Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Of the Balkan nations, there are s.till two, the Greek and RlJ.Jnanian.
that present some :researchers with {;onsidemble doubts and dilemmas 00:&-
cerning tbeir ethnological oompo$ition and their inteUectual cootinuity
throughout the centuries. So many opinions, oftt1:\ w1dcly at variance. have
beeo expressed on tbis subject that the relevant bibliography has bec:omc
da.ngerously enriched even for the experienced scholar,
Without doubt. the discussions are most heated when they come to
~e tbe rel.ationsbip of the ancient Greek nation with the medieval and
mOOertt and this is because of the lively <lntithesis between the ever idealised
J!'ideur of the past and tbe day by day routine of the present. Then.
theSe discussions start running along a set pattern-some. you might almost
say. take the form of ancient exercises in elocution and rhetoric-and their
limits are very vague, since they do not systematically look towards their ap-
pointed aim. with the result that they weary both the specialist and the gen.
eml ~r. Indeed. how is it possible to eumine tbese rundamental topics
without a full knowledge of the relevant bibliography, a careful criticism of
sources and s~ on this subject, a deep Ilnderstanding of the problem,
and an awaren.ess of the progress tnade by the historians?
The study of important historical events such WI the origin of a rare is
not something easy. or yet something which can be accomplished in a short
ti.mc. Still more difficult is the interpretation and understanding of the institu-
tion& of human societies in tl1eir dev<:lopment, and tbo stud} of manners and
customs and the continuity of manifestations of civilisation. As Chateaubria.nd
lJO aptly observes tn the "Itinemi:re," "Un moment suiTit au pein~ de pas.--
aqe pour crayonner un &thee. peiodre \U1e vue, dessiner une ruine: mais det
lnnlles enti!res soot trop courtes pour etudler lcs moeurs des homrncs et pour
Ilppfofondir les sciences et let arts."'l
'02
2. < I<rt()f:ia rov NI(J(J •~1C1,wmi {Ill:atory of Modtrn Hellenism) A' ('I"beMalonoo.
J96J).
3. Cyril MWlio. lb7Aotinisw nnd 1\.omaJuic HeUenlsm. JOIl!"lfa/ of i~ WMbuq 0Itd
CCUTlDu/d In.rtfllnu, 28(1~) 29-43.
4. Op. <il. 41.
5. R. Jmkins. ltyZQ/lftllJM tiM BYMJf/illl.rm. Cincinnati, 1961.
6 . .s:oe Theod. Cb. San'bldi. ".l4&1.'IoMi tt; 'f1'Jv f(nop{¢v <f1\1j; "Hm!poo K4trt to\.w;
ZpOvoo,; t1K proj't.th:fl~ ICUpl.Upxiw;" (COQUibuticm 10 tl» lliatory of Epiru& ill \be Yean
or the lWroan .Rule) AE 1964, pp. 106,112 ft.
'04
cedooia (Philippi. DioD, Pella't etc.). facts which are often forgottell. At that
time. bowever, tbe Greek language and the Greek: population bl:ing" by far
mote numerouil gradually absorbed the Roman colonists. Thus, the fa-
milies even of important Roman colonists became Hellenized and from the
third century A.D. the Greek language was used even in official documents.
appointments, honorary inscriptions etc. written in honour of the Romans
themselves or written at their orders. III the numericaLly more populous
and cordial envirOllllle:nt of the Greek lands the foreigners were graduaUy
assimllatcd. This same phenomenon can be observed after 1204 in the
Frankish controlled territories of tbe Ionian Islands. Oetc, the PeJoponnese
and the Cyclades.
No one would dispute the fact that both anthropologically and culturaUy
(with the m.caning here of folk civi.l.i:Ultion) the Modem Greeks ate neater
to the Byzantines than ro the: Ancient Groek1l. And of course this is reasonable.
It is the meaning of developmen.t and the baaic mcu.ing of history which
fol'Ce3 UII to accept this truth un:resenedly whether we like it or not. In 8.ll)'
case, evtIl after the period of heated diSC'UStiions that llpra1lg up among the
e:tperts afttr the theory of Fa11mtlrayer was at:tac:ked in the rpneteentb centu~
f'j, tru:re were still Greeks. wbo had no different opinion. For C%Ul)ple the
erudite Oeorgios Tert.setis of the postMtrVolution era wrote that: "Last ytlat
and the year before are closer kin to us than oenturiea long since passed."
Despite all this, despite its changu through the centuries the ancient Oreek
anthropological nucleus has remained. Of course the work of the historian
and the anthropologist is not easy. It is. today at least, ridiculous that we
3bould want to' assign the <:O'ntents of OR:ek veins and arttrie3 into dtops of
ancient Greek: blood. Fallmerayer stated that not one drop exists. That is
his prerO'gative, At any rate this type of &eo.etalisatiO'n n l'IoIllve and ground.less
if no!hlng else.
It is, however. worthy of note that Count de Gobtncau. the founder of
the raci.al theory. does Dot refute the exhtenet of this anc:icnt Greek nucleus
in modern Greeks, even if he states somewhAt vaguely and oontuKdly bill ideas.
