Thracian Community

Great Wallachia also Thessaly Wallachia, was a medieval state (twelfth and thirteenth century) of the Aromanians (Vlachs), which included the mountains of Thessaly in Greece, the southern and central ranges of Pindus and extending over part of Macedonia.

Anna Komnene in the second half of the eleventh century was the first author to write about the Vlach settlements of the mountains of Thessaly. Benjamin of Tudela, the next century, wrote the earliest account of the independent state of “ Great Wallachia ” in the mountains. He wrote that “ No man can go up and battle against them and no king can rule over them “.

After the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204, Great Wallachia was included in the enlarged Despotate of Epirus, but it soon reappeared as an independent principality under its old name.

During the reign of Alexander the Great, the Macedonians spoke their own native language, as the native language language of Alexander the Great was not understood by the ancient Greeks (Quintus Curtius Rufus, VI, 9, 37 ). Similarly, Plutarch points out that Alexander spoke to his fellow countrymen in Macedonian: “he [Alexander] called out aloud to his guards in the Macedonian language, which was a certain sign of some great disturbance in him” (Plutarch, Alexander, 51) Still, Alexander spoke also Greek, loved Homer, and respected his tutor Aristotle. At the same time though, there is much evidence that generally he was not fond of the Greeks of his day. The chronicler Curtius, describing the atmosphere before a battle, gave a notion of the different attitudes of the great commander, who psychognostically applied the principle of identity to every ethnic group in his army. In respect to the various motives for taking part in that war, Curtius wrote:

“Riding to the front line he [Alexander the Great] named the soldiers and they responded from spot to spot where they were lined up. The Macedonians, who had won so many battles in Europe and set off to invade Asia … got encouragement from him – he reminded them of their permanent values.  They were the world’s liberators and one day they would pass the frontiers set by Hercules and Patter Liber. They would subdue all races on Earth. Bactrius and India would become Macedonian provinces. Getting closer to the Greeks, he reminded them that those were the people who provoked war with Greece, … those were the people that burned their temples and cities … As the Illirians and Trakians lived mainly from plunder, he told them to look at the enemy line glittering in gold …”