The headlines tell us that U.S. planes have bombed Nis in the south of Serbia. Nis was in the news before. Constantine was born there in 274 AD, and Byzantium was just down the road. That is one reason why he moved the Roman capital there in 330 AD, thus triggering the later division into a western and an eastern empire. He was the first emperor to convert to Christianity and to become the protector of Christians.

Serbs remember the fatal battle of Kosovo, and the Greeks remember Constantinople. The Turks changed its name to Istanbul, erasing the old name from the map. The defeat of Greeks at Contantinople reverbered throughout Europe, while only the Serbs remembered Kosovo. Both Serbs and Greeks lost their sacred Orthodox city and its shrines to the Infidel. Americans have no feeling for this loss which unites Serbs and Greeks.

Ronald Hilton - 04/06/99