20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The Greek historiographyabout the Macedonian RomaniansApostolos PATELAkisInstitute for Balkan Studies – ThessalonikiThe problem concerning the ethnogenesis of the Macedonian Romanians(Vlachs) of Greece has preoccupied over the last 150 years an impressivenumber of Greek historians, linguists and etnologists, each of them intendingto contribute, in a way or another, to the solution of this complex problem.Today, as a result of this activity, exists a considerable number of books,studies and articles written in Greek, to which, unfortunately, the foreignresearchers can not have access because, excepting a small number, theydon’t know the Hellenic language. Some articles were published in widelyused languages, but the foreign historians could not have at their disposala complete scientific work until 1986, when the highly reputed Institutefor Balcanic Studies of Thessaloniki published, in French, the work of theGreek balkanologist Achilleas Lazarou The Macedo-Romanian languageand its connection with the Greek. 1The history of the Vlachs is a fascinating one, of more than 2000 years.The Vlachs, ardent and fearless characters, has forged there own way in theBalkans, overcoming the difficulties created by the different empires andnational states in this troubled area.The early history of the Vlachs is very little known and that is thereason why there are different theories regarding their origin and language.The Vlachs appear in the history mentioned in written sources as a distinctgroup around the year AD 1000. The information about them, transmittedby Byzantin chroniclers, between the 10 th and 15 th centuries, are confused1Achille G. Lazarou 1986, L’Aroumain et ses rapports avec le grec (The Macedo-Romanian language and its relations with the Greek). Thessaloniki: Institute for BalkanStudies.