XXIV – SCYTHIAN – PROTO-SLAV ORIGIN OF ALEXANDER THE GREATS’ ARGAID DYNASTY

XXIV – SCYTHIAN – PROTO-SLAV ORIGIN OF ALEXANDER THE GREATS’ ARGAID DYNASTY

In the previous chapter we showed continuity from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic Cultures in Sredno Podunavie, the Central Balkans, where the carriers were the Eolian tribes (Macedonians, Lapiti, Mimitsi, Tiroitsi and Flegitsi) and in the Aegean. The Eolians, we mentioned, belonged to the Scythian Proto-Slavic tribes. Their arrival from the north together with the Indo-European invasions caused a process of migration, rearrangement, disintegration and dissolution of old communities and the emergence of a new symbiosis. With it also came the mixing of languages, customs, cultures and skills. After this, new major ethnic groups emerged in the Balkan Peninsula. In the eastern part of the peninsula the Thracians emerged, who are not part of our investigations. In the south the Dorians emerged, who we already extensively covered. In the Central and Western Balkans the Scythians emerged, who in the western part of the peninsula were called Illyrians.

According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, IV, 1-142, V, 9, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), some of the Scythians tied their origin to Zeus while others tied it to Hercules. The Argead Macedonian Dynasty in Orestida tied its descent to Hercules, unlike the first and second Macedonian Dynasties who claimed their origins were linked to the gods Osiris and Zeus. The first two were mythological kingdoms in Macedonia.

Many authors, ancient and modern, tried to solve the origin of the “other” Macedonian language spoken by Alexander the Great without much success, other than saying that it was unintelligible to the Greeks. Most educated Macedonians spoke Koine, but they also spoke another language indigenous to Macedonia.

Origin of the Macedonians

Plutarch (46-120 AD), last important Greek writer from Heronia, Boeotia, in his famous book “Parallel Biographies” (Plutarchus, Vitae parallelae (prev. Usporedni Biographies), III, 1, 2, Zagreb, 1988) wrote that “Alexander the Macedonian on his father’s side was a descendant of Hercules from Karan and on his mother’s side an Eakid from Neoptelemus, adopted without objection!”

Historian Theopompus (380 AD) in his “History of Philip II of Macedon – Philippics” claimed that Karan, eight generations later, was a descendant

of Hercules’s great grandson Temen, who moved from Arg in Orestida (Rupishta) to Edessa (Voden).

This was confirmed by later historians. For example, Ulrich Wilcken (1862-1944) in his book “Alexander the Great” (Ulrich Wilcken Alexander Grosse, Leipzig, 1931), which is considered a masterpiece of historic interpretation, wrote that Alexander the Great was a descendent of Hercules from his father’s side.

According to Papazoglou (Papazoglou, F.., History of Hellenism, Science and Society, Belgrade, 1995, 70), by tradition Alexander, on his father’s side, was of Herculean origin and on his mother’s side he was of Eakid origin (Achilles’s descendants ruled Epirus).

Now, let us try using historical argument to explain this enigma. In mythology, Hercules’s (Herodotus, History, IV, 8-10, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) father was Zeus and his mother was Alcmena, daughter of the king Elektrion of Mycenae from the Danai Dynasty, a colonist from Egypt. Hercules was born and grew up in Thebes with king Kreont, originally a Phoenician colonist. In gratitude for Hercules’s help in the Theban war against the Minians of Orhomen, King Kreont allowed Hercules to marry his daughter Megara. Megara gave Hercules eight sons, whom he shot and killed with arrows when he went mad. Because of that Hercules was expelled from Thebes and went to Delphi to consult with the oracle about what to do. The priestess Pitia advised him to go to Tirint in the Peloponnesus and serve his relative Evristei for twelve years and perform twelve heroic deeds. Because king Evristei did not like to recognize Hercules’s tasks of killing the Lerneian Hydra and cleaning the Avgeian stables, he gave Hercules more difficult tasks in far away Hyperborea. These tasks were to catch the Cerynean hind, to bring Gerion’s famous herd of cattle from Eriteia, to get Hera’s golden apples from the Hespedirini and to bring home the dog Cerberus from Tartarus.

