Propaganda of Fyrom’s site HistoryofMacedonia.Org Exposed - Part I

Propaganda and falsification of history from historyofmacedonia.org

http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/An…tEvidence.html

Fyrom claim :

Quote:

The ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish historians, geographers, and orators, speak of the Macedonians as distinct nation, separate from their Greek, Thracian, and Illyrian neighbors. They ARE CLEAR THAT MACEDONIAN WAS NEVER PART OF GREECE

Fact: We witness a blatant falsification of history from the propagandists of FYROM.

A small collection of ancient historians and geographers refuting the above claim and making clear Macedonia was a part of Greece and not a distinct nation.

“There remain of Europe, first, Macedonia and the parts of Thrace that are contiguous to it and extend as far as Byzantium; secondly, Greece; and thirdly, the islands that are close by. MACEDONIA, OF COURSE IS A PART OF GREECE, yet now, since I am following the nature and shape of the places geographically, I have decided to classify it apart from the rest of Greece and to join it with that part of Thrace which borders on it and extends as far as the mouth of the Euxine and the Propontis. Then, a little further on, Strabo mentions Cypsela and the Hebrus River, and also describes a sort of parallelogram in which the whole of Macedonia lies.”

(Strabo, Geography, book 7, Fragm, 9)

“He sent to Athens three hundred Persian panoplies to be set up to Athena in the acropolis; he ordered this inscription to be attached: Alexander son of Philip and the Hellenes, except the Lacedaemonians, set up these spoils from the barbarians dwelling in Asia“,

(Arrian I, 16, 7)

“It is your privilege, as one who has been blessed with untrammeled freedom, to consider all Hellas your fatherland, as did the founder of your race.”

(Isokratis, To Philip 127)

“They say that these were the tribes collected by Amphiktyon himself in the Hellenic Assembly: … the Macedonians joined and the entire Phocian race … In my day there were thirty members: six each from Nikopolis, Macedonia and Thessaly … ”

(Pausanias Phokis VIII, 2 & 4)

FYROM claim :

Quote:

The assertion of those modern historians that propagate that the Macedonians “were Greeks” which have “united” Greece, is absurd and is completely UNSUPORTED BY THE WORDS OF THE ANCIENTS who clearly considered Greece subjected by the Macedonian foreigners

Fact: What is absurb is the deliberate falsification of history from the propagandists of FYROM. Ancient historians and Alexander the Great himself verify the fact that Macedonians were Greeks and united Greece.

“Your ancestors invaded Macedonia and the rest of Hellas and did us great harm, though we had done them no prior injury;… I have been appointed hegemon of the Greeks… ”

(Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander II, 14, 4)

“….at the congress of the Lakedaimonian allies and the rest of the Hellenes, in which Amyntas, the father of Philip, being entitled to a seat,
was represented by a delegate whose vote was absolutely under his control, he joined the rest of the Hellenes in voting…”

(Aeschines, On the Embassy 32)

“Such was the end of Philip (II, king of Macedonia) …He had ruled 24 years. He is known to fame as one who with but the slenderest resources to support his claim to a throne won for himself the greatest empire AMONG THE HELLENES, while the growth of his position was not due so much to his prowess in arms as to his adroitness and cordiality in diplomacy.”

(Diodoros of Sicily 16.95.1-2)

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FYROM claim:

Quote:

The ancient Greeks did not regard the Macedonians as Greeks, nor the Macedonians regarded themselves to be Greek. They were proud of their Macedonian nationality and way of life, and looked down upon the Greeks and with contempt.

Fact: Another forgery attempted by the propagandists of FYROM to distort history.

Alexander the Great himself refutes the allegations of the pseudo-historians of FYROM

” There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service — but how different is theirs cause from ours ! They will be fighting for pay— and not much of it at that; we on the contrary shall fight for Greece, and our hearts will be in it . As for our foreign troops —Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians, Agrianes — they are the best and stoutest soldiers of Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia.”

