th century onward the isolation of the Macedonians began to be broken as the more sophisticated Southern Greeks began –through better sea and land transport- to infiltrate the region by setting up colonies in Chalkidiki.[58]
Macedonia, as a geographical entity, retained its Hellenic characteristics during the reign of the Epigones (Alexander’s successors) and fostered the creation of many city-states governed for almost two centuries by Macedonian Kings;[59] Ptolemy (Egypt and Palestine), Seleucus (Mesopotamia and Syria), Cassander (Macedonia and Greece), Antigonus (Asia Minor), and Lysimachus (Thrace). It was only after the decisive battle of Pydna in 168 B.C. that Macedonia finally fell to the Romans and was subsequently divided into four administrative regions. During the second and third centuries A.D., Greece was divided into provinces including Achaea, Macedonia, Epirus, Thrace, and Moesia.[60] During the reign of Diocletian in the late 3rd century, Moesia was organized as a diocese, and was ruled by Galerius. Under Saint Constantine (who professed Christianity) Hellas was part of the prefectures of Macedonia and Thrace. Theodosius divided the prefecture of Macedonia into the provinces of Creta, Achaea, Thessalia, Epirus Vetus, Epirus Nova, and Macedonia. The Aegean Islands formed the province of Insulae in the prefecture of Asiana.
Evidence from ancient authors assures the Greekness of Macedonia. With regard to Olympic Games, the historian Herodotus (5th century B.C.) makes the following remarks: “The Kings of Macedonia that descent from Perdikas are Greeks as they say and I personally am in a position to know. Also, the Greeks who administer the games in Olympia say the same.”[61] The same historian presents the king of Macedonians, Alexander I, as a dominant figure of the Macedonian history in the 4th century and mentions that Alexander said during the era of Persian wars that he was Greek and he wants to see Greece free instead of enslaved.[62] Isocrates (4th century B.C.)[63] in his speech “to Philip” proposes to reconcile all the Greek cities and lead an expedition against the Persians. Could such a proposition have been made Isocrates, an Athenian flaming patriot, to someone who was not Greek or who was the leader of barbarians? The most important Greek source comes from the ancient Geographer Strabo (1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.) who emphasizes something which he knew that was not new: “Macedonia is really Greece”.[64]
Thucydides[65] and many other Latin historians also bear witness, directly or indirectly, to the Greekness of Macedonians. In antiquity the question of Macedonian ethnicity was never put forth. It was understood that they were Greeks. And because they were Greeks, Alexander and the Macedonians spread Greek and no other language throughout all the conquered world.
The development of the Hellenic world by Alexander the Great and his heirs is well known. Alexander the Great, a Macedonian, became Commander in Chief of all Greece, not only of Macedonia. His Hellenization plan offered foreign barbarians a Greek education and culture. The cities with the Greek architecture and structures were spreading by Hellenes allover Asia and North Africa, where we see them today after the excavations. His heirs continued his work by promoting the Greek language from the Mediterranean Sea up to the Indus River, thereby accomplishing the Hellenization of the ancient world. This period is, therefore, not called the Macedonian, but the Hellenistic period!
In addition, the Macedonians shared the same ancient beliefs as the rest of Greece. They believed in the same twelve gods who, it was thought, resided on mount Olympus. They also believed in the same demigods and Nine Muses. All ancient Greeks, the Greeks of Macedonia included, used the same physical representations and names for them. Therefore, if Macedonians were not Greeks why would Olympus, a foreign mountain, be considered the home of the gods by them?
Finally, the Latin historians, like Appianus,[66] Arrian,[67] Polybius,[68] Titus Livius,[69] and others, distinguished for their objectivity, certify that Macedonians have always been Greeks. All these provide indisputable evidence for the counterfeiters of history and for those who put political expediency above truth, rights, and international laws.[70]
Especially, Arrian writes of how Alexander the Great, after the battle of the river Granikos, sent 300 panoplies to the goddess Athena. These bore the inscriptions: <>. (=Alexander the son of Philip and the Greeks, apart from Lacedaemonians, from the barbarians living in Asia). It is significant that he does not differentiate between Macedonians and Greeks. The historian Polybius speaks of Macedonians as the <> (=bastion) of Hellenism.[71]
According to Stefanos Vyzadius,[72] from ancient times there has existed one ethnographical unity called Hellas (Greece). She is constituted from the “inside and outside the gates Hellas”. Above Thermopylae was Northern Greece, “outside the gates”. The meaning is the same today. When we talk about northern, southern, central Greece, we mean the whole of the country as Hellas.[73]
Professor Sakellariou uses the Parelthondology[74] to analyze and dissolve the Skopjean myth. He shows that Skopje is found in the land of Dardanon, which was the enemy of the Macedonians. North of Macedonia (Makedoniva), during the reigns of Philip II and Alexander the Great, was the Kingdom of Paeonon (Paioniva ) and still further north was the nation of Dardanon (Dardaniva).[75]
There is also evidence to be found in ancient Greek society. The Delphic Union (jAmfiktuoniva), a religious and political union of the ancient Greek cities, was a privilege reserved for Greeks. It was responsible for appointing Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great as the Protectors of the Temple at Delphi. If Macedonians were not Greeks, they would not have been granted membership in this union. Also, like the Delphic Union, the Olympic Games were an important part of Hellenic life, and as such included the involvement of the Macedonian people. This again proves that Macedonians have always been Greeks.
Many famous Greeks (scholars, poets, artists) lived in ancient Macedonia. These mentors of the Greek spirit of the 5th and 4th Centuries B.C., possessors of a strong conviction of Pan-Hellenic superiority would not have tolerated life in a foreign barbarian environment! In ancient Macedonia there are theaters, where Greek tragedies were performed, thus proving the participation by the Macedonians in the great life of Greek theater. If Macedonians were not Greeks this would have been impossible!
During the 3rd Century A.D., attacks by Goths[76] and other kindred tribes were successfully repelled. The invaders left no ethnic trace in Macedonia. In 324 A.D., the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire was transferred to Byzantium by Saint Constantine the Great,[77] a fact which has a significant impact on Macedonia in general and on its capital city, Thessaloniki, in particular, as it gradually developed to become the second most important city of the Byzantine Empire, after Constantinople.
With the exception of some Latin and other tribal settlements, the basically Greek population of Macedonia remained more or less unchanged up to the 7th Century A.D. when various Slavic tribes (Dragouvitae, Strymonitae, Sagouditae, etc.) began settling in the Macedonian region. With the permission of Byzantine authorities these tribes set up small Slavic enclaves known to the Byzantine as “Sclaviniae”. Throughout the 7th Century the Slavs continually fought against the Byzantine authorities and repeatedly attacked, without success, the city of Thessaloniki. In 688, Emperor Justinian II[78] defeated them in a decisive battle and deported many of them to Bithynia in Asia Minor. For a considerable period of time after this, the Slavs lived at peace with their environment while many of them were Hellenized.
In the following centuries the Slavs themselves came under threat when various Finnish-Tataric tribes, collectively known as Proto-Bulgarians, began, in turn, to infiltrate the Balkan Peninsula and subjugate the Slavs in the territories, which make up today’s Bulgaria. These tribes were soon linguistically assimilated by the Slavs and the resulting mixture produced the “Bulgarians”, who established the medieval Bulgarian State. One ought to mention at this point that there is considerable controversy among scholars as to the extent to which the Slavs, who settled in Macedonian territories, were “Bulgarized”. Historians from Skopje Yugoslavia for instance, maintain that there were no Bulgarians in Macedonia during the Middle Ages that Samuel was a Slav-Macedonian King who fought against both Byzantines and Bulgarians. Byzantine sources, however, reveal that Samuel’s Kingdom in the 10th century was multi-national in essence, extending over Bulgaria and other regions further northwards and southwards.[79]
In any case, whatever its precise ethnic identity, the fact remains that Samuel’s Kingdom, in spite of its dynamism, did not abolish Byzantine suzerainty in Macedonia and did not significantly alter its ethnological composition. The large population centers, still thriving in Greek Macedonia, had remained solidly and continuously Greek. In the countryside, on the other hand, especially in Northern Macedonia (i.e., in the territories shared today between Serbia-Skopje and Bulgaria, and in certain areas further to the south) the Slavic element seemed to be much better entrenched. Nevertheless the annihilation of the Bulgarian Kingdom by the Byzantine Emperor Vassilios II Voulgaroktonos (“The Slayer of Bulgars”)[80] in the 11th Century, marked a Hellenic revival in the whole area.
During the 14th century, the Serbian empire of Dušan[81] encompassed Macedonia. However, this short-lived Empire, which preceded the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans, did not substantially alter the ethnic composition of the population of Macedonia, as professor Vakalopoulos (1969) explains in his History of Macedonia. Serbian rule left in its wake a few more Slavic enclaves along with tale of a great, albeit transient, empire. It should be added here that such somewhat hazy memories of past grandeur were instrumental in fomenting the nationalistic and irredentist awakening of the Serbian nation during the 19th Century and in the formulation of its claims on Macedonia.
It must be pointed out at this juncture that in Byzantine as well as in Ottoman times the meaning of the term Macedonia had altered somewhat. Byzantine authors used Macedonia as a blanket term to cover the greater part of Albania (Illyria), the Northern Thrace (Eastern Rumelia) as well as areas belonging to Western (i.e., today Greek) Thrace. So, to be a “Macedonian” was not only a meaningless term in the ethnic sense; it had also gradually lost some of its former geographic connotation. The “Macedonian Dynasty” of Byzantine Emperors for instance included sovereigns coming from Thrace.[82]
The Ottoman rule in the 15th Century brought about great changes in the population of the Balkans in general and of Macedonia in particular. Roughly speaking, the Christians took to the mountains; the elite took to the West.[83] Those unable to cope with the harshness of Ottoman rule and the humiliations reserved for non-Muslims took to Islam. These Greek-speaking Muslims, known as Valaads, were to be found in certain parts of the Kozani region (West Macedonia), as recently as 1912, when Macedonia was liberated from the Turkish occupation. On the other hand, Turkomens (Yuruks)[84] were brought in by the Ottomans to settle the depopulated region in Central Macedonia.
From the 17th Century onwards the situation stabilized somewhat and the Christians returned to the plains from the mountains. One must not forget, in this context, that the vast Ottoman Empire of that period was continually criss-crossed by population movements.[85] While Turks are coming and settling in various parts of West, Central and East Macedonia, Greeks of Thessaly and particularly of Macedonia and Epirus, are moving and advancing peacefully towards the North, to Serbia, Austria and Hungary, to Bulgaria and Romania, creating Greek communities in their cities, establishing country-towns and villages or strengthening very old Greek population nuclei. Southern Slavs and particularly Bulgarians, descending south in search of employment, revive, in certain parts of Macedonia old remnants of Slavic settlements dating from the Middle Ages or create new settlements for themselves.
The Slavic element is thus strengthened while the Slavic-Bulgarian language gains ground both in the North (i.e., in what is today Skopje) and in the central region. However as of the 18th Century, Greek ascendancy in the economic, social, and educational fields turned Greek into the dominant culture in the area. Drawing support, guidance and moral sustenance from the Greek clergy, masses of Christians in Macedonia became aware of their Greek identity. Many Slav-speaking Christians sent their children to Greek schools, fought against the Muslim Ottomans during the Greek war of liberation, and joined the Greek revolutionary movements of Macedonia in the 19th Century, fighting for the union of Macedonia with the free Greek State.
To be noted, it is marked out that the statistics of Chilmi Pasha and those of all the other Censuses[86] that had been done until that time (1904) –Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian, and European Censuses- were reported the existence of Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks, Serbians, Jews, and other nationalities, but no report of “Macedonians”. The term “Macedonian” was used strictly in the geographic sense. All citizens of the broader geographical area of Macedonia were referred to as “Macedonians” regardless of nationality. This is a characteristic proof that at the beginning of the 20th Century no one had pinpointed the existence of a particular Macedonian nation.