Many poets, writers, historians and mythologists dealt with the “phenomenon” of Hercules, included amongst them were Homer (Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, XII, 98, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. Gjurigj MN)), Diodorus, Eratosthenes, Apollodorus, etc., and more recently Graves, Deharme, etc.

Hercules’s mythological adventures are categorized into two parts. One part comes from the Argolid myth to which the origin of his parents belong and in which he performed five heroic deeds by killing the Nemeian lion, destroying the Hydra of Lerna, capturing the Erimanian wild boar, cleaning the Avgian stables and chasing the Stimfalian birds. The other part about Hercules comes from the Theban myths, where he was born, grew up and went away to perform his heroic feats. His journey took him into the unknown and mysterious Hyperborean world where Hercules had to capture the Cerynean hind. This tale was told by Pindar, a fellow Phoenician from Thebes.

Pindar (Pindaros) was born in Thebes around 522-422 BC and was the best chorus lyric composer of his time. Unfortunately, of the 17 books of poems he composed only 4 were preserved and survived. These were winning songs (Epiniki) sung to winners in sports competitions at Olympia, Pitia and other places. The books were written in the Epian-Aeolian-Doric language. In his works “Olympia” (Pindar, Olumpia, III, 26 and further), Pindar wrote that Hercules was in pursuit of the Cerynean hind for an entire year. The hind was hiding in the Kerineian hills located north of the Istor River and of Istria, land of the Hyperboreans, and then fled across the river Kladon. (Apollodori, Bibliotheca (I-II BC), II, 5). Further on in his works Pindar also wrote that Hercules could not find his way to the land of the Hesperidi and decided to go north to Macedonia. On the banks of Ehedora, in Macedonia, he met Kikan, son of Ariei, whom he killed in a duel. After crossing into Illyria, he arrived at the Eridan River where he met the river nymphs, daughters of Zeus and Temidina.

When Hercules arrived in Hileia, he met Ehidna, the beautiful queen of this country, who admitted stealing the horses but would not return them unless he agreed to mate with her.

Scythian origin of the Herculean Macedonians

Born out of the love affair between Ehidna and Hercules was their son Skit, who, according to Herodotus, (Herodotus, History, IV, 8-10, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) “All Scythian kings descended from this Herculean son…” From this we can conclude that the onomastics of the Hercules myth match the horonyms, hydronyms, toponyms and geographical names in Macedonia and Serbia today.

The mythical, historic and ethnic name “Macedonia” has existed and remained unchanged for many millenniums, so it is only appropriate that the Macedonian people call their country “Macedonia”, i.e. today’s Republic of Macedonia. The word “Hyperborea” refers to the land north of Mount Bore (Voras-Nidze-Kajmakchalan) in Macedonia. “Ehedor”, as in River Ehedor, meaning to “safeguard a gift”, was recently renamed by the modern Greeks to “Galikos”. “Vardar”, as in the River Vardar, in Macedonian means “guardian of gifts”, “dar” in modern Macedonian means “gift”. The horonym “Hileia” translated to Macedonian is “Shumadia”, which means “a forested area”. There are many places named “Keri-neiski Brda”, some of which are toponyms in northeastern Serbia, where the sound of the letter “K” is exchanged with the sound “TS”, such as the village Tserie, Tserianska Peshtera (cave), Peshtera Tsare-moshnia, Tsare-tina located on the banks of the Danube River, etc. According to Graves (Graves, R.: The Greek Myths, Penguin Books, II, p. 110, Middlessex, 1972) there was of course “the Cerynean Hind”. And then we have the stream “Kladusha”, the village “Kladushintsa” and the city “Kladovo” all derived from the mythical “Kladon”. The Sava River in mythical times was called Eridan. According to Senc (Senc, St.: Grčko-Hrvatski rječnik, s. 408, Kr. Zemaljska tiskara, Zagreb, 1910), “It was a beautiful river, which flowed northwest of Mount Ripeon and emptied into Okean…” “Okean” was the Panonian Sea, while “Ripeon” was Mount Avala, on whose eastern slopes the village Ripani is located.

