What is the identity of Greeks today? Who is a Greek? What does it mean to be Greek? What do the Greeks of the modern age have to contribute in terms of their beliefs and experiences that are distinct from the contributions made by the Classical Greeks?
Much of the Greek PR aims to highlight the legacy and culture of the Classical Greeks: their philosophy, literature, architecture, and science. But when I got to thinking about it I realized that modern Greeks are a different people than those older Greeks and have a different cultural makeup – namely, that of an Orthodox Christian, Roman people for 1000 years that were under Islamic, Turkish leadership for another couple hundred years. You see this very strongly in the food. For example, most filo pastries are Ottoman inventions and exist in modern Turkey as well. Is there a lasting legacy of Classical Greece in the modern Greek state? Absolutely. But no more than all the other peoples that should be considered equal inheritors of Classical Greek culture, which at the very least includes all the peoples who live in countries that were formally territories of the Western Roman Empire and all the places that the Romans occupied and traded. That includes England, Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy, but also any Germanic or Slavic nation that uses a Latin or Latin-derived alphabet. By extension, this includes the peoples who live in former colonies of the European powers in the 15th century, constituting the English-, French-, Spanish-, and Portuguese-speaking world. All these peoples have cultures that can trace parts of their origins to Classical Greece. In that sense, much of the world is no less “Greek” than the citizens of the Hellenic Republic or the descendants of the Greek diaspora of the 20th century, such as myself.
What is noteworthy, however, is the distinct cultural attitudes, practices, and worldview of the new “Greeks” – these Turkish- and Muslim-influenced Byzantine Roman people. Who are these people, I wonder? What new things do they have to teach us? What is unique about their perspective?
Already Ridiculous 