Vergina Sun

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Vergina Sun

The Vergina Sun, Star of Vergina or Argead Star is the name given to a symbol of a stylised star or sun with sixteen rays. It was unearthed in 1977 during excavations in Vergina, in the northern Greek region of Macedonia, by archaeologist Manolis Andronikos. He discovered it on a golden larnax in the tombs of the kings of the ancient kingdom of Macedon.

Andronikos described the symbol variously as a "star", a "starburst" or as a "sunburst".^[1] He proposed that the larnax on which it appears belonged to King Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, though some have attributed it to Alexander the Great's half-brother, Philip III Arrhidaeus.^[2] The larnax is on display at the archaeological museum in Vergina, where it was found. Another version of the Vergina Sun, with 12 rays, was found on the larnax of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great.

Since its rediscovery, it has taken on a new function as a political symbol associated with modern Macedonia, and has become the object of political conflict between Greece and the neighbouring Republic of Macedonia. The Republic of Macedonia used it on its national flag between 1991 and 1995, when it agreed to change its flag under Greek pressure. Greece regards it as an official national symbol and has asserted an exclusive right to its official use.

Interpretations of the symbol

The Golden Larnax, at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

A hoplite with an eight-pointed sun on his left shoulder . Side A of an Ancient Greek Attic red-figure belly-amphora, 500–490 BC, from Vulci, Italy. Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany

The significance of the Vergina Sun is unclear. Archaeologists do not agree whether the sun was a symbol of Macedon, an emblem of Philip's Argead dynasty, a religious symbol representing the Twelve Gods of Olympus, or simply a decorative design. Andronikos repeatedly interprets it as the "emblem of the Macedonian dynasty", though Eugene Borza has pointed out that it is widely used in ancient Macedonian art.^[3][4] John Paul Adams cites its long-established use as a decorative element in Greek art, as well as in the Middle East, Ancient Thrace^[5] and elsewhere, and concludes that it cannot definitively be said that it was either a "royal" or "national" Macedonian symbol.^[6] Sixteen and eight-pointed suns often appear in Macedonian and Hellenistic coins and shields of that period.^[7] However, there are also a number of depictions of Athenian hoplites^[8][9] bearing an identical sixteen-pointed symbol on their armor as early as the 6th century BC,^[10] as well as coin designs from island and mainland Greece bearing eight or sixteen-pointed sun symbols (Corfu, 5th century BC,^[11] Locris, 4th century BC^[12][13]). Before 1977 the symbol had been regarded as a simple ornament. After Andronikos' discovery, the symbol began to be viewed as predominantly associated with Ancient Macedonians, despite its earlier ornamental use in Greek art.

"The stele of Aristion". Funerary stele of an Athenian hoplite (Aristion) having a sixteen-pointed "Vergina sun" symbol on his right shoulder, ca. 520 BC. Relief at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

A drawing of the "stele of Aristion", from the collections of Harvard University, 1894.

Modern reconstruction of the original polychrome of the "stele of Aristion". On a loan by the Glyptothek in Munich for the Bunte Götter exhibition. Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

Modern usage

The flag of the Greek region of Macedonia, designated as an official national symbol by the Hellenic Parliament since February 1993.

The flag of the Republic of Macedonia between 1992 and 1995.

Vergina Sun flag at the Kozani Prefecture, along with the European flag and the flag of Greece.

Vergina Sun flag and new flag of the Republic of Macedonia in front of the Boris Trajkovski Sports Arena in Skopje

Following the discovery of the larnax, the Vergina Sun was widely adopted by Greek Macedonians as a symbol of continuity between ancient Macedonian culture and modern Greek Macedonia. The Vergina Sun on a blue background is commonly used as an official emblem of the three peripheries, the prefectures and the municipalities of the region of Macedonia. On Greek passports, it forms the watermark image across pages 22 and 23, symbolising Greece's Macedonian legacy. It is also used by organisations of the Greek Macedonian diaspora, such as the Pan-Macedonian Association,^[14] as well as by numerous commercial enterprises and in Greek Macedonian demonstrations.

The symbol was also adopted by another group, the ethnic Macedonians, for the same symbolic value. When Yugoslavia broke up in 1991-1992, the Republic of Macedonia designated the Vergina Sun as its national symbol and displayed it on its new flag.

The decision caused controversy both within the republic and outside it in its relations with Greece. The republic's large Albanian minority complained that it was an ethnic symbol of the ethnic Macedonian majority and was not suitable for a multi-ethnic state.^[15] Greek opposition was even more vehement. The Greek government and many Greek people, especially Greek Macedonians, saw it as the misappropriation of a Hellenic symbol and a direct claim on the legacy of Philip II.^[16] A Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman said in January 1995 that "the symbol is Greek and has been stolen." Nationalists on both sides subsequently associated the symbol with the (much later) Star of Bethlehem and have argued that their respective communities have used the symbol for sacred purposes before the Vergina discovery.^[15] The Greek position on the symbol has been supported by some abroad, such as the former United States Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who reportedly told a questioner:

Speaking on the BBC World Service's The World Today programme, archaeologist Bajana Mojsov from the Republic of Macedonia said that "the symbolic weight attached to the Vergina Star was archaeologically absurd - but politically inevitable," arguing:

At the same time, Demetrius Floudas, Senior Associate at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, and one of the leading analysts of the Macedonia naming dispute, claimed that:

Although the authorities in Skopje denied any ulterior motives, the flag became a major issue in the wider political dispute between the two countries of the early 1990s (see Foreign relations of the Republic of Macedonia). Greek objections led to the flag being banned from use in a variety of places, including the United Nations, the Olympic Games and offices of the Republic of Macedonia in the United States and Australia.^[15]

The symbol was introduced in Greece as a regional symbol and popular imagery from the mid 1980s and, after 1991, increasingly so in many new contexts in Greece. It was depicted on the obverse of the Greek 100 drachmas coin of 1990-2001,^[20][21][22] and appeared on the arm patches of police in Athens. The Thessaloniki based Makedonia television station used it to replace the letter omicron in its logo and the Bank of Macedonia-Thrace adopted it as its symbol, as did some Greek military units.^[23] In February 1993 the Greek parliament passed a bill designating the Vergina Sun as an official Greek national symbol.^[15] In July 1995, Greece lodged a claim for trademark protection of the Vergina Sun as an official state emblem under Article 6ter of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property^[24] with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).^[25]. The Republic of Macedonia lodged an objection against it in October of the same year.^[26] The dispute was partially resolved in October 1995 under a compromise brokered by the United Nations. The symbol was removed from the flag of the Republic of Macedonia as part of an agreement to establish diplomatic and economic relations between the two sides. It was replaced by a stylised yellow sun with eight widening beams on red ground.

Despite the change of the national flag, some ethnic Macedonians continue to use the Vergina Sun as an unofficial symbol. In the Republic of Macedonia, the municipality of Makedonska Kamenica in the Republic of Macedonia still displays it on its municipal flag.^[27] According to Macedonian press reports from 2005,^[28] a similar choice was made by the municipality of Liqenas in neighbouring Albania, which has an ethnic Macedonian population.^[29][30] The symbol is also used by other ethnic Macedonian minority groups in neighbouring countries and by diaspora organisations.^[31] The Aromanians in the Republic of Macedonia use an eight-pointed Vergina sun as their symbol.^[32] Despite the 1995 accord between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia,

See also

• Macedonia naming dispute
• Vergina Flag (Republic of Macedonia)
• Flag of Macedonia (Greece)

References

Sources

• Philip II, Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Heritage, ed. W. Lindsay Adams and Eugene N. Borza. University Press of America, 1982. ISBN 0-8191-2448-6
• The Larnakes from Tomb II at Vergina. Archaeological News. John Paul Adams
• In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon, Eugene N. Borza. Princeton University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-691-05549-1
• "Macedonia Redux", Eugene N. Borza, in The Eye Expanded: life and the arts in Greco-Roman Antiquity, ed. Frances B Tichener & Richard F. Moorton. University of California Press, 1999. ISBN 0-520-21029-8
• Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference, Jane K. Cowan. Pluto Press, 2000. ISBN 0-7453-1589-5
• The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Loring M. Danforth. Princeton University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-691-04357-4
• Macedonia and Greece: The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation, McFarland & Company, 1997. ISBN 0-7864-0228-8
• Schell, Dorothea (1997). "Der Stern von Vergina als nationales Symbol in Griechenland". in R. W. Brednich and H. Schmitt, Münster et al.. Symbole: Zur Bedeutung der Zeichen in der Kultur. pp. 298–307, p. 301. ISBN 978-3-89325-550-4. 

External links

• Image of gold box with Vergina Sun in Thessaloniki Museum
• Flags of Greek Macedonia - Flags of the World
• Republic of Macedonia National Flag 1992-1995 - Flags of the World