Social media was a buzz during the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics— particularly the coverage offered by the American broadcaster NBC, whose commentators told millions of people that Alexander the Great came from the nation they referred to as “Macedonia” which has absolutely nothing to do with historical fact.
NBC coverage:
The astonishing point during coverage was the fact that despite the fact that International Olympic Committee refers to the nation as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia— which is even indicated on the sign the athlete was carrying as the FYROM delegation entered the stadium, NBC used an on-screen graphic that listed the nation as “Macedonia” and the commentators went clearly off-script– and far away from historical fact.
The NBC commentators— including Greek American Bob Costas— noted after referring to the country as “Macedonia” that the IOC “recognizes the nation as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and went on to share the inaccurate history that Alexander the Great came from this nation and won Olympic medals in the ancient games.
Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, and Hoda Kotb were hosts, with Costas, NBC’s main primetime Olympics host.
The error enraged television viewers and many turned to social media to share their views with the American network.
The NBC commentators just presented the country of Macedonia (FYROM) as the birthplace of Alexander The Great.
Learn some history. #Rio2016— Manos Xanthogeorgis (@mxantho) August 6, 2016
87 comments
I don’t know weather it’s because less than half of Americans have passports and and don’t travel beyond the USA or, it’s just the general ignorance of cultures other than their own that they make stupid and ill informed statements such as what happened here.
Sounds the same as the Greeks. You just made stupid and ill informed statements such as what happened here. Learn how to spell whether 😉
Hey “Aleksandar”… maybe you should first learn the diference between something Macedonian (i.e. Greek) and something Slavic before lecturing others on ill informed statements. Not a single “mACEDONIAN” in Skopje. Not one. To find Macedonians one has to move further south from ancient Paeonia towards Macedonia…. the homeland of Alexander. You know Macedonia… the ancient Greek kingdom.
To all the FYROM Slavs that have posted here, who have no idea of history, and do not know where they came from (HINT: Not Ancient Greece), I have one solution for you:
PLEASE LINE UP against a wall. I will be more than glad to help you into the afterlife.
you can say FYROM only online,.come and make that statment on front on some macedonians,.
on my passport say REPUBLIK OF MACEDONIA
vissa free for all EU countries including your broke a** country
and when we come there for shoping or holiday you are more than happy to see us,coz you know that day you can bay bred for your kids,..
no one care what you have to say any more, not even your EU,.
so sleep tight you never know when we going to come in and take whats ours,.
Your comment is equally as idiotic. You should refrain from associating the mistake made by one person, or a small group of people, to an entire country’s populace-
The funny thing is Bob Costas is of Greek ethnicity and one would think regardless of that fact that as an educated man he would know that Alexander the Great was Greek and was the person responsible known for the period of history known as the ‘Hellenistic Period.’ Alexander is the most responsible person in the world for spreading Greek culture & they are calling him a Slave. Beyond ignorant.
That is correct. History and the science of genetics will one day determine who’s related to who and who isn’t.
yes
Ignorant greeks have a hard time accepting the truth. Alexander the Great was Macedonian which is a different nation to greece. Alexander the Great invaded greece and many other countries.. Doesn’t make him greek. He was and always will be Macedonian!! Get it through your head you ignorant greeks. Move on
what are you talking …..first of all if you are from california that dosnt makes you American? He went until India ,is that means that indians can say that ALEXANDER CAME FROM iNDIA..the macedonia you talking is ex yugoslavia so means that Alexander the Great is from yugosalavia…GET LOST…
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.php?ModuleId=10007886&MediaId=2118
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great
malaka
You are an obvious TROLL who knows nothing of history, let alone Ancient Greek History. I don’t know what your hostility to Greeks is other than jealousy but you, Troll, are a Malaka!
You are nothing but a slav from Vardarska….Nothing but a bunch of Slavo-Burgarians…..With name like Popov I am sure your Bulgarian brothers will laugh……You are ignorant beyond belief…Alexander and Philip were Greeks, they spoke Greek and participated in the Olympics which was only for Greek Nations…….Go learn history….SLAVS LIKE YOU DID NOT COME TO THE REGION BUT ONLY 1000 YEARS LATER……Loser….
History lesson 101,Grease is a Fabricated Country established in 1821 by the superpowers.Athens was inhabited by 4000 Albanian squatters at the time.Modern Greeks have no relation to the Ancients,you are all imposters,prosfigs,christianised Turk/Albanians.Your first president was Albanian Nalaka.makedonia za Macedonia….
So says a SLavs with ZERO to do with ancient Macedonians. Fascist morons like you are so confused you even named ancient Paeonia “Macedonia”. Good luck changing the Greek writing on ancient Macedonian artifacts fool.
Είσαι Μαλακας Σλάβος π
Ancient Macedonians, like ancient Athenians, Corinthians, Spartans, etc, were all GREEK tribes that shared norms, religion and language among countless other attributes. Alexander the Great said himself that he was Greek and wanted to create a great and big Greek nation, hence attacking and conquering a large part of the then known world. He was the first who took action upon the vision of uniting all Greek states.
Yes, he also attacked a Greek state; that of Sparta, because they refused to join his union of Greek states.
The citizens of FYROM claim they are Macedonians, but they share none of the characteristics of the ancient Macedonians (who were Greek); their (written) language was given to them by the Byzantine (Greek) Cyril and Methodius during the 9th century because they lacked education. They were also described by their barbaric tendencies, since Byzantines would often complain that they would cross the borders and raid the farms of Greeks, after they migrated to the area north of the Byzantine empire long after Alexander the Great existed.