Karan, Temen, Perdiccas - Scythian descendants

According to Plutarch (Plutarchus, Vitae parallelae (prev. Usporedni životopisi), III, 1, 2, Zagreb, 1988), “Alexander the Macedonian from his father’s side was a descendant of Hercules from Karan…” According to Theopompus, as mentioned earlier, “…and Karan was an eight generation descendant of Temen, Hercules’s great grandson…” According to Thucydides (Thucydides, Povijest Peloponeskog installment, p. II, 99, Dereta, Belgrade, 1991), “The first current Macedonian king to reach the sea was Alexander (495-452 BC), father of Perdiccas and a descendent of the Temenids, who a long time before came from Arg and became kings, after the war… from Pieria the Pierini... from Botia the Botini… from Eordeia the Eordeiti... Those tribes were defeated by the Macedonians. Those and the remaining tribes are now ruled by the Macedonians… and so is a larger part of the lands of the Macedonians. All this together is called Macedonia…” The word “Karan” in Macedonian means “praised”, and the word “Temen” means “leader”.

Epirote tradition of the ancient Macedonians

Should one analyze Alexander’s family tree on his mother’s side, they will find that it looks something like this: “Alexander is... from his maternal side was an Eak descendent through Neoptolemus”. (Plutarchus, Vitae parallelae (prev. Usporedni životopisi), III, 2, Zagreb, 1988.) Alexander’s mother Olympias was the daughter of Neoptolemus, who belonged to the Epirioti people, originally an Illyrian tribe of Proto-Slav origin. The Illyrian was the southern most Scythian tribe which migrated in that part of

the Balkans (Ambrakian Bay) from the north during the Indo-European migrations in the XIII century BC.

The word “Epirus” (Epiros) belongs to the Paleo-Balkan Glossology and means continent, land, or dry land, as opposed to “molos” which means coastal land. The Scythian people which inhabited the coastal region of the southern Balkans became known as the Epirioti or the Molosi. These Balkan people were known for the kind of dog they bred which had dark yellow hair and a dark muzzle. These dogs were large, serve as guard dogs and were known as the Molosos breed. (Mpampiniotis, G.: Synhroni gramatiki tis koinis neas Elinikis, Athinai, p. 1121, 1967.) According to historian Papastavrou (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 46, HIotelli, Athinai, 1972), the Epirioti migrated to this region in 1124 BC, pushing out the indigenous Pelasgians of Tesprotia. The Epirioti had a religious centre located in Dodona, near present town Ioanina, where they celebrated Dios. They left their original homeland, traveled through the Pindos mountain range and Zagorie, reaching the Peneus River plain in Eolida. Since then, this region has been called Thessalia. (Herodotus, History, VII, 176, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.) The Eolians then became subjects of the new occupiers.

The Eak’s or Eakidi people were descendants of king Eak (Aikos), king of Egina Island in Saronik Bay. Eak was the son of Zeus and Egina. Egina (Aigina) was the sister of Pelasgo, king of the Pelasgians in Thessalean Ftia and of Ismen who had two daughters. Egina later married Akto, king of Ftia, and bore him sons Menetei and Evrition. Menetei lived in Lokrida and had a son named Patroclo, a relative of Achilles and an inseparable friend. Egina by Zeus gave birth to a son named Eak at Enon Island in Saronik Bay. The island was later named Eak. When he grew up Eak married Enedina who bore him two sons named Telamon and Pelei. And from her second marriage to Psamata, Egina had a son named Fok.

During a sports match between the brothers, Fok was unintentionally killed. Eak then drove his sons off the island. Telemon hid in Salamis, while Pelei went to live with his relative Evrition, king of Ftia, where he married Antigona, the king’s daughter but had no children with her. When Pelei became king of Ftia in Thessaly, he married Tetida the Nereidan with whom he had a son named Achilles (Ahillevs), who was a great hero in the Trojan War.

By analyzing Achilles’s and the Eakidi mythological genealogy, we have determined that the Eakidi were not of Doric-Hellenic origin but of Pelasgian origin.

