2,300 Years Later, 'Alexander-mania' Grips Macedonia
March 24, 2009
SKOPJE, Macedonia – As part of a stunning new homegrown ideology of history and identity based on Alexander the Great, this capital city’s main square may soon boast a huge new statue of the ancient conqueror.
Two years ago, the national airport was renamed after Alexander, infuriating Greece.
In January, despite a recent Greek nixing of Macedonia’s NATO bid over the airport name, the ruling nationalists here changed the name of its main roadway to Alexander of Macedon Highway.
In Macedonia, it is becoming all Alexander the Great, all the time. Ahead of Sunday’s presidential elections, the ruling party’s Alexander ideology is seen as fantastic, even by Balkan standards.
In an intense media campaign, locals are told that ethnic Macedonians are the proud direct descendants of Alexander, and thus a people responsible for spawning the white race of planet Earth, from the Caucasus "to the seas off Japan," according to a public service spot on national TV.
March 24, 2009
A Tale of Two Meltdowns