Archive for the “Alexander the Great” Category
A collection of Decrees related to Alexander the Great. All the decrees left behind from ancient Macedonians of course are written in Greek.
1-Letter to chian-king alexander

2- 2 letter to chians-king alexander

3- ionia priene-king alexander,334bc

4- delphi-king alexander,324 bc-

5-maked-kalindria-king alexandros.4cth bc

6-letter to chian by king alexander,334 bc

7-delphi-king alexandros,321 bc

8-amorgos-king alexander

9-delphi-alexandros,170 bc

10. maked-samos-king alexandros

BY SAMIOS MAKEDONAS
Tags: alexander, alexandros, amorgos, chians, decrees, delphi, great, ionia, kalindria, letters, priene, samos
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The Alexander Flyer/Leaflet originally published in 1797 by Rigas Velestilnis-Ferraios and republished 11 years after his death in 1809 . It is written in Greek (left side) and French (right side) and describes the life of Alexander the Great ‘leader of the Greeks’. Here is the English translation:
Writing at the top:
‘This engraving represents the busts of Alexander and those of his generals based on that of an Oriental red agate stone found in the Royal Court of Vienna. The four side panels represent:
1) His triumphant entry into Babylon
2) The defeat of the Persians at the Grannicus River
3) The total defeat of Darius and,
4) The family of this defeated king at Alexander’s feet.’
Writing at the bottom:
‘Alexander was born in 356 BC, studied philosophy under Aristotle, first proved his valour and military skills at Chaeronea under the command of his father, and succeeded him on the throne of Macedonia at age 21. Renowned as the leader of the Greeks, in 333 he gathered all his forces against Persia and destroyed that empire in Asia and in Africa joining it to his own empire. Many important cities even today owe their existence to him. He died at the age of 33 after having reigned 12 years.’

1809
The 4 busts of his generals ‘The Diadochoi’ (The Heirs) to his throne are also depicted. From top right to top left their Greek names read: ‘Antigonos’, ‘Kassandros’, ‘Ptolemaios’, and ‘Seleukos’.
From the book: Macedonia, Macedonian Struggle, Greece-Macedonia 4000 Years, by Konstantinos Douflias, first published in 1992 by Aegean publications, page V (Greek Edition).
By Christos
Tags: 1797, 1809, alexander, darius, Douflias, ferraios, grannicus, greek, persians, rigas, velestinlis
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Posted by: Ariadni_Nefeli in Alexander the Great, Ancient Historians, Ancient Macedonian History, Ancient Macedonian Kings, Archaeology, Articles, Greece, Hellenic language, Macedonian Culture, Macedonian Symbols, Macedonian news, Modern Macedonian History, Uncategorized, ancient macedonian cities, ancient macedonian ethnicity

