by ChomskyFan » Sat Aug 06, 2005 2:51 pm
There was a communal identity, but it's base pair was a primitive form of 'family-tribe' based, as opposed to the beginning of Greek dominance where the base pair of identity was 'City-Greater Hellenistic World', and that goes for most of the World at that time, not just The Greek World. For example, there was a sort of 'Social Order' in cities that still survives to this day. E.g. Those from Athenian Society in the Athenian age considered themselves the centre of the Hellenistic World because of Athenian Cultural dominance - Macedonians were still considered Greeks, but culturally they were believed to be inferior, but there still was some semblence of Greek Identity and Greek Unity, quite a developed one in fact, as evidenced in Institutions such as The Delian League and other various Alliances in today's Greece and beyond at the time - Such Institutions however only really blossomed when Greeks at the time realized a threat (such as The Persian one) required that they take up arms not in the interest of their city, but of their culturally unified region, the unifying factors were usually Language and Culture, and beyond that an evolutionary process of National Identity began, this is later examined in the Roman Periods, with the emergence of 'Greco-Roman' Civilization, basically, The military conquest of Greece by Rome in 146 BC resulted in the cultural conquest of Rome by Greece. As the Roman poet Horace said, "Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio." (Captive Greece took her rude captor captive and brought the arts into uncultured Latium), Actually, Greek influence on Roman education had begun about a century before the conquest. The Romans adopted the same general educational strategies as the Greeks, and it became custom in Rome in the latter stages of the Republic and the early Empire for Romans of Noble Birth to send their children to one of the Great Schools of learning in Athens. The eventual amalgamation of Greek and Roman ideals resulted in a sort of unifying factor between the Greeks and the Romans (as evidenced as the word 'Roman' becoming a pseudonym for 'Greek' in the early stages of Byzantine dominance - pre Heraclius, mostly during Justinian's reign).
This resulted in an eventual schism though, as The Roman and Greek Worlds had in effect Culturally unified the division was found elsewhere, it was between the 2 main sects of the Empire, The Greeks and The Latins - We commonly refer to The Eastern Roman Empire as 'The Byzantine Empire' to give some sense of differentiation, but this is wrong, the Byzantines always considered themselves Romans in the early stages of Byzantium, (but in the early 10th Century, the word 'Hellene' started to come into use again above that of the word 'Roman'), though in reality the East had been Greek long before the Schism, and The Schism and eventual official division (religion based), merely confirmed what had always been a reality, Heraclius only made it official, making the Official Language Greek, removing Latin traditions, recodifying laws pioneered under Justinian all in Greek. Though, as mentioned this was merely legitimizing what had always been the case.
What is interesting in studying the Evolution of the Greek National Identity is the Byzantine War with the Persians in the late 7th Century, when Emperor Heraclius emphasized a Greek National struggle against the Persians. In conclusion, I believe that Greek National Identity began with The Civilizations such as the Minoans and Myceneans, simply because they built the foundations upon which Civilizations such as Athens and Sparta developed, and eventually the Hellenistic Age, which under Alexander united the Greek World. The real fruition of the Greek National Identity though, came in Byzantine Times as an idea of Greek Unity fully flowered, as many Historians state it was the precursor to the Modern Hellenic Republic, and still has a strong hold on the people there today, with things such as the noble Megali I8ea. The most common theme among Historians today when studying the Greek National identity is the role of Byzantium, 'The Empire that became a Nation, that became a protecterate, that became a State', in brief, the pre-Athenian Civilizations, as stated, laid the groundwork for unity in what developed under Athenian (Delian League et al), Hellenistic, and eventually Byzantine Greece.
) is a descendent of a fusion of cultures and civilisations, including Roman and Greek and one of which I am equally proud to belong to. As a European, Greek civilisation is also a fragment of my being so I can claim to be as 'Greek' as you are.
