Following the Footsteps of Alexander the Great : A Dream Come True

After three years of planning, studying and dreaming about the journey, finally the beginning of a dream, became a reality. On July 25, 1995, Michael Keathley and myself landed at the airport of a former capital city of Pakistan, Rawalpindi. A light drizzle was falling down; it was about 9:00AM. Little did we know that this was the Monsoon season for that part of the world. We felt everything was under control.

We had a prepaid ticket from Pindi to Gilgit, which is a 700 kilometre flight. We took a taxi to the Pakistani Airline office. There we found out to our surprise, all flights to Gilgit or the Chitral Valley were cancelled. We asked if we could board the next day and they replied that we were to be at their office at 11:00 AM in the morning and we will see, weather permitting. Disappointed, we asked the driver to take us to a hotel. As we arrived at the hotel, we noticed that there were no women in the lobby or anywhere on the street. We do recall that on the airplane the women who boarded from Manchester, England, were dressed casually, and as we approached our landing, they all went to the washrooms, dressed in the Muslim dress, loaded with jewellery from head to toe. The men wore very loose baggy pants and a shirt or cover from shoulder to below the knees.

We had our first different cultural encounter with the hotel manager. We asked if he had a room for two; oh yes he replied, it would be thirty dollars American, but Why don't you have some breakfast first and we will get the room ready in the meantime. After we I had our breakfast, the manager said the room which he thought he had available, wasn't, but he had a better room for $38 American. Fine, we said and we accepted it.

After we rested, we decided to go out and look around. The streets were very busy, traffic moving in all directions cars, horse drawn buggies, bicycles-and on foot, constant congestion, but nobody gets, into an accident, also it seems that nobody moves out of the way for anyone. Small Suzuki cars everywhere, but no beggars, keep in mind this is about the centre of Pakistan. If you went south, where the population is enormous, there, I was told, you would find beggars and thieves. The men were very polite, all were dressed the same, and I mean exactly the same. Only men, everywhere, young and old, but no women.

The living standards are very poor, but they are all the same, so this way no one feels short changed. We were glad we took all the vaccinations back home. I believe that is the only thing that would save us. Things are not very clean, also no government assistance of any kind and only up to grade 3 free schooling. No alcohol of any kind, it is pure and simply illegal, or any other drugs. But the one and only drug is cigarettes and they are being exploited with advertising.

The next day, we knew the airport was closed again, so we hired a private taxi to take us to Gilgit. About 300 km up the highway, the traffic stopped still. We went to look and to our sad surprise the mountain had slid and the road was cut off, with big boulders and mud. We asked the Army men when the road would be cleared and they told us not for at least 2 days. So I took out my movie camera and started acting like a tourist. The scenery was spectacular, simply beautiful. Sky high mountains with a rushing river at the bottom of the gourge. People everywhere, some decided to walk past the slide and continue on to their destination. We decided to turn back because we didn’t know any better.

Back we turned, we were furious, mad, very mad. We thought we were doomed, back to Pindi, again no flights, no roads. The next day, this is now two days later, we had breakfast and headed to a Pakistani government office. There we told them our story and the purpose of our trip. The man was very nice, he told us to forget flying, because even if the sky cleared for a short time, government officials would be the first to board and because no flights took off for a week there was a back log of people. Take a 4x4, which is a jeep or stay here for the duration of your holiday. Thanks to Visa, plus 20% for the use of it, because we did not have an American Express, and they did not take any other cards or travellers cheque. We charted a different course, instead of going first to Hunza Valley, we would go west to Chitral Valley and meet the Kalashi people. This was the perfect destination, because I read a lot about the Kalashi people.
First point of interest on the road to Chitral Valley was pointed out to us by the driver, the road built by Alexander the Great and his army. This road was from Kabul, Afghanistan to Calcutta, India. We stopped to take photos and I walked on the same footsteps of Alexander. I felt very touched, 2300 years later, the first Macedonians, Steve Pliakes and Michael Keathly felt part of Alexander. You have to be there to feel the emotions.

As we went on our journey, the driver again pointed one of the narrow passes that Alexander went on. This pass was called the Malakand Pass, and not so far was Kyber Pass. These are mountain tracks, some places they are paved, but most are no more than 4 feet wide. But the road Alexander the Greats army built was solid. I believe the Macedonians were the first road builders and what other way can an army travel. Most of this road was scavanged and only parts remain intact.

The people in these parts of the country are very hard working. They take the mountain and slowly turn it into beautiful terraced and lush fields. Also the aquaduct methods that they use are out of this world. Every village and every household have water right to their homes. All by engineering methods of redirecting the river and making these aquaducts.

