Year after year Macedonia continues to surprise us both in terms of culture and politics. Successive archaeological findings constantly confirm the prediction of Manolis Andronikos, excavator of Vergina, that the Macedonian country still has many secrets to reveal to us. Archaeological excavations, historical and other studies highlight its character as a central part of the culture and politics of Hellenism – even before Alexander gave them a panhellenic and ecumenical character – up to the present day. Greek Macedonia is therefore ever present, and what continues to happen quite recently in the Balkans regarding the Macedonian issue attests to the role that History and Culture – as well as their contestation by some – play in this presence. Presence of Macedonian Hellenism and its global influence, recognized by India, Pakistan and so many other countries of the world, and which, by inspiring thought, literature, and art, resists the conflicts that today increasingly divide the world into warring camps.

Five researchers approach Macedonia from different perspectives, converging on the fact that it remains central to the politics of memory. Yagos Andreadis looks back over time at its political and cultural history and explores its significance for the future of Greece and Hellenism. Angelos Syrigos presents the terms of the Prespes Agreement with an emphasis on ethnicity and language and talks about the possible prospects depending on future developments. Kostas Mitrakas sheds light on the difficult conditions in which people on both sides of the border experience their relationship with memory and with their neighbours. Pepi Rigopoulou, starting from the amazement and the “shock” of the findings in Amphipolis, speaks insisting on the Rapture of Persephone about art and myth in ancient Macedonia, and their recent cultural and political management in Greece and North Macedonia. Finally, Dimitris Papacharalabous interprets aesthetically and politically the different ways in which film directors, from Angelopoulos to Manchevsky, Oliver Stone and others, have interpreted what he calls “Alexander’s gaze”.

The presentation of the book will take place on Tuesday, November 19, at 19.00 at ETERON (38-40 Leokoriou Street, Psirri).The event will be moderated by journalist Nefeli Lygerou and the director Spyros Vrachoritis will intervene. Dimos Avdeliotis (director-writer), Tasos Sakellaropoulos (Historian, Benaki Museum) and the authors Yagos Andreadis, Kostas Mitrakas, Dimitris Papacharalabous, Pepi Rigopoulou, and Angelos Syrigos will speak in detail about the book.