Learn some history before you start blurting out inaccuracies.
The Hellenic Period that began by and because of Alexander was actually accurately predicted in the Bible in the Book of Daniel which Alexander himself read at the behest of the Rabbi’s who came out to meet his army as they approached Jerusalem. Alexander read and agreed that the predictions in the passages were about him and the rise of Greece as a great Kingdom as the Book of Daniel predicted that the Greeks led by the would have the 3rd great Kingdom.
Finally someone said it like it is!
Hellenes don’t have to worry about your non argument… the historical and biblical records attest to Alexander’s existence and purpose.
Refer to Dan 8:21 and also maccabees chapter 1.
FYI chettime is the ancient name for Cyprus. By the way these are non Greek records of history.
What language did Alexander speak, read and write? Greek!! Statues of Alexander the great, Greek. What language does FYROM speak, read and write? Slavic, not GREEK!!!
Hahahaha..!! Is that what they teach you at your school? Google it or Wikipedia even better you stupid boy… I can only laugh at the enormous stupidity !!!
As you are a history expert, you are sure familiar with Stravon’s statement “ΕΣΤΙΝ ΟΥΝ ΕΛΛΑΣ ΚΑΙ Η ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ” (google it…).
History cannot be re-written just because some years ago, our Slav friends woke up and discover that they need a new -premium- identity. (I guess if geography would allow, they wouldn’t have a problem to call their new country “South Switzerland” or “Very-very South Sweden”…)
And they suddenly became experts in history & archeology to justify ownership of Macedonian ancestry.
It would still be fine if they could do it with some class, dignity & respect to their neighbors – it would at least signify that they are true descentants of Alexander…!
I’m sorry but your an idiot. Read the historic and sincetific facts. He was from region called Macedonia which was part of Greece and still is today. Both his parents were born by Greek parents Moran!!!! His mother came from Epirus and father from southern Greece peloponissos!! But than the Greeks were called Hellenic people or aka Hellas. All these regions and tribes fought to conquer what is known today as Hellas! And yes your wrong King Philip invaded Greece his father. Who united all tribes and regions as Greece no Macedonia Moraaaaaaan !!!! Here is the scientific fact that your still a Moran and an idiot, the Slavs came millennium after Alexander great!!!! If I spoke to from or whatever garbage your DNA comes from you would reply I’m Slavic!!! That’s great news sooooo where the hell do you think Alexander threat is from if he was born millennium before the slavsss ….?….???????? Yes exactly your a Moran and need to be educated… Plus if he was really what you think he was Slav lol which I doubt since his parents are Hellenism. Your people are roaches like the Turks and need to be exterminated from stealing our property… By the way there is stone in Thessaloniki his own quote he wrote on…stating he wanted to pass Hellenism to the world not Macedonian you Moran yup because he came from region not country or people called Macedonia
Exactly! Well said my macedonian brother ” neka zivej makedonija!
https://youtu.be/55tGPVKi3rw
as you are American, you can listen to Iron Maiden’ s song “Alexander the great” ..
All the names of him and his family were Hellenic (Greek) whats the relation with Slavs ?!!!
Language , town birth, living .
All the play started after 1991 when Yugoslavia fell ..
Alexander the Great considered himself Greek and his official signature was ALEXANDER, Son of Philip, GREEK GENERAL CONSUL OF GREECE. Yes, Alexander spoke Greek and lived as a Greek while spreading Hellenistic life around the known world. All Macedonians of antiquity considered themselves to be Greek. There are literally mountains of evidence that. Macedonians originated from the Dorian Tribes, the same tribe from which the Spartans emanate from. as both believed they were derived from Heracles.
Greeks are not ignorant as Macedonians competed in the Ancient Olympics only open to Greeks/Hellenes where you had to prove that you were a Hellene.
Here WRITTEN IN STONE BOBSKY are the Edicts of Ashoka look them up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka which proclaim his successors as Yona (Ionians) Hellenes in other words. Bob the truth is that FYROM/Skopje is a fabrication of tito after falling out with the soviets and bulgaria in the 1940’s and being socialist/ communists they are liars 70% and spin bull the rest 30%. As most of the world is an uneducated mass who believe whatever they are fed and wouldn’t know what a Macedonian is historically. The world wide dumbing down and a move to a velvet glove 1984 style world where ignorance is truth we have remarks by the NBC commentator.
Come on Bob the language of Fyrom is Bulgarian/Slav, there is no mention of a Macedonian ethnicity in Ottoman Turkish Census still available today for your viewing, only Bulgarians are mentioned alongside Greeks and other ethnicities in the region. But knock on a deaf man’s door like your’s Bob is a waste of time as I mentioned above 70% and 30% the only thing to come from Fyrom. Oh also look up the the 10 lies of Macedonism to see how the propaganda is spun.
I’ve always wondered about Bob Costa..I wonder no more!
Good commentators check out the info put in front of them before broadcasting .In this case
Mr Costa went ahead to broadcast inaccurate info either by design or by negligence.
The Greek press refer to mr Costa as Greek American ..I don’t think so.
Greek Americans know their facts and history via their DNA!!
The whole matter χρήζει επαγρύπνηση !