As we took a closer look at these people, they have blue eyes, a fair complexion. They are totally different from the Muslim Pakistanis, in fact they do not want to be called Pakistani, because they are not, they stated this to us. Michael and I even joked as to which one of these men were our brothers. As the day came close to the end, we decided to spend the night at a town called Dir. To our amazement, again more of our brothers and sisters were visible. We walked the main street of Dir. There we saw the small shops where people were selling anything they could sell. At the restaurant, we had mountain tea, thin bread called Chipati, a flat, round in the middle loaf of bread. In the east they call it Pita bread. They also served us yogurt or I call it sour cream, and a delicious plate of cucumbers, yogurt and garlic.

The next morning, off we go to Chitral, a Town and the valley called Chitral. It was about 100 km to Chitral, a very remote area, no road as we would call it. River flowing, rocks falling and rivers crossing and blocking the road. Now I understand how these people remained in isolation. We drove to a height of 10,500 feet. It was cold and windy and you couldn’t stand at the edge of the road for fear of being blown over.

People live and make a living from the mountains. We stopped for tea where a family lived and worked. We also bought goat cheese for the long drive. The speed we travelled was not more than 10-20 km/h.

We reached Chitral Valley. It is beautiful. The river flowing through the middle of the valley. The people have very fair complexions, with blue eyes; mind you there were darker people among the lighter skinned or Kalashe as they call themselves. Sadly, creeping civilization is not always good for some people and some areas in the world. But they must accept change, and as change comes, we lose the innocence and the old traditions. As far as Michael and myself are concerned, we came here in the nick of time. The first Macedonians and hopefully not the last.

Daily, I was writing my findings, as we witnessed everything. Early the next morning to be precise July 29, 1995, we are leaving Chitral for another valley called Kalash Valley. It took 2 ½ hours, over the most treacherous road you could imagine. Again, these are not roads, goat trails. If it were not for the jeep, we would never have reached anywhere. Stones were all over the road, falling everywhere, it was very scary. At one time, our driver, a Muslim asked if he could stop the jeep to pray. We agreed and even asked him to pray for all of us. As we approached Kalash valley, we were stopped by an official and he asked us to record the purpose of our trip, the passport number and the length of our stay. Naturally we had to pay him. They told us this is frontier territory and the locals do not like Pakistanis, so we obeyed as instructed.

As we entered the Kalash valley, we could see the beauty before us. The lush scenery, the rivers flowing and merging, the fruit trees, mainly apricots, plums, mulberries and grapes. The vegetation, small plots of land terraced into the mountain, with fresh vegetables growing everywhere. They grow two crops a year on the same plots, thus enabling them to survive because of land shortage. To make a plot of land, first they have to remove all rocks from the lot, then they built a stone wall horizontally so there won’t be any land erosion, then a slow process of planting first grass so that top soil could be retained. All this time an aquaduct has to be built to irrigate the soil and then ahouse will be built to accommodate the rest of the family.

We were met by a young man called Dawoo, who spoke English. He took us to the cemetary and showed us their method of burying people. He said as far back as approximately fifty years go, they were laying the coffin on the ground. This was a custom which came from Afghanistan, but recently they bury their dead under ground. He showed us a place where they gather during their festivities. An open concept with a roof. This is for the summer. There they dance and romance. There were many carvings on wooden posts or pillars. We saw the Macedonian flower, Zdravets on these carvings although the flower does not grow anywhere in Kalash valley or Hunza valley.

We went to the place of worship. An enclosed room, again decorated with carvings on walls and posts, more of the same and also shapes of the sunburst, Alexander’s flag. We asked what religion they worshipped and they said they believe in God, and if you are good in this life, you go up to a beautiful place, and if you are bad, you go down to bad places and suffer forever. They are not Pakistanis and they do not even like the Pakistanis. In their place of worship, I did see the sign of crosses, here they don’t pray, they sing and dance. As we concluded our walk, we finally stopped to rest and have some food. Talking and eating, we learned they were told by their elders and foreigners about Alexander the Great. Also they were told of their blue eyes and fair complexion and that they are descendants of Alexander the Great. All the countries that Alexander conquered, there were Macedonians living there. I asked them if they knew where Alexander was buried and they said maybe Bagdad.

Ever week they have dances at different villages. Kalash Valley has three villages. That same evening, we were asked if we wanted to go to their village dance. Of course we agreed and by 9:00PM we arrived on an open court yard where the dance was being performed. Only single girls dance, from the ages of about 8 to 15 or 16. They all dance the same as all Macedonians, counter clockwise, with a leader and a tall end person. All shoulder to shoulder with their hands stretched. Young girls in the centre of the oro and according to groups and the oldest girls on the outside. Men only observe. I should mention, no cover charge and no other business was conducted, very innocent. All the girls were dressed with their best costumes. Lovely embroidery and head pieces. The band consisted of two drummers, one small and one larger. The drummers sang and tapped their drums. The girls sang and danced. Men dance in the day time, I was told. The dance lasted until about 12:00 or 1:00AM and off to work the next morning.

