Macedonia (Greece)

Macedonia (/ˌmæsɨˈdoʊniə/ ( listen); Greek: Μακεδονία, Makedonía, [maceðoˈnia]) is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region. The region and that of Thrace (and sometimes Epirus and Thessaly) are often together referred to informally as Northern Greece.

It incorporates most of the territories of ancient Macedon, a kingdom ruled by the Argeads whose most celebrated members were Alexander the Great and his father Philip II. The name Macedonia was later applied to identify various administrative areas in the Roman and Byzantine Empires with widely differing borders. Under the Ottomans, the name disappeared altogether.

Even before the establishment of the modern Greek state in 1830, it was identified as a Greek province, albeit without clearly defined geographical borders^{[6][7][8][9][10]} By the mid 19th century, the name was becoming consolidated informally, defining more of a distinct geographical, rather than political, region in the southern Balkans. At the end of the Ottoman Empire most of the region known as Rumelia (from Ottoman Turkish: Rumeli, "Land of the Romans") was divided by the Treaty of Bucharest of 1913, following the Ottoman defeat in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria each took control of portions of the Macedonia (region), with Greece obtaining the largest portion; a small section went to Albania. The region was an administrative subdivision of Greece until the administrative reform of 1987, when the region was divided into the regions of West Macedonia and Central Macedonia and part of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, the latter containing also the whole of the region of Thrace.^[11]

History

Prehistory

Macedonia lies at the crossroads of human development between the Aegean and the Balkans. The earliest signs of human habitation date back to the palaeolithic period. In the Late Neolithic period (c. 4500 to 3500 BC), trade took place from quite distant regions, indicate rapid socio-economic changes. One of the most important changes was the start of copper working.

Ancient History

According to Herodotus, the history of Macedonia began with the Makednoi tribe (makednos means "tall" in Greek), among the first to use the name, migrating to the region from Histiaeotis in the south. There they lived near Thracian tribes such as the Bryges who would later leave Macedonia for Asia Minor and become known as Phrygians. Macedonia was named after the Makednoi. Accounts of other toponyms such as Emathia are attested to have been in use before that. A branch of the Macedonians may have invaded Southern Greece towards the end of the second millennium B.C. Upon reaching the Peloponnese the invaders were renamed Dorians, triggering the accounts of the Dorian invasion. For centuries the Macedonian tribes were organized in independent kingdoms, in what is now Central Macedonia, and their role in internal Hellenic politics was minimal, even before the rise of Athens. The Macedonians may have belonged to the Dorian branch of Greeks, while there were many Ionians in the coastal regions. The rest of the region was inhabited by various Thracian and Illyrian tribes as well as mostly coastal colonies of other Greek states such as Amphipolis, Olynthos, Potidea, Stageira and many others, and to the north another tribe dwelt, called the Paeonians. During the late 6th and early 5th century BC, the region came under Persian rule until the destruction of Xerxes at Plataea. During the Peloponnesian War, Macedonia became the theatre of many military actions by the Peloponnesian League and the Athenians, and saw incursions of Thracians and Illyrians, as attested by Thucidydes. Many Macedonian cities were allied to the Spartans (both the Spartans and the Macedonians were Dorian, while the Athenians were Ionian), but Athens maintained the colony of Amphipolis under her control for many years. The kingdom of Macedon, was reorganised by Philip II and achieved the union of Greek states by forming the League of Corinth. After his assassination, his son Alexander succeeded to the throne of Macedon and, retaining the office of "General of Greece", he became one of the best known persons to which this land ever gave birth.

Roman period

Macedonia remained an important and powerful kingdom until the Battle of Pydna (June 22, 168 BC), in which the Roman general Aemilius Paulus defeated King Perseus of Macedon, ending the reign of the Antigonid dynasty over Macedonia. For a brief period a Macedonian republic called the “Koinon of the Macedonians” was established. It was divided into four administrative districts. That period ended in 148 BC, when Macedonia was fully annexed by the Romans.^[12] The northern boundary at that time ended at the Ochrid lake and Bylazora, a Paeonian city (modern Titov Veles). Strabo, writing in the first century AD places the border of Macedonia on that part at Lychnidos,^[13] Byzantine Achris and presently Ochrid. Therefore ancient Macedonia did not significantly extend beyond its current borders (in Greece). This is stressed by 370 academics in their letter to US president Barack Obama.^[14] To the east, Macedonia ended according to Strabo at the river Strymon, although he mentions that other writers placed Macedonia’s border with Thrace at the river Nestos, which is also the present geographical boundary between the two administrative districts of Greece.

Subsequently the provinces of Epirus and Thessaly as well as other regions to the north were incorporated into a new Provincia Macedonia, but in 297 AD under a Diocletian reform many of these regions were removed and two new provinces were created: Macedonia Prima and Macedonia Salutaris (from 479-482 AD Macedonia Secunda). Macedonia Prima coincided approximately with Strabo’s definition of Macedonia and with the modern administrative district of Greece^[12] and had Thessalonica as its capital, while Macedonia Secunda had the Dardanian city of Stobi (near Gradsko) as its capital. This subdivision is mentioned in Hierocles’ Synecdemon (527-528) and remained through the reign of emperor Justinian.

The Slavic, Avar, Bulgarian and Magyar invasions in the 6-7th centuries devastated both provinces ^[15] with only parts of Macedonia Prima in the coastal areas and nearer Thrace remaining in Byzantine hands, while most of the hinterland was disputed between the Byzantium and Bulgaria. The Macedonian regions under Byzantine control passed under the tourma of Macedonia to the province of Thrace.

A new system of administration came into place in 789-802 AD, following the Byzantine empire’s recovery from these invasions. The new system was based on administrative divisions called Themata. The region of Macedonia Prima (the territory of modern Greek administrative district of Macedonia) was divided between the Thema of Thessalonica and the Thema of Strymon, so that only the region of the area from Nestos eastwards continued to carry the name Macedonia, referred to as the Thema of Macedonia or the Thema of “Macedonia in Thrace”. The Thema of Macedonia in Thrace had its capital in Adrianople.^[16][17][18]

Medieval history

Familiarity with the Slavic element in the area led two brothers from Thessaloniki, Saints Cyril and Methodius, to be chosen to convert the Slavs to Christianity. Following the campaigns of Basil II, all of Macedonia returned to the Byzantine state. Following the Fourth Crusade 1203–1204, a short-lived Crusader realm, the Kingdom of Thessalonica, was established in the region, but it was subdued by the Greek Despotate of Epirus in 1224. Returning to the restored Byzantine Empire shortly thereafter, the area remained in Byzantine hands until the 1340s, when all of Macedonia (except Thessaloniki, and possibly Veria) was conquered by the Serbian ruler Stefan Dusan.^[19] Divided between Serbia and Bulgaria after Dusan's death, the region fell quickly to the advancing Ottomans, with Thessaloniki alone holding out until 1387. After a brief Byzantine interval in 1403–1430 (during the last seven years of which the city was handed over to the Venetians), Thessalonica and its immediate surrounding area returned to the Ottomans.^[20]

The capture of Thessalonica threw the Greek world into consternation, being regarded as the prelude to the fall of Constantinople itself. The memory of the event has survived through folk traditions containing fact and myths. Apostolos Vacalopoulos records the following Turkish tradition connected with the capture of Thessalonica:^[22]

While Murad was asleep in his palace at Yenitsa, the story has it that, God appeared to him in a dream and gave him a lovely rose to smell, full of perfume. The sultan was so amazed by its beauty that he begged God to give it to him. God replied, "This rose, Murad, is Thessalonica. Know that it is to you granted by heaven to enjoy it. Do not waste time; go and take it". Complying with this exhortation from God, Murad marched against Thessalonica and, as it has been written, captured it.

