ALEXANDROS MACEDON AND MACEDONIA

The world has never tired of speaking about Alexander the Great. But how many people,and especially how many historians, have visited Macedonia and tried to speak with a Macedonian,with a Vlach, with a Aromanian or a Macedonian -Romanian? How many have tried to discover the Macedonian language? How many historians have studied the history of the Macedonians and of the Macedonian State, from its early foundation to the present day, when it is shared between the Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Yugoslavians and the Albanians, each trying to adjudicate a claim for the territory and for ...the Macedonians? Does anyone care if,today, the Macedonians, living in their own country but under a Greek yoke, lead a worse life than under the Ottoman rule? The Greeks do not acknowledge their existence so do not offer them the well-known rights any minority is entitled to?

Not long ago I was quoting Ulrich Wilcken (Alexander the Great, WW Norton & Comp.1997) who on page 22 spoke of the "controversial" origin of the Macedonians, as they were neither barbarians (and, therefore, not Greeks) nor Greeks,or of Greek origin (and thus, not barbarians). I wonder how many Macedonians, Vlachs or Macedonian-Romanians had he spoken with before coming up with such nonsense? The matter is not controversial at all. It is merely covered thick with political paints, obviously convenient, meant to prevent the Macedonians from laying legitimate claims to having schools and newspapers in their language:in their Macedo-Romanian dialect. Or, to put it frankly, in the language of the civilization of which I consider myself to be a member - in Romanian!

The Macedonians were, are,and will remain the same people: Thraco-Dacian-Pelasgian, whose origins can be traced back to the Carpatho-Danubian nucleus. The language of the old Macedonians was, is and will be a Thraco-Dacian dialect.

B.Stefanoski's book, published 3-4 years ago confirms the idea that Daco-Romanian and Macedo-Romanian are dialects of the same Pelasgian, Thracian, Thraco-Dacian language. Although Mr. Stefanoski is not a linguist, he is thoroughly acquainted with the Macedo-Romanian language, and this fact allows him to decipher the old texts with some ease. He proves that the multitude of inscriptions found south of the Danube are written in a language different from Greek and Latin.

This language is nothing else than Thraco-Dacian, the Macedonian language

being in fact the southern variant of a language spoken on a vast territory - from north of the Balkans and the Danube, to the Baltic Sea.

One of the best known inscriptions is the one on the ring found in 1912 in

Ezerova, in Bulgaria, which was later exhibited in the museum in Sofia.

This ring is 2,500 years old, that is older than any Roman or Greek presence in the Balkans. Macedonia became a Roman province in about 150 BC,the year after which the Roman sovereignty expanded over to the north.

If the researchers I mentioned before B.Stefanoski considered that the text engraved on the ring was undecipherable, let us see how it can be read, if the text is Latinized:

ROLISTENEAN
ERENERTIL
TEANESKOR
RAZEADOM
EANTILEZV
IITTAMINE
RAZ
ELTA

We must understand that there is no space between the words, the text being written on a sealed ring having a 3-cm diameter.

As the Thraco-Dacian-Macedonians had reached a poetic subtlety never before achieved with the old European peoples, let us remember our literature and acrostic-making classes. What we shall find on this Geto-Daco-Macedonian ring, over 2,500 years old is indeed an acrostic. As we read downwards, the first letters of each line form the word(s) RE TREIRE, which in Vulgar Latin, or, more accurately, in the Daco-Thracian-Macedonian language, means: "Stop at the third (line)".

Knowing that ROLLIS (which also means "eagle") could be used as a man's name at that time), and that RAZE (RA-ZE - RA, the God - the God of the Sun), with its variants - ROZA, RUZA (Trandafir = Rose, in English) could as well be feminine names (possibly "wife of Rollis"), let us see what the lines mean if we divide the text into words.

The 2nd column's translation could be: "Eagle" has (holds) a letter from the poem (doina) so that the "Rose" could bear fruit. At this (at the ring with the poem, o.n.) you will look, but at the "Rose" even more.

The 3rd column could be translated: Rollis, always keep the ring with you.

/Never part with the ring. It is written by Raze with love. Look at it, but look at Raze even more. It seems the ring was offered by Raze Trandafir = Rose (in English) to her husband, Rollis (the Eagle) who ruled over Scynthia Minor (today's Dobrogea) and Moesia. Let us remember that at Celei (in the district Olt), another golden ring, found in a woman's tomb, bore the following inscription: VRO LY THRIS VE INDRYN SOY A ROYLON - "The Thorny Flower (The Rose) will be picked up only by the Eagle".

I honestly do not know why we need to search for documents certifying that the Macedonians were not Greeks and that they spoke a different language.

Possibly because nobody will listen to what the Macedonians, the Vlachs and the Macedonian-Romanians have to say, as nobody will listen to their language... They go on speaking their language, thousands of years old, a language that has undergone all the inherent changes throughout the milleniums.

Let us not forget that the language of the old Greeks has become almost impossible for the contemporary Greeks to understand...Yet, it still preserves its characteristics.

Certain political interests have conferred a Greek origin to Phillip II, Alexander the Great's father, considered at the time "the Greeks' worst enemy",and to Alexander the Great, "the absolute conqueror of all Greeks and destroyer of the Persian Empire". However, this error should not persist. It should be denounced.

Herodotus wrote that Alexander I, the son of Amintas, king of Macedonia, who lived a century before the great historian, was denied participation in the Olympic Games because he was not a Greek.

On the other hand, Strabo held in his Geography that: "Macedonia and other Tessalian regions are inhabited by Thracian people, and Acarnania and Aetolia, by Epeirots. The latter are an Illyrian branch, part of the big Thraco-Pelasgian family". Somewhere else Strabo wrote: "Macedonia, as far as the Strymon river is inhabited by Macedonians and Peons (Illyrians, o.n.). The land encompassed between the Strymon and Pontus Euxinus (Constanta and Hemus - The Balkan Mountains) is populated only by Thracian people, except on the coast which is occupied by the Greeks." Strabo was writing this when Epirus and Macedonia had been Roman provinces for 200 years, and therefore had not been Romanized as some would like to say.

Moreover, Strabo brought a very precious piece of information when he referred to the language of his contemporary Macedonians as being different from Greek: "to us Macedonia reaches as far as Corcyra, because here the people have their hair cut like the Macedonians, wear thick woolen cloaks, again like the Macedonians and speak the same language." (not Greek, o.n.)

Not even their names have undergone considerable changes in the 2,000 years since Strabo lived. This is to say that although many Macedonians are bilingual today, they will not give up their language, as many Greeks probably wish.

Here are only a few examples that will strengthen the truth about the origin of the Macedonians and their language. If you are curious enough, you can meet them on their homeland, in Macedonia, shared today by the Greeks, the Bulgarians and the Yugoslavians.

The Macedonians are neither entitled to a name and a country, nor to their own language. The Greeks simply deny their origin and contradict their right to exist.

The Origin of the Macedonians

The Carpatho-Danubian space, the cradle of Old Europe as it is considered, the Aryan space which gave rise to the Vedic, Pelasgian, Thracian civilization is the departure point of the Proto-Europeans - the Carpatho-Danubians who were to conquer the world. The Macedonians simply represent one of the Carpatho-Danubian branches of. The Macedonian language, which they call today Macedo-Romanian (Vlachian as the Greeks call it),which is very similar to the Daco-Roman language of today.

Why are the Greeks so keen on lying about it when they consider the Macedonians to be of Greek origin (?) if their theory is so blatantly wrong? It's a pity, I think. This could make us believe that actually their entire "culture" may be hiding a well-buried theft, long since woven into their "history."

It is beyond my understanding why 6,000 Greeks living in Romania are entitled to have schools and media in their language, while 800,000 Macedonians (Macedonian-Romanians) living in Greece have no right to reciprocity in our "friendly" Greece!?

Why aren't the Macedonians living in Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia allowed to exercise their right to speak their language?

The Romanians dwelling in our immediate neighbourhood along the Timoc valley, both on the Bulgarian bank and on the Serbian one, numbering no less than 2 million people are not entitled to have schools or newspapers in Romanian (the only exception having been between 1854 and 1868) and still exist. I wonder ... for how long?

Over-generous as we are, we ceded Banat to the Yugoslavians lest their capital be on the borderline. Possibly out of "gratitude," they closed up all Romanian schools there.

