This is from the archives of one reader of AMAC.

On the first pic is the “front page” of the Greek newspaper Estia for April 2nd 1889 and on the rest are Macedonian poems, written of course in Greek, taken  from within the pages of this newspaper for that specific date.

By Samios Makedonas

By Kostas68

Let Them Eat Cake

The Similarities between Marie Antoinette and the Greek Political Elite

by Marcus A. Templar

There is a definite disconnect within the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On one hand when Gruevski takes nationalistic actions against Greece Greek MFA officials triumphantly claim that Gruevski’s actions confirm Greece’s positions on the name dispute.  On the other hand, the same people give in more and more to the FYROM’s whims and demands.  As someone in a meeting put it, “we tend to negotiate with ourselves, make the concessions then hope the other side goes along. Just because we have made the concession it doesn’t mean that the other side will; in fact, it will be emboldened to ask for further concessions, case in point Gruevski’s behaviour.” Such thinking does not inspire confidence to the Greek people that expect to see a better future.

Nationalism turns devotion to the nation into principles or programs. It thus contains a different dimension from mere patriotism, which can be a devotion to one’s country or nation devoid of any project for political action. One cannot confuse nationalism with patriotism or even xenophobia.  Patriotism is defined as love of one’s country or zeal in the defense of the interests of one’s country and xenophobia is an unreasonable fear, distrust, or hatred of strangers, foreigners, or anything perceived as foreign or different.[1]

The above phenomenon is analyzed in an excellent book on Intelligence Analysis authored by Richards J. Heuer, Jr.  In his book, Heuer explains that the worst thing one could do is to put oneself in someone else’s mental position. In this case, “what would I do if I were, a Skopjan?”  The answer of course is, “well, you are not a Skopjan, you do not know how the Skopjans think, and every indication and warning you have is against the way you think that the Skopjans would react.  Why in the world do you continue taking the path you are taking? Why don’t you change direction?”  But, as Heuer explains, “failure to understand that others perceive their national interests differently from the way we perceive those interests is a constant source of problems.”[2]

The above brings us to the matter of leadership. As erratic as they might seem, Skopje has leaders devoted to their cause, their “Macedonia.” From the day they are born to the day they die, from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep, they have their “Macedonia” in mind. They breathe, eat, and drink having their “Macedonia” in mind. 

Modern Greece thus far has produced managers with only one thing in mind: their personal political success at the expense of the fellow citizens whom they supposedly represent.  They would do enough to get re-elected relying on their political party’s machine. That’s all. From the day they get a degree in their hands they devote their life to only thing: themselves, and since politics in Greece is a very profitable profession, they follow politics. How else can they earn a hefty salary for a position that comes with clout and fringe benefits (oftentimes immoral or even illegal) while pretending that they help the country and get away with it? 

The difference between managers and leaders is that managers do only what they are required to do managing everyone and everything.  On the other hand, leaders do what it is right, which means leaders go the extra mile needed to accomplish their mission while taking care the welfare of the country’s human resources; in this case the people of Greece. In addition, leaders lead people, but manage missions, operations, and the affairs of the country.  They lead by example! 

The people of Greece keep voting for incompetent people because it is the only choice the political party machines provide.  But incompetence begets insecurity that turns out to be the crux of the problem.  Insecure people fearing exposure of their incompetence prefer to employ subservient and unqualified subordinates. Competent subordinates would unwillingly expose the inability of their boss’s ineptitude. One must bear in mind a consequence of incompetence is arrogance that brings to the picture the syndrome of one being a know-it-all.   

It is a well known fact that one does not have to be intelligent to gain wealth, nor to become a politician.  Unfortunately, it is also true that one does not have to be competent nor overly intelligent to receive a degree.  A certain teacher once told me that the hardest thing for a person was to matriculate into the university.  Foreign students do not even have to take entrance college exams and so getting into college in a foreign country is easy.  One must also understand that the above statements do not apply to all.  It simply means that just because certain individuals have a degree in their hands, including a PhD, they are not necessarily intelligent.  We have all seen how many so-called “scientists” with PhDs end up authoring studies whose quality is synonymous to trash.