Then, ancient Macedonia had never been seized by Slavs. Slavic tribes slipped in to some areas of Macedonia and settled there. Macedonia remained a section of the Byzantine Empire, which weakened the Slavic establishments by transferring Slavs from Macedonia to Asia Minor and Greeks from Asia Minor to Macedonia. The district of Thessaloniki survived even the most critical circumstances and the city continuously preserved her place as the second city of the nation. Before the Serbian advances into Macedonia territories, Nicholas Kavassilas[87] praised the ancient Greek origin and the continuous Greek character of Thessaloniki. Also, before he put on the imperial crown, governor of Thessaloniki, Emmanuel Palaiologos,[88] called Macedonia the “fatherland of Philip and Alexander”.
Skopje’s theory that the ancient Macedonia were not Greek is not the outcome of a scientific reassessment of existing evidence, but merely a tool to promote the fiction of Macedonian separateness even in that remote era. It contradicts the recent finds in Vergina and Dion of scores of tombstones all of which bear Greek names. These tombstones provide strong evidence of the Hellenic origin of the Macedonians.[89] They prove that even ordinary people, not in any way connected with the royal family or the so-called “Hellenized elite”, bore ordinary Greek names like any citizen of Athens, Thebes, Corinth or Sparta. As pointed out before, with the passage of time, almost a millennium, Slavs did settle in Macedonia, but there has been no evidence whatsoever during the Byzantine Empire or later during the Ottoman Empire that any of these Slavs in any way merited singling out as a separate group and still less being labeled “Macedonians”. Greek historians support the view of most foreign scholars that such Slavs as lived in Macedonia in the 19th and early 20th centuries considered themselves to be Bulgarians as a rule.
As already mentioned, the Greeks and every one else that knows the historical truth do not recognize that a “Macedonian nation” has been in existence for 13 centuries (sic), as the Skopjeans claim. In taking this attitude they are consistent with history as there is no source either in the Byzantine era or during the Ottoman rule that has ever mentioned the existence of such a nation. It is well known, that Byzantine Emperor Vassilios II has been called the “Slayer of Bulgars” (Voulgaroktonos) and not the “Slayer of Macedonians”. These are historical facts and cannot be disputed. On the other hand, various travelers, as well as foreign consuls of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, frequently mention in their reports Bulgarians or Slavs. There is no mention of ethnic “Macedonians” whatsoever. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, during the Greek-Bulgarian struggle for predominance in the still Ottoman-held Macedonia, there was, of course, mention of Macedonians but only in the sense that they (Bulgarians or Greeks) were inhabitants of Macedonia.
The conflict that occurred in the period of this struggle (1904-1908) among the various organizations (i.e., the Verhovists, who were guided by the government of Sofia and were seeking the integration of Macedonia in Bulgaria; and the “Internal Macedonian Revolution Organization” or IMRO, who advocated the creation of an autonomous Macedonian State) was not a conflict between Bulgarians and “Macedonians”, but between unionist and autonomist Bulgarians. In other words, it was a debate similar to the one that was raised during the Cretan and Cypriot struggles for liberation between supporters of enosis (union with their mother, the Greek mainland) on the one hand and self-government or independence on the other, respectively. As no one could attribute a separate Cretan or Cypriot national identity to the advocates of autonomy or independence, so no one could think of acknowledging separate “Macedonia” national consciousness to the followers of IMRO. During the period between the World wars, the communist parties[90] of the Balkans spoke of the existence of “Macedonian” and “Thracian” people, but without a consistent set of arguments as to the distinctive national identity of these “peoples”. The proof of this is that the “Thracian people” were never heard of again after World War II.[91]
The concept of a “Macedonian” minority in Greece is a difficult one to grasp. It is indisputable that in the past there have been in Greece persons considering themselves to be Slavs, who declared themselves later as Bulgarians and even later as Slav-Macedonians. After the Nazi occupation and the ensuing civil war these persons took refuge mainly in Yugoslavia. Once there, they were thoroughly indoctrinated in the new ethnic “ideology” and as a result they identified themselves with the local Slav population. In addition, a number of Slav-conscious Greek citizens, who did not flee to Yugoslavia, emigrated to various overseas countries. Certain bilingual persons who chose to remain in Greece distinguished themselves as Greek patriots fighting against mostly, communist schemes to incorporate Greek Macedonia to neighboring countries.[92] These persons are totally integrated in Greek society and make a valuable contribution to the Greek nation’s welfare and development. During the last 50 years, better communications and transport, improvements in education and rapid urbanization, together with a much higher standard of living have dramatically reduced bilingualism.[93] What does happen now is that Greeks in Northern Greece, active in the tourist business, are learning not just English, German or French, but also the various Slavic languages of the former Yugoslavia in order to cope with unending flow of tourists coming to Greece from their neighboring countries and the businesses that Greeks have open to the entire Balkan region.[94]
As we saw above there are many evidence for the Greekness of Macedonia like those of the contemporary historian Herodotus, speaking from first-hand knowledge, writes of Macedonians as being Greeks. He also refers to King Alexander I, who addressed the people of Southern Greece as fellow Greeks. And other sources that support Herodotus’ view include the writings of Greek historians such as Thucydides, Arrian, Polybius, and Plutarch.[95] But, perhaps the most important consideration is this: Macedonians themselves have declared since ancient times that they are Greeks and are insulted when their national identity is disputed by some anti-Greek propagandists.
IV. Epilogue and Historic Inferences
The role of Hellenism is historic and humanistic –and as time passes the vast majority of people will realize it- because it was able many times in the past to re-orientate humanity. But, unfortunately, the controlled West follows some suspicious games against Hellas and perpetuates a non-existent problem that the enemies of Orthodoxy have been inspired. Hellenism is a global movement of ancient moral philosophy combined with the revealed truth of Christianity, the Holy Orthodoxy and they do not consent its superiority. Its advantage exists in the adoption of the moderation, the spiritual, the eternal, and the truthful, and at the same time in the rejection of the exaggeration, the materialistic, the transitory, and above all the bold lie. How many (even Greeks) today understand this unique culture, which is called the Hellenic Orthodox Culture (JEllhnorqovdoxo~ Paideiva)? The race, which possesses this culture, has the unique ability to reach the highest accomplishments and surpass the pathless degeneration of the human civilization left behind in every historic period. The universal ideas of Hellenism constitute an inexhaustible source of alternating everlasting values. The principles of Hellenism that have changed the intellectual trends of humanity throughout history, have been born to this small geographical region, which for three thousand years obstinately resists the undermining efforts of the “civilized” world and the hordes of barbarians. One representative of this race is Alexander the Great, the Greek-Macedonian commander of the army who civilized the world and refined it to accept the “Word of God” and united Hellenism.
As we have mentioned above, the name “Macedonia” was given by Tito and was used for this Yugoslav democracy only since 1945,[96] but it was identified for many centuries with Greek civilization and Greek history. Their neighboring Greeks are reasonably disturbed when the name of Macedonia becomes subject to abuse by a region, which ethnologically is not Greek, but Albanian, Vlach, Serb, Gypsy, Turkish, Slavic, and mostly, Bulgarian. It is characteristic and suspicious that the two first countries recognized this new government was Bulgaria and Turkey (the No. 2 enemy of Hellenism).[97] The stability of the region would be better served by the denial of recognition or by saying to these people and the entire world the historic truth. Finally, if Skopjeans feel that they are Macedonians, let them open their borders and unite with Greece, then, they will become Greeks and at the end they will be Macedonians.[98]
As Professor Argyrios Varonides has said, “If the Skopje regime really seeks recognition and respect as a democratic state, it needs first to learn how to respect history and not to adopt old faded political arguments of past and collapsed regimes. Do they really want to be Macedonians? Then, they are welcomed with open arms to the Greek culture, which after all has been known, thanks to the Thessalonian brothers Methodios and Kyrillos. Otherwise, they ridicule themselves and become irritating.” Consequently, for someone to become Macedonian, he has, first, to become Greek because the true Macedonians were, are, and will be only the Greeks of North Greece ({Ellhne~ th`~ Boreivou JEllavdo~).
It is clear when, objectively examined, that the “Macedonian Question” for Greece cannot exist and the “Macedonian Problem” is a non-issue.[99] The legal status quo of the northern borders of Greece are determined with international treaties, like the Treaty of Bucharest (1913),[100] which ended the second Balkan War, and the Peace Treaties at the end of the two World Wars, of Neigy (1919) and of Paris (1947). Also, Macedonia is a geographic concept and not an ethnic notion. In fact, only one country can identify herself, for historical reasons, with Macedonia. That country is Greece, which has been inextricably linked with Macedonia for more than 4,000 years. The most dangerous neighbors are the Muslim Turks and the Muslim rainbow, which has been created with the help of the U.S. and the dark powers and starts from Bosnia-Herzegovina goes to Kosovo, Albania and through Skopje reaches Thrace. Greece has to declare officially the National Dogma that her objective is to go back to all her land that is under occupation today.[101]
Unfortunately, Greece has no territorial claims against neighboring states even though a vast area of her is still under occupation. She regards all borders, which have been consecrated with international treaties and which have been legalized (ratified) with the Final Act of Helsinsky[102] as inviolable. Considering Greek Macedonia, the ethnological homogeneity of the area renders her un-attackable from the various claims that have appeared in the past with the pretext of minority demands. It is natural, for someone to consider the existence of this problem and in the long-run it can include risks, which are possible to involve, the sensitive area of Balkan, into new tribulations. For this reason, Greece looks positively to every effort, which tends to reduce this formerly intense dispute peacefully and hopefully the international community will assist her.
For these reasons, Greece has opposed the recognition of an independent nation on her northern border, which will bear the Hellenic name “Macedonia” or any complex (compound) name with the word “Macedonia”. Of course, this does not mean that Greece is against the Skopjeans right to establish their own independent nation and have their own language, history, and traditions. All people have the right to self-determination of their future, of course, this choice is confined within the limits of international law (or legality). Greece, however cannot accept the use of the Macedonian name by any nation, which is in all other respects Slavic. The terms “Macedonia-Macedonians” and names of similar relevance belong to Hellas and Hellenes (Greece and Greeks). They constitute Greece’s national and cultural inheritance and as such have been recorded in history for many centuries before the appearance of Slavs in the area of Balkans and especially in the area of Macedonia.
Large sections of countries that dream the non-existent historically “Aegean Macedonia” were historically under Greek control and those countries that transgress against Greece today are “inhospitable of the history”. Greeks will never cease, as the Greek race to claim their lost national lands. It is their national duty to state matters concerning Greek Macedonia, both inside and outside of Greece, exactly as they are to restore the historical truth that expediency, and misguided and calculating interest continue to counterfeit and distort. It is necessary for the preservation of their unique Greek Orthodox Culture, that every one be in good conscience and that Greece permanently “guard Thermopylae”. This duty must not be the subject of a transient alert or mobilization, but the constant care of the current and future citizens of the historic country, Hellas. Turkey is the most dangerous country because has nothing in common with Europe and Greece. Soon, Greece has to stop her continued withdrawals from her rights.[103]
The fact, that the ancient Macedonians belong to the world of Greeks, is very difficult to dispute any longer. The numerous historical evidences, the new archeological treasures in connection with linguistic analyses and the findings of a great number of new inscriptions –all Greek– with rich samples of Greek names prove that there is no discontinuation of either cultural or linguistic of the unity of the Macedonians with the rest of the Greeks.[104] Also, the spreading of the Greek language and the Greek civilization and culture to the entire known world from the Macedonians of the Alexander the Great constitutes the most categorical confirmation of this event. This event is confirmed every year by the new archeological findings that are coming to light either at the large excavations of Pella, Vergina, Dion, and Sindos, or in dozens less known, like in areas of Voion, Aeani, Kozani, Kastoria, Florina, Edessa, Aridaea, Kilkis, Kavala, and of course, Thessaloniki and Chalkidiki (Petralona),[105] and others.
