195-473: The Greeks in Albania are ethnic Greeks who live in or originate from areas within modern Albania . They form the largest minority group in the country. They are mostly concentrated in the south of the country, in the areas of the northern part of the historical region of Epirus , in parts of Vlorë County , Gjirokastër , Korçë , and Berat County . The area is also known as Northern Epirus . Consequently,
390-400: A 2005 estimate more than 80% had migrated to Greece by then. In Greece, they were issued a "special identity card" in the 1990s. The special identity card was acquired not only by ethnic Greeks but by Aromanians from Albania or people who could demonstrate an Aromanian heritage as Aromanians were recognized by Greece as being of Greek origin and Orthodox Albanians. In 2005, the right to obtain
585-475: A Greek state. Herodotus gave a famous account of what defined Greek (Hellenic) ethnic identity in his day, enumerating By Western standards, the term Greeks has traditionally referred to any native speakers of the Greek language , whether Mycenaean , Byzantine or modern Greek . Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Romaioi ("Romans"), Graikoi ("Greeks") and Christianoi ("Christians") since they were
780-531: A bio-genetic affinity and continuity shared between both groups. There is also a direct genetic link between ancient Greeks and modern Greeks. Today, Greeks are the majority ethnic group in the Hellenic Republic , where they constitute 93% of the country's population, and the Republic of Cyprus where they make up 78% of the island's population (excluding Turkish settlers in the occupied part of
975-729: A break during the Greek Dark Ages from which written records are absent (11th- 8th cent. BC, though the Cypriot syllabary was in use during this period). Scholars compare its continuity of tradition to Chinese alone. Since its inception, Hellenism was primarily a matter of common culture and the national continuity of the Greek world is a lot more certain than its demographic. Yet, Hellenism also embodied an ancestral dimension through aspects of Athenian literature that developed and influenced ideas of descent based on autochthony. During
1170-530: A common Greek identity. In the historical period, Herodotus identified the Achaeans of the northern Peloponnese as descendants of the earlier, Homeric Achaeans. Homer refers to the "Hellenes" ( / ˈ h ɛ l iː n z / ) as a relatively small tribe settled in Thessalic Phthia , with its warriors under the command of Achilleus . The Parian Chronicle says that Phthia was the homeland of
1365-546: A context disputing their Greek ancestry. The Greek minority in Albania is located mostly compactly, within the wider Gjirokastër and Sarandë regions and in four settlements within the coastal Himarë area where they form an overall majority population. Greek speaking settlements are also found within Përmet municipality, near the border. Some Greek speakers are also located within the wider Korçë region. Due to both forced and voluntary internal migration of Greeks within Albania during
1560-816: A derogatory exonym for the Byzantines who barely used it, mostly in contexts relating to the West, such as texts relating to the Council of Florence , to present the Western viewpoint. Additionally, among the Germanic and the Slavic peoples, the Rhōmaîoi were just called Greeks. There are three schools of thought regarding this Byzantine Roman identity in contemporary Byzantine scholarship : The first considers "Romanity"
1755-494: A direct consequence of this situation, Greek-speakers came to play a hugely important role in the Ottoman trading and diplomatic establishment, as well as in the church. Added to this, in the first half of the Ottoman period men of Greek origin made up a significant proportion of the Ottoman army, navy, and state bureaucracy, having been levied as adolescents (along with especially Albanians and Serbs ) into Ottoman service through
1950-561: A distinct Aromanian national consciousness, however, was hampered by the tendency of the Aromanian upper classes to be absorbed in the dominant surrounding ethnicities, and espouse their respective national causes as their own. So much did they become identified with the host nations that Balkan national historiographies portray the Aromanians as the "best Albanians", "best Greeks" and "best Bulgarians", leading to researchers calling them
2145-615: A law that allowed members of the diaspora to vote in Greek elections; this law was repealed in early 2014. In ancient times, the trading and colonizing activities of the Greek tribes and city states spread the Greek culture, religion and language around the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins, especially in Southern Italy (the so-called " Magna Graecia "), Spain, the south of France and the Black sea coasts . Under Alexander
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#17327760746762340-625: A matter of course on being recruited through the devshirme —were to be found in Crete ( Cretan Turks ), Greek Macedonia (for example among the Vallahades of western Macedonia ), and among Pontic Greeks in the Pontic Alps and Armenian Highlands . Several Ottoman sultans and princes were also of part Greek origin, with mothers who were either Greek concubines or princesses from Byzantine noble families, one famous example being sultan Selim
2535-457: A minority ethnic Greeks who live in mixed villages and towns inhabited by both Greek and Albanian speaking populations, even in areas where ethnic Greeks form a majority (e.g. Himara ). Consequently, the Greek communities in Himarë , Korçë , Vlorë and Berat did not have access to any minority rights. Contrary to the official Albanian definition, which generally provides a limited definition of
2730-507: A mission to preserve the Orthodox faith there, and was executed as a Russian agent in the process. Due to reforms in the late Ottoman Empire and its ultimate collapse, legal discrimination against Christians in favor of Muslims was reduced and ceased entirely in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Under the People's Republic of Albania , the Orthodox faith adhered to by most ethnic Greeks
2925-496: A more archaic and faithful picture of the medieval Greek vernacular. The isolation of Albania during the years of communist rule, which separated the Greeks living in Albania from other Greek communities, also contributed to the slower evolution and differentiation of the local Greek dialects. The Greek dialect of Nartë and Zvërnec is characterized by northern vocalism . It is a conservative dialect, and has some isoglosses with
3120-450: A nation in the meaning of an ethnos , defined by possessing Greek culture and having a Greek mother tongue , not by citizenship, race, and religion or by being subjects of any particular state. In ancient and medieval times and to some extent today the Greek term was genos , which also indicates a common ancestry. Greeks and Greek-speakers have used different names to refer to themselves collectively. The term Achaeans (Ἀχαιοί)
3315-630: A part of their historic homelands, Peloponnese , from the Ottoman Empire . The large Greek diaspora and merchant class were instrumental in transmitting the ideas of western romantic nationalism and philhellenism , which together with the conception of Hellenism, formulated during the last centuries of the Byzantine Empire , formed the basis of the Diafotismos and the current conception of Hellenism. The Greeks today are
3510-635: A party which aims to represent that Greek minority in the Albanian parliament. In more recent years, tensions have surrounded the participation of candidates of the Unity for Human Rights Party in Albanian elections. In 2000, the Albanian municipal elections were criticised by international human rights groups for "serious irregularities" reported to have been directed against ethnic Greek candidates and parties. The municipal elections held in February 2007 saw
3705-542: A policy of assimilation, the Greek schools (there were over 360 until 1913) were gradually forced to close and Greek education was virtually eliminated by 1934. Following the intervention by the League of Nations, a limited number of schools, only those inside the "official minority zones", were reopened. During the years of the communist regime, Greek education was also limited to the so-called "minority zone", and even then pupils were taught only Albanian history and culture at
