Greeks

Greeks
(Έλληνες)

File:Greeks.JPG Ioannis Kapodistrias • Pericles • El Greco •Alexander the Great
Total population
approx. 17,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Greece	10,196,539 (2001 census)
United States	1,291,381a (2005 census)
Cyprus	618,455 (2001 census)
Australia	365,147 (2006 census)
Germany	320,000 (2006 estimate)
United Kingdom	300,000 (estimated)
Canada	215,105 (2001 census)
Russia	97,827 (2002 census)
Ukraine	91,500 (2001 census)
Albania	58,785 (1989 census)
Brazil	25,000 - 30,000
Elsewhere	see Greek diaspora
Languages
Greek
Religion
Predominantly Greek Orthodox, with Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Atheist and other minorities.
a An estimated 3,000,000 claim Greek descent.

The Greeks (Template:Lang-el, IPA: [ˈelines]) are a nation and ethnic group who have populated Greece and the area of the Aegean Sea for over 3,500 years. Today they are primarily found in the Balkan peninsula of southeastern Europe, the Greek islands, Cyprus, and throughout the world as part of the Greek diaspora.

Ancient Greek colonies and communities were established throughout the Mediterranean, including Magna Graecia, Marseille and Barcelona, but Greek people have always concentrated around the Aegean coasts, where the Greek language has been spoken since antiquity. The Mycenaeans were the first historical people to arrive in the area now referred to as 'Greece'. According to Thucydides, the name of Hellas spread from a valley in Thessaly to all Greek-speaking peoples through Homer's works.

During the Byzantine Empire, which was dominated by ethnic and linguistic Greeks, the culture shifted away from paganism and ancient philosophies in favor of Christianity and a successor empire to Rome. The Byzantine Empire was overcome by the Ottoman Empire, but the Greeks who lived at the core of that Empire did not lose their ethnic identity. As a result, until the early 20th century, Greeks were distributed across the southern Balkan peninsula, the western coast of Asia Minor, Pontus, and Constantinople, regions which coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization.

Other ethnic Greek populations can still be found from Southern Italy to the Caucasus and diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, the vast majority of Greeks self-identify as Greek Orthodox Christians.

Names used for the Greek people

Main article: Names of the Greeks

Family group on a grave marker from Athens, National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Greek heroine Laskarina Bouboulina.

Throughout the centuries, the Greeks have been known by a number of names, including:

• Pelasgians (Πελασγοί) - The ancient Greek references to the Pelasgians are confusing. However, some ancient Greek and Roman writers describe them as Greeks.
• Hellenes (Έλληνες) - In mythology, Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, received from the nymph Orseis three sons, Aeolus, Dorus and Xuthus. Aeolus and Dorus, and two sons of Xuthus, Achaeus and Ion were the legendary founders, respectively, of the four principal tribes of Hellas, the Aeolians, Dorians, Achaeans and Ionians. Originally, only a small tribe in Thessaly were called Hellenes, but the word soon extended to the rest of the peninsula and came to represent all Greek people. In early Christian times it was sometimes used to mean "pagans". It remains in Greece today, the primary national name.
• Greeks/Grecs (Γραικοί) - In mythology, Graecus was the brother of Latinus and nephew to Hellen. It was the name of a Boeotian tribe that migrated to the Italian peninsula in the 8th century BCE and probably through contact with natives there brought the term to represent all Hellenes, which then established itself in Italy and in the West in general. Aristotle and Apollodorus mention that it was the name used by Greeks before adopting the name Hellenes
• Romioi (Ρωμιοί) - Romans is the political name by which the Byzantine Greeks called themselves during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In parts of mainland Greece and Asia Minor, the use of this name survived well in the 20th century. The name in antiquity signified the inhabitants of the city of Rome in Italy, but with the elevation of the Greeks in the Roman Empire, it soon lost its connection with the Latins and acquired a completely different definition. Roman Emperor Caracalla with his Constitutio Antoniniana (212) granted all free people in the Roman Empire citizenship. The term Roman (Romaios) represented for the Greeks their Roman citizenship and their Hellenic ancestry. The word Romaioi came to represent the Greek inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire. It remains still in use today in Greece, being the most popular national name after Hellene and in Turkey to signify the Greek Orthodox minority. It is found also in the Koran; one Surah is entitled Ar-Rum meaning the eastern Romans, Byzantines, or the Greeks.
• Achaeans, Argives, and Danaans are names used interchangeably by Homer, to signify the Greek allied forces.
• Yavan or 'Javan', traditionally in Hebrew, Javan was the name of the tribe (and then the nation) which, according to the Torah, migrated from early Biblical times to establish the Balkan peninsula.
• Yunan (Ίωνες), and Yavana were names used by Indians who encountered Alexander the Great and his successors who ruled areas of Central Asia. Originally from the Persian Yauna, itself a transliteration of the Greek Ionia, is the name by which the Greeks are known in the East today. The term became established in Asia from the Persians, who in contact with the Ionian tribes in western Asia Minor in the 6th century BC, extended the name to all Hellenes.