which are based only on genera! information, In particular this pbiJosopher
of racW theory, who stresses the iI\tctQOuf$C of the Grceb with various t8tleS
from ancient to m~rtl ~ sees this mtcrminalins. this ..eclecticism," as
he ca!ls it, as the oldest in biatory. And he goes on to say:
""
C' e&t aussi. a,-8& flll~n t une [I~ption absoluc de; aaciena par~
ticularismes; il a remplact et Atblnes. el Sp&rte CIt leur esprit; iI a
remplad la Lydie. la Phryglc. IOus Ie! nomb('eu): to)'llumes dODI
runiOD fit I'~tat immeox des SIJeucides: au. oelui lief; Ptolcrn6cs; iI
a pris de toutes Its nations !lu,;,qudles il s' et:t substirue et it II. effac6
avec ~ routes leurs du:r~rences en gardaru que1quc c.bose de la
nature de toutes; Ie sang gree CQntietu une grande proportion de
parties UJyrie~ CSt I'tlemcot albanais joue un grud role dan.s:
sa .rormation. D n' a pa.~ peu de parties antiques, car les populations
5yriennt'!! et CbaD.~ se sont d.eversees dans son &eio; 1a Tbra~
ce lui III donni peod.t.ot des l ib::les de prCcicux et 6n.crgi'lucs apporl8
de sa coloftisatioR! german1qutl ; ;lUll. dirrtrmts moments ofJ. CC$
infiltrations ani t'U lieu, elJes. se sont ~unics dans lc sei.n d' nne com·
bin"i!'iOQ tr!lI pumantc dij " qui De s· eat lai~ abtorber par aucUDe
d' elles et qui fes a absorb6es ell~meme. sans cep¢ndlUlt rcjeter tout
ce quO cites pouvaientlui apportm' de Cort ct d' utile ct. de fa 30m.
" t:U manifeste un rMtal tIt$ composite. mais td:s rtsistant ct qui.
tel quO 11 est, et n' omant CIl $Oi rien d' abwlument origillal puisqu'
il dmvait de III suppre&5ioll de toutes Jes originalites antiques, D'
cn eonstitue poll! moins, A I' More actwillc, i. l ' tgard dts races a&ia~
tiques lOit nouvellement a Hi,,6cs du Nord. soit demcut6es dAM
leur ancien ~tat de puct'l~ relative, et vis-A·Yis dC$ IIggiomintioos
europknnes, latines;, gennl&aiqUet ou Itulm, un amalgame tees
particulier, douc d' une graode 50uplessc, fort pcu dUipost 1. se laii--
set ab8OCbe1' li SOD tour, repoussant. avec la memc !nergie que 1e
peuvent Jaire Ies: races PUI"eS, toute nouveUe f1Jsioa avec n' importe
qui CIt representant ~n 'un mot, avec: UIlt! ronfiaDcc, one skutite,
un orgeuil implacable, ce qui a tout le droit imaginable i. se quali..
ricr du mot de nationa1jte,·
From. the time of GobiM:3.U many opiniotU Ilfld divergent poinu of view
bave boca expreMe4, as .DlAIly io support of fallmerayer's theory as in sup-
port of the oppot.:it.e point of vicw. Frequently tbe fint 9I'efC not detached
rrom the political orientations. the: sympathies and l~ prejudica of the ec:bo-.
Ian who supported them. Indeed. for W period immediately ~g the
$«::ond World War and also throughout the course of it--a time wben ill Ger..
ma.nil: lXluntries spoc:ulations on tbe superiority of the Arian race were at their
Dtlith - Fallmerayer came again to the forefront, since the racists as.serttd that
the Greeks had hoen vcry deeply influenced by their su.cccssivc int«mingling
with otber facts. It is also worthy of note that in the Soviet Union in post...
war years a swing toward.'1 this theory Willi observed in historians who
stressed in partic!llar too Slavic influences." It is oot difficult to ma.R out
the reuon for this. One only has to consider what Albania could do in
this particular ease if she were large, wealthy and powerful enough, since
her ethnologic:a! traces are Ioca1ised and continue to exist in the southern area
of modern Greece. even if they have bcco~ completely Hellenized by now.
If. then. it is possible in our time for serious opposition to be ~
concerning the greater Of lesser racial relation of the Modem Greeks with
the AMient Greeks, one can calculate how difficult becomes the problem of
the racial and spiritual relationships of the Rumanians with the ancient Da..
cians. from whom they Wok neither the language nor the wealth of the fol.k:
intellectual hcrltage. whereas the Otteb in fact did..lndoed the problem of the
RUl\UI:nlans is much more wmpla and confused than that of the On:eb. when
one considers the loog stay and the various iDteroou.rses between ,peopie3
and tribes that took place in Dacia on that great road travelled by streams
of emigrants after the Roman conqnest (lOS-I06 A.D.). However, wherw
once there were SOnle who supported the theory of the Romao origin of the
Rumanians, 00 contemporary Rumanian or c-..en foreign historian has any
doubt that the origin of the Rumanian nation belongs to thcpte-Roman
era. that there exists a large nucleus in the modem RllltIAnian nation and that
the archaeological discoveries speak clearly on the subject of the continuity
of the Daoo-Roman population north of the Danube and of its numerical
superiority in the face of other foreign tribes}' And this opinion is highly pro-
bable since anthropological cllaoges are not sinlple. neitbor do races dlb out
easily,
With reprd to this, the Frtnch anthropologist, Eug. Pittard,. in his book,
"LeiS Races et I' Histoire." wrote:
Certains hiiStoriens ont trap facilement repandu cette notion-
eUe est. grAce 1 em. devenue~ MIas! une proposition wurante. -que
les oonquetti ont ei.6 suivi~ de ttansformatian ethnique$, Bien d·a.u..
tJu ~nnes. parmi ce1ki quO 00 ne pouvait ~re imagioer, oot
collabore 1 cette crreur, Ccrtaias vaincus. flatt& que Jeun 8ncllies
9, A. A, Vuiik<r, J~,bt IIw Fint. Cambridse. M~~, J9$O. pp. 303, 3()4 (or
morc I'CQCnt hl:uoricaJ bibliogapfty,
10. Soc the Iule4itbn oftfMo Rwn.i1WAD. Academy: c.. Daiwvichl~ Em. ~ «Ch,
Stef4l'l. DU Entst~ drl ntm(inim- ~oJkI wtd tier ,_~ Spnu:k, Bucanst,. 19M.