3900-524: A recent article in the Romanian media points out, the kindergarten, primary and secondary schools in the Albanian town of Divjakë where the local Albanian Aromanians pupils are taught classes both in Aromanian and Romanian were granted substantial help directly from the Romanian government. One of the only churches serving the Aromanian minority in Albania is the St. Sotir Church ( Ayiu Sutir ) of Korçë, which
4095-411: A sense of religious and cultural difference and exclusion (the word barbarian was used by 12th-century historian Anna Komnene to describe non-Greek speakers), a sense of Greek identity and common sense of ethnicity despite the undeniable socio-political changes of the past two millennia. In recent anthropological studies, both ancient and modern Greek osteological samples were analyzed demonstrating
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#17327760746764290-425: A separate identity. According to Frank Kressing and Karl Kaser in 2002, there were between 30,000 and 50,000 Aromanians in Albania. Tanner (2004) pointed out Albania as the only country where Aromanians make a relatively significant percentage of population, around 2%. For the last years there seems to be a renewal of the former policies of supporting and sponsoring of Romanian schools for Aromanians of Albania. As
4485-694: A significant part of the identity of Greeks in what became Albania and elsewhere. After the Great Schism , Albania was divided between the Western (Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox) rites, with much of the Southern regions where Greeks resided being loyal to the Orthodox rite. During the Ottoman era, the Orthodox population, to which most Greeks belonged, was treated according to the Ottoman millet system which privileged Muslims and disadvantaged Christians as second class citizens who received fewer political, social, and economic rights. Orthodox Christianity during
4680-526: A third of the Greek population of the island in 1974, there was also an increase in the number of Greek Cypriots leaving, especially for the Middle East, which contributed to a decrease in population that tapered off in the 1990s. Today more than two-thirds of the Greek population in Cyprus is urban. Around 1990, most Western estimates of the number of ethnic Greeks in Albania were around 200,000 but in
4875-598: A time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great , in 323 BC (some authors prefer to split this period into "Classical", from the end of the Greco-Persian Wars to the end of the Peloponnesian War, and "Fourth Century", up to the death of Alexander). It is so named because it set the standards by which Greek civilization would be judged in later eras. The Classical period
5070-451: Is also described as the "Golden Age" of Greek civilization, and its art, philosophy, architecture and literature would be instrumental in the formation and development of Western culture. While the Greeks of the classical era understood themselves to belong to a common Hellenic genos , their first loyalty was to their city and they saw nothing incongruous about warring, often brutally, with other Greek city-states . The Peloponnesian War ,
5265-588: Is celebrated instead for the same event. This observance is meant for the Aromanians but also for the Megleno-Romanians and the Istro-Romanians . In modern times, Aromanians generally have adopted the dominant national culture, often with a dual identity as both Aromanian and Greek/Albanian/Bulgarian/Macedonian/Serbian/etc. Aromanians are also found outside the borders of Greece. There are many Aromanians in southern Albania and in towns all over
5460-522: Is concentrated in the south of the country, near the border with Greece . After 1912, in Greece part of this area became known as Northern Epirus . The Greek community is located in the former districts of Sarandë (particularly in Finiq municipality), Gjirokastër (especially in the area of Dropull ), part of Delvinë and in three villages of Himara and the two villages Nartë and Zvërnec , which form
5655-827: Is considered to have developed from Common Romanian , a common stage of all the Eastern Romance varieties that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken by Paleo-Balkan peoples after the Romanization of the Balkan area that fell under the Latin sphere of influence. The Aromanian language shares many common features with Albanian , Bulgarian and Greek ; however, although it has many loanwords from Greek, Slavic , and Turkish , its lexicon remains majority Romance in origin. The term Aromanian derives directly from
5850-432: Is derived from the way the Aromanians pronounce the word meaning five , tsintsi . In Romania, the demonym Macedoni , Machedoni or Macedoromâni is also used. In Albania, the terms Vllah or Vlleh ("Vlach") and Çoban or Çobenj (from Turkish çoban , "shepherd") are used. The Aromanian community in Albania is estimated up to 200,000 people, including those who no longer speak the language. Tanner estimates that
6045-468: Is difficult to estimate the exact number of Aromanians in Greece today. The Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 estimated their number between 150,000 and 200,000, but the last two censuses to differentiate between Christian minority groups, in 1940 and 1951, showed 26,750 and 22,736 Vlachs respectively. Estimates on the number of Aromanians in Greece range between 40,000 and 300,000. Kahl estimates the total number of people with Aromanian origin who still understand
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6240-464: Is likely that one of the factors which contributed to the Mycenaean palatial collapse was linked to raids by groups known in historiography as the " Sea Peoples " who sailed into the eastern Mediterranean around 1180 BC. The Dorian invasion was followed by a poorly attested period of migrations, appropriately called the Greek Dark Ages , but by 800 BC the landscape of Archaic and Classical Greece
6435-567: Is more likely to belong to the L11 branch. L11 subclades form the majority of Haplogroup R1b in Italy and western Europe, while the eastern subclades of R1b are prevailing in populations of the eastern Balkans. The Aromanians or Vlachs first appear in medieval Byzantine sources in the 11th century, in the Strategikon of Kekaumenos and Anna Komnene 's Alexiad , in the area of Thessaly . In
6630-556: Is no longer mentioned after the late 13th century. The medieval Vlachs (Aromanians) of Herzegovina are considered authors of the famous funerary monuments with petroglyphs ( stecci in Serbian) from Herzegovina and surrounding countries. The theory of the Vlach origin was proposed by Bogumil Hrabak (1956) and Marian Wenzel and more recently was supported by the archeological and anthropological researches of skeleton remains from
6825-607: Is noteworthy that the term Vlach also meant "bandit" or "rebel" in Ottoman historiography , and that the term was also used as an exonym for mainly Orthodox Christians in Ottoman-ruled western Balkans (mainly denoting Serbs ), as well as by the Venetians for the immigrant Slavophone population of the Dalmatian hinterland (also mainly denoting Serbs). German academic Thede Kahl , expert on Aromanian studies , divides
7020-679: Is one of the collective names for the Greeks in Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey (the Homeric "long-haired Achaeans" would have been a part of the Mycenaean civilization that dominated Greece from c. 1600 BC until 1100 BC). The other common names are Danaans (Δαναοί) and Argives (Ἀργεῖοι) while Panhellenes (Πανέλληνες) and Hellenes (Ἕλληνες) both appear only once in the Iliad ; all of these terms were used, synonymously, to denote
7215-533: Is possibly derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵerh₂- , "to grow old", more specifically from Graea (ancient city), said by Aristotle to be the oldest in Greece, and the source of colonists for the Naples area. The most obvious link between modern and ancient Greeks is their language, which has a documented tradition from at least the 14th century BC to the present day, albeit with
7410-692: Is represented on the Member State Committee of the European Bureau for Lesser Spoken Languages in Greece. The exact presence of the Aromanian community in Albania is unknown. They are mostly concentrated in parts of southern and western Albania. 8,266 people declared themselves to be Aromanians in the 2011 census. On the quality of the specific data the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for
7605-572: Is similar in nature and performance with that of the Mani peninsula in Greece. In recent years there has been a growing interest in polyphonic music from this region, most notably by the musician Kostas Lolis, born near Sopik in Albania but now lives in Ioannina , in Greece. Christianity spread in the late Roman Empire, and throughout much of Medieval and Modern history, the Christian faith has been
7800-561: Is the General Council consisting of 45 members, which is elected by the General Conference held every two years. Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes ( / ˈ h ɛ l iː n z / ; Greek : Έλληνες , Éllines [ˈelines] ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece , Cyprus , southern Albania , Anatolia , parts of Italy and Egypt , and to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding
7995-579: Is the oldest recorded living language and its vocabulary has been the basis of many languages, including English as well as international scientific nomenclature . Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world since the fourth century BC and the New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. The Greeks speak the Greek language , which forms its own unique branch within
Greeks in Albania - Misplaced Pages Continue
8190-733: The Graikoi (Γραικοί) were named Hellenes. Aristotle notes in his Meteorologica that the Hellenes were related to the Graikoi. The English names Greece and Greek are derived, via the Latin Graecia and Graecus , from the name of the Graeci ( Γραικοί , Graikoí ; singular Γραικός , Graikós ), who were among the first ancient Greek tribes to settle southern Italy (the so-called " Magna Graecia "). The term
8385-582: The 2nd millennium BC has to be reconstructed on the basis of the ancient Greek dialects , as they presented themselves centuries later and are therefore subject to some uncertainties. There were at least two migrations, the first being the Ionians and Achaeans , which resulted in Mycenaean Greece by the 16th century BC, and the second, the Dorian invasion , around the 11th century BC, displacing
8580-584: The Albanian Parliament , and two ministers in the Albanian cabinet . The same number of parliamentary members were elected in the 2017 Albanian parliamentary election . A special ID card for ethnic Greeks from Albania was issued in 2001 which was received by 189,000 individuals who resided in Greece at the time. For ethnic Greeks from Albania this measure was seen as treating them as "lower class citizens" as in order to obtain it their "Greekness"
8775-768: The Arcadocypriot dialects , which descended from the Mycenaean period. Both migrations occur at incisive periods, the Mycenaean at the transition to the Late Bronze Age and the Doric at the Bronze Age collapse . In c. 1600 BC, the Mycenaean Greeks borrowed from the Minoan civilization its syllabic writing system ( Linear A ) and developed their own syllabic script known as Linear B , providing
8970-654: The Axis occupation of Greece , Italy encouraged Aromanian nationalists to form an "Aromanian homeland", the so-called Principality of the Pindus . The project never gained much traction among the local population, however. On the contrary, many leading figures of the Greek Resistance against the Axis, like Andreas Tzimas , Stefanos Sarafis , and Alexandros Svolos , were Aromanians. The "principality" project collapsed with
9165-461: The Bronze Age . Until the early 20th century, Greeks were distributed between the Greek peninsula , the western coast of Asia Minor , the Black Sea coast, Cappadocia in central Anatolia, Egypt , the Balkans , Cyprus, and Constantinople . Many of these regions 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 . The cultural centers of
9360-404: The Byzantine Empire , a name not used during its own time ) became increasingly influenced by Greek culture after the 7th century when Emperor Heraclius ( r. 610–641 AD) decided to make Greek the empire's official language. Although the Catholic Church recognized the Eastern Empire's claim to the Roman legacy for several centuries, after Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne , king of
9555-428: The Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea . They also form a significant diaspora ( omogenia ), with many Greek communities established around the world. Greek colonies and communities have been historically established on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea , but the Greek people themselves have always been centered on the Aegean and Ionian seas, where the Greek language has been spoken since
9750-418: The Fara Armãneascã ("Aromanian tribe") or the Populu Armãnescu ("Aromanian people"). The endonym is rendered in English as Aromanian , in Romanian as Aromâni , in Greek as Armanoi (Αρμάνοι), in Albanian as Arumunët , in Bulgarian as Arumani (Арумъни), in Macedonian as Aromanci (Ароманци), in Serbo-Croatian as Armani and Aromuni . The term "Vlach" was used in medieval Balkans as an exonym for all
9945-492: The Franks , as the " Roman Emperor " on 25 December 800, an act which eventually led to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire , the Latin West started to favour the Franks and began to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire largely as the Empire of the Greeks ( Imperium Graecorum ). While this Latin term for the ancient Hellenes could be used neutrally, its use by Westerners from the 9th century onwards in order to challenge Byzantine claims to ancient Roman heritage rendered it
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#173277607467610140-415: The Indo-European family of languages, the Hellenic . They are part of a group of classical ethnicities, described by Anthony D. Smith as an "archetypal diaspora people". The Proto-Greeks probably arrived at the area now called Greece, in the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula , at the end of the 3rd millennium BC between 2200 and 1900 BC. The sequence of migrations into the Greek mainland during
10335-417: The Indo-Greek and Greco-Bactrian kingdoms, Greco-Buddhism was spreading and Greek missionaries would play an important role in propagating it to China . Further east, the Greeks of Alexandria Eschate became known to the Chinese people as the Dayuan . Between 168 BC and 30 BC, the entire Greek world was conquered by Rome, and almost all of the world's Greek speakers lived as citizens or subjects of
10530-490: The Italian Renaissance . The interest in the Classical Greek heritage was complemented by a renewed emphasis on Greek Orthodox identity, which was reinforced in the late Medieval and Ottoman Greeks' links with their fellow Orthodox Christians in the Russian Empire . These were further strengthened following the fall of the Empire of Trebizond in 1461, after which and until the second Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29 hundreds of thousands of Pontic Greeks fled or migrated from
10725-403: The Italian armistice in 1943. The date of the announcement of the Ottoman irade of 23 May 1905 has been adopted in recent times by Aromanians in Albania, Australia , Bulgaria and North Macedonia as the " Aromanian National Day " ( Dzua Natsionalã a Armãnjilor ), but notably not in Greece or among the Aromanians in the Greek diaspora . In Romania, every 10 May, the Balkan Romanianness Day
10920-452: The Megleno-Romanians ). The term "Vlachs" is used in Greece and in other countries to refer to the Aromanians, with this term having been more widespread in the past to refer to all Romance-speaking peoples of the Balkan Peninsula and Carpathian Mountains region ( Southeast Europe ). Their vernacular, Aromanian , is an Eastern Romance language very similar to Romanian , which has many slightly varying dialects of its own. Aromanian
11115-430: The Pogon region (as well as in the Greek part of Upper Pogoni ) perform a style of polyphony that is characterized by a pentatonic structure, and also appears in the music of nearby Albanian and Aromanian populations. Another type of polyphonic singing in the region seems to have features in common with the lament songs ( Greek : Μοιρολόγια ) sung in some parts of Greece. The female lament singing of Greeks in Albania
