Letter from Professor Miller to Archaeology Magazine - Response to Brian Rose
Ancient Nemea
GR-20500
September 22, 2009
Editor, Archaeology Magazine
36-36 33rd Street
Long Island City, NY 11106
U.S.A.
Sir,
Brian Rose, “From the President: Everyone’s Hero” (Archaeology, Sept.-Oct. 2009) misses several critical points in his attempt to justify the abduction of Alexander the Great by FYROM. The use of heroes like the Roman Augustus by the Italian Mussolini, of the Athenian Theseus by the Athenian Kimon, of Aeneas by his Roman descendants, of the Armenian Hayk by his descendants, of Tamerlane by the modern inhabitants of his native land (now Uzbekistan), of Genghis Khan by Mongolia which he founded, is not the same as denying that Alexander was Greek and turning him into a Slav.
Nor are such uses of heroes the same as transporting a hero from a neighboring state. The geographic fact that the area of FYROM coincides to a very great extent with the ancient Paionia and not with Macedonia shows the real distance between the ancient hero and the newly formed state centered at Skopje.
But the most egregious of Rose’s “misses”, in the present context, is his statement that “heroes . . . foster a shared identity and a sense of stability.” Shared identity with Greece whose hero Alexander actually is? Sense of stability with a neighbor whose heritage is being misappropriated?
I would respectfully suggest that Archaeology, the Archaeological Institute of America and its President have no business corrupting historic integrity for modern political purposes. The reputation of the AIA does not gain, nor does the stability of the Balkans, nor does the identity of FYROM. Sooner or later the world will understand the truth to the detriment of those who subverted it.
Stephen G. Miller
Letter to President Obama
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- On May 18th, 2009,
200 Classical Scholars from around the world, sent a letter to the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. - On June 22nd, 2009,
an update with 332 signatures was sent.
Since then, the list of cosigners has grown to 376, see Addenda.
- On May 18th, 2009,
Macedonian coin, stating in Greek: "ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ"
(in English: "ALEXANDER'S")