MR JAVIER BERNAL on Wed, 1 Mar 2000 16:04:43 +0100 (CET) |
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[Nettime-bold] HOW THE WINNERS RE-WRITE HISTORY |
HOW THE WINNERS RE-WRITE HISTORY or Constantine the Great, an Albanian Thanks to CNN and propagandist as Nalini Lasiewicz (you can read her at http://www.egroups.com/group/democracy_institute/8.html? ), this kind of lies are being spreading. Why? Just think by yourself. Even if you prefer to believe their words, do a favour yourself and read about History. Javier Bernal University of Lincolnshire -------------------------------------------- RE "the Emperor Constantine the Great, an Albanian" as writen by Nalini Lasiewicz in http://www.egroups.com/group/democracy_institute/8.html? --------- Constantine the Great (306-337) was born in Naissos (Nis) of Serbia at a time were the terms "Albania" and "Albanian" simply were not in use for this place, but for the land where today lies Dagestan and Northern Azerbaijan. Albania started to be called "Albania" since the 11th century after Christ, and only in 16th century this term prevails. Constantine's father, Constantius, was born in Illyria, but I have no clues to documentate that he was an Illyrian himself, because the coasts were inhabited by Greeks who had flourishing colonies (Apollonia, Epidamnus etc.) since the 7th century before Christ. Many Greeks were also living in Illyria's mainland. Constantine's mother, Helen, was a Greek from Drepanon, Bithynia, Asia Minor. But who were the Illyrians? They are considered to be the progeny of a mediterranean race and of Indo-European races, who came in Illyria during the second half of the 2nd millennium before Christ. These alleged Indo- European ancestors of Illyrians are said to be relatives with the Greek Achaeans as well as with the Venetians and Messapians, who settled in Italy. Illyrians were considered as semi-barbarians from their neighbors and were occupied in piracy in the Adriatic. However Illyrians were constantly mingled with other races. Nowadays Albanians belong to two main branches, the Gegs, who come mostly from the (mixed) ancient Illyrians, and are influenced mostly from Catholicism, and the Toscas, who come from intermarriages with Greeks from Macedonia and Epirus, and are influenced from Orthodoxy. There are also the Chams and the Liapis, who are more closer to Greeks than to Illyrians. Conclusion 1: Constantine the Great cannot be considered as a foolblood Illyrian. He is either half an Illyrian (because of his Greek mother) or not an Illyrian at all, if his father Constantius was not an Illyrian as well. Conclusion 2: Even if Constantine is partially an Illyrian, ancient Illyrians are ancestors of the nowadays Albanians only IN PART. So no one can call Constantine an "Albanian". AND Constantine never made Christianity the "official religion of the Roman Empire". This was done by Theodosius on 380. Constantine only legislated religious tolerance: Christians were not persecuted anymore and their Church could succeed to legacies and to organize charities. As far as I know, Serbs inhabited Kosovo in 680. The Byzantine chroniclers refer only to Serb and Horvats in this territory, and they had no reason to hide the existence of Albanians, if there was any. The only thing that relates Albanians to Kosovo is that Kosovo was included in Serbia, and Serbia was included to the territory called "Illyrian" by the Romans. This does not mean that Illyrians were living in Kosovo. Since there is no Albanian word for Kosovo ("Kosova" means absolutely nothing, and is a corruption of the Slav word "Kosovo", which means "valley of the blackbirds"), it seems that Albanians came later in this area. Scanderberg was a Tosca, or "Greek Albanian"."Scander", that means Alexander, was the name that the Turks gave him when he converted to Islam. When he escaped from them and became a Christian again, he used his Greek Christian name: George Castriotis. He obviously had little relationship with nowadays Kosovo Albanians, who use to rape nuns and to burn Christian churches. Sorry for any typos and incorrect writing, Maria <maridim@altavista.net> --------end of forwarded text--------- ------------- "All the lands, in their diversity, are one, and men are all neighbours and brothers" al-Zubaidi, tutor of the andalusi Caliph al-Hakam II _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold