I don't see how some in here see Alexander as merely a butcher..

One has to have some historical understanding, and perspective, in order to comprehend peoples of other eras..

Secondly, Alexander built countless cities, created a library filled with all the knowledge of antiquity, and is probably the first man in recorded history to see beyond race and color of skin.
He is the first one to have attempted Globalization.

Back then, war was part of life. The Persians always dreamed of taking the Hellenic city states and its alliances.

Now, I also read that Greece did not care about Macedonia before the 1980's.

This is simply NOT true.
I have seen this written before. It is NOT true.

My ancestors went to war for the liberation of Macedonia from the Ottomans. Great struggles saw the light of day back then.
The Bulgarians also claimed the Macedonia region.
Macedonians, as an ethnic group DID NOT exist.

Anyways, I wont go on.
What is happening now days is a farce, and the newly formed country of FYROM is in the wrong.
They are the aggressors playing the victim,
when all they have ever been, is turncoats..
The sided with the Nazis, (their country was called Vardaska then)
Then when the Nazis were loosing, they became communist..
Then they renamed their country(again) to Macedonia,
and then, they start claiming ancient Greek and Bulgarian heroes.

What a people.

They have, as we speak, a very active anti Hellenic propaganda machine at work, working hard to discredit Greece.

What a people..

Savvas Tzionis wrote:

In a visceral sense, Greeks (in the diaspora, especially) feel very vexed having to hear that a person is Macedonian (and therefore NOT Greek). It implies that 35% of the Greek State is 'illegal'.

Dear Savvas Tzionis,

I would like to see both Greece and Macedonia become multicultural countries whose governments didn’t really care about the religion, ethnicity and language of their citizens. That would end the conflict.

Just as you are Australian regardless of your ethnic connections a citizen of Greece could be Greek regardless of whether he or she was also a Macedonian. When Prime Minister Costas Simitis wanted to strip all references to religion from the new national ID card that seemed to me what he was aiming at.

There was a Greek fellow in Brisbane whose mother kept bugging him to go church with her. Finally he went and stopped in front of an icon of Jesus. He said in a loud voice, “Can’t remember the name but the face sure looks familiar.” His mother stopped bugging him to go to church.

Edgar Allan Poe, an American who appreciated the glory of ancient Greece wrote the following:

HELEN, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicèan barks of yore
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo, in yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand,
Ah! Psyche, from the regions which
Are holy land!

Boriss:

Alexander built nothing. Others built for him. He was a murderous brute who didn’t pay attention to the race or colour of skin of his victims and filled a library with his loot. The Nazis collected art, too. War a way of life? Some can see beyond that. Alexander, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler and other efficient murderers were all globalizers.

Dear David,
Your view of the world is as beautiful as it is Utopia.

Your views of History lack historical perspective and understanding.

I am not attacking you in any way, please do not misunderstand me.

Just point me 1 building in antiquity that was not build by slaves..

You must also read the letters of Napoleon, before you let someone else form the opinion you have about him, for you..

And I will end by giving you, (as you did), the oath of Alexander:

• Now that the wars are over, I wish you to find happiness through peace.

• May all mortals live from now on in harmony, as one nation,
for the sake of common prosperity.

• Consider the world as your country, with common laws, governed by men of merit, regardless of race.

• I do not distinguish between Greeks and barbarians, as do the narrow-minded.

• I am not interested in the country or race of origin of people.
I only distinguish people according to their virtues.

• To me every virtuous foreigner is Hellene and each non-virtuous Greek is worse than a barbarian.

• If you are ever faced with differences, do not resort to arms, but resolve them peacefully. If need be, I can act as your arbitrator.

• God should not be viewed as an authoritarian ruler,
but as our common father.

• As for myself, I consider all persons, black or white, as equals.

• I wish you to be my partners and not just members of our commonwealth.

• As far as I am able, I shall see to it that all my promises come true.

• Regard this oath as a symbol of love.

Dear Boriss,

Alexander spoke a most beautiful oath. I know you write to me in friendship. Although I am not a bible basher I sometimes find something there. One thing it says is that by their fruits shall you know them - not their words. That oath is something to live by, but I don't think Alexander lived by it. Alexander was a brilliant man who was taught by Aristotle and was skilled in rhetoric. In the words of Hamlet, "One may smile and smile and yet be a villain."

I know the Persians wanted to take all Greece. However, Alexander didn't stop after he defeated Persia he wanted to dominate as much of the world as he could.

The Persian empire was rotten. In the Anabasis Xenophon told how he led a group of Greeks to fight their way through a large part of the Persian Empire. The Greeks knew more about the Persians than the Persians knew about the Greeks. Almost every place that Xenophon went some Greek in the group knew the language of the local people. The 300 Spartans put up a magnificent defense against the Persians, but, even if they hadn't, I don't think the Persians would have ever conquered Greece.

However, like that ancient Greek, Diogenes, I am a cynic. When Alexander came to Diogenes and asked if he could do anything for him Diogenes said, "Get out of my light."

That is my feeling about all the great conquerers. Napoleon, Alexander, Genghis Khan and others were extremely intelligent but villains all.

Savvas Tzionis: << This is the SECOND person to write an anti-Greece article on this site, yet not one pro-Greek article has been written.

Why? >>

Probably because nobody's submitted one to OLO for publication. Why don't you do so?

Porkycrap: << NEWSFLASH to both of you.... THIS IS AUSTRALIA and if you want to bring your historical ethnic squabbles to this country LEAVE!..get BACK TO the countries concerned... fight it out amongst ur selves.. last man standing... go for it.. have fun....but

LEAVE IT out of "THIS" Country ok ! >>

This written by someone who has proudly announced that he'll be attending a demonstration in Melboourne today about another "historical ethnic squabble" occurring on the other side of the planet.

I love the smell of rank hypocrisy in the morning...

Think Global

R u a citizen of the world or an Australian local?