11310-457: The Pontic Alps and Armenian Highlands to southern Russia and the Russian South Caucasus (see also Greeks in Russia , Greeks in Armenia , Greeks in Georgia , and Caucasian Greeks ). These Byzantine Greeks were largely responsible for the preservation of the literature of the classical era. Byzantine grammarians were those principally responsible for carrying, in person and in writing, ancient Greek grammatical and literary studies to
11505-429: The Roman Empire , they became secondary to religious considerations, and the renewed empire used Christianity as a tool to support its cohesion and promote a robust Roman national identity. From the early centuries of the Common Era , the Greeks self-identified as Romans ( Greek : Ῥωμαῖοι Rhōmaîoi ). By that time, the name Hellenes denoted pagans but was revived as an ethnonym in the 11th century. During most of
11700-414: The Second World War (1939–1945), the Greek Civil War (1946–1949), and the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974. While official figures remain scarce, polls and anecdotal evidence point to renewed Greek emigration as a result of the Greek financial crisis . According to data published by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany in 2011, 23,800 Greeks emigrated to Germany, a significant increase over
11895-416: The Treaty of Lausanne was signed between Greece and Turkey in 1923, the two countries agreed to use religion as the determinant for ethnic identity for the purposes of population exchange, although most of the Greeks displaced (over a million of the total 1.5 million) had already been driven out by the time the agreement was signed. The Greek genocide , in particular the harsh removal of Pontian Greeks from
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#173277607467612090-408: The Veria (Aromanian Veryia ) and Grevena (Aromanian Grebini ) areas and in Athens . The Aromanians are predominantly Orthodox Christians , and follow the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar . Aromanian cuisine is strongly influenced by Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine . Polyphonic music is common among the Aromanians, and follows a common set of rules. A literature in
12285-473: The Zappeion exhibition center. The Zappas brothers also founded a number of hospitals and schools in Athens and Constantinople. Christakis Zografos in the Ottoman capital offered vast amounts of money for the establishments of two Greek schools (one for boys, known as Zographeion Lyceum , as well as one for girls), and a hospital. Greek diaspora Constantinople and Asia Minor : Africa : Other regions : Other groups : Other languages During
12480-401: The devshirme . Many Ottomans of Greek (or Albanian or Serb) origin were therefore to be found within the Ottoman forces which governed the provinces, from Ottoman Egypt, to Ottomans occupied Yemen and Algeria , frequently as provincial governors. For those that remained under the Ottoman Empire 's millet system , religion was the defining characteristic of national groups ( milletler ), so
12675-429: The exonym "Greeks" ( Rumlar from the name Rhomaioi) was applied by the Ottomans to all members of the Orthodox Church , regardless of their language or ethnic origin. The Greek speakers were the only ethnic group to actually call themselves Romioi , (as opposed to being so named by others) and, at least those educated, considered their ethnicity ( genos ) to be Hellenic. There were, however, many Greeks who escaped
12870-432: The lingua franca rather than Latin . The modern-day Griko community of southern Italy, numbering about 60,000, may represent a living remnant of the ancient Greek populations of Italy. During and after the Greek War of Independence , Greeks of the diaspora were important in establishing the fledgling state, raising funds and awareness abroad. Greek merchant families already had contacts in other countries and during
13065-428: The " chameleons of the Balkans". Consequently, many Aromanians played a prominent role in the modern history of the Balkan nations: the revolutionary Pitu Guli , Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis , Greek magnate Georgios Averoff , Greek Defence Minister Evangelos Averoff , Serbian Prime Minister Vladan Đorđević , Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople , Romanian metropolitan Andrei Şaguna etc. Following
13260-426: The "critical situation" of Aromanian culture and language. This was after pressure from the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture in Germany . In response, the then President of Greece , Konstantinos Stefanopoulos , publicly urged Greek Aromanians to teach the language to their children. In 2001, 31 Aromanian mayors and heads of villages signed a protest resolution against the U.S. State Department report on
13455-624: The "official minority zones". In 2006, the establishment of a Greek-language university in Gjirokastër was agreed upon after discussions between the Albanian and Greek government. Also in 2006, after years of unanswered demands by the local community, a private Greek-language school opened in the town of Himarë, at the precise location where the Orthodox missionary Cosmas the Aetolian founded the Acroceraunian School . The school currently has five teachers and 115 pupils. The Albanian government systematically persecutes Greek communities using mandatory demolition orders, further provocation has come on issuing
13650-448: The 12th century, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela records the existence of the district of "Vlachia" near Halmyros in eastern Thessaly , while the Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates places " Great Vlachia " near Meteora . Thessalian Vlachia was apparently also known as "Vlachia in Hellas ". Later medieval sources also speak of an "Upper Vlachia" in Epirus , and a "Little Vlachia" in Aetolia-Acarnania , but "Great Vlachia"
13845-401: The 1920s it was designed more towards encouraging the Romanians' "Macedonian brothers" to emigrate to Southern Dobruja , where there were strong non-Romanian minorities. While Romanian activity declined, from World War I on and with its involvement in Albania , Italy made some efforts—not very successful—in converting pro-Romanian sympathies into pro-Italian ones. In World War II , during
14040-583: The 1960s that Albanian Aromanians migrated to Tirana , Stan Karbunarë, Skrapar , Pojan , Bilisht and Korçë , and that they inhabited Karaja, Lushnjë , Moscopole , Drenovë (Aromanian Dãrnova ) and Boboshticë (Aromanian Bubushtitsa ). There was an important community of Aromanians in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina that was probably assimilated by local dwellers. Initially they were Christians but around year 1000 they adhered to Bogomil / Patarene Christian sect and were Serbianized . After
14235-532: The 1989 census estimated around 60,000, while the Greek government supports a figure of 300,000. Furthermore, 13,329 ethnic Greeks with Albanian citizenship reside in Greece, and are issued special identity cards as of 2022. Most of Albania's ethnic Greeks have acquired citizenship and thus no longer rely on special identity cards. It has been suggested that some Albanians and Aromanians have claimed to be Greeks in exchange for economic benefits in Greece, such as work permits and pensions. The Greek minority in Albania
14430-489: The 1990s, a majority of them migrated to Greece. The Greek minority of Turkey , which numbered upwards of 200,000 people after the 1923 exchange, has now dwindled to a few thousand, after the 1955 Constantinople Pogrom and other state sponsored violence and discrimination. This effectively ended, though not entirely, the three-thousand-year-old presence of Hellenism in Asia Minor. There are smaller Greek minorities in
14625-538: The 1990s. North Macedonia's Government provides financial assistance to Aromanian-language newspapers and radio stations. Aromanian-language newspapers such as Phoenix ( Aromanian : Fenix ) service the Aromanian community. The Aromanian television program Spark ( Aromanian : Scanteao ; Macedonian Искра (Iskra)) broadcasts on the second channel of the Macedonian Radio-Television . There are Aromanian classes provided in primary schools and
