Katerina Mladenovska-Ristovska
Studia Środkowoeuropejskie i Bałkanistyczne, Tom XXVI, 2017, s. 281 - 291
https://doi.org/10.4467/2543733XSSB.17.038.8336Who exactly were the ancient Macedonians – Greeks, barbarians, Illyrians, Thracians or mixed people? This is one of the most controversial issues in historical science which was very popular in the course of the past century and does not cease to be current even today. Although the ancient sources clearly attest to the uniqueness of the ancient Macedonians in comparison to other neighboring ethnic groups, some researchers still believe that the ancient Macedonians were Greeks. Their arguments can be best illustrated by the following questions: First, if the ancient Macedonians were not Greeks, how did they as an independent, militarily dominant people, receive Greek culture and become its most prominent representatives? Furthermore, why did Alexander III, after conquering the East, accept the Hellenic dialect (koine) as the official language of his country? Why have numerous inscriptions in Greek been found in Macedonia? Why were numerous historical works from Macedonia in ancient times written in Ionic or the Ionic-Attic dialect, even when their authors were Macedonians and knew Macedonian? These issues are the subject of study in the proposed work.