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Category: History
How did the pre-Persian Semitic peoples of the Levant, Assyrian and Babylonian call the Greeks?
As OP clearly knows (by his “pre-Persian” restriction), the main Semitic name for Greeks, Yunan, derives from Persian contact with Ionian Greeks. We know that the Hittites used the term Achiyawa to refer to what we reasonably guess were the Achaeans; that’s contact dating from Mycenaean times. From Greek Contact with the Levant and Mesopotamia […]
Why does the Greek Orthodox Church have religious hegemony in Greece?
Start with Byzantium: Orthodox Christianity was the state religion, and heterodoxy was deemed treason. Jews and Muslims were tolerated in Byzantine Law as second class citizens; heretical Christians got the sword. In the Ottoman Empire, that continued with the Rum millet: Greek Orthodoxy defined the nation of Romans, which was considered to include Greeks. Catholicism […]
Was Napoleon Greek?
http://www.mani.org.gr/en/history/napoleon.htm Andrew Baird’s block on me means I cannot reply to commenters to his answer, either. So, Bill Killernic: Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes was the person who circulated the notion that Napoleon was Greek. She claimed that Napoleon had proposed to her mother, Panoria Stephanopoli, a Corsican Greek. Her claims are often repeated by […]
What is the relationship between Greek nationalism and the Greek Orthodox Church?
Before the Greek War of Independence: the Orthodox Church was hostile to nationalism. Nationalism was this newfangled, godless French thing that set the people against their god-appointed ruler. The Patriarchate was particularly outspoken against it, and described it as a heresy. That’s nationalism. Yes, you can say the Orthodox church helped preserve a notion of […]
What did Greeks contribute to the world in the last thousand years?
As Pieter van der Wilt said in comments: Well nothing really very outstanding. The great achievements of mankind during the last 200 years come mainly from highly industrialized nations (UK, France, Germany, USA, etc…). Greece is a small country with a fairly high level of creativity. All nations are great, because humanity is great. The […]
Has Melbourne been the financial center of activities for advocates of annexing Greek Macedonia to FYROM?
Oh, fuck. Let’s put it this way. And for the purposes of this answer, I’m going to assert that there is indeed a distinct Makedonski minority in Greece, rather than refer to FYROM overtly. If you were an ethnic Macedonian living in Florina/Lerin or Kastoria/Kostur, you had the option of embracing a Greek identity and […]
Why didn’t the reformation spread between Orthodox Christians?
I encourage my followers stumbling on this to read the other answers. (I always do!) My perspective is rather different from theirs. I’ll speak to Constantinople rather than Moscow, though I suspect it’s the same story. Under the Ottoman Empire, the Orthodox Patriarchate was two things which would have blocked the Reformation. The Patriarchate was […]
Who is the most famous Greek who was named Alexander in the previous 15 centuries (one for each century)?
Imma skip 19th and 20th centuries, which my Greek peers have already amply answered. EDIT: Filled in with the help of Uri Granta, for which my humble thanks. V century: Alexander of Apamea [Uri] VI: Alexander of Tralles, medical author VII: Alexander, bishop of Cotrada, participated in the 6th Ecumenical Council, 680–81 (Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen […]
What happened to the Greek population of South Italy?
I refer you to Nick Nicholas’ answer to Why does Grecani language not exist in Sicily (Magna Grecia)? From what I’ve read, the Greek-speaking population of Southern Italy gradually shrank geographically. It was quite a broad area in the 1600s; it was a much smaller area in the 1800s; and it’s pretty tiny now. In […]
When did the 1453 Fall of Constantinople become inevitable?
Matthew Sutton no longer posts on Quora, for reasons I entirely empathise with. Matthew has however left a ginormous comment on this question at https://www.quora.com/When-did-t… With his permission, I am citing his comment here. FWIW, I agree entirely with his answer; I’d researched the period as the setting of the Byzantine poem I’ve coauthored a […]