ilinden we have been very patient with you
June R Harton
We have patiently written easy to understand info for you.
Then in case you really couldn't read we even gave you pictures!
You are now on the verge of getting thrown out of class!
One last chance:
From:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GREECE/GREECE.HTM
Hellenism
In spite of the political turbulence and chaos of the fourth century BC,
Greece was poised on its most triumphant period: the Hellenistic age. The
word, Hellenistic, is derived from the word, Hellene, which was the Greek
word for the Greeks. The Hellenistic age was the "age of the Greeks; during
this time, Greek culture and power extended itself across the known world.
While the classical age of Greece produced great literature, poetry,
philosophy, drama, and art, the Hellenistic age "hellenized" the world. At
the root of Hellenism were the conquests of Philip of Macedon and his son,
Alexander. However, the Macedonians did more than control territory; they
actively exported Greek culture: politics, law, literature, philosophy,
religion, and art. This was a new idea, exporting culture, and more than
anything else this exporting of culture would deeply influence all the
civilizations and cultures that would later erupt from this soil: the
Romans, the Christians, the Jewish diaspora, and Islam.
Macedon
Macedon all during the age of the Greek city-states was an anomaly: it
was a Greek kingdom. Located north-east of the Greek mainland and northwest
of Asia Minor, Macedon was firmly entrenched on the European continent. The
Macedonians were the Greeks who had to contend, then, with all the European
tribes, many of which were war-like. So the Macedonians served as a kind of
buffer for the Greeks, as the faithful Greeks who stood between the tribal
Europeans and the Greek city-states. For all that, the Macedonians were
deeply unappreciated by their fellow Greeks; they were looked on as no
better than barbarians themselves, particularly since they had never
developed or adopted the polis.
The Macedonians were ruled by a king, much like the Mycenean kings. The
king came to power through inheritance, but first had to be approved by the
army. Beneath the king was an aristocracy of nobles who had a limited amount
of power; like all monarchies that shared power with an aristocracy, the
balance of power frequently shifted from the king to the nobles and back
again. Into this situation, at the peak of the political chaos roiling the
Greek world to the south, stepped a powerful king who unified the country of
Macedon and set his sights on conquering the whole of the Greek world:
Philip of Macedon.
World Cultures Home Page
©1996, Richard Hooker
Updated 9-25-96
For fair use only
and
WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS A BYZANTINE?
by
Clifton R. Fox
Professor of History
Tomball College
Tomball, TX, USA
Comments?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Revised 3/29/96.
The original version of this article appeared in the Celator [Volume 10,
Number 3: March 1996]. Portions are also quoted in the book Ancient Coin
Collecting by Wayne G. Sayles, published [June 1996] by Krause Publications.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Coins and Continuity
Land Called Romania
Conclusion
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Introduction
By modern convention, the phrase "Byzantine Empire" refers to a political
entity that once dominated the Mediterranean world. The city called
Constantinople or [on today's maps] Istanbul functioned as capital of the
Empire. The "Byzantine Empire" originated with the founding of
Constantinople in the fourth century AD on the site of the much older Greek
colony of Byzantium. The Roman Emperor Constantine I [died 337] called the
site New Rome or Constantinople. Constantine situated his capital in the new
city named after himself. The successors of Constantine I lived in
Constantinople without interruption until 1204. In 1204, Crusaders from
Western Europe, diverted from the path to Jerusalem, captured and looted
Constantinople. They held the city until 1261. The "Byzantines" restored the
"Byzantine Empire" at Constantinople in 1261 after the "Franks" were
expelled. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks stormed Constantinople. The "Byzantine
Empire" ceased to exist.
The role of the "Byzantine Empire" in European history is not sufficiently
understood by the educated public of today. Constantinople stood at the
economic, political and cultural heart of Europe from its founding until the
wanton sacking of Constantinople by the Crusaders. The New Rome withstood
the assault of many attackers, protecting all Europe against the flood of
invasion. The "Byzantine Empire" flourished in the same era that found
Western Europe ensnared by poverty and violence. One cannot omit the added
fact that Constantinople yet remains the religious lodestar of Orthodox
Christians: the predominant faith of Russia and other lands is rooted in the
Byzantine experience. In our time, with recent changes in Russia, her
Byzantine roots seem more relevant than ever to the present. In spite of its
rich heritage and significant role, the achievements of Byzantine
civilization have often been given short shrift and denigrated: the very
name "Byzantine Empire" is, in fact, an insult.
