Answer to Stephen G. Miller´s letter to President Obama
Risto Stefov
May 20, 2009
The following letter addressed to US President Barack Obama was drafted by Stephen G. Miller and signed by what appears to be 58 different academics of various fields and institutions.
May 18, 2009
The Honorable Barack Obama
President, United States of America
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
We, the undersigned scholars of Graeco-Roman antiquity, respectfully request that you intervene to clean up some of the historical debris left in southeast Europe by the previous U.S. administration.
On November 4, 2004, two days after the re-election of President George W. Bush, his administration unilaterally recognized the "Republic of Macedonia." This action not only abrogated geographic and historic fact, but it also has unleashed a dangerous epidemic of historical revisionism, of which the most obvious symptom is the misappropriation by the government in Skopje of the most famous of Macedonians, Alexander the Great.
We believe that this silliness has gone too far, and that the U.S.A. has no business in supporting the subversion of history. Let us review facts. (The documentation for these facts (here in boldface) can be found attached and at: http://macedonia-evidence.org/)
The land in question, with its modern capital at Skopje, was called Paionia in antiquity. Mts. Barnous and Orbelos (which form today the northern limits of Greece) provide a natural barrier that separated, and separates, Macedonia from its northern neighbor. The only real connection is along the Axios/Vardar River and even this valley "does not form a line of communication because it is divided by gorges."
While it is true that the Paionians were subdued by Philip II, father of Alexander, in 358 B.C. they were not Macedonians and did not live in Macedonia. Likewise, for example, the Egyptians, who were subdued by Alexander, may have been ruled by Macedonians, including the famous Cleopatra, but they were never Macedonians themselves, and Egypt was never called Macedonia.
Rather, Macedonia and Macedonian Greeks have been located for at least 2,500 years just where the modern Greek province of Macedonia is. Exactly this same relationship is true for Attica and Athenian Greeks, Argos and Argive Greeks, Corinth and Corinthian Greeks, etc.
We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of ancient Paionia, who speak Slavic – a language introduced into the Balkans about a millennium after the death of Alexander – can claim him as their national hero. Alexander the Great was thoroughly and indisputably Greek. His great-great-great grandfather, Alexander I, competed in the Olympic Games where participation was limited to Greeks.
Even before Alexander I, the Macedonians traced their ancestry to Argos, and many of their kings used the head of Herakles - the quintessential Greek hero - on their coins.
Euripides – who died and was buried in Macedonia– wrote his play Archelaos in honor of the great-uncle of Alexander, and in Greek. While in Macedonia, Euripides also wrote the Bacchai, again in Greek. Presumably the Macedonian audience could understand what he wrote and what they heard.
Alexander´s father, Philip, won several equestrian victories at Olympia and Delphi, the two most Hellenic of all the sanctuaries in ancient Greece where non-Greeks were not allowed to compete. Even more significantly, Philip was appointed to conduct the Pythian Games at Delphi in 346 B.C. In other words, Alexander the Great´s father and his ancestors were thoroughly Greek. Greek was the language used by Demosthenes and his delegation from Athens when they paid visits to Philip, also in 346 B.C. Another northern Greek, Aristotle, went off to study for nearly 20 years in the Academy of Plato. Aristotle subsequently returned to Macedonia and became the tutor of Alexander III. They used Greek in their classroom which can still be seen near Naoussa in Macedonia.
Alexander carried with him throughout his conquests Aristotle´s edition of Homer´s Iliad. Alexander also spread Greek language and culture throughout his empire, founding cities and establishing centers of learning. Hence inscriptions concerning such typical Greek institutions as the gymnasium are found as far away as Afghanistan. They are all written in Greek.
The questions follow: Why was Greek the lingua franca all over Alexander´s empire if he was a "Macedonian"? That is why the New Testament, for example, was written in Greek?
The answers are clear: Alexander the Great was Greek, not Slavic, and Slavs and their language were nowhere near Alexander or his homeland until 1000 years later. This brings us back to the geographic area known in antiquity as Paionia. Why would the people who live there now call themselves Macedonians and their land Macedonia? Why would they abduct a completely Greek figure and make him their national hero?
The ancient Paionians may or may not have been Greek, but they certainly became Greekish, and they were never Slavs. They were also not Macedonians. Ancient Paionia was a part of the Macedonian Empire. So were Ionia and Syria and Palestine and Egypt and Mesopotamia and Babylonia and Bactria and many more. They may thus have become "Macedonian" temporarily, but none was ever "Macedonia". The theft of Philip and Alexander by a land that was never Macedonia cannot be justified.
The traditions of ancient Paionia could be adopted by the current residents of that geographical area with considerable justification. But the extension of the geographic term "Macedonia" to cover southern Yugoslavia cannot. Even in the late 19th century, this misuse implied unhealthy territorial aspirations.
The same motivation is to be seen in school maps that show the pseudo-greater Macedonia, stretching from Skopje to Mt. Olympus and labeled in Slavic. The same map and its claims are in calendars, bumper stickers, bank notes, etc., that have been circulating in the new state ever since it declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Why would a poor land-locked new state attempt such historical nonsense? Why would it brazenly mock and provoke its neighbor?