14820-408: The 4th century, with some areas such as the southeastern Peloponnese remaining pagan until well into the mid-Byzantine 10th century AD. The region of Tsakonia remained pagan until the ninth century and as such its inhabitants were referred to as Hellenes , in the sense of being pagan, by their Christianized Greek brethren in mainstream Byzantine society. While ethnic distinctions still existed in
15015-733: The Albanian Aromanians (Arvanito Vlachs) have immigrated to Greece, since they are considered in Greece part of the Greek minority in Albania . There are attempts to establish education in their native language in the town of Divjakë . Notable Aromanians whose family background hailed from today's Albania include Bishop Andrei Şaguna, and Father Haralambie Balamaci , whereas notable Albanians with an Aromanian family background are actors Aleksandër (Sandër) Prosi , Margarita Xhepa , Albert Vërria , and Prokop Mima , as well as composer Nikolla Zoraqi and singers Eli Fara and Parashqevi Simaku . On 13 October 2017, Aromanians received
15210-577: The Aromanian Dimitri Atanasescu , and by the early 20th century there were 100 Romanian churches and 106 schools with 4,000 pupils and 300 teachers. As a result, Aromanians divided into two main factions, one pro-Greek, the other pro-Romanian, plus a smaller focusing exclusively on its Aromanian identity. With the support of the Great Powers , and especially Austria-Hungary , the "Aromanian-Romanian movement" culminated in
15405-402: The Aromanian language exists. In Aromanian rural areas, clothes differed from the dress of the city dwellers. The shape and the colour of a garment, the volume of the headgear, the shape of a jewel could indicate cultural affiliation and also could show the village people came from. Fustanella usage among Aromanians can be traced to at least the 15th century, with notable examples being seen in
15600-562: The Aromanian language is almost totally absent from television. Indeed, although as of 2002 there were over 200 Vlach cultural associations in Greece, many did not even feature the term "Vlach" in their titles, and only a few are active in preserving the Aromanian language. In 1997, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed Recommendation 1333 (1997) encouraging the Balkan states to take steps to rectify
15795-580: The Aromanian minority of the country. These are the Democratic Union of the Vlachs of Macedonia (DSVM; Unia Democratã a Armãnjlor dit Machidunii , UDAM ) and the Party of the Vlachs of Macedonia (PVM; Partia Armãnjilor ditu Machidunie , PAM ). They are the only Aromanian parties in the world along with ABDE in Albania. Many forms of Aromanian-language media have been established since
15990-553: The Aromanian stećak of the Radimlja necropolis. Additionally Aromanians claim the fustanella as their ethnic costume. There are some famous Aromanian sport personalities like tennis player Simona Halep and football player Gheorghe Hagi . In Romania, they also have their own football team called Armãnamea, who have been representing them since 2008 in the European football tournament for minorities, Europeada . There also exists
16185-554: The Aromanians into two main groups, the "Rrãmãnji" and "Armãnji", which are further divided into sub-groups. Rrãmãnji Armãnji The Aromanian communities have several nicknames depending on the country where they are living. In the South Slavic countries, such as Serbia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria, the nicknames used to refer to the Aromanians are usually Vlasi (South Slavic for Vlachs and Wallachians) and Tsintsari (also spelled Tzintzari, Cincari or similar), which
16380-492: The Balkans, while Aromanians identifying as Romanians are still to be found in areas where Romanian schools were active. There are also many Aromanians who identify themselves as solely Aromanian (even, as in the case of the "Cincars", when they no longer speak the language). Such groups are to be found in southwestern Albania, the eastern parts of North Macedonia, the Aromanians who immigrated to Romania in 1940, and in Greece in
16575-591: The Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church . Greeks have greatly influenced and contributed to culture, visual arts, exploration, theatre, literature, philosophy, ethics, politics, architecture, music, mathematics, medicine, science, technology, commerce, cuisine and sports. The Greek language
16770-612: The Cupa Armânamea, a futsal competition organized by Aromanians in Romania. In Greece, Aromanians are not recognised as an ethnic but as a linguistic minority and, like the Arvanites , have been indistinguishable in many respects from other Greeks since the 19th century. Although Greek Aromanians would differentiate themselves from native Greeks ( Grets ) when speaking in Aromanian, most still consider themselves part of
16965-561: The European cultural revolution, later called the Renaissance. In Greek-inhabited territory itself, Greeks came to play a leading role in the Ottoman Empire , due in part to the fact that the central hub of the empire, politically, culturally, and socially, was based on Western Thrace and Macedonia , both in Northern Greece , and of course was centred on the mainly Greek-populated, former Byzantine capital, Constantinople . As
17160-471: The Government which have targeted the Greek population via police and secret service according to Human Rights organisations. Greek communities have been targeted by development projects and had their homes demolished in alleged ethnic targeting of Greeks from Southern Albania. Also, according to Amnesty International there were cases of mistreatment of members of Greek minority by the authorities. Also,
17355-729: The Great Deluge of Deucalion , a land occupied by the Selloi and the "Greeks" who later came to be known as "Hellenes". In the Homeric tradition, the Selloi were the priests of Dodonian Zeus. In the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women , Graecus is presented as the son of Zeus and Pandora II , sister of Hellen the patriarch of the Hellenes. According to the Parian Chronicle , when Deucalion became king of Phthia,
17550-688: The Great's empire and successor states, Greek and Hellenizing ruling classes were established in the Middle East , India and in Egypt . The Hellenistic period is characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization that established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa . Under the Roman Empire, easier movement of people spread Greeks across the Empire and in the eastern territories, Greek became
17745-439: The Greek dialects of southern Epirus . Despite the relatively small distances between the various town and villages, there exists some dialectal variation, most noticeably in accent. Though Northern Epirote is a southern dialect, it is located far north of the reduced unstressed vowel system isogloss with the archaic disyllabic -ea. Thus, the provenance of the dialect ultimately remains obscure. The local Greek dialects (especially
17940-418: The Greek dialects of southern Italy, Ionian Islands, Epirus, but also with more distant Greek-speaking regions, such as Cyprus, Thrace and Asia Minor. Decent knowledge of Albanian is also common amongst the Greek minority; almost all Greeks who have grown up living in Albania are bilingual. Epirote' folk music from this region has several unique features not found in the rest of the Greek world. Singers from
18135-526: The Greek enlightenment, the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment , contributed not only in the promotion of education, culture and printing among the Greeks, but also in the case of independence from the Ottomans , and the restoration of the term "Hellene". Adamantios Korais , probably the most important intellectual of the movement, advocated the use of the term "Hellene" (Έλληνας) or "Graikos" (Γραικός) in
18330-483: The Greek minority groups. There have been many different claims about the size of the ethnic Greek minority in Albania. In the early 1990s, the figures claimed ranged from 50 to 60 thousand (official position of Albania based on the 1989 census within the designated minority zone), upwards of 300,000 (official position of Greece). Greek nationalist orgnaziations claimed that Greeks in Albania were around 250,000. According to Bideleux and Jeffries (2006), Western estimates at
