Is Megas Alexandros Greek?

[Argeus the Paladin]

I've seen many a flame war when it come to Alexander the Great's national identity, mostly from Greeks and Macedonians claiming him to be of their people. Rome Total War asserted that "Alexander was a man too" in the Greek/Seleucid campaign, which doesn't exactly help.

So the question for discussion is, what should we regard Alexander's nationality be? Greek? Macedonian? Or something in between?

[Jabberwock]

Albanian...

[Lonck]

Albanian...

The greeks, albanians and macedonians claim he was one of them.

[Exarch]

he was romanian
and south korea, come to think of it...

[Lonck]

so to end all flame wars you make another thread just like the ones that started the flame wars? Alexander was macedonian (not the FYROM kind of macedonian) but because greek culture was so advanced ( or at least popular I think) his father adopted it and Alexander spread it around his conquered lands. Philip adopted it also so ppl wouldn't call him a barbarian and take him seriously. Aslo so he could control the greek city-states already in his control or under his influence without them revolting. Or he adopted it cuz he thought hellenism was cooler then macedonian culture don't know the details.

[removeduser_052420]

He was Pakistani

[Argeus the Paladin]

That is precisely why I started this thread: I hope to get from this not another flame war but some civil, intelligent and reasonable discussion.

So... tread carefully?

[Lonck]

dude those guys will come here and start another flame war. Don't you get it? Moderators don't do anything as long as theres no ToS violations like calling ppl names and such. Look at all the other balkan multi-page threads its just the same crap which for some reason ends up being about the serbians and their alleged genocides.

[Exarch]

exactly what is the difference between greek and macedonian culture?
in rome:total war, they're pretty much the same lol

[Frederich Barbarossa]

I am from Macedonian Greece. He is Macedonian!

[Carpathian Wolf]

I've seen many a flame war when it come to Alexander the Great's national identity, mostly from Greeks and Macedonians claiming him to be of their people. Rome Total War asserted that "Alexander was a man too" in the Greek/Seleucid campaign, which doesn't exactly help.

So the question for discussion is, what should we regard Alexander's nationality be? Greek? Macedonian? Or something in between?

Well first off you have to realize that the "Macedonians" arguing he was Macedonians are in fact Serbs and Bulgarians from FYROM ( Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). Tito who ruled Yugoslavia in an attempt to absorb more portions of the Balkans and gain access to the Aegean sea created the myth that the people in Vardrasko were actually the ancient Macedonians. They speak a south slavic dialect that is very close to both Serbian and Bulgarian. And it is through this propaganda that the FYROMers say they are Macedonians.

In reality Macedonians were a combination of Hellenic and Thracian. The Royal Family claimed descendants from the Dorian Greeks. By all accounts you could consider Alexander both. Saying "was he Macedonian or Greek" is like saying "Was he a New Yorker or an American?" They are not exclusive terms.

Last but not least...no he wasn't Albanian. That's just retarded.

[hellheaven1987]

Well first off you have to realize that the "Macedonians" arguing he was Macedonians are in fact Serbs and Bulgarians from FYROM ( Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). Tito who ruled Yugoslavia in an attempt to absorb more portions of the Balkans and gain access to the Aegean sea created the myth that the people in Vardrasko were actually the ancient Macedonians. They speak a south slavic dialect that is very close to both Serbian and Bulgarian. And it is through this propaganda that the FYROMers say they are Macedonians.

In reality Macedonians were a combination of Hellenic and Thracian. The Royal Family claimed descendants from the Dorian Greeks. By all accounts you could consider Alexander both. Saying "was he Macedonian or Greek" is like saying "Was he a New Yorker or an American?" They are not exclusive terms.

Last but not least...no he wasn't Albanian. That's just retarded.

That answers this thread. Case closes.

Greeks, at the time of Herodotus, considered Macedonian semi-Barbarian, since their Greek ancestors interbreed with local population (according to Herodotus). However it seems this thinking died off after Alexander's time, although some Greek radicals still used this fact for some political purpose, but were largely discarded by majority of Greek population.

[bushbush]

i predict 3 bans and 30 warning points by the end of this thread.

[Prodigal]

I believe he was Jamaican...Maun...

But to be serious, Carpathian Wolf's post is most accurate.

[CiviC]

He wasn't Albanian because Albanians didn't existed back then nor as far as I know he was Illyrian. His mother was Greek from Epirus. His father was Macedonian thus Greek. The Royal House of Macedon claimed descent from Argos. I don't know what can be debated about his ethnicity, but of course some non main stream historians and nationalists can claim anything.

[Charontas]

Yes, as CW already put it, Macedonian and Greek are not exclusive terms.

Some Greeks are Macedonians, but (at least as I see it) all the Macedonians were Greek. Some may argue that only the royal house have a clear connection to the rest of the Greeks and that we cannot say the same about the general population. But there has been additional evidence found (for example, the Pella curce tablet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella_curse_tablet) that there also has been a Greek precence in Macedonia that couldn't be explained by hellenisation of the populance because the tablet is written in Doric Greek and not in Attic.

So while I'm not excluding Illyrian or Thracian influances, I do believe that the people in the kingdom of Macedon were mainly Greek.

[Babur]

Yes, as CW already put it, Macedonian and Greek are not exclusive terms.

Some Greeks are Macedonians, but (at least as I see it) all the Macedonians were Greek. Some may argue that only the royal house have a clear connection to the rest of the Greeks and that we cannot say the same about the general population. But there has been additional evidence found (for example, the Pella curce tablet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella_curse_tablet) that there also has been a Greek precence in Macedonia that couldn't be explained by hellenisation of the populance because the tablet is written in Doric Greek and not in Attic.

So while I'm not excluding Illyrian or Thracian influances, I do believe that the people in the kingdom of Macedon were mainly Greek.

well it should be noted that some Greeks today have Slavic ancestry anyway.

But, I still believe that Alexander was Greek.

[CiviC]

well it should be noted that some Greeks today have Slavic ancestry anyway.

But, I still believe that Alexander was Greek.

Yes, but Slavs migrated to Balkans more then a milennium later after Alexander the Great was born.

[Babur]

Yes, but Slavs migrated to Balkans more then a milennium later after Alexander the Great was born.

of course, but I was talking about modern Greeks in relation to that of Ancient Greeks.


I am sure that some of the Greeks on this forum have some Slavic ancestry somewhere in their genealogy.

[RomanSoldier9001]

Of course he was Greek what else he would be maybe a Martian...
Alexander was King of Macedonia but was Greek because Macedonian,Athenian,Spartans etc were all Greeks.
Some people of FYROM theory doesnt stand itself for 1 second I mean a people that came to a region that is actualy close to the region where ancient macedonia lied(that is in Greece) in 6th Century saing that they descend from Alexander people the ancient macedons is ridicolous as it sounds.