The next morning we went back to their temple, although that is not what they call it. We took a few more pictures and then off to another valley and more people to see. But we had to use the same road, it was awful. This is when it dawned on me of the movie “Lost Horizons” Shangrila. In the movie it was snow storms and blizzards, with us it was rocks and floods.

On to Hunza, following a mountain range called Hindukush. We came to an old fort about 300 to 400 years old called Massooch. Here we met the owner of the property, who was a Prince before Pakistan took their title and made them commoners. We discussed religion and most of all, Alexander the Great. He told us that every young man, when he grows up wants to be as wise and strong as Alexander. They even study it in school and he told us that he felt he was a descendent of Alexander of Macedonia, who conquered Athens, Egypt, Persia, Afghanistan and down to day Pakistan and India, after about four cups of mountain tea, we returned to our tent for the night. The next morning, I found the dogs had chewed up one of my shoes. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and tea. On the road again. What road, 10 km/h was the fastest speed for another day.

We are following the hindukush mountain range with the Gilgit River running in the middle between both sides of the mountains. First stop was at a hotel on the road to Gilgit. The hotel consisted of three tents, one for the staff and two for customers. Bathroom facilities on the river. For lunch we had two little fish the size of smelt flat bread, corn soup and tea. As we drove for a few hours, we stopped by the river to wash our faces. Well, the water was so cold that if you were in it for 10 minutes you would be dead. Off we go chugging along 10 to 20 km/h more or less, until the next stop. Along the way, we found young boys fishing. We bought fish as we went on until we had about 10 of them. We finally found a place to stay, a cabin with no hydro of course. The driver cooked the fish we bought. We also bought some cucumbers and tomatoes, and we had the best drink ever, mountain tea. As I am writing this report three young boys are watching us and wondering what we are doing here in their land, but we must drive on after a nights sleep. I guess all good things in life you have to pay dearly, both physically and financially in order to see or feel.

On the road again. Now the Hindukush mountains become the Karakoram mountains. Spectacular view as usual and the road is called the Karakoram highway, built by China and Pakistan. Finally we reach Gilgit and rested at the Chinar Inn. We finally ordered a can of beer each, cool and delicious. After we drank it, we found out that it was non alcoholic which suited us just fine. We forgot that alcohol is illegal in Pakistan. I admire the Muslim religion, no alcohol. The next morning we are headed towards a town called Karimabad. As you know Gilgit is in Hunza valley. Along the way we stopped to buy apricots, mulberries and grapes, mangos and vegetables. We found a good stream and there we stopped for a picnic. At Karimabad, there was no room so we drove 2 km and came to a village called Altit. We found room here at a hotel called Kissar Inn. A real dream place, a beautiful grape covered shelter throughout the whole courtyard. In front, the mountain Rakaposhi, show capped. We even witnessed an avalanche. A beautiful sight all around us. We decided to have a shower, a very cold shower naturally. That same day we visited a fort called Fort Altit. As we entered the fort, we saw carvings of the flower Zdravets and the Sunburst. After the fort, we went shopping for souveniers and I mean real antiques, carvings and whatever you wished.

The following morning we went to visit the Mir of Hunza. We had a 9:30 AM appointment. A real gentleman, but also a rich one. We told him we are Macedonian and he said he was a descendent of Alexander the Great. We had about a two hour meeting. We covered a lot including the Muslims in Macedonia. He didn’t know there were Muslims in Europe. I gave him presents that I brought along. I should say that I gave presents everywhere I met people of interest to me. He loved the Macedonian Flag. He said that he would make every effort to adopt it as the flag of Hunza. He asked what Macedonia exported because he was very interested in us. I told him we export tobacco, shoes, clothes, jam and wines. He wants closer ties with us and the Republic. In the mean time he wants us to send him anything he could display at all of his hotels. As we departed he told us to stay at his brother’s Inn along the way because it had a museum. What a store, again we saw ancient souveniers, the Zdravets, the flag and real artistic works of art. The museum person told us that a particular stone was from the time of Alexander. I held it in my hand, I was very excited.