ATHENS (Reuters) - Archaeologists have unearthed gold jewellery, weapons and pottery at an ancient burial site near Pella in northern Greece, the birthplace of Alexander the Great, the culture ministry said on Thursday.
The excavations at the vast cemetery uncovered 43 graves dating from 650-279 BC which shed light on the early development of the Macedonian kingdom, which had an empire that stretched as far as India under Alexander’s conquests.
Among the most interesting discoveries were the graves of 20 warriors dating to the late Archaic period, between 580 and 460 BC, the ministry said in a statement.
Some were buried in bronze helmets alongside iron swords and knives. Their eyes, mouths and chests were covered in gold foil richly decorated with drawings of lions and other animals symbolizing royal power.
“The discovery is rich in historical importance, shedding light on Macedonian culture during the Archaic period,” Pavlos Chrysostomou, who headed the eight-year project that investigated a total of 900 graves, told Reuters.
Pavlas said the graves confirmed evidence of an ancient Macedonian society organized along militaristic lines and with overseas trade as early as the second half of the seventh century BC.
Among the excavated graves, the team also found 11 women from the Archaic period, with gold and bronze necklaces, earrings and broaches.
Nine of the graves dated to the late classical or early Hellenistic period, around the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.
Alexander, whose father Philip II unified the city states of mainland Greece, conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks before dying at the age of 32 in Babylon. Educated by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, Alexander was never defeated in battle.
(Reporting by Daniel Flynn and Renee Maltezou; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Tags: alexander, Archaeology, archaic, Aristotle, bronze, cultrure, gold, graves, Greece, hellenistic, macedonia, Northern Greece, pella, philip
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The emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, known also as Julian or Julian the Apostate was a very wise and educated person who left behind many writings.
In his work “The Caesars” the emperor wrote this short comic sketch on the occasion of the Saturnalia in December 361 A.D. It describes a contest between the Roman emperors, with Alexander the Great called in as an extra contestant, in the presence of the assembled gods. The conversation allows Julian to pass judgement concisely on many of his predecessors. However through Julian’s work it is also being revealed a widespread notion which verifies Alexander was Greek!!
316. “So Alexander joined the company of heroes, but neither Caesar nor anyone else yielded his place to him. However he found and took a vacant seat which the son of Severus had taken for himself - he had been expelled for fratricide.
Then Silenus began to rally Quirinus and said, “See now whether all these Romans can match this one Greek.” “By Zeus,” retorted Quirinus, “I consider that many of them are as good as he! It is true that my descendants have admired him so much that they hold that he alone of all foreign generals is worthy to be styled ‘the Great.”
Tags: alexander, apostate, caesars, claudius, flavius, great, greek, Julian, julianus, quirinus, zeus
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Posted by: Ariadni_Nefeli in Alexander the Great, Ancient Historians, Ancient Macedonian History, Ancient Macedonian Kings, Articles, FYROM Propaganda, Greece, Hellenic language, Macedonian Culture, Macedonian Symbols, Skopjan Propaganda, ancient macedonian ethnicity, maps
Many people often ask me what is the difference between a Greek and a Macedonian, and if Macedonians were Greeks of a different nation. Actually this is the same question that most foreign people with little or a basic -and we all have to admit rich and many times complicated - historical knowledge have. Basically this is the exact lack of knowledge over the Greek history which the propaganda of fyrom uses, in order to create a huge confusion and chaos in people’s minds between the term ”Macedonians” and ”Greeks.”
This article will not proceed further in whether Macedonians were Greeks or not, because as it has already been mentioned and proved thousands of times not only from this blog, but from every valid historical ancient and modern source, that Macedonians were and are Greeks! This article aims in giving a very plain but essential explanation related to the way the fyromians used the confusion and lack of historic details of foreign people, -even the lack of knowledge of the Greek language.- in the names of the Kingdoms of the Greek Cities and how Greeks were calling each other and continue to call until today, according to their heritage, descent and lineage.
Plain and simple for every foreign friend. Greece was divided in Greek City States, all of them under the definition of the Greek nation according to Herodotus «όμοαιμον, ομόγλωσσον, ομόθρησκον, ομότροπον» (omemon – same blood, omoglosson – same language, omothriskon – same religion, omotropon – same ways, behaviour.), but with any Greek City State maintaining it’s independent leadership and rulers, with their own alliances and their own civil wars in the Greek region. From Homer up to Herodotus who also mentions that ” το Ελληνικόν γλώσση αιεί τη αυτή διαχράται ” (a general translation as ”the Greek language has always been spoken”) and in the pass of time, in this long Greek history, the Greeks were calling themselves with a variety of names. (Ex. Hellenes, Achaeans, Ionians, Grecians, etc. ) they also had their personal introduction beyond their father’s names, who preserves the tendency for a Greek to distinguish himself with pride for the City he comes from. This localism is something we continue to have as Greeks until today.
Ancient Greeks after all never had flags, but they had symbols:

Athenians had the owl: 
Corinthians had the Pegasus: 
Spartans had the Λ which stated their origin: ΛΑΚΕΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΟΙ (Lacedemonians) 
And of course Macedonians had the Star of Vergina: 
So this is where we reach the word ”macedonian” and the fyromian’s trick. The two maps below shows the major Greek City States of antiquity and the third one, the modern Greek Provinces which maintained the same names and the same political map’s distinction.

 
Every Greek then and every Greek today, continue to introduce to each other with their family name and the place they live or the place they descend from. When a Greek wanted back then or wants until today to introduce himself according to their birthplace and local heritage, mentions that he is for example Thessalian from the town of Trikala, or Volos, of that he is a Thracian from Alexandroupolis, or Kavala, or that he is a Cretan from Chania or Heraklion, or that he is Macedonian from Kilkis or Thessaloniki, or that he is a Peloponnesian from Sparta. A very specific and simple introduction which of course foreigners ignore, as it is natural to ignore the Greek language and habits that the Greeks like any other nation, have with each other.
A very bright example of that is the words of Alexander:
The speech of Alexander I, when he was admitted to the Olympic games
“Men of Athens…
Had I not greatly at heart the common welfare of Hellas I should not have come to tell you; but I am myself Hellene by descent, and I would not willingly see Hellas exchange freedom for slavery….
If you prosper in this war, forget not to do something for my freedom; consider the risk I have run, out of zeal for the Hellenic cause, to acquaint you with what Mardonius intends, and to save you from being surprised by the barbarians.
I am Alexander of Macedon.”
(Herodotus, The Histories, 9.45)
Really interesting isn’t it?
So the fyromian propaganda based an entire falsification in taking advantage of people’s lack of knowledge, in creating step by step the impression that the Macedonians were something ”different”, something ”distant” from the rest of the Greeks, who after all were not conquered from Phillip, but agreed in an alliance with him in uniting all the Greeks under his guidance, against Persia, after the battle of Chaeronia, which was not the first civil war from the many civil conflicts, the Greek Cities had between them.
By Ariadni_Nefeli
Tags: athenians, city-states, greeks, herodotus, ομόαιμον, ομόγλωσσον, ομόθρησκον, ομότροπον, lacedaimonians, macedonians, nation, omoaimon, omoglosson, omothriskon, omotropon, spartans
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We keep up showing to all the readers, the increasing number of modern Historians and Encyclopaedias verifying the Greekness of ancient Macedonians. (Actually you wont find anywhere in the world, any serious Historian linking the West Bulgarians of FYROM with ancient period. Even their fave historian Borza has denounced any link of them with antiquity!!)
Today we present what “the World History Atlas” by Dorling Kindersley (published 2005) mentions about Alexander’s empire.





Tags: 2005, alexander, antigonids, atlas, borza, dorling, empire, hellenistic, historians, history, kindersley, macedonia, macedonians, ptolemies, seleukids, world
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…for with Alexander, the stage of Greek influence spread across the world.
John Pentland Mahaffy, “Alexander’s Empire”, p. 8
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Long long ago, before the days of Islam, Sikander e Aazem came to India. The Two Horned one whom you British people call Alexander the Great. He conquered the world, and was a very great man, brave and dauntless and generous to his followers. When he left to go back to Greece, some of his men did not wish to go back with him but preferred to stay here. Their leader was a general called Shalakash (i.e.: Seleucus). With some of his officers and men, he came to these valleys and they settled here and took local women, and here they stayed. We, the Kalash, the Black Kafir of the Hindu Kush, are the descendants of their children. Still some of our words are the same as theirs, our music and our dances, too; we worship the same gods. This is why we believe the Greeks are our first ancestors…
(Statement made by a Kalash named Kazi Khushnawaz, “In the footsteps of Alexander the Great”, p.8.)
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He [Alexander] had a vision for a world empires in which the wealth and culture of the East would meld with the rationality and drive of the Greeks. He encouraged his veterans to marry Persian women in order to facilitate the integration of the two societies. He began to act more like an Eastern potentate than a Greek general, and his men grew weary of that.
Encyclopaedia of invasions and conquests, Davis, McKenzie and Haris, 2006, page 20
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One text from Hippolytus_of_Rome, author of the first centuries AC and…a saint.


Its translation in English
HIPPOLYTUS OF ROME TREATISE ON CHRIST AND ANTICHRIST.
Quote:
24.
Then, after the lioness, he sees a “second beast like a bear,” and that denoted the Persians.
For after the Babylonians, the Persians held the sovereign power And in saving that there were “three ribs in the mouth of it,” he pointed to three nations, viz., the Persians, and the Medes, and the Babylonians; which were also represented on the image by the silver after the gold. Then (there was) “the third beast, a leopard,” which meant the Greeks.
For after the Persians, Alexander of Macedon obtained the sovereign power on subverting Darius, as is also shown by the brass on the image. And in saying that it had “four wings of a fowl,” he taught us most clearly how the kingdom of Alexander was partitioned. For in speaking of “four heads,” he made mention of four kings, viz., those who arose out of that (kingdom).
For Alexander, when dying, partitioned out his kingdom into four divisions
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Quote:
| 28. The golden head of the image and the lioness denoted the Babylonians; the shoulders and arms of silver, and the bear, represented the Persians and Medes; the belly and thighs of brass, and the leopard, meant the Greeks, who held the sovereignty from Alexander’s time; the legs of iron, and the beast dreadful and terrible, expressed the Romans, who hold the sovereignty at present; |
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