And I’m so glad that you guys got the spirit of the Olympic Games. That shows quite a lot what you have in common with Ancient Greeks. I bet most of you guys where there to check Alexander’s passport. How sad can it get? Don’t you guys have enough problems but to care about history? In the past the Balkans might have been a region of civilisation nowadays it’s a region of shame and hate. Sad.
A nations history is the foundation of its existence values and beliefs and is too he held in honor. You may be one of those who does not know his own history and where you came from. Greece does not have any problems that it cannot overcome. In addition it has a strong culture that will sustain any and all struggles that arise. Greece has values and freedom that no one can match and all envy.
The ancient GREEK kingdom of Makedonia has NOTHING what so ever to do with the Skopjan Disneyland called FYROM, Realising that the George W. Bush regime sold the name and culture to the Skopjans for geopolitical gain and army bases, infrastructure by Haliburton (Dick Chaney). We can easily deduce the intentions of our former allies the Americans-Divide and Conquer, this has always been the motto of the US State Dept. Sadly the dumbing down of America and it’s people is full speed ahead. It is amazing that when this false name was forced upon the Slav population by Communist leader General Joseph Broze( Tito), during the second world war, American ambassadors and military personnel realised the intentions of the communists- to annex the Greek province of Makedonia, and have access to the Mediterranean sea, all of this including the fake language the falsifying of history is documented by American state dept officials in the library of congress!!, how is it that NBC is allowed to propagandise the name and heroes of ancient Greece?? Is it because they themselves are full of propaganda and manipulations of the truth??…wow…BIG FAIL NBC…
Your a typical dumb Athenian .
Dont use a moder word ir nane to nake claim to an Ancient Macedonia you oathetic fool !!
Tell us all here . Before 1820 what was the name if these new country greece ??
Please dont say ELLATHA OR HELLAS OR ELADA .. these toi are bullshit creations of Athens … in ancient histry there us no mention of any of these above bames especially this new name Greece .. also in the Bibble there is no mention of greece elatha hellas ONLY MACEDONIA and the Thesalonians the english bame for the people from the city of SOLUN – Salonica or Thesalonica to wich they were SOLUNCANI … The name SULUN is of the Macedonian King Solun/Soluna … One mire point you Athenian gypsy.. King Filip II OF Macedon named his daughter after the city SOLUN she was called Tesalonika = Thesalonica .
You people are so screwed up by the lies if your Athenian government you all have no idea what you people are , so you try to glorify your selves with others KINGS AND HISTORY ..
You so called greeks are not related in anyway to the Macedonians but are more conected to tge Albanians … as you all seem to firget that in the 1920s the common languafe spoken in ATHENS WAS ALBANIAN … you all know this as it is documented in your own modern history as ALVANIAN with out a B !!! And you idiits know that your langue was changed in the 1930s as no one spoke Athenian to wich you all were te schooled and still todate there are people in greece that do not understand this new modern greek Athenian diakect !!!
So what was the name of Greece before 1820 ??? ASK ITALY IR TURKEY
I would recommend that you learn how to spell and form sentences before you attempt to express yourself. Nothing of what you’re saying makes any sense. Ignorance shows through.
Sorry to destroy your theory, Moron, but Thessaloniki means “Thessaly”, a region in Greece and ‘niki’ which means victory.
You are truly a brainwashed Skopjan troll
READ THIS STUPID SKOPJIAN
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka
In stone is written that the successors of Alexander were addressed as Ionians / Yona by the King Ashoka. The Greeks are known as Yunans / Ionians in Asia so your “dumb Athenian” dosen’t stand up. All of ancient Asia know the Greeks as Ionians from ancient times the west knows them as Greeks, known as Rum under the Ottomans.
What language do you speak in Skopje? Bulgarian, not even Serbian. Thessaloniki translates as Victory – niki over the Thessalians- a Greek tribe. So where does tito slavic propaganda come into the name of Thessaloniki? Slavs and Bulgarians came 1000 years after the Macedonians.
What did the first president of Skopje say?
We are Slavs who came to this area in the sixth century (AD)… we are not descendants of the ancient Macedonians.
Foreign Information Service Daily Report, Eastern Europe (February 26, 1992)
We are Macedonians but we are Slav Macedonians. That’s who we are! We have no connection to Alexander the Great and his Macedonia. The ancient Macedonians no longer exist, they had disappeared from history long time ago. Our ancestors came here in the 5th and 6th century (AD).
Toronto Star (March 15, 1992)
Read the ten lies of Macedonism to see how brainwashed you have become. Just because you believe Pigs Fly dosen’t make it so.
A Slav who is honest and advises his countrymen to recognize reality and cease the nonsense of claiming Alexander III (Alexander the Great) was not a Greek when all of the evidence proves he indeed was a Greek Macedonian from Pella, a city that still stands to this day in Macedonia, Greece.
Let me get this straight. Alexander and the Macedonians conquered the then known world and
proceeded to expand the Greek language the Greek arts and everything Greek , in other words, Helleniicize everybody . Why would they possibly do or want to do that if they were not just another
Hellenic tribe with the same language customs and beliefs as the Ionians, Dorians, Aetolians, Achaians. Based on archaeological evidence they were Dorians .
So, my friends,pseudomacedonians, I have this advise for you; don’t spend your money on this subject to prove something that is wrong and outright laughable…Wake up, you are what you are , stop trying to convince yourselves that you are something else. Be proud of your Slavic heritage !!