However one might like to characterize such behavior, it is clearly not a force for historical accuracy, nor for stability in the Balkans. It is sad that the United States of America has abetted and encouraged such behavior.
We call upon you, Mr. President, to help - in whatever ways you deem appropriate - the government in Skopje to understand that it cannot build a national identity at the expense of historic truth. Our common international society cannot survive when history is ignored, much less when history is fabricated.
Sincerely,
NAME TITLE INSTITUTION
Harry C. Avery, Professor of Classics, University of Pittsburgh (USA) Elizabeth C. Banks, Associate Professor of Classics (ret.), University of Kansas (USA)
Elizabeth Baughan, Assistant Professor of Classics and Archaeology, University of Richmond (USA)
Bradley, Keith, Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Professor of Classics, Concurrent Professor of History, University of Notre Dame (USA)
Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge (UK)
Paavo Castrén, Professor of Classical Philology Emeritus, University of Helsinki (Finland)
William Cavanagh, Professor of Aegean Prehistory, University of Nottingham (UK)
Paul Christesen, Professor of Ancient Greek History, Dartmouth College (USA)
Ada Cohen, Associate Professor of Art History, Dartmouth College (USA)
Randall M. Colaizzi, Lecturer in Classical Studies, University of Massachusetts-Boston (USA)
Wolfgang Decker, Professor emeritus of sport history, Deutsche Sporthochschule, Köln (Germany)
Michael Dewar, Professor of Classics, University of Toronto (Canada)
John D. Dillery, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Virginia (USA)
Sheila Dillon, Associate Professor, Depts. of Art, Art History & Visual Studies and Classical Studies, Duke University (USA)
Douglas Domingo-Forasté, Professor of Classics, California State University, Long Beach (USA)
Pierre Ducrey, professeur honoraire, Université de Lausanne (Switzerland)
Michael M. Eisman, Associate Professor Ancient History and Classical Archaeology, Department of History, Temple University (USA)
Mostafa El-Abbadi, Professor Emeritus, University of Alexandria (Egypt)
R. Malcolm Errington, Professor für Alte Geschichte (Emeritus) Philipps- Universität, Marburg (Germany)
Robin Lane Fox, University Reader in Ancient History, New College, Oxford (UK)
Peter Funke, Professor of Ancient History, University of Muenster (Germany)
Traianos Gagos, Professor of Greek and Papyrology, University of Michigan (USA)
Robert Garland, Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor of the Classics,
Colgate University, Hamilton NY (USA)
Douglas E. Gerber, Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies, University of Western Ontario (Canada)
Christian Habicht, Professor of Ancient History, Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (USA)
Donald C. Haggis, Nicholas A. Cassas Term Professor of Greek Studies,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA)
Judith P. Hallett, Professor of Classics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (USA)
Eleni Hasaki, Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of
Arizona (USA)
Miltiades B. Hatzopoulos, Director, Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity, National Research Foundation, Athens (Greece)
Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer, Prof. Dr., Freie Universität Berlin und Antikensammlung der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Germany)
Steven W. Hirsch, Associate Professor of Classics and History, Tufts University (USA)
Frank L. Holt, Professor of Ancient History, University of Houston (USA)
Dan Hooley, Professor of Classics, University of Missouri (USA)
Anthony Kaldellis, Professor of Greek and Latin, The Ohio State University
(USA)
Andromache Karanika, Assistant Professor of Classics, University of
California, Irvine (USA)
Denis Knoepfler, Professor of Greek Epigraphy and History, Collège de France (Paris)
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Helmut Kyrieleis, former president of the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin (Germany)
Gerald V. Lalonde, Benedict Professor of Classics, Grinnell College (USA) Mary R. Lefkowitz, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Emerita
Wellesley College (USA)
Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Professor of Greek Emeritus, University of Oxford (UK)
Yannis Lolos, Assistant Professor, History, Archaeology, and Anthropology, University of Thessaly (Greece)
Anthony Long, Professor of Classics and Irving G. Stone Professor of Literature, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
James R. McCredie, Sherman Fairchild Professor emeritus; Director, Excavations in Samothrace Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (USA)
Stephen G. Miller, Professor of Classical Archaeology Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
Anatole Mori, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, University of Missouri- Columbia (USA)
John Maxwell O'Brien, Professor of History, Queens College, City University of New York (USA)
Olga Palagia, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Athens, Greece
Robert Parker, Wykeham Professor of Ancient History, New College, Oxford (UK)
Karl Reber, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
John C. Rouman, Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of New Hampshire, (USA)
Antony Snodgrass, Professor Emeritus of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge (UK)
Andrew Stewart, Nicholas C. Petris Professor of Greek Studies, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
Richard Stoneman, Honorary Fellow, University of Exeter (England)
Ronald Stroud, Klio Distinguished Professor of Classical Languages and Literature Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
Stephen V. Tracy, Professor of Greek and Latin Emeritus, Ohio State University (USA)
E. Hector Williams, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of British Columbia (Canada)
Ian Worthington, Frederick A. Middlebush Professor of History, University of Missouri-Columbia (USA)
Panos Valavanis, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Athens (Greece)
and we hope many many others]
Where does one begin to breakdown the Misconceptions in this letter?
