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in reply to a message by damian
I have no intention to "Balkanize" this forum with a flame war with damian. So I will just stick to the onomastic part of his argument: "Alexander was Macedonian and not greek as the greeks were his victims..."
Etymology to the rescue! Just check the following hotlinks:
Alexander - From Greek alexein "to defend, help" and aner "man". Strange thing, Alexander's folks would choose a name derived from the language of their "oppressors" :P
Philip (Alexanders's dad)- Composed from the Greek elements philos "friend" and hippos "horse". Jeez, these Macedonians must have been self-hating masochists to choose Greek for their rulers:PP
Olympia (Alexander's mom) - Jeez, this name is from the Greek Olympus, the name of the mountain home of the Greek gods! What a bunch of masochist Macedonians to use Greek names!
Aristotle (Alexander's teacher) Derived from the Greek aristos "best" and telos "purpose, aim". Holy cow, how could a Macedonian King trust the education of his son to a maraudin' Greek philosopher!
Bucephalus (Alexander's horse) Derived from the Greek bous "bull" and kephale "head". Why on earth did Alexander, a Macedonian non-Greek according to damian (hmm, another bloody Greek name, what is this world conimg to!) give his horsey a dreaded Greek name instead of something along the lines of Borislav!
To make a long story short -- and to add a note of seriousless -- being Greek is not a racial or blood thing. The best definition IMHO was given by Isocrates (436-338 B.C.)in his *Panagyricus*:
"...the word "Greek" is not so much a term of birth as it is of mentality, and is applied to a common culture rather than a common descent."
Common culture is the key word. In this respect, Alexander was Greek. And anyone else who chooses so!
Etymology to the rescue! Just check the following hotlinks:
Alexander - From Greek alexein "to defend, help" and aner "man". Strange thing, Alexander's folks would choose a name derived from the language of their "oppressors" :P
Philip (Alexanders's dad)- Composed from the Greek elements philos "friend" and hippos "horse". Jeez, these Macedonians must have been self-hating masochists to choose Greek for their rulers:PP
Olympia (Alexander's mom) - Jeez, this name is from the Greek Olympus, the name of the mountain home of the Greek gods! What a bunch of masochist Macedonians to use Greek names!
Aristotle (Alexander's teacher) Derived from the Greek aristos "best" and telos "purpose, aim". Holy cow, how could a Macedonian King trust the education of his son to a maraudin' Greek philosopher!
Bucephalus (Alexander's horse) Derived from the Greek bous "bull" and kephale "head". Why on earth did Alexander, a Macedonian non-Greek according to damian (hmm, another bloody Greek name, what is this world conimg to!) give his horsey a dreaded Greek name instead of something along the lines of Borislav!
To make a long story short -- and to add a note of seriousless -- being Greek is not a racial or blood thing. The best definition IMHO was given by Isocrates (436-338 B.C.)in his *Panagyricus*:
"...the word "Greek" is not so much a term of birth as it is of mentality, and is applied to a common culture rather than a common descent."
Common culture is the key word. In this respect, Alexander was Greek. And anyone else who chooses so!
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Replies
*giggles*
Sorry, I know a few Borislavs, so the thought of Alexander's horse being Borislav strikes me as very funny :). [Technically, though, it would be Bikoglav.]
And, damian made an elaborate post about Macedonians not being Serbian, Bulgarian or Greek, but he did not say what they are. So, assuming they were/are Slavic is yet another form of Greek propaganda. Shame on you Pavlos! :P
Sorry, I know a few Borislavs, so the thought of Alexander's horse being Borislav strikes me as very funny :). [Technically, though, it would be Bikoglav.]
And, damian made an elaborate post about Macedonians not being Serbian, Bulgarian or Greek, but he did not say what they are. So, assuming they were/are Slavic is yet another form of Greek propaganda. Shame on you Pavlos! :P
This message was edited 11/9/2004, 12:26 PM
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