Moreover, after we fought alongside the Bulgarians, helping them to rid themselves of the Ottoman yoke, they simply deny our existence. However, let us trace back to the moment the Macedonians appeared. The Greeks arrived on the Balkan Peninsula between 1900 and 1600 BC. They migrated from east of the Caspian Sea, in four groups: the Achaeans, fair-haired and white-skinned, as Homer was to describe them 300-400 years later; the Dorians, who were to subjugate the first; and finally, the Aeolians and the Ionians who settled mostly on the Thracian Sea islands. The last ones would uproot the Carpatho-Danubians, and drive them from the Balkan Peninsula to the north. Around the year 700 BC, a part of the Carpatho-Dacians (the Pelasgian people) united forces under the rule of King Perdicas I, the founder of the Macedonian State (Perdicas also being called Argeiades - from the river Arges).

One of the descendants of Alexander I of Macedon was denied participation in the Olympic Games, on account of being a barbarian, and not a Greek. As a matter of fact, the Olympic Games were then a special number for the homosexuals, as many of the winners were often defeated after a less heroic and more erotic competition. The Macedonian King Alexander III, another descendant of Perdicas married the Thracian Eurydice. They had three sons, one of them being Philip II. This one married Olympia, the daughter of Neoptolemus of Epirus (a Thraco-Illyrian), the king of the (regele mocosienilor) As we see, neither was of Greek origin. The two of them had two children: Alexander II (named Alexander of Macedon) and Cleopatra.

One may wonder why the name of Alexander is so frequent with these Thraco-Pelasgian-Carpatho-Dacian people.

The Thraco-Dacian legends have it that priestesses of the Night's Lord, from the legendary Kogaion, had his head cut off and thrown into the river flowing in the neighbourhood. The Hellenic and Roman legends consider Orpheus of Thracian origin and speak of the Mainades ("the sacred dancers") who cut his head and threw it into the river. He was also said to have been the Prince of the Kycons. Orpheus' natural fortress was D-Ion ("of the Magnificent"). On one of the oldest clay slates, similar to those found at Tartaroaia, Romania, where somebody well acquainted with the Kogaion's mysteries had drawn a cross on whose top was a head. The slate bears the following text, which translated reads: "the man who knows the secret will go to heaven."

As an emperor, the Lord of the Night, the Magnificent (the later Orpheus) had animals like stags killed as a sacrifice. On the seal of the first Moldavian capital, Baia, there is a stag with its head cut off, this alluding to the beheading of the "Lord of the Night" by the priestesses. "The Lord of the Night" or "Ion the Magnificent" was also called "Dros the Stag". The terrible Thraco-Dacian Getic tradition of sending a pure, innocent messenger to heaven was born out of the memory of his sacrifice.

This tradition was named ALEXAN-DROS - "The one sacrificed to the Stag" (or "like the stag"). Alexandros and Alexander are genuine Pelasgian, Thraco-Dacian names.

It seems ,that the strange dance Ciuleandra or Iuleandra goes back in time to those days when the priestesses of Ko-ga-ion were the ones who made the first dancing steps, when the chosen one (Alexan-Dros) was sent to heaven (and then caught on spears) to give the earthly message to the gods.

Herodotus was the first to describe this barbarian tradition. Now that we have surveyed the Macedonians' world, their origin, Alexander of Macedon's origin (his father and his mother were both barbarians, the former, a Thraco-Macedonian and the latter, a Thraco-Illyrian), let us see their progress throughout history. Alexandros, son of the Macedonian "barbarian" Philip II and of the Thraco-Illyrian Olympia (barbarian as well) distinguished himself in the universal history as an outstanding figure, in the campaigns he managed and also as an artistic personality, as he spread the Balkan culture on three continents. He led his army without ever knowing defeat and founded a state whose borders started from the Danube and reached as far as the Nubian Desert, and from the Adriatic Sea to the Indian Ocean. In this contradictory personality the characteristics specific to a Pelasgian, Macedonian young man (enjoying life and merry-making) mingled with the toughness usual to the age.

