From Macedonism to Neo-Macedonism: The Self–Identification of Alexander the Great

Authors

  • Dr Dimitri Gonis

Abstract

A very popular belief amongst the Macedonian Slavs of the 19th century was that the ancient Macedonians were their ethno-genetic ancestors. It is said that even distinguished Macedono-Bulgarian educators like Konstnatin and Dimitar Miladinov (1830–1962 & 1810–1962) believed that “not only Philip, Alexander and the Ancient Macedonians were Slavs, but also Homer, Demosthenes and Strabo” (Marinov, 2013, p. 385). In 1878, Giorgi Pulevski (1823–1893) — widely regarded as the “father” of Slavo-Macedonian nationhood and a pioneer of Macedonism (Friedman, 1986, p. 285; Rossos, 2008, p. 95; Koneski, 1961. 61; Pribichevich, 1982, p. 113) — was urging his countrymen to rise up and fight for Macedonia’s independence: “like our people under Alexander fought” (Koneski, 1961, p. 74). Pulevski’s beliefs vis a vis the ethno-genetic continuity between the Slavs of his time and the ancient Macedonians are best articulated in one of his poems.

Author Biography

Dr Dimitri Gonis

Department of Languages and Linguistics, Greek Studies Program, La Trobe University

Downloads

Published

2021-12-01

How to Cite

Gonis, D. (2021). From Macedonism to Neo-Macedonism: The Self–Identification of Alexander the Great. Macedonian Studies Journal, 2(1). Retrieved from https://ojs.aims.edu.au/index.php/msj/article/view/15