Antiquization

Antiquization (Macedonian: антиквизација), also sometimes referred as ancient Macedonism (Macedonian: антички македонизам), is a term used mainly to critically describe the identity policies conducted by the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE-led governments of North Macedonia in the period between 2006 and 2017. In the contemporary Macedonian discourse, antiquization refers to the identitarian policies based on the assumption that there is a direct link between today's ethnic Macedonians and Ancient Macedonians. The politics of the ex-Yugoslav era therefore not only embrace the revival of the ancient heritage of the Ancient Macedonians, including the heritage of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great, but also seek to depict a coherent continuity of history and descendancy from the ancient Kingdom of Macedon until the modern Republic of North Macedonia in order to prove the uninterrupted existence of the contemporary Macedonians. Although criticized as causing inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic tensions, even as pseudohistoric, this idea was widespread as of 2019 in North Macedonia despite the fact that there is no evidence for the alleged ethnic continuum.