Yet today the Greeks have hijacked Alexander for there own glory wich to be fair is pretty weak
Wow there Kenny.You need to get things straight.First of all, did you find out what i asked you some posts ago?Meaning the definition of a Greek?Let me help you:
Greeks were the people that shared similar customs, the Greek language and it's dialects, and the same religion.That was the definition more or less.Greece geographicly was the entire Greek peninsula and the islands,plus Asia minor which was inhabitted by Greeks long before the Persians came there.If you open a map you will see that the Greek peninusla is somewhat defined by it's own natural borders.Except from the north.It is sea to the left, sea to the right, se to the south and there is landmass only to the north, above Macedonia.
Macedonia was part of the Greek world because they shared similar customs, language and religion.North of Macedonia were various tribes that did not share the same customs,language and religion.So the borders of the Greek world were up to there.
Macedonia was a kingdom in contrast with the rest of the Greek cities, that were smaller autonomus city states.That's why they saw Macedonia a little bit differently, but not seperately from the Greek world.As Parauls said ,the Athenians saw no differently the Spartans, from the Macedonians.The Spartans were the enemy.They occupied Athens.As the macedonians did.
And who would say who is a Greek and who is not.The Athenians named themselves Greeks.So did the others.And so did Alexander.The original Greeks were the Myrmidones from Thessaly.
And let's not repeat again that the very center of the Greek religion, mount Olympus, was and is at Macedonia.
But Kenny, and Paralus, you pointed out some of the faults that the ancient Greeks had.Surely, they had faults.Who hasnt? One was that they kept fighting eachother.They still do.After 1821 when the Greeks gained their freedom from the Turks, they got into civil war. Again, after WWII the Greeks got into civil war.It was the communists and the rest.But i dont think these faults are only a Greek priviledge.Lets remember the Americans shall we?North and South?Remember?Or maybe the Americans tried to copy the Greeks in some manners ,like in their political system, and they also copied their faults?Or maybe these faults are global characteristics of men.
But i dont want to be graphic and say that: when the Greeks had cholesterol the rest were hanging from the trees catching fruits.Or when the Athenians were gathering at the barber shops to discuss, and goship, the other european tribes didnt even shave themselves or had haircuts, didnt discuss and were living at huts.
So who were these Greeks Kenny?
Im English and have started to lay Claim to William Wallace as an English hero. Due totally to the Mel Gibson Fabrication Moveie Shocked
It's not the same thing.The Scots were Celts.A totally different tribe from the Aglosaxons.The Celts were there long before the Aglosaxons came.Macedonians were there in the Greek peninsula along with the rest of the Greeks.So the british are actually trying to claim a hero as their own , that was of a different nationality.But Alexander was of no different nationality.
And that leads us to how and when the Greeks were forming a common national conciousness.As Plato and other have said, the Greeks knew that they were the same people.Since they were living in the same area, under common culture,language and religion.The fact that they were fighting eachother does not cancel this.They united when they were to fight a common enemy that was about to invade to the Greek peninsula, and of course lets not forget that they united during the Olympic Games.And during the games, all wars between them stopped.Macedonian Kings even long before Philip were taking part in the Olympic games.
So was Aristotle considered as a foreigner, a barbarian and not a Greek?Was Eyripedes?They were Macedonians werent they?Or didnt you know that Kenny?
How can people that have Greek names, they believe in the Greek gods,they speak Greek or a Greek dialect, and were born in the Greek peninsula not being Greeks.
And now about Alexander:
Surely he was calculative about some things.But saying that he claimed to be a Greek only for getting what he wanted out of the rest of the Greeks is ridiculous.He didnt need the rest of the Greeks for his campaign.But still he had 7.000 of them in his army.And that because the rest of the city states opposed the Macedonians.There would be more otherwise.
I suggest Kenny that you go and see some pictures of Macedonia.Of Pella, of the tombs, of the buildings, e.t.c.Of the inscriptions too.Everything is Greek.Not barbaric.And Macedonians had Greek buildings before Philip too.So lets not say that Philip hellenized Macedonia.It is ridiculous.Philip just modernized Macedonia.He taught them new fighting styles, and tried to open Macedonia a little bit to new things from the south, like new theatrical plays e.t.c.Macedonia was a more closed Kingdom until then.As were the Spartans that wouldnt let anything inside that would corrupt their ways.
And it wasnt the modern greeks that hijacked Alexander.No one hijacked Alexander.Remember Plutarch?He was a big admirer of Alexander.So were many others.The Greeks started to accept Alexander's Greatness some time after ,and mainly after the Romans occupied Greece.Because it was then that the Macedonian occupation stopped.
