Article No4: Demosthenes' words: The last pitiful refuge of a misled people.
Quote:
- The last pitiful refuge of a misled people
The Vardarskians (the Slav people of Vardarska/FYROM*, formed mainly
by Bulgarians [that's why they speak a Bulgarian dialect] and also
by Serbians) often and DESPERATELY recur to a very weak argument
in their pitiful attempt to portray themselves as "Macedonians".
It's important to recall that the United Nations do NOT recognize any
country as "Macedonia": http://www.un.org/Overview/unmember.html
The Vardarskians simply love to say that Demosthenes (an ancient
Athenian orator) said that Filippos II (Philip II, father of
Alexander III, The Great), king of Macedonia (a Greek State located
in the the North of Greece, now the richest Province of Greece) when
it established the hegemony in Greece, was a "barbarian".
Those words of Demosthenes are treated by the Vardarskians as a
"proof" that the Macedonians were not Greeks. Then the Vardarskians
recur to a series of obscure and easily refutable reasonings to
CONVINCE THEMSELVES (exactly like they were taught by Socialist
dictatorships for decades) that THEY are "Macedonians".
Curiously, the fact that the Slavs (like the Bulgarians and Serbians
of Vardarska/FYROM*) didn't arrive in the the region of Macedonia
until a THOUSAND years AFTER the death of Filippos II doesn't prevent
them to convince themselves that they are his "descendants"...
- Words of Demosthenes and Isocrates
Demosthenes said to his fellow Athenians, in an attempt to convince
them to oppose the establishment of the Macedonian hegemony:
"Is not Philip our enemy? And in possession of our property? And a
barbarian? Is any description too bad for him?"
On the other hand, Isocrates, another ATHENIAN orator said to Philip:
"... all men will be grateful to you: the Hellenes [Greeks] for your
kindness to them and the rest of the nations, if by your hands they
are delivered from barbaric despotism and are brought under the
protection of Hellas [Greece]."
Isocrates also said to Philip:
"I assert that it is incumbent upon you to work for the good of the
Hellenes, to reign over the Macedonians, and to extend your power
over the greatest possible number of barbarians."
Even Demosthenes himself praised the Macedonians:
"Yes, the power and sovereignty of Macedonia is indeed, as an
adjunct, no slight contribution, as you found it when on your side
against Olynthus in the days of Timotheus".
The weakness of the Vardarskians arguments are self-evident.
- The facts are easy to realize, if one does not lie to THEMSELVES
It's OBVIOUS that Demosthenes, an Athenian politician, hated Filippos
II and HATED EVEN MORE the possibility that Attica (the Greek State
whose main city was and still is Athens, now the capital of Greece)
would be ONCE AGAIN submitted to the hegemony of another Greek State.
Attica had been, for instance, under the hegemony of Beotia (whose
main city was Thebes), the last State that established a situation of
hegemony in Greece, just before the hegemony of Macedonia. Calling
Filippos II a "barbarian" was the BEST insult possible to use against
someone who was evidently NOT barbarian.
For instance, calling a PERSIAN a barbarian would have NO effect. It
would call NO attention of the Athenians nor actually insult anyone.
That's VERY simple to realize. It's like for a present-day Greek to
try to insult another Greek by calling them Bulgarian or Turk. Only
by calling a Greek something they are NOT an insult can be built in
such situations. Calling a Greek a Greek or calling a Bulgarian a
Bulgarian or a Turk a Turk would have NO RHETORICAL EFFECT.
It's actually PITIFUL to see the Vardarskians holding on desperately
to such easily refutable arguments at the same time that they choose
to ignore so many stronger evidences that refute their statements.
- Emblematic (and intentional) ignorance of historical evidences
It's emblematic that the same Bulgarians and Serbians who were
MAGICALLY turned into "Macedonians" in 1944 by Josip Tito, with the
help of Joseph Stalin, CHOOSE to ignore VERY MANY statements that
clearly show that the Macedonians were Greeks like any other Greeks.
Let's see just four examples from ancient historian Arrian, from its
book "Anabasis" on the war against Persia led by Alexander The Great:
"But Alexander said that he wished to take vengeance on the Persians,
in retaliation for their deeds in the invasion of Greece, when they
razed Athens to the ground and burned down the temples. He also
desired to punish the Persians for all the other injuries they had
done the Greeks."
Book III, 18.
"To the envoys from the Greeks, begging him to make a truce with them
on behalf of the whole mercenary force, he replied that he would not
make any agreement with them; because they were acting with great
guilt in serving as soldiers on the side of the barbarians against
Greece, in contravention of the resolution of the Greeks."
Book III, 23.
To illustrate the quote above, we can see this letter from Alexander
The Great to the Chians (the people of a Greek island in the Aegean):
http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/Chios/Alexander.html
Alexander says in the letter, among other interesting things:
"Of those who betrayed the city to the barbarians, all those who got
away are to be exiled from all the cities that share in the peace and
are to be liable to arrest according to the decree of the Greeks;
those who were left behind are to be transferred to and tried in
the synhedrion of the Greeks."
The other two examples of enlightening quotes from Arrian:
"The Macedonians kept a day sacred to Dionysus, and on that day
Alexander used to offer sacrifice to him every year. But they say
that on this occasion he was neglectful of Dionysus, and sacrificed
to the Dioscuri instead; for he had resolved to offer sacrifice to
those deities for some reason or other."
Book IV, 8.