18525-592: The Greeks hailing specifically from Southern Albania are also known as Northern Epirotes ( Greek : Βορειοηπειρώτες Vorioipirotes , Albanian : Vorioepirot ). The Greeks who live in the "minority zones" of Albania are officially recognised by the Albanian government as the Greek National Minority of Albania ( Greek : Ελληνική Μειονότητα στην Αλβανία , Elliniki Mionotita stin Alvania ; Albanian : Minoriteti Grek në Shqipëri ). In 1913, after
18720-430: The Greeks have included Athens , Thessalonica , Alexandria , Smyrna , and Constantinople at various periods. In recent times, most ethnic Greeks live within the borders of the modern Greek state or in Cyprus. The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor. Other longstanding Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to
18915-574: The Grim ( r. 1517–1520), whose mother Gülbahar Hatun was a Pontic Greek . The roots of Greek success in the Ottoman Empire can be traced to the Greek tradition of education and commerce exemplified in the Phanariotes . It was the wealth of the extensive merchant class that provided the material basis for the intellectual revival that was the prominent feature of Greek life in
19110-570: The Hellenes and that this name was given to those previously called Greeks ( Γραικοί ). In Greek mythology , Hellen , the patriarch of the Hellenes who ruled around Phthia, was the son of Pyrrha and Deucalion , the only survivors after the Great Deluge . The Greek philosopher Aristotle names ancient Hellas as an area in Epirus between Dodona and the Achelous river, the location of
19305-705: The Homeric tradition of ancient Greece. A distinct Greek identity re-emerged in the 11th century in educated circles and became more forceful after the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. In the Empire of Nicaea , a small circle of the elite used the term "Hellene" as a term of self-identification. For example, in a letter to Pope Gregory IX , the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes (r. 1221–1254) claimed to have received
19500-529: The Indo-Greek kingdoms lasted for a few more decades. This age saw the Greeks move towards larger cities and a reduction in the importance of the city-state. These larger cities were parts of the still larger Kingdoms of the Diadochi . Greeks, however, remained aware of their past, chiefly through the study of the works of Homer and the classical authors. An important factor in maintaining Greek identity
19695-490: The Latin Romanus , meaning Roman citizen. The initial a- is a regular epenthetic vowel, occurring when certain consonant clusters are formed, and it is not, as folk etymology sometimes has it, related to the negative or privative a- of Greek (also occurring in Latin words of Greek origin). The term was coined by Gustav Weigand in his 1894 work Die Aromunen . The first book to which many scholars have referred to as
19890-723: The Middle Ages, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Rhōmaîoi ( Ῥωμαῖοι , "Romans", meaning citizens of the Roman Empire ), a term which in the Greek language had become synonymous with Christian Greeks. The Latinizing term Graikoí (Γραικοί, "Greeks") was also used, though its use was less common, and nonexistent in official Byzantine political correspondence, prior to the Fourth Crusade of 1204. The Eastern Roman Empire (today conventionally named
20085-531: The Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece (e.g. Zeus , Poseidon and Hades ) became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity. The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC. According to some scholars, the foundational event was the Olympic Games in 776 BC, when
20280-514: The Ottoman period remained dominant in many areas and became an important reason for preserving the Greek language, which was also the language of trade. In Himara, during part of this period, the local Greek population were Catholics of the Eastern rite due to alliances with Western and Catholic European powers, although they reverted to Greek Orthodoxy ultimately. Greek-Orthodox missionary Cosmas of Aetolia traveled across much of Southern Albania in
20475-587: The Protection of National Minorities stated that "the results of the census should be viewed with the utmost caution and calls on the authorities not to rely exclusively on the data on nationality collected during the census in determining its policy on the protection of national minorities.". According to Tom Winnifrith in 1995, that there were about 200,000 individuals who were of Aromanian descent in Albania, regardless of proficiency in Aromanian, or spoke Aromanian without necessarily considering themselves to have
20670-528: The Roman Empire. Despite their military superiority, the Romans admired and became heavily influenced by the achievements of Greek culture, hence Horace 's famous statement: Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit ("Greece, although captured, took its wild conqueror captive"). In the centuries following the Roman conquest of the Greek world, the Greek and Roman cultures merged into a single Greco-Roman culture. In
20865-430: The Roman period. It is hard to establish the history of the Vlachs in the Balkans, with a gap between the barbarian invasions and the first mentions of the Vlachs in the 11th and 12th centuries. Byzantine chronicles are unhelpful, and only in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries does the term Vlach become more frequent, although it proves problematic to distinguish sorts of Vlachs as it was used for various subjects, such as
21060-563: The Romance-speaking (Romanized) people of the region, as well as a general name for shepherds , but nowadays is commonly used for the Aromanians and Meglenites , Daco-Romanians being named Vlachs only in Serbia , Bulgaria and North Macedonia . The term is noted in the following languages: Greek "Vlachoi" ( Βλάχοι ), Albanian "Vllehët", Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian "Vlasi" (Bласи), Turkish "Ulahlar", Hungarian "Oláh". It
21255-509: The Slavic invasion of Thrace, though before the Megleno-Romanians . In 2006 Bosch et al. attempted to determine if the Aromanians are descendants of Latinised Dacians , Greeks , Illyrians , Thracians or a combination of these, but it was shown that they are genetically indistinguishable from the other Balkan populations. Linguistic and cultural differences between Balkan groups were deemed too weak to prevent gene flow among
21450-522: The Turkish occupation, the Aromanians of Bosnia and Herzegovina converted to Islam faith due to economic and religious motives. There are many artifacts of Aromanians in Bosnia and Herzegovina, mainly in their necropolises . These necropolises cover all Bosnia and consist of funerary monuments, generally without crosses. The Aromanian language is related to the Vulgar Latin spoken in the Balkans during
21645-677: The Turkish rulers and the desires of wealthy Epirote emigrants in the diaspora, many schools were established. The spiritual and ethnic contribution of the monastery schools in Epirus such as Katsimani (near Butrint), Drianou (in Droviani), Kamenas (in Delvina) and St. Athanasios in Poliçani (13th-17th century) was significant. The first Greek-language school in Delvine was founded in 1537, when
21840-630: The Vlachs until the 15th century. A distinct Aromanian consciousness was not developed until the 19th century, and was influenced by the rise of other national movements in the Balkans . Until then, the Aromanians, as Eastern Orthodox Christians , were subsumed with other ethnic groups into the wider ethnoreligious group of the "Romans" (in Greek Rhomaioi , after the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire), which in Ottoman times formed
22035-576: The West during the 15th century, giving the Italian Renaissance a major boost. The Aristotelian philosophical tradition was nearly unbroken in the Greek world for almost two thousand years, until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. To the Slavic world, the Byzantine Greeks contributed by the dissemination of literacy and Christianity. The most notable example of the later was the work of
22230-485: The birthplace of their parents or grandparents is in Northern Epirus), language, and religion. It has been noted that Albanians have declared themselves as Greeks in the past 20 years in exchange to reside and work in Greece. This allegedly encouraged the process of Greek irredentism in "Northern Epirus". Albanian sources often use the pejorative term filogrek (pro-Greek) in relation to ethnic Greeks, usually in
22425-504: The broader Greek nation ( Elini , Hellenes ), which also encompasses other linguistic minorities such as the Arvanites or the Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia . Greek Aromanians have long been associated with the Greek national state, actively participated in the Greek Struggle for Independence, and have obtained very important positions in government, although there was an attempt to create an autonomous Aromanian canton under
22620-603: The city of Athens. Greeks from Cyprus have a similar history of emigration, usually to the English-speaking world because of the island's colonization by the British Empire . Waves of emigration followed the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, while the population decreased between mid-1974 and 1977 as a result of emigration, war losses, and a temporary decline in fertility. After the ethnic cleansing of
22815-499: The communist era, some Greek speakers are also located within the wider Përmet and Tepelenë regions. Outside the area defined as Northern Epirus, two coastal Greek speaking villages exist near Vlorë; Nartë and Zvërnec . While due to forced and non-forced internal population movements of Greeks within Albania during the communist era, some Greek speakers are also dispersed within the Berat region. Human rights in Albania are violated by
23010-610: The community constitutes 2% of the population. In Albania , Aromanian communities inhabit Moscopole, their most famous settlement, the Kolonjë District (where they are concentrated), a quarter of Fier (Aromanian Ferãcã ), while Aromanian was taught, as recorded by Tom Winnifrith, at primary schools in Andon Poçi near Gjirokastër , Shkallë (Aromanian Scarã ) near Sarandë , and Borovë near Korçë (Aromanian Curceau ) (1987). A Romanian research team concluded in
23205-676: The construction of educational, cultural and social institutions. The Sinas family supported the expansion of the University of Athens and sponsored the foundation of the National Observatory. Ioannis Pangas from Korcë gave all of his wealth for educational purposes in Greece. The Zappas brothers, Evangelos and Konstantinos , endowed Athens with an ancient Greek-style marble stadium (the Kallimarmaro ) that has hosted Olympic Games in 1870, 1875, 1896, 1906 and 2004, and
23400-414: The country since they were seen as possible sources of dissent and ethnic tension. In post-1990 era, these issues, including the emerging subject of private property rights, continue to persist to an extent. Both Albania and Greece hold different and often conflicting estimations, as they have done so for the last 20 years. Most Western sources put the number at around 200,000. The Albanian government in
23595-406: The country). Greek populations have not traditionally exhibited high rates of growth; a large percentage of Greek population growth since Greece's foundation in 1832 was attributed to annexation of new territories, as well as the influx of 1.5 million Greek refugees after the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. About 80% of the population of Greece is urban, with 28% concentrated in
23790-630: The creation of colonies and trade routes along the way. While the Alexandrian empire did not survive its creator's death intact, the cultural implications of the spread of Hellenism across much of the Middle East and Asia were to prove long lived as Greek became the lingua franca , a position it retained even in Roman times . Many Greeks settled in Hellenistic cities like Alexandria , Antioch and Seleucia . The Hellenistic civilization
23985-439: The demolition orders on Greek national holidays. These are often under the proviso of development but only effect ethnic Greeks and restrict and target educational buildings. A number of people from the prosperous Northern Epirote diaspora of the 18th-19th centuries made significant contributions not only to their homeland, but also to the Greek state and to the Greek world under Ottoman Turkish domination. They donated fortunes for
24180-400: The descendants of Greeks and Romans. Before the establishment of the modern Greek nation-state, the link between ancient and modern Greeks was emphasized by the scholars of Greek Enlightenment especially by Rigas Feraios. In his "Political Constitution", he addresses to the nation as "the people descendant of the Greeks". The modern Greek state was created in 1829, when the Greeks liberated
24375-513: The distinct Rum millet . The Rum millet was headed by the Greek-dominated Patriarchate of Constantinople , and the Greek language was used as a lingua franca among Balkan Orthodox Christians throughout the 17th–19th centuries. As a result, wealthy, urbanized Aromanians were culturally Hellenized and played a major role in the dissemination of Greek language and culture; indeed, the first book written in Aromanian
24570-643: The disturbances many set up home around the Mediterranean (notably Marseilles in France , Livorno in Italy , Alexandria in Egypt ), Russia ( Odesa and Saint Petersburg ), and Britain (London and Liverpool) from where they traded, typically in textiles and grain. Businesses frequently comprised the extended family, and with them they brought schools teaching Greek and the Greek Orthodox Church . As markets changed and they became more established, some families grew their operations to become shippers , financed through
24765-509: The empire of the Asen dynasty, Thessaly, and Romania across the Danube. It has been assumed that Vlachs are descendants of Roman soldiers or Latinized original populations (Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians or Dacians), due to the historical Roman military presence in the territory inhabited by the community. Many Romanian scholars maintain that the Aromanians were part of a Daco-Romanian migration from
24960-422: The end of five centuries of Ottoman rule , the area was included under the sovereignty of the newly founded Albanian state. The following year, Greeks revolted and declared their independence , and with the following Protocol of Corfu the area was recognised as an autonomous region under nominal Albanian sovereignty. However, this was never implemented. In the communist era the Greek population suffered from
25155-612: The establishment of independent Romania and the autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the 1860s, the Aromanians increasingly began to come under the influence of the Romanian national movement . Although vehemently opposed by the Greek church, the Romanians established an extensive state-sponsored cultural and educative network in the southern Balkans: the first Romanian school was established in 1864 by
25350-492: The ethnic Greek minority complained about the government's unwillingness to recognize ethnic Greek towns outside communist-era "minority zones," to utilize Greek in official documents and on public signs in ethnic Greek areas, or to include more ethnic Greeks in public administration. The 2012 USA annual report mention that the emergence of strident nationalist groups like the Red and Black Alliance (RBA) increased ethnic tensions with
25545-518: The ethnic Greeks living in Albania, Greek migration policy defines the Greek origin on the basis of language, religion, birth and ancestors from the region called Northern Epirus . In that way, according to the Greek State Council, the Greek ethnic origin can be granted on the basis of cultural ancestry (sharing "common historical memories" and/or links with "historic homelands and culture"), Greek descent (Greek Albanians have to prove that
25740-477: The first and oldest written evidence of Greek . The Mycenaeans quickly penetrated the Aegean Sea and, by the 15th century BC, had reached Rhodes , Crete , Cyprus and the shores of Asia Minor . Around 1200 BC, the Dorians , another Greek-speaking people, followed from Epirus . Older historical research often proposed Dorian invasion caused the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization , but this narrative has been abandoned in all contemporary research. It
