Kosovo Slams Macedonia Over Encyclopaedia

alexander the great as an illyrian? seems like not only macedonians have history issues...

or if they are predecessors of Alexander the Great, whose origin is Illyrian,” Krasniqi was quoted by RTK Wow, don't let the Greeks hear you say that. You're not happy with stealing Serbian history only, now you want to steal Greek history as well. Is everyone in that region Illyrian?

Peggy, Alexander the Great was half macedon (greek) and half illyrian. Greeks and Albanians have a lot in common. So move on.

Point-scoring by retrospectively attempting to claim the nationality or at least a common origin with ancient figures is a grotesque Balkan disease. It's hardly surprising to see that a Kosovar politician can join in too - but many people who ought to know better from Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and every corner of former Yugoslavia have played this divisive, simplistic and anti-historical game. The more specific answer is that Alexander was ancient Macedonianian on his father's side, and ancient Epirote on his mother's. Although born in Macedon, Alexander had strong ties to Epirus, having sought sanctuary there when his father Philip II abandoned his Epirote mother Olympias in favor of a fully Macedonian wife, Cleopatra. It's simplistic to view either the ancient Epirotes or Macedonians as "Greek" either in the modern sense or the ancient one. Both were on the periphery of the Greek-speaking area of the Balkans, spoke their own distinctive versions of Greek, and the Epirotes in particular do not seem to have held great esteem among classical writers (although not to the extent that they were treated as non-Greek). The Macedonian region switched to an Attic form of Greek as late as the 4th century BC, and the exact nature of the prior Macedonian language has been subject to dispute, as has the degree to which the Macedonians consisted of hellenized non-Greeks. Serious academic consideration has been given to Thracian and Illyrian origins, mixed to some degree with Greeks, or that they had a distinct language and identity closely related to Greek. Despite its remoteness, Macedon did participate in the ancient Greek world (e.g. entries at the pan-Hellenic games from the 5th century BC) and its rulers came to claim descent from figures of ancient Greek mythology, although of course this cultural affiliation says little about their historical origins. Despite the musings of Albanian and Slavic nationalists, current archaeological and (very limited) documentary evidence suggest a culture with distinctive characteristics, but in many ways essentially akin to others within the ancient Greek world. I suspect Jakup Krasniqi, who has an Albanian nationalist point of view on the matter, was claiming Alexander to be Illyrian via roots in pre-hellenization Macedon. It's not a wildly implausible claim (Macedonian origins are obscure, plenty of Illyrians and Thracians lived in the region, and relatively neutral non-Balkan historians proposed the theory, particularly before more recent evidence came to light) but it is certainly a claim of nationalistic convenience and not one of real analysis or insight. Any truly valuable contribution on this matter would claim neither the degree of certainty that their self-serving theory was correct, nor the simplicity of the explanation. Why should a complex issue be reduced to "Alexander = Illyrian = Albanian" or its rival claims "Alexander = Greek", "Alexander = Modern Slavic Macedonian"? The claim that Alexander was half-Illyrian seems to be based on his Epirote mother. Now the Epirotes bordered Illyria and were regarded as somewhat alien by other Greek-speaking groups, but did speak a Greek dialect and held a major Hellenic shrine. Yet it is also true they are widely regarded as one of the groups leading to the modern Albanians. There's probably a degree of truth in this - certainly territorial congruity, and the medieval absorption of the Despotate of Epirus (one of the successor states to the fragmented Byzantine Empire) into the Albanian principality system. The latter was a case of violent conquest followed by essentially peaceful and productive co-existence, and there must surely have been a cultural impact of the settled and urbane Epirotes on the largely mountain-dwelling Albanians at a time when their own culture and civilization was crystallizing. As for whether the ancient Epirotes were "Illyrian" to some extent, the possibility of intermarriage with their Illyrian neighbors or the role of hellenization of local inhabitants compared to Greek migration, will always be impossible to untangle. At any rate Epirotes spoke Greek and regarded themselves as part of the Greek world, but neither "Ancient Epirote = Modern Albanian" nor "Ancient Albanian = Modern Greek" seem to tell the whole story. Unfortunately any meaningful exploration of centuries of complex cultural syncretism seem to result in counter-cries that this is "stealing history". Perhaps this is part of the "Balkan complex" that has contributed so little wisdom and so much woe to the history of nations. A crude belief persists in purity of roots; the flawed and hateful hope that the interface of two groups living and trading side-by-side for hundreds of years resulted in no cultural or genetic exchange; that no cross-contamination with those people I abhor today, has polluted my personal connection with the figures of yesteryear I admire. If I am very lucky, my long-dead forefathers shared my own prejudices and enmities; then the weight of the chip on my shoulder can be justified, for it is an ancient one. So why do Balkan-dwellers persist in making these absurd, sweeping, fundamentally meaningless claims for common origins with the long-dead? Shared genetics? A tiny modicum of preserved, common culture? An implied claim of vicarious glory? A poke in the eye of their neighbors? Truth be told, if any of us today, from whatever nationality and ethnic group, were transported to live in the world of the ancient Macedonians, or for that matter the Illyrians, Thracians, Spartans, Athenians or the ancient Slavs that reached the region some centuries after Alexander, we wouldn't feel very common or kindred to any of them. Their culture would be alien to us, their ethics and government distasteful, the way they treated women, slaves and enemies would be unacceptable. They would all be barbarians to us. Perhaps this is a Whig view of history, the ancients would find modernity equally damnable, and all illusion of "progress" is just the result of shifting norms. But if any crypto-nationalist really does want to marvel at his long-dead heroes, to take exquisite pride in the occasional common gene or mutually-understood linguistic fragment that posterity had handed unto him, then I would send him back forthwith, and pray that the ancients can find a better use for him than the present can.

"....Alexander the Great, whose origin is Illyrian," just proves you don't have to be smart to be a politician...... I am like Peggy and probably most other people confused by this.....as far as I know Alexander the Great was always referred to as and or Macedonian/Greek.....never heard "Illyrian" used in the same sentence as Alexander the Great let alone it being used to describe his identity/background sorry....but it seems these Albanians are trying to invent some new history.....and by the way "Illyrian" does not equal=modern day Albanian as the Albanians like to think.....the term "Illyrian" is very broad meaning and was used throughout history to describe different groups and tribes of peoples in the Balkans

Albanian, why don't you provide some evidence of that if you can. According to you guys that whole region is Illyrian. Delusional bunchof people. Perhaps you should accept the truth yourself and move on.

"Albanian NGOs"... that's priceless. Where's AKP when you need him?

"....Alexander the Great, whose origin is Illyrian," just proves you don't have to be smart to be a politician...... I am like Peggy and probably most other people confused by this.....as far as I know Alexander the Great was always referred to as and or Macedonian/Greek.....never heard "Illyrian" used in the same sentence as Alexander the Great let alone it being used to describe his identity/background sorry....but it seems these Albanians are trying to invent some new history.....and by the way "Illyrian" does not equal=modern day Albanian as the Albanians like to think.....the term "Illyrian" is very broad meaning and was used throughout history to describe different groups and tribes of peoples in the Balkans

http://alexanderthegreat.wordpress.com/ read people