Neoptolemus (Neoptolemos) was the son of Achilles and Deidamini, often referred to as Pir. He participated in the Trojan War, and as a conqueror was entitled to the division of spoils. As a result he received Hector’s wife Andromaha the famous Trojan prophet and Helen (Elenos) son of Priam and Hekabia. After the destruction of Troy, Neoptolemus returned home and married Hermiona, Menelaous’s daughter, but had no children. But after he became king of Ftia, his slave Andromaha bore him three sons named Pergam, Molos and Piel. When the children grew up, Pergam moved to Asia Minor and, together with his mother, founded the city Pergamum. During Macedonian king Seleucus’s reign, Pergamum became a military, political, economic and cultural centre, similar to Alexandria. Because Neoptolemus was killed in Delphi, Andromaha had to marry Helen the Prophet and gave birth to son Kestrin. Kestrin then, with the Epirotes who wanted to leave, moved to the confluence of the River Tiamida (Thaumis) in Epirus and founded Kestrin (Kestrini), the coastal city near today’s Igoumenitsa. This is where Enei found them on his way to Italy.

Piel decided to stay in Epirus where he later became king and originated the Eakidi Dynasty. Piel, not Molos, is the originator of the Eakidi Dynasty. (Pauzania, Perrigissis tis Ellados, I, (prev. Pasini: Vodič po Heladi), Logos, Split, 1989). Fifteen generations after Piel (i.e. 800 years later), Tarip became king of Epirus, after him his son Alketa (Alkettas) who had two sons, Arib (Aribb, 350 BC) and Neoptolemus. Pir (Pyrros) was the son of Aribin and was a famous Macedonian general and king of Epirus, who was known for warring against Sparta and against Rome (“Pyrrhic victory”). He was king of Epirus between 295 and 272 BC.

Neoptolemus, son of Alketas, had a son named Alexander and a daughter named Olympias. Alexander died in Lukania. Olympias married Philip II (359-336 BC) king of Macedonia and gave birth to their son Alexander, later named the Great.

This Mirmidonian Eakidi genealogy is confirmed by the historian Thompson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 298, Athina, 1954), who wrote that this genealogical ethnonym earlier belonged to the pre-Achaean inhabitants of Greece, just like the ethnonym Danai, which was of Egyptian origin, belonged to the inhabitants of Arg in the Peloponnesus. It belonged to the indigenous Pelasgians who were there before the arrival of the Dorian-Hellenes. In conclusion, it should be noted that the ancient Macedonians, the Temenidi, as well as the descendants of Philip II and Alexander the Great, were authentic descendants of the proto-Slavic Scythians who arrived in the Balkans around 1500 BC. Swiss Institute of Genetics “iGenea” Report

The Swiss Institute of Genetics “iGgenea” (CEO Imna Pazos), in its study entitled “Geneologie und Genetic arbeiten”, in the section called “Genealogical Archaeology” provided results of the Balkan nation genetic profile, which largely agrees with our own research which proved that the Macedonian people are autochthonous people. (NIN, Belgrade, no. 32 from 21.05.2009. - Rade Marevich)

During its research, the Institute produced 400 scientific papers which were published in leading, specialized world magazines. It also produced reports on DNA genealogical haplo-group tests for the whole of Europe and for the Balkans. Haplo groups are groups of haplo-types that are identified by the specific position of chromosomes. In genetics, chromosome Epsilon is used to explore haplo groups of paternal and mitochondrial DNA. The same was also used for the maternal side. Based on these tests it can be determined if a person belongs to a particular group or ancestors of haplo-groups, which is important from a genealogical and anthropological perspective. Analysis done by the “iGenea” Institute can serve as a bridge between historical research and genetics. It’s a valuable way of confirming historical information and vice versa. Furthermore, it is noted that the methods used for genetic profiling deliver reliable and accurate results in 99% of the cases.

According to this Institute’s (“iGenea”) research results, 30% of the blood that flows in the veins of today’s Macedonians is from the ancient Macedonians of Alexander the Greats’ time. The rest is 20% Teutonic, 15% Hellene, 15% Slav, 10% Illyrian, 5% Hun and 5 % Phoenician.

The genetic structure in Greece has revealed the following: Hellenic origin 35% Phoenician 20%, Slav 20%, Teutonic 15%, Illyrian 5%, ancient Macedonians 5%. The Bulgarian genetic structure has revealed 49% Thracian, 15% Hellenic, 15% Slav, 11% Ancient Macedonian and 10% Phoenician. The Albanian genetic structure has revealed 30% Illyrian, 20% Slav, 18% Thracian, 16% Phoenician, 14% Hellenic and 2% Viking.

So, the enigma about who the Macedonians are has been largely resolved by this study.

(In the nucleus of human cells there are two sets of genomes, one derived from the father and one from the mother. In general, each set includes all genes, about 30,000 in 23 pairs of chromosomes.)

Language of the ancient Macedonians

The next enigma in the ethno-cultural continuity of the ancient Macedonians is their language. It poses the eternal question: What language did the ancient Macedonians speak? What “other” language did Alexander speak? Herodotus (Herodotus, History, I, 57, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) about the natives of Greece, the Pelasgians said: “The Pelasgians spoke a barbarian language…” Later he said “…The Hellenes, it seems to me, always spoke the same language…” (Herodotus, History, I, 58, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988). Then further on he said: “… they always remained a barbaric people…”

According to Thomson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 119, Athina, 1954) and McQueen (McQueen, JG: The Hittites and their contemporaries in Asia Minor, p. 35, London, in 1986), the prehistoric Balkans, the Aegean basin and Asia Minor, are a unique glossologic region, with onomastics which have non-Hellenic elements.

Mpampiniotis (Mpampiniotis G., Synoptiki istoria tis ellinikis glössas, Athinai, 1986), a modern Hellenic linguist and professor in Athens University, in his book “A Brief History of the Hellenistic Language”, after introducing historical-comparative glossology, elaborated on the history of the Hellenic language. In the section entitled “Pre-Hellenic” history he elaborated on the term “foundations-hypostromi" of the language, epistemology and etymology of theory about the pre-Hellenic foundations. Citing various authors, especially in reference to Kretschmer (Kreschmer, "Einleitung in die Geschiechte der griechischen Sprache", 1892, "Die protindogermaniasche Schicht", 1925) and Schachermeyr (Schachermeyr, Das agais che Neolithikum, Lund, 1964), he wrote the following: “Based on the latest archaeological findings, it was determined that there were two older layers under the Mycenaean layer, which, according to our anthropological findings, differ in the technology and material culture:

1. The Eastern foundation (anatolisch). This is the Asia Minor foundation which extends into Hellada and Asia Minor and is chronologically older.

2. The Danube foundation (Donauländisch). This Central European foundation is younger and extends into Hellada, the Balkans and the Danube up to Hungary and southern Italy. At the same time, they are the carriers of the famous “ceramics in the form of tablets” (“Bandkeramika”).

Apart from these findings there is also the periodization of the Hellenic language.

Prehistoric Period

- Indo-European /IE/ - 3000 BC - Hellenic /X/ - I Proto-Hellenic /PH/ - 3000-2000 BC

Historic periods

- II ancient Hellenic /AH/ - 1400-300 BC - III Alexander’s Koine, 300 BC - 600 AD - IV Medieval - 600 - 1200 AD

a) Early Byzantine - 600 - 1200 AD b) Byzantine - 1200-1500 AD c) Post Byzantine - 1500-1800 AD

- V Neo-Hellenic 1900 - 2000 AD

Looking at the table above we see that Alexander’s Koine lasted about 900 years from about 300 BC to about 600 AD and was used during the Byzantine period until 1832 when Hellada became an independent state. Since then, after lasting a period of about 2100 years in its natural evolutionary form, it began to experience various post-Byzantine stages of forced evolution with the injection of the katharevusa up until 1975, thus transforming into the new Demotic Greek language when the neo-Hellenic “Koine” became the official language of the Hellenic state.