History of the Greeks

The history of the Greek people is closely associated with the history of Greece, Constantinople, and Asia Minor. During the Ottoman rule of Greece, a number of Greek enclaves around the Mediterranean were cut off from the core, notably in Southern Italy, the Caucasus, Syria and Egypt. By the early 20th century, over half of the overall Greek-speaking population was settled in Asia Minor (now Turkey). During the 20th century, a huge wave of migration to the United States, Australia, Canada and elsewhere created a Greek diaspora.

Modern and ancient Greeks

The most obvious link between modern and ancient Greeks is the language, which has enjoyed a documented tradition from at least the 14th century BC to the present day, some 3400 years. The Byzantinist Robert Browning, compares its continuity of tradition to Chinese alone.

Modern scholars and scientists have supported the notion that there is a dominant racial connection to the ancient Greeks. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi, and Alberto Piazza, have found evidence of a genetic connection between the ancient and modern Greeks. Recent genetic analyses of Greek populations have provided strong evidence supporting the existence of overwhelmingly significant levels of continuity between ancient Greeks and modern Greeks (low admixture attributed to genetic isolation due to physical barriers such as hills and mountains).

On the other hand, some scholars, notably popular in Nazi Germany, have supported the refuted theories of the 19th century historian Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer, who claimed that the ancient Greeks genetically disappeared at some point, and as modern Greeks have no genetic or cultural connection to them, Europe owes them nothing. His essays were refuted by numerous scholars of his time and were characterised by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities as biased and unscientific.

Culture

Religion

The majority of Greeks are Eastern Orthodox Christians, belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church. There are also small groups adhering to other Christian denominations or religions. The main non-Orthodox Christian denomination are Roman Catholics, and more recently Evangelicals and other Protestant groups. Since the days of the Ottoman Empire there has been a Muslim minority within Greek society, and for much of its history, Greece has had a Jewish community.

See also:

• Roman Catholicism in Greece
• Islam in Greece
• Jews in Greece

National flag of Greece The national emblem of Greece The national emblem of Greece

The double-headed eagle flag of the Greek Orthodox Church The double-headed eagle flag of the Greek Orthodox Church The pre-1978 flag of Greece

Symbols

The most widely used symbol used by Greeks is the flag of Greece, which features nine equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white representing the nine syllables of the Greek national motto "Ελευθερία ή θάνατος" (Eleftheria i thanatos – freedom or death), which was also the motto of the Greek War of Independence. The blue square in the upper hoist-side corner bears a white cross, which represents Greek Orthodox Christianity. The Greek flag is also widely used by the Greek community in Cyprus (which has officially adopted a neutral flag so as to ease ethnic tensions with the Turkish minority – see flag of Cyprus), and by the Greek minority in Albania, which has led to ethnic clashes with the ethnic Albanian majority.

The pre-1978 (and first) flag of Greece, which features a cross on a blue background, is widely used as an alternative to the official flag, and they are often flown together. The national emblem of Greece features a blue escutcheon with a white cross totally surrounded by two laurel branches. A common design involves the current flag of Greece and the pre-1978 flag of Greece with crossed flagpoles and the national emblem placed in front.

Another highly recognizable and popular Greek symbol is the double-headed eagle, the imperial emblem of the Byzantine Empire and a common symbol in Eastern Europe. It is not currently part of the modern Greek flag or coat of arms, although it is officially the insignia of the Greek Army and the flag of the Church of Greece. It had been incorporated in the Greek coat of arms between 1925 and 1926.

Names

See: Greek surname

Greek surnames are most commonly patronymics. Occupation, characteristic and location/origin-based surnames names also occur. Due to the lack of written records prior to the 19th century, surnames were not formally maintained and could be changed by occupation or characteristic. After the advent of widespread written records, surnames have remained constant handed down from father to children.

Timeline of Greek migrations

Distribution of the Hellenic races

Some key historical events have also been included for context, but this timeline is not intended to cover history not related to migrations. There is more information on the historical context of these migrations in History of Greece.

