Quote of ancient Hellenic historian and Athenian general Thucydides, about the land of Macedonia and origin of Temenid dynasty:
Arnold J. Toynbee was eminent British historian, born in London on 14 April 1889. His most famous magnum opus is the A Study of History, in which the author traces the development and decay of all of the major world civilizations in the historical record. He was Professor at King's College London (as Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History), the London School of Economics and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) in Chatham House. Toynbee worked for the Political Intelligence Department of the British Foreign Office during World War I and served as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. His approach belongs to Comparative history.
On his journey in Macedonia and Morea, in the book The Western Question in Greece and Turkey, Toynbee has stated:
"For ten days I walked about in the Morea... and afterwards I made a more rapid excursion into Western Macedonia. The Morea was the heart of ‘Old Greece’ and had been solidly Royalist. The Greeks of Macedonia had only been united to the Kingdom after the Balkan War, and, like most of their newly liberated kinsmen, had been supporters of Mr. Venizelos. The Moreots are provincials, the Macedonians— linked up with the West by railway more than a generation ago—are comparatively in touch with the world." (Pg. 243)
"Alexander's achievement was not the conquest of India, but the feat of
actually getting there and his two years in India were more of a
geographical expedition than a military campaign. .... a Greek army had
reached what they regarded as the end of the earth. They had pitted
themselves against the ultimate as bravely as the yogins had struggled
to break through the limits of the human psyche. Where mystics had
conquered interior space, Alexander explored the farthest reaches of the
physical world. .... like many of the axial sages, he was constantly
'straining after more'." - Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation
Excerpt from the speech of Philip II of Macedon, after the battle of Chaeronea and his quote about ambitions of his son Alexander III of Macedon:
"My son ask for thyself another Kingdom, for that which I leave is too small for thee"
- Philip II of Macedon
Thomas Schühly is the producer of the movie "Alexander" (2004), dedicated to great Macedonian conqueror. His statement for New York Times:
"Oliver [Stone] once asked me: what is greatness? It's not just conquering the world. Genghis Khan conquered the world. Hitler conquered the world. Alexander, did not exact revenge after his conquests, at least not beyond what was required to consolidate his dominion. As he marched across Egypt, Persia and India, he sought to integrate West and East, defying the cultural purity preached by the ancient Greeks.
It's what Alexander did after he conquered a country that interested me. If war is part of our nature, the question is, what do we do after it?"
("A Hopeless Idea for a Film About Alexander Is Finally Successful" - The New York Times, 1 September 2004)
Constantine P. Cavafy (1863 – 1933) was a renowned Greek poet who lived in Alexandria (Egypt) and worked as a journalist and civil servant. He published 154 poems; dozens more remained incomplete or in sketch form. His most important poetry was written after his fortieth birthday. In one of his poems, he stated:
"We the Alexandrians, the Antiochians, the Selefkians, and the countless other Greeks of Egypt and Syria, and those in Media, and Persia, and all the rest: with our far-flung supremacy, our flexible policy of judicious integration, and our Common Greek Language which we carried as far as Bactria, as far as the Indians."
"Εμείς· οι Aλεξανδρείς, οι Aντιοχείς, οι Σελευκείς, κ’ οι πολυάριθμοι επίλοιποι Έλληνες Aιγύπτου και Συρίας, κ’ οι εν Μηδία, κ’ οι εν Περσίδι, κι όσοι άλλοι. Με τες εκτεταμένες επικράτειες, με την ποικίλη δράσι των στοχαστικών προσαρμογών. Και την Κοινήν Ελληνική Λαλιά ώς μέσα στην Βακτριανή την πήγαμεν, ώς τους Ινδούς."
François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, free trade and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poetry, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. Voltaire was one of several Enlightenment figures (along with Montesquieu, John Locke, Richard Price, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Émilie du Châtelet) whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the American and French Revolutions.
"...Alexander, having been elected at Corinth captain-general of Greece, and commissioned as such to avenge the invasions of the Persians... This excess of civility having astonished Parmenio, Alexander told him that he had known Jaddus... that this same Jaddus had exhorted him to cross the Hellespont, assuring him that God would march at the head of the Greeks, and that the God of the Jews would give him the victory over the Persians. This old woman’s tale makes but a sorry figure in the history of such a man as Alexander... All that we can be quite certain of is that Alexander, at the age of twenty-four, had conquered Persia by three battles; that his genius was as great as his valor; that he changed the face of Asia, Greece, and Egypt..."