The next day we parted for China. We are on the Karakoram mountain range and Karakoram highway and the Gilgit river becomes the Hunza river. What a road, they call it the highway to Heavan, very scenic and very dangerous, rock slides and mud slides. Finally we reached China. The elevation was 17,000 feet above sea level. You could not run around here. I tried and got dizzy, then I realized the air is very thin. We met some Chinese tourists and naturally we told them we were Macedonians from the land of Alexander the Great. By now we weren’t surprised to hear that everybody knew of Alexander of Macedonia. As we left for Gilgit, we stopped along a beautiful river, a true turquoise colour, then we bought some fish and the young man cooked them for us, and made us tea. I believe we got hosed at the next town, which is normal, small amounts to us, but large for them.

The next day the driver took us and showed us his home. Five miles on the mountain, a one room house, dirt floor, chickens living under the bed, the stable was the next room. He had one bull, one water buffalo and two baby ones. He had three girls and two boys. His wife and mother cooked dinner for us, fried meat, okra, yogurt and tea. Inat, the driver, wanted us to sleep at his home that night, but there was no room. He was going to sleep in the stable if we stayed. So we decided to got to the nearest town called Balakose. There we booked at the hotel, had a shower and did our last clothing wash in a pail. The next day will be our last in Pakistan.

We went to a town called Taxila with plenty of history. A monestary with immense Macedonian information, a tremendous find for us. Everywhere we looked, we found history of Alexander. At the souvenir shop we gave the owner the Macedonian flag. At first he didn’t believe, but when he opened a book of all the countries of the world, sure enough there was Macedonia with its flag.

I urge all Macedonians wherever you may be, do not wait for someone else to write your history. Go out and tell the world the truth, see for yourselves, what is out there waiting for you. We must change the course that others took to falsify our history. We are as old as the Egyptians. We did have an Empire, which lasted 500 years. Alexander’s adventure took him about 7,000 miles, to promote culture. We travelled about 200 miles following in his foot steps. Imagine what is out there for us to find, more and more of our roots.