107
aient et6 til. projc de teIs Oll telll conquerants. rendus: c&!bres par
I' Histoire. ont trop volontiers aocepte d' nolr ~; par cctte 000-
qu8te. modifies anthropologiquemenH Les vidoiccs romaines 0' ont~
cUes pas laisse croire 41.1)( gens simples que Rome avait peuplC,
de ses S(l1dats, taus les pays conquis1 Bt DC voit.-on pas !l.ujUUT-
d' hui des politicieos. on dc~ Iitttrateurs. souvent pt.r Ie seal amour
des ~odes pompeuses, souvent pour des rnis01\.5 pius profo.nde:s.-
des raisons romaines. - parer leurs pays te$pectifs de teltts fausses
etiquettes? Voyez ce qui s' est passe en Roumanie, utIle dernier des
pitres. parce qu' II parle une langue derivee du tatin, (Ill pacce qu' ij
se rappe1le que ses aieux turent valneus par Rol'tle (cette victoire
ne rut pas facile, certes. et il y aurait lieu d'etre fier de P adminl..
bl.e resistance des Daces). s' imagine quO it 11. dans lei veill,C$, Ie
pI11.'I pur sang de Trajanl U
I believe that, particutady in the cue: of Greece. the meaning and influ-
ence of the invasions and colonizations of foreign tribes have been unduly
!ltressc.d, Factors in anthropogcography and anthropology. as well as the oon..
elusions ~ have eome to, even from these final invasions, indicate that for-
eign tribes in comparison with the Jocal oncs, were always in a numerical mi·
tlority. The same French anthropologist, Eug. Pittard. towards the end of hfs
book reiterated the following many times:
Maintes fol$, au OOUr.i de tet ouvrage, noU$ avoJU 50utenu
cette opinion, que nous noUS faisons. presque toujours, une faUl'lSoe
jd~ de la valeur anthropologique des invasions. Les irruptions
guerrieres. surtout dans ces periodes l<lintaine$ et dan$ ces lietu.
oil les voies de commuoications ne pouv.uent que ditTicilement
aUurtr Jes arri!f'Ci, n' ont pu !t~ a.ccomplies que par de petits
contingents. Leur faibJesse nnmerique m6!he a&StJnUt leurs de ..
placements rapides, c' est-l-dirc leurs S~iI. La mainmlse sur
un pays devait avoir bien davanrage Ie carac~ d' nne conquete
adm.io.istrative que d' un recouvrement et1uUque. Les popuJations
lubjugu6cs rcstaient en place et aa:eptaient les lois des vainqueun;
et a:insi~ Ie!! caracteristiques anthropoJogiques de la region conquise
De devaicnt pas SoC modifier beauooup. a
Not wishing as a Greek to resort 10 the specialist studies of Greek an·
thropologiats, of Ioannis Koumaris 1$ and Aris Poulianos If; (the lut scholar
to rely on the numerous counts and exa.minations of Greeks from variou,
localities. and Oil methodologic;at principals of the Soviet school of anthtopolo-
gy)t who support the nlcial continuity of the Greek nation. I cite the de--
ductions of antbropogcography and refer to the opinion of tbe French an~
throposeographer. F. Braudel. who writes as follows:
It est vrai que les envalUs...eun oat toujours et6 en petit nom~
bre. Quoi qu' on en ait dit et Ccrit parfbis., . Que cc soient 105
slaves blonds qui campent en Orece ! I' epoquc de Justinien. les
captifs rustleS, polonais ou hOl1grois dont la descente siiencieu!Ie
peuple COMtanfulople au "vte sieele, .. it en r~j1c de voir rom~
bien its ont 6te rapilieooent ou tliminh et renvoyCs dans leur pays
d' {lrigine. ou bien submerges et absorbes: Ie climat, la malaria~
quand oe n' est pas Ie yin ~ lui seul, ont eu ais~ment raison de ccs
6trangen, jamais Dien adaptees a la durc vie mMiternmeenne. IG
If then:: exists any notable foreign colonization in certain Greek terri-
tories it is the colonization of the Albanians. However, even the approxima..
tely 10.000 Albanians or Albanian V1a,chs, who went down to tbe Pelopoonese
around the end of the 14th century, were stilJ a minority, even if an important
one, among the majority of the Greek inhabitants. not only of the local Greeks
but of othen too (rom beyond the Isthmus, who. tmif'ied by the Turkish
storm, which was: coming ever closer, rushed to imd asylum in the great south..
ern Greek Peninsula. U And onc proof of their minority was their gradual
assimilation into the: neighbouring Gnlek population. Of COU!1C the linguis.-
tic assimilation, in particular, took much Jonger time: if one (;(Iosiders that
up to the present in certain villages the mother tongue IS still pt'C8(!cved.
Then again if the Slavic minority in l.'hessaJy and in other southern
Greek tcrritorie$ was so important, how is it that thC very slight trac:ea of it
were very quicldy assimilated and ab$otbtd1
Speaking above of tbe Peloponnese u a refuge, I would likt- especially
with repro to the Greek territories-to stregs the importance or
the moun·
tainous formation of the country and the role that bft' many and various: mu~
goa played, the settlements in ina~$ible positions. the nwuntaio p1ains. tbe
woodlJ, the caves, and in particular, the peninsulas and the islands -even if
I pus over in silen~ the remote Byzantine rortresl~s. Characteristic. for in-
stance, is the jnformation we are given by the reliable. lJ anonymous author
of the life of the young Saint Luke. when he relates the events of the invasion
of Symoon. the Tsar of the Bulgarians, ioto mainland G:r<::ece and the scatter~
ing of the inhabitants of Pholds to the towns: "From here some shut them~
selves up io the fortified towns and others found refuge in Euboia and the
Peloponnese." II
A striking example is Cbalkidike. which,. because of iu mou~tain masses
remained outside the current of the invasions and the colonizations of the
Slavs. In connection with this, let us here observe that untit the end of the
18th century the oral tradition prtserVed tM story that the mountain p1a:in
of what is today Arnaea was very thickly populated during the timo of the
Bulgarian invasions. 1.0 AliSO it is highly probable that the lrigh niountains of
southern Maoedonia, Pieria and Vmnion. \VeRI refuges for the Greek popu~
lation during the period of the Slavic invasion!.*' But the Oreek population
was not uprooted in all areas from the plains. When the storm had pwtSed. they
returned to their homes, The mass of ancient place-names bears wi1ne$s to the
Greetness of these axea5. II
The opportunities that the geological formation of the Greek territories
pt't$lltod for refuge. safety and isolation Wefe exactly the factors that
preserved the natural characteristics of the people -es~.w.lly In prehi~oric.