All the above are behind the low tone foreign policy of successive Greek governments that hope that their constituencies would not find out the decay of their government. They are afraid that blogs, websites, blackberries that they cannot control are going to spread the word that they do not know what they are doing.  The “do not dig into a certain course of action” policy or “do not publish this map or that document” are a thing of the past.  In the age of information such thoughts make one wonder on which planet does the Greek political establishment live?

Some of the above incompetent politicians are amazed with the lack of understanding of Greek national issues on behalf of the Greek diaspora.  The problem is that the Greek diaspora understands Greek national issues much deeper than does the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).  Mrs. Bakoyanni was the one who told the Pan-Macedonian delegation a few years ago that the Macedonian name dispute with Skopje was not a national issue leaving the said delegation stunned!  

The following parallelism gives a better understanding as to why does the Greek diaspora sees things far more clear than the Greeks of Greece and definitely the MFA.  The scene is in a football field with fans, coaches, referees, and players of both teams and two dirigibles with observers above the field.  The players are divided into blues and reds representing the two MFAs: Greece and the FYROM.  The fans are people of the two countries who are looking from somewhere above the field; the coaches are the Prime Ministers, and the observers in the dirigibles are the diaspora of both countries. The referees are Matthew Nimetz, and the U.S. State Department.  From where all these people are located, the best view belongs to the observers of the diasporas.  They have the birds’ eye view. The problem is that while the coach of the red team listens to the instructions of his own observers/diaspora and directs his team’s game, the coach of the blue team listens to his own blue players who do not have any view of the goalpost yet keep yelling “good job.”  All this is happening, while his own blue fans that can see a little better than the coach scream at him: “you are sending the players in the wrong direction!”  Unfortunately, he does not listen to anyone but himself. 

Yes, there is a definite disconnect within the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  It is up to the readers to judge and up to the people of Greece to take care of the coach and his team.  In a democracy it is called: elections.  The problem is even if the people of Greece change the team and coach, the new team and the new coach will be the same or even worse.  What a predicament for a country to be in.

[1] Marcus A. Templar, MS Thesis “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: A Challenge to the Macedonism of the Slavs - Implications for the Intelligence Analyst,” National Defense Intelligence College, Washington, DC, 2008. 

[2] Richards J. Heuer, Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, Chapter 6 (Keeping an Open Mind), Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 1999. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/psychology-of-intelligence-analysis/index.html

http://www.sofiatimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11885&Itemid=85

Excellent article by Mr. Georgios Gialtouridis

The Birth of a Clone State

 
Part II
The term clone is derived from κλών (klon), the Greek word for twig or branch, referring to the process whereby a new plant can be created from a twig.
 
According to Herodotus’ The Histories, during the 8^th century B.C. the Argeads (Αργεάδαι) migrated north from the Greek city of Argos in Peloponnesus to the region we now know as Macedonia. In addition, Thucydides in the History of the Peloponnesian War concurs that Perdiccas I was the first monarch of the Argead dynasty, better known as the ancient kingdom of Macedonia.
 
The name Macedonia (Μακεδονία) is rooted in Homeric Greek. A related form of the word first appears in the Odyssey, VII 106: ‘οιά τε φύλλα μακεδνης αιγείροιο’ whereas ‘μακεδνης’ in the form of an adjective means very high or tall, in this context referring to the size in height of a poplar tree. The first Macedonians spoke a proto-Hellenic dialect similar to that of Homer. They eventually adopted the Attic Greek dialect as did the other Greek city-states and finally the Koine Greek dialect during the Hellenistic period.
 
It is not the primary objective of this writer to argue whether the ancient Macedonians were a Greek tribe or not. Any serious historian will validate their Hellenic origin with scores of references as well as Greek inscriptions on countless ancient artifacts unearthed from all over the region. I would like to note, however, one important date in ancient history. In 168 B.C. the last Macedonian king, Perseus, surrendered to the Romans after his decisive defeat at the Battle of Pydna and thus Macedonia came under Roman rule.
 
