by Dr. Ilir Kushi – Historian. Translation Petrit Latifi.

Summary: The Jews, Armenians, Phoenicians, Assyrians and Albanians were the peoples with a written language in that part of the world that was known in ancient times as civilization. Due to the geographical position, the rivalry of the Empires, the conjunctures dictated by the policies of Christianity west-east, the Albanian alphabet, the cradle of world civilizations, would be sacrificed.

The damage that Christianity has caused to Albanian culture, history, civilization, and territories can be compared to the tragedies that occurred to civilizations in Latin America in the following centuries.
The barbarism towards the Illyrian city-states, with the leveling of the temples of Illyrian knowledge, to falsify and infect them with the Christian church, has passed in two periods, that of the second century AD and then in the 9th century AD.

The curse, murder and denial of the alphabet, as one of the oldest in the world of the Albanian language, would come from Christianity. The Emperor Trajan of Rome, during the years of his reign (98 – 119 AD) in addition to his skills as a successful military man, expanding the territories of the Roman Empire like no other in the History of Rome, was also passionate about Philanthropy and Philosophy; but also as the author of many historical works.

Consequently, he has left a rich legacy of study on History, Culture and the origin of peoples. The Greek geographer, historian, essayist, moralist and biographer Plutarch would be one of the advisors of Emperor Trajan.
Without a doubt, Illyrian Culture and History would occupy an important place in their books.

Our famous Renaissance man Vaso Pasha, referring to Plutarch and Emperor Trajan, also brings us the history of the Albanian fustanella and the name “Skipëtari”. These, from written historical sources, introduce us to the truths of the epic of Pyrrhus of Epirus; especially with his wars in Italy against the kingdoms of the Apennine Peninsula, one of which was Rome.

Pyrrhus addressed his Albanian warriors, of his country, Ipe:
On the shields of those warriors stood out the emblem of the Eagle. While on the sides of the fustanella, the status was deciphered based on the victories and outstanding bravery during the combat expeditions of his army. This tradition would continue until World War II in the highlands of Epirote Arbëria. The fustanella is not simply a characteristic garment of the Illyrian heritage, which would later be the clothing of the Elite Praetorian Corps.

The emperors were Illyrians.

They would form the core and DE FACTO power of Rome. Their role in the politics of the Roman Empire, since 27 BC with Augustus, would come to an end by an emperor of Illyrian origin like Constantine the Great, sometime in 312 AD.

With the burning of the “Castro Praetorio” barracks in the heart of Rome, Constantine dispersed the Elite Corps of the Empire to distant corners.
This infidelity of Constantine the Illyrian would pave the way for the officialization of Christianity as the Official Religion of the Empire, based on a sect that had come from the Middle East to the Roman Empire three centuries earlier.

It would not be long before the Illyrian Peninsula would experience barbarian invasions after invasions, coming from Asian countries to destroy Rome, thus conquering Illyrian Troy. Without the Illyrian Praetorians, Rome had already lost its glory once and for all, while the Illyrian Peninsula its masters.

Other empires and states would arise from the Serbs, Hungarians, Bulgarians, and so on. Meanwhile, the Illyrians, from seafaring peoples, had already climbed the mountains to survive. In the 9th century in Egypt, Orthodox priests were forced to falsify the Illyrian language that was spoken in the free territories, today called Greek.

In every church of the European Mediterranean basin, the Illyrian alphabet was erased, manipulating it with an imposed ecclesiastical alphabet. This to kill the truth: the civilization of the pagan Illyrian temples as the cradle of world civilizations, and to present a savage conqueror, a predatory murderer of the wealth of the peoples of the world.

The most savage enemy of the ruler of the world, the Catholic Church, was the arrival of the Ottoman Empire. The Catholic Church was a landowner, the de facto power collecting taxes. No people in the world was allowed to have an alphabet written in their language under the umbrella of the Catholic Church.

The arrival of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, respected historians, theologians and philosophers around the world would describe as “Necessary Enemies”. The fact that from the period of Teuta, the Illyrian queen, until before the arrival of the Ottoman Empire, no Albanian document exists, or the population was registered at times as Serbian, Bulgarian, Latin and Greek, shows not only negligence, but also the silent hostility of the church towards the indigenous people of the Illyrian peninsula.

For the first time since the time when the Illyrians were masters of their lands, the registration of the oldest population, that of the Illyrian heirs: the Albanians, would begin. It would be the Ottoman Empire that would also recognize the Illyrian territories as autochthonous Albanian.
Music such as polyphony in the south and ballads in the north would begin to be registered.

The role of Catholic priests, who found support from the Ottoman authorities to contribute to the reawakening of Albanian identity, cannot be denied. Likewise, that of some Orthodox priests. The Ottoman Empire did not make distinctions, it relied on meritocracy. The most successful constellation of the Albanian nation are the Rilindas, who, regardless of religion or region, were educated and lived in Istanbul and Egypt.

Today’s aggression against Albanians of the Muslim faith resembles the barbarian hordes of Rome and Christianity of the 2nd-9th centuries AD, when they replaced the Albanians as masters of foreign lands with peoples from other countries.