Macedonia and Byzantium

It is indisputable that the incorporation of Macedonia within the borders of the Byzantine Empire of Basil II and his successors enabled and even strengthened the development of feudal relations in Macedonia. The free rural communities, which had always represented the danger of organized resistance to the authorities, began to dissolve. Although it was a gradual process, their dissolution was accelerated by the increased differentiation among the members of the communities themselves, and by the reduction of the male population by the frequent mass recruitment of soldiers for the Byzantine army. In such a situation, the estates which had been left without family heads were especially attractive to the new feudal lords.
Along with the introduction of feudal lords of Greek and Armenian descent to Macedonia, the number of local, Slavic feudal lords was also increasing. This Macedonian vanguard did not always side with Byzantium, however, and were often inclined towards their own people, finding there support for their own intentions and plans.
The financial policies of Byzantium led to the gradual impoverishment of the Macedonian population. The burden of rent in labor, or angaria (forced labor), was imposed by the state on the entire population, but further imposed by the feudal lords on the peasantry. The castrochityssia, unpaid labor to repair or raise fortresses, was the hardest angaria: people used draft animals to carry construction material to the site where the fortress was being erected or repaired. The population was also engaged in repairing roads and bridges and in building boats without remuneration. Beside the angaria, payments in kind were also imposed: tithes of harvest, fish, livestock, etc.
All this was supplemented by rent in money: after the monetary reform of 1040, payment in currency was generally substituted for payments in kind. In general, taxation of the Macedonian population was considerably increased in the 11th century, the motive for continuous organized and spontaneous resistance in Macedonia against Byzantine rule. Michael Psellus wrote that not "a long time" had passed since Emperor Basil II destroyed Samuil's state and "in such a defeated condition incorporated it under Romaean authority", when the subjugated people began to demonstrate their "former impertinence" again. The Byzantine historian Skylitzes wrote that the people "who had just bent their heads in slavery ... strongly sought freedom. ... The people of Ohrid were ready to arm themselves and to rise against Byzantium immediately after the fall of the town to Byzantine authority." Likewise, in his letters Theophylact of Ohrid often emphasized such desires in his congregation, stressing that the province of Macedonia was always faced with "the ghost of war", as "the barbarians [Macedonians] never stopped thinking about their glorious times."
The substitution of payment in kind by payment in currency, imposed by John the Orphanographer in 1040, was the last straw, and the peasantry rose up in outrage. "The local population could not endure it easily and, therefore, when a favorable moment presented itself with the coming of Delyan, renounced Romaean rule and returned to their former laws," writes Skylites.
Petar Delyan was the son of Gavril Radomir and is thought to have been Samuil's grandson. When Radomir occupied Larissa, he fell in love with a beautiful slave named Irene, and because of her turned out his pregnant wife, the daughter of the Hungarian king. She returned back to her father in Hungary and hence, Delyan was born there. Such was recorded by Michail of Devol in the Vienna supplement to the Chronicle of Skylitzes. The Hungarian historian G. Fecher suggests that when Samuil was still alive Gavril Radomir did in fact turn out his wife (the Hungarian princess), not because of Irene-a legend-but because of cool relations between Samuil and her young brother, King Stephen of Hungary. Samuil had entered into alliance with Prince Ayton of the Banat, Hungary's enemy, an indication that he had turned against the politics of his daughter-in-law's brother. Petar Delyan was born in the female monastery of Wespremvoldi, where the pregnant Hungarian princess stayed after her return from Macedonia. Petar remained there until his coming to the Hungarian court, where he received the title of ban (governor).
The historian Michael Psellus writes: "That tribe of Bulgarians, formerly a cause of numerous dangers and battles... and now weakened in every respect... made efforts to restore its former haughtiness: for some time it did not initiate a public uprising, but when one of those who were ready to incite its impertinence arrived, already strong determination for an uprising had emerged. They were induced to such insanity by a monster, whom they considered to be of their own kin... He, after finding out that the entire people intended to renounce the Romaeans ... at first presented himself as the most worthy and sincere in his counseling, and then as the most experienced in military skill." The words "of Bulgarians" were inserted in one of the later versions of his Chronography by Michael Psellus, the source of the quotation. After the Byzantine-Bulgarian peace treaty of 927, Balkan territories (including Macedonian territories) conquered by the Bulgarian kings Pressin, Boris and Symeon were officially considered to be Bulgarian provinces, and all subjects of the Bulgarian state as Bulgarians. This reference to Bulgarian subjects by official Byzantium sources continued even after the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire in 971 and the establishment of Samuil's empire.
In Belgrade Petar Delyan was appointed tsar "after he had been lifted on a shield by the army." He was met there by representatives of the insurgents who had come from distant Macedonia. His uncle, King Stephen, was probably also involved in obtaining the title of tsar for Delyan. From Belgrade, Delyan set off to occupy Nish and Skopje and, when victorious, advanced to Thessaloniki where Emperor Michail IV was receiving a medical treatment. Frightened the course of events, the emperor escaped to Constantinople, leaving power and his treasury in the hands of Michail Ivec in Thessaloniki, most likely a son of Ivec, one of Samuil's generals. It is therefore understandable why Ivec the Younger joined Samuil's grandson immediately, taking with him much of the emperor's wealth. The turning of coats took place in the vicinity of Thessaloniki rather than inside the town itself, as Delyan's insurgents were not able to occupy the town. But the remainder of Macedonia was taken, as well as the regions around Vitosha, Osogovo and Thessaly, and Epirus and Albania revolted against Byzantine rule. Lacking the necessary strength to resist Delyan, Byzantium undertook a cunning and typical Byzantine stratagem in order to eliminate the new danger. Michael Psellus writes that "The war was still going on when something amazing happened: one of Aron's sons, called Aleutian [a personal acquaintance of Psellus], a man of gentle disposition and brilliant mind, successful and of great importance, became most deserving of the tsar's throne ...When he heard about his people's problem, and found that they, having no imperial descendant, had chosen an illegitimate son to rule over them, he left his children, rejected his wife's love and had the impertinence to set out from the far east to the west ..."