Born in 356 BC at Pella, the capital of the Pela-sgian kingdom of Macedonia, the very night the famous temple of the goddess Artemis of Ephesus caught fire, Alexander was doomed to face a society ruled by primitive and barbarian survival laws. At the time, the Greeks who considered the Macedonians "barbarians" lived to see their fortresses laid waste and occupied by the penetrating force of the Macedonian armies, led by Philip II. For the first time since their unification in the Balkan Peninsula, the Greeks had a master who subdued them and brought them together under his rule, thus turning them into subjects to the Macedonian State of Philip II. His son, Alexander, inherited from his parents not only their Thraco-Pelasgian blood, but also the characteristics of an exceptional leader and the Carpatho-Danubian-Aryan impulsive temperament.

Speaking of sexual appetite, his father is said to have been unable to refrain from giving in to the fair sex representatives, whereas Alexander is known to have manifested a certain reserve in matters of amorous affairs and was therefore wrongly or tendentiously accused of having different sexual preferences.

Heredity is the only factor that can fully explain Alexander's character; however, let us remember what kind of education his parents offered him.

They brought Aristotle to teach him, the former being in his turn Plato's disciple and son of Nicomachus, the doctor of Amyntas of Macedon.

Aristotle had been born at Stagira (a Macedonian territory) and was of Macedonian origin by his mother and Greek-Macedonian by his father; he spoke the Macedonian language fluently, and improved his Greek at Plato's school. He was to return to Pella at 40, as he was a close friend of the Macedonia King Philip II (see Aulus Gellics, Nights at Attica).

Philip II entrusted Aristotle with teaching young Alexander astronomy, botany, zoology, medicine, as well as metaphysics, poetry and the main principles of politics (which he had learned from Plato). Aristotle wrote for Alexander The Art of Being A King, a work that unfortunately has not survived (see N.G.L. Hammond, The Genius of Alexander the Great, page 6).

Thus, the 13-year old Alexander, together with several other teenagers lived for three years in the small village Miezo, as disciples of Aristotle. The latter held a considerable sway over the future of young Alexandros, "the chosen one."

In 340 BC, at 16, Alexander had to leave the small village Miezo in order to become the regent of Pella, when his father, Philip II went on his campaign against Byzantium. When Alexander turned 18 (338 BC), Philip offered him the command of the Macedonian cavalry, in the decisive fight at Chaeronea. Only one year after these events, their good father-son relationship ended.

In 337 BC, on returning from the Corinthian Congress, Philip falls in love with the Macedonian Cleopatra and abandons Olympia. As a sign of protest, Alexander leaves Macedonia together with his mother, and goes to his grandparents' in Epirus, to Thraco-Illyrians... (I take it that only the Greek "historians" know how it is possible that Olympia has been awarded a Greek origin, after 2000 years).

A certain Demarotus of Corinth will be of help in the reconciliation between father and son. Alexander returns to Pella. In the meantime, Alexander's sister, Cleopatra, is given away in marriage to her uncle,

Alexander, king of the (regele molosianilor) (from the Thraco-Illyrian Epirus). On his way to the wedding, unprotected by his bodyguards, Philip is stabbed to death by Pausanias, a young Macedonian nobleman, the reason being a personal revenge.

Philip's tragic end was attributed by some to the misunderstanding between him and his wife, Olympia, but her involvement in the murder has never been proven; nor can the theory that had Alexander hes involved in the plot be anything but slanderous. Alexander loved and respected his father, his wish to avenge his death being enough evidence.

Alexander, "the gods' chosen or favoured one," started his rule in a rather sanguinary manner. He handed the Macedonian nobleman who had killed his father over to the Macedonian army who after a "special" treatment crucified him.

Later on, during Philip's funeral, Alexander ordered the execution of the two brothers from the princely family Lyncestian, namely Arhabaeus and Heromenes, after accusing them of bringing about Philip's death. Alexander forgave the third brother - Alexander Lyncestian - because after Philip's death the latter saluted Alexander the Great as king and respectfully accompanied him everywhere.

Yet, let us not forget that Darius III offered Alexander Lyncestian the throne of Macedonia provided the latter assassinated the one who was to be later referred to as Alexander the Great.Already, there are too many characters named Alexander; for our Carpatho-Danubian people, the name Alexander was not only very common, but also much respected and noble; the name of Cleopatra was also of Thracian, Pelasgian origin.

However, the security of the throne asked for other sacrifices. Amyntas, the son of the Pelasgian king from whom Philip had taken the throne, became a danger to our "little" Alexander. Consequently, Alexander reduced both Amyntas and Caranus, Alexander's stepbrother (from Philip's former marriage) to silence. Alexander and especially his mother never forgot Philip's great love, Cleopatra, Attalus' niece.

