Vergina Sun

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Vergina Sun

The Vergina Sun, Star of Vergina or Argead Star is the name given to a symbol of a stylised star or sun with sixteen rays. It was unearthed in 1977 during archaeological excavations in Vergina, in the northern Greek province of Macedonia, by Professor Manolis Andronikos. He discovered it on a golden larnax in the tombs of the kings of the ancient kingdom of Macedon.

Andronikos described the symbol variously as a "star", a "starburst" or as a "sunburst".^[1] He proposed that the larnax on which it appears belonged to King Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. The larnax is on display at the archaeological museum in Vergina, where it was found. Another version of the Vergina Sun, with 12 rays, was found on the larnax of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great.

Contents 1 Interpretations of the symbol 2 Modern usage 3 References 4 Sources 5 External links 6 See also

[edit] Interpretations of the symbol

The significance of the Vergina Sun is unclear. Archaeologists do not agree whether the sun was a symbol of Macedon, an emblem of Philip's Argead dynasty, a religious symbol representing the Twelve Gods of Olympus, or simply a decorative design. Andronikos repeatedly interprets it as the "emblem of the Macedonian dynasty", though Eugene Borza has pointed out that it is widely used in ancient Macedonian art.^[2][3] John Paul Adams cites its long-established use as a decorative element in Greek art (as well as in the Middle East , Ancient Thrace^[4] and elsewhere) and concludes that it cannot definitively be said that it was either a "royal" or "national" Macedonian symbol.^[5] Sixteen and eight-pointed suns often appear in Macedonian and Hellenistic coins and shields of that period. ^[6] However, there are also a number of depictions of Athenian hoplites^[7][8] bearing an identical sixteen-pointed symbol on their armor as early as the 6th century BC [5], as well as coin designs from island and mainland Greece bearing eight or sixteen-pointed sun symbols (Corfu, 5th century BC [6], Locris, 4th century BC [7][8]). Before 1977 the symbol had been regarded as a simple ornament. After Andronikos' discovery the symbol began to be viewed as predominantly associated with Ancient Macedonians, despite its earlier ornamental use in Greek art.

[edit] Modern usage

Following the discovery of the larnax, the Vergina Sun was widely adopted by Greeks as a symbol of continuity between ancient Macedonian culture and modern Greece. The Vergina Sun on a blue background is commonly used as an official emblem of the three peripheries, the prefectures and the municipalities of the region of Macedonia. It is also used by organisations of the Greek Macedonian diaspora, such as the Pan-Macedonian Association,^[9] as well as numerous commercial enterprises.

The symbol had also been adopted by organisations in the overseas Macedonian Slav diaspora, and it was adopted by some nationalists in Yugoslavia's Socialist Republic of Macedonia. When Yugoslavia broke up in 1991-1992, the newly independent and renamed Republic of Macedonia designated the Vergina Sun as its national symbol and displayed it on its new flag.

The decision caused controversy both within the republic and outside it in its relations with Greece. The republic's large Albanian minority complained that it was an ethnic symbol of the Slavic Macedonian majority and was not suitable for a multiethnic state.^[10] Greek opposition was even more vehement. The Greek government and many Greek people, especially in the Greek province of Macedonia, saw it as the misappropriation of a Hellenic symbol and a direct claim on the legacy of Philip II.^[11] A Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman said in January 1995 that "the symbol is Greek and has been stolen." Nationalists on both sides subsequently associated the symbol with the (much later) Star of Bethlehem and have argued that their respective communities have used the symbol for sacred purposes before the Vergina discovery.^[10] The Greek position on the symbol has been supported by some abroad, such as the former United States Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who reportedly told a questioner:

“

I believe that Greece is right to object and I agree with Athens. The reason is that I know history, which is not the case with most of the others, including most of the Government and Administration in Washington. The strength of the Greek case is that of the history which I must say that Athens has not used so far with success.[12]

”

Others have argued that the symbol has been appropriated by the Greeks as a means of asserting continuity between modern Greece and the ancient Greek states. Peter Hill, a professor of Slavic studies at the University of Hamburg who has published extensively on the Macedonian Slavs and their language and actively promoted their cause, states that

“

The Star of Vergina is not a Greek symbol, except in the sense that it happens to have been found on the territory of the present-day Greek state. The modern day Greeks appropriated ancient Greek cultural symbols because they happen to live in more or less the same part of the world as the ancient Greeks did."[13]