For over 2000 years thereafter, there has not been even one documented reference claiming an ethnic Macedonian identity. During 2046 years of recorded history, i.e. from 168 B.C. up until 1878 A.D., there is no evidence of the existence of a Macedonian ethnic consciousness. There is no evidence of the existence of a Macedonian language. There is no evidence of the existence of a Macedonian alphabet. There is no evidence of the existence of a Macedonian Church. These indisputable facts raise a crucial question to FYROM’s fabricators of history. But first, let’s go over two significant events which transpired in the Balkan peninsula, one in 1870 and the other in 1878.
 
In the 19^th century the entire region of Macedonia was still under Ottoman occupation. Numerous demographic studies had been conducted in the vilayets of Monastir and Thessaloniki as late as the 19^th century by both Ottoman authorities and European institutions, covering the entire Macedonian region and beyond. Not even one of these ethnic surveys references the existence of a Macedonian ethnicity.
 
Through the Firman (decree) of 1870, Sultan Abdulaziz allowed the Bulgarian Exarchate to separate from the ecclesiastical authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. From a Turkish point of view, the decree was designed to divide the Christian populations of the decaying Ottoman Empire and define ethnicity in the Balkans by church affiliation. From a much more well-conceived Bulgarian perspective, the new autocephalous status of the Church would encourage Bulgarian nationalism. But there was another method to the madness. Russian influence had also encouraged the Bulgarian schism. Count Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev, Russian ambassador to the Ottoman Sublime Porte, upon orders from Tsar Alexander II was promoting a Pan-Slavic movement in the Balkans. This irredentist plan was heavily concentrated in and around the Macedonian region encompassing all the Slav elements with protagonists the Bulgarians and to a lesser extent the Serbs.
 
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 ended with the Treaty of San Stefano signed on March 3, 1878. Russian forces had halted their advance at San Stefano (now Yesilkoy), a village on the Sea of Marmara seven miles west of Constantinople. The Pan-Slavist Ignatiev was a signatory of the Treaty. The Treaty of San Stefano forced Turkey to cede most of the region of Macedonia to Bulgaria and created a ‘Greater Bulgaria,’ a Bulgaria spanning from the Romanian border to the north all the way to the foothills of Mt. Olympus to the south, including the port city of Kavala to the east. This allowed Russia to have a Slav satellite in the Balkans where her influence could extend down to the Aegean Sea.
 
The European Great Powers, fearing this increased Russian influence in southeastern Europe and a possible threat to the trade congested Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits, objected to the terms of the Treaty. Four months following San Stefano, after long negotiations in Berlin mediated by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of Germany and de facto mediator Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli of Great Britain, the Treaty of Berlin revised the terms, giving the Macedonian region back to the Ottomans and allowing for a smaller Bulgaria. One significant side note here: Shortly before Berlin, a secret agreement to be disclosed later as the Cyprus Convention was reached between the British and Ottomans whereby control of Cyprus was granted to Great Britain in exchange for their support of the Ottomans in Berlin.
 
In the years immediately following the Treaty of Berlin an ideological concept was developed in the context of Bulgarian initiatives to regain the region of Macedonia. The Serbs, headed by politician Stojan Novakovic, who also coveted Macedonian real estate with views of the Aegean Archipelago, employed the same ideology as a means to counteract the Bulgarian influence in Macedonia, thereby promoting Serbian interests in the region. Alas, the conception of Macedonism, an ideology within the irredentist framework of Pan-Slavism.
 
Macedonism is structured on aggressive Slavic fundamentalism with irredentist political views based upon the notion of unbroken racial continuity between the self-proclaimed ethnic Macedonians of today and the ancient Macedonians.
 
Which leads to my question to FYROM’s fabricators of history: During 2046 years of recorded history, i.e. from 168 B.C. up until 1878 A.D., there is no documented evidence of the existence of a Macedonian ethnic identity. You base your argument on illusions of ancient Macedonian grandeur in your bloodlines. Can you therefore justify your prolonged 2,000-plus years state of hibernation whereby not one single document exists referencing a Macedonian ethnic consciousness?
 
