Thread by @incunabula

Ιστορικοεθνολογικός Άτλας της Μακεδονίας / Αρχαία και Βυζαντινή εποχή [Historical-Ethnological Atlas of Macedonia / Ancient and Byzantine], Polychromatic Press of J. D. Nerantzis, Leipzig, 1903. 1/

This highly unusual work, a grand artistic and calligraphic celebration of the historical golden age of Greek hegemony in Macedonia, was the product of the eccentric mind of the Russo-Greek historian Iaonnis Petrof [Ivan Petrov] (1849 – 1922). 2/

Petrof showcases the grandeur of the Ancient Greek and Byzantine eras, in the hope that this will be enough to totally overshadow the subsequent history of the region, largely dominated by non-Greek peoples, and so anchor the contemporary Hellenic claim to Macedonia. 3/

An eccentric figure, fluent in many languages, Petrof always described himself as a “Philhellenist from Moscow”, and worked tirelessly on what he called his “projects”, obsessive pursuits to create the ultimate historical overview of Greece and its regions. 4/

Rather wonderfully, in his 1886 Greek Independence atlas Petrof *entirely omitted* the presence of certain Greek places from his maps, as he considered them to be “traitor islands” for either backing the Ottomans or not supporting the Greece cause with sufficient vigour. 5/