”

Speaking on the BBC World Service's The World Today programme, archaeologist Bajana Mojsov from the Republic of Macedonia said that "the symbolic weight attached to the Vergina Star was archaeologically absurd - but politically inevitable," arguing:

“

The star of Vergina applies to the 3rd century BC northern Greece - a very different situation, not related to the 21st century AD. I think it's modern politics, and we're witnessing the use of an archaeological symbol for history that it's really not related to.[14]

”

At the same time, Demetrius Floudas, Senior Associate at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, and one of the leading analysts of the Macedonia naming dispute, claimed that:

“

what prompted the adoption of the Vergina Star was a desire from Skopje's part to advance maximalist objectives in order to barter with them for other concessions at the negotiating table when the time comes.[15]

”

Although the authorities in Skopje denied any ulterior motives, the flag became a major issue in the wider political dispute between the two countries of the early 1990s (see Foreign relations of the Republic of Macedonia). Greek objections led to the flag being banned from use in a variety of places, including the United Nations, the Olympic Games and offices of the Republic of Macedonia in the United States and Australia.^[10]

The symbol was introduced in popular Greek imagery from the mid 1980s and, after 1991, increasingly so in many new contexts in Greece. It was added to the Greek 100 drachma coin [9] in early 1992 and appeared on the arm patches of police in Athens. The Thessaloniki based Makedonia television station used it to replace the letter omicron in its logo and the Bank of Macedonia-Thrace adopted it as its symbol, as did some Greek military units.^[16] In February 1993 the Greek parliament passed a bill designating the Vergina Sun as an official Greek national symbol.^[10] In July 1995, Greece lodged a request with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for exclusive intellectual property rights to the Vergina Sun.^[17] The dispute was partially resolved in October 1995 under a compromise brokered by the United Nations. The symbol was removed from the flag of the Republic of Macedonia as part of an agreement to establish diplomatic and economic relations between the two sides. It was replaced by a new flag, which is currently in use, displaying a stylized eight-pointed sun which is broadly reminiscent of various Japanese military flags. The eight-pointed symbol is also used by Aromanians in the republic.^[18] Despite the 1995 accord between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia, the municipality of Makedonska Kamenica in the Republic of Macedonia still displays the vergina sun on their municipal flag [10].

Outside of the Republic of Macedonia, some nationalist groups continue to use the Vergina Sun as a symbol of Macedonia's Slavs, despite the change in the Republic of Macedonia's flag. In Canada, for instance, the United Macedonians Organization uses the sun as part of its logo.^[19]

In 2005, there were Macedonian Slavs press reports that the municipality of Liqenas in Albania, located in what is referred to as Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo region which has a significant "ethnic Macedonian" population^[20][21] had adopted the Vergina Sun as its seal.^[22]

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Philip II, Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Heritage, ed. W. Lindsay Adams and Eugene N. Borza. University Press of America, 1982. ISBN 0-8191-2448-6
• The Larnakes from Tomb II at Vergina. Archaeological News. John Paul Adams
• In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon, Eugene N. Borza. Princeton University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-691-05549-1
• "Macedonia Redux", Eugene N. Borza, in The Eye Expanded: life and the arts in Greco-Roman Antiquity, ed. Frances B Tichener & Richard F. Moorton. University of California Press, 1999. ISBN 0-520-21029-8
• Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference, Jane K. Cowan. Pluto Press, 2000. ISBN 0-7453-1589-5
• The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Loring M. Danforth. Princeton University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-691-04357-4
• Macedonia and Greece: The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation, McFarland & Company, 1997. ISBN 0-7864-0228-8
• Schell, Dorothea (1997). "Der Stern von Vergina als nationales Symbol in Griechenland", in R. W. Brednich and H. Schmitt, Münster et al.: Symbole: Zur Bedeutung der Zeichen in der Kultur, pp. 298-307, p. 301. ISBN 978-3-89325-550-4. 

[edit] External links

• Image of gold box with Vergina Sun in Thessaloniki Museum
• Flags of Greek Macedonia - Flags of the World
• Republic of Macedonia National Flag 1992-1995 - Flags of the World

[edit] See also

• Macedonia naming dispute