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Greece has blocked the Republic of Macedonia from joining the Nato alliance as part of its demand that its northern neighbour stop calling itself Macedonia. Greece suggests “New Macedonia” or “Upper Macedonia” as an alternative.
Macedonia’s fall-back position is “Republic of Greece”.
As it continues to jealously guard its region names, Athens is demanding that Christianity rename the New Testament’s 1 Corinthians to “1 Former Roman Province of Achaia.”
Other entities under pressure to rename include Attica, drama, dodecahedrons, magnesium and lesbians. Greek anger over the IOC’s use of the term “Olympic” fuelled a largely shithouse summer games in 2004.
Greece feels deeply threatened by the idea of the name Macedonia being used by anyone other than one of its regions. Greek insecurities may stem from the country’s conquest by Philip II of Macedon in 338 BC. Greek officials believe that Philip’s success was down to his use of the term Macedonia, although some historians also point to the Battle of Chaeronea.
Officials in Skopje protest that they only turned to the name “Macedonia” after running into problems with the previous name, “Congo”.