Alexander hurried to Asia and killed all the men in her family. His mother, Olympia, willing to match Alexander gesture, had Cleopatra and Philip's little girl killed, forcing Cleopatra to commit suicide. All this "conflict" which caused so much bloodshed, hardly imaginable today, guaranteed Alexander the safety of his throne, wherever he might have been at the moment, be it in Persia, India or Egypt.

However, the Greeks held under the thumb of the Macedonian barbarians, through the so-called "Corinthian Treaty" awakened their people to a sense of freedom and aversion for the Macedonian Pelasgians. In Athens, the leader and soul of the liberation movement from under the Macedonian yoke was Demosthenes, who, in his speeches, refused to acknowledge Alexander as king and master over the Greeks. (Demosthenes was well known at the time for his power of conviction and oratorical skills). Moreover, he spoke highly of Pausanias, Philip's murderer. Demosthenes summonted all Greeks to unity and freedom. The Aetolians decided to listen to him and sent for all those whom Philip had exiled, while Ambraciotes drov the Macedonian garrison away.

The Thebans set Cadmeia free. Everywhere, in Peloponnesus and in Argos, Elis and Arcadia people rise against their Macedonian conquerors, the spirit of freedom reaching as far as Asia, where

Demosthenes secretly contacted Parmenio and Attalus. The sly Demosthenes would never forget the Persian king whom he called upon for assistance.

Why did all these Greeks united against the Macedonians, appealing to the Persians for help, if according to historians nowadays' the Macedonians were Greeks?! One should not forget that Macedonia was never a Greek territory. It was as late as the 1st Balkan war that the tearing up of Macedonia and its division between the plunderers were settled. Yet, long ago, we, the Macedonians, were masters not only over Macedonia and Greece, but over a large Asian territory which included India, Persia, and Egypt.

Learning that the Greeks had been incited to mutiny and were having serious problems in the north of the country, Alexander the Great led his army in a forced march to Greece, this kind of strategy characterising him best. To him determination and rapidity in action meant success. His quick and unexpected appearance made the Tessalians forget about their aspirations of freadom and proclaim him quickly and flatteringly "Archon," promising him unlimited support in punishing the Athenians. Alexander finds himself no less than Achile's and Heracles's descendant. Alexander the Great leads his troops with lightning speed against the Aenians, Dolopians and Malians, occupying Thermopylae, his Macedonian troops inspiring everybody with awe and obedience. In a forced march he entered Boeotia terrifying the Thebans who, fearfully refused to hear of the Athenians and of any intentions of liberation. To the Athenians' fright, Alexander the Great presented them with an ultimatum: either war or the recognition of the Macedonian authority. The Athenians, on hearing about the triumphant marches of the young Macedonian king, forgot in their turn about their "thirst for freedom" and submitted to the Macedonian yoke, sending a delegation to the king, Demosthenes, the "courageous" fighter for liberty, being one of those commissioned.

Demosthenes, well aware of his own guilt, avoids facing the Young Macedonian. Thus, in the fall of the year 336 BC, each and every Peloponnesian, with the exception of Sparta, gave in to the Macedonians. Now that south of Macedonia there was no longer an enemy, before leaving for Asia, Alexander sought to ensure the security of the northern border through a Danubian campaign.

After returning from Corinth in the winter of 336-335 BC, instead of setting off in his Asian campaign, Alexander wished to ensure his northern borders. The Tribals were seemingly the ones who annoyed him the most. The Thracian tribes between the Balkans and the Danube, who unlike the former, had managed to defend their freedom. After Philip II temporarily abolished the kingdom Odrys, having conquered the whole southern Thracia, Alexander organised in 339 BC an expedition to the Lower Danube territories, where the Getic king Kothelas greeted him with rich gifts and gave him his daughter away in marriage. (I wonder how the impulsive Olympia reacted to that?). Philip II' s campaign was a very lucky one especially after the Macedonians had succeeded in defeating the Scythians as well, from whom they took considerable spoils of war, cattle and prisoners included. On coming back, as they were crossing the Hemus (Balkan) Mountains, the Macedonian army was attacked by the tribal Thracians, who robbed them of their spoils and,more than that, hurt Philip II badly in the leg. After 4 years since the above-mentioned events, we see Alexander organising his own campaign.

