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TheGreeks (Greek:Έλληνες) have been identified by manyethnonyms. The most common native ethnonym isHellene (Ancient Greek:Ἕλλην), pl.Hellenes (Ἕλληνες); the nameGreeks (Latin:Graeci) was used by theancient Romans and gradually entered theEuropean languages through its use in Latin. The mythological patriarchHellen is the named progenitor of theGreek peoples; his descendants theAeolians,Dorians,Achaeans andIonians correspond to the main Greek tribes and to the main dialects spoken inGreece andAsia Minor (Anatolia).
The firstGreek-speaking people, calledMyceneans or Mycenean-Achaeans by historians, entered present-day Greece sometime in theNeolithic era or theBronze Age.Homer refers to "Achaeans" as the dominanttribe during theTrojan War period usually dated to the 12th–11th centuries BC,[1][2] usingHellenes to describe a relatively small tribe inThessaly. TheDorians, an important Greek-speaking group, appeared roughly at that time. According to the Greek tradition, theGraeci (Latin; Ancient Greek:Γραικοί,Graikoi, "Greeks") were renamedHellenes probably with the establishment of theGreat Amphictyonic League after the Trojan War.
When the Romans first encountered Greek colonists inSouthern Italy, they used the name Graeci for the colonists and then for all Greeks; this became the root of all relevant terms inEuropean languages. ThePersians used the nameYaunas (Yunans) after theIonians, a Greek tribe who colonized part of the coasts of western Asia Minor.[3] The term was used later inHebrew (Yevanim,יוונים),Arabic, and also by theTurks. The word entered the languages of the Indian subcontinent as theYona. A unique form is used inGeorgian, where the Greeks are calledBerdzeni (ბერძენი).
ByLate Antiquity (c. 3rd–7th centuries), the Greeks referred to themselves asGraikoi (Γραικοί, "Greeks") andRhomaioi/Romioi (Ῥωμαῖοι/Ῥωμηοί/Ρωμιοί, "Romans") the latter of which was used since virtually allGreeks were Roman citizens after 212 AD. The termHellene started to be applied to the followers of thepolytheistic ("pagan") religion after the establishment ofChristianity byTheodosius I.
Most European languages, as well as other languages that have borrowed the name from one of them, use names for Greece that come from the LatinGraecia andGraecus, the name the Romans used for the Greeks, itself from the GreekΓραικός:
In languages of Middle East and South and Central Asia, the common root is "yun" or "ywn". It is borrowed from the Greek nameIonia, a once Greek region of Asia Minor, and theIonians:[4]
The third form is "Hellas", used by a few languages around the world, including Greek:
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Other forms:
The first people speaking an ancientProto-Greek language entered mainland Greece during the Neolithic period or theBronze Age.[6] From theAncient Greek dialects as they presented themselves centuries later, it seems that at least two migrations of Greeks occurred overall, the first of the Ionians and the Aeolians probably in the 19th century BC and the second of the Dorians probably in the 13th century BC. The first migration resulted inMycenean Greek, an archaic Greek language which appears inLinear B syllabic inscriptions and the second resulted in the Dorian dialect which displaced theArcadocypriot dialect that seems to be closest to the Mycenean Greek.[7]
The tribes later called Aeolians and Ionians established several feudal kingdoms around Greece, and the historians called themMyceneans after their most powerful kingdomMycenea inPeloponnese, orMyceneans-Achaeans because inHomer theAchaeans were the dominating tribe in Greece and the nameAchiyawa that appears inHittite texts seems to correspond to a thalassocratic country which might beMycenea.[8]
Although Homer referred to a union of the Greek kingdoms under the leadership of the king ofMycenae during theTrojan War, there is no evidence that these kingdoms were dominated by a central power. Most of the Mycenaean palaces were destroyed at the end of the 13th century BC. The Greek tradition relates this destruction to the Dorians, but it is suggested that theDorian invasion was only one of the causes of the Bronze Age collapse in the EasternMediterranean, as there is no evidence that the newcomers established a different civilization.[9] The destruction was followed by theGreek Dark Ages with very poor archaeological findings, when most occupied areas were deserted, but some areas likeAttica occupied by theIonians remained untouched by the invaders. Several Greek tribes moved to regions of Greece where they acquired different names, and population groups moved through the islands to the western coasts of Asia Minor where they kept their native namesAeolians,Ionians andDorians.
It seems that the myth ofHellen, theprogenitor of theHellenes, was invented when the Greek tribes started to separate from each other, and stressed their common origin. The name "Hellenes" was probably used by the Greeks with the establishment of the Great Amphictyonic League, an ancient association of Greek tribes. According to legend it was founded after the Trojan War, by the eponymousAmphictyon, brother of Hellen. It had twelve founders and was organized to protect the great temples ofApollo inDelphi (Phocis) and ofDemeter nearThermopylae (Locris). The twelve founders enumerated byAeschines[10] were theAenianes orOetaeans (Αἰνιᾶνες, Οἰταῖοι), theBoeotians (Βοιωτοί) ofThebes, theDolopes (Δόλοπες), the Dorians (Δωριείς) ofSparta, the Ionians (Ἴωνες) ofAthens, thePhthian Achaeans (Ἀχαιοί), theLocrians (Λοκροί) (Opuntians, Ὀπούντιοι andOzolians, Ὀζολαί), theMagnesians (Μάγνητες), theMalians (Μαλιεῖς), thePerrhaebians (Περραιβοί), thePhocians (Φωκεῖς), thePythians (Πύθιοι) of Delphi, and theThessalians (Θεσσαλοί). Among the descendants ofHellen are mentionedAeolus,Ion,Achaeus,Dorus,Graecus andMakedon. It seems that theMacedonians were a Dorian tribe that stayed behind in Macedonia when the main Dorian tribes moved to the south.
