Macedonia Factoids
Australian Macedonian Advisory Council
March 23, 2009
1. Recorded history refers to an ancient kingdom of Macedonia beginning in the 7th century B.C.E.
2. The name "Macedonia" was given by its people and in Greek it means "Highland."
3. Many ancient sources -- historians, the Bible, the Torah, geographers, etc. -- refer to Macedonia as a Greek kingdom. It is also mentioned by Homer and by the historian-geographer Strabo who states: "Macedonia is Greece as well."
4. The Talmud, in relating the friendly meeting between Alexander the Great and the High Priest Simon the Just, on the formers entry into Jerusalem in 333 B.C.E., refers to him as HaMocdon Meleh Yavan -- Alexander of Macedon, king of Greece.
5. The Roman writer Livy, referring to an assembly of Greeks in Aetolia in 200 B.C.E.: "Aetolians, Acarnanians, Macedonians, people of the same language" (XXXI, 29, 15)
6. Over 5000 excavated relics of the ancient Macedonian kingdom carry only Greek inscriptions.
7. The ancient Macedonians participated in the Olympic games, and only Greeks could do that. They believed in the same Gods as the rest of the Greeks. Their kingdom's coins carried Greek inscriptions only. The palace floor in the ancient Macedonian capital of Pella depicts Greek deities and Greek mythological figures with Greek language inscriptions.
8. Mt. Olympus, home of the Greek Gods, was located in Macedonia. At the foot of the mountain, excavations unearthed the ancient Macedonian burial grounds with Greek inscriptions.
9. The ancient Greeks were the only people to build theaters. Four were already found in Macedonia where plays were performed in Greek.
10. Apostle Paul refers to the Greeks receiving him when he visited Macedonia. He was preaching in Greek and his epistles were written in Greek, the language of the inhabitants.
11. Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia and leader of the united Greek city-states, disseminated Greek culture and civilization during his campaign against the Persian Empire as well as in Europe, Africa, and other Asian areas.
12. There was never a "Macedonian" language just as there never was an "Athenian," "Epirotic," "Spartan," "Theban," Boeotian," etc. All city-states and kingdoms of Greece spoke the same language with various dialects. Present-day Bulgaria -- an idiom of the Bulgarian language is spoken by the pseudo-Macedonians -- recognizes neither a Macedonian language nor a Macedonian ethnicity. Most of the present-day Slavs in the country of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are of Bulgarian descent.
13. Pope John Paul: "Macedonia is the birthplace of Philip, Alexander, Methodius, and Cyril. Macedonia is Greek."
14. The Cyrillic alphabet, which the Skopjeans use, has thirty-six letters. Twenty-four of them are the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet.
15. The first grammar textbook of the so-called Macedonian language was published in 1952, the first philological dictionary in 1961, and the History of the Macedonian Nation in 1969. The kingdom of Serbia, later of the Croats, Slovenes, and Serbs, gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire one hundred years earlier.
16. Demosthenes, the Athenian orator and a fanatic super patriot, never called the Macedonians "barbarians" -- only their king Philip -- and that because he could not stomach the passing of Greek supremacy from Athens to Macedonia. His Athenian orator rival, Isocrates, sent a letter to King Philip exhorting and imploring him to unite all Greeks and, seeking vengeance, to lead them against Persia, their common enemy.
17. Ilinden, the site of an insurrection of supposedly all races residing in the geographic area of ancient Macedonia against the Ottoman Empire, was planned and instigated by the Bulgarian Government whose dream it was to annex all of it and gain access to the Aegean Sea. Categorical evidence of this is found in the many existing reports of European ambassadors and counsels that were dispatched to their respective Foreign Ministries. The pseudo-Macedonians appropriated this unsuccessful event of Ilinden -- most of the victims were Greek -- from the Bulgarians and present it as their own heroic attempt to gain "freedom for Macedonia."
18. There never existed a country called "Macedonia" since the destruction of the ancient kingdom by the Romans in 168 B.C.E. Any reference to a division of "Macedonia" between Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria is a false and ludicrous statement. The geographical area of Macedonia from the advent of the Slavs in the 6th century A.D. (C.E.) until the First Balkan War of 1912 -- a period of 1500 years -- was populated by Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Albanians, Jews and gypsies and since the 14th century A.D. (C.E.) by Turks as well. No census of Roman, Byzantine or Ottoman Empires refers to any "Macedonians." Hence, what "Macedonia" was divided up?
