Was Alexander the Great a Greek?

[Mikey]

Or was he Macedonian? Or both?

[Rob Gallear]

Alexander was born in 356 BC in Pella in Macedonia, he was therefore Macedonian and not Greek

[edwardbarker]

That's a moot point as there are currently two Macedonia's: one independent, one part of modern Greece. Macedonia of the Alexander's time was an independent state occupying both part of today's independent Macedonia and today's Greece.

[Bahbill]

As he was the son of King Phillip of Macedonian and his Queen Olympias I assume he was a Macedonian

[nickincov]

Greece at that time was a city state nation, which means Athens has its own rules and laws and its citizens were called athenians, so Pella was the capital of Macedonia which was part of greece. Since Macedonians only and official language was greek and they believed in the greek religion. The problem is that Macedonia was a big state the biggest at that time of greece and occupied today's land of the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. But that part of Greece was lost in recent wars. Same situation with Asia Minor which was part of greece since recent years but lost it in a war to the Turks. Does that mean that all the ancient greek philoshophers from Asia Minor were Turks? Alexander the great is greek since was today is called FYROM simply did not exist that time, and because alexander is a greek name, he spoke greek and believed in the greek religion and he along with the Athenians and Spartans the other big greek states formed an empire!

[Aquinas]

Regardless of modern geography Alexander did not consider himself a Greek and neither did the Greeks consider Macedon a Greek state. This can be seen during Alexander's invasion of Persia; after the fall of Persia as Alexander was heading towards India he sent home all the Greek soldiers. He was then left with the Macedonian and Persian troops.

[Farrukh]

Did you know that his name in IndoPak is Sikander? (Sharp k, soft d). I wonder how he got that name?

[gerryad]

Farrukh - Sikander comes from Iskendir which means devil. The peoples of Asia Minor and the Middle East called him this because he conquered all their lands so quickly and when riding into battle tied horns to his head to look more menacing. The peoples of these regions beleived these were real!

[alex2090]

I do not know why so much propaganda was created around the subject of alexander's origins. Maybe people are jealous that he was GREEK. Come on be realistic. I'am annoyed by all you people who think otherwise. Get a life. Phillipa was a greek name olympias was a greek name. By the way you can not say greece. Because it did not exist. They were independant states back then. Man know your history please.

[Faulhaber]

I wonder, if Alexander was indeed Macedonian and not Greek, how he chose to spread the Greek language throughout the conquered territories!!

Furthermore, as indicated in other posts, Phillip, Olympias, Thessaloniki (sister's name) and even Alexander are purely Greek in origin.

Alexander the Great was indeed Greek as the Spartans were Greek, as the Athenians were Greek as the Achaeans were Greek and the list goes on.

[john_smith]

Having studied the history of both countries for many years my belieif is that Alexander was not Greek, there are numerous ancient texts which support this fact (although this is subjective and cannot be proven either way) and the fact that he conquered Greece and forced them into his army is good evidence. Yes he spoke Greek, but only as a second language, probably for diplomatic purposes when dealing with the Greeks. He needed them on his side to aid in his conquest.

Racially, i am not sure if the two races were different but the fact that the Macedonians and Greeks considered themselves completely different (i.e Scotland and Ireland yet they are both of celtic origin) shows that they did not associate themselves with each other. That makes them different!!

After numerous occupations of greater macedonia by other countries (esp. the slavs) in the last 2000 years it is definate that there are no "pure" macedonians but rather slavs and greeks (to a lesser degree) mixed with ancient macedonians.

I remember reading census records of the populations of Agean Macedonia (Greek Macedonia) before or at the beginning of the 1900's. Slav macedonians (who speak the language as the current "republic") were a clear majority of the population. Greeks have since become a majority after resettlement from turkey and the eviction of slav macedonians from the country.

I feel due to the fact the FYROM or "Republic of Macedonia" is a small and not so influential in world politics, Greece has managed to bully them around and confuse the worlds opinion. or as they say "propaganda"

Finally genetic research shows the people from the republic are closer to the ancient macedonians than todays Greeks.

Why cant they share the heritage!!

[O Megas]

For replay to 'john_smith'.

Dear john_smith you do not have any idea what are you talking about. The problem there is about MAKEDONIA it isn't accurate to compare it with the Scotland and Ireland origin. the Slavs came to leave in the geographical area of BALKANS 1000 Years ago. And by say Slavs I mean Serbian�s, Skopians, Bulgarians, Slovenians, Croatians, and Albanians. The Turks came in the geographical area of BALKANS and Minor Asia 600 years ago. KYRILOS and METHODILOS were a Hellenic Orthodox Priests where introduce to all Non Hellenic Balkans populations to Christianity, and also create a language the Slavic language where there are speak till now. 

[O Megas]

For replay to 'john_smith'.

Dear john_smith you do not have any idea what are you talking about. The problem there is about MAKEDONIA it isn't accurate to compare it with the Scotland and Ireland origin. the Slavs came to leave in the geographical area of BALKANS 1000 Years ago. And by say Slavs I mean Serbian�s, Skopians, Bulgarians, Slovenians, Croatians, and Albanians. The Turks came in the geographical area of BALKANS and Minor Asia 600 years ago. KYRILOS and METHODILOS were a Hellenic Orthodox Priests where introduce to all Non Hellenic Balkans populations to Christianity, and also create a language the Slavic language where there are speak till now. 

[ap]

Present day Greeks are descendents of a Dorian race of Indo-European decent.  This group displaced the indigenous peoples known as Mycynians living in the geographic region that we presently call Greece one thousand years before Alexander.   The Dorians went on to create city-states for in those days there were no countries, every city was a country on its own.   Sparta, Athens, Pella etc. all had their own forms of government some were autocratic others were democratic and some were monarchies.  However, the Dorians had several things in common, they spoke the same language, prayed to the same gods and followed the same customs.  The Macedonians were Dorians, they  spoke Greek and followed Greek customs and spread Hellenism to the rest of the known world,  Alexander was a Hellenas or if you wish a Greek.  Sure, the Athenians considered the Macedonians to be barbarians but then again they felt the same way about the Spartans and the Thessalonians and all their other Greek enemies.  As for the language of the Macedonians during Alexander�s days it was definitely a Greek dialect that was difficult for a southern Greek to understand.  Unlike today where we have national education programs, mass communications like radio and television allowing uniformity in language, isolation of the various city states resulted in many different dialects.  Take present day examples of Modern English dialects, of the Deep South USA or Jamaica where the use of slang makes it difficult at times to comprehend.
Unfortunately, the question of Alexander�s heritage exists because of a displaced people that migrated into the region of Macedonia relatively recently, within the last 400 years. They choose to identify themselves with this historic figure so that they can create legitimacy to land claims in this region.