Greece, every Greek, and every one who has an objective knowledge of history are opposed to Skopje’s name as “Macedonia”. Skopje’s peoples are not properly a distinct nation, but belong, by language and culture, to one or another, or perhaps all three of the neighboring Slavic states (they have nothing in common with Hellenic Macedonians). Recognition of Skopje as “Macedonia” is historically, scientifically, and morally wrong. Skopjean propaganda in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other papers around the world is unconscionable, constant, and provocative.[106] If Skopje were to give up the policy of misappropriating the term “Macedonians”; if she were to adopt, for instance, another term, (such as “Vardarians” or “Dardanians” or “Sclavinians”)[107] in order to designate the Slav inhabitants of Yugoslav Macedonia and possibly certain émigré groups who share her views; the Greeks, naturally, would have no quarrel with this state of affairs. There is a big campaign from Greeks all over the world to inform the international community and especially to awake the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, as well as the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who act against Greece’s interest and rights.[108]
Nevertheless, despite differences on these issues, Greek-Serbian relations are positively on many domains as both sides realize the mutual benefits of good, friendly, and cooperative and neighborly relations, and the game that the dark powers are playing in Balkans. Thus, both nations realized that Skopje has been put between Greece and Serbia by other powers, which are against these two homodox nations. Greeks, Serbians, Bulgarians, Russians, Rumanians, and all the other Eastern European nations have something in common that is not common to this world, we cannot find it anywhere else. They are “brothers in Christ”, Christian Orthodox nations and spiritual children of Greece. We hope that Skopje will realize its historic and anti-scientific mistake and go back to its true name, “Vardarska”. After the collapse of communism, the cosmos awaits these peoples’ contribution to its history and Greece can play once more an important role in their re-Christianization and promotion of peace and prosperity in the Balkans, away from the true enemies of this region and the suspicious games of the fallen and controlled West.
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[1] See, Jones (1997).
[2] See, Kebric (1997) and Kitto (1987).
[3] See, Marchant and Todd (1997)
[4] See, Pedley (1998).
[5] But, at the same time, Hellas faces a lot of opposition from heretics (heterodoxs) and other religions (allodoxs) because of her traditional Orthodoxy and her Hellenic paideia.
[6] With their wisdom, like: “Moderation in all things” ( Pa`n mevtron a[riston), they set the foundations and advanced the world.
[7] See, Davies (1998, p. 95).
[8] See, Kallianiotis (2010j).
[9] Hellenes had the same blood, the same language, and the same religion (o{maimon, oJmovglwsson kai; o J-movqrhskon), according to Herodotus ( JHrovdoto~), 5th century B.C. See, Kallianiotis (2007, p. 179).
[10] See, Roberts (1997, p. 43).
[11] See, Roberts (1997, p. 47).
[12] See, Homer’s Iliad.
[13] Is this number, “33” signifying something? The Son of God remained on earth for 33 years, too.
[14] The European civilization was a Hellenic-Orthodox civilization up to the 9th century A.D., before its barbaric invasions from West and North. See, Sakarellos (2005).
[15] See, Jones (1997), Kebric (1997), Vasiliev (1980), and Paparrigopoulos (2003).
[16] See, Blum, Cameron, and Barnes (1970, p. 4).
[17] See, Vranopoulos (1995, p. 168).
[18] Indisputably, < >..
[19] Unfortunately, the common (and overvalued) currency destroyed Greece. Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker said that Greece's financial woes were well known among top EU officials but kept quiet until the crisis erupted last year. "It was quite obvious that one day Greece would have to face this kind of problem, and we knew that this problem would occur," Juncker told a forum on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington on October 8, 2010. Juncker said German and French officials along with European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet had for some time been discussing "the perspectives of what was not at that time known as so-called Greek crisis." "I could not go public with the knowledge that I had," he added. "The Greek crisis could have been avoided, but not starting last year, starting two or three decades ago," the European finance ministers chief said. Juncker said he tried at one point to seek a solution to the problems with an unnamed Greek prime minister who told him: "I am governing a country of corruption." This was actually a crime against the European Ctizens (said Giorgos Vamvakousis). Germany and France culpability about Greece's deficit is confirmed by the Eurogroup President Mr Juncker. Germany and France have been only interested to sell to the Greek corrupted politicians at overdrafted prices. This way they created a problem not only to Greece but to the Euro and to their own countries’ Citizens, too. A problem to the Eurozone and to the European Union. Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy are fully responsible for the problem and should be put in trial as political criminals. We should not forget that who is corrupting somebody else, he is corrupted, too. Those are our “friends” in EU. See, www.eurobusiness.com/news-eu/economy-finance-g20.6h6/ 08 October 2010.
[20] Mahathir Mohamad, former leader of Malaysia, said that “Jewish groups secretly control the World’s great powers”. See, The Wall Street Journal, October 9-10, 2010, p. A1 and A11.
[21] Unfortunately, in 1920, Greeks faced a dreadful genocide and unlawful expulsion from their ancestral homeland by Kemal pasha (a hospitable of history from Mongolia), after living in this region for 3,000 years. Actually, the No. 1 enemies of Greece are the Muslim Turks.
[22] This is the Greek language ( oJmovglwsson), a unique instrument of communication, used in sciences (mostly, in medicine, computers, etc.), and in arts. See, Kallianiotis (2010j).
[23] Of course, Greek philosophers (Socrates and his students) in the 5th century B.C. doubted about these gods and introduced the “Unknown God”, for whom they built a temple. http://www.scarlakidis.gr/apollon/kefalaio9-neo.html
[24] Completely different of what we see today with illicit antagonism, drugs, exercise of power among nations, billions of dollars involvements, and by taking the modern Olympic Games out from the country of their origin (Olympia in Greece).
[25] For example, the most common sanctuaries were in Olympia, Delphi, Dodoni (or Dodona), etc. See also, Elizabeth R. Gebhard, The Evolution of a Pan-Hellenic Sanctuary: From Archaeology towards History at Isthmia (This article originally appeared in Greek Sanctuaries, New Approaches (1993, pp.154-177), and is made available electronically with the permission of the editors.)
[26] This person was Odysseus, who spent ten years in the Atlantic and the Americas, after the Trojan War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_Odyssey
[27] On October 31, 2010, Greece celebrated the 2,500th anniversary of the Athenians victory against Persians and 20,000 people from all over the world run the Marathon. (TV News ALTER, October 31, 2010).
[28] In 490 B.C., with the victorious battle of Marathon and the battle of Thermopylae (480 B.C.) with the sacrifice of Leonidas (300 Spartans, 700 Thespeans, and 200 Thebeans); Athenians and the other Greek states repelled Persian invasions and Athens assumed leadership of Greek alliance. A year later (479 B.C.), the battle of Salamis was Athenians’ greatest naval victory and the same were the battles of Plataea and Mycale.
[29] Socrates (469-399 B.C.) was sentenced in Athens to drink hemlock for “introducing strange gods” (daimovnia), when actually he was teaching about the “Unknown God” (the True God). This person, the wisest man in human history was saying: “All I know is that I know nothing” ( {En ei\da o{ti oujdevn ei\da). Socrates, his disciple (student) Plato and Plato’s own disciple Aristotle (the teacher of Alexander the Great) laid the foundations of most branches of all disciplines. Greek science was simply a branch of their general moral and ethical philosophy. There is no possibility that something good can come from corrupted people. [It is absolutely wrong to accuse ancient Greeks as immoral without any proofs, as Davies (1998) is doing it easily.] With the coming of Christ, the nation was the first to accept Him as the expected “Unknown God”. This is exactly what we call “Hellenic-Orthodox civilization”, a combination of the ancient moral and ethical Hellenic philosophy with the revealed Truth (Orthodox Christianity). Xenophon, a disciple of Socrates, too, is the “Father of Economics” (Oeconomicos=Oijkonomikov~). The word “nomisma” (novmisma), meaning coin, was used by Greeks, also specialization, futures contracts, control of inflation, protectionism and other trade policies, with which to increase income and employment inside the state, and many other terms used in Economics today. According to Herodotus, money, in the sense of coinage (drachmas), began to circulate in the Aegean in the early 7th century B.C. [The island of Aegina, also, participated in the early days of coinage (silver coins since 670 B.C.), the first money in Europe. Then, coins were minted in Athens, Corinth, Euboea, Syracuse, and other Greek city-states and their colonies. See, Davies (1998, p. 101).] In addition, Greek history-writing had its triad of giants. Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484-420 B.C.) is the “Father of History”, Thucydides (455-401 B.C.) the Athenian and Xenophon (428-354 B.C.) the Athenian, are great historians, too.
[30] This is a proof that Ancient Greeks believed in God’s providence and not in luck. They were predestined to accept Christianity. These moral philosophers were “Christians” before Christ.
[31] Because as Hellenes, all these city-states had the same blood, the same language, and the same religion ( o{maimon, oJmovglwsson kai; oJmovqrhskon), according to Herodotus (JHrovdoto~), 5th century B.C. and many other similarities as Kallianiotis (2007, p. 179) refers them.
[32] There are many tribes in Asia today that they claim of being descendants of Greeks, since that time of Alexander, like the Kallas in northern Iran.
[33] From 404 to 338 B.C. hegemonies of Sparta, Thebes, and Macedonia (area of Northern Greece) appeared. From 359-336 B.C., the reign of Philip of Macedonia took place. From 338-323 B.C. Alexander the Great conquered the entire Asia; he went to India and Africa, too. The Old Persian Empire, which had invaded Greece many times in the past, was overrun by the Greek-Macedonians. In 322 B.C., Greek-Macedonians took over Athens and overturned the Athenian democracy. From 323 to 272 B.C., Alexander’s successors sought domination and the Hellenistic Kingdoms were created in Greece and the rest of the Empire – of Macedonia (with Antigonus), of Egypt (with Ptolemy) [The tomb of Alexander the Great was discovered by the Greek archeologist Liana Souvaltzi. See, Souvaltzi (2002)], and of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Iran (with Seleucus). “Under the sponsorship of Alexander’s Empire and the Hellenistic Kingdoms that succeeded it, Greek culture spread over the whole Mediterranean world, and in the first century B.C. achieved a thorough intellectual conquest of the imperial Roman republic, its military conqueror.” [Blum, Cameron, and Barns (1970, p. 10)].
[34] Even the Gospels were written in Greek language and with this language the New Religion was spread to the entire known world of that time. This was the language of the Greek King Alexander the Great and his descendants. The non-Greek speaking nations were “barbarians” outside the Hellenic culture and paideia (paideiva). This is the historic truth and not what some pseudo-states anxiously try to distort the science of history.
[35] The proportion of Greeks that are Orthodox is 98% of the population. Someone that is not Orthodox could not be considered Greek, too. This is the homogeneity and uniqueness of these people. And this is the reason that the dark powers are trying hardly to dilute this homogeneity and impose a multi-culturalism, which will destroy the Hellenic-Orthodox identity.
[36] See, Vasiliev (1980).
[37] The contribution of the three hierarchs (Sts. Vassilios, Grigorios, and Ioannis) is unique in the connection of the ancient Greek moral paideia with the Christian revealed values.
[38] The same beliefs continue to hold even today in the Greek Orthodox state and the Greeks of Diaspora, who are more than 100 million people of Greek origin spread around the world. This unique culture is inconceivable by any other sub-culture.
[39] The problem that Greece is facing today is the dilution of her identity due to millions of Muslims illegal immigrants that Turkey is smuggling into the Greek nation. This is a new Turkish invasion to Greece after the previous one in 1974 in Northern Cyprus. On November 5, 2010, EU created a European force of borders guards, the FRONTEX, which will control the illegal immigrants. (TV News ALTER, November 5, 2010). Unfortunately, nothing has changed; the foreigners continue to go to Greece in masses daily.
[40]See,TamaraRice, JO dhmovsio~ kai; ijdiwtikov~ bivo~ tw`n Buzantinw`n, met. F. Bw`ro~, Papazhvsh~, jAqh`nai, s. 94
[41] These things are exactly what we find in Orthodox Greece today, even though communist and socialist regimes tried very hard, lately, to change this strong union between the state and the church. The church’s role, the hymns, the customs, the hospitality, the food, the social events, and the entire way of life in Byzantium can be found in the Greece of today, which is the continuation of the Medieval Greek Empire, the Byzantine Empire.
[42] As Ioannis Makrygiannis says in his < >.
[43] This just revolution made known to us many Greek heroes and martyrs, who had as their signal: “Freedom or Death”, and God granted to Greece her freedom after 400 years of repentance.
[44] The men of letters around the world are always supporting the Greek cause because they know the true historic events and their opinion is objective compared with other people who support the powerful ones and the ones that bribe the most (give grants to falsify history).
[45] A major disadvantage suffered by the World Community, has always been and remains today, it is the lack of knowledge of Byzantine (Greek Medieval) history, which has been pursued by the heterodox West to lower the values and the glory of this Orthodox Empire. Unfortunately, even science has been mobilized to support the lies and the political expediency of some nations, which based their identity on delusions.
