Macedonia throughout the centuries
“The easiest and at the same time the most difficult thing for someone to speak about is one ’s own country. The easiest thing because what for others is a matter of bookish information for the speaker is a matter of life; the most difficult because one has to struggle with oneself to be objective and to try to persuade the audience that one is indeed so.
But there is also another danger here. One may start speaking about one ’s own country but after a while the audience realizes that one is now speaking almost solely about one ‘s hometown, regardless of how important the latter may be. This is a trap that even professional historians have not always managed to evade. John Malalas for instance, a six1h century chronicler, set off to give an ambitious account of world history but he ended by telling mainly the story of his own hometown, Antioch…”
(from the edition)