You do realise when the Slavs moved south and into today’s Greece from the 6th century they raped and pillaged everything. Do you think modern Greeks are descendants of the ancient peoples? I’d say there’s more Slavic bloodlines and Turkish Christian bloodlines in the peoples of Greece today than that dude Aleksandar 😉
I am Greek and I took the ancestry test and it shows as NO Slavic blood at all. It is mostly “Greek/Italian, West Asian, from Asia Minor and 1% North African. You as a Slav hope that Greeks are your kin. You can’t claim that now with the ancestry test being so easy. Spend the money you cheapo and find out if you have any Greek blood. You sound too ignorant to have any
How can there be Slavs? Half of the facsists in your country claim not to be Slavs. Only a racist lying bigot wouldn’t notice.
Well today’s Greeks have nothing to do with ancient greeks, that is proven in many ways… so i don’t know why they are just so proud about Alexander the Great and claim him as theirs when he was fighting against the greeks. I think in fact Macedonian are not bragging about the name, but the Greeks tend to claim everything like theirs, like Greet Feta, Greek Baklava, Greek this Greek that. I am not Macedonian or Greek, been in both these countries, I find Macedonian as very welcoming and good people, whilst I find greeks to be very arrogant, thinking that they are the centre of the world whilst they are one bankrupt nation that claims everything as their… Ant to add on those comments above. This is my take in this…
You are just utterly clueless…..and Historically inept….Go read some history…..The slavs did not come to the region but 1000 years after Alexander….Are you mentally retarded..??
Its actually very well put. They are a piece of crap, as you can see pretty much 90% of the posts are from unemployed Greeks, who throughout history have been saved by other nations numerous times, but ran into Germany this time LOL. Soon, those islands they are so proud of will be German. Too bad out former dictator Tito didn’t put all the money to take back our territory after WWII where the communist in Greece lost the civil war cause he didn’t help them enough. All the territory taken after WWI( which by the Bucharest pact of 1913) was supposed to be leased for 100 years , is what actually feeds Greece today, as their actuall land is made mostly out of rock. All those cities and villages have Macedonian names, and were renamed. As far as them calling us Bulgarian, they should get their “very intellegent full of facts” asses straight as Bulgarians are “Tatars” and we are “Slavs”. Only thing in common is the same religion and that we speak slavic group of languages. And this that Slavs came a 1000 years ago must be from some new history that they just wrote, first time i ever hear that.
How is it proven? There is ancestry.com out there you know. I took the test and it shows as mostly Greek/Italian. No Slav or Turkish blood at all. What do you have to prove that Greeks aren’t related to ancient Greeks? By the way, we are the most important people in the world. I know you’re envious, but, that’s the breaks
This is a total falsehood. Do some research. Since the advent of the science of extracting DNA from ancient corpses teeth & hair, it has indisputably been identical to that of modern Greeks.
The Greeks have a hard time accepting the fact that northern Greece is Macedonia (n). Unfortunately the 1913 Buckurest treaty after the Balkan wars partitioned the entire region/country of Macedonia between Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria and Albania thanks to the most prominent western countries at the time and we are still suffering the F*** U*.. There was no Greece at the time of Alexander the Great. There was Athens, Sparta etc… Alexander fought for Macedonia and he built the kingdom of Macedonia, not Athens, not Sparta nor the German synthetic bastard state of Greece. The so called “Greek” government is finally grasping the implications of the genocide and ethnic cleansing it has performed over the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia (Southern part of Macedonia) in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. But “Greek” history doesn’t teach you this does it? Maybe you should talk to the victims skatered all over the world, Europe, Canada, America, Australia they will refresh your memory of what happens when you speak your mother language in your own home?. Macedonia has always been, is, alwayswill be.
Greece was united, with the exception of Sparta, by Philip II (Philip of Macedonia) via the League of Corinth. Sparta eventually fell into the fold subsequent to the Battle of Megalopolis where the Macedonians and their Greek allies under the command of Antipater, the Greek Regent in Alexander the Great’s absence, defeated the Spartans and their Persian allies. This united Greece was what comprised the Pan-Hellenic Asian Expedition led by Alexander that culminated in the greatest empire that the world had ever seen up until that point in time.
They are iliterate.That’ s why.
The Greeks have a hard time accepting the fact that northern Greece is Macedonia (n). Unfortunately the 1913 Buckurest treaty after the Balkan wars partitioned the entire region/country of Macedonia between Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria and Albania thanks to the most prominent western countries at the time and we are still suffering the F*** U*. There was no Greece at the time of Alexander the Great. There was Athens, Sparta etc… Alexander fought for Macedonia and he built the kingdom of Macedonia, not Athens, not Sparta nor the German synthetic bastard state of Greece. The so called “Greek” government is finally grasping the implications of the genocide and ethnic cleansing it has performed over the Macedonian people in Aegean Macedonia (Southern part of Macedonia) in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. But “Greek” history doesn’t teach you this does it? Maybe you should talk to the victims skatered all over the world, Europe, Canada, America, Australia they will refresh your memory of what happens when you speak your mother language in your own home?. Macedonia has always been, is, alwayswill be.
Aleksandar is as Greek as king Otto and Prince Wilhelm 😉 l thought Greece was created by the British and French in 1830
GIVE ME A BREAK!! Unbelievable! Relax, you Greek dolts! YOUR ‘history’ as you all believe it is complete and utter fantasy and fabrication. So, lay -off the Macedonians. By the way, Bob Costas is ALBANIAN – not Greek.
https://youtu.be/55tGPVKi3rw
Simply to be greek is to be a gypsy !!
