Erroneous Claim: “Greek was the lingua franca before Alexander the Great’s era, like English is today” The above  is a widely-used false claim promoted mainly by FYROM’s propaganda. The status of lingua franca, especially during the Achaemenid period (539-333) through the vast Persian empire[1] and the Mediteranean world had the Aramaic language. [2] Greek was not the lingua franca during the reign of […]

Lion hunt in ancient Macedonia Lion hunt. Mosaic from Pella (ancient Macedonia); source: Wikipedia In Macedonia evidence begins with silver coin-types of the fifth century; King Archelaos is said to have been murdered out hunting; Philip II was said (by Arrian’s sources) to have instituted the corps of royal pages who attended him while out hunting; Herodotos, Pausanias, and Aristotle […]

Alexander I (ca. 498 – ca. 454 B.C.), king of Macedon is better known as “Alexander the Philhellene” (Gr:  Αλέξανδρος ο Φιλέλλην). A modern misconception which currently exist among a small number of scholars, claims that it would be a contradiction in itself to state  that an Hellene could not be called a Philhellene. Its easy to figure out from the following list of literary […]