Ottoman Rule

Thessaloniki became a centre of Ottoman administration in the Balkans. While most of Macedonia was ruled by the Ottomans, in Mount Athos the monastic community continued to exist in a state of autonomy. The remainder of the Chalkidiki peninsula also enjoyed an autonomous status: the “Koinon of Mademochoria” was governed by a locally appointed council due to privileges obtained on account of its wealth, coming from the gold and silver mines in the area.

There were several uprisings in Macedonia during Ottoman rule, including an uprising after the Battle of Lepanto that ended in massacres of the Greek population, the uprising in Naousa of the armatolos Zisis Karademos in 1705, a rebellion in the area of Grevena by a Klepht called Ziakas (1730–1810) and the Greek Declaration of Independence in Macedonia by Emmanuel Pappas in 1821, during the Greek War of Independence. In 1854 Theodoros Ziakas, the son of the klepth Ziakas, together with Tsamis Karatasos, who had been among the captains at the siege of Naousa in 1821, led another uprising in Western Macedonia that has been profusely commemorated in Greek folk song.

Modern history

Greece gained the region from the Ottoman Empire, after the Second Balkan War with the Treaty of Bucharest (1913).

Etymology

There are a number of theories for the etymology of the name Macedonia:

1. According to Herodotus, both the Dorians and Macedonians descended from the tribe of the Makednoi. The name of the latter probably derives from the Doric noun μᾶκος, mākos (Attic and modern Greek μάκρος, mákros and μῆκος, mēkos), meaning "length", and the adjective μακεδνός, makednós, meaning "tall, tapering", possibly indicating that the Macedonians (Makedónes) and their Makednoi tribal ancestors were regarded as tall people. The adjective is used by Homer in Odyssey (7.105f), to describe a tall poplar tree, and by Aristophanes in his comedy the Birds, to describe a wall built around their imaginary city.
2. The district of Macedonia took its name from the Macedonian people, who in turn owe their name to Macedon, who according to Hesiod was the son of Zeus and Thyia, Deucalion's daughter. Hesiod makes Magnes and Macedon brothers, cousins of Graecus, sons of Zeus and grandchildren of Deucalion, the mythological progenitor of all Greeks.

Local government

Macedonia is divided into three regions (Greek: Περιφέρειες) comprising fourteen regional units (Greek: Περιφερειακές ενότητες). The regional units are further divided into municipalities (Greek: δήμοι) or "communities" (Greek: κοινότητες – roughly equivalent to British or Australian shires). They are overseen by the Ministry for the Interior, while the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace is responsible for the coordination and application of the government's policies in the region.^[23] Prior to the Kallikratis Reform in 2010, Greece's regional units were called "prefectures", and Thasos was part of the prefecture of Kavala.

Macedonia borders the neighboring regions of Thessaly to the south, Thrace (part of the East Macedonia and Thrace region) to the east and Epirus to the west. It also borders Albania to the north-west, the Republic of Macedonia to the north and Bulgaria to the north-east. The three Macedonian regions and their subdivisions are:

The geographical region of Macedonia also includes the male-only autonomous monastic state of Mount Athos, but this is not part of the Macedonia precincts. Mount Athos is under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and enjoys a special status: it is inaccessible to women;^[25] its territory is a self-governed part of Greece, and the powers of the state are exercised through a governor. The European Union takes this special status into consideration, particularly on matters of taxation exemption and rights of installation.^[26] The governor of Mount Athos is appointed by the Greek Foreign Ministry.

Economy and transport

Macedonia possesses some of the richest farmland in Greece in the plains of Veria, Thessaloniki, Serres and Drama. A wide variety of agricultural products and cash crops are grown, including rice, wheat, beans, olives, cotton, tobacco, fruit, grapes, wine and other alcoholic beverages. Food processing and textile weaving constitute the principal manufacturing industries. Tourism is a major industry along the coast, particularly in the Chalcidice peninsula, the island of Thasos and the northern approaches to Mount Olympus. Many tourists originate from Germany and Eastern Europe.