1st of all why do these greeks whom exist from 1820 as greeks as before this there was no such greece or greeks try to make claim on a MACEDONIAN KINGS as been greek ???
If greek was spred as these gypsy think towards the east , well there would be a simular group of languages… right ??
What spred was MACEDONIAN to the North , thus creating the so called SLAVONIC group of family in languages .
Yes Slavanic but hence Macedonians are not slavs as they are the sorce….
Note: in 1930s the Athenian government created the schooling of the ATHENIAN DIALECT to wich they called it MODERN GREEK !!
Also understand in ancient times there was no GREECE as it neger was a united group to be a caountry
. E..g Macedonians had KINGS and a KINGDOM that akso ruled over Eprius and Thesalia , Accaia = Athenian region was under the rule of the ROMANS thus giving us in modern terms the Greco-Roman title , Thrace -TRAKIA is its own KINGDOM so to SPARTA a KINGDOM ruled by LIANIDIS but soon RULED BY KING DARIUS OF PERISIA for 1600 years so to CRETE .
Note: CRETE was its own KINGDOM BUT just like in 1913 when MACEDONIA was divided into 3 regions VARDAR – PIRIN – AGEAN the split up between Yugoslavija , Bulgaria and The new country Greece so to was taken and added to Greece was CRETE !!!!
THERE IS NOTHING ANCIENT ABOUT GREECE OR GREEKS … THESE GYPSYS HAVE NO RI G TS TO NAKE CLAIM TO MACEDONOAN ANCIENT NOR MODERN HISTORY…..
Rep Macedonia is VARDAR a region created after the devision in 1913 so it is and always was if the WHOLE ANCIENT COUNTRY M A C E D O N I A and gas every right to be called rep.Macedonia ..
Rember this ..IT WAS THE MACEDONIANS THAT CONQUERED THE ATHENIANS THEREFORE GREECE AS WGAT IT IS CALLED TODAY IS MACEDONIAN TERRITORY !!!
THE MACEDONIANS RULED THE LAND NOT THESE IMPOSTERS WHOM ARE SAY MACEDONIANS ATE GREEKS !!!
WAKE UP ATHENIANS YOU FAIL TO UNDERSTSND YOUR OWN MODERHISTORY AND YIU TRY MAKE CLAIM TO MACEDONIAN KINGS AS BEEN YOU AX GREEKS ??
TO BE GREEK IS NOTHING MORE THAN A GYPSY !!!
I was also shocked when the Saudi Arabia delegation marched into the stadium. The stupid female announcer saw the Saudi women and said, “You go girl! “, like these women had the freedom to make decisions for themselves. To be smart is not a requirement for their employment.
NBC is ignorant and barbarian station . Check the facts before you comment on history and your ignorant commentators .
It sounds like if you say in the Olympics that Abraham Lincoln was an American Indian !!!!!!!!!
More brainwashing by communist government of Skopje where is the ottoman census that say you are Macedonian, they only mention Bulgarians which is what you really are as your language in Skopje is closer to Bulgarian not Serbian and only baptised by tito as macedonian. Don’t the Albanians say “Born Bulgarian by God and baptized Macedonian by tito”. Read the ten lies of Macedonism to see how the propaganda has been instigated by tito and his sheep.
More rubbish “Macedonians are the source of slavs” no proof at all for this statement , but what did Gligorov your first president say – We are Slavs who came to this area in the sixth century (AD)…WE ARE NOT descendants of the ancient Macedonians -Foreign Information Service Daily Report, Eastern Europe (February 26, 1992)
We are Macedonians but we are Slav Macedonians. That’s who we are! We have NO CONNECTION to Alexander the Great and his Macedonia. The ancient Macedonians no longer exist, they had disappeared from history long time ago. Our ancestors came here in the 5th and 6th century (AD).
Toronto Star (March 15, 1992) YET YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE MACEDONIAN. Gligorov said the truth because he knows the lies tito spread and for what reasons. You live in vardarska – ancient paeonia not Philip’s Macedon.
IN YOUR SCHOOLS EVERY HALF HOUR STOP CLASS AND START FAKE MACEDONIAN PROPAGANDA ALONGSIDE RADIO PROGRAMS EVERY 30 SECONDS MAKEDONIA, MAKEDONIA like good communists, again “ten lies of Macedonism” look this up.
You burn inside to know the truth that your government has lied to you from the 1940’s I know your people and majority are uneducated about history and only know tito communist lies and propaganda.
Gypsy / Roma came into Europe same time as your president Gligorov mentioned so Greeks cannot be gypsies but you might be, hahaha, as Greek language is found in linear B tablets (look up to learn) going back to 1400BC at least 2800 years before any slavs or Bulgarians come to the Balkans. You learn much today hey aceski?
Here is truth if you want to read truth : King Ashoka of India calls the successors of Alexander as Yona – Ionians, think about this aceski an independent Indian King calling the successors Ionians because he knows what Macedonians were – Hellenes / Greeks as Greeks from ancient times in Asia known as Ionians -Yona – Yunan. Am I making sense or has communist propaganda made brain incapable of logic and only believe pigs fly?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derveni_papyrus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Panha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Maccabees
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone
MACEDONIA TO THE MACEDONIANS!!!! Never gaygreek ?
If it weren’t for the Greeks, your nation would not even have an alphabet you smart little one. Read some history books and get educated. This whole conversation is so sad.