[46] The dark powers, even though that Fallmerayer was working against Greece, had not yet so much influence on the West. This is the reason that we saw the support of the Philellines. In the 20th century the West started to be completely controlled by the dark powers and every thing has changed in Europe and the U.S.A.
[47] The Greek regions that are under occupation today are: North Epirus (under Albania), North Macedonia (under Skopje), North Thrace and Eastern Rumelia (under Bulgaria), Eastern Thrace, Asia Minor, the Islands of Imvros, Tenedos, and Northern Cyprus (under Turkey). This is the historic truth and cannot change by any liars, who have invented the “politically correct” and “tolerance” to deceive the world.
[48] “The Great Idea”, a historically just and fair aspiration for the nation that civilize the world, was ever in the hearts and minds of the heroic and faithful revolutionists during the war of independence and the Greeks allover the world today, but their “friends” had different plans. Of course, nations do not exist by chance; they have a mission to accomplish. The “Great Idea” must be the future objective of all Greeks and especially, the Dogma of the Greek political leadership.
[49] The West did the same with the seven crusades against Byzantium in the past and similar is its behavior today by been in favor of Turkey during the invasion of Cyprus and with Turkey’s membership to EU.
[50] Many Western newspapers reporting gross abuses committed by Turkish forces against Christian, mainly Greek and Armenian civilians. The British historian Tonybee stated that Turkish troops deliberately burned numerous Greek homes, pouring petrol on them and taking care to ensure that they were totally destroyed. There were massacres throughout 1920-1923, the period of the “Turkish War of Independence”, especially of Armenians in the East and the South, and against the Greeks in the Black Sea Region. There was also significant continuity between the organizers of the massacres between 1915–1917 and 1919-1921 in Eastern Anatolia. According to the London based Times: "The Turkish authorities frankly state it is their deliberate intention to let all the Greeks die, and their actions support their statement." An Irish paper, the Belfast News Letter wrote: "The appalling tale of barbarity and cruelty now being practiced by the Angora Turks is part of a systematic policy of extermination of Christian minorities in Asia Minor." According to the Christian Science Monitor, the Turks felt that they needed to murder their Christian minorities due to Christian superiority in terms of industriousness and the consequent Turkish feelings of jealously and inferiority. The paper wrote: "The result has been to breed feelings of alarm and jealously in the minds of the Turks which in later years have driven them to depression. They believe that they cannot compete with their Christian subjects in the arts of peace and that the Christians and Greeks especially are too industrious and too well educated as rivals. Therefore from time to time they have striven to try and redress the balance by expulsion and massacre. That has been the position generations past in Turkey again if the Great powers are callous and unwise enough to attempt to perpetuate Turkish misrule over Christians." A Turkish governor, Ebubekir Hazim Tepeyran in the Sivas Province said in 1919 that the massacres were so horrible that he could not bear to report them. He was referring to the atrocities committed against Greeks in the Black Sea region, and according to the official tally 11,181 Greeks were murdered in 1921 by the Central Army under the command of Nurettin Pasha (who is infamous for the killing of Archbishop Chrysostomos). Some parliamentary deputies demanded Nurettin Pasha to be sentenced to death and it was decided to put him on trial although the trial was later revoked by the intervention of Mustafa Kemal. Taner Akcam wrote that according to one newspaper, Nurettin Pasha had suggested to kill all the remaining Greek and Armenian populations in Anatolia, a suggestion rejected by Mustafa Kemal. According to the newspaper the Scotsman, on August 18 of 1920, in the Feival district of Karamusal, South-East of Ismid in Asia Minor, the Turks massacred 5,000 Christians. As well as massacring Greeks, the Turks also massacred Armenians, continuing the policies of the 1915 Armenian Genocide according to many Western newspapers. There were widespread massacres of Greeks in the Pontus region, which is recognized as the Pontian Genocide. On February 25, 1922, 24 Greek villages in the Pontus region were burnt to the ground. An American newspaper, the Atlanta Observer wrote: "The smell of the burning bodies of women and children in Pontus" said the message "comes as a warning of what is awaiting the Christian in Asia Minor after the withdrawal of the Hellenic army." In the first few months of 1922, 10,000 Greeks were killed by advancing Kemalist forces, according to Belfast News Letter. The Turks continued the practice of slavery, seizing women and children for their harems. Many Turkish soldiers would also rape women. American relief works were also treated with extreme disrespect, even when they were aiding Muslim civilians. Christian Science Monitor wrote that Turkish authorities also prevented missionaries and humanitarian aid groups from assisting Greek civilians who had their homes burned, the Turkish authorities leaving these people to die despite abundant aid. The Christian Science Monitor wrote: "the Turks are trying to exterminate the Greek population with more vigor than they exercised towards the Armenians in 1915." According to a proclamation made in 2002 by the then-governor of New York (where a sizeable population of Greek Americans resides), George Pataki (of Hungarian descent), Greeks of Asia Minor endured immeasurable cruelty during a Turkish government-sanctioned systematic campaign to displace them; destroying Greek towns and villages and slaughtering additional hundreds of thousands of civilians in areas where Greeks composed a majority, as on the Black Sea coast, Pontus, and areas around Smyrna; those who survived were exiled from Turkey and today they and their descendants live throughout the Greek diaspora. A sizable population of Greeks had been forced to leave its ancestral homelands of Ionia, Pontus, and Eastern Thrace between 1914-1922. These refugees, as well as the Greek Americans with origins in Anatolia were not allowed to return after 1923 and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne. The last part of Kemal's ethnic cleansing campaign to create an ethnically pure homeland for the Turks was the instigation of a forcible transfer of populations uprooting close to a 1.5 million Greeks from Turkey in exchange for less than half a million Muslims from Greece. According to historian Dinah Shelton: "the Lausanne Treaty completed the forcible transfer of the country's Greeks". The most outrageous is that these Muslim barbarians from Central Asia have the audacity and demand to become members of the Christian European Union! An old lady, refugee from Smyrna, Smaro Kuttrubis, had asked the author to write the Turkish outrages that she experienced as a little girl in 1922, but unfortunately, he never found the time, until she passed away. God bless her soul!..
[51] Eleftherios Venizelos recommended Kemal pasha, the slaughter of Greeks, for the Nobel Peace Prize. (sic). Today, we see similar affection of the new liberal mayor of Thessaloniki, Boutaris, with Kemal. Something is absolute wrong not with the leadership of Greece, but with the Greek voters, then and now.
[52]Because prophecies are saying that,< >. But today, the agresivness of Turkey is at its highest point. << Η Άγκυρα προμηθεύτηκε 36 γερανοφόρα οχήματα από τη Γερμανία. Για την ακρίβεια οι Τούρκοι πήραν έξι από τους Γερμανούς και τα υπόλοιπα 30 τα έφτιαξαν μόνοι τους στην Τουρκία. Τι μπορούν να κάνουν μ’ αυτά τα οχήματα; Μέσα σε 15 λεπτά να «ενώσουν» τις δύο όχθες του Έβρου. Και σε άλλα 7 λεπτά να περάσουν στο ελληνικό έδαφος δύο ίλες αρμάτων μάχης! Tο καλοκαίρι η 3η Τεθωρακισμένη Τουρκική Ταξιαρχία, η οποία σταθμεύει σχεδόν απέναντι από την Ορεστιάδα, έκανε με μεγάλη επιτυχία σχετική άσκηση, δημιουργώντας προβληματισμό στο Πεντάγωνο. Εκτός από τα γερανοφόρα οχήματα, οι Τούρκοι έχουν ήδη στη διάθεσή τους 56 άρματα «διάσπασης» ναρκοπεδίων. Απέναντι από τον Έβρο έχουν ανεπτυγμένη την 1η Στρατιά με τρία Σώματα Στρατού. Το ένα είναι ανεπτυγμένο στο Κάραγατς, το δεύτερο στο Τερκιπλάκ, στο ύψος της Αλεξανδρούπολης, και το τρίτο πιο πίσω στην Κωνσταντινούπολη. Πρόσφατα οι Τούρκοι μετακίνησαν την 1η Τεθωρακισμένη Ταξιαρχία από τα ανατολικά της Κωνσταντινούπολης προς τα δυτικά, που σημαίνει ότι προώθησαν προς τον Έβρο άρματα μάχης Leopard και Μ-60. Όλο και πιο συχνά το 533 Σύνταγμα Πυροβολικού μετασταθμεύει από την Άγκυρα, όπου βρίσκεται η έδρα του, πλησίον του Έβρου. Στο οπλοστάσιό του το συγκεκριμένο σύνταγμα έχει τους πυραύλους Yildirim, πύραυλοι κινεζικής τεχνολογίας με βεληνεκές 150 χλμ., το οποίο η Τουρκία φιλοδοξεί να αυξήσει με δικές της «πατέντες» στα 250 ή και στα 350 χλμ.!>> See, http://www.hellasontheweb.org/2009-05-25-15-24-30/2009-07-04-17-37-26/885-2010-11-06-21-22-28
[53] The Greek Genocide 1914-1923 and 1955: During the Greek Genocide in total more than 15,000 Greeks of Constantinople were rounded up and deported. In March 8, 1915, 200 Greeks of Constantinople had been arrested and deported into the interior of Asia Minor, where they were murdered. The March 1915 arrest and deportation of 200 Greeks from Constantinople was a precursor to the April 1915 arrest and deportation of a similar number of Armenians from the same city. In June 1915 Greeks from the districts of Vathikolpos, Caenophrurium, Metres, Selybria were imprisoned in the city. In July 1915 the Greek residents of Sosthenion were all deported with the exception of five families who were exempted on the orders of the Chief-Policeman of Mega Revma. In the same month numerous members of the Greek clergy were imprisoned in the city. Later 200 Greek families of Tatavla were deported into the Interior. In December 1917, the British Legation at Berne affirmed: “Greeks are being daily cleared out of Constantinople and its surroundings and taken to the interior of the country. Their property is seized and their belongings sold by auction. The women and girls are distributed between the German officials and the Moslems of importance. …It is estimated that in Constantinople over 300 Greeks have been enslaved.” The Pogrom of September 1955: The anti-Greek pogrom of September 6-7, 1955 in Constantinople was a systematic act of ethnic cleansing perpetrated against the Greek minority of the city. Acts of ethnic cleansing as perpetrated by the Republic of Turkey are viewed distinctly from the 1914-1923 Greek Genocide. A few scholars, however, have indicated that the 1955 program exhibited characteristics of a genocide program. In a telegram to the U.S. State Department sent on the night of September 6, 1955, the American Consul General in Constantinople reported: “Extensive destruction and situation appears completely out of hand with no evidence of police or military attempt to control. I personally witnessed the looting of many shops while the police stood idly by or cheered on mob.” A British correspondent in the city at the time, reported: “All evidence points to an exact, perfectly coordinated attack. The flame that swept the city was ignited at a hundred different points at precisely the same zero hour.” See, Alexandris (1992), De Zayas (2007), Kaloumenos (2001), Vryonis (2005), and Kyratzopoulos (2006). On March 4, 2010, a congressional panel approved a resolution condemning the 1915 slaughter of Armenians, which put a chill on relations between U.S. and Turkey (The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2010, pp. A1 and A5). Also, on March 11, 2010, Sweden’s parliament approved a resolution calling the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in Turkey genocide. (The Wall Street Journal, March 12, 2010, pp. A1 and A15). The Turkish invasion of Cyprus: This “Operation Atilla” launched on 20 July 1974 and it was a Turkish military operation against Cyprus. The Turkish invasion took place in two stages and ended in August 1974, when Turkish troops occupied 37% of the island's territory, which was followed by the establishment of the de facto Turkish pseudo-Republic of Northern Cyprus that only Turkey recognizes, in contradiction of the terms of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. Both the United States and NATO supported the idea of a Turkish military intervention. Inter-communal strife that preceded the invasion had brought Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies, to the brink of total war in a number of occasions between 1963 and 1974; the most serious clash was prevented through the last minute mediation of the U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 5, 1964. The Greek side blamed the U.S. administration of President Richard Nixon, and in particular the Jewish enemy of Greece, Henry Kissinger for supporting Turkey before and during the Turkish military invasion, following a decision by the U.S. National Security Council in May 1974 to bring an end to the Cyprus problem. The Turkish invasion of 1974, the displacement of 180.000 Greek Cypriots from the occupied areas, the thousands of missing, the Turkish atrocities against Greek, the rapes of women and girls and then their murder, the killing of POWs, and many other crimes plus the establishment of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983, form the core issues surrounding the Cyprus dispute. The United Nations Security Council has challenged the legality of Turkey's action, because Article Four of the Treaty of Guarantee gives the right to guarantors to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs. The aftermath of Turkey's invasion, however, did not safeguard the Republic's sovereignty and territorial integrity, but had the opposite effect; such as the de facto partitioning of the Republic in two, the creation of a separate political entity in the north and the forceful expulsion of Greek Cypriots from it. A large number of Turkish Cypriots, many of whom were forced to live in isolated enclaves and ghettoes throughout the island during the inter-communal violence between 1963 and 1974, chose to leave their homes in the south and moved to the north after 1974. The United Nations still recognizes the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus according to the terms of its independence in 1960. The conflict continues to affect Turkey’s relations with Cyprus, Greece and the European Union. Today, Cyprus faces a serious leadership problem, after the death of Tassos Papadopoulos, the Greek leader of OXI to the Annan (American) plan. The first Genocide in world’s history is recorded the slaughter of 240,000 Hellenes in Salamis, Cyprus, by the Jewish in the winter of 115-116 A.D. See, Mavrio~ Phlabavkh~, < >, {Agio~ jAga-qavggelo~ jEsfigmenivth~, [Eto~ MA v, Teu`co~ 241, Septevmbrio~- jOktwvbrio~ 2010, ss. 20-22.
