![]() ![]() The current flag of North Macedonia, adopted on 5 October 1995 Αs Eugene Borza (1982) pointed out, the symbol was widely used in Hellenistic-era art, and Adams (1983) emphasized its use as a decorative element in ancient Greek art in general and that it cannot be said to represent either a "royal" or "national" emblem of Macedon exclusively. In the early 1980s, following the discovery of the larnax, there was some debate as to whether the symbol should be considered the "royal emblem" of the Argeads specifically. The symbol might represent the Sun god ( Helios), whose role as a patron deity of the Argead dynasty might be implied by a story about Perdiccas I of Macedon narrated by Herodotus (8.137). on coins), as well as being present in the Hellenistic civilization more generally. The "sunburst" symbol was already well known as a symbol used both by the Macedonian royal dynasty (e.g. ĭuring his excavations at Vergina, the site of the ancient Macedonian capital of Aegae, the archaeologist Manolis Andronikos found the symbol on the coffin ( Golden Larnax) believed to belong to Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. The Iliad describes the first panoply of Achilles as having star motifs. ![]() Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany.Įarly representations of the symbol go back to at least the 6th century BC, with hoplites depicted as bearing sixteen-pointed and eight-pointed sunburst symbols on their shields and armor, and the same symbols being represented on coins from both island and mainland Greece from at least the 5th century BC. Side A of an Ancient Greek Attic red-figure belly- amphora, 500–490 BC, from Vulci, Italy. Eventually, in early July 2019 the government of North Macedonia announced the complete removal of the symbol from all public areas, institutions and monuments in the country, except archeological sites.Ī hoplite with an eight-pointed sun on his left shoulder. On 17 June 2018, the two countries signed the Prespa Agreement, which stipulates the removal of the Vergina Sun from public use in North Macedonia. Eventually, in 1995 and as a result of this dispute, the young republic's flag was revised into a different rayed solar symbol. The Vergina Sun symbol was the subject in a controversy in the first half of 1990s between Greece and the newly independent Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia), which adopted it as a symbol of Macedonian nationalism and depicted it on its national flag. Tentatively interpreted as the historical royal symbol of ancient Macedonia, rather than just a generic decorative element in ancient Greek art, the Vergina Sun came into popular use among Macedonian Greeks since the 1980s, and became commonly used as an official emblem in the Greek region of Macedonia, and by other Greek state entities during the 1990s. There it was depicted on a golden larnax found in a 4th-century BC royal tomb belonging to either Philip II or Philip III of Macedon, the father and half-brother of Alexander the Great, respectively. In older references, the name "Argead Star" or "Star of the Argeadai" is used for the Sun as the possible royal symbol of the Argead dynasty of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. The name "Vergina Sun" became widely used after the archaeological excavations in and around the small town of Vergina, in northern Greece, during the late 1970s. ![]() The Vergina Sun proper has sixteen triangular rays, while comparable symbols of the same period variously have sixteen, twelve, eight or (rarely) six rays. The Vergina Sun ( Greek: Ήλιος της Βεργίνας, romanized: Ilios tis Vergínas, lit.'Sun of Vergina'), also known as the Star of Vergina, Vergina Star or Argead Star is a rayed solar symbol first appearing in ancient Greek art of the period between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC. A relief sculpture depicting Helios with a rayed halo ( Athena's temple, Ilion, early 4th century BC) ![]()
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