"Dear President Obama,
We, the undersigned scholars of Graeco-Roman antiquity, respectfully request that you intervene to clean up some of the historical debris left in southeast Europe by the previous U.S. administration."
Why ask a politician to "clean up" "historical debris"?
"On November 4, 2004, two days after the re-election of President George W. Bush, his administration unilaterally recognized the ´Republic of Macedonia.´ This action not only abrogated geographic and historic fact, but it also has unleashed a dangerous epidemic of historical revisionism, of which the most obvious symptom is the misappropriation by the government in Skopje of the most famous of Macedonians, Alexander the Great."
(1) How does recognizing a country whose name was chosen by its people by referendum, repeal or cancel geographic and historic facts?
(2) How is "revisionism" dangerous when it is "scientific research" based on "historic facts"? Is revisionism "a bad thing"? Should revisionism have been "avoided" when it was discovered that the earth was not flat? Should we pretend to believe the earth is flat to avoid "revisionism"?
(3) Was Macedonia not Alexander´s homeland? If it was then how is the Skopje government "misappropriating" Alexander the Great? Putting it another way "do you mean to tell me that the Modern Greeks, descendents of the Slav, Albanian and Vlach immigrants who came to reside in Greece during the 6th and 11th to 14th centuries and later the 1.1 million Christian Turk colonists deposited in Greece have more "rights" to the Macedonian heritage than the indigenous Macedonians who lived in Macedonia for millenniums?
"We believe that this silliness has gone too far, and that the U.S.A. has no business in supporting the subversion of history. Let us review facts. (The documentation for these facts (here in boldface) can be found attached and at: http://macedonia-evidence.org/)
The land in question, with its modern capital at Skopje, was called Paionia in antiquity. Mts. Barnous and Orbelos (which form today the northern limits of Greece) provide a natural barrier that separated, and separates, Macedonia from its northern neighbor. The only real connection is along the Axios/Vardar River and even this valley "does not form a line of communication because it is divided by gorges."
While it is true that the Paionians were subdued by Philip II, father of Alexander, in 358 B.C. they were not Macedonians and did not live in Macedonia. Likewise, for example, the Egyptians, who were subdued by Alexander, may have been ruled by Macedonians, including the famous Cleopatra, but they were never Macedonians themselves, and Egypt was never called Macedonia.
Rather, Macedonia and Macedonian Greeks have been located for at least 2,500 years just where the modern Greek province of Macedonia is. Exactly this same relationship is true for Attica and Athenian Greeks, Argos and Argive Greeks, Corinth and Corinthian Greeks, etc".
The facts Mr. Stephen G. Miller? Do you now peddle Modern Greek propaganda as the facts? Why do you want to present the "facts" from 2,500 years ago and not the "facts" from two centuries ago when the Modern Greek state was created for the first time in 1829? How about letting President Obama know how the Western Philhellenes created the Modern Greek state? How the Philhellenes made the Modern Greeks out of the ashes of the Slav, Albanian and Vlach ethnicities and cultures that lived there in the late 18th and early 19th centuries?
How about discussing with President Obama more recent historic events like how Greece and its partners Serbia and Bulgaria invaded, occupied and brutally partitioned Macedonia and the atrocities they subsequently committed against the Macedonian people? How about discussing what Greece did with the Macedonian language? (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/102469).
Or, how about telling President Obama of the lack of human rights for the Macedonian people living in their ancestral lands in Greece today? How come these issues are missing from your one-sided biased letter?
Perhaps these subjects might be a bit "too real" for you so you´d rather talk about abstract things that may or may not have happened 2,500 years ago. Since you are so keen in discussing "old issues" then how about clicking on the following link and answer Mr. Gandeto´s questions. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/102727
"We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of ancient Paionia, who speak Slavic – a language introduced into the Balkans about a millennium after the death of Alexander – can claim him as their national hero."
Mr. Stephen G. Miller I can make exactly the same argument about the Greeks today. "We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of Greece who are the descendants of Slav, Albanian, Vlach and Christian Turk immigrants, who spoke Slavic, Albanian, Vlach and Turkish and who were introduced into the region in the 6th, 11th to 14th and 20th centuries AD respectively can claim Alexander the Great as their national hero?" Further, if you care to examine some of the ancient sources a bit more carefully, you will find that Alexander "conquered and subjugated" the so-called ancient Greeks and is no "national hero" to any true blooded Greek.
"Alexander the Great was thoroughly and indisputably Greek. [Says who?] His great-great-great grandfather, Alexander I, competed in the Olympic Games where participation was limited to Greeks.
Even before Alexander I, the Macedonians traced their ancestry to Argos, and many of their kings used the head of Herakles - the quintessential Greek hero - on their coins.
Euripides – who died and was buried in Macedonia– wrote his play Archelaos in honor of the great-uncle of Alexander, and in Greek. While in Macedonia, Euripides also wrote the Bacchai, again in Greek. Presumably the Macedonian audience could understand what he wrote and what they heard.
Alexander´s father, Philip, won several equestrian victories at Olympia and Delphi, the two most Hellenic of all the sanctuaries in ancient Greece where non-Greeks were not allowed to compete. Even more significantly, Philip was appointed to conduct the Pythian Games at Delphi in 346 B.C. In other words, Alexander the Great´s father and his ancestors were thoroughly Greek. Greek was the language used by Demosthenes and his delegation from Athens when they paid visits to Philip, also in 346 B.C.
