Today we dedicate ourselves again to the ancient Greek Pausanias. A famous author and writer of a description of Greece. No text has had more influence on the development of the study of classical archaeology than Pausanias’ description of Greece. By the way, the Description of Greece does not contain a chapter about Macedonia. But that is not the topic here today.
As mentioned, Pausanias wrote a description of Greece, and we have quoted from that (twice) already. “All Greeks were afraid of the Macedonians” is the opinion of the ancient Greek himself. And also that the “defeat against the Macedonians was a disaster for all Greeks“.
And here, with the second quote, we start again. Because the third quote from Pausanias is related to the defeat of the Greeks he mentioned.
But just before that, as we all know, the Greek propaganda tries to declare everything Macedonian as Greek. But in stark contrast to this are the legacies of the ancient Greek authors themselves, such as Pausanias. This is also the case with the thin-layered slogan “Macedonia has always been part of Greece”. This slogan can easily be refuted as a fable.
The defeat mentioned by Pausanias, which according to him was a disaster for all Greeks, is the defeat at the Battle of Chaeronea. There, Philip II of Macedonia triumphed over the Greeks and brought Greece under his rule. This circumstance is interpreted by Greek propagandists as well as graecocentrics and philhellenists as “the first unification of Greece”. Since “Macedonia was part of Greece”.
However, such a daring interpretation of history, or rather historical distortion, stands in stark contrast to the ancient Greeks themselves.
Pausanias, who cannot be counted as an average citizen of ancient Greece, but as a thoroughly reputable source, said that Greece fell after the defeat! Not a word about union. No! But of fall!!!
We quote from Book 5 of his Description of Greece:
[5.20.10] This building is on the left of the exit over against the Town Hall. It is made of burnt brick and is surrounded by columns. It was built by Philip after the fall of Greece at Chaeroneia. Here are set statues of Philip and Alexander, and with them is Amyntas, Philip’s father. These works too are by Leochares, and are of ivory and gold, as are the statues of Olympias and Eurydice.
Source: Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book V