During Alexander’s time and subsequently when the Macedonian Empires extended beyond the Balkans and into Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria and other regions covering the then known world, Koine became the official written and spoken language of the Macedonian Empires. During the Macedonian Epoch, falsely referred to as “Hellenism and the Roman Empire” by most mainstream historians, Koine was widely used as the Empire’s language of business and commerce in a similar way the English language is used today. But according to Mpampiriotis (Mpampiriotis, G., Synopiki istoria tis Ellinkis glossas, p. 107, Athina, in 1986), “Alexander’s Koine was a mother tongue in the Empire, as today is English in England, America, Australia and Canada and a foreign, second language in India”. The reality of the situation is that Alexander’s Koine had evolved from various dialects, such as the “Ionian” the “Aeolian” the “Attic” and others which depended on geographical and socio-political circumstances. Later it evolved into the “Dorian-Hellenic Koine” language of Sparta, which was used by Pindar, Stesihor, Bakhulid and others. However the numerous archaeological and linguistic studies performed over the years indicate that the ancient Macedonians had their own language, a Proto-Slavic language.

For example, Macedonian researchers T. Bozhevski, and A. Tentov (Bozhevski, T. and Tentov A., Deciphering the middle text of the Rosetta Stone, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Contributions XXVI, 2005) have initiated an interesting research project called “Deciphering the middle text of the Rosetta Stone”. The name “Rosetta” was attributed to the toponym where the stone was found in the port city El Rashid in Egypt. The stone was found by the French, by Napoleon’s soldiers when they were digging fortifications in 1779. But because the French lost the war to the English, under an agreement in 1802, the stone was handed over to the English and placed in the British Museum in London. World scientists interpreted the writing on the stone as a special decree issued by the high priests of Egypt in 196 BC to honor Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes Evharistos, marking the anniversary of his coronation as Basilius of the Macedonian Egyptian kingdom. The decree was written in three different scripts. The upper part was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs in the Egyptian language. The middle part was unknown, assumed to be Demotic Egyptian, but our researchers found that it was written in the Macedonian syllabic alphabet, the languages of the ancient Macedonians and “living masters” of Egypt. Some of the words in the middle text are similar to today’s Macedonian language. The lower part was written in the ancient Greek alphabet and language. Our researchers have concluded that the middle text on the Rosetta stone belongs to the original ancient Macedonian language used by the Macedonian kings who ruled for three hundred years. The Rosetta stone was instrumental in deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Risto Stefov (Chris Stefou), in his book History of the Macedonian People from Ancient Times to the Present (Chris Stefou, History of the Macedonian People from Ancient Times to the Present, translated by Macedonian Spark, 2008, Skopje) has also presented us with some interesting results of modern research in the field of proto-Slavic languages. For example, Stefov said that Anthony Ambrozic in his book entitled “Adieu to Brittany” (Ambrozic Anthony, Adieu to Brittany - a transcription and translation of Venetic passages and toponyms, Toronto: Cythera Press, 1999) has given us information about ancient texts found at a site called Dura Europos in Syria which were left there by the ancient Macedonians. Dura Europos was a border town in the Syrian desert near the Euphrates, founded by Macedonian general Seleucus Nikator (312-280 BC). Around 140 BC the city was conquered by nomadic tribes from Partia and after that it was conquered by the Romans, and in 256 AD it was razed by the Sasanits. Archaeological researchers found a number of grave slabs and other human artifacts in different places of the Dura Europos Roman fortress near the Euphrates River. One of those slabs had an inscription written on it dedicated to the goddess Mithra (Great Mother - Megale Matera, Magna Mater) written in the Venetic language. Mithra was the supreme goddess, under different names, well-respected in the Balkans, Italy, the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and the Middle East. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, I, 196, V, 9, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), “The Veneti were an Illyrian tribe…” “… Their lands extended to Enet in the Adriatic…” Ambrozic deciphered the paragraph found on Mithra’s tablet as follows:

Transcription: …DI MI HRANET TO JESEN ZHENO H JO SDRAJE JA JE I RASJA RIBOLEUJC …”AT JE” (?) GOSTOJEDOT ON JE TOJI DE I TE ROJ (VAR) J!

Translation: “…May you save me the wife this fall so that she is healthy and that the fisherman grows…’AT JE’ (?) [Guest-food] he is yours. May heaven also protect (?) you!”

Looser Translation: “…May you save my wife in the fall so that she stays healthy and the little fisherman grows…’AT JE’ is your [guest-food]. May heaven also protect you!”

It was no secret that Alexander and his generals and officers spoke their own unique Macedonian language. So, it was just a matter of time before it was identified as a proto-Slavic language. Plutarch (Plutarch, Vitae parallelae (prev. Usporedni Biographies), III, 51, Zagreb, 1988) confirmed this in his works when he described the conflict between Alexander and Kleitos: “… Not being able to stop his anger ... Alexander threw one of the apples that was on the table and hit Kleitos, and he then began to look for his dagger. One of the bodyguards, Aristophanes, took the dagger away and the others surrounded Alexander and pleaded with him to stop. Just then Alexander jumped up and began to yell loudly in his unique Macedonian language (a sign of high distress) calling his personal Macedonian guards (hipaspisti) and ordering the trumpeter to blow the trumpet…”

The next argument that supports bilingualism in ancient Macedonia comes from Quintus Curtius Rufus’s books (About 50 AD), from his ten volume works about Alexander the Great (Historiae Alexandri Magni Macedonis). These books were written using Kleitarchos as a source. They were written around 300 BC. Klitarchos was the son of historian Dionon, who laid the foundations of the later legends. Quintus Curtius Rufus provided an interesting review about this in his Book IX in relation to Philotas’s trial, who, according to Plutarch, was Alexander’s childhood friend and commander of the cavalry…

Quintus Curtius Rufus wrote that during the fall of 330 BC, at the capital Drangien, later called Prodosi (due to the discovery of a plot against Alexander), Philotas was suspected of being a key participant in a plan for a rebellion and was put on trial for treason. The trial was public and conducted before an Assembly of the Macedonian army, a traditional way of conducting trials for treason. During the trial, Alexander asked Philotas in a loud voice so that everyone could hear:

“Now the Macedonians will judge you, so I ask you will you reply in our native language.” Philotas then said “I prefer to speak in the Koine language which is the official language of the Macedonian Empire…” Then Alexander responded by saying: “It is obvious that Philotas detests even our native language…”

Bilingualism in Macedonia

From the analysis given above we have shown that the ancient Macedonians were bilingual. The second language they inherited from their mythological ancestors the Aeolians who inherited their language from the Paleo-Balkan Panonian Glossology and, with time and evolution, became the official language of their kingdom and later of their Empire. That language experienced a great rise during the Macedonian epoch and so did Macedonia and the Macedonian people.

The Macedonians inherited their first language, their Slavic language, from their Scythian Proto-Slav ancestors. This was a popular language in ancient Macedonia and with the neighbouring Scythian tribes in the Balkans down to the Peloponnesus, as well as with the people living between the Adriatic and Aegean Seas.

Being brought forth by Alexander the Great, the “Koine” language was adopted by the Macedonian Empires as the language of the educated and prominent people, elevated to new heights and given international stature mainly thanks to the Library in Alexandria, to Aristotle in Athens and in Macedonia, as well as the library in Pergamum. And because of that, this

particular Macedonian language became the language of communications in diplomacy, politics, economics and science.

Outside of the great state organizations, rich economy and a great army, the ancient Macedonians also had their language as a powerful weapon, especially during Philip II and Alexander the Greats’ time. This led to power centralization and function integration which received sharp criticisms from Demosthenes (384-322 BC) in his “Philippics”. Demosthenes spoke against Philip II when he said “Philip of Macedon, at the same time is a general, treasurer, politician and diplomat, but never has anyone fermented Europe like him…”

Many years later, Iakovakis Rizos Nerulos, president of the Athens Archaeological Society, in his speech at the Acropolis on May 12, 1841 said: “Philip not only defeated Greece at Chaeronea but he did something deadlier than that, he installed Alexander…” (Lithoksoou, D., Symmiktos Laos, Mpatavia, Thessaloniki, 2005; pevod: Az-Buki, Skopje, 2005.)

Lithoksoou, in his research entitled “Nationalism and the Modern Hellenic National Myth”, made reference to the longstanding scientific, historical and linguistic work done by Professor Fallmerayer on the territory of the then Hellada.