19. Before it became Yugoslavia, the country was called "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes." No mention of Macedonians.
20. Only the southern part of F.Y.R.O.M. corresponds to the upper border of the ancient Macedonian kingdom.
21. In his book I Was Sent To Athens, the American diplomat Morgenthau, Chairman of the League of Nations Population Exchanges Commission, wrote that after the departure of the Turks and Bulgarians from Macedonia, "Macedonia was a purely Greek region."
22. Lord Salisbury, head of the English delegation of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878: "Macedonia and Thrace are as Greek as Crete is."
23. In the Turk Hilmi Pasha's population census of 1905, Macedonian region, only Albanians, Turks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Jews were recorded. No Macedonians, not even one.
24. In the 1912 Ottoman parliamentary elections, which allowed for minorities representation, there were Arab, Albanian, Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Bulgarian elects. No Macedonian! No such a minority existed.
25. During the first Balkan War of 1912, after Greece liberated Thessaloniki, it established a "Governorate General of Macedonia." No one reacted against it.
26. No known historic record refers to any total extinction or genocide perpetrated upon the ancient Macedonian people. What of their descendants? Surely they are not Slavs. What of their rights to their identity and heritage? Are they no longer "Macedonian?"
27. In Tito's communist Yugoslavia, its Communist Party -- atheists to the core -- established the "Macedonian Orthodox Church" in 1968. HUH?
28. Prior to being baptized "Macedonia" by the communists Tito and Stalin, the southern Yugoslav region was named and known as "Vardarska Banovinja." No matter what the name of northern Greece, that's exactly what the new name for "Vardarska Banovinja" would have been (Macedonia). After all, the goal was to annex northern Greece and gain access to the Aegean Sea.
29. Finally, I place the following challenge to one and all of the concocted "Macedonian" ethnicity: If you ever come across an authentic, legitimate relic or find of the ancient Macedonian kingdom with an inscription other than in the Greek language, you shall have achieved the discovery of all times. You need not despair, however. There is no time limit!
by Anthony Economou
from: Pan-Macedonian Association USA
info@macedonian.com.au
Macedonian Forums
2. The name "Macedonia" was given by its people and in Greek it means "Highland."
3. Many ancient sources -- historians, the Bible, the Torah, geographers, etc. -- refer to Macedonia as a Greek kingdom. It is also mentioned by Homer and by the historian-geographer Strabo who states: "Macedonia is Greece as well."
4. The Talmud, in relating the friendly meeting between Alexander the Great and the High Priest Simon the Just, on the formers entry into Jerusalem in 333 B.C.E., refers to him as HaMocdon Meleh Yavan -- Alexander of Macedon, king of Greece.
5. The Roman writer Livy, referring to an assembly of Greeks in Aetolia in 200 B.C.E.: "Aetolians, Acarnanians, Macedonians, people of the same language" (XXXI, 29, 15)
6. Over 5000 excavated relics of the ancient Macedonian kingdom carry only Greek inscriptions.
7. The ancient Macedonians participated in the Olympic games, and only Greeks could do that. They believed in the same Gods as the rest of the Greeks. Their kingdom's coins carried Greek inscriptions only. The palace floor in the ancient Macedonian capital of Pella depicts Greek deities and Greek mythological figures with Greek language inscriptions.
8. Mt. Olympus, home of the Greek Gods, was located in Macedonia. At the foot of the mountain, excavations unearthed the ancient Macedonian burial grounds with Greek inscriptions.
9. The ancient Greeks were the only people to build theaters. Four were already found in Macedonia where plays were performed in Greek.
10. Apostle Paul refers to the Greeks receiving him when he visited Macedonia. He was preaching in Greek and his epistles were written in Greek, the language of the inhabitants.
11. Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia and leader of the united Greek city-states, disseminated Greek culture and civilization during his campaign against the Persian Empire as well as in Europe, Africa, and other Asian areas.
12. There was never a "Macedonian" language just as there never was an "Athenian," "Epirotic," "Spartan," "Theban," Boeotian," etc. All city-states and kingdoms of Greece spoke the same language with various dialects. Present-day Bulgaria -- an idiom of the Bulgarian language is spoken by the pseudo-Macedonians -- recognizes neither a Macedonian language nor a Macedonian ethnicity. Most of the present-day Slavs in the country of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are of Bulgarian descent.
