Akin To Alexander

[iskander_32]

Companions HiRecently I have had the pleasuere to make friends of Bulgarians and am learning a lot of how there people believe.The question I ask was Alexander more akin to the ancient Bulgarians than the Hellas or Athenians.I am fully aware or the carveup of what was Alexanders Macedonia into 3 sections one part been Alexanders capital of Pella now in the Greek province of Halkidiki.I am aware that Alexander hardly ever went to Greece at all and the only times he did go was to war or on diplomatic missions, I really get a little disheartened today with the way Alexander is charictarised as Greek where id do honestly believe he was all but Greek.So companions are todays Bulgarians more desended and Akin to Al;exander than todays Greeks and even the people of Halkidiki. I give call to the Bulgarians am I wrong ?RegardsPS I hope this isnt regarded in the same way as the Greek Macedonian debate.
Kenny

[ruthaki]

Bulgarians akin to Macedonians? I'd say yes.
Interesting debate. Ruthaki

[iskander_32]

I may have some of the detail wrong,I have just read some info on line relating Bulgarians and the periods actual Bulgars came to the Balkans around 900 ad.Looking at ancient Macedonian maps it does become clear that Macedonia was quite a distance from modern Bulgaria, It looks to me to be ilirian provinces at that time.However I still feel that Alexanders blood breeding and general culture was more akin to the northern extremes of that particular region, Alexander had far more in common with these people of the northern extremities.Can I be so bold as to say both Philip and Alexander only adopted and practiced the Hellas way as it suited there politics,there standing in the world they were about to create and a strategic vantage point in the whole political scope.It is quite clear that as Alexander and even philip when they had completed there master plan the Greeks would have been left behind, I honestly believe Alexander and Philip tried to use the Greeks to there own ends.But I would still say yes the Bulgarians more akin to Alexander they were much more alike than the Macedonians were to the Greeks.regardsKenny

[agesilaos]

I think it would be fairer to say that the modern Greeks are closer to the Bulgarians than either are to the Ancient Macedonians.The Bulgar Khanate once included Greece, both had been invaded and settled by the Ostrogoths and subsequently the Slavs before succumbing to the Divine Porte, that's the Ottoman Turks. And let's not forget the Romans. Classical culture was crippled by Christianity and then destroyed by the barbarians.The Ancient Macedonians certainly had racial ties with the areas to their north and west, since they continually fell under their sway; but these people were not Bulgar whose home land was in the steppe at this time, they are among our Scythian peoples. Cultural ties were strongest to the south but with Thessally rather than the Central Greeks. The clinching point is that makedonisti was a Greek dialect albeit an archaic and difficult one for Attic listeners but have you ever had a conversation with a broad Geordie or Yorkshireman? This may be equally unintelligible!

[marcus]

The crux of the question is still the fact that the Bulgars were originally a Russo/Central Asian people who didn't come into the area until the middle ages. Obviously there will have been plenty of inter-breeding with indigenous peoples, but I don't think it can be said that Alexander and his Macedonians were at all akin to the "Bulgarians".All the bestMarcus

[yiannis]

The question is what one means when speaks of "Macedonians".
Modern day Macedonians are Slavs and their language is perfectly understood by the Bulgarians (much more than e.g. Serbo-Croatian). Bulgarians themselves are not "Russian/centralAsian" as mentioned before but rather an Altaic/Turkic tribe. Once they settled in the Balkans they were completely assimilated by the overwhelmingly superior in numbers Slavs and they became Slavs themselves. Bulgarians consider Slavomacedonians to be Bulgars themselves. Ottoman statistics often mention the inhabitants of FYROMacedonia as Bulgars.When one refers to ancient Macedonians, the question is if they were a distinct nationality or Greeks (while none that they were Slavs .
I myself believe the later where others disagree. I believe there's no point is re-starting this debate...

[marcus]

Sorry, when I said the Bulgars were Russian/Central Asian, I meant that was the area where they came from. As a linguistic/ethnic group then yes, I believe you're right that they were Ural-Altaic.All the bestMarcus