"Arriving at the city of Nicaea, he offered sacrifice to Athena and
then advanced towards the Cophen, sending a herald forward to
Taxiles and the other chiefs on this side the river Indus, to bid
them come and meet him as each might find it convenient."
Book IV, 22.
And those are just a few among VERY MANY such enlightening quotes.
To lie to themselves, the Vardarskians must choose to ignore them.
Of course, everyone else is free to base their own conclusions on
FACTS. Unlike the Vardarskians, we were not conditioned NOT TO
QUESTION the absurd and easily refutable ideas created in 1944.
- Filippos II, a Greek like any other, as his name shows
As for Filippos II, his name already shows he was a Greek like any
other Greek, like all Macedonians were (and are, for that matter,
just like the present-day Greeks of any region of Greece).
FILIPPOS comes from FILOS (friend) + IPPOS (horse). That is, FILIPPOS
means "someone who likes horses". Considering that horses then were
more important than cars are now, it's easy to understand its meaning
and how a possible future king would be given that name. Horses were
even more important than cars are now because people did what we do
with cars but they also used them IN WARS.
The Olympiad was a national event of the Greeks. Even their internal
wars in their continuous struggle for hegemony stopped. Unlike now,
THE OLYMPIAD WAS RESTRICTED TO THE GREEKS. Being Greeks like any
other Greeks and sharing with the other Greeks all their essential
cultural elements, such as language, religion, traditions, symbols,
etc, THE MACEDONIANS PARTICIPATED OF THE OLYMPIADS.
A chariot of Filippos II won a race in the 106th Olympiad, the year
of the birth of Alexandros III (Alexander III, the Great). That's how
the date of the birth of Alexandros III is calculated. Filippos II
issued beautiful coins to celebrate his victory in the Olympiad.
Those are REAL evidences. More even, those are MORE PROOFS that
Filippos II and all Macedonians were Greeks like any other Greeks.
This is a nice photo showing a chariot on a Macedonian tomb:
Detail of Pluto in a quadriga from the painted decoration on the
throne from the Tomb of Eurydike, circa 340 BC, Vergina, Tomb of
Eurydike.
http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/He...img_B122a.html
- Alexander The Great, another Greek like any other Greek
Alexandros is Alexander in Greek. That was the name of the son of
Filippos II, the one who assumed his place in the leadership of the
Greeks and created a Hellenic empire from Greece to India.
Alexandros, like Filippos, is a typical Greek name, which was used by
the Greeks even before the Greek alphabet was created, as the
decipherment of the Linear B set of characters has proved.
ALEXANDROS comes from ALEXO (repel) + ANDROS (man). That is,
ALEXANDROS means "someone who can repel men", an appropriate
name for a possible future king.
Speaking about names, OLYMPIAS (mother of Alexandros III), LEONIDAS
(military tutor of Alexandros III), ARISTOTELIS (cultural tutor of
Alexandros III) and CLEOPATRA (sister of Alexandros III) are all
typical Greek names, formed from Greek words.
Names form an essential part of a people's culture. The fact that the
Macedonian names were typical Greek names, like the names of the
peoples of all other regions of Greece, is one of the many proofs
that the Macedonians were (and are) Greeks like any other Greeks.
- Archaeological and historical evidences against empty words
There are THOUSANDS of archaeological and historical evidences that
demonstrate that the ancient Macedonians had all the same essential
cultural elements as all other Greeks. That is, there are THOUSANDS
of archaeological and historical evidences that demonstrate they were
Greeks like any other Greeks. It's exactly the same task as proving
Athenians or Spartans were Greeks like any other Greeks.
What those evidences say to us? What do they say to ANYONE who's
not DESPERATELY lying to THEMSELVES?
ANYONE who does not DESPERATELY lie to themselves will find ABSURD
the claims that a people formed by SLAVS who arrived in that region a
THOUSAND years after the death of FILIPPOS II and ALEXANDROS III
and who claimed to be their descendants MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND
YEARS after their death have ANY connection to those persons.
The Bulgarians and Serbians of Vardarska/FYROM* have the right to
call themselves anything they want and to teach their children
anything they want but ONLY AS LONG AS THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS TO
THEIR LEGITIMATE HISTORY AND TO THEIR LEGITIMATE CULTURAL
HERITAGE AND THEIR RIGHTS TO PEACE ARE NOT DISRESPECTED.
The young Vardarskians must be taught the truth. The present lies
must be denounced and faced with determination, not only by the
Greeks but by all conscious citizens of all countries, as those lies
constitute a crime against humanity.
Vardarska/FYROM* must choose a name that does not make any reference
to Macedonia nor to ANY OTHER part of Greece. It must also end ALL
THE MANY absurd lies about the Greek History that have been IMPOSED
on its people since 1944. The Vardarskians must free themselves from
the criminal plans of the former Yugoslavia and act in a civilized
manner towards their own people and their neighbours.
There's no other way to create a stable and peaceful future for that
newly created country. There's no other way to make JUSTICE prevail.
* FYROM: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, known as Vardarska
until 1944, when Yugoslavia changed its name and falsified its
cultural heritage in order to try to steal the Province of
Macedonia from Greece.
Roberto Lopes.
So Paulo, Brazil -
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__________________ Skopjans enjoy your Bulgarian heritage...
Last edited by Nikolaz; 06-23-2008 at 06:03 PM.
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06-20-2008, 12:36 PM
