The article presents Macedonian historiography of the last decade of the 20th century, when the attention of researchers focused on ancient times and the period of rule of Alexander the Great. A short introduction to the topic also shows the condition of historical literary output about Macedonian history, when the Macedonian Republic belonged to the Yugoslavian Federation. At that time the Macedonian history was part of the history of Yugoslavia and historical syntheses were mainly written by authors from outside of Macedonia. In few comprehensive historical works of that period the history of ancient Macedonia was described as separate from its Slavonic history, however, attention was paid to its role in the process of awaking of Macedonian national consciousness in the 19th century. The majority of historical works of Macedonian historians from the period of affiliation to the Yugoslavian State more often focused on selected periods of Macedonian history - the fight for national independence, the Ilinden uprising or the Second World War. In the last decade of the 20th century Macedonian historians turned their attention, first of all to the ancient period of the Macedonian territory, particularly to the period of rule of Filip the Second and his son Alexander the Great. At that time two trends appeared in the approach to ancient times: the first one, which seems to be predominating, treats the ancient history of the Macedonian area as linked with the history of modern Macedonia; the second one presents the Greek official position regarding the Macedonian independence since 1999, as well as the conviction that it is not possible to write about the history of Macedonia in separation from its ancient history, thus substantiating its belonging to the Greek-Roman civilization.
This article is an attempt to answer the question in which way a phrase 'The Balkan Pot' has contributed to an image of the Balkan territorial space in Polish literature. The reconstruction of its origins was made mainly on the basis of press materials that were describing historical facts in that area. The meaning of Balkans in the Polish language signified a functioning geographical name, remarking that a process of its introduction was very slow though it was popularized after the Berlin Congress. However, appearing of 'The Balkan Pot' as a phrase had a connection with accidents in that area in 1908 and meant originally an ethnic diversity on the Balkan Peninsula. Uprisings and wars added a new meaning to that phrase - a meaning of conflicts. Such an image was cemented by historical works which determined all possible conflicts already in the 19th century with that phrase imposing stereotypical image of the Balkan space. A phrase 'The Balkan Pot' contributed to the stereotypical vision of that region in Europe as a territory with unusual ethnical diversity, where incessantly accomplished situations were full of tension and difficulties to resolve.
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