ancient and medieval timc-s. This factor of isolation has not been observed
or paid as much attention as it deserved by the historians. Of its role. the
father of French anthropogeography. Vidal de la Blache, observed:
L' lsolement estla oorulition n6ccssaire de C«I que noU$ appe-
Ions des races, S' if De cr6e: pas la dlff6ranciation. on peut affirmer
du mow quO it oontribue I; la maintenir. C' est seulcment avec: SOil
22. Vidal4e III Dlachc, PrincfJltff fk (l~(I¥fflP1rU R~. pubI. F.mmanueI M Marton.
11C, Pam. 1948, p. 277.
2). C)ril Muao. "'Tl:Ie Legend of Loo the W'1.!Ie-" ZborNk R4d.loO of tM lnrItituC or
B,yuntlQl!: Stud1c!l of ~ vol. 65 (J96O). tL 6, pp. 59-93.
J4.. Manp "p. t:It., p, 31.
2j;. V~~ ()p. dt., pp, 1»144.
HI
1y roused and are vital (actort in tbe Byzantine society. With the study of
these C('IJ'OeS it is pw.Isib1e to unearth. between tbe lines of theological texts.
interesting elements concerning the grave problems of tbe people of that
time attd their agonising attempts to come face to face with these problems.
It is true that these tbeo(:ratic opinions survived even to more recent
yean. Their representative in the years of the Greek revolution of 1821 'WSB
Ambrosios Phrantz.es. 1IiII One still hears old men today saying, "tht; Lord
knows them by their sins," which is none other than ~ ba.~l¢ precept of the
theocratic theory wbkh held sway in the Middle Ages.
Ate we to say then that the mystical and eschatological thcorit:s ate
tb.t only ones that form the 8ubstanee of the link between Byzantium and
!fie mod... ro Greek world? An.d are these ideas characteristic of Byzantium
only? At tbis same period w~e not the people ofwcstem Europe imbued with
tM same theories? And jf this is so, were these ideas the most important
constituentll in the civilization of the West? I believe that the folk mentality
in Greece. even if we isolate it from the learned and written tradition. is
muJtifarious and many~sided and it has important aDd various ramifications
and projections. Some: of these: tieton g vcry strongly to the past and rea.eh
back to ancient times. One may find didactic examples of this truth in the
book of 1, L. LaMon. St
Indeed. if one observes with a eritical eye themanifestation$ ofpopular
modem day life in comparison with Ulat of the past. one could discover many
survivals of ancient conditiO'ns, customs, manners. etc., a sort of histO'rical
fossils one might say, which belp us not only to understand contemporary
reality but to perceive it in its devtl<lpment from the: pad to the present,
and vice versa.&llleave aside here the propably externw intellectual similari-
ties in general, and the: various manifestations of the life: of the Ancient.
By.tAntine and Modern Greeks that many foreign travelIen to Gf'UQC and
PhilheUenes believed in, and came to fitht at ber $Ide in ~ great rev¢lution
of 1821.
Even the Greek lanauage itself, not oniy the common (ananage, but the
dial«ns too. form linkst wlUcb bear witness to this intellectual CQJltinuity.
For they preserve not only pface..names but various words, denotations of
T*
'UL Ambrl.'l'lio, PbTanu,es••B'mt"ol.ll} nk •"fTQ(f~ d..ur~tkn7, •EUd&, (SUm-
m.a.ry or the History ot the Rebirth of Greece), AtJientl, 18J9.J84I, vola. 1....,
17. Moth/"lf OTUk FiJlkfDrt _ ;{rlCi~1It Gruk UVriun. 2uded. New York, 196C.
18. See t. i. in D. A. Petropoulos. "~hou ~tn {mO Aatrt'pc1.ft.,..qv m..tv t~q·
~.. (TbcocrilQl'ldyj~ intcrpmed rtom. tolld~ view pqillt),. A"'o~ 18 (1959)
'"""
m
objects or even proverbial phrases. Some of the demotic SOllgli a1s(l have liD
important influence. tbe ballads as welL as. the Akriti:c songs which have
survived in certain parts of Greece. Moreover, certain klephtic songs with
Akritic eletnents interwoven with ne....-er types, the substance of the modem
era, make up a certain link with the folk medieval civilization. And other
example! which I shall pmlCnt below. prove 1 think,that Byzantium was
not "biblical" but Grook, at least in substance.
'This intellectual link with the past can also be attributed to art. Well 10
known are the works of the Greek and foreign art historians who studied the
cultural awakening in the thirteenth and fourt.eenth centuries and recognised
survivals of ancient Greek cultural elements (of classical and. Hellenistic re-
presentations and forms). which from the far off PMt have not ceased to in-
herit from each other from generation to generation in popular artistic cirdes.
Sometimes they continue to prevail in artistic life and in other cases they ret~
rcat and enter a sect)nd destiny. Characteristic are the: dedm."tions of Kurt
Weitzmann. particularly those wruch are referred to in his studies of the ilw
lum.:inated. manuscripts of the tenth and eleventh centuries. The miniatum
in the manuscript of Pseudo-Qppianos have particular value.- In the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries we observe: a large use of ancient Greek: dements
in literature also.