(The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version. A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming (New York: E.R. DuMont, 1901). In 21 vols. Vol. III.)
Pope John XXIII (1881-1963), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, headed the Catholic Church and ruled Vatican City from 1958 until his death. Pope John was elected on 28 October 1958. He called the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) but did not live to see it to completion. He died in 1963, only four-and-a-half years after his election, and two months after the completion of his final encyclical, Pacem in Terris. He was beatified, along with Pope Pius IX, on 3 September 2000.
English: "Cyril and Methodius, are children of the East, citizens of Byzantium, Greeks by nationality..."
Latin: "Cyrillus ac Methodius — quos Orientis filios, patria Byzantinos, gente Graecos..."
Epistola Apostolica of Pope Giovanni XXIII
Pope John Paul II (1920-2005), born Karol Józef Wojtyła, was reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the second-longest serving Pope in history and the first non-Italian since 1523. John Paul II was acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. He was instrumental in ending communism in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed venerable by his successor Pope Benedict XVI and was beatified on 1 May 2011.
On 31 December, 1980 in his letter he stated:
English - "Cyril and Methodius, Greek brothers, native of Thessaloniki..."
Latin - "Cyrillus autem et Methodius fratres, Graeci, Thessalonicae nati..."
Italian - "Cirillo e Metodio, fratelli, greci, nativi di Tessalonica..."
("EGREGIAE VIRTUTIS" Lettera Apostolica, Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II - III, 2, 1980)
Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II (1980)
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896-1974), was the Russian Marshal of the Soviet Union. He was also, a Soviet career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army drive through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the occupation of the Axis Powers, and ultimately, to conquer the capital of Germany itself, Berlin. He is the most decorated general officer in the history of the Soviet Union and Russia.
He is representative of the thesis, that Porus didn't lose at the battle of Hydaspes, but most important is that according to him, ancient Macedonians were Greeks. It can be seen from following quote:
"Until the campaigns of Alexander, there was no large scale Greek presence in India though a few Greek colonies did exist in the northwestern regions of the subcontinent. Following his failure to gain a position in India and the defeat of his successor Seleucus Nikator, relationships between the Indians and the Greeks and the Romans later, was mainly through trade and diplomacy. Also the Greeks and other ancient peoples did not see themselves as in any way superior, only different."
(Marshal G. Zhukov, in his convocation address delivered at the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun)
Frank Lee Holt is a Central Asian archaeologist and author. He is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Houston, and is recognized as one of the leading authorities on Alexander the Great, Hellenistic Asia, and numismatics. Holt received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Virginia. Holt has written five books and almost fifty articles, primarily concerning Alexander the Great and the Hellenization of Afghanistan.
Quotes from his article in Saudi Arabian eminent magazine Saudi Aramco World:
"In 1911, Barclay Head suggested that the Indian prince Taxiles, an ally of the Greeks, designed this medal to show his own heroic part in Alexander’s Battle of the Hydaspes River..."
"Through the same treacherous mountain trails that would later betray three merchants from Bukhara, young Alexander led an army of Greeks toward the frontiers of India..."
"Not yet 30 years old, Alexander was already hegemon of Greece, king of Macedonia, pharaoh of Egypt and lord of Asia. The huge Achaemenid Empire of Persia had fallen to him in a series of spectacular battles, giving him greater wealth than the Greek world had ever known. He claimed direct descent from Hercules, Achilles and Zeus himself..."
"Second, there were elephants. Porus’s army included a large corps of trained war-elephants whose very appearance alarmed the Greeks..."
"When Alexander defeated Darius at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, Abulites switched allegiance and surrendered his wealthy city to the Greeks. He thus received Alexander’s pardon and was left in charge of Susa, but with the Greek soldier Xenophilus as his military overseer..."
"The large decadrachm medallions proclaim Alexander’s victory, with the king chasing down his Indian opponent in a display of Greek superiority. The smaller tetradrachm medallions, on the other hand, appear to showcase the power of Porus’s army, with no sign of the Greeks among the Indian archers, elephants and chariots..."