In fact, Aleutian was the grandson of Aron (the brother of Samuil) and as a great-nephew of Samuil was chosen by Michail IV was sent to reap discord among the insurgents. He was welcomed by Petar Delyan as a close relative and, according to Skylitzes, even given 40,000 soldiers to besiege Thessaloniki. The siege was raised by the Byzantines and the army defeated, while Aleutian himself had a narrow escape. Defeated, he returned to Ostrovo, a town between Kostur and Prespa. One day, at a dinner, he "suddenly caught him [Delyan]. cut off his nose, poked his eyes out, doing it all with a kitchen knife", Psellus writes.
Being of Samuil's blood, Aleutian was proclaimed tsar by the army. The new leader secretly advised the Byzantine emperor of this, and at a convenient moment deserted the army for the Byzantine capital: the insurgents, left without a leader, were easily defeated.
In Constantinople the traitor was granted great honors and wealth, while the blinded Delyan was captured and sent to Thessaloniki without giving any resistance. After he conquered and subjugated the Macedonians to his authority, wrote Psellus, and after he appointed strategists in each of the themes, the emperor returned to the capital taking many prisoners with him, among them their illegitimate leader with his nose cut off and his eyes gouged out. The consequences of the uprising were severe, and Macedonia was completely devastated. A considerable number of its inhabitants were enslaved by the emperor, and many lost their estates. In order to break up the ethnic unity of the Macedonians, Constantinople settled foreign colonists in the region.
An additional, small uprising in Larissa, Thessaly, was begun in 1066 by the Vlach population. In a familiar, cycle, the Larissa uprising was also betrayed by its leader, Nikulitsa Delphin, a feudal lord, who took the first opportunity to surrender to Emperor Constantine X Ducas. Although unsuccessful, this revolt sought to spread and include the Macedonian population as well, and did succeed in assisting the beginnings of a latter uprising in Skopje under the leadership of Georgi Voyteh. In 1072, only six years after the uprising in Thessaly, Macedonia was shaken anew by a rebellion triggered by new financial policies of Byzantium following its defeats in Italy and Asia Minor. At the battle of Manzikert, Byzantium was defeated by the Seljuq Turks and thus lost the rich lands of Asia Minor; the occupation of Bari by the Normans cost Byzantium its last possessions in southern Italy. To respond to these emergencies heavy taxation was levied throughout the empire, cutting deeply into the Macedonian population. The uprising of 1072 centered in Skopje and was led by Georgi Voyteh. The insurgents gathered in Prizren and sought the aid of Michail, King of Zeta, who was related to Samuil: Michail was the son of Prince Stephan Voislav, the son of Samuil's daughter Kossara (who had married Prince Jovan Vladimir). King Michail was thus the great-grandson of Samuil and the rebels, respecting his bloodline, applied to him for aid. He had promised in the past that he would support their desire to restore Samuil's empire; he now gathered 300 soldiers and sent them to Prizren, accompanied by his son Constantine Bodin. There Bodin was proclaimed as tsar, changing his name from Constantine to Petar in honor of Petar Delyan.
Nicephorus Bryennius witnessed these events in Macedonia, and wrote in his History: "The emperor Michail [Michail VII Ducas] had many difficulties at that time, because the Scythians [the Pechenegs] made sudden attacks on Thrace and Macedonia, and the Slavs rejected Romaean slavery and devastated and plundered the Bulgarian country. Skopje and Nish were conquered..." As noted in Bryennius's chronicle, the uprising was very successful in its beginning: beside Skopje and Nish, part of the rebels, led by Petrilo, occupied Ohrid and advanced to Kostur, where they were defeated. This encouraged the Byzantines to undertake a counteroffensive, and a huge army, led by Michael Saronit, set out for Skopje. Georgi Voyteh, frightened by the advance, surrendered the town without resistance. Tsar Bodin, who had in the meantime occupied Nish, set back for Skopje. The insurgents and Saronit's soldiers met in a decisive battle near present-day Paun on the plains of Kosovo, where Bodin was defeated. He and Georgi Voyteh were captured and sent to Constantinople. Voyteh died on the journey, but Bodin-after many months of imprisonment-was released after payment of a ransom and returned back to Zeta. On two occasions Byzantium sent armies to Macedonia to put an end to the uprising, and warfare devastated the region. Many towns were damaged, and the imperial palaces built in Prespa during the time of Tsar Samuil were destroyed. Nicephorus Bryennius was a general during the counteroffensive, and by the end of 1073 he "mastered the people of the Slavs" and subjugated it again to Byzantine authority. However, Constantine Bodin could not remain at peace. Theophylact of Ohrid wrote in a letter: "In Ohrid matters are terrifying. The region of Mokra [a part of the Ohrid theme] is seized by the captive [Bodin] and surrendered, while Bagora [a Macedonian mountain] has been occupied by the rebel. In a word, everything is bad."
Devastation, suffering, hunger and death stalked the Macedonian countryside as wave after wave of warfare and rebellion swept through it. Jovan Zvonara in his Chronicle writes that in 1064 "the Gagauz Turks passed the Danube River and halved the entire country along the river. There were 60,000 people, they say, who could carry arms. From there they invaded Macedonia, plundered it and reached as far as Hellas." Rudolf Cadonensi in his Jerusalem Expedition (1083-1085) states that "...the messenger... upset Emperor Alexius: Bohomund Giuscard [son of the Duke of Normandy] crossed the Adriatic and occupied Macedonia." The Byzantine writer Ephraim laments: "Alas! Alas! The town of Thessaloniki has been occupied, I say, the metropolis of the Macedonians."
In 1096, Crusaders of the First Crusade passed through Macedonia on their way to Jerusalem. Robert the Monk, a direct participant in the First Crusader and author of the History of Jerusalem writes that "the Crusaders finally entered a region [Durres] very rich with all kinds of treasures, and going from village to village, from one fortress to another, from town to town, arrived at Kastoria [Kostur] where they celebrated Christ's birth and then rested for a few days. However, when they asked the inhabitants for a market, they could not get it because everyone ran out of their sight, thinking that our people had come to rob and devastate the country. For that reason our people, lacking food, were forced to plunder: to steal sheep, pigs and everything that could be used for food... They left Kastoria and came to Pelagonia, where there was a heretics' fortress, and they attacked it from all sides... While the trumpets blared and the spears and arrows flew, they robbed it and burned down all its riches together with the inhabitants themselves..."
The History of Jerusalem contains a great deal of information about the campaign through Macedonia; for example, the last reference seems to indicate a renewed upsurge of Bogomilism in Macedonia during the time of the Comnenus dynasty (1081-1085). The destroyed fortress in Pelagonia was probably Bogomilean, and the victimized inhabitants were Bogomils.
Only ten years after this, Theophylact of Ohrid wrote to John Comnenus, son of the emperor's elder brother: "One of the monks and clergymen [the Bogomil leader, the priest Vasiliy], to my misfortune, scorned God and became a prey to shamelessness, rejecting the human feeling of shame, and assumed the figure of a harlot, rejected his own image and ate meat rather than fasting, [became] libertine rather than forbearing... That is why I ordered that this contagious and common disease be expelled from these territories. If by chance I capture him, he will die in the tower as a social and state evil."
The Bogomilean and Paulician movements were particularly strengthened after the death of Alexis I Comnenus (1118). Paulicianism emerged as a sect in Western Armenia in the 7th century; its essence is represented by the dualism of God: a god of good and a god of evil. The good god of Heaven, and the bad god of Hell-creator of darkness, the visible world and our bodies. The Paulicians claimed that human beings were created by the Devil and that Jesus was sinless in the imagination only and was not, in fact, real. They also claimed that Mary gave birth to other children as well, in a relationship with a mortal man. The Paulicians denied the official church as Satanic. They held their prayers day and night: in light they prayed with their faces turned towards the sun, at night turned towards the moon. They supported freedom in marital and sexual relations, opposing marriage as an institution of the Devil. Unlike the Bulgarian Paulician church, the Macedonian Paulician church held to a strict dualistic orientation. Before the Turkish conquest of the Balkans, a number of the worshippers of this church grew closer to official Orthodox doctrine, while others, upon the arrival of the Turks, accepted Islam.
Apparently, the execution of Vasiliy and his fellow heretics in Constantinople in 1111 did not affect the spread of Bogomilism. The Hagiography of Bishop Hilarion of Meglen states that Emperor Manuil I Comnenus (1143-1180) himself "almost" submitted to the influence of this heresy, and Hilarion and Theophylact of Ohrid were given exceptional powers by Constantinople to liquidate Bogomilism. The extent to which Bogomil movement had spread in Macedonia is indicated by the fact that in 1140, 1143 and 1156/57 church meetings were held at the Byzantine capital with the sole purpose of determining how to destroy Bogomilism.
In the late 12th century Bogomilism had spread throughout Macedonia; not difficult to achieve, since Bogomilism was anti-feudal in nature, preaching equality and democracy in poverty, living a modest and simple life and disobedience to authorities. All these elements were very close to the thoughts of the Macedonian peasant masses, and they widely accepted the heresy.
In the late 12th and early 13th century, Byzantium was faced with economic, social and political crisis. Under pressure by the Normans, Byzantine rule had collapsed in much of Macedonia, and Byzantine control over acquisitions in the northwest was also shattered. Newly-emerging feudal forces in Serbia and Bulgaria gained strength as serious political factors, and feudal lords of Slavic descent started to enlarge their estates and political power. Among those who broke their ties with the Byzantine court was Dobromir Hrs, the administrator of Strumica with 500 soldiers at his command. He rose against Constantinople and from Strumica occupied the town of Prosek in 1185, located where the Vardar River passes through the Demir Kapija Gorge. Hrs moved his capital to Prosek, extending his holdings in 1186 to Prilep, part of Pelagonia and some parts of Thessaly. In 1201, the Byzantine army recovered Strumica, Prilep and Pelagonia and advanced towards Prosek; Bulgarian military forces were activated at the same time. In 1203 the Byzantines entered Prosek, occupied it and put an end to the independence of Hrs. In 1204 Constantinople itself was attacked by the Crusaders. Its armed forces were not strong enough to resist either armies of the Crusaders or the fleets of Venice, let alone combined attack. Byzantium collapsed, and a part of Macedonia was incorporated by the Crusaders into the new Empire of Thessaloniki. Some Macedonian towns were garrisoned by detachments of Crusading knights; other Macedonian towns like Skopje, Ohrid and Veria fell under Bulgarian authority.
After the death of the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan, Tsar Strez strengthened his authority in Macedonia. Although of Bulgarian imperial descent he was aided by the Serbs in extending his rule over territories along the Vardar River to Thessaloniki and to Ohrid in the west. After his death in 1214, parts of Macedonia including Skopje and Ohrid fell under Epirote authority; ten years later, the Epirotes occupied Thessaloniki. Following their defeat by the Bulgarians at Klokotnitsa in 1230, Macedonia, Thrace and a part of Albania were incorporated within the borders of the restored Bulgarian Empire. In the eparchies as well as in secular administration Greeks were replaced by Bulgarians. The significance of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, Greek by hierarchical composition and function, decreased. In 1241 Macedonia fell under Nicaean authority, and five years later the Nicaeans conquered Thessaloniki as well. After fifty years of turmoil and fluid changes in political authority in Macedonia, in 1261 the Byzantine Empire was restored; but Byzantium ruled Macedonia for only 20 years. In 1282 King Milutin invaded Macedonia, and in 1345 Macedonia was conquered by Stephan Dushan following his occupation of Serres. Only Thessaloniki remained as a Byzantine enclave.

Another evidence, that the Macedonians are not-related with greeks:

HLA genes in Macedonians and the sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks

Tissue Antigens 2001 Feb; 57(2):118-127



Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, H. 12 de Octubre, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. aarnaiz@eucmax.sim.ucm.es

Arnaiz-Villena A, Dimitroski K, Pacho A, Moscoso J, Gomez-Casado E, Silvera-Redondo C, Varela P, Blagoevska M, Zdravkovska V, Martinez-Laso J.



HLA alleles have been determined in individuals from the Republic of Macedonia by DNA typing and sequencing. HLA-A, -B, -DR, -DQ allele frequencies and extended haplotypes have been for the first time determined and the results compared to those of other Mediterraneans, particularly with their neighbouring Greeks. Genetic distances, neighbor-joining dendrograms and correspondence analysis have been performed. The following conclusions have been reached:



1) Macedonians belong to the "older" Mediterranean substratum, like Iberians (including Basques), North Africans, Italians, French, Cretans, Jews, Lebanese, Turks (Anatolians), Armenians and Iranians,



2) Macedonians are not related with geographically close Greeks, who do not belong to the "older" Mediterranenan substratum,



3) Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan (Ethiopian) people, which separate them from other Mediterranean groups. Both Greeks and Ethiopians share quasi-specific DRB1 alleles, such as *0305, *0307, *0411, *0413, *0416, *0417, *0420, *1110, *1112, *1304 and *1310. Genetic distances are closer between Greeks and Ethiopian/sub-Saharan groups than to any other Mediterranean group and finally Greeks cluster with Ethiopians/sub-Saharans in both neighbour joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses. The time period when these relationships might have occurred was ancient but uncertain and might be related to the displacement of Egyptian-Ethiopian people living in pharaonic Egypt.

Ancient Macedonia

Macedonia belongs to one of the richest archaeological findings on the Balkan peninsula, and without its artifacts completing the history of Europe and the world is impossible.Her cultural layers are rich of remains of a material culture which, up till now can be dated: starting somewhere at the end of the Mesolithic and the beginning of the Neolithic period.(Picture 1), i.e. from 7.000 - 6.000 B.C. up till now. An absolute chronology of her development suggests a long continuity of people living in these places, of many changes and events, of the presence of a high culture of the so called pre Slav population, of the coming and leaving of invading waves, of catastrophies and violence, of attempts of assimilation and syncretism, but also of the survival of the identity of the Macedonian people, of the prevedic culture mythology and a cult of the sun and the cosmos ( space, universe) of the prehistoric Macedonian phonetic alphabet and the prehistoric Macedonian language, of the existence of prehistoric Macedonian laws and prehistoric Macedonian state. Homer in the "Iliad" mentions Macedonian tribes (Payonian, Pelazgian, Venets or Enets, Brygian or , Phrygian etc.) that fight on the side of the Trojans against the allies of the new coming conquerors of the Balkans - Danaians, i.e. in the "Iliad" is portrayed a happening that occurred in 1193 - 1183 B.C. that is according to the famous alexandrian scientist Eratosten (III century B.C.) the happening which in the epic is portrayed on 15.693 should be treated in fact as the WW I between the so called pre Slav population of the Balkan - Anadolian cultural complex and the allies of the new incoming conquerors on the Pelopones (Morea) and Atica - the Danaians. Beside this, it is also known that in the IV century B.C. the Macedonians succeeded to create a Macedonian kingdom or Macedonian empire on a territory of about 3.8 mil km2, (map2) and later in the epoch Macedonian period in the shape of 4 kingdoms with their Macedonian dynasties continued to spread Macedonian culture and to breed the spirit of creativity and bringing the peoples, cultures and regions of the world together. Macedonians were and remain an authentic people on the Balkan peninsula while others came and went as guests or conquerors.