[54] Albanians were participating with Italy against Greece in the 1940 invasion and occupation of Greece, but they were defeated by the Greek defenders. http://www.hellasontheweb.org/2010-04-05-22-32-27/2010-04-06-11-49-23/867-2010-10-27-19-41-11
[55] Germany has not yet paid the indemnities for the war damages that it inflicted to Greece and her citizens. Greek politicians must provide these claims to Germany, especially, now with the debt crisis that the country faces.
[56] Elliniki Chorofilaki was abolished by the socialist government in 1984 and since that time Greece has only Elliniki Astinomia, in which they gave the communist name, ELAS that reminds to Greeks all the atrocities of EAM-ELAS towards the peaceful Greek people for five years in the second half of 1940s.
[57] The Greek Civil War (December 1944-January 1945 and 1946-49) was two-stage conflict during, which Greek communists unsuccessfully tried to gain control of Greece. The first stage of the civil war ( correctly, kommounistosummoritopovlemo~ ) began only months before Nazi Germany's occupation of Greece ended in October 1944. The German occupation had been resisted by two principal Greek guerrilla forces, the communist-controlled EAM-ELAS (Ethnikón Apeleftherotikón Métopon-Ethnikós Laïkós Apeleftherotikós Strátos; "National Liberation Front-National Popular Liberation Army") and the EDES (Ellínikos Dímokratikos Ethnikós Strátos; "Greek Democratic National Army"), which occasionally cooperated in action. After eliminating all of its political and guerrilla rivals except the EDES in early 1944, EAM-ELAS set up a provisional government in the Greek mountains that by implication disowned both the Greek king and his government-in-exile. Upon the German troops' withdrawal from Greece in October, the communists and royalist Greek guerrillas were brought together under British auspices in an uneasy coalition government in Athens. But this government disintegrated a few weeks later, when the communist members of the coalition refused to disband their guerrilla force. A bitter civil war broke out in Athens on December 3, which the British military forces managed to suppress with great difficulty, after EAM-ELAS had overrun virtually all of Greece except Athens and Thessaloniki. The communists accepted defeat and the disbandment of their forces at a conference in February 1945, and a general election was held in Greece in March 1946. The communists and their followers abstained from the voting, however, and a royalist majority was returned. A plebiscite was then held in September 1946 which restored the Greek king to the throne. During 1946 a full-scale guerrilla war was reopened by the communists, who had gone underground. The commitment of defending Greece became too much for Great Britain, and it was taken on by the U.S. government, with the announcement of the Truman Doctrine. Massive military and economic aid from the United States was much needed, for by the end of 1947 the communists had proclaimed a provisional government in the northern mountains. This second communist rebellion lasted until 1949, when the U.S.-supplied and strengthened Greek army managed to clear the rebel centers from the mountainous Greek interior. On October 16, 1949, the Greek communist broadcasting station announced the end of open hostilities, and many of the remaining communist fighters fled the country into neighboring Albania. It is estimated that more than 50,000 combatants died in the conflict, and more than 500,000 Greeks were temporarily displaced from their homes by the fighting. The internecine strife and fierce brutality that characterized the civil war left a lasting legacy of bitterness between segments of the Greek population.
[58] Following the recent excavations in the cave of Petralona it has been estimated that the history of Halkidiki goes back 700,000 years. According to the paleontologists who studied the findings from the cave, the earliest known controlled fire was lit here, about 700,000 years ago. The scull found here during the excavations is estimated to be 250,000 years old and has given science a new type of man. Many prehistoric settlements have been discovered along the coastline as well as on the island plains. These settlements show that in 4,000 B.C. Halkidiki was already a rich, densely populated area where art flourished and objects of art decorated the people’s everyday life. Written records refer to the colonisation of Halkidiki as far back as the Trojan War. The systematic colonisation of Halkidiki by the people of Southern Greece seems to have started in the 8th century B.C. Colonists came mainly from Chalkis and Eretria in Euboea. See, http://www.it.uom.gr/project/chalkidiki/about1.htm
[59] No heir had been appointed to the throne, and his generals adopted Philip II's illegitimate son, Philip Arrhidaeus, and Alexander's posthumous son by Roxanne, Alexander IV, as kings, sharing out the satrapies among themselves, after much negotiation. He and his uncle Philip, as joint kings, were placed under the guardianship of Perdiccas, Peithon and Antipater in succession. After the death of Antipater (309) Roxana fled with his sun to Epirus, and was afterwards taken back to Macedonia, together with Olympias, by Polyperchon. Both kings were murdered, Arrhidaeus in 317 and Alexander IV in 309 with his mother Roxane were assassinated by Cassander who then usurped the throne of Macedonia and married Thessaloniki (Alexander the Great's sister) in order to legitimize his position (Justin xiv. 6, xv. 2). The parts of former Alexander's empire became independent monarchies, and the generals, following Antigonus' lead in 306, took the title of monarch. The turbulent years from 323 to 301 B.C. saw endless conflicts among Alexander the Great's generals which ended with the parceling out of the Alexander's empire and the creation of the first Hellenistic kingdoms. Alexander generals known as Diadochs (Epigones) had established their own kingdoms on the rests of the Alexander's empire: Ptolemy Lagus, Alexander's half bother (Egypt and Palestine); Seleucus Nicator (Mesopotamia and Syria); Cassander (Macedonia and Greece); Antigonus (Asia Minor); and Lysimachus (Thrace). See, http://history-of-macedonia.com/wordpress/2010/06/17/macedonian-names-and-makedonski-pseudo-linguistics-the-case-of-the-name-pella/ and http://1stmuse.com/frames/index.html
[60] Moesia (Greek: Μοισία, Μυσία, Latin: Moesiarum) was an ancient region and Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Northern Skopje, Southern Serbia (Upper Moesia), Northern Bulgaria, South-Eastern Romania, Southern Moldova, and Budjak (Lower Moesia).
[61] First among the ancient historians, Herodotus mentions Macedonians and considers them, without hesitation, to be Greeks:<<{Ellhne~ dev ei\nai touvtou~ touv~ ajpov Perdivkkew gegonovta~, katav per auj-toiv levgousi, aujtov~ te ou{tw tugcavnw ejpistavmeno~ kai; dhv kai; ejn toi`si o[pisqen lovgoisi ajpodeiv- xw...>> See, Herodotus, I, 56, 2-3 and V, 20-22.
[62] <<>> JHrovdoto~ (Herodotus). Herodotus (Greek: Ἡρόδοτος Hēródotos) was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Caria, Halicarnassus (Asia Minor that is under Turkish occupation, today) and lived in the 5th century B.C. (484 B.C. – 425 B.C.). He has been called the "Father of History" since he was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a well-constructed and vivid narrative. The Histories — his masterpiece and the only work he is known to have produced — is a record of his "inquiry" (or ἱστορία historía, a word that passed into Latin and took on its modern meaning of history), being an investigation of the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars and including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. He claimed that he was reporting only what had been told to him. Little is known of his personal history since ancient records are scanty, lost, destroyed or stolen.
[63] Isocrates (Greek: Ἰσοκράτης; 436–338 BC), an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works.
[64] << jEsti mevn oujn JEllav~ kai; hJ Makedoniva >> Stravbwn (Strabo). Strabo (Greek: Στράβων; 63/64 B.C. – 24 A.D.) was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus (Asia Minor), a city which he said to be situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea. Pontus had recently fallen to the Roman Empire, and although politically he was a proponent of Roman imperialism, Strabo belonged on his mother's side to a prominent family whose members had held important positions under the resisting regime of King Mithridates VI of Pontus. Strabo's life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and time spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era, and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus (27 B.C. – 14 A.D.). He moved to Rome in 44 B.C., and stayed there, studying and writing, until at least 31 B.C. In 29 B.C., on his way to Corinth (where Augustus was at the time), he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea for several years. Around 25 B.C., he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae, after which point there is little record of his proceedings until 17 A.D., when he returned to Rome to finish compiling a final draft of his Geography during his final years. It is not known precisely when Strabo's Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around 7 A.D., others around 18 A.D. Last dateable mention is given to the death in 23 A.D. of Juba II, king of Maurousia (Mauretania), who is said to have died "just recently". On the presumption that "recently" means within a year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next (24 A.D.), when he died. The first of Strabo's major works, Historical Sketches (Historica hypomnemata), written while he was in Rome (20 B.C.), is nearly completely lost. Meant to cover the history of the known world from the conquest of Greece by the Romans, Strabo quotes it himself and other classical authors mention that it existed, although the only surviving document is a fragment of papyrus now in possession of the University of Milan (renumbered [Papyrus] 46). Several different dates have been proposed for Strabo's death, but most of them conclude that he died shortly after 23 A.D.
[65] See, Thucydides, II, 99, 3-6. Thucydides (460 B.C. – 395 B.C.) (Greek: Θουκυδίδης, Thoukydídēs) was a Greek historian and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" because of his strict standards of evidence-gathering and analysis in terms of cause and effect without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work. He has also been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the relations between nations as based on might rather than right. His classical text is still studied at advanced military colleges worldwide, and the Melian dialogue remains a seminal work of international relations theory.
[66] Appianus (Greek: Ἀππιανός) (95 A.D. –165 A.D.), of Alexandria was a Roman historian (of Greek ethnicity) who flourished during the reigns of Trajan Hadrian, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. He is commonly referred to by the anglicised form of his name, Appian. He tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Egypt, he went to Rome 120 A.D., where he practiced as an advocate, pleading cases before the emperors. In 147 A.D. at the earliest he was appointed to the office of procurator, probably in Egypt, on the recommendation of his friend Marcus Cornelius Fronto. The position of procurator was open only to members of the equestrian class. His work (Ῥωμαϊκά, known in English as the Roman History) in 24 books, written in Greek before 165 A.D., is more a number of monographs than a connected history. It gives an account of various peoples and countries from the earliest times down to their incorporation into the Roman Empire, and survives in complete books and considerable fragments. The work is very valuable, especially for the period of the civil wars. The Civil Wars, five of the later books in the corpus, concern mainly the end of the Roman Republic and take a conflict based approach to history.
[67] See, Arrian, I, 16, 11. Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' (A.D. 86 - 160), known in English as Arrian (Ἀρριανός), and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman (ethnic Greek) historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period. As with other authors of the Second Sophistic, Arrian wrote primarily in Attic (Indica is in Herodotus' Ionic dialect, his philosophical works in Koine Greek). His works preserve the philosophy of Epictetus, and include the Anabasis of Alexander, an important account of Alexander the Great, as well as the Indica a description of Nearchus' voyage from India following Alexander's conquest, and other short works. He is not to be confused with the Athenian military leader and author, Xenophon from the 4th century B.C., whose best-known work was also titled Anabasis. Arrian is generally considered one of the best sources on the campaigns of Alexander as well as one of the founders of a primarily military-based focus on history.