That’s right to the Ionians / Greeks as the Macedonians were known in the Ancient world
not to impostor communist propaganda 1984 Orwell republic of backward skopjians such as yourself alexander. Alexander a Greek name you have. Must be burning inside to know the lies
told to you by your government. Even your first president Gligorov knows your lies and says we are slavs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derveni_papyrus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Panha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Maccabees
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone
Its actually very well put. They are a piece of crap, as you can see pretty much 90% of the posts are from unemployed Greeks, who throughout history have been saved by other nations numerous times, but ran into Germany this time LOL. Soon, those islands they are so proud of will be German. Too bad out former dictator Tito didn’t put all the money to take back our territory after WWII where the communist in Greece lost the civil war cause he didn’t help them enough. All the territory taken after WWI( which by the Bucharest pact of 1913) was supposed to be leased for 100 years , is what actually feeds Greece today, as their actuall land is made mostly out of rock. All those cities and villages have Macedonian names, and were renamed. As far as them calling us Bulgarian, they should get their “very intellegent full of facts” asses straight as Bulgarians are “Tatars” and we are “Slavs”. Only thing in common is the same religion and that we speak slavic group of languages. And this that Slavs came a 1000 years ago must be from some new history that they just wrote, first time i ever hear that. Its funny how the writer wrote that so manny people throught the world were mad how this was a wrong fact, and than you see the names of all the “mad people” and they are all Greek LOL. And Costas is a good dude, he just DOESN’T GIVE A CRAP. He might be Macedonian as i have met a lot of “Greek” Canadiens, who have greek last names only so they can survive in Canada! Peace out u frustrated dege*erates.
Where is the Ottoman Census that says you are not Bulgarians?
No mention of any Macedonian ethnicity in any Ottoman census because tito baptised slavs and Bulgarians into Macedonians in 1944.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derveni_papyrus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Panha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Maccabees
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone
The so called Macedonians in the FYROM have as much to do with Alexander The Great as they do with George Washington! Absolutely ridiculous that they try so desparately to create some sort of national icon and identity when they don’t really have one. My support goes out to my Greek friends who have had to continuously counter the ignorance and stupidity of the average American who is spoon fed what to think and believe by the American media propaganda machine. This continuous feeble attempt by the FYROM people to create a national icon by spreading lies and misinformation. This is akin to the deeply insecure Croatian people who have attempted to claim Nikola Tesla as their own because he was born in a small village called Smiljen in the Lika province of Croatia. If it weren’t for the fact that Tesla was born to Serbian parents and who’s father was a Serbian Orthodox priest, they may have been successful in their deceitful claims. Both of these Slavic people are a small minority people in the Balkans who have had to resort to exaggerations and falsehoods to pacify their feelings of inferiority and psyche of insecurity. This why they often cling onto the skirts of more powerful nations around them help them spread their lies and propaganda. We Serbs know this all too well with what we had to endure with the western media lies and propaganda spoon fed to the American people on a daily basis during the war in the former Yugoslavia. C’mon America! Crawl out of your shells, pick up a book, travel ouside of your borders or simply Google and do some research before you believe what you hear about another country!!
Τα πράγματα ειναι πολύ απλα …..
Ας μιλήσουμε στην γλώσσα του Μέγα Αλεξανδου
Θα σας παρακαλούσα ένας ενας ομως για να μπορέσω να σας απαντήσω
Greece will be nothing if Macedonia wasn’t divided
All of you are a bunch of nothing
Learn the true history and not the history that your Greek ears want to hear
The truth does hurt
The commentators of Australia’s Channel 7 made similar statements about Philip and Alexander during their coverage of the opening ceremony. It looks like both networks were provided with the same misinformation by someone (perhaps the IOC). Greek-Australians complained to Channel 7, prompting the commentator to apologize on Twitter and the FYROM segment to be pulled from a re-broadcast of the ceremony.
Greek-Americans, submit your complaints to NBC here…
http://www.nbc.com/contact-us
The hate that I have read is very sad. Some is just pure made up crap,other comments are very insulting. The world is in trouble, for this reason too much hate. Facts get lost and put their own wishfull opinions as facts.too many to mention. If you have nothing good to say , don’t say it. Trolls on social media who target certain sights that are not even interested in the sight apart from stiiring up trouble, should get a life.
I drove through FYROM last month on my way north. The country has Mosques and Albanians every where. Haha, how the heck are you related to any classical people again? Did the ancient Macedonians speak this Bulgarian dialect you currently speak? Why doesn’t Bulgaria recognize the current Macedonian language? Because they say it is a dialect of Bulgarian. I encourage people to travel to FYROM and visit the mosques and the many Albanians there and then let’s talk about how the heck this Balkan country has anything to do with classical civilization.
To all those Greek Propaganda enthusiast, there is only one fact. The only reason Greece has any affiliation with Macedonianis because the great region of Macedonia was annexed to avoid anothe war, 1913.. Greeks took land, Bulgarians took land and Serbs took land, only difference is President Tito recognised that Macedonia is not Serbian and gave the people of Macedonia their rightful identity while the Greek and Bulgarian governments denied their existence, persecuted, population swapped and re writ history to protect their inheritance. So the next time you want to discuss history, just look at Greece’s independence, their first German King and the way a country was fabricated together and called Greece for the sole purpose of gaining control in The Balkans back from the Ottomans.
