14. 7.

2019 Antique Names and Self-Identification: Hellenes, Graikoi, and Romaioi from Late Byzantium to the Greek Nation-State* - Oxford Sc…

Oxford Scholarship Online

Biology Linguistics Philosophy Religion
Business and Management Literature Physics Social Work
Classical Studies Mathematics Political Science Sociology
Economics and Finance Music Psychology
History Neuroscience Public Health and
Epidemiology
Law Palliative Care

Go to page: Go

Re-imagining the Past: Antiquity and Modern Greek Culture

Dimitris Tziovas

Print publication date: 2014

Print ISBN-13: 9780199672752
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: August 2014
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672752.001.0001

Antique Names and Self-Identification

Hellenes, Graikoi, and Romaioi from Late Byzantium to the Greek Nation-State*
Tassos A. Kaplanis

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672752.003.0005

Modern Greek popular culture has perceived Hellenes as mythical people who did not form part of the
ethnic Romaic identity, which was first shaped around 1204, but was not static and developed in
response to major political changes until it was officially replaced by the Hellenic national identity (in
the nineteenth century). In premodern times, some Greek-speaking people also described themselves as
Graikoi. These three ‘competing’ antique names, Hellenes, Graikoi, and Romaioi, were all candidates
for the name of the emerging Greek nation before the creation of its nation-state. But what was the
actual dissemination of these names? Were they all used as markers of ethnic identities, and by whom?
This chapter presents and discusses the various appearances and perceptions of Hellenes, Graikoi, and
Romaioi in premodern times, in both quantitative (with the use of technology) and qualitative terms. It
offers an overall picture that differs significantly from the one provided by the Greek national narrative,
and aims to challenge the ways in which our contemporary scholarship explores the relationship
between antiquity and modern Greece.

Keywords: Hellenes, Greeks, Byzantine Romans, early modern Greece, self-identification, ethnic identity, continuity, nationalism,
modernism, postmodernism

Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books
within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and

https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672752.001.0001/acprof-9780199672752-chapter-5 1/2
14. 7. 2019 Antique Names and Self-Identification: Hellenes, Graikoi, and Romaioi from Late Byzantium to the Greek Nation-State* - Oxford Sc…

keywords for each book and chapter.

Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.

To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .

Copyright © 2019. All rights reserved.

https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199672752.001.0001/acprof-9780199672752-chapter-5 2/2