We must also keep in mind thefoUowing: facts, which givcus an idea of the
position held by the monaiitc:ries not only as cct'ltres -of ascetic isolation and
stndy of theological texts, hut also as manuscript tactories, as it were. and as
study centres of the intellectual treuures of ancient Greece. Already in the
fust volUllle of my History [ have referred to the fact: that in the libraries of
the monasteries thtre were many ancient Greek te;'(ts available to !$Cholan
interested in classical learning. Cedn:1lus, speaking of the renowned Leon
the Mathematician (ninth century), writes that when he had heard rbetork,
phi)O$ophy and. mathematics from the phiioSoOpher Michael PseUos the elder,
the pupil of Photius, he afterwards went round the monasteries and explored
their libraries looking for the re1evallt books....And finding and studying
diligently" Cedrenus says "he raisedhimstlf to this point (If learning. .. • Let
me note too the efforts of the Lascarids to ooUeet manuscripts "of all the
urt.s and sciences," to set up public libraries III and school! of higher edu.-
lj, ~ eumple5 of 1M inrhulDoc Qr :iCholcn OIl tile pwple mO, Ttlfnili, 1'1w~ft4
ail: Xlye rllc1t!, P.a.rh. J913. pp. l57~161.
Yi. HUJl$ef. "Von wu~hnIt .•. H, JBO<J Ii (1959) 137,
'"
of textual criticillm. something which happened verylatel' on. In particu1.ar
when Triclinius wants to publish a text he does not rely on one manuscript
alone but on the divergent readings of many. If these scholars were dry and
pedantic how can we explain the fact tbnt contemporary foreign scholars-l
leave aside Greeks since they could -possibly be accused of ancestor worship
- express admiNtlon for them? And they admire them not only (or t.I'1cir
method but also for their sharp cdtical mind. TIw: gteat Wilamowitz himself
wrote of Tridinius. "D. T, ist in Warheit eher als der erste modeme Trasi~
kerkritiker zu fUhren." $1 Well is this movement "an upswing, as Mango
says 39 not a renaL<t~nce - (If classical scholarship and even of scholastic
science?" And what was the oot'n::$ponding movement at that time i~ Europe?
The positive sciences too, all Hunger hlmself informs us, have their own
representatives to show, They published ctroun works in astronomy and
disseminated the knowledge of the Greeks. :5 I do not intend to enumerate
these men of teaming here and in any case Hunger has dedicated a COllSider-
abJe number of pages to t-heJ:n in bis work. r would like to mentiou-only
one of them, who expresses the spirit of his nge and also th.e signs which prO-
pheSY the downfall of the Byzantine world; this man is Theodoros Metochi-
tes. ~ In spite of the fact that be is imbued with the ideas of nncient Greek
authors he nonetheless is disturbed at the same time by an internal crisis which
shatters his faith in the unique positi()n of the ancient Greek civiUr.ation in
humanity. and shalters also his faith in leaming.Cl. This same cdsis disturbed
Cydones a century later. Metochltes is tbe offspring of his tragic era. He com-
bines witmn himself the intellectual tradition of ancient Greece with the idea
of tbe instability of human affairs as he sees them unfolding before his eyes.
11ws perhaps we can find an explanation for the be1id of Metochites as of
many of his successors. in the ancient goddess Fate. a belief which does not
even stop at the acceptance of destiny or even fatallsm itself,u a belief which
it seems has never cea'>ed to exlst in both the Greek nation and in every
other nation on earth from ancient times up to the pteSiC11t day. This phe~
nomenon is very human, not only in Byzantium, and it suffers ups and
Wby however are Byzantine authors pIeued h,) call thernsdves Groeb?
Mango does not explain this for us. Sint:e 1 tnyself am reckoned among those
historian$: who are of the opinion that in this era Hellenism was reborn, and
whQ do not oon51del this: truth to be "restricted... I am bound to give a reply,
CMm. though I ha~ spoken at length on this subject in the rim voiu.n:le of my
Histoty.
This movement has a coruw;;tion with the struggles of the Creeks against
the conquerors, which sharpen their differences and awaken their feeling of
patriotism. Critical circumstanocs cultivate in the Greeks, through natural
necessity, a desire to go back to the past, where they seek again famous
personages to intitat:: ;rnodels. of ethical and military virtue. So Nlcaca and
ISlet Constantin.ople~ become the great centre. intellectual and artisti<.\ the
"store' house'" where the seeds of ancl.ent Grock dvili.zation are now but·
gconing. No doubt these seeds dit exist in previous ages and from time to
time brought forth their fruits. Otherwise how else could it have been pos-
sible for th-em to survive up to that time?
In these eonditions the characteristic Philhellenis:m develops and rinds i.ts
explanation. particularly in the rulers of Nicaca. and on occasions it n:aches
a piteh of great pathos and exaggeration. These are the same reasons that
were responsible for the same phenomenon around the end of the eighmenth
century and at the beginning of the nineteenth in the days before the Greek
revolution of 1821. Military. poiitical and inte11ectual leaden are inspired
by the idea of the revival of Hellenism. It is the soweal1ed "Great Idea"
as it was named in the nillt'teenth century. The Oreat Idea must be judged
impartially and objectivel, as a movement of ideas in its own time. Both
during the years of the empire of the Lascarids as well as in the years ot the
Turkish occupation it was seeking for the emancipation and the lmi;.'ication
of the enslaved Greek population. So we find an explanation for the irrecon~
cilable CQnm","! between the 'lao;carids and the FrllJlk.s. a conflict which finds
it~ epl8rammatical exp~sion in a letter of John m DtK:as Vatatz.es (between
1237-1241) to Pope Gregory IX. whme he says:
We shalt never cea&e fightiog and. warring: against those who
have et1.-'11aved Constantinople. For we are violating the precepts of
nature, the laws of our native lands, the tombs of our forefathers
and our sacrtd and holy inWtutions unless we fight with all our force
on bebalf of all these thi:ng5....
----
%. See L S«kkeliono, ."·A\I(:~ balJ1'~ wI) 'lmwoo 6.o1)J:Q B.ncfG1j ~ Wv
~ rt)TJ1QpJ;ov. (\\/I;I)~au tv ~.. (Unpublbhed !clUJI' or
sOOn Dub VIltatZCI
II!
And among the masses of the people the faith in liberation is never aban-
doned even in the most difficult times when one Greek city after iUlOtber
'MiS being enslaved, JO$t as their endavemeot iii the Will of tho Lord, so also
will be their liberation. r shall pass .over all the other folk: manifestations
and note only the feeling of the popular poet fr<m the remote Black Sea re~
giOB, to whom Mango makes scme aII'llSioIl. And because he Wl.!!t a folk poet
~ is obviously expressing the feelings 0-1 his fellow cou.ntrymen:
-"Don'1 cry, dOll't cry. Saint JOM. and punish yourself so harshly!'
-"But Romania's been taken, Romania is gone!'
-"But if Romania is gone'! will bloom again and bring fortb frolt." fi7
See also the same ending in the song entitled '"The Dirge of the Sun":
-"Saint John. stay patient and tm:e consolation,"
-"The Hellenes are strong at'l.d: flourish and bring forth new fruits. U PO
to Pope OrqOI)' r.,Wlcf to Pat:mos). 'A.~a.wt> t (J8?2) 369-318 (with wrona numbcriDg).
See ako V. Grun:Id. "L'lulhenticib! do lA Iet:ttt. de 1_ Va!.iUml:, an¢t'eur dl N'JC6e. all
}>ape ~ DC"'. &MM d'Or/.e1fl 29 (It)O) 4»4j8.
<47, P. 1'rilUltaphyllidi&. OI1't'yd&" t\Hl,uc _k nJ',n ~II"I~ ,u.nd ~ ~At}'l>.ubnw
~ IT6nw (The Re!UpillO. II. druM lD fjv¢ u:t$ with looa prolC!fpJmml. aboot tbe lUaI:t
51»). Atbtm 1870, p. $1.
48, L KioW't.ddis. ""TpayaU6U1 '1'06 n6V$OO" (SocIaa <If the Blao:k Sea), H~ol0ai0n
:o,titiI ~ 4 (193$) 128.
119
_ po_
10 live in the souls of many Greeks - even in the souls of the cle:tgyrnen. who
suppo«d '" """'PI the most infI_ of the cluttch. CemIin
very famous name;s should not be passed oVC't. First 00 the list is Nik. Sopma,.
nos {16th century). who, inspired by the glory of the ancient GJeeh: W1d with
the dtsin: to help hi, fcl10w 0 0 , " , _ ~ the _ importance
of the living :mother tongue for the awuening and the rebirth of the fallen
Cit'eek peoplo. The indispensable tool for the usc of this ladgllBge must of
course be its grammar. So be undertook and finished in lS14 th.i9 useful work.
which temaincd unpublished untD 1810. when it was published by Legrand,
:together with the U'anslation of ""The Edac.ation of Ch.if.d:reu" by Plutarch."
52. ~041 Sdtolarios, ..AnIlFT4 {Tbe ~ w«b}. vol. 1. p. 2Sj, voL •• p. 230.
:53. Qp. dt.. YOJ. 1, 184. S«'I tho P. 21J. wl. 3 P. 2.8i1.181 fro
.54. P. Mott. LN O~ nc., Paris. U5J. p. 3']b,
55. 'l"hc book: $(lId Out ao qulo;tly that l.estUId wu ohJiitd !dUs' foot ycIItS to SO fot
• tet::m.nl tJdItioo wi!b tbe titlo Nic. So~ ~ liM B"f!C ~ ~, tradll&ritM
.. ~ ~ liM rNlltl flit Phdarqlle n:r r~ "" ffl/antA, pubtita pat E. lJ:o~
PaN. 1814.
He allows his deep mpect and enthusiasm for the demoDe language to maoj~
fest itself in his speech in Latin to Cardinal John. pri.ru:c of Lorraine, where
he writes tlult the demotic they call "V'I1lgarem" in no way is inferior to
its corresponding ancestor, t.ha.t is, the language used by Plato, Demosthenes
lI.nd XenOophon. w It was his aim to help in the rebirth of the nation. taking
as a starting point the intellectual treasures of its ancient a~ton;;, since,
from whatever scholars he sought advice on "how the dreadful state of
illiteracy could be rorrceted". they al! with one voice replied that the situ..
ation would improve when the majority would hi: educated and begin to
study and undet'Stand the tc:d.s of the ancient Greeks.
Sophianos proouced also two other works, the 3..\t,.rononlical work on the
"Construction and use of the J:pU(())t~ w"poMlJkx;;" and the "description of
Greece," with the «Maps of Greece," a geographical map. and the forerunner
of the map of Regas. This contained Asia Minor, Epirus, Iilyna and Dalmatia.
Here again we see the Great Idea in the thick darkness of slavt:ry,-of course
outside reality but at Jeast without pretensions.
Another scholar who should not be ignored is the Greek Simon Portios
who never ceases to be a great patriot and a worshipper Oof the ancients. as
Sophisnos also waliL He wrote a Grammar o[ the demotic language which he
published in 1638 and dedicated to. the all powerful Cardinal Richelicu, In
his dedication he finds the appropriate moment to present tbb now no longer
recognisable Greece kneeling as a suppliant at }lis feet and he eltpn::sses amOong
other sorrows the sufferings of the enslaved:
Let it not seem strange to you if perhaps you see Gt'cooo
bowed before your feet, no longer that famous Greece renowned
for the writings of her ancient authors, but Greece as she is today.
wretched, even rude and in !lome ways. still wrapped in her swaddling
Clothes. She, I mean, who. has tasted nOot onty once the splendid
benefits of your frced~ since io the hour of your good fortune .:he
sees a brighter light and lives a more blessed life and desires to adom
you if not with rhetoric and fiDe phrases with the full yearning of a
good h__ . . .. .
Take pity. I beg you, most noble ruler on the most beartfelt
allegiance and supplication of your servant Greece, Only allow ber
with the spleodol,ll' of your glOory toe enjoy the light of the aun which
is common to all, and as she is surrendered into your hands allow
ber to n:turn agAin to her ancie1lt splendour and fteed.om. U
---
$6, SQ1)ltif..nOlto op. dr¥ p. )3.
'7. So~ 4/>. dt.. pp. 9.14. For !.be authOR of detmotic fl1lI1Jfl\Ift .eo llso P.
122
Other clergy:rrte11lllso ate the carriers not only of the ancient Greek ideas
but also of the ideas of the Christian Byzantine world. Indeed a prominent po..
sition is held by the famous Cretan theologian Maximos MargoUJ'\los (I 549--
J602}. Hi:!! frequent correspondence with distinguished personalities of Ortho-
doxy and the West. as well as the "'<Iriet)' of the subjeru which occupied him
1Ibow bis deep theological and literary knowledge." Margoumos is weI! known
also as the editor of many literary and tb.eological texts which made a great
impression on Western schotars. and lent a certain splendour to the blackened
name of Greece. He ill ono of the tare penonatitil:$ of tbe Grock world who
was distinguished both for his great ethical and inteUet."tual talents, a broad-
ness of outlook, a vast store of learning and It steadfast obedience to
the precepts of this learning. In add.ition to all this be was nQt dogmatic
and WM very tolerant to the ideas of othm. - In him as in Chrysoioras. and
Bessarion, WOfe the attributes of the harmonious conception and ¢(imposition
of the Greek: ChrimlUl world.
Afterwards lUlotner !.Cho1ar makes his appearance 00 the horizon. the
ooly powerful penionality who can come faoc to face conclusively with the
critical Inrernal and external cil:cumstance~ of OrthOOoxy and bring his
vitality into its intellectual existence. This scholar was Meletios Pegall', (1S49--
16(1) renowned not only for his humility and his inteUect but also for his:
authority. He was from Candia or Megalo Castro in Crete, a student of the
monk Meletios Vlastos; lakr he studied classicU literature, philosophy and
medicine in Padua. eo
The works of Meletios are dogmatic. confe!tSiol1s ofOrtbodoxy atld also.
a~ was natural at that time. belligeranUy agaiMt the Catholic Church. The
focal point of his work is his support to the position of Orthodoxy towards
the decisions of the synod. of Florence. With his work, "'The Orthodox.
Teaching," it seems, be made his greatest mark ou the people and for this
OtqOtiou, E%rot" .1lIWhJttlb-.ru d{l6~M' (Rdatiooa of tbe Catholic3 J.1ld itr;e Ortll~
dOlt), AthMt, 1958, p, 210-282, 296 If.
58. Thl: biblJolfapllY ~ the pe!"IlOI). his worb aod hil k\tm can be fouad to
P. DnepckI.des, "o.:r Brid~ dC$ MuirnO! MugWliOll, Bischof von Kytb¢nt (l$49.
J602)", Jdltrb/Kh do thtt:rN1rd.~ft By:wntnllMett GmiucM,fl. 1 (1951) 13.(,6, Soc al80
R. Ko6I!, L'hl$1vht: • ld li{l/rG(UFt: ~r:l-6'#Cq/g, UpP'ltla, 1962, Pl!. 2.8.5~2U.
~. SI:'I6 Kn!)s, Dp. (if., lIP. 28&281.
60. TIw chid oolkcted bibl108filphy on thl:<l ~lity I! in N. TomadUis. '''A\It1dk)-
tm bn~t Md.!:-dou ~ nrrrft Tl'p.);; Tilv ttpliv 11(","fl\l Tot> r&pvtt't(Hl" (UnpubI!.sbod
~ vi' MdctiOl! Ptsu to tM n'I.OlWtery of Gdernetou). ~j~ X~",d S {l951}
263 tI.LS«o IIbo Ute new wode ofO. V~, M,UnO\: n'1~. ~O'''''''1y1} (M.ele~
Pesal, O:ryWPYi'C), A~ 19'8, pp. 12·1It
123
reason it was translated into the simple tOngue." Abo of intercstartlhi$ many
.ilfetters, published and unpublished. which .ueed to be collected inti) a body
and pubtisbed ~allSe they are addrCS$ed not on\}' to various imp<lrtant
personages. kings, clergy of high rank, scholars and $0 fOTth, but also to cIerI)'
of lower rank and ordinary ~p1e of the ~; they oontaiu a great bulk
of useful information fOr the: u:n.deTsta.nding of the social, ptJUtical, religious
and intellccwa1 b.ll>tory of the country. lit
Hom:wer of much grtat".r importance are his speeches which have been
preserved under the title. "A Ptriod of Eyangelical Teaching," far they e:«'l'Ciscd
a great influence on the Greek: people and. show how indispensable for Pega."!I
was the need to ~ of aid to the people and to enlightco them on the various
topics which he faced every day. And the importmt fuct was that be
realised that in order to C()!Umu.nic-att witb the people he hM to speak the
living language. This Wa.& a fact that other great contemporaries or
his itlso
rcalis«!. as for instanoe JeKmiah II,"
The speeches of Peg:u are the living, natiotW., rc1i.gious admonition of
an intellectua11eader to the Greek P«>'ple in order to sober and encourage them,
He i$ an enemy of luxury Md insobriety, which. he maintain$, paralyse the
youth and lead it astra}'. He condemns ph",ical and exhorts inl;etlect\\al gra.ti~
ficabom. He: also condemns WOntet1 who run to magicians, witcbA. aad
gipsies or who believe: in various superstitions, he censures women who
wear men.·s cklthlng. and so on. /If
He laments. however. over the degeneration o.f the Greek race, which
had become a pawn of tbc ..,.eop1es of Western Europe and of Ute infidels:
1 roo. llUIl1::nt over the misfomlne of our rare and I will go
on lamenting lest the heretics atld infidels, who u..;e uS as 8. pawn in
their game and who deride us sho.uld tronk that we do llut realise
Out <:ompietdy fo.t58.ken stak and are satisfied wIth it ...
He docs not rorget hi'! race and he is proud of it:
. You a~ that scorned race of the RomtWs, who once ruled the
61 .. Sr.e 1'~ qp. clf'f 2ti:M!I6,
iS2. For tb.e oodioe$. of the $~ of M. ~~ and in panieuJat for numbel llS4Parit.
which tmltiiillll t~ unputili1iobed $~ 5e!il tbe study of M. L M~1lS. "'0 h'
op. 1254 Mplm;« tL\l'lVUC~ ~~ 1(61 il X(;I!)Cf)'pl!tQ<lt; m~ t$v 0itV.t&v 'C'OO Ma-
~ [l1itd" (ParisinU!! or. codex lV4 and the rMn\JSi\'.l'(pt tn\ditiOD. of the ~ of
M~lO$ J:"ep$). '~eJ;; lJ'aftlIW\l'OXOV 'AexdrH) 3(1951) l-U. ~ &.foo A. Nlkold;is,
Mdin<><; n7j~, .; Kw" wnll'~m' 'A~aWew." lSO-161Yl {Meletios Pep.. the
~ patriar.::h or Altun&11Il, 1545-10(2), Chama, 1\103, p.76, 136 o. :z. 1$.2 iT.
61. S« YacaJopoUl<n. (lP, cIt., Vol. B (J96f) po 259-261.
6l VaJota, l1w!i.t; ~~, 151-1::):] ancl 3OS-106. ISS. v~ op.dt,. ~l96.
124
!lOW publlilbod (Of ~ f'1t1l lime),' Ath«l.l 1937. pp. 68,80. He cifCll J. MartbalI, A" &sum
Patrian:h tit &$laJW uItd G~. London 1925, pp. 3J rr.
69. Sec K. I. Ouovouniotia. "M.'lt~vov,; Kpl"W1WUl.oiJ b.vk6o-fo,; Ypaj4UlnK1\ tfi'
Cd-1l~ W,'lVk1l.... (The Unpuhlilhod Oramm.t.t of the ~ Lq;ua., 0f MIrtropbaDja.
J<ritopouJ.ot). '&urr. '~ 9aMor. EXCJl. Ilawmm:. 'A~ 1 (1924) 121~122,
70. Duovouniotil. 0;. til." pp. 121.Jll.
11. DuovounioUa. op. cit.. p. 101,
n. See VatalopoWOlI, "P. cil" vol. B. pp. ;z$4.15',
13. Dw::mlDiotis,. tIP. dt.. p. 101.
''''
There are yet other Greek scholars and. indeed clergymen. who dQ not a~
void the etbnic terminologies "Helkn" and "'Hellas." ~4 ~ Grtek scholar of
the r.eventecotb century, Christophoros Angelos, entitles his work as follows:
""Manual on the state of the existing ffeUenes'" and he signs himself as a
·'Hellen." ft Even the villager Papa~Synadin()$ of Serres in Macedonia. USC'll
indiscrim.in.ately the ethnic terminologies, "Roman," "Hellen" and "Grccos." 'It
And this phenomenon is a general OM. Not a siJlile one of these names has
survived in a positive way. The fall of Constantinople put a stop to tho pttIw
valence of the teru1 "Hellen." The Greek oonsck-nce is battling to overcome
the all pow~rfu1 oblrtacles of slavery, mlteracy and the ecclesiastieaJ tradition,
whicb identified the meanings "Hellen" and "National" (heathen). This
in a few words was the intellectual crisis of the Greeks during the TurJdsh
occupation.
So the stale of mind of the Greek people was not By;t.3ntine up to 1800
and even later. as Mango writeS. 11 [t !Ulffif.lejl for one to take a gtance at the
"HeJlenikl Nomarchia," which was pub~ished in lta1y in 1806 by 1hc "anonyw
mollS C'Jl'eek." His text L<; full of the ethnic \ernl"HeUen:'" So parallel witb
the Byzantine Christian tradition there exihiS alw tllt Hellenic tTadition.
Finally. contrary to the theme that Mango develops, "'that B}'7.<Ultiwn
as a systetn of thought had nothing in COmmon with the HeUenism of the
nineteenth century. nor bave we discovered a tine leading from the one to
the other,"" [ belie\'e that the idea of HeUcnism permeates the entire dll~
ration of tbe Turkish occupation-perhaps extremely feebly in the early cen-
turies-and it galns force in tbe time of the enlightenment of the Greeks
aroWld the end of the eighteenth and the beglruting of the nineteenth ~twy.
74. See J. 0e0IgiMues, A DtscriptfM' c/rM j'rt!stml Slatt 0/ SamI». NI~. Potmol awl
Mr. Ath"" Lnndon. 1678.
7'. Orrist AngellO!!, 'En'~WI' :I'Rl4'l T~ lm'flJt:!'t&~ tWtr mI~ ~~
•BU-4_ {Manual on the S~ of the c:liltil1l ~, Ldpzig. 1516.
76. See P. ~ ~e<lr>«l ~~ (Cbronick:s or ~), AtbenJ 1938,\101. 1.
iI: "1'0 Xpovu.Ov t1'l)v l:epp/flv roCi nQ1UU:N'iloililvoCi ~. tl0U7Ii:JY1.I(~~" (l"bo
Otronick! of SunI$ of Papasynadinot with an iptroolJCWl)' study)., pp. 1·72.
77. Macao. CIp. cll., p. 4l.
73. TbIi!I AnonymoUl 0._. 'Ell,.,,1XI} ,Yopaq'1.la. (Uelleniki N~)" I1aly. 1S06.
2nd edition, Introduction. ~ S1udy N . .D. T~daliI, Atben&, 1.90C8.
19. ~ 0;. cfl., p. 36. .