Macedonia belongs to the people that live within it, it was the most diverse cultural region in Europe and inhabited by Macedonians, Greeks, Turks, Jews, Roma, Albanians and all the rest. Only when Greece took a big chunk of it did they force assimilation of the population claiming them Greek and only Greek along with the history.. There has never in history been a Greek Empire but it’s well documented that the Macedonian Empire ruled over Greeks and as far as India..
Up until 1989 Greeks claimed Macedonians don’t exist, now they claim they are Macedonian..
Malakas!!
If there was a “macedonian ” nation i wonder what did they do for their independence during the balcan wars. Why would only the greeks, the serbs and bulgarians rise against the turks to push them out of their lands. This shows that these people were better organized culturally,religiously and ethnically to come together, form their own nations and fight for their lands.. Where were the great “macedonians” then. Not to mention where were they during the wars of independence against the ottoman empire a hundred years earlier. Did they have a land to fight for? If they forgot to do so then why didn’t they declare their independence during the balcan wars and fight alongside the other christian countries against the turks. The only answer to this can be that there were no, so called “macedonians” to fight for their so called country “macedonia”. Nobody in the balcans at that time could call himself “macedonian” like greeks called themselves greek, bulgarians bulgars, serbians serbs. Because no such “macedonian” existed. It is nowhere mentioned, written. There were mostly greeks, serbs and bulgars in that area with the greeks making up the majority of the people living there apart from the turks. The greeks living there would call themselves macedonian and still do just in the same way a greek living in crete will call himself cretan or one living in peloponnesus, peloponnesian. They are all greeks though. So where are the people of the great nation “macedonia”? Let’s see.
After the balcan wars and the defeat of turkey the area was divided between greece, bulgaria and serbia. Only greece and only greece named their part macedonia because it included most of the ancient kingdom of macedonia. What else would they name it? Serbia, which took the smaller portion of the region and does not include any part of the ancient kingdom of macedonia, has changed its name several times. From paeonia to vardaska to “macedonia”. After world war two was over,Tito was in charge of yugoslavia at the time and decided to change the name of that region to “macedonia”. Why would he do that? Are names of countries regions changed so often and for no reason? J guess not. Well, yugoslavia broke up and this region, now a country, decided to name itself “macedonia”, without even taking into consideration that a large region of greece is called macedonia. This, by all means is not proper neighborly conduct. You don’t go calling a country by the name of another countries region. And if you really do want to, you at least talk about it with the other country. But no, they went ahead and did. What were they thinking? Greece wouldn’t react to this. What country in the world would sit back and let their neighbor use part of their history as entirely their own. Fabricating along the way a so called ” macedonian” language, culture, history and so on, to justify their existence. How would americans feel if the baja california region of mexico declares its independence and name the country CALIFORNIA, fabricating a californian language, culture and history? How would the U.S. react to maps of this country that include the state of california? What would the U.S. answer to officials of that country saying that there is a californian minority living in the U.S?
(F.Y.R.O.M.) Former yugoslavian republic of macedonia, the official name of the so called country “macedonia” has been teaching their children in their schools that part of their country is occupied by greece and bulgaria and that some day they will liberate it. They have circulated maps of their country which include the regions macedonia of greece and pirin of bulgaria. How would the future generation of this country deal with their neighbors when they get brainwashed this way? Greece has every right to react to all this. The whole world should react. Every reasonable, logical, intelligent, well educated, truth seeking, historically adept person in the world knows exactly what is happening and encouraging this country any further should stop.
If they want to live peacefully and with prosperity with their neighboring countries they should at least acknowledge the fact that without those countries sacrifices they wouldn’t have this land to call their own. They should show respect and not be so ungrateful. They have a piece of land to live in without even shedding blood for it. Today we see the kurds shedding blood for their land. I don’t see anyone giving them a piece to call their own like they did with albania, israel and scopia (FYROM “macedonia)”.
So help put a stop to this. We should all discourage this country of continuing keeping this stance. They should go back and use one of their previous names for their country like VARDASKA and let the people living there to identify themselves as they like. I bet one third of the population will identify themselves as albanians.
Respect to the commentator and NBC. All the best to the Republic of Macedonia for their olympic campaign
Greeks saying they are Hellenic and they named they north province “Macedonia” because the Macedonian people who live now in the “FYROM” can’t take the name of Macedonia ,because the Greek people need to give a part of land that they and the Bulgarian ,Albanian and Serbian need to give that lost part of land.And now Greece’s democracy is failing bit by bit and there is a phrase: Dont do harm to someone who harms you,God is watching everything goes back lack a boomerang.
Long Live and Be Free
Македонија Вечна!
Do you even know what Hellenic means?
Obviously, Not.
Educate yourself before stating stupid comments.
I think Costa Kristides ,Constantine and everyones’ comments on the FYROM issue have covered the ludicrous claims .As propaganda is used to feed their desperate need to be Greek,they can never become Greek.I believe that a documentary humiliating their claims should be put together by Greek in origin and non Greek journalists,producers and directors as well as professors and teachers worldwide who will be more than willing to contribute their knowledge.The influence of this educational tool would probably be the best way in extinguishing this sly methodical approach trying to create a political and geographical problem for Greece.Our politicians are not dealing with this issue so it is time for Greeks of the diaspora and cultured people of the world to do something about this.