Late Bronze AgeHittite texts mention a nation calledAhhiya[11] and subsequentlyAhhiyawa[12] which have been identified in scholarship[13][14][15] as part of the Mycenaean world.[16] Egyptian records mention peoples known asEkwesh,Denyen andTanaju that have been also linked to the Mycenaean world.[17]
InHomer'sIliad, the Greek allied forces are described under three differentnames;Achaeans (Ἀχαιοί,Akhaioí, used 598 times),Danaans (Δαναοί,Danaoí, used 138 times) andArgives (Ἀργεῖοι,Argeîoi, used 29 times).[18][19] All of the aforementioned terms were used synonymously to denote a common Greek identity.[18]
A fourth term – "Panhellenes" – (Πανέλληνες "All of the Greeks") and "Hellenes'" (/ˈhɛliːnz/;Ἕλληνες) – bothappear only once;[20] implying it was not a central concept in Homer's work.[21] In someEnglish translations of theIliad, the Achaeans are simply called "the Greeks" throughout.
There is currently no satisfactory etymology for the name Hellenes. Some scholars assert that the name of the priests ofZeus inDodona,Selloi (Σελλοί; also ἙλλοίHelloi), changed toSellanes (by analogy withAkarnanes) and then toHellanes andHellenes.[22] This theory is based onAristotle's comments inMeteorologica where he places archaic Hellas inEpirus between Dodona and theAchelous river, where in his opinion the great deluge ofDeucalion must have occurred. The land was inhabited by Selloi and Graeci, who later came to be known asHellenes.[23]Homer mentions that theSelloi were the prophets ofZeus at Dodona, but he is referring to Zeus of Dodona as god of thePelasgians who belonged to a Pre-Dorian population.[24] It is possible that the extension of a particular cult of Zeus in Dodona (a tendency among the Greeks to form ever-larger cultic communities oramphictionies) caused the name to further extend to the rest of the peninsula.
This theory connects the nameHellenes with theDorians (and the substrate of Pelasgians) who occupied Epirus in the extreme north of Greece, rendering uncertain the relation with the nameGraeci used by theRomans. Some toponyms, especially an ancient cityHellas in southernThessaly, and the Greek tradition seem to indicate that the nameHellenes was Pre-Dorian itself and that the homeland of theGraikoi, who were later calledHellenes, was incentral Greece. A Greek myth mentions an earlier deluge ofOgyges in the region ofBoeotia which was occupied by theMinyans a group of autochthonous or Proto-Greek speaking people. The region (situated next toAttica) was calledGraïke in ancient times probably after the old city ofGraea (ΓραῖαGraîa, fromProto-Greekgrau-j-, "old lady") on the coast. The nameOgyges (orOgenos) is related withOkeanos (Ὠκεανός), the great river-ocean that Greeks believed to surround the Earth.[25] The adjective derived from the name,Ogygios (Ὠγύγιος "Ogygian") came to mean "primeval, primal," or "from earliest days" and also "gigantic".[26]
Homer refers toHellenes as an originally relatively small tribe settled inThessalicPhthia. During the era of theTrojan War they were centered along the settlements ofAlos,Alope,Trachis, and the Pelasgian Argos.[27] This HomericHellas is described as "καλλιγύναικος",kalligýnaikos, "of beautiful women", and its warriors, the Hellenes, along with the fearedMyrmidons, were under the command ofAchilles. TheParian Chronicle mentions that Phthia was the homeland of the Hellenes and that this name was given to those previously called Greeks (Γραικοί).[28]Alcman (7th century BC) also refers that the mothers ofHellenes wereGraikoi. InGreek mythology,Hellen, the patriarch of Hellenes, was son ofDeucalion, who ruled around Phthia withPyrrha, the only survivors after the great deluge.[29] It seems that the myth was invented when the Greek tribes started to separate from each other in certain areas of Greece and it indicates their common origin. The nameHellenes was probably used by the Greeks with the establishment of theGreat Amphictyonic League. This was an ancient association of Greek tribes with twelve founders which was organized to protect the great temples ofApollo in Delphi (Phocis) and ofDemeter nearThermopylae (Locris).[30] According to legend it was founded after the Trojan War, by the eponymousAmphictyon, brother ofHellen.
The modern English nounGreek (Old EnglishGrecas orCrecas) is derived from theLatinGraeci, which in turn originates fromAncient GreekΓραικός (Graikós). It seems that the word is related to the Greek wordγέρωνgeron "old man" (from thePIE base*ǵerh2- "to grow old") viaProto-Greek*gera- "old age", also related toMycenean Greekkera /geras/, "gift of honour".[31] TheGermanic languages borrowed the name with an initialk sound, which was probably their initial sound closest to the Lating (GothicKreks).[32]
The first use ofGraikos as equivalent toHellenes is found inAristotle[33] for the Dorians inEpirus fromGraii, a native name of the people of Epirus.[32] He places the seat of these most ancient "Greeks" in the region of theAchelous river aroundDodona, where in his opinion the great deluge ofDeucalion must have occurred. The priests of Zeus in Dodona were calledSelloi, which could lead toSellanes (likeAkarnanes), and then toHellanes andHellenes.
Homer is referring toHellenes as a relatively small tribe inPhthia in central Greece (Achaea Phthiotis). In theParian Chronicle it is mentioned that Phthia was the homeland of Hellenes and that this name was given to those previously calledGraikoi (Γραικοί).[28] InGreek mythology,Hellen, the patriarch of Hellenes, was son ofDeucalion (who ruled around Phthia) andPyrrha, the only survivors after the great deluge.[29]Hesiod is referring toGraecus, son ofPandora, who was sister ofHellen.Alcman mentions that the mothers ofHellenes wereGraikoi.
The German classical historianGeorg Busolt (1850–1920) derives the name fromGraikos, "inhabitant ofGraea, a town on the coast of Boeotia.[32] The nameGraea (γραῖα) is derived fromProto-Greekgrau-j-, "old lady".[31]Homer, while reciting the Boeotian forces in theIliad'sCatalogue of Ships, provides the first known reference to a region namedGraea,[34] andPausanias mentions that the ancient city ofTanagra was for a time called Graea, adding that "no one knows where this Graia really was; Aristotle thought it was nearOropus, further east on the same coast asDelion."[35] Busolt claimed that the name was given by the Romans originally to the Greek colonists from Graea who helped to foundCumae the important city in southernItaly where theItalic peoples first encountered the Greeks and then to all Greeks.[32]
According to Irad Malkin,Graikoi could have also been anexonym for the Greeks, used by neighboringIllyrians andMessapians.[36] It has been suggested that the nameGraeci was possibly anIllyrian name for a Greek tribe with whom they were in contact in northEpirus.[37]N. G. L. Hammond has pointed out that the namesGraeci andHellenes spread from contact with small tribes or with Graia, a defunct Greekpolis in the Gulf of Euboea.[38][39]
According to Rene Olivier,[40] in the French language the wordgrec ("Greek") is sometimes also used as anethnic slur meaning "fraudster" (in contrast withhellénique which has no negative connotations).
Hellenes in the wider meaning of the word appears in writing for the first time in an inscription byEchembrotus, dedicated toHeracles for his victory in theAmphictyonic Games,[41] and refers to the 48thOlympiad (584 BC).Simonides of Ceos in hisepigram on the tomb of the Athenians who were killed in theBattle of Marathon (490 BC) wrote "Ἑλλήνων προμαχοῦντες Ἀθηναῖοι Μαραθῶνι […]" "Fighting at the forefront of the Hellenes, the Athenians at Marathon […]"[42] and after theGreco-Persian Wars, an inscription was written in Delphi celebrating victory over thePersians and callingPausanias the leading general of the Hellenes.[43] Awareness of a Pan-Hellenic unity was promoted by religious festivals, most significantly in theEleusinian Mysteries, in which prospective initiates had to speakGreek, and almost as importantly through participation in the fourPanhellenic Games, including the Olympic Games, in which participants were exclusively Greek and recognized by tribal affiliation.[44]
The development of mythological genealogies of descent fromeponymous founder-figures, long after the actual southward migration of the four tribal groups recognized by the Greeks, affected how the identity of northern tribes was perceived. According to the most prevailing legend,Hellen, son ofDeucalion andPyrrha, received from the nymphOrseis three sons,Aeolus,Dorus, andXuthus, each of whom begot a primary tribe of Hellas–theAeolians,Dorians,Achaeans andIonians—the latter by way of his two sons,Achaeus andIon.
At the time of the Trojan War, the Epirotes (Molossians,Thesprotians andChaonians) were not considered Hellenes, for the people so named were then limited to a small tribe in Thessaly of which Achilles was a member. After the name was extended to all peoples south ofMount Olympus, however, it still left out those of common origin living in the north. One factor contributing to this was their non-participation in thePersian Wars,[45] which were considered a vital affair for all Hellenes; subsequent to the Persian Wars, representatives of these tribes were accepted in the Olympic Games and competed alongside other Hellenes.[46] The fact that each of these northern peoples at this time continued to live as anethnos, or collection of tribes, under an archaicmonarchial political system – as opposed to thedemocratic oroligarchicpolis (city state) of the south–also contributed to this view of them as "barbaric".[47]
Thucydides calls theAcarnanians,Aetolians,[48] Epirotes[49] and Upper Macedonians[50]barbarians, but does so in a strictly linguistic sense – these peoples were consideredbarbarophone to the extent that their dialects of Greek were sufficiently different and archaic so as to sound crude and barely understandable to a southernAttic speaker such as Thucydides.[51] Similarly, when the Athenian oratorDemosthenes calledPhilip II of Macedon worse than a barbarian in hisThird Philippic, he did so with respect to the culture they demonstrated as foreigners not adhering to proper Hellenic standards, and did not raise the issue of their origin: "not only no Greek, nor related to the Greeks, but not even a barbarian from any place that can be named with honors, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia, whence it was never yet possible to buy a decent slave."Herodotus,Polybius,Strabo and a large number of other Greek and Roman writers regard the tribes ofwestern Hellas, Epirus, and Macedonia as Hellenic in every respect.[52] Both Thucydides and Demosthenes were themselves of partial non-Attic origins and for Demosthenes it seems of non-Greek origins altogether while notably both of them held strong opposing political positions against Macedonians.
In the following centuries,Hellene typically contrasted withbarbarian, representing the uncivilized.