[68] See, Polybius, XXVIII, 8, 9. Polybius (200–118 B.C.), (Greek: Πολύβιος) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his book called The Histories covering in detail the period of 220–146 B.C. He is also renowned for his ideas of political balance in government, which were later used in Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws and in the drafting of the United States Constitution. Polybius was born around 202 B.C. in Megalopolis, Arcadia, which at that time was an active member of the Achaean League. Polybius’ father Lycortas was a chief representative of the policy of neutrality during the war of the Romans against Perseus of Macedonia. He attracted the suspicion of the Romans, and as a result, Polybius was one of the 1000 noble Achaeans who in 168 B.C. were transported to Rome as hostages, and detained there for 17 years. In Rome, by virtue of his high culture, he was admitted to the most distinguished houses, in particular to that of Aemilius Paulus, the conqueror in the Third Macedonian War, who entrusted him with the education of his sons. The succeeding years he seems to have spent in Rome, engaged in the completion of his historical work, and occasionally undertaking long journeys through the Mediterranean countries in the interest of his history, more particularly with a view to obtaining firsthand knowledge of historical sites. It also appears that he sought out and interviewed war veterans in order to clarify details of the events he was writing about, and was given access to archival material for the same purpose. Polybius wrote several works, the majority of which are lost. His earliest book was a biography of the Greek statesman Philopoemen, which was used as a source by Plutarch. The Polybian text is lost. In addition, he wrote what appears to have been an extensive treatise entitled Tactics, which detailed Roman and Greek military tactics. Small parts of this work may survive in his major Histories, but the work itself is also lost. Another missing work was a historical monograph on the events of the Numantine War. The largest work was of course, his Histories, which we have only the first five books entirely intact, a large part of the sixth, and fragments of the rest. Along with Cato the Elder (234-149 B.C.), he was one of the first historians to document Roman history. Livy makes reference to and uses him as source material in his own narrative. Polybius is one of the first historians to attempt to present history as a sequence of causes and effects, based upon a careful examination of tradition and conducted with keen criticism. He narrated his history upon what he had himself seen and upon the communications of eye-witnesses and actors in the events. In a classic story of human behavior, Polybius captures it all: nationalism, xenophobia, duplicitous politics, horrible battles and brutality, loyalty, valour and bravery, intelligence, reason and resourcefulness. With his eye for detail and characteristic critically reasoned style, Polybius provided a unified view of history rather than a chronology. A key theme is that the good statesmen is virtuous and controls his emotions. An archetype of his good statesman was Philip II. This leads him to reject historian Theopompus' description of Philip's wild and drunken private life. For Polybius it is inconceivable that such an able and effective statesman could have such an immoral and unrestrained private life. Polybius is considered by some to be the successor of Thucydides in terms of objectivity and critical reasoning, and the forefather of scholarly, painstaking historical research in the modern scientific sense. According to this view, his work sets forth the course of occurrences with clearness, penetration, sound judgment and, among the circumstances affecting the result, lays especial stress on the geographical conditions. It belongs, therefore, to the greatest productions of ancient historical writing. The writer of the Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (1937) praises him for his "earnest devotion to truth" and for his systematic seeking for the cause of events. Polybius introduced some theories in The Histories. In it, he also explained the theory of anacyclosis, or cycle of government, an idea that Plato had already explored.
[69] See, Titus Livius, 31, 39. Titus Livius (59 B.C. – 17 A.D.), known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 B.C. through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time. He was on familiar terms with the Julio-Claudian family, advising Augustus' grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, as a young man not long before 14 A.D. in a letter to take up the writing of history. Livy and Augustus' wife, Livia, were from the same clan in different locations, although not related by blood.
[70] Mahathir Mohamad, the ex-president of Malaysia said that “Jewish groups secretly control the world’s great powers” and affect humanity the way they want to pursue their “ultimate objective”. See, The Wall Street Journal, October 9-10, 2010, pp. A1 and A11. We hope, he to be wrong.
[71] Today, we say the same for Cyprus, < >.
[72] See, Stefanos Vyzadius, Nationals, Geographical Lexicon, 5th-6th Centuries A.D.
[73] Now, with the imposition of “Kallikratis”, they will demolish what has been left over from the detestable “Ioannis Kapodistrias” plan, which destroyed the country side (all villages) of Greece. The unity of the country and its security are in high risk. Prime Minister George Papandreou appears to have no intention of abandoning or altering his government’s ambitious plan to redraw administrative boundaries at a local level despite fierce criticism from opposition parties, citizens, and as it emerged, from within ruling PASOK. Papandreou vehemently defended the plan, known as “Kallikratis,” which was unveiled on January 10, 2010 at a Cabinet meeting. “The Greek people voted us into power to make changes, not to tinker,” said Papandreou. Although it has many aspects, the main element to Kallikratis is the plan to do away with the 76 prefectures that currently span the country and replace them with 13 larger regions. Similarly, 1,034 municipalities will be whittled down to less than 370. See, Kathimerini, January 12, 2010. These 13 regions can represent themselves to Brussels (EU) independently of the central government. Thus, the unity of the country is ruined and soon the country will be in ruins; the “Golden Age of PASOK”.
[74] Discipline, which analyzes and examine the past of the World.
[75] Their territory itself was not considered part of Illyria by the Greek Historian, geographer and philosopher Strabo (Στράβων, 63/64 B.C. –24 A.D.). See also, Vorlage: H. Kiepert, Atlas antiquua, Berlin (Reimer) O.J. , where Scupi is in Dardania. http://www.gottwein.de/latine/map/gr_paeon.php
[76] The Goths (Gothic,Gutans) were a heterogeneous East Germanic tribe, who played an important role in the history of the Roman Empire after they appeared on its lower Danube frontier in the 3rd century A.D. The first recorded incursion of Goths into the Roman Empire took place in 238. During the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., the Goths were divided into at least two distinct groups, the Thervingi and the Greuthungi, separated by the Dniester River. They repeatedly attacked the Roman Empire (and the New Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire) during the Gothic War (376-382 A.D.).
[77] Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February 272 A.D.– 22 May 337 A.D.), commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor, Saint Constantine reversed the persecutions of his predecessor, Diocletian, and issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed Religious Tolerance ( jAnexiqrhskeiva) of Christians throughout the empire. The foremost general of his time, Saint Constantine defeated the emperors Maxentius and Licinius during civil wars. He also fought successfully against the Franks, Alamanni, Visigoths, and Sarmatians during his reign – even resettling parts of Dacia, which had been abandoned during the previous century. Saint Constantine also transformed the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium into a new imperial residence, Constantinople, which would be the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine, Medieval Greek) Empire for over one thousand years.
[78] Justinian II (669 A.D. – 11 December 711 A.D.), also known as Rinotmetos or Rhinotmetus "the Slit-nosed", was reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711. Justinian was in many ways an able ruler, who recovered for the empire areas of Macedonia that had previously been conquered by Slavic tribesmen. Justinian's religious policy was similar to that of his father, Constantine IV, who had attempted to bring about a reconciliation between Rome and Constantinople. He was the first emperor to place the image of Christ on his coinage, along with the motto servus Christi. In 686, he convened a synod that upheld the denial of monotheletism. Unlike his father however, Justinian, was not willing to compromise with Rome concerning the supremacy of the see of Constantinople over the see of Rome. In 692, he called for an ecumenical council to be held in the domed hall of the imperial palace. The In Trullo council was also known as the Quinisext (Greek - penthekte) council since it dealt with matters discussed at the fifth ecumenical council of 553 (Constantinople II) and the sixth ecumenical council of 680 (Constantinople III). While the council addressed a wide range of subjects, such as discipline, marriage of priests, and the organization of church administration, the most significant judgment of the council was canon 36 which emphasized the equality of the Roman and Constantinopolitan sees. The papacy, upholding the position of the Roman see's supremacy, rejected all the canons of the Quinisext Council. Justinian attempted to enforce the decision of the council by ordering the arrest of Pope Sergius I, but this was prevented by the populace and troops of Rome. See, http://www.roman-emperors.org/Just2.htm
[79] Samuel [also Samuil, representing Bulgarian: Самуил, was the Emperor (Tsar)] of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 980 to 997, he was a general under Roman I of Bulgaria, the second surviving son of Emperor Peter of Bulgaria, and co-ruled with him, as Roman bestowed upon him the command of the army and the effective royal authority. As Samuel struggled to preserve his country's independence from the Byzantine Empire, his rule was characterized by constant warfare against the Byzantines and their equally ambitious ruler Basil II (Vassilios II). In the late 10th century, the Bulgarian armies conquered the Serb principality of Duklja and led campaigns against the Kingdoms of Croatia and Hungary. But from 1001, he was forced mainly to defend the Empire against the superior Byzantine armies. Samuel died of a heart attack on 6 October 1014, two months after the catastrophic battle of Kleidion, and Bulgaria was fully subjugated by Basil II four years later, ending the five decades-long Byzantine-Bulgarian conflict.