Another northern Greek, Aristotle, went off to study for nearly 20 years in the Academy of Plato. Aristotle subsequently returned to Macedonia and became the tutor of Alexander III. They used Greek in their classroom which can still be seen near Naoussa in Macedonia.
Alexander carried with him throughout his conquests Aristotle´s edition of Homer´s Iliad. Alexander also spread Greek language and culture throughout his empire, founding cities and establishing centers of learning. Hence inscriptions concerning such typical Greek institutions as the gymnasium are found as far away as Afghanistan. They are all written in Greek."
Frankly Mr. Stephen G. Miller we are tired of the same old, same old! We have heard these arguments dozens of times from the Greek propagandists and we have more than once answered them already. You can find our answers at this link; http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3446
Look for the series of articles entitled "Greek Australian Advisory Council and the falsification of Ancient Macedonian history" parts 1 to 20.
"The questions follow: Why was Greek the lingua franca all over Alexander´s empire if he was a "Macedonian"? That is why the New Testament, for example, was written in Greek?"
Mr. Stephen G. Miller why was the language of Greece Greek after 1829 when we know for a fact that the so-called king of Greece was a Bavarian prince? Why am I writing in English when I am Macedonian? Are these supposed to be "convincing" arguments?
Speaking Greek hardly has anything to do with ones own ethnicity. We use English today because of convenience. Many more people worldwide will understand me if I speak and write in English.
"Greek", as you call it, or Koine at the time was a "convenient" and "available" language to use and was used by many people including the Thracians. Should we now claim the Thracians were "Greeks" because some of them spoke Koine or inscribed their coins using the Koine language? What kind of logic is that?
The bible is written in every language today so what does that really mean?
"The answers are clear: Alexander the Great was Greek, not Slavic, [Mr. Miller "Slavic" is not an ethnicity it is a language] and Slavs and their language were nowhere near Alexander or his homeland until 1000 years later. This brings us back to the geographic area known in antiquity as Paionia. Why would the people who live there now call themselves Macedonians and their land Macedonia? Why would they abduct a completely Greek figure and make him their national hero?"
Why are the Modern Greeks, the descendants of Slav, Albanian, Vlach and Christian Turk immigrants who are "Greek" in name only, abducting a Macedonian figure such as Alexander the Great and make him into their national hero, especially since he conquered and subjugated the very same people modern Greeks today try to emulate?
If Macedonians are "Slavs" what then are the modern Greeks? Read your history!
"The ancient Paionians may or may not have been Greek, but they certainly became Greekish, and they were never Slavs. They were also not Macedonians. Ancient Paionia was a part of the Macedonian Empire. So were Ionia and Syria and Palestine and Egypt and Mesopotamia and Babylonia and Bactria and many more. They may thus have become "Macedonian" temporarily, but none was ever "Macedonia". The theft of Philip and Alexander by a land that was never Macedonia cannot be justified.
The traditions of ancient Paionia could be adopted by the current residents of that geographical area with considerable justification. But the extension of the geographic term "Macedonia" to cover southern Yugoslavia cannot. Even in the late 19th century, this misuse implied unhealthy territorial aspirations.
The same motivation is to be seen in school maps that show the pseudo-greater Macedonia, stretching from Skopje to Mt. Olympus and labeled in Slavic. The same map and its claims are in calendars, bumper stickers, bank notes, etc., that have been circulating in the new state ever since it declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Why would a poor land-locked new state attempt such historical nonsense? Why would it brazenly mock and provoke its neighbor?
However one might like to characterize such behavior, it is clearly not a force for historical accuracy, nor for stability in the Balkans. It is sad that the United States of America has abetted and encouraged such behavior.
We call upon you, Mr. President, to help - in whatever ways you deem appropriate - the government in Skopje to understand that it cannot build a national identity at the expense of historic truth. Our common international society cannot survive when history is ignored, much less when history is fabricated."
A lot of words but no substance! Territorial aspirations? Whose territories are the Macedonians aspiring? Their own? Even by your own accounts, you admit that the Macedonians have been in the region for at least 1,500 years! How long does one need to live in Macedonia among Macedonians to qualify to be called Macedonian?
When you talk about "territorial aspirations" are you referring to the Macedonian lands Greece occupies today which it obtained by conquest and by an act of war? Or are you talking about the lands Greece confiscated from the Macedonian people it exiled over the years? Why aren´t these issues in your letter to President Obama, Mr. Stephen G. Miller?
Before challenging the Macedonian identity or Macedonian claims, Mr. Stephen G. Miller you had best examine the real history of Greece, the history of the same racist Greece you try so hard to protect and preserve. Also have a good look at what your precious Greeks have done to the Macedonian people over the last century or so. Please do this before you completely lose your credibility and that of those you hoodwinked to sign your letter to President Obama.
One more thing Mr. Stephen G. Miller, are any of those who signed your letter aware that by supporting Greece they are in fact supporting Greece´s anti-minority policies?
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories".
As you know anti-minority acts such as those supported by Greece are in fact considered "racist" in most civilized western countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Would those who signed your letter still be supporting Greece had they known that Greece does not recognize its minorities and will not afford them even the most basic human rights?