The Greek tribes quickly noticed that they did not speak the same tongue as their neighbors, and used the term "βάρβαρος" ("barbarian") for them, with the meanings "uncultured", "uncivilized" or "speaker of a foreign language". The term βάρβαρος is thought to beonomatopoeic in origin: "bar-bar"—i.e.stammering—may have been how the speech of foreign peoples sounded to Greek-speakers.[53] This was also the case for theEgyptians, who, according toHerodotus, "named barbarians all those who spoke a different tongue",[54][55] and in later years for theSlavs, who gave theGermans the nameněmec, which means "mute", while calling themselvesslověnski or "people of the word". In his playThe Birds,Aristophanes calls the illiterate supervisor a "barbarian" who nevertheless taught the birds how to talk.[56] The term eventually picked up a derogatory use and was extended to indicate the entire lifestyle of foreigners, and finally coming to mean "illiterate" or "uncivilized" in general. Thus "an illiterate man is also a barbarian".[57] According toDionysius of Halicarnassus, a Hellene differed from a barbarian in four ways: refined language, education, religion, and the rule of law.[58] Greek education became identified with noble upbringing.Paul of Tarsus considered it his obligation to preach theGospel to all men, "Hellenes and barbarians, both wise and foolish".[59]
Discrimination between Hellenes and barbarians lasted until the 4th century BC.Euripides thought it plausible that Hellenes should rule over barbarians, because the first were destined forfreedom and the other forslavery.[60]Aristotle came to the conclusion that "the nature of a barbarian and a slave is one and the same".[61]
Alexander the Great's conquests consolidated Greek influence in the East by exporting Greek culture into Asia and permanently transformed education and society in the region.Isocrates declared in his speechPanegyricus, speaking about Athens and Greece: "And so far has our city distanced the rest of mankind in thought and in speech that her pupils have become the teachers of the rest of the world; and she has brought it about that the name Hellenes suggests no longer a race but an intelligence, and that the title Hellenes is applied rather to those who share our culture than to those who share a common blood".[62] With a small reformation, theHellenistic civilization is the evolution of classical Greek civilization into a civilization with global proportions, this time open to everybody. Similarly,Hellene evolved from a national name signifying anethnic Greek to a cultural term signifying anybody who conducted his life according to Greekmores.
A wholly different term came to establish itself in theEast. The ancient people of the Middle East referred to the Hellenes asYunan, deriving fromPersianYauna[citation needed], itself a loan ofGreek Ιωνία (Ionia), the western coast ofAsia Minor. It is by affiliation with the Ionian tribe thePersians conquered in the late 6th century BC that their name extended to all Hellenes. All peoples under Persian influence adopted the term, and it is from this root thatSanskritYavana derives, which one encounters in ancient Sanskrit sources, first attested inPāṇini's grammar, and later referring, together withPaliYona,Yonaka to theIndo-Greeks. The termYunan is used in currentPersian,Arabic (يوناني),Azeri,Turkish,Hindi (यूनान),Indonesian andMalay.
The relatedHebrew name,Yavan orJavan (יָוָן), was used to refer to the Greek nation in the Eastern Mediterranean in earlyBiblical times. There was an eponymous characterJavan mentioned inGenesis 10:2. In later times it was used for allHellenistic kingdoms (for example, theMaccabeans applied it to theirSeleucid foes). "Yavan" is still the name used for modern Greece in contemporaryIsrael.
Although the contemporaryChinese term for Greece (希臘Xīlà) is based onHellas, Chinese previously used what was likely a version of theYunan orYona root when referring to theDàyuān (大宛). The Dàyuān were probably the descendants of the Greek colonies that were established byAlexander the Great and prospered within the Hellenistic realm of theSeleucids andGreco-Bactrians, until they were isolated by the migrations of theYueh-Chih around 160 BC. It has been suggested that the nameYuan was simply a transliteration of the wordsYunan,Yona, or Ionians, so that Dàyuān (literally "Great Yuan") would mean "Great Yunans" or "Great Ionians."
The nameHellene was given the meaning "pagan" by theearly Christian church, and retained that meaning until the end of the millennium. It is believed that contact with ChristianJews led someChristians to useHellene as a means of religious differentiation. Jews, likeGreeks, distinguished themselves from foreigners, but unlike Greeks, did so according to religious rather than cultural standards.
Roman domination of the Greek world enhanced the prestige of the religious institutions that remained intact. Early Christians differentiated people according to religion, so the sense of the wordHellene as a cultural attribute became marginalized and then supplanted by its religious element. Eventually, Christians came to refer to all pagans asHellenes.
St. Paul in his Epistles usesHellene almost always juxtaposed toHebrew, and in disregard of all other ethnicities (Romans, Syrians, Egyptians, etc.) living in the area at the time. A possible exception to this beingColossians 3:11 ("Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."King James Version). The aim was probably to represent the aggregate of thepolytheistic and themonotheistic religious communities, who respectively believed in many gods or one god.[63]Hellene is used in a religious sense for the first time in theNew Testament. InMark 7:26, a woman arrives beforeJesus, and kneeling before him: "The woman was a Hellene, a Syrophœnician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter."[64] Since the nationality or ethnicity of the woman is stated to be Syrophœnician, "Greek" (translated as such into the English of theKing James Version, but ashaiþno "heathen" inUlfilas'sGothic;Wycliffe andCoverdale likewise haveheathen) must therefore signify her polytheistic religion. Nevertheless, it is important to mention that phrases in koine Greek similar to the one in Mark 7:26 ("ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ἦν Ἑλληνίς, Συροφοινίκισσα τῷ γένει·") can be found in the new testament being applied to Jewish people (Acts 18:2 "καὶ εὑρών τινα Ἰουδαῖον ὀνόματι Ἀκύλαν, Ποντικὸν τῷ γένει,")(Acts 18:24 "Ἰουδαῖος δέ τις Ἀπολλὼς ὀνόματι, Ἀλεξανδρεὺς τῷ γένει,") and the Levite Barnabas (Acts 4:36, "Λευΐτης, Κύπριος τῷ γένει"). In all those cases the terms Hellene/Jew/Levite are mentioned, eventually followed by a comma, a designation such as Syrophoenician/Pontic/Alexandrian/Cypriot and after that the words "τῷ γένει", with the last words tending to have differing translations. A broadly similar terminology is found inJohn 12:20–23: "And there were certain Hellenes among them that came up to worship at the feast ... Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified". This could have one of two interpretations: either that Jesus meant that the time had come for his religion to spread to thepagans (in which case the term "Hellenes" is religious), or that it would spread by using theGreek language (in which case the term "Hellenes" is meant to be linguistic). The development towards a purely religious meaning was slow, and complete by approximately the 2nd or 3rd century AD: Athenian statesmanAristeides, in his written Apology to the EmperorHadrian, picked out theHellenes as one of the representative pagan peoples of the world along with the Egyptians and theChaldæans.[65] Later,Clement of Alexandria reports an unknown Christian writer who named all of the aboveHellenes and spoke of two old nations and one new: the Christian nation.[66]
Several books written at this time demonstrate clearly thesemantic shift. For example,Athanasius'Against Hellenes was originally titledAgainst the Gentiles (Greek:ethnikoi) according to older manuscripts. From then on,Hellene no longer meant an ethnic Greek or an adherent to Greek culture, but pagans in general, regardless of race. EmperorJulian's attempt to restore paganism failed, and according toPope Gregory I, "matters moved in favor of Christianity and the position of the Hellenes was severely aggravated".[67] Half a century later Christians protested against theEparch ofAlexandria, whom they accused of being a Hellene.[68]Theodosius I initiated the firstlegal steps against paganism, but it wasJustinian's legal reforms that triggered pagan persecutions on a massive scale. TheCorpus Juris Civilis contained two statutes which decreed the total destruction ofHellenism, even in civic life, and were zealously enforced even against men in high position. The official suppression of paganism made non-Christians a public threat, which further derogated the meaning ofHellene. Paradoxically,Tribonian, Justinian's own legal commissioner, according to theSuda dictionary, was aHellene (pagan).[69]
The usage of Hellene as a religious term was initially part of an exclusively Christian nomenclature, but some pagans began to defiantly call themselves Hellenes. Other pagans even preferred the narrow meaning of the word from a broad cultural sphere to a more specific religious grouping. However, there were many Christians and pagans alike who strongly objected to the evolution of the terminology. The influentialArchbishop of ConstantinopleGregory of Nazianzus, for example, took offence at imperial efforts to suppress Hellenic culture (especially concerning spoken and written Greek) and he openly criticized the emperor.[70]
The name Hellene meaning "pagan" has persisted into modern times. Many groups advocating a revival or reconstruction of the worship of the Olympian Gods call themselves Hellenists or Hellenic Polytheists and the religion Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism orHellenismos. Such groups outside of Greece are careful not to imply that, by calling themselvesHellenes, they consider themselves Greek nationals.
The name "Macedonians", in order to colloquially mean the Greek soldiers (etc) thatAlexander the Great was first thehegemon of, is being used by – at least – contemporary sources when referring to theHellenistic period, as theancient Macedonian army, including the famoussomatophylakes (e. g.Lysimachus) and, later, thediadochi[71] of Alexander, consisted of warriors from numerous and diverseGreek tribes. Thus, as theSpartans (Lacedaemonians) did not take part in Alexander's campaign, Alexander once ordered for an inscription to be sent, along with some war spoils, to Athens saying "Alexander, son of Philip, and all the Greeks except theLacedaemonians [...]".[72] Likewise, the term "Macedonian", while referring here to Greek dialects, also ended up meaning theKoine Greek in classical sources,[73] whereas diverse major Ancient Greek dialects were natively spoken in the later/expandedMacedonian Kingdom, and even though the Koine dialect was mostly based onAttic Greek that was natively spoken aroundAthens. Notably, during the reign ofConstantine the Great, who is regarded as the firstByzantine Emperor, theDiocese of Macedonia was established, comprising principally the area that is modernGreece, withThessalonica as its capital.
Romans orRhomaioi (Ῥωμαῖοι; sg. ῬωμαῖοςRhomaios) andRomioi (Ρωμιοί; sg. ΡωμιόςRomios), is the name by which the Greeks were known in the Middle Ages and duringOttoman rule. The name in antiquity originally signified the inhabitants of the city of Rome in Italy, but with the increasing grants ofRoman citizenship to the Greeks and other nations of the Roman Empire, it soon lost its connection with theLatins. This process culminated in 212 AD, when Emperor Caracalla'sConstitutio Antoniniana granted the citizenship to all free-born men of the Empire. Later Byzantine authors such as Nikephoros Basilakes,[74]Michael Attaleiates,Theodore Prodromos,PatriarchGermanus II,Niketas Choniates andNicaean EmperorTheodore II Laskaris also used the classicizing termAusones to refer to the people of the Eastern Roman Empire,[75] although, asJohn Tzetzes points out (in hisScholia toLycophron's "Alexandra", attributed to himself and his brother Isaac), that should be understood in its proper context as a literary device.[76] Overall, the wordRhomaios came to represent the Hellenized inhabitants of the East Roman Empire.
Initially, the foreign borrowed name (Romans) had a more political than national meaning, which went hand in hand with the universalizing ideology of Rome that aspired to encompass all nations of the world under one true God. Up until the early 7th century, when the Empire still extended over large areas and many peoples, the use of the name "Roman" always indicatedcitizenship and never descent. Various ethnicities could apply their ownethnonyms ortoponyms to disambiguate citizenship from genealogy, which is why the historianProcopius prefers to call the Byzantines asHellenized Romans,[77] while other authors useRomhellenes andGraecoromans,[78] aiming to indicate descent and citizenship simultaneously. TheLombard andArab invasions in the same century resulted in the loss of most of the provinces including Italy and all of the Middle East, save forAnatolia. The areas that did remain were mostly Greek-speaking, thereby turning the empire into a much more cohesive unit that eventually developed a fairly self-conscious Greek identity.
The Byzantines' failure to protect thePope from theLombards forced the Pope to search for help elsewhere. The man who answered his call wasPepin III, whom he had named "Patrician", a title that caused a serious conflict. In 772, Rome ceased commemorating the emperor that first ruled fromConstantinople, and in 800Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor by the Pope himself, officially rejecting the Eastern Roman Empire as true Romans. According to theFrankish interpretation of events, thepapacy appropriately "transferred Roman imperial authority from the Greeks to theGermans, in the name of His Greatness, Charles".[79] From then on, a war of names about theNew Rome revolved around Roman imperial rights. Unable to deny that an emperor did exist in Constantinople, they sufficed in renouncing him as a successor of Roman heritage on the grounds thatGreeks have nothing to do with the Roman legacy. In 865,Pope Nicholas I wrote to the EmperorMichael III: "You ceased to be called 'Emperor of the Romans' since the Romans, of whom you claim to be Emperor, are in fact according to you barbarians."[80]
Henceforth, the emperor in the East was known and referred to in the West asEmperor of the Greeks and their land asGreek Empire, reserving both "Roman" titles for the Frankish king. The interests of both sides were nominal rather than actual. No land areas were ever claimed, but the insult the Byzantines took on the accusation demonstrates how close at heart the Roman name (Ῥωμαῖος) had become to them. In fact, BishopLiutprand of Cremona, a delegate of the Frankish court, was briefly imprisoned in Constantinople for not referring to the Roman emperor,Nikephoros II Phokas, by his appropriate title,[81] and in reprisal for his king,Otto I, claiming the "Roman" title by styling himself asHoly Roman Emperor.
The secular use ofHellene revived in the 9th century, after paganism had been eclipsed and was no longer a threat toChristianity's dominance. The revival followed the same track as its disappearance. The name had originally declined from a national term inantiquity, to a cultural term in the Hellenistic years, to a religious term in the earlyChristian years. With the demise of paganism and the revival of learning in theByzantine Empire it had regained its cultural meaning, and finally, by the 11th century it had returned to its ancient national form of an "ethnic Greek", synonymous at the time to "Roman". After 1204, when the Empire consisted purely of Hellenic provinces, the term "Hellenes" was increasingly used instead.[82]
Accounts from the 11th century onward (fromAnna Komnene,Michael Psellos,John III Vatatzes,George Gemistos Plethon and several others) prove that the revival of the term Hellene (as a potential replacement for ethnic terms like Graikos and Romaios) did occur. For example, Anna Komnene writes of her contemporaries as Hellenes, but does not use the word as a synonym for a pagan worshiper. Moreover, Anna boasts about her Hellenic classical education, and she speaks as a native Greek and not as an outsider/foreigner who learned Greek.
The refounding of theUniversity of Constantinople in the palaces ofMagnaura promoted an interest in learning, particularly in Greek studies.Patriarch Photius was irritated because "Hellenic studies are preferred over spiritual works". Michael Psellos thought it a compliment when EmperorRomanos III praised him for being raised "in the Hellenic way" and a weakness for EmperorMichael IV for being completely devoid of a Hellenic education,[83] while Anna Komnene claimed that she had "carried the study of Hellenic to the highest pitch".[84] Also, commenting on the orphanage her father founded, she stated that "there could be seen a Latin being trained, and aScythian studying Hellenic, and a Roman handling Hellenic texts and an illiterate Hellene speaking Hellenic correctly".[85] In this case we reach a point where the Byzantines are Romans on the political level but Hellenic by descent.Eustathius of Thessalonica disambiguates the distinction in his account of thesack of Thessaloniki in 1185 by referring to the invaders with the generic term "Latins", encompassing all adherents to theRoman Catholic Church, and the "Hellenes" as the dominant population of the empire.[86]
After the fall of Constantinople to theCrusaders, Greek nationalism accentuated.Niketas Choniates insisted on using the name "Hellenes", stressing the outrages of the "Latins" against the "Hellenes" in thePeloponnese and how theAlfeios River might carry the news to the barbarians inSicily, theNormans.[87]Nikephoros Blemmydes referred to theByzantine emperors as Hellenes,[88] andTheodore Alanias wrote in a letter to his brother that "the homeland may have been captured, but Hellas still exists within every wise man".[89] The second Emperor of Nicaea,John III Doukas Vatatzes, wrote in a letter toPope Gregory IX about the wisdom that "rains upon the Hellenic nation". He maintained that the transfer of the imperial authority from Rome to Constantinople was national and not geographic, and therefore did not belong to theLatins occupying Constantinople:Constantine's heritage was passed on to the Hellenes, so he argued, and they alone were its inheritors and successors.[90] His son,Theodore II Laskaris, was eager to project the name of the Greeks with true nationalistic zeal. He made it a point that "the Hellenic race looms over all other languages" and that "every kind of philosophy and form of knowledge is a discovery of Hellenes […]. What do you, O Italian, have to display?"[91]
The evolution of the name was slow and did not replace the "Roman" name completely.Nikephoros Gregoras named his historical workRoman History.[92] EmperorJohn VI Kantakouzenos, a great supporter of Greek education, in his own memoirs always refers to the Byzantines as "Romans",[93] yet, in a letter sent by theMamluk sultan,An-Nasir Hasan, referred to him as "Emperor of the Hellenes,Bulgars,Sassanians,Vlachs,Russians,Alanians" but not of the "Romans".[94] Over the next century, George Gemistos Plethon pointed out toConstantine XI Palaiologos that the people he leads are "Hellenes, as their race and language and education testifies",[95] whileLaonicus Chalcondyles was a proponent of completely substituting "Roman" terminology for "Greek" terminology.[96] Constantine Palaiologos himself in the end proclaimedConstantinople the "refuge for Christians, hope and delight of all Hellenes".[97] On the other hand, the same Emperor in his final speech before the Empire's demise called upon his audience to rally to the defenses by characteristically referring to them as "descendants of Hellenes and Romans", most possibly as an attempt to combine Greek national sentiment with the Roman tradition of the Byzantine crown and Empire, both highly respected elements in his subjects' psyche at that moment.
By the time of the fall of theWestern Roman Empire most easterners had come to think of themselves as Christians and, more than ever before, as Romans. Although they may not have liked their government any more than they had previously, the Greeks among them could no longer consider it foreign, run by Latins from Italy. The wordHellene itself had already begun to mean a pagan rather than a person of Greek race or culture. Instead eastern Greeks overwhelmingly used the self-identifying termRhomaios, "Roman".[98][99]
As early as the 7th century, "Byzantine" was occasionally used to refer to various Greek-speaking monastic communities who resided in Rome, although they did not necessarily originate from the religious tradition or ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Constantinople.[100]
The term "Byzantine Empire" is commonly understood to have been introduced in 1557, about a century after theFall of Constantinople, by German historianHieronymus Wolf, who introduced a system of Byzantinehistoriography in his workCorpus Historiae Byzantinae in order to distinguish ancient Roman from medieval Greek history without drawing attention to their ancient predecessors. According toAnthony Kaldellis, an AthenianLaonikos Chalkokondyles in the mid 15th century who advocated a neo-Hellenic identity of the Romans, was the first to use the term in this way.[101] Several authors adopted his terminology, but it remained relatively unknown. English historians preferred to use Roman terminology (Edward Gibbon used it in a particularly belittling manner), while French historians preferred to call it Greek.[102] The term reappeared in the mid-19th century and has since dominated completely in historiography, even in Greece, despite objections fromConstantine Paparregopoulos, Gibbon's influential Greek counterpart, that the empire should be called Greek. Few Greek scholars adopted the terminology at that time, but it became popular in the second half of the 20th century.[103]
The "Byzantines" referred to themselves asRhomaioi to retain both their Roman citizenship and their ancient Hellenic heritage. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the "Byzantines" themselves were also very conscious of their uninterrupted continuity with the ancient Greeks. Even though the ancient Greeks were not Christians, the "Byzantines" still regarded them as their ancestors. A common substitute for the termHellene, other thanRhomaios, was the termGraikos (Γραικός), a term that was used often by the "Byzantines" (along withRhomaios) for ethnic self-identification. Evidence of the use of the termGraikos can be found in the works ofPriscus, a historian of the 5th century AD. He stated in one of his accounts that on an unofficial embassy to Attila the Hun, he had met at Attila's court someone who dressed like aScythian but spoke Greek. When Priskos asked the person where he had learned the language, the man smiled and said that he was a Graekos by birth. Many other "Byzantine" authors speak of the Empire's natives as Greeks [Graikoi] or Hellenes such as Constantine Porphyrogennitos of the 10th century. His accounts discuss about the revolt of a Slavic tribe in the district of Patras in the Peloponnese. Constantine states that the Slavs who revolted first proceeded to sack the dwellings of their neighbors, the Greeks (ton Graikon) and then moved against the inhabitants of the city of Patras. Overall, ancient Hellenic continuity was evident throughout the history of the Eastern Roman Empire. The "Byzantines" were not merely a general Orthodox Christian populace that referred to themselves as merely "Romans". They used the term for legal and administrative purposes, but other terms were used to distinguish themselves ethnically. In short, the Greek inhabitants of the Eastern Roman Empire were very conscious of their ancient Hellenic heritage and could preserve their identity while they adapted to the changes that the world was undergoing.[104][unreliable source]
Following theOttoman conquest of Constantinople and duringOttoman Greece a fierce ideological battle ensued regarding the three rival national names of the Greeks. This struggle may have settled down after theGreek War of Independence but was permanently resolved only recently in the 20th century after the loss ofAsia Minor to theTurks.