[80] Hellenic-Orthodox Empire 1025: BASIL (Vassilios) II BULGAROKTONOS (GREEK: BASILEIOS BOULGAROKTONOS, = SLAYER OF THE BULGARS), Byzantine emperor (976-1025), who extended imperial rule in the Balkans (notably Bulgaria), Illyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Georgia (Iveria), and Armenia and increased his domestic authority by attacking the powerful landed interests of the military aristocracy and of the church. Hellenic state reached its maximum extension and power. It expanded from Epirus to Pontus from Macedonia to Kaukasian Mountains from Dounabe to the Taurus mountains. The Hellenic-Orthodox Empire was then the center of the world that is why its dominance was challenged by many states. The reign of Basil II, widely acknowledged to be one of the outstanding Byzantine emperors, admirably illustrates the strength of the Byzantine system of government. His forceful personality made enemies and friends to acknowledge him as sole ruler. Basil was the son of Romanus II and Theophano and was crowned co-emperor with his brother Constantine in 960, but as minors both he and his brother remained in the background. After their father's death in 963, the government was effectively take over by the senior military emperors, first by Nicephorus II Phocas, their stepfather, and then by John I Tzimisces. On the latter's death (976) his authority was challenged by two generals (Vardas Skliros and Vardas Fokas) who coveted the position of senior emperor. Both related to emperors, they belonged to powerful landed families and commanded outside support from Georgia and from the Caliph in Baghdad. After a prolonged struggle both were defeated by 989, though only with the help of Russians under Vladimir of Kiev, who was rewarded with the hand of Basil II's sister Anna on condition that the Kievan state adopted Christianity. This year an earthquake devastated Constantinople and Nikomeidia. The dome of Aghia Sophia fell, and was fully reconstructed six years later. Basil II aimed solely at the extension and consolidation of imperial authority at home and abroad. The main fields of external conflict were Syria, Armenia, and Georgia (Iveria) in the east, in the Balkans (Bulgaria) in the north, and in southern Italy in the west. He maintained the Byzantine position in Syria against aggression stirred up by the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt and on occasion made forced marches from Constantinople across Asia Minor to relieve Antioch. In 995 Basil with 40,000 men marched from Bulgaria to Syria so fast, that when Egyptians were informed for his arrival, they retreated in a state of panic. The emperor left his general Damianos Dalassinos as governor of Antioch, and returned to his battlefield in Bulgaria. By aggression and by diplomacy he secured land from Georgia (Iveria) and Armenia, after the death (1000) of a great Georgian king named "David the great". He is, however, best known for his persistent and ultimately successful campaigns against a revived Bulgarian kingdom under Tsar Samuel. This ruler devastated the regions of Macedonia, Thessaly and Epirus and established his hegemony in the west Balkans. In 996 Basil issued a law called "Neara" by which land owned by wealthy landowners was divided and given to poor farmers. The same year, the Bulgarians invaded and reached down to the north Peloponnese, pillaging many Greek cities. The emperor sent Nikophoros Ouranos to defend the area. The competent general crushed the Bulgars in a battle by the river Sperxeios (next to Lamia), and Tsar Samuel almost was killed. In 997, the Greek fleet recaptured Epidamnos (modern Dyrrachion in North Epirus). We must mention also, Theophano (sister of Vassilios) who the period from 984 to 991, after the death of her husband, Othon II, ruled Germany. She promoted the Greek language and byzantine art. After presiding over German policy for seven years, the empress died in June of 991. She was buried in Cologne in the Monastery of St. Pantelaeimon. Her relics remain there. From 986 until 1014 there was warfare between Byzantium and Bulgaria (nowhere anyone can find “Skopjeans or Slav-Macedonians), interrupted from time to time by Basil II's intermittent expeditions to settle crises on the eastern front. Basil II enlisted Venetian help in protecting the Dalmatian coast and Adriatic waters from Bulgarian aggression. Year by year he slowly penetrated into Samuel's territory, campaigning in winter as well as summer. In 1001 Basil liberated Philippoupolis, in 1003 Verroia, Larisa, Servia, Skopje, and Edessa in Macedonia, were also liberated by the Greek army. Finally, holding northern and central Bulgaria, he advanced toward Samuel's capital, Achris (northern of Prespes lakes), and won the crushing victory, that gave him his nickname, "Slayer of the Bulgars". The battle took place in Kleidi (Kimvaloggos), on 29 July 1014. His general Nikiphoros Votaniates managed to surround the enemy defense lines, causing the Bulgars to surrender in a state of panic. Thus the revived Bulgarian kingdom (that stretched from Adriatic to Black Sea and from Dounabe River to Thesally), after decades of wars against the Greek state was incorporated into the Byzantine Empire. But only on 1018, Basil completed his campaign against Bulgarians, and then he visited the provinces of his empire, which were released from the Bulgarian threat. It was then that he visited Athens to pay his respects to the great capital of ancient Greeks. Later he sailed from Piraeus to his capital Constantinople, where he was received with great honors and entered through Golden Gate. Basil II then looked further west and planned to strengthen Byzantine control in southern Italy and to regain Sicily from the Arabs. He attempted to establish a Greek pope in Rome and to unite in marriage the German (though by birth half Byzantine) ruler Otto III with Basil II's favorite niece, Zoe. Both schemes failed, but he was more successful in southern Italy, where order was restored, and at his death preparations were being made for the reconquest of Sicily. He defeated Germans and Normans who tried to gain control over Italy, where he built castles and cities in order to reinforce his defense. One such city he named Troy, honoring the ancient Greek city in the coast of Dardanelia-Minor Asia. The ruthlessness and tenacity that served Basil II in his military and diplomatic activities were displayed in his domestic policy as well. Its keynote was the strengthening of imperial authority by striking at his overpowerful subjects, particularly the military families who ruled like princes in Asia Minor. The by-product of this policy (Allileghion law, law under which rich men paid the taxes owed by poor ones) was the imperial protection of the small farmers, some of whom owed military service to the crown and paid taxes to the central exchequer. Title to land was rigorously inspected, and vast estates were arbitrarily confiscated. Thus, in spite of his costly wars, Basil left a full treasury, some of it stored in specially constructed underground chambers. Both in near-contemporary history and in manuscript illustrations, Basil II is pictured as a short, well-proportioned figure, with brilliant light-blue eyes, a round face, and full, bushy whiskers, which he would twirl in his fingers when angry or while giving an audience. He was dressed plainly and even when wearing the purple chose only a dark hue. An abrupt speaker, he scorned rhetoric yet was capable of wit. He has been described as mean, austere, and irascible, spending most of his time as though he were a soldier on guard. He knew only too well the danger of any relaxation. He showed no obvious interest in learning, but he did apparently commission works of religious art, and had churches and monasteries rebuilt or completed in Biotia and in Athens, though this may be accounted for by conventional piety. He seems never to have married or had children. On his death there was no able military aristocrat or other leader to take the situation in hand, and thus Basil II's work was rapidly undone. (Bibliography Gustave Schlumberger, BASILE II Paris 1900).
[81] The Serbian Empire was a medieval empire in the Balkans that emerged from the medieval Serbian Kingdom in the 14th century. The Serbian Empire existed only for 25 years, from 1346 to 1371. The Tsar of Serbia, Tsar Dušan (1346-1355), before he came to throne as king of all Serbs, proved himself as a very talented battle leader, who proved himself in the battle of Velbazhd, where Serbia heavily defeated the Bulgarian Empire. As his father was not an able conqueror, Dušan, with the help of Serbian nobility, removed his father from the throne, ordering his people to strangle him. The medieval Serbian state reached its apex in the mid-14th century, during the rule of Stefan Dušan, who proclaimed himself in 1345 tsar in Serres and was crowned in Skopje on the 16th April 1346 as the "Emperor of Serbs and Greeks" by the newly proclaimed Serbian Patriarch Joanikie II with the help of the Bulgarian Patriarch Simeon and the Archbishop of Ohrid, Nicholas. Tsar Dušan doubled the size of his former kingdom, seizing territories to the south, southeast and east at the expense of Byzantium. He did not fight a single army in the field, instead winning his empire by besieging cities. He was succeeded by his son Stefan Uroš V, called the Weak, a term that might also apply to the state of the empire, as it slowly slid into feudal anarchy. The combination of sudden conquest, backwards administration, and failure to consolidate his holdings led to the fragmenting of the empire. This is a period marked by the rise of a new threat: the Ottoman Turkish sultanate gradually spreading from Asia (Mongolia) to Europe and conquering Byzantium first, and then the other Balkans states. Too incompetent to sustain the great empire created by his father, Stefan V could neither repel attacks of foreign enemies, nor combat the independence of his nobility. The Serbian Empire of Stefan Uroš fragmented into a conglomeration of principalities, some of which did not even nominally acknowledge his rule. Stefan Uroš V died childless in December 1371, after much of the Serbian nobility had been destroyed by the Turks in the Battle of Maritsa earlier that year.
[82] The Macedonian dynasty ruled the Byzntine Empire from 867 [Basil I the Macedonian (Βασίλειος Α') (811–886, ruled 867–886)] to 1056 [ Theodora (Θεοδώρα) (ruled 1055–1056)], following the Amorian dynasty. During this period, the Byzantine state reached its greatest expanse since the Muslim conquests, and the Macedonian Renaissance in letters and arts began. The dynasty was named after its founder, Basil I the Macedonian, who was descended from the theme of Macedonia.
[83] Many Greeks, such as John Argyropoulos and Constantine Lascaris, fled the city and found refuge in the Latin West, bringing with them knowledge and documents from the Greco-Roman tradition to Italy and other regions that further propelled the Renaissance, although the influx of Greek scholars into the West began much earlier, especially in the Northern Italian city-states which had started welcoming scholars in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The chancellor of Florence Coluccio Salutati began this cultural exchange in 1396 by inviting Manuel Chrysoloras, a Byzantine scholar to lecture at the University of Florence. The Italians' hunger for Latin classics and a reintroduction of the Greek language was a major intellectual factor underlying the Renaissance. Those Greeks who stayed behind in Constantinople were mostly confined to the Phanar and Galata districts. The Phanariots, as they were called, provided many capable advisers to the Ottoman Sultans, and later in 1920s they gave up to the pressure that pope put on them and they abandomed the Orthodox tradition; thus, they were seen as traitors by many Greeks.
[84] The Turkmen (Türkmen or Түркмен, plural Türkmenler or Түркменлер; also Trukhmen) are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, northern Iraq and in northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Oashqai, Gagauz and Salar.
[85] See, Vakalopoulos (1969, p. 7).
[86] The Ottoman Census carried out by Governor Chilmi Pasha (1904) gave the following results:
Greeks Bulgarians
Vilayet of Thessaloniki 373,227 207,317
Vilayet of Monastir 261,283 178,412
Total 634,500 385,729
Ethnological change in Greek Macedonia: The Balkan wars (1912-1913) gave Greece the major part of the Thessaloniki and Monastir (Bitola) vilayets (with the exception of certain northern provinces which now belong to Yugoslav and Bulgarian Macedonia). More precisely the Macedonian regions were apportioned as follows:
Greek Macedonia: 34,603 sq. km 51.57%
Yugoslav Macedonia: 25,714 sq. km 38.32%
Bulgarian Macedonia: 6,789 sq. km 10.11%
During the next 10-15 years (1913-1925) the ethnological map of Macedonia became almost unrecognizable. While the wars lasted (1912-19), tens of thousands of Bulgarians departed from Macedonia. Another 53,000 Bulgarians left in the 'twenties, as a result of a voluntary exchange of populations between Greece and Bulgaria, which was foreseen by the Treaty of Neuilly. Only the Slavophones of Western Macedonia stayed behind as most of them considered themselves to be Greeks. At the same time following the Greco-Turkish exchange, over 700,000 Greeks from Turkey established themselves in Greek Macedonia. In 1926, after the exchange of populations was completed, the League of Nations produced the following statistical data pertaining to Greek Macedonia:
Greeks: 1,341,000 or 88.8%
Muslims: 2,000 or 0.1%
Bulgarians: 77,000 or 5.1%
Miscellaneous (mainly Jews): 91,000 or 6.0%
Total 1,511,000 or 100.0%
See, Macedonia and the Macedonian Question: A Brief Survey (1983).
[87] Nicholas Kavassilas or Cabasilas (born 1319/1323 in Thessaloniki, died after 1391) was a Byzantine mystic and theological writer. Cabasilas is considered a saint by the Orthodox Church. His feast day is June 20. He was on intimate terms with the emperor John VI Catacuzenos, whom he accompanied in his retirement to a monastery. In 1355 he succeeded his uncle Nilos Cabasilas, like himself a determined opponent of the union of the Greek and Latin churches, as archbishop of Thessaloniki. In the Hesychast controversy he took the side of the monks of Athos and St. Gregory Palamas. His chief work is his Περὶ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ ζωῆς, in which he lays down the principle that union with Christ is affected by the three great mysteries of baptism, confirmation, and the eucharist. He also wrote homilies on various subjects, and a speech against usurers, printed with other works in Migne, Patrologia Graeca. A large number of his works is still extant in manuscript. Cabasilas' major works are Life in Christ and Commentary on the Divine Liturgy. These works display a profound understanding of the sacramental and liturgical life of the Eastern Orthodox Church and are accessible to and instructive for any Christian today worshiping in either the East or West.
[88] Emmanuel II Palaiologos or Manuel Palaeologus (Greek: Μανουήλ Β΄ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl II Palaiologos) (27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Manuel II Palaiologos was the second son of Emperor John V Palaiologos (1341–1376, 1379–1390, 1390–1391) and his wife Helena Kantakouzene. His maternal grandparents were Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (1347–1354) and Irene Asanina. Created despotes (Despot=despovth~ was a Byzantine title in Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, granted in the states under Byzantine influence) by his father, the future Manuel II traveled west to seek support for the Byzantine Empire in 1365 and in 1370, serving as governor in Thessaloniki from 1369. Hearing of his father's death in February 1391, Manuel II Palaiologos fled the Ottoman court and secured the capital against any potential claim by his nephew John VII. Although relations with John VII improved, Sultan Bayezid I besieged Constantinople from 1394 to 1402. After some five years of siege, Manuel II entrusted the city to his nephew and embarked (along with a suite of 40 people) on a long trip abroad to seek assistance against the Ottoman Empire from the courts of western Europe, including those of Henry IV of England (making him the only Byzantine emperor ever to visit England – he was welcomed from December 1400 to January 1401 at Eltham Palace, and a joust took place in his honor), Charles VI of France, the Holy Roman Empire, Queen Margaret I of Denmark and from Aragon. In 1399, French King Charles VI sent Marshal Boucicaut with 6 ships carrying 1,200 men from Aigues-Mortes to Constantinople, later 300 men under Seigneur Jean de Chateaumorand remained to defend the city against Bayezid. Manuel II died on 21 July 1425. Manuel II was the author of numerous works of varied character, including letters, poems, a Saint's Life, treatises on theology and rhetoric, and an epitaph for his brother Theodore I Palaiologos.
[89] An inscription of a damnation (=katavdesmo~), which was revealed in Pella, was also written in Greek language.
See, I. N. Kallianiotis, “An Archaeological Perspective of the Macedonian Question”, Cristianikhv Bibliografiva ISTORIA, 11 jOktwbrivou 2010, ss. 1-7 http://christianvivliografia.wordpress.com/2010/10/page/8/
[90] The October Revolution of the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1917 gave impetus for the foundation of Communist parties in many countries all over the globe. ΚΚΕ was founded on 4 November 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece (Acronym: SEKE, Greek: Σοσιαλιστικό Εργατικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, Sosialistiko Ergatiko Komma Elladas) by Avraam Benaroya, a Sephardic Jewish teacher and Socialist Workers’ Federation leader in Thessaloniki. The party was run by a five-member central committee which consisted of Nikos Dimitratos, D. Ligdopoulos, M. Sideris, A. Arvanitis and S. Kokkinos.