If they do then what does that say about them?
You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
May 18, 2009
The Honorable Barack Obama
President, United States of America
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
We, the undersigned scholars of Graeco-Roman antiquity, respectfully request that you intervene to clean up some of the historical debris left in southeast Europe by the previous U.S. administration.
On November 4, 2004, two days after the re-election of President George W. Bush, his administration unilaterally recognized the "Republic of Macedonia." This action not only abrogated geographic and historic fact, but it also has unleashed a dangerous epidemic of historical revisionism, of which the most obvious symptom is the misappropriation by the government in Skopje of the most famous of Macedonians, Alexander the Great.
We believe that this silliness has gone too far, and that the U.S.A. has no business in supporting the subversion of history. Let us review facts. (The documentation for these facts (here in boldface) can be found attached and at: http://macedonia-evidence.org/)
The land in question, with its modern capital at Skopje, was called Paionia in antiquity. Mts. Barnous and Orbelos (which form today the northern limits of Greece) provide a natural barrier that separated, and separates, Macedonia from its northern neighbor. The only real connection is along the Axios/Vardar River and even this valley "does not form a line of communication because it is divided by gorges."
While it is true that the Paionians were subdued by Philip II, father of Alexander, in 358 B.C. they were not Macedonians and did not live in Macedonia. Likewise, for example, the Egyptians, who were subdued by Alexander, may have been ruled by Macedonians, including the famous Cleopatra, but they were never Macedonians themselves, and Egypt was never called Macedonia.
Rather, Macedonia and Macedonian Greeks have been located for at least 2,500 years just where the modern Greek province of Macedonia is. Exactly this same relationship is true for Attica and Athenian Greeks, Argos and Argive Greeks, Corinth and Corinthian Greeks, etc.
We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of ancient Paionia, who speak Slavic – a language introduced into the Balkans about a millennium after the death of Alexander – can claim him as their national hero. Alexander the Great was thoroughly and indisputably Greek. His great-great-great grandfather, Alexander I, competed in the Olympic Games where participation was limited to Greeks.
Even before Alexander I, the Macedonians traced their ancestry to Argos, and many of their kings used the head of Herakles - the quintessential Greek hero - on their coins.
Euripides – who died and was buried in Macedonia– wrote his play Archelaos in honor of the great-uncle of Alexander, and in Greek. While in Macedonia, Euripides also wrote the Bacchai, again in Greek. Presumably the Macedonian audience could understand what he wrote and what they heard.
Alexander´s father, Philip, won several equestrian victories at Olympia and Delphi, the two most Hellenic of all the sanctuaries in ancient Greece where non-Greeks were not allowed to compete. Even more significantly, Philip was appointed to conduct the Pythian Games at Delphi in 346 B.C. In other words, Alexander the Great´s father and his ancestors were thoroughly Greek. Greek was the language used by Demosthenes and his delegation from Athens when they paid visits to Philip, also in 346 B.C. Another northern Greek, Aristotle, went off to study for nearly 20 years in the Academy of Plato. Aristotle subsequently returned to Macedonia and became the tutor of Alexander III. They used Greek in their classroom which can still be seen near Naoussa in Macedonia.
Alexander carried with him throughout his conquests Aristotle´s edition of Homer´s Iliad. Alexander also spread Greek language and culture throughout his empire, founding cities and establishing centers of learning. Hence inscriptions concerning such typical Greek institutions as the gymnasium are found as far away as Afghanistan. They are all written in Greek.
The questions follow: Why was Greek the lingua franca all over Alexander´s empire if he was a "Macedonian"? That is why the New Testament, for example, was written in Greek?
The answers are clear: Alexander the Great was Greek, not Slavic, and Slavs and their language were nowhere near Alexander or his homeland until 1000 years later. This brings us back to the geographic area known in antiquity as Paionia. Why would the people who live there now call themselves Macedonians and their land Macedonia? Why would they abduct a completely Greek figure and make him their national hero?
The ancient Paionians may or may not have been Greek, but they certainly became Greekish, and they were never Slavs. They were also not Macedonians. Ancient Paionia was a part of the Macedonian Empire. So were Ionia and Syria and Palestine and Egypt and Mesopotamia and Babylonia and Bactria and many more. They may thus have become "Macedonian" temporarily, but none was ever "Macedonia". The theft of Philip and Alexander by a land that was never Macedonia cannot be justified.
The traditions of ancient Paionia could be adopted by the current residents of that geographical area with considerable justification. But the extension of the geographic term "Macedonia" to cover southern Yugoslavia cannot. Even in the late 19th century, this misuse implied unhealthy territorial aspirations.
The same motivation is to be seen in school maps that show the pseudo-greater Macedonia, stretching from Skopje to Mt. Olympus and labeled in Slavic. The same map and its claims are in calendars, bumper stickers, bank notes, etc., that have been circulating in the new state ever since it declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Why would a poor land-locked new state attempt such historical nonsense? Why would it brazenly mock and provoke its neighbor?
However one might like to characterize such behavior, it is clearly not a force for historical accuracy, nor for stability in the Balkans. It is sad that the United States of America has abetted and encouraged such behavior.
We call upon you, Mr. President, to help - in whatever ways you deem appropriate - the government in Skopje to understand that it cannot build a national identity at the expense of historic truth. Our common international society cannot survive when history is ignored, much less when history is fabricated.
Sincerely,
NAME TITLE INSTITUTION
Harry C. Avery, Professor of Classics, University of Pittsburgh (USA) Elizabeth C. Banks, Associate Professor of Classics (ret.), University of Kansas (USA)
Elizabeth Baughan, Assistant Professor of Classics and Archaeology, University of Richmond (USA)
Bradley, Keith, Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Professor of Classics, Concurrent Professor of History, University of Notre Dame (USA)
Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge (UK)
Paavo Castrén, Professor of Classical Philology Emeritus, University of Helsinki (Finland)
William Cavanagh, Professor of Aegean Prehistory, University of Nottingham (UK)
Paul Christesen, Professor of Ancient Greek History, Dartmouth College (USA)
Ada Cohen, Associate Professor of Art History, Dartmouth College (USA)
Randall M. Colaizzi, Lecturer in Classical Studies, University of Massachusetts-Boston (USA)
Wolfgang Decker, Professor emeritus of sport history, Deutsche Sporthochschule, Köln (Germany)
Michael Dewar, Professor of Classics, University of Toronto (Canada)
John D. Dillery, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Virginia (USA)
Sheila Dillon, Associate Professor, Depts. of Art, Art History & Visual Studies and Classical Studies, Duke University (USA)
Douglas Domingo-Forasté, Professor of Classics, California State University, Long Beach (USA)
Pierre Ducrey, professeur honoraire, Université de Lausanne (Switzerland)
Michael M. Eisman, Associate Professor Ancient History and Classical Archaeology, Department of History, Temple University (USA)
Mostafa El-Abbadi, Professor Emeritus, University of Alexandria (Egypt)
R. Malcolm Errington, Professor für Alte Geschichte (Emeritus) Philipps- Universität, Marburg (Germany)
Robin Lane Fox, University Reader in Ancient History, New College, Oxford (UK)
Peter Funke, Professor of Ancient History, University of Muenster (Germany)
Traianos Gagos, Professor of Greek and Papyrology, University of Michigan (USA)
Robert Garland, Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor of the Classics,
Colgate University, Hamilton NY (USA)
Douglas E. Gerber, Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies, University of Western Ontario (Canada)
Christian Habicht, Professor of Ancient History, Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (USA)
Donald C. Haggis, Nicholas A. Cassas Term Professor of Greek Studies,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA)
Judith P. Hallett, Professor of Classics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (USA)
Eleni Hasaki, Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of
Arizona (USA)
Miltiades B. Hatzopoulos, Director, Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity, National Research Foundation, Athens (Greece)
Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer, Prof. Dr., Freie Universität Berlin und Antikensammlung der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Germany)
Steven W. Hirsch, Associate Professor of Classics and History, Tufts University (USA)
Frank L. Holt, Professor of Ancient History, University of Houston (USA)
Dan Hooley, Professor of Classics, University of Missouri (USA)
Anthony Kaldellis, Professor of Greek and Latin, The Ohio State University
(USA)
Andromache Karanika, Assistant Professor of Classics, University of
California, Irvine (USA)
Denis Knoepfler, Professor of Greek Epigraphy and History, Collège de France (Paris)
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Helmut Kyrieleis, former president of the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin (Germany)
Gerald V. Lalonde, Benedict Professor of Classics, Grinnell College (USA) Mary R. Lefkowitz, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Emerita
Wellesley College (USA)
Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Professor of Greek Emeritus, University of Oxford (UK)
Yannis Lolos, Assistant Professor, History, Archaeology, and Anthropology, University of Thessaly (Greece)
Anthony Long, Professor of Classics and Irving G. Stone Professor of Literature, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
James R. McCredie, Sherman Fairchild Professor emeritus; Director, Excavations in Samothrace Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (USA)
Stephen G. Miller, Professor of Classical Archaeology Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
Anatole Mori, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, University of Missouri- Columbia (USA)
John Maxwell O'Brien, Professor of History, Queens College, City University of New York (USA)
Olga Palagia, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Athens, Greece
Robert Parker, Wykeham Professor of Ancient History, New College, Oxford (UK)
Karl Reber, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
John C. Rouman, Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of New Hampshire, (USA)
Antony Snodgrass, Professor Emeritus of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge (UK)
Andrew Stewart, Nicholas C. Petris Professor of Greek Studies, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
Richard Stoneman, Honorary Fellow, University of Exeter (England)
Ronald Stroud, Klio Distinguished Professor of Classical Languages and Literature Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
Stephen V. Tracy, Professor of Greek and Latin Emeritus, Ohio State University (USA)
E. Hector Williams, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of British Columbia (Canada)
Ian Worthington, Frederick A. Middlebush Professor of History, University of Missouri-Columbia (USA)
Panos Valavanis, Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Athens (Greece)
and we hope many many others]
Where does one begin to breakdown the Misconceptions in this letter?
"Dear President Obama,
We, the undersigned scholars of Graeco-Roman antiquity, respectfully request that you intervene to clean up some of the historical debris left in southeast Europe by the previous U.S. administration."
Why ask a politician to "clean up" "historical debris"?
"On November 4, 2004, two days after the re-election of President George W. Bush, his administration unilaterally recognized the ´Republic of Macedonia.´ This action not only abrogated geographic and historic fact, but it also has unleashed a dangerous epidemic of historical revisionism, of which the most obvious symptom is the misappropriation by the government in Skopje of the most famous of Macedonians, Alexander the Great."
(1) How does recognizing a country whose name was chosen by its people by referendum, repeal or cancel geographic and historic facts?
(2) How is "revisionism" dangerous when it is "scientific research" based on "historic facts"? Is revisionism "a bad thing"? Should revisionism have been "avoided" when it was discovered that the earth was not flat? Should we pretend to believe the earth is flat to avoid "revisionism"?
(3) Was Macedonia not Alexander´s homeland? If it was then how is the Skopje government "misappropriating" Alexander the Great? Putting it another way "do you mean to tell me that the Modern Greeks, descendents of the Slav, Albanian and Vlach immigrants who came to reside in Greece during the 6th and 11th to 14th centuries and later the 1.1 million Christian Turk colonists deposited in Greece have more "rights" to the Macedonian heritage than the indigenous Macedonians who lived in Macedonia for millenniums?
"We believe that this silliness has gone too far, and that the U.S.A. has no business in supporting the subversion of history. Let us review facts. (The documentation for these facts (here in boldface) can be found attached and at: http://macedonia-evidence.org/)
The land in question, with its modern capital at Skopje, was called Paionia in antiquity. Mts. Barnous and Orbelos (which form today the northern limits of Greece) provide a natural barrier that separated, and separates, Macedonia from its northern neighbor. The only real connection is along the Axios/Vardar River and even this valley "does not form a line of communication because it is divided by gorges."
While it is true that the Paionians were subdued by Philip II, father of Alexander, in 358 B.C. they were not Macedonians and did not live in Macedonia. Likewise, for example, the Egyptians, who were subdued by Alexander, may have been ruled by Macedonians, including the famous Cleopatra, but they were never Macedonians themselves, and Egypt was never called Macedonia.
Rather, Macedonia and Macedonian Greeks have been located for at least 2,500 years just where the modern Greek province of Macedonia is. Exactly this same relationship is true for Attica and Athenian Greeks, Argos and Argive Greeks, Corinth and Corinthian Greeks, etc".
The facts Mr. Stephen G. Miller? Do you now peddle Modern Greek propaganda as the facts? Why do you want to present the "facts" from 2,500 years ago and not the "facts" from two centuries ago when the Modern Greek state was created for the first time in 1829? How about letting President Obama know how the Western Philhellenes created the Modern Greek state? How the Philhellenes made the Modern Greeks out of the ashes of the Slav, Albanian and Vlach ethnicities and cultures that lived there in the late 18th and early 19th centuries?
How about discussing with President Obama more recent historic events like how Greece and its partners Serbia and Bulgaria invaded, occupied and brutally partitioned Macedonia and the atrocities they subsequently committed against the Macedonian people? How about discussing what Greece did with the Macedonian language? (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/102469).
Or, how about telling President Obama of the lack of human rights for the Macedonian people living in their ancestral lands in Greece today? How come these issues are missing from your one-sided biased letter?
Perhaps these subjects might be a bit "too real" for you so you´d rather talk about abstract things that may or may not have happened 2,500 years ago. Since you are so keen in discussing "old issues" then how about clicking on the following link and answer Mr. Gandeto´s questions. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/102727
"We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of ancient Paionia, who speak Slavic – a language introduced into the Balkans about a millennium after the death of Alexander – can claim him as their national hero."
Mr. Stephen G. Miller I can make exactly the same argument about the Greeks today. "We do not understand how the modern inhabitants of Greece who are the descendants of Slav, Albanian, Vlach and Christian Turk immigrants, who spoke Slavic, Albanian, Vlach and Turkish and who were introduced into the region in the 6th, 11th to 14th and 20th centuries AD respectively can claim Alexander the Great as their national hero?" Further, if you care to examine some of the ancient sources a bit more carefully, you will find that Alexander "conquered and subjugated" the so-called ancient Greeks and is no "national hero" to any true blooded Greek.
"Alexander the Great was thoroughly and indisputably Greek. [Says who?] His great-great-great grandfather, Alexander I, competed in the Olympic Games where participation was limited to Greeks.
Even before Alexander I, the Macedonians traced their ancestry to Argos, and many of their kings used the head of Herakles - the quintessential Greek hero - on their coins.
Euripides – who died and was buried in Macedonia– wrote his play Archelaos in honor of the great-uncle of Alexander, and in Greek. While in Macedonia, Euripides also wrote the Bacchai, again in Greek. Presumably the Macedonian audience could understand what he wrote and what they heard.
Alexander´s father, Philip, won several equestrian victories at Olympia and Delphi, the two most Hellenic of all the sanctuaries in ancient Greece where non-Greeks were not allowed to compete. Even more significantly, Philip was appointed to conduct the Pythian Games at Delphi in 346 B.C. In other words, Alexander the Great´s father and his ancestors were thoroughly Greek. Greek was the language used by Demosthenes and his delegation from Athens when they paid visits to Philip, also in 346 B.C.