Arrian - The Campaigns of Alexander. “Alexander talking to the troops before the battle. “ Book 2-7

“Argos is the land of your fathers, and is entitled to as much consideration at your hands as are your own ancestors; ”

-Isocrates, To Phillip II of Macedon

FYROM claim:

Quote:

Alexander’s Macedonian Army was not a “Greek army” as some modern writers have erroneously claimed, nor the Macedonian conquest of Asia was a “Greek conquest”. The fact is that not one ancient writer has called the Macedonian empire “Greek” or the Macedonian army and conquest “Greek”, but specifically Macedonian.

FACT: On the contrary of FYROM’s historians erroneously claims, Alexander the Great and ancient historians testified more than once that Macedonians were Greeks and “fought for Greece” as Alexander himself said . (See the above speech of Alexander to this troops)

Furthermore, the fact Macedonian soldiers were Greeks its clear to everyone except the propagandists of FYROM when Alexander sent to Athens three hundred Persian panoplies to be set up to Athena in the acropolis and he ordered this inscription to be attached:

“Alexander son of Philip and the Hellenes, except the Lacedaemonians, set up these spoils from the barbarians dwelling in Asia”

FYROM Claim :

Quote:

When Rome clashed with Macedonia, the Macedonians were ordered by the Romans to evacuate from the whole of Greece and withdraw to Macedonia. They were hated by the Greeks ever since Philip II defeated the Greeks at Chaeronea in 338 BC and brought Greece to its kneel, and the Greeks fought fiercely, first on the side of the Persians and later on the side of the Romans to expel the Macedonians from their country. Too late would they realize that the Macedonian occupation would only be replaced by the Roman. In between the Greeks fought many unsuccessful wars against the Macedonians to drive them out of Greece, among which the Lamian War is the most famous. It should be noted that the Lamian War was triggered by the death of Alexander the Great, which encouraged the Greeks to rebel.

FACT: Polyvius in his 38th book manages to refute for one more time the propaganda of FYROM and makes clear that Macedonia is a part of the whole of Hellas.

Polybios 38.1-3.8

“The 38th book contains the completion of the disaster of the Hellenes. For though both the whole of Hellas and her several parts had often met with mischance, yet to none of her former defeats can we more fittingly apply, the name of disaster with all it signifies than to the events of my own time. …In the time I am speaking of a common misfortune befell the Peloponnesians, the Boiotians, the Fokians, the [Eub]oians, the Lokrians, some of the cities on the Ionian Gulf, and finally the Macedonians.”

It is demonstratable the Hellenes who had the ‘common disaster’ are listed as:
“the Peloponnesians,
the Boiotians,
the Fokians,
the [Eub]oians,
the Lokrians,
some of the cities on the Ionian Gulf,
and finally the Macedonians”

The lies of pseudo-historians also can easily exposed by strabo.

“The Corinthians, when they were subject to Philip, not only sided with him in his quarrel with the Romans, but individually behaved so contemptuously towards the Romans that certain persons ventured to pour down filth upon the Roman ambassadors when passing by their house. For this and other offences, however, they soon paid the penalty, for a considerable army was sent thither, and the city itself was razed to the ground by Leucius Mummius;”

(Strabo, VI, 23)

In addition, it is evident the misinformation pushed by the pseudohistorians since it is known Greeks were fighting eachother as back as their first appearance. A classic example is the fact that some Greeks sided with the Persians during their invasion to Greece and a even better is that during Peloponessian war in some occasions among the two opposing forces, Greeks sided with the Persians in order to crush their rival Greeks. In fact the slogan used by Spartans during Peloponessian war was “the liberation of Greece” from Athens.

Conclusion:

The purpose of this page is to inform and make readers aware of the intentional misleading and falsification of history made by FYROM sources and their pseudo-historians. All the aboves facts are deliberately missing from websites of FYROM, with the intention of confusing readers interested in ancient Macedonia and pop up their completely unfounded claims over ancient Macedonia history and ancient Greek history which Macedonia was always a bright part. The propagandists of FYROM seem to believe that by misleading the world into the false and refuted claim that “Macedonians were not Greeks” will have the chance to claim the ancient Macedonian history as theirs. In other words, according to them and under the non-rational thinking they are into, if they manage somehow to disprove that a car’s colour is white this would mean automatically that the car’s colour is red. Unfortunately for them and their deceitful aims, ancient historians and geographers, along with historic personas with first from all Alexander the Great made clear the fact that Macedonians were Greeks.