Letter to the “Archaeology” Magazine by a concerned Greek

in E-mails from readers / by Admin / on March 29, 2009 at 10:32 am /

One of our readers sent a letter of protest to the “Archaeology” Magazine. We congratulate him and urge everyone to follow his example and protest against this blatant falsification of Greek history portrayed in this article. You can contact the Magazine in this e-mail. We remind you the great response of the Professor (Emeritus) Stephen B. Miller about the same article.

“Letter to the Editor:

The article by Mr M Brunnwasser in your volume 62:1 Jan/Feb 2009 “Letter from Macedonia” is an insult to every educated person, to every scholar who has dedicated his/her life to history and archeology. How can you print such a distortion of World history regarding the legacy of Alexander the Great ? Mr Brunwasser, who lives in Sofia, Bulgaria should know that the citizens of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) are mostly Slavs and have nothing to do with the ancient Macedonians, who were a Greek tribe (like Jews, the ancient Greeks were divided in tribes). The ancient Macedonians did participate in the ancient Olympic Games and this alone is a fact that proves their Greekness. Only free Greeks could take part in the Olympic games, from the 8th century before the Common Era until the 1st century CE, when Romans under Emperor Nero forced their way in.
The Slavs arrived in the Balkans in the 7th century CE i.e. 1000 years after Alexander. The first president of FYROM Mr Kiro Gligorov had publicly acknowledged in 1991 on Greek tv that they are Slavs and not related to ancient Macedonians.

We Greeks have been calling these people “Slavomacedonians” for the last 60 years. This name is only fair, because we know they are Slavs and they live in a part of historic Macedonia (the northern part). But they wish to monopolize the name “Macedonia” and they steal a large part of our heritage ie the Alexandrian – Hellenistic period. This is unacceptable and we will never recognize the so called “Republic of Macedonia”. A composite name is perfectly acceptable by Greece ie North M – Slav M – Nova M – Gorna M etc.
I would expect from a prestigious magazine like yours to be more accurate and true to the spirit it serves ie unbiased history and archeology.A little research in the archives of the US Dept of State 1945-1949 will surely enlighten you as to the reason why the communist dictator of Yugoslavia Josip Tito founded his “Socialist Federal Republic of Macedonia” in 1945. Irredentism against Greece and against Greek Macedonia. Pure irredentism still prevails in the ruling circles of Skopje and is causing concern, anger and frustration in Greece.

Thank you for your hospitality!
Yanni V. (Mr)
Athens, Greece”