"On these medallions, therefore, Alexander literally stole Zeus’s thunder. By wielding his father’s thunderbolt, the king called attention to and took credit for the divine tempest that brought Greek victory. This was no ordinary triumph, and Alexander was likewise no ordinary leader..."
"Not yet 33, Alexander lapsed into a deep coma and perished of uncertain causes on a hot June day in the old city of Babylon. He had pursued by choice a most challenging career, burning brightly but briefly in the tragic manner of Greek heroes..."
- Frank Holt, "Stealing Zeus's Thunder", Saudi Aramco World 56/3 (May/June 2005), Houston, pg. 10-19.
His Eminence, the Most Reverend Makarios (Tillyrides) is the Metropolitan of Kenya, in eastern Africa, part of the Church of Alexandria. His see is in Nairobi, with jurisdiction over Kenya. His quotes:
"...Because of its geographical position, the city of Alexandria also became a city which linked ancient Egyptian civilization with that of Greece and Rome and, then with that of the Jews, to emerge as, a renowned capital which was a place of meeting and cross-influence among the main spiritual and intellectual trends of the time...."
"...However, we know more about the situation towards the end of that century, when the greater part of the Greeks of Alexandria had already embraced Christianity and the new religion had gained supporters not only in the city itself..."
"...Much, of this success can be attributed to the personality of Mehmet Ali Pasha (1806-1848), whose pro-Greek sentiments led him to encourage Greeks to settle in Egypt... The Greeks who soon began to arrive in Egypt were not simply chance migrants. They included many men of letters, but above all they were dedicated to business and trade, where their industry and zeal vastly improved the image of Greece to the level their homeland deserved. The accomplishments of these Greeks in Egypt still adorn the country today, drawing admiration from Egyptians and visitors alike. Wherever there were Greeks, there were also projects of historical and cultural significance in fields such as education and farming, which helped the country -of Egypt gain its rightful place in all sectors of life..."
["The Patriarchate of Alexandria down the centuries" by His Eminence, Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya"]
"During the Dark Age there were, happily, lights here and there. It was during this time that the greatest and most significant translation achievement in missionary history was carried out by the brothers Cyril and Methodius. These two remarkable men, sons of a Thessalonian Greek, were appointed by the Byzantine emperor in 861 as missionaries to the Slavonic peoples. For this position they were well equipped. While being scholarly Greeks they had been born and bred in Thessalonica, which at that time had a large Slavonic population. Having acquired Slavonic as boys, Cyril and Methodius went out to their mission field already fluent in the language of the people among whom they were to minister. Moreover, each brother possessed his own invaluable skills. Cyril was a scholar, a philosopher and a linguist; Methodius was an organizer..."
["The role of translations in mission" by His Eminence, Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya"]
Dr. Ulrich Spindler speaks on Greek influence from the time of Alexander III of Macedon in modern European culture:
"Even older is the cultural exchange which took place during the time of Alexander the Great, when this exceptional ruler built a world empire that extended from Greece over Asia Minor and North Africa to India.
Not only Greek antiquity, but also Christianity and Judaism, have had a marked influence on European culture."
[Excerpt from the article "Back to the roots of art" by Dr. Ulrich Spindler]
Princess Victoria Luise of Prussia for universal ideas of Alexander's character:
"The ideas of Alexander the Great belong to all the nations, and not only to his native Greece. Naturally, the Royal House of the Hellenes has shown a special affection for Alexander."
[Interview with Princess Victoria Luise of Prussia for Alexander Order]
Consul John B. Zavrel quotes on Alexander's life:
"Please allow me to briefly inform you about the Order and its goals. This spiritual community is based on the good deeds and ideas of Alexander the Great. It is this Greek royal son, who thousands of years ago set on a journey from Greece to create a world empire, stretching from the north African Egypt across Asia and all the way East up to the mountains of India.
There are many historical facts and myths about Alexander the Great, who was born on July 20th in the year 356 B.C. in Pella, and died at the age of only 33 in Babylon on June 10, 323 B.C. In memory remained the spreading of the Greek culture to the East, the mutual enhancement of the cultures. In memory also remained the fact that in spite of conquest expeditions and battles, Alexander also stood for cooperation, tolerance, promotion of the arts and science and an engagement for a world, in which the human dignity is a fundamental element.
The era of Alexander the Great has influenced architecture, science, and humanistic and spiritual thinking up till today. Emperors, kings, scientists and even popes have chosen his name in admiration of Alexander."
[Speech of the John B. Zavrel on the honoring of Edward Tabachnik, 5 January 2001]
"The research took decades," Peyrefitte recalls in a conversation with me. Before beginning to write, the former French diplomat followed "the footsteps of the young Alexander" on a historical trail from Greece over present-day Israel and northern Egypt to India."
["Roger Peyrefitte: Alexander is my destiny" Article by John B. Zavrel]
"Alexander was a hero in his own lifetime. Through the continual interest of the educated West in the Greek past and through the spread, mostly in Oriental languages, of a legendary romance of Alexander's exploits, his fame reached from Iceland to China"
"Bucephalos was Alexander's for the keeping, and he loved the horse for the next twenty years; he even taught him to kneel in full harness before him, so that he could mount him more easily in armour, a trick which the Greeks first learnt from the Persians."
"Already a horseman and a musician, Alexander passed his early years at Pella. The Macedonian kings, who maintained that their Greek ancestry traced back to Zeus, had long given homes and patronage to Greece's most distinguished artists; Pindar and Bacchylides the two lyric poets, Hippocrates the father of medicine, Timotheus composer of choral verse and music. Zeuxis the painter, Choerilus the epic poet, Agathon the dramatist had all written or worked for Macedonian kings of the previous century."
"Alexander's reign and patronage saw a golden age of Greek painting, many of whose masters were drawn from cities governed by his friends, and from an early age, there are stories to show that he knew how to treat them."
"His father had appointed the most suitable Greek tutor for a son who had already outgrown his boyhood attendants. He sent for Plato's most brilliant pupil, Aristotle son of Nichomachus, 'thin legged and small-eyed' and as yet unknown for his philosophical publications. 'He taught him writing, Greek, Hebrew, Babylonian and Latin."
"The contact between Greece's greatest brain (Aristotle) and her greatest conqueror (Alexander III of Macedon) is irresistible, and their mutual influence has occupied the imagination ever since."
["Lend me your name, Alexander!". Article by John B. Zavrel]
"He was a man of passionate ambitions, who saw the intense adventure of the unknown. He did not believe in impossibility; man could do anything, and he nearly proved it. Born in a half-world between Greece and Europe, he lived above all for the ideal of a distant past, striving to realize an age which he had been too late to share. No man ever went as far as Alexander on those terms again. The chivalry of Homer's heroes dies with him."
["The last days of Alexander the Great". Article by John B. Zavrel]
Famous French author, journalist, feminist and European politician about the biographical novel "Alexander the Great" by Roger Peyrefitte:
"A long and wonderful epic in which Roger Peyrefitte has canonized Greek civilization, and through which he has canonized himself."
[Louise Weisse article on French newspaper "Le Figaro"]
Excerpt from a debate at a recent economic forum. The obvious synergy of otherwise blunt statement that "Alexander conquered Persia" followed by a sentence: "Now Greece is not to conquer anybody" is that Alexander's conquest was by Greeks, i.e. an endogenous conquest towards Persia of, simply stated, Greek design and character, led by Alexander:
English - "At one time Alexander the Great decided to conquer Persia in order to resolve these economic issues. Now Greece is no longer able to conquer anyone."
Славомакедонски (Slavomacedonian) -"Александар Македонски во свое време, за да ги реши економските проблеми тргна во освојување на Персија. Денешна Грција не може да освојува никого."
Ελληνικά (Greek) - "Στην εποχή του για να λύσει αυτά τά οικονομικά προβλήματα, ο Αλέξανδρος της Μακεδονίας, ήρθε και κατελάβε την Περσία. Τώρα δεν είναι η Ελλάδα να κατακτήσει κανείς."
Русский (Russian) - "В своё время, чтобы решить эти экономические проблемы, Александр Македонский пошёл и Персию завоевал. Теперь Греция не может никого завоевать."
Deutcsh (German) - "Zu seiner zeit, um die wirtschaftlichen probleme zu lösen, ging Alexander von Makedonien nach Persien und eroberte es. Heute erobert Griechenland niemanden mehr."
[Economic forum "Russia 2012", 02-02-2012, Russian 1 TV]