• Pre-29th century BCE — Greek tribes migrate into the Balkans.
• 20th century BCE — Settlements established on the Greek Peninsula
• 17th century BCE — Decline of Minoan civilization, possibly due to the eruption of Thera. Settlement of Achaeans and Ionians in the Greek peninsula (Mycenaean civilization).
• 13th century BCE — First colonies established in Asia Minor.
• 11th century BCE — Doric tribes move into peninsular Greece.
• 9th century BCE — Major colonization of Asia Minor.
• 8th century BCE — First major colonies established in Sicily and Southern Italy.
• 6th century BCE — Colonies established across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
• 4th century BCE — Campaign of Alexander the Great; Greek colonies established in newly founded cities of Ptolemaic Egypt and Asia.
• 2nd century BCE — Conquest of Greece by the Roman Empire. Migrations of Greeks to Rome.
• 4th century — Establishment of Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Migrations of Greeks throughout the Empire, mainly towards Constantinople.
• 7th century Slavic conquest of several parts of Greece, Greek migrations to Southern Italy take place. Byzantine Emperors capture main Slavic bodies and transfer them to Cappadocia. Bosphorus re-populated by Macedonian and Cypriot Greeks.
• 8th century Byzantine dissolution of surviving Sclaviniai and full recovery of the Greek peninsula.
• 9th century Retromigrations of Greeks from all parts of the Empire (mainly from Southern Italy and Sicily) into parts of Greece that were depopulated by the Slavic Invasions (mainly western Peloponnese and Thessaly).
• 13th century — Byzantine Empire dissolves, Constantinople taken by the Fourth Crusade; becoming the capital of the Latin Empire. Reconquered after a long struggle by the Empire of Nicaea, but fragments remain separated. Migrations between Asia Minor, Constantinople and mainland Greece take place.
• 15th century — Conquest of Byzantium by the Ottoman Empire. Greek diaspora into Europe begins. Ottoman settlements in Greece. Phanariot Greeks occupy high posts in Eastern European millets.
• 1830s — Creation of the Modern Greek State. Immigration to the New World begins. Large-scale migrations from Constantinople and Asia Minor to Greece take place.
• 1913 — Macedonia partitioned; Unorganized migrations of Greeks, Bulgarians and Turks towards their respective states.
• 1910s — approximately 353,000 Pontian Greeks killed [2].
• 1919 — Treaty of Neuilly; Greece and Bulgaria exchange populations, with some exceptions.
• 1923 — Treaty of Lausanne; Greece and Turkey agree to exchange populations with limited exceptions of the Greeks in Constantinople, Imbros, Tenedos and the Muslim minority (mainly Greeks, Pomaks, Roms and Turks) of Western Thrace. 1,5 million of Asia Minor and Pontic Greeks settle in Greece, and some 450 thousands of Muslims settle in Turkey.
• 1947 — Communist regime in Romania begins evictions of the Greek community, approx. 75,000 migrate.
• 1948 — Greek Civil War. Tens of thousands of Greek communists and their families flee into Eastern Bloc nations. Thousands settle in Tashkent.
• 1950s — Massive emigration of Greeks to West Germany, the United States, Australia, Canada, and other countries.
• 1955 — Istanbul Pogrom against Greeks. Exodus of Greeks from the city accelerates; less than 2000 remain today.
• 1958 — Large Greek community in Alexandria flees Nasser's regime in Egypt.
• 1960s — Republic of Cyprus created, as an independent Greek state, under Greek, Turkish and British protection. Economic emigration continues.
• 1974 — Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Almost all Greeks living in Northern Cyprus flee to the south and the United Kingdom.
• 1980s — Many civil war refugees were allowed to re-emigrate to Greece. Reverse migration of Greeks from Germany also begins.
• 1990s — Collapse of Soviet Union. Approx. 100,000 ethnic Greeks migrate from Georgia, Armenia, southern Russia and Albania to Greece.
• 2000 — Greece fully implements the Schengen Treaty.
• 2000s — Some statistics indicate the beginning of a trend of reverse migration of Greeks from the United States and Australia.

See also

• Demographics of Greece
• Byzantine Empire
• Greek American
• Greek Australian
• Greek Canadians
• Greek Cypriots
• Greek mythology
• Greeks in Great Britain
• Greeks in Hungary
• Pontic Greeks
• Greeks in Romania
• Greeks in Turkey
• Hellenistic civilization
• List of Ancient Greeks
• List of Greek Americans
• List of Greeks
• Karamanlides
• Sarakatsani
• Urums
• Kalash
• Genetic history of Europe

Notes

• Peter Mackridge, Eleni Yannakakis, eds., Ourselves and Others : The Development of a Greek Macedonian Cultural Identity since 1912, 1997. ISBN 1-85973-133-3.
• Peter Bien, "Inventing Greece", Journal of Modern Greek Studies 23:2 (October 2005), pp. 217-234.
• Michael Herzfeld, Ours Once More: Folklore, Ideology, and the making of Modern Greece, 1982. ISBN 0292760183
• Victor Roudometof, "From Rum Millet to Greek Nation: Enlightenment, Secularization, and National Identity in Ottoman Balkan Society, 1453-1821", Journal of Modern Greek Studies 16:1 (May 1998), pp. 11-48.
• Stephen Xydis, "Medieval Origins of Modern Greek Nationalism", Balkan Studies, Vol. 9 (1968), 1-20.
• Terry Deary, Martin Brown, "Groovy Greeks", 1996. ISBN 0-590-13247-4

External links

• Greeks on Greekness: The Construction and Uses of the Greek Past among Greeks under the Roman Empire, a conference on how Greeks imagined Greekness in relation to the past during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire.