Γιώργος Κοντογιώργης:Καποδίστριας,έθνος και δημοκρατία

 

Παρέμβαση του Ομότιμου Καθηγητή Πολιτικής Επιστήμης και πρώην Πρύτανη του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου Γιώργου Κοντογιώργη στην εκπομπή «De profundis (Εκ βαθέων)» (08.01.2026) της Δημοτικής Τηλεόρασης Θεσσαλονίκης (TV 100) και στην Μαρία Δόικου, με αφορμή τη συνέντευξη του σκηνοθέτη Γιάννη Σμαραγδή για την ταινία «Καποδίστριας».

Στην παρέμβαση αναπτύσσεται η πολιτική πρόταση του Ιωάννη Καποδίστρια για το έθνος και τη δημοκρατία, ως πρόταση ιστορικής υπέρβασης τόσο των μεσαιωνικών απολυταρχιών της Ευρώπης όσο και του προσαρτηματικού χαρακτήρα που έλαβε το νεοελληνικό κράτος. Αναδεικνύεται ο λόγος για τον οποίο η καποδιστριακή πρόταση καταπολεμήθηκε από κοινού από εσωτερικές δυνάμεις εξάρτησης και από το διεθνές απολυταρχικό περιβάλλον της εποχής.

Παράλληλα, διευκρινίζεται η διάκριση ανάμεσα στη μυθοπλασία της κινηματογραφικής αφήγησης και στα θεμελιώδη ιστορικά και πολιτικά στοιχεία που αφορούν το έργο και τη φυσιογνωμία του Καποδίστρια.

Modern historians about Macedonia – Adrian Goldsworthy

 

Philip and Alexander of Macedon transformed a weak kingdom in northern Greece into a globe-spanning empire. In so doing, they changed the course of history.

By the end of his short life, Alexander the Great had eclipsed the power of Persia, crossed the Hindu Kush and marched into what is now Pakistan, redrawing the map of the ancient world to create an empire that stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indian subcontinent.

But his success was not just the product of his own genius and restless energy, it was built on decades of effort by his father. History has portrayed Philip II of Macedon as an old man, one-eyed and limping, whose convenient assassination allowed Alexander the Great to come to power.

However, there was far more to him than this. Through decades of hard fighting and clever diplomacy, Philip unified his country and conquered Greece. His son inherited all of this at the perfect moment and age for him to chance his luck and win greater glory.

Between them, Philip and Alexander played a key role in spreading Greek language and culture over a vast area, the consequences of which were many and profound, for it led to the New Testament being written in Greek, and a Greek-speaking 'Roman' empire surviving in the eastern Mediterranean for a thousand years after the last emperor to rule from Italy.

As authoritative as it is accessible, Philip and Alexander is the latest in a much-praised sequence of essential ancient histories from Adrian Goldsworthy; it is the work of a master historian at the peak of his powers.

Adrian Goldsworthy,Philip and Alexander - Kings and Conquerors

Modern historians about Macedonia – Ian Worthington

 

At its height the Macedonian Empire of the later fourth century B.C. stretched from Greece in the west to India (present-day Pakistan and Kashmir) in the east, including Syria, the Levantine coast, and Egypt (Map 5).

By contrast the Athenians’ fifth-century empire at its height included over 160 allies from as far afield as Italy and Sicily to Asia Minor, but it could not measure up to the size of the Macedonian. Yet, while Macedonia and Athens were imperial powers, there were signifcant differences in how they achieved their empires and even what we mean by empire in this period, which we need to bear in mind as we examine the reigns of Philip and Alexander.

Ian Worthington,By the Spear,Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire, page 1

"Nonetheless, ancient writers, from Hesiod in the eighth century to Herodotus and Thucydides in the fifth, and even to Strabo in the early first century A.D., accept that the Macedonians were Greek and so Greek speaking. When Athenian ambassadors visited the court at Pella or Macedonian envoys visited Athens, neither side needed interpreters, whereas Greeks needed interpreters to understand the Illyrians, for example. 

Moreover, the written archaeological evidence discovered in Macedonia is all in Greek, Macedonian proper names are Greek, and the correct term for the people—Makedones—is Greek in root and ethnic terminations and may have meant “Highlanders.”Even Macedonian religion is more Greek than anything else—the Macedonians particularly revered Zeus, Dionysus, and Heracles. 

Ian Worthington,By the Spear, Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire,pages 20-21