Another northern Greek, Aristotle, went off to study for nearly 20 years in the Academy of Plato. Aristotle subsequently returned to Macedonia and became the tutor of Alexander III. They used Greek in their classroom which can still be seen near Naoussa in Macedonia.
Alexander carried with him throughout his conquests Aristotle´s edition of Homer´s Iliad. Alexander also spread Greek language and culture throughout his empire, founding cities and establishing centers of learning. Hence inscriptions concerning such typical Greek institutions as the gymnasium are found as far away as Afghanistan. They are all written in Greek."
Frankly Mr. Stephen G. Miller we are tired of the same old, same old! We have heard these arguments dozens of times from the Greek propagandists and we have more than once answered them already. You can find our answers at this link; http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3446
Look for the series of articles entitled "Greek Australian Advisory Council and the falsification of Ancient Macedonian history" parts 1 to 20.
"The questions follow: Why was Greek the lingua franca all over Alexander´s empire if he was a "Macedonian"? That is why the New Testament, for example, was written in Greek?"
Mr. Stephen G. Miller why was the language of Greece Greek after 1829 when we know for a fact that the so-called king of Greece was a Bavarian prince? Why am I writing in English when I am Macedonian? Are these supposed to be "convincing" arguments?
Speaking Greek hardly has anything to do with ones own ethnicity. We use English today because of convenience. Many more people worldwide will understand me if I speak and write in English.
"Greek", as you call it, or Koine at the time was a "convenient" and "available" language to use and was used by many people including the Thracians. Should we now claim the Thracians were "Greeks" because some of them spoke Koine or inscribed their coins using the Koine language? What kind of logic is that?
The bible is written in every language today so what does that really mean?
"The answers are clear: Alexander the Great was Greek, not Slavic, [Mr. Miller "Slavic" is not an ethnicity it is a language] and Slavs and their language were nowhere near Alexander or his homeland until 1000 years later. This brings us back to the geographic area known in antiquity as Paionia. Why would the people who live there now call themselves Macedonians and their land Macedonia? Why would they abduct a completely Greek figure and make him their national hero?"
Why are the Modern Greeks, the descendants of Slav, Albanian, Vlach and Christian Turk immigrants who are "Greek" in name only, abducting a Macedonian figure such as Alexander the Great and make him into their national hero, especially since he conquered and subjugated the very same people modern Greeks today try to emulate?
If Macedonians are "Slavs" what then are the modern Greeks? Read your history!
"The ancient Paionians may or may not have been Greek, but they certainly became Greekish, and they were never Slavs. They were also not Macedonians. Ancient Paionia was a part of the Macedonian Empire. So were Ionia and Syria and Palestine and Egypt and Mesopotamia and Babylonia and Bactria and many more. They may thus have become "Macedonian" temporarily, but none was ever "Macedonia". The theft of Philip and Alexander by a land that was never Macedonia cannot be justified.
The traditions of ancient Paionia could be adopted by the current residents of that geographical area with considerable justification. But the extension of the geographic term "Macedonia" to cover southern Yugoslavia cannot. Even in the late 19th century, this misuse implied unhealthy territorial aspirations.
The same motivation is to be seen in school maps that show the pseudo-greater Macedonia, stretching from Skopje to Mt. Olympus and labeled in Slavic. The same map and its claims are in calendars, bumper stickers, bank notes, etc., that have been circulating in the new state ever since it declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Why would a poor land-locked new state attempt such historical nonsense? Why would it brazenly mock and provoke its neighbor?
However one might like to characterize such behavior, it is clearly not a force for historical accuracy, nor for stability in the Balkans. It is sad that the United States of America has abetted and encouraged such behavior.
We call upon you, Mr. President, to help - in whatever ways you deem appropriate - the government in Skopje to understand that it cannot build a national identity at the expense of historic truth. Our common international society cannot survive when history is ignored, much less when history is fabricated."
A lot of words but no substance! Territorial aspirations? Whose territories are the Macedonians aspiring? Their own? Even by your own accounts, you admit that the Macedonians have been in the region for at least 1,500 years! How long does one need to live in Macedonia among Macedonians to qualify to be called Macedonian?
When you talk about "territorial aspirations" are you referring to the Macedonian lands Greece occupies today which it obtained by conquest and by an act of war? Or are you talking about the lands Greece confiscated from the Macedonian people it exiled over the years? Why aren´t these issues in your letter to President Obama, Mr. Stephen G. Miller?
Before challenging the Macedonian identity or Macedonian claims, Mr. Stephen G. Miller you had best examine the real history of Greece, the history of the same racist Greece you try so hard to protect and preserve. Also have a good look at what your precious Greeks have done to the Macedonian people over the last century or so. Please do this before you completely lose your credibility and that of those you hoodwinked to sign your letter to President Obama.
One more thing Mr. Stephen G. Miller, are any of those who signed your letter aware that by supporting Greece they are in fact supporting Greece´s anti-minority policies?
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories".
As you know anti-minority acts such as those supported by Greece are in fact considered "racist" in most civilized western countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Would those who signed your letter still be supporting Greece had they known that Greece does not recognize its minorities and will not afford them even the most basic human rights?
If they do then what does that say about them?
You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com
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