"The Macedonian question” - a historical overview and evaluation with special attention to traditional Greek ideology

M.A. (Greek)When I was in Primary School I recall hearing and reading about the exploits and conquests of Alexander the Great. To me, Alexander the Great or Μεγαλέξανδρος was more than a great warrior who tamed Bucephalus at a young age and then proceeded to conquer the known world before the age of thirty. Personally, he was a champion for Greece and for Hellenism. Alexander the Great ensured that Greece and Hellenism would become known and respected throughout the ages. Films have been made and books have been written about him. References have even made about him and his empire in Holy Scriptures like the Bible (in Daniel 7:6, 8:5-7, 11:3-4) as the Four-Horned Goat, the Four-Winged Leopard and the metal statue and the Quran (as Dhul-Qarnayn the Two-Horned One). When I was in High School I recall how passionately the global Hellenic community reacted when a small republic on Greece’s northern frontier proclaimed its independence with the official name “Republic of Macedonia”. This event struck a deeply emotional chord within me. I viewed this occurrence as a theft of my heritage. A proud heritage that was being appropriated by a young republic that was desperate to clutch onto anything in order to assign legitimacy to its newly-found independent status. For this reason, I did not hesitate to select this research topic when I decided to proceed with my postgraduate studies. This topic may not be the most unique one, especially within European and specifically Balkan academic circles, but it is a topic that has been deeply embedded in my conscience as a patriotic Greek who was determined to tackle this issue with the simple objective of proving that “Macedonia is Greek”. But one cannot be subjective in academic and scientific research and provide a discourse that is based on evidence that has been fuelled by passion. An academic researcher has a moral obligation to be objective and to inform on the basis of factual evidence and reason. There is a fine line between subjective emotion and objective truth when it comes to matters of patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism and nationalism can lead to fanaticism which I believe can ultimately defeat logic. A person can love his or her country and heritage and at the same 4 time refrain from feeling a sense of entitlement and demanding exclusivity to national symbolic factors. The most critical element is to be free from prejudice when attempting to uncover the truth..