First he sent battle ships from Byzantium on the Getic Sea (the Black Sea), and through the Danube Delta, towards the Danube. The Greek merchants were the best informers for the Macedonian Empire, and acted as spies commissioned to the enemy territories to prepare the invasion.

Strangely enough, Alexander no longer used his father's old generals, Parmenio and Antipater, in his campaigns; instead he demanded that they should look after the Macedonia and the Greek conquered territories.

THE DANUBIAN CAMPAIN

In the spring of 335 BC, at the age of 21, Alexander left Amfipolis, marching his way to (Karasu) Nestos and got to Kotca where he came across the independent Thracians on the heights of Iipca (Shipka) at an altitude of 7,800 ft (at about 2,600 meters). They had consolidated their position, surrounding it with wagons which they later unsuccessfully rolled down onto the Macedonian phalanxes. When Iipca (Shipca) was conquered by the Macedonians, the king of the Tribals and a part of his people, together with their wives and children, barricaded themselves on an island on the Danube, the so-called "Pacuiul lui Soare." Alexander took the lead of his troops, returned to his ships already on the Danube now, and tried to invade from the water the island where the proud Geto-Dacian king Syrmos had taken refuge. However, for the first and last time in his life Alexander did not succeed!

What other scheme could he devise next? Alexander conquered the whole opposite bank of the Danube from the Geto-Dacians and made a troop demonstration in front of king Syrmos, thus asking for his friendship.

For certain logical (but mainly illogical) reasons, his incomprehensible, mysterious actions turned into victories. When he fought against his northern brothers he might have not contemplated conquering the world.

Crossing the Danube was no problem for the Macedonian soldiers: the leather field tents were filled with hay and sedge, thus becoming real rafts for the Macedonian "swimmers." This primitive method allowed over

1,500 horsemen and 4,000 foot soldiers to cross the river overnight and reach the Geto-Dacian bank where the wheat fields were taller than the Macedonian cavalry. Taken by surprise by the appearance of the invaders, the Getae, more numerous, mounted their women and children on the horses, leaving the Macedonians "celebrate their victory by themselves". Thus, Alexander the Great, "the conqueror", had nobody to fight with and so crossed the Danube back that same day, "proud" of managing to spare each and every one of his soldiers. Only a few soldiers got drowned in the river. Alexander's triumphant campaign convinced even the Celts to send in an ambassador to assure him of their friendship. (friendship that lasted almost 50 years

until the Celts invaded Macedonia and Greece). This Danubian campaign gathered 225,000 soldiers and 5,000 horses. Young Alexander's ambition was to succeed where his father had not. So he managed to set foot on the other bank of the Danube...for one day, his army numbering 1,500 cavalrymen and 4,000 foot soldiers!

But, as N.G.L. Hammond puts it (The Genius of Alexander the Great, page 35), Alexander's "victory" over his Thracian brothers, in the Balkan Mountains, was different from that against the Greeks. Here the Thracian tribes were left alone to govern by themselves, and were allowed to preserve their laws and local customs. As these Thracians had their own army there were no Macedonian garrisons left to supervise them, as the case had been with the Greeks. Probably Alexander considered it better for the Thracians to be allowed to keep their customs, traditions, and dignity.

Why hadn't Alexander been as "indulgent" with the Greeks? Philip II had founded, as the Macedonian tradition has it, the town Philippopolis, where the Thraco-Macedonian population together with the Greek merchants served the political and economical interests of the Macedonian Empire.

Philippopolis was renamed Plovdiv, in 611 AD, under the Slavo-Mongoloid (Bulgarian) occupation. Alexander planned to return to Macedonia via Peonia, close to nowadays' Skopje, and to visit the Thracian tribe of the Agrians, in the vicinity of Sofia. The tribe's king was a friend of his. In the meantime he found out that Cleitus, the King of Iurya (Albania, today), had risen against him. So, on a hot August weather, he set off in a forced march (walking about 20 miles a day) to Erigon (Cerna), to the Fortress Pelion, without knowing that the latter was already in his enemy's hands.

The arrival of a rebel, the King of the Taulanti (a territory neighbouring nowadays' Tirana) complicated things even more. Glaucias was determined to support Cleitus in his fight against the Macedonians. Moreover, Alexander' s old informers announced that the Autariatii (now Bosnia) would set out to confront the Macedonians in March the following year. Quick as he was, Alexander arrived in Pelion before Glaucias. On the neighbouring hills, Cleitus was about to sacrifice three boys, three girls, and three black buffalo cows. He abandoned all in the midst of the ritual, hurrying to hide inside the fortress with his troops. Glaucias' arrival could temporarily save him from the hands of the Macedonians. However, his fortress was to be set on fire and the two kings defeated.

As for the second rebellion of the Greeks under the Macedonian yoke, as long as Alexander of Macedon was in Macedonia, the defeated Greeks "behaved themselves". Yet, their restlessness, irritation, and especially their wish for freedom revived their will to fight against the barbarian Macedonian authority. In the meantime, the new Persian king, Darius III, who had come to the throne in May 336 BC - well aware of the inevitability of a Macedonian-Persian clash - decided to prevent it, inciting the Greeks to rebel against the Macedonian yoke. Demosthenes of Athens, unscrupulous as he was, presently accepted 3000 talants (golden coins) and started his propaganda campaign in the Persians' favour. The Greeks started their revolt, incited and excited by their striving for freedom, and especially encouraged by the absence of the young Macedonian king, who was busy taking part in the northern fights. Demosthenes brought a wounded Greek who was saying that he had fought alongside the Macedonian troops and that Alexander had fallen in action while fighting with the Thracian Tribals. The euphoria, the frenzy that gripped the Greek fighters on learning about the death of Alexander was unbelievable. In Athens more than anywhere else, the Greeks were overwhelmed by the hatred for the Macedonian barbarian intruders.

The death of Alexander of Macedon triggered the annulment of the Corinthian pact. Automatically, Greece regained the freedom it had known before the Cerone battle. The Thebans, for whom the Macedonian garrison at Cadmeira was an insult, killed several Macedonian officers and barricaded themselves inside the fortress, relying on the brotherly support of the Athenian Greeks. The Arcadians rose against the Macedonians in their turn,displaying their forces as far as Isthmus, refusing to withdraw their army despite the message received from Antipater, the Macedonian general, whom Alexander had required to keep an eye on the Empire during his Danubian campaign. Other liberation movements started in Aetolia and Elis. The 21-year old Macedonian king was informed about this during the battle of Pellion. One should not judge Alexander only in his capacity of king of Macedon and conqueror of Greece, but also as a ..."21-year old man," educated and arrogant, proud and unyielding, driven by an explosive temper, a genuine Macedonian.

Thus, the Macedonian king reached Onchestus, Boeotia, after a 13-day march that covered 20 miles a day. As the Thebans thought it was only Antipater who had made all the way from Macedonia, they did not panic. When they heard about Alexander, they thought reference was made to Alexander Lyncestian, the one who was to ascend the throne after Alexander the Great. This mistake would cost them dearly.

The 21-year old Alexander evinced much political maturity when he first suggested that the Thebaic people should give up the fight and instead join his army. Alexander was probably thinking about the Macedonian soldiers whose lives could have been easily lost in the battle.

However, the Thebans, confident in themselves and in their Greek brothers, had their mounted troops attack him. The next day Alexander surrounded the fortress of Thebes and stopped in front of the gate Electra where the road from Athens ended and which placed him closest to the Macedonian garrison at Cadmeira. Once again, the Macedonian barbarian promised forgiveness to the Thebaic people provided the latter gave up the fight and yielded as prisoners their leaders who had instigated the attack.

The Thebans replied with impudence. They demanded first the surrender of General Antipater and of the Macedonian garrison's commander at Cadmeira. The same ill-inspired Thebans had a courier climb up the highest tower of the fortress and announce that whoever wished to join them and the great king Darius III in their fight for the freedom of Greece against the barbarian tyrant Alexander of Macedon was welcome.

When you think that nowadays they consider Alexander of Greek origin, and the Macedonians, no more no less than their "Greek brothers!"

If the ancient Greeks heard any such thing, they would certainly be ashamed of their descendants, who for a strip of land that they occupied after the first Balkan war disclaim their history. Instead of priding themselves on their heroes, such as Pericles, they have the foreigner, the barbarian who subdued them, turned into a hero.

