Family tree of Alexander the Great

Family tree of Alexander the Great

Was Alexander the Great really Greek?

Many people still believe that Alexander the Great and his clan were genuine Greeks, based on the "free" Encyclopedia called Wikipedia, but Wikipedia is a non-serious channel that is always edited by everyone, so today it will not we present fantasies or nationalist propaganda theories, but facts and historical sources based on different authors, ancient, medieval and modern.

Let us present some facts:

1) On the origin of the Epirotes, especially the famous Molossian tribe, from where Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, came from:

The Greeks based on the studies of Nicholas Hammond, that the ancient Epirotes were a people of northwestern Greece, and at the same time Greek-speaking, they still believe they were Greek. But what is the truth, were they really like that? Here are some facts:

The Greek historian of antiquity Thucydides, emphasizes the fact that the Epirotes were Barbarians:

"He had in his army of Grecians, the Ambraciotes, Leucadians, Anactorians, and the thousand Peloponnesians he brought with him; and of barbarians, a thousand Chaonians, who have no king but were led by Photius and Nicanor, which two being of the families eligible had now the annual government. With the Chaonians came also the Thesprotians, they also without a king. The Molossians and Atintanians were led by Sabylinthus, protector of Tharups their king, who was yet in minority."

Thucydides, The history of the Peloponnesian war, 2.80

Weitere Quellen:
Greek Leaders: Leslie White Hopkinson, 1918 (Seite: 197):

„Die Mutter des Jungen (Alexanders) war Olympia, eine albanische Prinzessin in dessen wilde junge Schönheit Philip sich verliebt hatte, während er sie in den Riten der Religion ihrer Heimat tanzen sah“.

Originaltext:

„The Boy’s Mother was Olympias, an Albanian Princess whose wild young beauty Phillip had fallen in love with as he saw her dancing in the religious rites of her own country”.

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2) What do we mean by the term ("Barbarian")?

The ancient writers unequivocally described Epirotes as barbarians; in all probability, this term is not meant to show Epirotes as backward Greeks as many modern Greeks claim. Judging by their language, customs, traditions and the way of life (which differed completely from that of Greece proper), ancients reckoned them to be 'barbarians':

Strabo, Geography, 7. 7. 1

English:

"Moreover, the barbarian origin of some is indicated by their names—Cecrops, Godrus, Aïclus, Cothus, Drymas, and Crinacus. the Thracians, Illyrians, and Epeirotes live on the flanks of the Greeks (though this was still more the case formerly than now); —Macedonia and certain parts of Thessaly by the Thracians, Acarnania and Aetolia by the Thesproti, the Cassopaei, the Amphilochi, the Molossi, and the Athamanes—Epeirotic tribes."

Original Greek:

"καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ὀνομάτων δὲ ἐνίων τὸ βάρβαρον ἐμφαίνεται, Κέκροψ καὶ Κόδρος καὶ Ἄικλος καὶ Κόθος καὶ Δρύμας καὶ Κρίνακος. οἱ δὲ καὶ μέχρι νῦν ἐν πλευραῖς εἰσιν· ἔτι μέντοι μᾶλλον πρότερον ἢ νῦν, ὅπου γε καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ παρόντι Ἑλλάδος ἀναντιλέκτως οὔσης τὴν πολλὴν οἱ βάρβαροι ἔχουσι, Μακεδονίαν μὲν Θρᾷκες καί τινα μέρη τῆς Θετταλίας, η."

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For more Info about the term ("Barbarian"), read sources No. 3, 4,5

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6) So, the claim of Greek nationalists that 'barbarian' meant a uncivilized Greek is unsustainable. Here I'm going to present some modern interpretations that support our view.

6a) Graham Shipley's The Greek World after Alexander, 2000, p. 111 "The Arrian passage reminds us of an important fact of Macedonia's location: its neighbours - Thracians, Paionians, and Illyrians - were primarily non-urban peoples with more or less hellenized elites."

6b) Robert Browning's Medieval and Modern Greek, 1983, p. 2, n. 7 " Yes the Epirotes were connected with the origin of various Greek communities. There may well have been an ethnic and linguistic mixture in Epirus, some tribes speaking Greek, others Illyrian or some other language (cf. Hammond (1967) 423; Katičić (1976) 120-7)"

6c) Michael Grant, Rachel Kitzinger, Civilization of the ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome: Volume 1, 1988, p. 203:

"On the other hand, Thucydides (1.47.3, 5o-3) and Strabo (7.7.1) call the Epirotes barbaroi: and many Epirote tribes did not speak Greek (Strabo 7.7.1) and even enjoyed...

6d) 'In October 1984, 70 historians and archaeologists from Greece, Albania, Romania, Italy and several other countries of Europe convened in Clermont-Ferrand, France. They held a colloquium with a group of Specialists in ancient history who were working there under the direction of Proffesor Pierre Kaban, the renowned expert on Epirus. They compared studies on the tribal and ethnic groups which gradually organised into urban life, then federated into state organisations. They compared juridical institutions such as family right of ownership, the role of the woman in the family and the procedure in freeing slaves. But scholars concluded that from early antiquity until the Roman times (Jaques 1995:80/81)

Bibliography:

Edwin.E.Jaques 1995 'The Albanians: An ethnic history from prehistoric times to the present'

6e) "In later times , and adopted the manners and language of the Illyrians, from which point the Athamanes, an Epirote and Illyrian nation, pressed into the south of Thessaly. "

The Historians' History of the World: Greece to the Peloponnesian war

Henry Smith Williams - 1904 - p. 111

6f) It has been thought by some scholars that Illyrian presence is to be detected even in Aetolia and Acarnania.They based their opinion on thorough analysis of Thucydides's paragraph which recognizes a large non-Greek element among Aetolians:

Original Greek:

«τὸ γὰρ ἔθνος μέγα μὲν εἶναι τὸ τῶν Αἰτωλῶν καὶ μάχιμον, οἰκοῦν δὲ κατὰ κώμας ἀτειχίστους, καὶ ταύτας διὰ πολλοῦ, καὶ σκευῇ ψιλῇ χρώμενον οὐ χαλεπὸν ἀπέφαινον, πρὶν ξυμβοηθῆσαι, καταστραφῆναι. ἐπιχειρεῖν δ᾿ ἐκέλευον πρῶτον μὲν Ἀποδωτοῖς, ἔπειτα δὲ Ὀφιονεῦσι καὶ μετὰ τούτους , ὅπερ μέγιστον μέρος ἀγνωστότατοι δὲ γλῶσσαν καὶ ὠμοφάγοι εἰσίν, ὡς λέγονται»

English:

"The Aetolian nation, although numerous and warlike, yet dwelt in un-walled villages scattered far apart, and had nothing but light armor, and might, according to the Messenians, be subdued without much difficulty before succors could arrive. The plan which they recommended was to attack first the Apodotians, next the Ophionians, and after these a language exceedingly difficult to understand, and eat their flesh raw."

Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian war, 3.94