Macedonia: The 1992-1995 flag

Last modified: 2005-02-19 by ivan sache
Keywords: sun: vergina | sun: 16 rays (yellow) | proposal | lion (yellow) | mountain (blue) | error | controversy |
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by Željko Heimer

• Adoption of the flag
• The controversy with Greece
  • The Greek point ov view
  • The Macedonian point of view
  • The final agreement
• Flag proposals, 1992
• Erroneous reports of the flag

See also:

• Macedonia
• The genesis of the 1995 flag
• Macedonia (Greece)

Adoption of the flag

At independence in 1992, the flag of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia was retained until it was replaced with the flag with the so-called sun of Vergina.

Željko Heimer, 18 November 1999

The controversy with Greece

The Greek point of view

Greece protests against the use of "Greek" symbols and names made by Macedonian Government. Among these controversial symbols there is the device (like a sun) which appears in the middle of the Macedonian flag.

Why does Greece object to the use of the "Vergina Sun" on the FYROM flag?
The Vergina Sun, the emblem of Philip's dynasty, symbolizes the birth of our nation. It was the first time (4th century BC) that the Greek mainland (city-states and kingdoms) with the same language, culture, and religion were united against the enemies of Asia in one league. At the same time the fractured Greek world grew conscious of its unity. And, in this sense, we have never been apart since then. The "Sun" was excavated in Greece in 1978, and it is sacred to us.

Source: rec.culture.europe: FAQ about Macedonia written according to the Greek point of view

Giuseppe Bottasini, 28 August 1995

Most of the above claims are of course highly controversial. This emblem was found on tomb 2 at Kutlush (to give Vergina its pre ethnically cleansed name). However there is no agreement that this is the tomb of Philip II nor that this emblem (which appears with a variety of numbers of arms) was either the dynastic emblem of the Argeads (the ruling house of Macedonia) or of the country itself. The emblem isn't specifically Greek or Macedonian - it is found in the Near East thousands of years before it turns up in Europe and ironically features as a decorative motif on one of the reliefs of Persian Immortal Guardsman found at Darius' palace at Susa.

Andy Fear, 28 August 1995

In the book Handbuch der Ornamentik by F.S. Meyer (Leibniz 1927, reprint Berlin 1997), there is an ornament that is quite similar to the Vergina sun of the first Macedonian flag, with this main difference - the 16 rays are not of the same size, eight main ra