Perhaps these self-proclaimed ethnic Macedonians living in FYROM and the Diaspora, along with FYROM’s current political leadership and their lobbyists in Washington, should consult FYROM’s previous leaders and diplomats who realize that usurpation of history is a tactic destined to fail:
 
“We are Slavs, who came to the region in the sixth century. We are not descendants of the ancient Macedonians.”
-Kiro Gligorov, first President of FYROM, 1992,
 
“We are not related to the northern Greeks who produced leaders like Philip and Alexander the Great. We are a Slav people and our language is closely related to Bulgarian. There is some confusion about the identity of the people of our country.”
-Gyordan Veselinov, FYROM’s Ambassador to Canada, 1999,
 
and the crème de la crème of testimonials:
 
“The idea that Alexander the Great belongs to us was at the mind of some outsider groups only. These groups were insignificant in the first years of our independence. But the big problem is that the old Balkan nations have been learned to legitimate themselves through their history. In the Balkans to be recognized as a nation you need to have history of 2,000 to 3,000 years old. Since you (Greece) forced us to invent a history, we did invent it.”
-Denko Maleski, Foreign Minister of FYROM from 1991 to 1993.
 
In my next segment I will dissect the 19^th century Bulgarian terrorist organization VMRO, inspiration to FYROM’s ruling political party VMRO-DPMNE headed by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

By Georgios Gialtouridis

SS MAKEDONIA, painted 1912, by Ar. Glykas (compare with No. 14).
This “closed-base” passenger liner was one of the first Greek Transatlantic emigrant ships, and one of the first steamers built for a Greek shipping line, in 1912, by Sir James Laing and Sons, Ltd., at Sunderland, England.
She was of 6.333 tons grt, 422 ft (129 m) long, 51 ft (15,5 m) wide, with 2 masts, 2 funnels, and twin screws, driven at 17 knots by her quadruple-expansion reciprocating steam engines.
She was requisitioned in late 1912 as an armed transport, shelled by the Turkish battleship Hamidie, and sunk off Syros. Refloated and repaired, she was sold to the Netherlands in 1915 and scrapped in 1932. 
Besides passenger accommodation, SS Makedonia had 4 hatches and holds for freight; her cargo booms are shown in raised position for loading or dicharging cargo. She has a wireless antenna and modern stockless anchor.
In foreground, the early 20th century Greek Navy destroyer is a pictorial allusion to SS Makedonia’s wartime role in the Ist Balkan War, as are the guns on the forecastle and after deck of this passenger ship.

Α/Π ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ, 1912. Έργο Αριστείδη Γλύκα (πρβλ. με αρ. 14).
Αυτό το επιβατηγό γραμμής τύπου «closed-base» ήταν ένα από τα πρώτα ελληνικά υπερωκεάνια μεταναστών και ένα από τα πρώτα ατμόπλοια που ναυπηγήθηκαν για ελληνική ναυτιλιακή γραμμή το 1912 από την εταιρεία Sir James Laing and Sons, στο Sunderland της Αγγλίας.
Είχε χωρητικότητα 6.333 τόνους γκρος, μήκος 422 πόδια (129 μ.) και πλάτος 51 πόδια (15,5 μ.). Διέθετε δύο ιστούς, δύο τσιμινιέρες, διπλές προπέλες και έπλεε με ταχύτητα 17 κόμβων με τη βοήθεια παλινδρομικών μηχανών ατμού τετραπλής διαστολής.
 Στα τέλη του 1912 επιτάχθηκε ως οπλισμένο οπλιταγωγό πλοίο, βομβαρδίστηκε από το τουρκικό θωρηκτό Hamidie και βυθίστηκε κοντά στη Σύρο. Αφού ανασύρθηκε και επισκευάστηκε, πωλήθηκε το 1915 στην Ολλανδία και το 1932 διαλύθηκε. 
Εκτός από τα καταλύματα των επιβατών, το Α/Π Μακεδονία έχει τέσσερα αμπάρια για το φορτίο ενώ οι μπίγες του εμφανίζονται σε υψωμένη θέση φορτοεκφόρτωσης. Στο πλοίο υπάρχει κεραία ασυρμάτου και σύγχρονη άγκυρα χωρίς στύπο. 
Το αντιτορπιλικό του Ελληνικού Πολεμικού Ναυτικού των αρχών του 20ού αι. καθώς και τα κανόνια στο κατάστρωμα του επιβατικού πλοίου αποτελούν εικονογραφική αναφορά του ρόλου που διαδραμάτισε το Α/Π Μακεδονία κατά τη διάρκεια του Α΄ Βαλκανικού Πολέμου.

Source: NauticalMuseum.com

Newspaper “EMPROS” 3rd, January 1913

According to the illusions of Skopjan propagandists, the name “Makedonia” in Greece was…forbidden.

“I’d rather be first in a little village, than second in Rome.”

Julius Caesar.

One wonders then what Danforth would make of the New United Villages of Florina, an organisation that purports to unite associations representing the villages of Florina but in effect does so much more. Yiannis Papadimitriou, the president of the association, explains that the New United Villages exist as a form of self-protection against the extremes of the proponents of ideologies over the possession of national identities, histories and cultures, who regard these as the mutually exclusive property one nation or the other.

Basically,” Yiannis Papadimitriou explains, “we wanted to create an environment where “Slavophone” Greeks could feel comfortable speaking the idiom they grew up speaking back home, without anyone feeling threatened by this or using it as a means of compromising our members sense of their ethnic identity.”

One gains a hint as to what that ethnic identity is as soon as soon as one walks through the door of the reception during the New United Villages of Florina’s recent multicultural festival. The first thing that can be discerned is the labarum of the Association, bearing the icon of Panayia Theotokos. She is, as we find out when everyone stands up to chant her hymn, the Υπέρμαχος Στρατηγός, the protector of all. Slowly, solemnly, a column of young children, dressed in traditional regional costumes march into the hall, bearing before them, another icon of the Panayia and holding aloft, Greek and Australian flags. The attendees, all half a thousand of them, are of surprisingly (in an age when mass attendance at dances and other such events, is not only passé for the first generation, let alone the second, but becoming nothing more than just a dim memory) diverse ages, underlying the ‘family’ or ‘village’ feel of cohesion and harmony.

The children march proudly past the distinguished guests: the Honourable Harry Jenkins, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Honourable Maria Vamvakinou, Federal Member for Calwell, Jenny Mikakos, State Member for Northern Metropolitan and Lily D’ Ambrosio, State Member for Mill Park, Former Mayor of Whittlesea, Cnr Chris Pavlidis and Whittlesea Councillor Maria Malios. They reach the dance floor and stand to attention as the Australian national anthem is played. As soon as its final strains die down, a murmur of anticipation permeates the room. Then, an immense crescendo and suddenly, 500 voices are united in song as they intone the immortal words of Greek national poet Dionysios Solomos: « Σε γνωρίζω…» The tremulous emotion that tugs at the heartstrings of all those present is palpable.

For these Florinians, singing the Greek national anthem truly is an act of gnosis. It is a firm declaration of who they perceive themselves to be. At the end of the dance floor, a video projector beams images exhibiting the Greek presence in Macedonia. It is a diachronic display, commencing with the ancient past, following through to Byzantium, the Ottoman occupation and contemporary times. Its viewers nod their heads appreciatively, as if discerning in the images of Alexander the Great, Basil the Bulgar Slayer, Saints Cyril and Methodius and of course, the Slavonic-speaking Captain Kottas, not just a historical figure dredged up from the depths of the past, but instead, their immediate kinfolk.

Around me, I can hear snatches of the same Slavonic idiom as that uttered by Captain Kottas when he was led away by the Bulgarians for execution, proclaiming: “Long live Greece!” Suddenly, the conversation is broken by a loud cheer and whoops of delight. The young children are dancing traditional Florinian dances and their elated grandparents and parents are unable to conceal their rapture at witnessing their progeny take exactly the same steps that they have taken, and their ancestors too, in a long  chain of dance, as twisted and tortuous as the path taken by the archetypal musician himself, Orpheus, to the underworld to rescue his Euridice, but still unbroken.

One of the beaming grandparents, not being able to contain himself any longer, rushes on to the dance-floor, holding a vast Greek flag upon a lofty flag-pole twice his size. Immediately, the floor is covered in dancers, weaving their way through the age-old steps, all vying for the position of leader of the dance so that they in turn, may also bear the Greek flag. The revellers are so excited that hey find it hard to settle down to listen to the speeches.

When Father Stavros, of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, explains that the apostle Paul was compelled to visit Macedonia and wrote an epistle to the Christians of Philippi, the applause is deafening. When I in turn. as secretary of the Panepirotic Federation of Australia, outline the ties of kinship binding Epirus with Macedonia ( we are in effect συμπέθεροι, since Alexander the Great’s mother, Olympias was an Epirote princess and Cheimarriote captain Spiros Spiromilios fought in Florina for the liberation of that region and its incorporation into the Greek state, there are cheers and the sounds of many hands clapping. Yiannis Papadimitriou, as president of an organisation that has over the years, repeatedly emphasised its Hellenic identity, arrived at, not only through cultural exchange but through a deep knowledge of history as well, succinctly and perceptively encapsulates the zeitgeist in his address:

“We are here today to celebrate the achievements and continuous presence of Macedonians here in Australia. We, the Macedonians of the New United Villages of Florina are immensely proud of our Greek heritage. We are also immensely proud  of the fact that we have been able to transplant them here, in Victoria, home to so many nations. Truly, the Greek and Australian people share many values. Some of these values, love of freedom, democracy, tolerance, a love of the arts and sport are direct gifts from ancient Greek civilization. Let us not forget that it was our great King, Alexander the Great who spread Greek civilization throughout the East. We, his descendants, having left our native Macedonia, are continuing in his footsteps, maintaining the Greek culture of Macedonia here today. Wherever you see us and the Greek flag flying, you know that there lies a small pocket of Macedonia, the northernmost Greek province, home to many nations but historically and culturally, an inextricable part of the Greek world. We welcome you with open arms and hope you celebrate the core values of tolerance, cultural diversity and mutliculturalism with us.” As the song «Μακεδονία Ξακουστή» penetrates our eardrums and the ecstatic revellers rush to the dance-floor once more, and Father Stavros, an Epirote, and I, muse over the relative merits of Macedonian as compared to Epirotic pita, the Greek flag once again passes from hand to hand, circling the room. Complexity in the process of identity formation may characterise many people who are members of ethnic and diaspora communities in today’s transnational world. For the members of the New United Villages of Florina however, it is resolved simply, in the form of a blue flag with a large white cross emblazoned upon it, upon a tall and proud flagpole.

DEAN KALIMNIOU.

COMMENT FROM “PAUL” FROM MELBOURNE:

“What the Greek community needs to emphasize is that this is a language that is completely different from what they speak in FYROM. In migrant countries such as Australia, in order to distinguish their language from the FYROM communities, they refer to it as Greek-Macedonian [sic], thereby clearly identifying themselves with the Hellenic community and nation.  My wife and her family (from the village of Melas - about halfway between Kastoria and Florina) speak this dialect fluently.  They and other people from their region that view themselves as Hellenes would be highly offended to be referred to as ‘Slavophone Greeks’ or to possibly have their language or culture confused or identified with that of the slavic population of FYROM.” (see Babiniotis’s article in history-of-macedonia.com)

Reconstruction of the shield found in locality of Bonče, Pelagonia, 2008: VASILEOS DIMITRIOU

Its really frustrating for Skopjans always to discover ancient Macedonian archaeological findings which reveal the Greekness of Macedonians.

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