Macedonia was and had it’s own identity until the Greeks took the biggest chunk in the north can anyone tell me why all villages towns names of people living in these areas were changed to Greek names my father was born in Lerin now known as Florina .When I travelled to go to Lerin I was refused entry at the border by some Greek who was upset about me talking in my native Macedonian language after been born in Australia.The Greeks persecuted the Macedonians by taking their land,by changing their names and stealing the identities as well as their land hang your heads in shame
Well done Bob Costas you sir are a legend.
.
Get over it… It’s Macedonia which happens to be the birthplace of Alexander the Great. For over 20 years now the Greeks refuse to face reality.
If the Greeks had their way, they would try to claim more land & force every family in the stolen land to change their sir name to a greek name, just like they’ve done in the past.
It Is Macedonia…
This topic should not even be argued.
The facts are the facts. Greeks were responsible for nearly all old and modern innovations. Any educated person knows the history of Greece and how it existed as city-states, instead of one united country until the unification and spread of Hellenism via Alexander the Great.
Hellenism means Greek for those unfamiliar with this term. Only a Greek would spread Hellenism, his/ her ethnicity. Hence, Alexander the Great from the city-state of Macedonia conquered the other city states and made it a Hellenic world. Not a Slavic world.
It is through the break up of the former Yugoslavia that people in this region need to claim something of importance to build themselves and their country up.
Attempting to change historical facts will not change them.
Also, Albanians and Greeks are not the same. Please research your information before stating ignorant things.
It wasn’t Bob Costas that made the comment about Skopje but the co-host Matt Lauer.
Trial of Philotas and the Murder of Parmenio
To win the support of the Persian aristocracy Alexander appointed many Persians as provincial governors in his new empire. He adopted the Persian dress for ceremonies, gave orders for Persians to be enlisted in the army, and encouraged the Macedonians to marry Persian women.
But the Macedonians were unhappy with Alexander’s Orientalization for they were proud of their Macedonian customs, culture, and language. His increasingly Oriental behavior eventually led to conflict with the Macedonian nobles and some Greeks in the train. In 330 BC series of allegations were brought up against some of Alexander’s officers concerning a plot to murder him. Alexander tortured and executed the accused leader of the conspiracy, Parmenio’s son Philotas, the commander of the cavalry. Several other officers were also executed according to Macedonian law, in order to eliminate the alleged attempt on Alexander’s life. During the trial of Philotas Alexander raised the question of the use of the ancient Macedonian language. He spoke:
“‘The Macedonians are about to pass judgment upon you; I wish to know whether you will use their native tongue in addressing them.’ Philotas replied: ‘Besides the Macedonians there are many present who, I think, will more easily understand what I shall say if I use the same language which you have employed.’ Than said the king: ‘Do you not see how Philotas loathes even the language of his fatherland? For he alone disdains to learn it. But let him by all means speak in whatever way he desires, provided that you remember that he holds out customs in as much abhorrence as our language.'” (Quintus Curtius Rufus 6.9.34-36)
The trial of Philotas took place in Asia before a multiethnic public, which has accepted Greek as their common language. Alexander spoke Macedonian with his conationals, but used Greek in addressing the Greeks and the Asians, as Greek was widely taken as international language in ancient times. Like Carthaginian, Illyrian, and Thracian, ancient Macedonian was not recorded in writing. However, on the bases of about hundred glosses, Macedonian words noted and explained by Greek writers, some place names from Macedonia, and names of individuals, most scholars believe that ancient Macedonian was a separate Indo-European language. Evidence from phonology indicates that the ancient Macedonian language was distinct from ancient Greek and closer to the Thracian and Illyrian languages. Some modern writers have erroneously concluded that the Macedonians spoke Greek based on few Greek inscriptions discovered in Macedonia, but that is by no means a proof that the Macedonian was not a distinct language. Greek inscriptions were also found in Thrace and Illyria, the Thracians even inscribed their coins and vessels in Greek, and we know that both the Illyrians and the Thracians were not Greeks who had distinct languages.
Alexander the Great never met Slavs, never spoke Slavic, never lived in FYRoM. Lest we forget – Macedon was Greek Kingdom, Greeks live there >3 millennia and still do. There is no better example on which to stake your origin and identity. Macedonians have always been a Greek-speaking Hellenic-peoples…a regional-historical people-group of ethnic-Greek stock.
FYRoM [Yugo] Slavs insult western civilization with their anti-Hellenic, anti-Western theories, ideas and conjectures. The Western worlds cultural historical narrative cannot be held hostage to pseudo-historical fairy tale fantasies that liken FYRoM to Macedon and ex-Yugoslavians to Macedonians.
Lest we forget – FYRoM produced more than 1001 Theories Ideas and Conjectures which attempt ‘crudely’ to make the ancient-Greek Kingdom of Macedon Slavic. And when they came up against academic resistance, they stated they were not real Slavs but Slavicized indigenous peoples, natives that mixed with the Slavic tribes, but this theory makes them Slavicized Paeonians.
Lest we forget – Paeonians were Hellenized by Greeks from Macedon. Romanized by latin-speaking Romans. Greco-Romanized by the Byzantines. Slavicized by Draguvites Berzekes and Sagudates…and lastly, Turkified by
Ottoman Musulmen. Note: FYRoM’s Slavic identity prevailed, shone through 500 years of Ottoman subjugation. It came out the other side Slavic. Hence, FYRoM is Slavic now, according to the rules governing people dynamics.
The western worlds cultural historical narrative is based on Macedon being a Greek Kingdom…and the rest is history!