The phrase "Byzantine Empire" was coined and popularized by French scholars
such as Montesquieu, an influential figure of eighteenth century
intellectual life.. He was the same author whose seminal volume The Spirit
Of The Laws did much to inspire the Founding Fathers of the United States in
their writing of the American Constitution. Like other thinkers of his time,
Montesquieu revered the ancient Greeks and Romans with immoderate enthusiasm
as masters of politics and culture to be emulated. Following a Western
European tradition that extended back to the early Middle Ages, Montesquieu
regarded the Empire at Constantinople as corrupt and decadent. Although he
wrote a long history of the Empire at Constantinople, Montesquieu could not
bring himself to refer to the Empire at Constantinople with the noble names
of "Greek" or "Roman." From the obsolete name "Byzantium," Montesquieu used
the word "Byzantine." The word "Byzantine" denoted the Empire and connoted
its supposed characteristics: dishonesty, dissimulation and decadence. The
English scholar Edward Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
treated the Empire after the sixth century as an epic of unrelieved
degradation and corruption.
The people who lived in the "Byzantine Empire" never knew nor used the word
"Byzantine." They know themselves to be Romans, nothing more and absolutely
nothing less. By transferring the Imperial capital from Rome on the Tiber to
the New Rome on Bosphorus, dubbed Constantinople, the Emperor Constantine I
had transferred the actual identity of Rome to the new location. Long before
Constantine I, the idea of "Rome" had become dissociated from the Eternal
City on the Tiber. For a Roman meant a Roman citizen, whereever he lived.
Before the Imperial period, in 89 BC, a Roman law had granted Roman
citizenship to people throughout Italy. Afterwards, citizenship became
extended to an increasing number of people in different parts of the Empire.
In 212, Emperor Caracalla declared all free persons in the Empire to be
Roman citizens, entitled to call themselves Roman, not merely subject to the
Romans. Within a few decades, people begin to refer to the entire Empire
less often [in Latin] as "Imperium Romanorum" [Domain of the Romans] and
more often as "Romania" [Romanland]
In the provinces close to Constantinople, where the Greek language
predominated over the Latin of Old Rome, the idea of Roman citizenship and
identity appealed to a broad segment of the population. Greek speaking
citizens were proud to be Romans: in Latin, "Romani," or, in Greek,
"Romaioi." The word "Romaioi" became descriptive of the Greek speaking
population of the Empire. The old ethnic name applied to Greeks,
"Hellene",fell into disuse. In ancient times, of course, "Hellene" had meant
Greek. Hellene meant Greek from the seventh century BC onward, if not
earlier. Although Homer called Greeks by other names, Herodotus, Pericles,
Plato and Alexander were all "Hellenes," as were Greek speaking inhabitants
of the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries AD. In the fourth
century AD, as the Empire became Christianized, the term "Hellene" became
redefined by common convention to include people who still worshipped the
old gods and studied philosophy in hopes of resisting the new faith of
Christianity. Emperor Julian II [361-363], an Emperor who tried to stop the
Christian tide, described himself as a "Hellene." By "Hellene," Julian
signified his combination of Neo-Platonic philosophy and worship of the
Olympians.
In the final years of the fourth century AD, Emperor Theodosius I [379-395]
made Christianity the sole state religion after subduing the rebellion of an
"Hellene" usurper, a westerner named Eugenius. After Theodosius' critical
decision, fewer and fewer people were willing to call themselves "Hellenes."
For centuries more, the word "Hellene" remained in bad repute, associated
with outlawed religious ideas and disloyalty to the state. Greek speakers
found the identity of "Romaioi" in place of "Hellene" to be a safe refuge in
changing times. Greek speaking "Romaioi" inhabited the Empire until the its
demise in the fifteenth century.
The Empire at Constantinople should not be called the "Byzantine Empire" at
all. If it requires a special name, we might better name the Empire at
Constantinople with the title of the "Romaion Empire" from the Greek
"Basileia Romaion" [Empire of the Romaioi].
from: Spirit Of The Real Makedon
(using June's e-mail to communicate to you)!
........The heart of Macedonia was always Greek
Makedon
[ cut ]
> From:
> http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GREECE/GREECE.HTM
>
> Hellenism
> In spite of the political turbulence and chaos of the fourth century BC,
> Greece was poised on its most triumphant period: the Hellenistic age. The
> word, Hellenistic, is derived from the word, Hellene, which was the Greek
> word for the Greeks. The Hellenistic age was the "age of the Greeks; during
> this time, Greek culture and power extended itself across the known world.
> While the classical age of Greece produced great literature, poetry,
> philosophy, drama, and art, the Hellenistic age "hellenized" the world. At
> the root of Hellenism were the conquests of Philip of Macedon and his son,
> Alexander.
wait, they were macedonians! and they were at the root of hellenism?
then, we invented hellenism! so, why do you call greece "hellenic republic"
if thats macedonian invention? we should call our macedonia "hellenic macedonia"!
Yes, thats right! Not stupid name like fyrom, it should be something dissent,
to reflect our rich history!
[ cut ]
June R Harton
ATLANTEANS - missing people waiting to be found.
Sohrani
June R Harton wrote:
> ATLANTIS - missing home looking for dry land
>
> ATLANTEANS - missing people waiting .
>
> from: Spirit Of The Real Makedon
> (using June's e-mail to communicate to you)!
>
> ........The heart of Macedonia was always Greek
Don't worry Junebug. You are already found.
hahahahahahahaaaaaaa
ili...@sympatico.ca
>
> June R Harton wrote:
>
> > ATLANTIS - missing home looking for dry land
> >
> >
> > from: Spirit Of The Real Makedon
> > (using June's e-mail to communicate to you)!
> >
> > ........The heart of Macedonia was always Greek
>
>
> hahahahahahahaaaaaaa
Junebug,or June July nitwit you are a prevaricator from the FTCOG!
June R Harton
ATLANTEANS - missing people waiting to be found.
from: Spirit Of The Real Makedon
(using June's e-mail to communicate to you)!
........The heart of Macedonia was always Greek
I was doing you a favor:
(Vasil Ilyov)
Bill Nicholov
June R Harton wrote:
> ATLANTIS - missing land looking for a home.
>
> ATLANTEANS - missing people waiting to be found.
>
> from: Spirit Of The Real Makedon
> (using June's e-mail to communicate to you)!
>
> ........The heart of Macedonia was always Greek
"June", ask mommy and daddy why you weren't allowed to say that
Macedonia was Greek before. Ask them why they used to say "There's no
sutsa thing as a Mitsidonia". But then the propaganda changed. So now,
like a good "Greek" (is there such a thing as an ethnic Greek?) you
follow the party line. Educate yourself:
"Funnily enough, northern Greece was for so many years called just that,
'Northern Greece', and it had its own minister...the name Macedonia was
considered somehow suspect."
- Canberra Times, Thursday March 12 1992, p.9; Peter Hill
"...Greece did not refer to any part of its current territory as
Macedonia until 1988, when
Papandreou's government officially adopted the name Macedonia to replace
that of Northern
Greece. This point added weight to the notion that the dispute with
Macedonia was a manufactured one."
- Macedonia and Greece - The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation,
John Shea, McFarland and Company Inc., North Carolina, 1997; p.104
"Today, Macedonia is an accomplished fact. For 50 years, we Greeks
avoided raising the issue,
mostly under pressure from the United States. Today, ladies and
gentlemen, we are paying for our own indifference and our lack of
foresight." (quote from Traianos Hadjidimitriou, Greek journalist and
former member of the Greek parliament)
- .Reed, Fred A., Salonica Terminus, Burnaby, Talonbooks, 1996; p.186
Bill Nicholov
Macedonia for the Macedonians
http://www.geocities.com/~makedonija
Agamemnon
June R Harton wrote in message
<7166m0$fh4k$1...@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>...
>ATLANTIS - missing land looking for a home.
>
>
>
>ATLANTEANS - missing people waiting to be found.
>
>
The same can be said for HYPERBOREA
>
>from: Spirit Of The Real Makedon
> (using June's e-mail to communicate to you)!
>
>........The heart of Macedonia was always Greek
>
>
ODOMANTIS7
MAKEDONIA DORIAN NATION
IF YOU ARE MAKEDONIAN THEN YOU ARE GREEK!!
ODOMANTIS