What happened to their pride, to the well-known Greek, Hellenic honour?

Let us go back and see what the young "Greek hero" was about to do to his Theban brothers.

Alexander summoned the federation council, which gathered the states belonging to the Corinthian League. By doing this he turned one part of the Greeks against another, thus sparing the lives of the Macedonian soldiers.

It is a shame that the Greeks accepted this; the little Thraco-Macedonian "barbarian" would take full advantage of this regrettable lack of unity on the part of the Greeks.

The slaughter of the Thebaic population was not inflicted by the Macedonians, but by the Greeks from Boeotia and Foece. In 404 BC, the Athenian Empire broke down and the Thebaic and the Corinthian peoples were asking their senators to destroy Athens completely. Similarly now, the destruction of Thebes was solicited....only the Greeks were the ones who were doing it, not the Macedonians!!

Moreover, the re-division of the Theban territories was asked for and attained; also the selling of the Greek-Thebaic women and children. All runaways from Thebes were outlawed.

Undoubtedly, Alexander of Macedon could have tempered down his Greek "friends"'disgust towards the bold-faced Thebans who were willing to gain their freedom. However, this was not in his interest; thus, he let the Greeks punish their own brothers who were claiming independence. Finally, he let them destroy Thebes completely and so, the town of Cadamus and Oedipus, Epaminonda's town was razed. However, this Macedonian "barbarian," this intruder, stopped the Greeks from pulling down Pindar's house, as the latter was considered the greatest Thebaic poet of all times. Alexander's lesson taught them the difference between demons and ...the tyrant. Once the terrible execution of the disobedient was over, the Greek territories were gripped by the overwhelming fear of the Macedonians. The news about the destruction of the Thebaic fortress and the annihilation of its citizens took the Athenian people by storm. On hearing about the Thebaic catastrophe, the Athenians (the "intelligence service" of the liberation movement) forgot all about the promises they had made to the Thebans and immediately sent messengers to Alexander to congratulate him on his victory and to make their submission to the king.

The Athenians' behaviour was so sycophantic that Ulrich Wilcken in Alexander the Great (page 75) condemned it. The Athenians themselves had all anti-Macedonian leaders arrested, Demosthenes being among the first, and yielded them as prisoners to the "barbarian master." A lot wiser than the Athenians, the 21-year old Macedonian pardoned them once more.

All these incidents took place 3-4,000 years after the Carpatho-Danubians, the Aryans, had already invaded the world.

In all likelihood, Alexander the Great's knowledge of them was much the same as what we know today of the events that took place 2-3,000 years ago. After the Aryans left the Carpatho-Danubian space, the same territory was to give rise to the great Pelasgian Empire, whose descendants, the Thracians, continued the tradition (by which they spread their culture and fostered their military abilities) handed down to them by their ancestors.

The Macedonians, a branch of these Carpatho-Danubians, Pelasgians (their capital was at Pella), Thracians - were the ones who for a while re-conquered the old Pelasgian, Thracian territories from the Greeks.

Later on, another branch - the Latins - were to repeat this If the spread of their culture implies waging wars, wrecking fortresses and exterminating people, subjugating them and forcing them to worship other gods than their own, then Alexander the Great is "responsible" for the spread and circulation of culture. Later on the Romans, the Turks, the Muslims and others whom I will not mention here for fear of religious disputes did the same thing.

Let us see how the "little" Pelasgian Alexander was to conquer and "educate" the ancient world:

- Asia Minor and Anatolia

- Siria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt

- India

- Pakistan, Iran and Iraq

Bibliography
- Bosworth, A.B., From Aryan to Alexander, Oxford, 1988.
- Burn, A.R., Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World, New York, 1962.
- Green, P., Alexander of Macedon, London, 1974.
- Hammond, N.G.L., The Genius of Alexander the Great, U.S.University of NC Press, 1997.
- David W. Oladch, University of Maryland, New England Jurnal of Medicine, June 11, 1998
- Snyder, John, W., Alexander the Great, New York, 1966.
- Wilcken, Ulrich, Alexander the Great, W.W.Norton & Co., Inc., New York, London, 1967.
- Wood, Michael, In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1997.