13. Pope John Paul: "Macedonia is the birthplace of Philip, Alexander, Methodius, and Cyril. Macedonia is Greek."
14. The Cyrillic alphabet, which the Skopjeans use, has thirty-six letters. Twenty-four of them are the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet.
15. The first grammar textbook of the so-called Macedonian language was published in 1952, the first philological dictionary in 1961, and the History of the Macedonian Nation in 1969. The kingdom of Serbia, later of the Croats, Slovenes, and Serbs, gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire one hundred years earlier.
16. Demosthenes, the Athenian orator and a fanatic super patriot, never called the Macedonians "barbarians" -- only their king Philip -- and that because he could not stomach the passing of Greek supremacy from Athens to Macedonia. His Athenian orator rival, Isocrates, sent a letter to King Philip exhorting and imploring him to unite all Greeks and, seeking vengeance, to lead them against Persia, their common enemy.
17. Ilinden, the site of an insurrection of supposedly all races residing in the geographic area of ancient Macedonia against the Ottoman Empire, was planned and instigated by the Bulgarian Government whose dream it was to annex all of it and gain access to the Aegean Sea. Categorical evidence of this is found in the many existing reports of European ambassadors and counsels that were dispatched to their respective Foreign Ministries. The pseudo-Macedonians appropriated this unsuccessful event of Ilinden -- most of the victims were Greek -- from the Bulgarians and present it as their own heroic attempt to gain "freedom for Macedonia."
18. There never existed a country called "Macedonia" since the destruction of the ancient kingdom by the Romans in 168 B.C.E. Any reference to a division of "Macedonia" between Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria is a false and ludicrous statement. The geographical area of Macedonia from the advent of the Slavs in the 6th century A.D. (C.E.) until the First Balkan War of 1912 -- a period of 1500 years -- was populated by Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Albanians, Jews and gypsies and since the 14th century A.D. (C.E.) by Turks as well. No census of Roman, Byzantine or Ottoman Empires refers to any "Macedonians." Hence, what "Macedonia" was divided up?
19. Before it became Yugoslavia, the country was called "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes." No mention of Macedonians.
20. Only the southern part of F.Y.R.O.M. corresponds to the upper border of the ancient Macedonian kingdom.
21. In his book I Was Sent To Athens, the American diplomat Morgenthau, Chairman of the League of Nations Population Exchanges Commission, wrote that after the departure of the Turks and Bulgarians from Macedonia, "Macedonia was a purely Greek region."
22. Lord Salisbury, head of the English delegation of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878: "Macedonia and Thrace are as Greek as Crete is."
23. In the Turk Hilmi Pasha's population census of 1905, Macedonian region, only Albanians, Turks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Jews were recorded. No Macedonians, not even one.
24. In the 1912 Ottoman parliamentary elections, which allowed for minorities representation, there were Arab, Albanian, Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Bulgarian elects. No Macedonian! No such a minority existed.
25. During the first Balkan War of 1912, after Greece liberated Thessaloniki, it established a "Governorate General of Macedonia." No one reacted against it.
26. No known historic record refers to any total extinction or genocide perpetrated upon the ancient Macedonian people. What of their descendants? Surely they are not Slavs. What of their rights to their identity and heritage? Are they no longer "Macedonian?"
27. In Tito's communist Yugoslavia, its Communist Party -- atheists to the core -- established the "Macedonian Orthodox Church" in 1968. HUH?
28. Prior to being baptized "Macedonia" by the communists Tito and Stalin, the southern Yugoslav region was named and known as "Vardarska Banovinja." No matter what the name of northern Greece, that's exactly what the new name for "Vardarska Banovinja" would have been (Macedonia). After all, the goal was to annex northern Greece and gain access to the Aegean Sea.
29. Finally, I place the following challenge to one and all of the concocted "Macedonian" ethnicity: If you ever come across an authentic, legitimate relic or find of the ancient Macedonian kingdom with an inscription other than in the Greek language, you shall have achieved the discovery of all times. You need not despair, however. There is no time limit!
by Anthony Economou
from: Pan-Macedonian Association USA
info@macedonian.com.au
Macedonian Forums