Jakob Phillipp Fallmerayer (1790-1861) was professor of world history and classical languages in Munich. He visited Athens on three separate occasions in 1833, 1842 and in 1847 and based on his findings he published several books. Fallmerayer also wrote about the Greek defeat at Chaeronea in 338 BC, which he called “a lethal wound”, about the destruction of Corinth in 146 BC by the Romans, the Goth attacks by king Alarih in 400 and 401 AD and lastly by the Byzantines who declared war on the old religion. This, Fallmerayer concluded, greatly contributed to the political and cultural demise of ancient Greece.

To prove his point, Fallmerayer used Byzantine sources where it was shown that most toponyms in southern Greece, particularly in the Peloponnesus, had Slavic place names. This shows that Slavs existed in that region and the reason the place names acquired Slavic names, as opposed to ancient names, is because the region was devoid of indigenous ancient people. Fallmerayer strengthened his claims with information he found in the “Chronicles of Monemvasil”. Monemvasil, from one approach, was a fortified town since 582/583 AD, located on the southeastern coast of the Peloponnesus. In the second half of the X century AD, it was mentioned in the “Chronicles of Monemvasil” that “Slav laws” existed in the Peloponnesus from the end of the VI to early IX century AD. (Ostrogorski, G.: History Vizantije, p. 158, Education, Belgrade, since 1969.)

Ancient Macedonian Religions

Religion in the Macedonian Argead Dynasty had an important role both in private and public life. The Macedonian tribes, together with their Aeolian kinfolk from prehistoric Borea and Hyperborea, brought their gods of the hydrological Danube System and placed them on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in the region, which in their language meant “much sung about”. Their supreme god Zeus (Dios-Dan-Danube), sitting at a height of 2917 metres above sea level, ruled the world and the other gods of Olympus including Hades, Hera, Poseidon, Aries, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia, Hephaestus, Demeter, etc., from high above the mountain. From Mount Olympus in Macedonia, Zeus hurled lightning, created thunder, controlled the wind, the storms and the snow. The Olympian gods had a number of creatures, including the nymphs of Pieria to entertain and feed them nectar and ambrosia, which gave them long lives and kept them young.

The mountainous region located between the Thermaic Gulf in the Aegean Sea and the Haliakmon (Bistritsa) River, the ancient Macedonians called “Pieria”, which in their language meant “Holy Mountain”. To honour their gods, the ancient Macedonians built religious cities such as Dion, Herakleion and others. There too they buried their Macedonian kings including Macedon, Pier, Eagar, Orpheus, etc., up until Philip II, whose tomb was (allegedly) discovered in 1969 in Vergina.

Greek historian Papastavrou (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 496, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972) said that the ancient Macedonians, outside of the Olympic gods had their own separate gods (probably proto-Slavic gods). For example, the god of war was called “Favlo”, the goddess of gardens was called “Giga”, the goddess of hunting was called “Gazoria” the goddess of beauty was called “Zairena”, the god of light was called Ksanth”, the god of dreams was called “Tatoe”, the good of health was called “Daron”, the god of strength was called “Aret”, the goddess of fire, water and patroness of the city Voden was called “Vedi”.

Symbols of the Ancient Macedonians – The casket with the golden sun

In addition to the mythological symbols, the ancient Macedonian culture also embraced other symbolic expressions such as emblems and mascots. The sun, for example, was a universal symbol of the Royal Macedonian Argead Dynasty revered since around 700 BC. This was confirmed by Herodotus (Herodotus, History, VIII, 137, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) when he wrote about the king of Lebei refusing to pay Perdiccas I and his brothers the wages owed to them and told them they could have the spot of sun shining on the floor as payment. Then, Perdicuss, the youngest, “with his knife drew a shape around the sunbeam on the floor and accepted it as payment…” This was also confirmed by archaeologist Andronikos (1969-1985) when he discovered in Vergina a gold coffin with a golden sun symbol on the outside of its cover. The symbol was a 16 ray golden sun, a traditional symbol of the Argead dynasty.

Besides the sun, the Lion was also a symbol present in Macedonian culture, symbolic of the memorial, the statue of the “Lion of Chaeronea” that the Macedonians built after Philip II defeated the Athenians, on August 2, 338 BC. Before that a goat head of a snow white goat with silver horns was a Macedonian symbol. By this symbol Perdiccas founded his capital city and named it Ega meaning goat (goat or White City -Belgrade).