The struggle reflected the diverging view of history betweenclassicists andmedievalists (katharevousa anddemotic) in their attempt to define Greeknationality at a time without aByzantine state to foster the movement. The concept ofHellene for a person of Greek origin was already well established from the lateMiddle Ages. However, for the majority of the population, especially those in rural areas away from urban centers, the dominant self-perception was still that ofRomaioi andGraikoi.[105] ScholarRigas Feraios called "Bulgars andArvanites,Armenians and Romans" to rise in arms against the Ottomans.[106] GeneralMakrygiannis recalled a friend asking him: "What say you, is the Roman State far away from coming? Are we to sleep with the Turks and awaken with the Romans?"[107]
Preference for the termGreek (Γραικός) was exhibited by scholars such asAdamantios Korais, a renowned Greek classicist, who justified his selection inA Dialogue between Two Greeks: "Our ancestors used to call themselves Greeks but adopted afterwards the name Hellenes by a Greek who called himselfHellen. One of the above two, therefore, is our true name. I approved 'Greece' because that is what all the enlightened nations of Europe call us."[108]Hellenes for Korais are the pre-Christian inhabitants of Greece.
The absence of a Byzantine state gradually led to the marginalization of the Roman name and allowedHellene (Ἕλλην) to resurface as the primary national name.Dionysius Pyrrhus [el] requests the exclusive use of Hellene in hisCheiragogy: "Never desire to call yourselves Romans, but Hellenes, for the Romans from ancient Rome enslaved and destroyed Hellas".[109] The anonymous author ofThe Hellenic Realm of Law, published in 1806 inPavia, Italy, speaks of Hellenes: "The time has come, O Hellenes, to liberate our home".[110] The leader of theGreek War of Independence began hisDeclaration with a phrase similar to the above: "The time has come, O men, Hellenes".[111] After the name was accepted by the spiritual and political leadership of the land, it rapidly spread to the population, especially with the onset of the Greek War of Independence where many naïve leaders and war figures distinguished between idle Romans and rebellious Hellenes.[112] GeneralTheodoros Kolokotronis in particular made a point of always addressing his revolutionary troops as Hellenes and invariably wore ahelmet of ancient Greek style.
GeneralMakrygiannis tells of a priest who performed his duty in front of the "Romans" (civilians) but secretly spied on the "Hellenes" (fighters). "Roman" almost came to be associated with passiveness and enslavement, and "Hellene" brought back the memory of ancient glories and the fight for freedom. Eyewitness historianAmbrosius Phrantzes [el] writes that while the Turkish authorities and colonists inNiokastro had surrendered to the advancing Greek army, reportedly, shouts of defiance were made that led to theirmassacre by the mob: "They spoke to the petty and small Hellenes as 'Romans'. It was as if they called them 'slaves'! The Hellenes not bearing to hear the word, for it reminded of their situation and the outcome of tyranny […]"[113]
The citizens of the newly independent state were called "Hellenes" making the connection with ancient Greece all the more clear. That in turn also fostered a fixation on antiquity and negligence for the other periods of history, especially theByzantine Empire, for an age that bore different names and was a devisor to different and in many ways more important legacies. The classicist trend was soon balanced by theGreek Great Idea that sought to recoverConstantinople and reestablish the Byzantine Empire for all Greeks. As the Prime Minister,Ioannis Kolettis, proclaimed in front of Parliament in 1844, "TheKingdom of Greece is not Greece; it is only part of it, a small and poor part of Greece […]. There are two great centers ofHellenism. Athens is the capital of the Kingdom. Constantinople is the great capital, the City, dream and hope of all Greeks."[114]
On 8 October 1912, during theFirst Balkan War, the island ofLemnos became part ofGreece. The Greek navy under Rear AdmiralPavlos Kountouriotis captured itafter a brief action without any casualties from the Ottoman garrison, who were returned to Anatolia.Peter Charanis, born on the island in 1908, and later a professor ofByzantine history atRutgers University, recounts when the island was liberated and Greek soldiers were sent to the villages and stationed themselves in the public squares. Some of the children ran to see what Greek soldiers looked like; "What are you looking at?", one of them asked; "At Hellenes", the children replied; "Are you not Hellenes yourselves?", a soldier retorted; "No, we areRomans", the children replied; which might seem odd at a first glance, but indicates that in parts of Greece the locals self-identified as a continuation of the Eastern, Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire (Ρωμιοί), along with their Greek identity.[115]
Ella'dhënf (Old) Greece = Greqi'
| ...μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι καὶ τοῦ Ἐχεμβρότου τὸ ἀνάθημα, τρίπους χαλκοῦς ἀνατεθεὶς τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ ἐν Θήβαις: ἐπίγραμμα δὲ ὁ τρίπους εἶχεν: | ...testimony of the dedication of Echembrotus, a coppertripod, dedicated to Hercules the Thebean; this tripod had thisepigram: |
| "Ἐχέμβροτος Ἀρκὰς θῆκε τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ | "Echembrotus fromArcadia, dedicated (this) toHercules, |
| νικήσας τόδ' ἄγαλμ' Ἀμφικτυόνων ἐν ἀέθλοις, | having won this statue in the Amphictyonic Games, |
| Ἕλλησι δ' ἀείδων μέλεα καὶ ἐλέγους." | singingto the Greeks tunes and lamentations." |
