[Quantum]

Actually, the Persians were (and are) Aryans rather than Semites. I believe Alexander held a ceremony in which hundreds of his officers married Persian brides - the Macedonian elite were being wedded to the Persian elite, who were Aryan just as the Macedonians were.

Yes, I know that the Persians are Aryans and wasn't implying that. I meant that writing Semites and Arabs together was redundant because the latter is the former but looking at the origin of the OP's article, I wouldn't expect them to write much sense, even if most of this article is true.

[Panagiotis-Hector]

Panagiotis, the Thracians according to ancient Greek authors were not Greeks, they were "barbarians" and despite the fact that the term "barbarian" has been used quite often and indeed was initially used by Greeks to refer to other Greek(city-states or persons within the same city in a degrading manner under special circumstances), the case of the Thracians is different, they were "barbarians", that is foreigners for Herodotos and many others, foreigners like the Persians were.

Certainly there was for many ancient Greeks a special feeling towards Thracians since Orpheus(the Thracian King) is indeed worshipped and the Kabeiri mysteries of Samothrace where many Greeks attended were performed in the Thracian tongue according to Herodotos. In addition many Thracian cities and the entire of Thrace was subject to heavy Hellenization, which resulted to it being renamed to Macedonia by the Romans.

Also the Greeks had a concept of "racism", which was cultural and mostly lingual in its form, but there was a form of racism and a heavy one for that matter.

Yes that's true, but they where called barbarians due to the low level of civil progress(such as establishing metropolitical centers) and political improvement(such as democratic regime).They had the same language and religion with the rest of the Greeks, which practically meant that you're not a barbarian.So they where refer as barbarians because of that.They where never believed to be foreigners, they where barbarians due to their way of life, not origin.And that is presicely why other Greeks also participated in the mysteries.The Thracian tongue was a Greek dialect.It was like the Cretan dialect today, if a Cretan speek today to an guy from Athens or Thessalonica they will not understand almost nothing.Like English and Irish...Nothing more than that.And i am saying that because i am a Greek and i have read ancient Thrasian, and i barely understood anything, just some words where the same as ancient Athenian dialect, for example.So they certainly not foreigners.

[Anothroskon]

The Thracian tongue was a Greek dialect.

That is incorrect. It was an Indoeuropean language of the PaleoBalkan family and while it was written using the Greek alphabet it was not Greek. See here Also from Britannica:

Thracian language

language spoken by the inhabitants of Thrace primarily in pre-Greek and early Greek times. Generally assumed to be an Indo-European language, Thracian is known from proper names, glosses in Greek writings, and a small number of inscriptions, some of which appear on coins; these sources date from as early as the 6th century bc. Thracian is thought by many scholars to be related to the ancient Phrygian language spoken in Asia Minor

.

[Panagiotis-Hector]

That is incorrect. It was an Indoeuropean language of the PaleoBalkan family and while it was written using the Greek alphabet it was not Greek. See here Also from Britannica:

Quote:
Thracian language

language spoken by the inhabitants of Thrace primarily in pre-Greek and early Greek times. Generally assumed to be an Indo-European language, Thracian is known from proper names, glosses in Greek writings, and a small number of inscriptions, some of which appear on coins; these sources date from as early as the 6th century bc. Thracian is thought by many scholars to be related to the ancient Phrygian language spoken in Asia Minor

As an extinct language with only a few short inscriptions attributed to it (see below), there is little known about the Thracian language, but a number of features are agreed upon. Some Thracian words can be found cited in ancient texts[1] (the list below excludes Dacian plant names which however are often included). In addition there are many words and probable words extracted from anthroponyms, toponyms, hydronyms, oronyms and other lexical elements found in the primary sources (see also List of ancient Thracian cities):
(definitely Greek word)alopekis =cap
asa=A Bessian word for the Coltsfoot
(definitely Greek word)bolinthos=wild bull
(definitely Greek word)bria=town, settlement
bríloun=barber
briza=emmer-wheat, rye
(definitely Greek word)brynchos=guitar
(definitely Greek word)brytos, bryton, brutos, bryttion=a kind of ale made from barley
(definitely Greek word)deiza, disza, diza, dizos=a fortified settlement
dinupula,sinupyla (reconstructed from ms.), kinoboila (Dacian)=wild pumpkin
(definitely Greek word) embades=boots
genton=meat
germe=warm
(definitely Greek word)kalamindar-Plane tree
(definitely Greek word)kemos=a kind of fruit with follicles
(definitely Greek word)ktistai=Thracians living in celibacy, monks
(definitely Greek word)manteia=Oracle
(definitely Greek word)mendruta=a Moesian name for the beet or alternatively the black hellebore,
para, pera, peron=town
(definitely Greek word)rhomphaia=a spear; later the meaning sword, is attested dialect
skalme=a knife, a sword
skarke=a coin
(definitely Greek word)spinos=a stone which burns when water is poured on it
(definitely Greek word)zalmos, zelmis=a hide, skin
(definitely Greek word)zeira, zira=tunic, cloak(a type of upper garment)
(definitely Greek word)zelas=wine
zelye=a fermented or witch's brew
zetraia=a pot
(definitely Greek word)zibythides=noble Thracians

Other lexical elements are found in inscriptions (most of them written with Greek script) on buildings, coins, and other artifacts (see inscriptions below). Another source for the Thracian vocabulary are words of unknown or disputed etymology found in Bulgarian (see Bulgarian lexis) as well as Romanian (see Eastern Romance substratum). Albanian is sometimes regarded as a descendant of Dacian or Thracian,[2] or as a descendant of Illyrian with a Daco-Thracic admixture; thus the Albanian lexis is another source.

Thracian words in the Ancient Greek lexicon are also proposed. Greek lexical elements may derive from Thracian, such as balios(definitely Greek word) (dappled), bounos(definitely Greek word)=hill, mound, etc.

If you read this you will see what i was trying to say.I added the -(definitely Greek word)- according to ancient Greek and modern Greek words.Sometimes the meaning is different in modern Greek and from places to places even in the same state, but it's common for word to lose their first meaning over the years or for people in other places(within ancient and modern Greek soil) to use the same word for different purpose.

[Anothroskon]

Yes of course there would be many Greek words in the Thracian language, they lived right next to us. But that doesn't mean they were Greek. The rest of the vocabulary suggests a different and unique branch of the IE family tree.

[Panagiotis-Hector]

Yes of course there would be many Greek words in the Thracian language, they lived right next to us. But that doesn't mean they were Greek. The rest of the vocabulary suggests a different and unique branch of the IE family tree.

By ''us'' whom do you mean, because you confused me a little...?

[Anothroskon]

I rather assumed you are a Greek as well.

[Panagiotis-Hector]

I rather assumed you are a Greek as well.

You are a Greek?Sorry i thought you weren't. Ok, i understand the -us- know.

[Panagiotis-Hector]

Yes of course there would be many Greek words in the Thracian language, they lived right next to us. But that doesn't mean they were Greek. The rest of the vocabulary suggests a different and unique branch of the IE family tree.

Well...let's agree that we disagree.It's not confirmed anyway so...There are sources for both opinions so i guess that this debate will need more discoveries to have a conclusion and we could go on and on presenting each other sources to support our point, therefore i propose to withdraw and wait for more accurate discoveries.

[Aekos]

In the field of linguistics, Thracian is uncontroversially classified as a Paleo-Balkan satem language. Greek is a centum language so calling Thracian a "Greek dialect" isn't even a fringe theory, it's completely incorrect.

[Efstratios]

No, being Greek though, I don't share his dream of mixing with races.
But I read this laughing, haha he was like the worlds best pimp in those times. Anyone living in the countries he conquered like Iran and middle east..well their ancestors (the females) probably got banged by Alexander. raunchy...

[R_G]

No.

And the main reason was he saw it as a way to minimize internal uprising.

I would have ordered much of the occupied civilians into slavery and death matches but that's me.

It's better to just use your race and order generals to have more children LOL.

[telluro]

Forcing his officers into interracial marriages would seem that Alexander did want something more than cultural integration. Obviously they might not have had a concept of race as we and our predecessors have it, but I'm sure the basic facts had been noted.

One has to however investigate further what Alexander's dream actually was. Was it to unite Greeks and Persians for harmony's sake, or did he believe that the union of Greek and Persian minds and civilizations, would have produced higher minds and civilizations?

What was failed about it? Nothing, because it wasn't allowed to work. As the article noted, Alexander's officers divorced their Persian wives. So it was a conservative cultural impetus that worked against Alexander's dream being implemented, rather than a failure of the dream itself.