[91] Unfortunately, Thrace, today, faces another serious problem, from the remnants of the Muslim Turks, who remained at the region after the liberation of this region from the Turkish occupation. The East Thrace, as well as Constantinople, and Asia Minor are still under Turkish occupation, since the 15th century.
[92] Communism and any man made philosophy and its blind followers have done a lot of damage to the country and to her Hellenic-Orthodox value system. Today, we see the same results from the other extreme system, capitalism, with its new development the cursed globalization, which caused the worst socio-economic crisis in human history.
[93] Of course, there is a problem with bilingualism in Thrace, where the PASOK government introduced Turkish as a second language to children, there. This PASOK party is very dangerous for Greece; it is actually the wooden horse of the west (U.S.A.) in Greece acting against Greece. See also “Favkelo~ < > hJ Pragmatikhv (Para)kubevrnhsh th`~ JEllavdo~”, jApokaluvyei~ Sovk ajpov Strathgov e.a. tou` JEllhnikou` Stratou`, Schizas.com - Puvlh jIavswno~, 01 Noembrivou 2010. Also, this pseudo-socialist party introduced English in the 1st grade in Greek Elementary schools. But, these 6-years old children do not know Greek yet, how are they going to learn English? See, Kallianiotis (2010j). .
[94] More than 1,500 Greek firms moved to Balkan countries and Turkey the last three years, due to lower cost of labor and lower taxes there, which is against Greece’s growth and employment. (TV News ALTER, November 10, 2010).
[95] Plutarch, born Plutarchos (Greek: Πλούταρχος) then, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Μέστριος Πλούταρχος), 46 – 120 A.D., was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He was born to a prominent family in Chaeronea, Boeotia, a town about twenty miles east of Delphi. Plutarch was not concerned with history so much as the influence of character, good or bad, on the lives and destinies of men. Whereas sometimes he barely touched on epoch-making events, he devoted much space to charming anecdote and incidental triviality, reasoning that this often said far more for his subjects than even their most famous accomplishments. He sought to provide rounded portraits, likening his craft to that of a painter; indeed, he went to tremendous effort (often leading to tenuous comparisons) to draw parallels between physical appearance and moral character. In many ways he must count among the earliest moral philosopher. Some of the Lives, such as those of Heracles, Philip II Macedon and Scipio Africanus, no longer exist. Plutarch’ s Life of Alexander, written as a parallel to that of Julius Caesar, is one of only five extant tertiary sources on the Greek-Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great. It includes anecdotes and descriptions of events that appear in no other source, just as Plutarch’s portrait. Plutarch devotes a great deal of space to Alexander's drive and desire, and strives to determine how much of it was presaged in his youth. He also draws extensively on the work of Lysippus, Alexander's favorite sculptor, to provide what is probably the fullest and most accurate description of the conqueror's physical appearance. Much, too, is made of Alexander's scorn for luxury: "He desired not pleasure or wealth, but only excellence and glory." This is most true, for Alexander's tastes grew more extravagant as he grew older only in the last year of his life and only as a means of approaching the image of a ruler his Persian subjects were better accustomed to - thus making it easier for him to succeed in uniting the Greek and Persian worlds together, according to the plan he had announced in his famous Speech given in Opis in 324 BC.
[96] In 1948, Cominform, the first official forum of the international communist movement since the dissolution of the Comintern, put into action a plan to take hostage to communist countries children from Greece during the Greek civil war. The aim was to re-educate the children as well as blackmail the populace and the Greek government towards reaching a settlement leading to a partition of Greece and the subsequent creation of an internationalist "Macedonian" Republic. This move has favoured by the Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito and had been a Comitern policy aimed at destroying the national states of the Balkans through the creation of internationalist republics. Today several FYROM sources claim........ or at least believe the abducted children were FYROMacedonian.
[97] See,<<>>, jAntivbaro, 21 Noembrivou 2010.
[98] "The most significant post-Yugoslav change in the myth of descent was the attempt to include the ancient Macedonians in the national narrative. This effort was clearly related to Greek opposition against the name Macedonia for the new state as well as against the use of the 16-pointed sun of Macedonia, associated with Philip II of Macedonia, as the state symbol. Macedonian historians challenged Greece's exclusive ownership of the symbols and territory of the ancient Macedonians in order to back up their claims to the name and land of Macedonia and to create their own ancient national patrimony. In his introduction to Nade Proeva's Studies on the Ancient Macedonians, Petko Kuzman wrote,“Macedonian history cannot be treated otherwise than as a historical continuity from the creation of the name Macedonia until today.” This discourse is intended to substantiate the Macedonians’ claim to a homeland, to the territory of their ancestors, and to a long national pedigree. The landscape of Macedonia is instilled with ethnic virtues reaching far back into the past that can be mobilized in current disputes over claims to a particular territory. Significantly, the first volume of the revised seven-volume History of the Macedonian People devotes more than two hundred pages to ancient Macedonia and the Roman occupation, while the first edition, published in 1969, allocated only some twenty pages to that period. The main claim is that the ancient Macedonians were not Greeks but a different, non-Hellenic people who joined in the ethnogenesis of the Macedonian people by melting into the Slavs who had come to the region in the 6th and 7th centuries."
[99] Professor Stephen G. Miller of Berkley University sent a letter to the Archaeology Magazine, where he proves that the region where Skopje is today was Paeonia and Skopjeans have no right to call their nation “Macedonia” and themselves “Macedonians”. See, Christianiki Bibliographia, Issue 42, Year 38, January-March 2009, pp. 21-23.
[100] The boundary line separating Greece from Bulgaria was drawn from the crest of Belasica to the mouth of the Mesta (Nestos), on the Aegean Sea. This important territorial concession, which Bulgaria resolutely contested, in compliance with the instructions embraced in the notes which the Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary presented to the conference, increased the area of Greece from 25,014 to 41,933 square miles (108,610 km2) and its population from 2,660,000 to 4,363,000. The territory thus annexed included Epirus up to the present Greek-Albanian border, a large part of Macedonia, including Thessaloniki and all of what constitutes the current region of Macedonia. The Greek-Bulgarian border was moved eastwards to beyond Kavala, thus restricting the Aegean seaboard of Bulgaria to an inconsiderable extent of 70 miles (110 km), with only Dedeagach (modern Alexandroupolis) as a seaport. In addition, Crete was definitively assigned to Greece and was formally taken over on 14 December that year. Within this region was also Florina. A winner and triumphant after the acquisition of Thessaloniki and most of Macedonia up to and including the port of Kavala, Greece still had outstanding issues. Italy was opposed to Greek claims to North Epirus, and controlled the Greek-inhabited Dodecanese islands. In addition, the status quo of the islands of the Northeastern Aegean, which Greece had taken from the Ottomans, remained undetermined until February 1914, when the Great Powers recognized Greek sovereignty over them. Tensions with the Ottomans remained high, however, in the face of persecutions of Anatolian Greeks, leading to a crisis and a naval race in summer 1914 that was stopped only by the outbreak of World War I. At the end of the war, Greece still had claims to territories inhabited,atthetime,bysome3millionGreeks.Seealso, http://www.pollitecon.com/html/treaties/Treaty_Of_Bucharest_1913.html
[101]See, Kwnstanti`no~ Colevba~, <<>>, {Agio~ jAgaqavggelo~ jEsfigmenivth~, [Eto~ MA v, Teu`co~ 241, Septevmbrio~- jOktwvbrio~ 2010, ss. 36-37.
[102] See, http://www.osce.org/documents/mcs/1975/08/4044_en.pdf
[103]See, jAcmevt Ntabouvtoglou, << [H qav decqei` tiv~ Tourkikev~ qevsei~ hJ JEllavda h[ qav uJpostei` tiv~sunevpeie~>>, jAntivbaro, 22 Noembrivou 2010. (http://www.antibaro.gr).
[104] There are a series of articles by the author examining the Macedonian question from different perspectives, as it shown in the References at the end of this work.
[105] The cave of Petralona "embellished" with stalagmites and stalactites is located in the west foot of the Katsika (Goat) mountain and in an altitude of about 300 meters from the level of sea. It was found in 1959 by the inhabitant of Petralona, Mr. Philippos Hatzaridis, and it became well known all over the world in 1960, when the skull of Arhanthropos was found by another inhabitant of Petralona, Mr. Christos Sarrigiannidis. The systematic excavations of the Cave began in 1965 by the founder of the Anthropologic Company of Greece, anthropologist professor Aris Paulianos. His researches proved that the Arhanthropos is about 700.000 years old, and this makes him the "oldest" European. This age was determined after the detailed analysis of stratigraphy (until today 28 geological layer have been revealed), and after studying the primitive and Paleolithic tools as well as the palaiofauna that were discovered in almost all the layers. Among the fossils of animals that have extinct the following are included: lions, hyenas, bears, panthers, elephants, rhinoceros, megakeroi, bison and various species of deer and hippo, and also 25 species of birds, 16 species of rodents and 17 species of bats. In order to verify the age, the contribution of nucleonic is very important. The materials that have been dated are bones, argil, stalagmites and ashes. These are fire traces - the oldest ones that human have ever lighted. See, http://www.gohalkidiki.com/en/history/petralona/index.asp
[106] The question here is, why are these papers and the majority of the other news media that determine public opinion so biased? How can we trust their subjective news and their prejudice information? Of course, in academics, we have to search only for the truth and nothing else.
[107] These names have been used in the past for the inhabitants of Skopje and as toponyms of that region. The ancient Macedonians annexed Paeonia, but they never annexed the region around Scupi (Skopje), which belonged to Dardania. The historically correct name for Skopje, then, is Dardania. The name of the province of Skopje (currently and wrongly, FYRM) was “Vardarska or Vardar with capital Skoplye”. See, Kallianiotis (1992, pp. 58-59).
[108] The message to Greek pseudo-politicians is the following: “It is time for Hellenes worldwide to unite. This is our chance. If we don't raise our voice now, we may as well stay silent forever. The question arises now for the Greek politicians is the following: WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO NEGOTIATE THE GREK NAME MACEDONIA? We are not fooled by the terms "international, bilateral, constitutional". We are not fooled by "geographical" determinations such as "North, Upper, Vardar Macedonia" (with or without brackets). "North Macedonia" implies there is also a "South" one. "Upper Macedonia " implies there is a "Lower" one. Consent to a compound name entails the sell-out of our national heritage. It entails consent to Skopjan irredentism. It entails high treason. Αll UN member-states that have recognized Skopje under its constitutional name, including the UN as a whole, have agreed to accept any final agreement resulting from negotiations between the two countries. So why are you giving away the name of 2.5 million Macedonians without a second thought? Say No to a compound name. Turn the tables. This is FYROM's problem, not ours. We do not need a "bilateral" solution, they do. Greece has the last word, no matter how many countries in the world recognize them by their constitutional name. We plead with you: Do not sell out our name. Which person, Greek or not, has the right to deprive us, the Macedonians, of our right to our history and our culture, and to pass our identity to a fledgling Slavic nation? Macedonia, an integral part of the Greek world since the beginning of our history, was repeatedly used as a tool for the expansionist policy of the Bulgars, Slavs, and Soviets who wanted access to the Aegean Sea. The FYROM, was known as Vardarska until the 1940's, when Josip Broz Tito changed its name and falsified its cultural heritage in trying to steal Macedonia from Greece. Why must we suddenly recognize a "Macedonian" state and nation since the use of this term by non-Greeks is an assault on our heritage? As stated by Kiro Gligorov, the first President of the FYROM: "We are Slavs who came to this area in the sixth century (AD)... we are not descendants of the ancient Macedonians. Serious historians are laughing with what has been happening in my country. At the rate we are going we will say we are direct descendants of Adam and Eve and Paradise will be proven to be ‘Macedonian’ and thus ours". Common sense. Which country would ever negotiate its national heritage?
MACEDONIA IS IN GREECE AND IS NOT NEGOTIABLE.”
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