Thessaloniki is a major port city and industrial center; Kavala is the second harbor of Macedonia. Apart from the principal airport at Thessaloniki (Makedonia Airport), airports also exist in Kavala (M.Alexandros Airport), Kozani (Filippos Airport), and Kastoria (Aristotelis Airport). The "Via Egnatia" motorway crosses the full distance of Macedonia,^[27] linking most of its main cities. It also has a train system; it is usually criticized for being underfunded, and there has been much anger directed against OSE, the national railway company.

Culture

Macedonian cuisine

The arrival of Greek refugees from Asia Minor and Constantinople in the 20th century popularised Ottoman and Constantinopolitan recipes.

A continuation from ancient days is dishes such as lamb cooked with quince or various vegetables and fruits, goat boiled or fried in olive oil: modern recipes from Kavala to Kastoria and Kozani offer lamb with quince, pork with celery or leeks.

Some current specialties are trahana with crackling, phyllo-based pies (cheese, leek, spinach) and wild boar. Favourites are tyrokafteri (Macedonian spicy cheese spread), soupies krasates (cuttlefish in wine), mydia yiachni (mussel stew). Unlike Athens, the traditional pita bread for the popular souvlaki (kebab) is not grilled but fried. The variety of sweets has been particularly enriched with the arrival of the refugees. (Information included from 'Greek Gastronomy', GNTO, 2004)

Macedonian music

Music of Macedonia is the music of the geographic region of Macedonia in Greece, which is a part of the music of whole region of Macedonia. Folk dances in Macedonia include Makedonia (dance), chasapiko, leventikos, zeibekiko, zonaradiko, endeka Kozanis, Samarinas, stankena, Akritikos, baidouska, Macedonikos antikristos, mikri Eleni, partalos, kleftikos Makedonikos, mpougatsas, Kastorianos, o Nikolos and sirtos Macedonias. In Macedonia, there are also patriotic songs sung by the Greek army and local citizens like: famous Macedonia.

Demographics

The inhabitants are overwhelmingly ethnic Greeks and most are Greek Orthodox Christians. From the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, the ethnic composition of the region of Macedonia is characterized by uncertainty both about numbers and identification. The 1904 Ottoman census of Hilmi Pasha recorded 373,227 Greeks and 204,317 Bulgarians in the vilayet of Selânik (Thessaloniki) alone. According to the same census, Greeks were also dominant in the vilayet of Monastir (Bitola), counting 261,283 Greeks and 178,412 Bulgarians. Hugh Poulton, in his Who Are the Macedonians, notes that "assessing population figures is problematic"^[28] for the territory of Greek Macedonia before its incorporation into the Greek state in 1913.^[28] The area's remaining population was principally composed of Ottoman Turks and also some Jews, and at much smaller numbers of Roma, Albanians and Vlachs.

During the first half of the twentieth century, major demographic shifts took place, which resulted in the region's population becoming overwhelmingly ethnic Greek. In 1919, after Greek victory in World War I, Bulgaria and Greece signed the Treaty of Neuilly, which called for an exchange of populations between the two countries. According to the treaty, Bulgaria was considered to be the parent state of all ethnic Slavs living in Greece. Most ethnic Greeks from Bulgaria were resettled in Greek Macedonia; most Slavs were resettled in Bulgaria but a number remained, most of them by changing or adapting their surnames and declaring themselves to be Greek so as to be exempt from the exchange. In 1923 Greece and Turkey signed the Treaty of Lausanne in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War, and 600,000 Greek refugees from Anatolia were resettled in the region replacing Macedonian Turks and other Muslims (of Albanian, Roma, Slavic and Vlach ethnicity) under similar terms.^[29]

Macedonian cities during Ottoman rule were often known by multiple names (Greek, Slavic or Ottoman Turkish by the respective populations). After the partition of Ottoman Europe, most cities in Greece either became officially known by their Greek names or adopted Greek names; likewise most cities in Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia became officially known or adopted names in the languages of their respective states. After the population exchanges, many locations were renamed to the languages of their new occupants.

The population was badly affected by the Second World War through starvation, executions, massacres and deportations. Central Macedonia, including Thessaloniki, was occupied by the Germans, and in the east Nazi-aligned Bulgarian occupation forces persecuted the local Greek population and settled Bulgarian colonists in their occupation zone in eastern Macedonia and western Thrace, deporting all Jews from the region. Total civilian deaths in Macedonia are estimated at over 400,000, including up to 55,000 Greek Jews. Further heavy fighting affected the region during the Greek Civil War which drove many inhabitants of rural Macedonia to emigrate to the towns and cities, or abroad, during the late 1940s and 1950s.

Greek is by far the most widely spoken and the only official language of public life and education in Macedonia. The local Macedonian dialect is spoken alongside dialects from other parts of Greece and Pontic Greek still spoken by some Greeks of Pontic descent. Macedonian Slavic dialects are the most widely spoken minority language while Aromanian, Arvanitic, Megleno-Romanian, Turkish and Romani are also spoken. Ladino is still spoken by some Jews in Thessaloniki.

After the fall of communism throughout Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a large number of Eastern Europeans came to Macedonia to find work. Since the early 2000s, they have been joined by Africans and South Asians.

Population of largest towns

Regional identity

Macedonians (Greek: Μακεδόνες, Makedónes) is the term by which ethnic Greeks originating from the region are known. Macedonians came to be of particular importance during the Balkan Wars when they were a minority population inside the Ottoman province of Macedonia. The Macedonians now have a strong regional identity, manifested both in Greece^[30] and by emigrant groups in the Greek diaspora.^[31] This sense of identity has been highlighted in the context of the Macedonian naming dispute after the break-up of Yugoslavia, in which Greece objects to its northern neighbour calling itself the "Republic of Macedonia", since explicit self-identification as Macedonian is a matter of national pride for many Greeks.^[32] A characteristic expression of this attitude could be seen when Greek newspapers headlined a declaration by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis at a meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in January 2007, saying that "I myself am a Macedonian, and another two and a half million Greeks are Macedonians."

Minority populations

The exact size of the linguistic and ethnic minority groups of Macedonia is officially unknown, as Greece has not conducted a census on the question of mother tongue since 1951. The main minority groups in Macedonia are:

Slavic-speakers

Slavic-speakers are concentrated in the Florina, Kastoria, Edessa, Giannitsa, Ptolemaida and Naousa regions. Their dialects are linguistically classified variously either as Macedonian or Bulgarian, depending on the region and on political orientation. The exact number of the minority is difficult to know, and its members' choice of ethnic identification is difficult to ascertain (since some people are cautious in the replies that they give when surveys are conducted). Most maximum estimates range around 100,000–120,000. The Greek branch of the former International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights has estimated that those of an ethnic Macedonian national conscienceness number between 10,000–30,000.^[33]

Aromanians

See also: Aromanians in Greece and Aromanian speakers of Greece

Aromanians form a minority population throughout much of Macedonia. They largely identify as Greeks and most belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. In the 1951 census they numbered 39,855 in all Greece (the number in Macedonia proper is unknown). Many Aromanians villages can be found along the slopes of the Vermion Mountains and Mount Olympus. Smaller numbers can be found in the Prespes region and near the Gramos mountains.

Megleno-Romanians

Megleno-Romanians can be found in the Moglena region of Macedonia. The Megleno-Romanian language is traditionally spoken in the 11 Vlach villages, Archangelos, Notia, Karpi, Koupa, Lagkadia, Perikleia, Skra and Kastaneri (the other three are found in the Republic of Macedonia). They are generally adherents to the Orthodox Church while the former majority in Notia was Muslim.

Arvanites

Arvanites communities can be found in Greek Macedonia. Five Arvanite communities exist in Serres prefecture while many can be found in the capital, Thessaloniki. There are three Arvanites villages in the Florina prefecture (Drosopigi, Lechovo and Flambouro) with others located in Kilkis and Thessaloniki regions.^[34]

Others

Other minority groups include Jews (Sephardim and Romaniotes), Armenians and Roma. Roma communities are concentrated mainly around the city of Thessaloniki. An uncertain number of them live in Macedonia from the total of about 200,000-300,000 that live scattered on all the regions of Greece.^[35]

See also

• Macedonians (Greeks)
• Macedonia (region)
• Macedonia (terminology)
• List of Macedonians (Greek)
• Modern regions of Greece

References

Bibliography

• Council of Europe, Steering Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (2001). "Special Regulations for Particular Areas – the Legal Status of Aghion Oros". Structure and operation of Local and Regional Democracy. Council of Europe. ISBN 9-287-14644-6. 
• Elster, Ernestine S.; Renfrew, Colin, ed (2003). Prehistoric Sitagroi: Excavations in Northeast Greece, 1968–1970. Monumenta Archaeologica 20. 2. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. ISBN 1-931745-03-X. 
• Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). "Serbian Participation in the Byzantine Civil War". The Late Medieval Balkans. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4. 
• Renfrew, Colin; Gimbutas, Marija; Elster, Ernestine S., ed (1986). Excavations at Sitagroi: a Prehistoric Village in Northeast Greece. Monumenta Archaeologica 13. 2. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. ISBN 0-917-95651-6. 
• Renfrew, Colin (1969). "The Autonomy of the South-east European Copper Age". Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 35: 12–47. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/pps/contents/contentsbyvolume.html#35. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
• Rodden, R.J.; Wardle, K.A., ed (1996). Nea Nikomedeia: the Excavation of an Early Neolithic Village in Northern Greece 1961-1963. Supplementary series 25. 1. Athens: British School of Athens. 
• Souvatzi, Stella G. (2008). A Social Archaeology of Households in Neolithic Greece : an Anthropological Approach. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83689-0. 
• Treadgold, Warren (1995). "The Roman Army's Second Millenium". Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-804-73163-2.  [sic]
• Vacalopoulos, Apostolos E. (1973). History of Macedonia, 1354–1833 (translated by P. Megann). Zeno Publishers. ISBN 0-900-83489-7. http://www.promacedonia.org/en/av/. 
• Wardle, K.A. (1997). "The Prehistory of Northern Greece: a Geographical Perspective". Afieroma to N.G.L. Hammond. Society of Macedonian Studies. ISBN 9-607-26536-Χ. 

Notes

External links

• Macedonian Press Agency
• Museums of Macedonia
• Nikolaos Martis - Macedonia's Hellenism: Empirical documents and sources
• An online review of Macedonian affairs, history and culture
• EMS.name
• University of Macedonia
• University of Western Macedonia
• Macedonia, The Historical Profile of Northern Greece
• Map of Makedonia
• Technological Educational Institution of Serres
• Department of Physical Education Science & Athletics of Serres
• Roman province of Macedonia
• Macedonia, Greece - History And Politics - eBook Greek Language (ISBN 960-6-0337-5)
• Alistrati Cave in Serres
• Lake Kerkini in Serres - Kerkini Wetland (Ramsar & Natura 2000 Protected)

Official links

• Macedonia and Thrace region site (English)
• Ministry for Macedonia–Thrace (Greek)
• Region of Central Macedonia
• Region of Western Macedonia
• Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
• Serres Prefecture
• City of Thessaloniki
• City of Edessa
• City of Serres
• Map of Macedonia