25935-427: The gift of royalty from Constantine the Great, and put emphasis on his "Hellenic" descent, exalting the wisdom of the Greek people. After the Byzantines recaptured Constantinople, however, in 1261, Rhomaioi became again dominant as a term for self-description and there are few traces of Hellene (Έλληνας), such as in the writings of George Gemistos Plethon , who abandoned Christianity and in whose writings culminated
26130-426: The graves under stećci. The theory is much older and was first proposed by Arthur Evans in his work Antiquarian Researches in Illyricum (1883). While doing research with Felix von Luschan on stećak graves around Konavle , he found that a large number of skulls were not of Slavic origin but similar to older Illyrian and Albanian tribes , as well as noting that Dubrovnik memorials recorded those parts inhabited by
26325-411: The groups. Haplogroup R1b is the most common haplogroup among two or three of the five tested Aromanian populations, which is not shown as a leading mark of the Y-DNA locus in other regions or ethnic groups on the Balkan Peninsula . On the 16 Y-STR markers from the five Aromanian populations, Jim Cullen's predictor speculates that over half of the mean frequency of 22% R1b of the Aromanian populations
26520-400: The half century and more leading to the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821. Not coincidentally, on the eve of 1821, the three most important centres of Greek learning were situated in Chios , Smyrna and Aivali , all three major centres of Greek commerce. Greek success was also favoured by Greek domination in the leadership of the Eastern Orthodox church. The movement of
26715-456: The human rights situation in Greece . They complained "against the direct or indirect characterisation of the Vlach-speaking Greeks as an ethnic, linguistic or other minority, stating that the Vlach-speaking Greeks never requested to be recognised by the Greek state as a minority, stressing that historically and culturally they were and still are an integral part of Hellenism, they would be bilingual and Aromanian would be secondary". Furthermore,
26910-484: The idea of a common Hellenism among the Greek tribes was first translated into a shared cultural experience and Hellenism was primarily a matter of common culture. The works of Homer (i.e. Iliad and Odyssey ) and Hesiod (i.e. Theogony ) were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period. The classical period of Greek civilization covers
27105-447: The idioms of Chimariotic and the Argyrokastritic) are a more conservative Greek idiom (similarly to that spoken in the Mani peninsula in Greece, and the Griko language of Apulia in Italy ), because they were spoken by populations living under virtual autonomy during Ottoman rule due to the rugged nature of the region. Thus, separated from other Greek dialects, the Northern Epirote Greek dialects underwent slower evolution, preserving
27300-939: The language as no more than 300,000, with the number of fluent speakers under 100,000. The majority of the Aromanian population lives in northern and central Greece; Epirus , Macedonia and Thessaly . The main areas inhabited by these populations are the Pindus Mountains , around the mountains of Olympus and Vermion , and around the Prespa Lakes near the border with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia. Some Aromanians can still be found in isolated rural settlements such as Samarina (Aromanian Samarina , Xamarina or San Marina ), Perivoli (Aromanian Pirivoli ) and Smixi (Aromanian Zmixi ). There are also Aromanians (Vlachs) in towns and cities such as Ioannina (Aromanian Ianina , Enina or Enãna ), Metsovo (Aromanian Aminciu ), Veria (Aromanian Veryia ) Katerini , Trikala (Aromanian Trikolj ), Grevena (Aromanian Grebini ) and Thessaloniki (Aromanian Sãruna ) Generally,
27495-408: The large scale civil war between the two most powerful Greek city-states Athens and Sparta and their allies , left both greatly weakened. Most of the feuding Greek city-states were, in some scholars' opinions, united by force under the banner of Philip 's and Alexander the Great 's Pan-Hellenic ideals, though others might generally opt, rather, for an explanation of " Macedonian conquest for
27690-433: The largest Aromanian group in Greece (and across the world), the Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs in Greece, has repeatedly rejected the classification of Aromanian as a minority language or the Vlachs as a distinct ethnic group separate from the Greeks, considering the Aromanians as an "integral part of Hellenism". The Aromanian (Vlach) Cultural Society, which is associated with Sotiris Bletsas ,
27885-481: The late 19th century, the wealthy banker Christakis Zografos founded the Zographeion College in his hometown of Qestorat , in the region of Lunxhëri . Many of the educated men that supported Greek culture and education in the region, then the culture of the Orthodox Patriarchate, were Aromanians by origin. In 1905, Greek education was flourishing in the region, as the entire Orthodox population, including Orthodox Albanians, were educated in Greek schools. However, in
28080-466: The later years of the Eastern Roman Empire, areas such as Ionia and Constantinople experienced a Hellenic revival in language, philosophy, and literature and on classical models of thought and scholarship. This revival provided a powerful impetus to the sense of cultural affinity with ancient Greece and its classical heritage. Throughout their history, the Greeks have retained their language and alphabet , certain values and cultural traditions, customs,
28275-450: The local Greek community, notably with the aid of the Ralli or Vagliano Brothers . With economic success, the Diaspora expanded further across the Levant , North Africa, India and the USA. In the 20th century, many Greeks left their traditional homelands for economic reasons resulting in large migrations from Greece and Cyprus to the United States , Great Britain , Australia , Canada , Germany , and South Africa , especially after
28470-435: The mode of self-identification of the subjects of a multi-ethnic empire at least up to the 12th century, where the average subject identified as Roman; a perennialist approach, which views Romanity as the medieval expression of a continuously existing Greek nation; while a third view considers the eastern Roman identity as a pre-modern national identity. The Byzantine Greeks' essential values were drawn from both Christianity and
28665-449: The most valuable to translate their ethnic name is a grammar printed in 1813 in Vienna by Mihail G. Boiagi . It was titled Γραμματική Ρωμαϊκή ήτοι Μακεδονοβλαχική/ Romanische oder Macedonowlachische Sprachlehre ("Romance or Macedono-Vlach Grammar"). The term Vlach is an exonym used since medieval times. Aromanians call themselves Rrãmãn or Armãn , depending on which of the two dialectal groups they belong, and identify as part of
28860-405: The new mayor of Himara. Goro who himself had acquired Greek citizenship as a member of the minority declared in his election campaign that "there are no Greeks in Himara" and that he had changed his name from "Gjergj" to "Jorgo". The Greek state revoked his citizenship in 2017 on grounds of him "acting against national interests". In 2019 the candidacy of the representative of Omonoia, Fredis Beleris
29055-417: The north of the Danube between the 6th and 10th centuries, supporting the theory that the 'Great Romanian' population descend from the ancient Dacians and Romans. Greek scholars view the Aromanians as descendants of Roman legionaries that married Greek women. There is no evidence for either theory, and Winnifrith deems them improbable. The little evidence that exists points that the Vlach (Aromanian) homeland
29250-428: The northernmost districts of Berat and Durrës, the above numbers do not reflect the ethnological distribution, because a large number of students were Orthodox Albanians. When Albania was created in 1912, the educational rights of the Greek communities in Albanian territory were granted by the Protocol of Corfu (1914) and with the statement of Albania's representatives in the League of Nations (1921). However, under
29445-402: The northernmost island of Greek speech in Vlorë County ). The areas where the Greek community forms the main part of the population are not a uniform region, but areas interspersed by Albanian communities, except for Dropull which is located along the border with Greece. The communist government (1945–1991), in order to establish control over the areas populated by the Greek minority, declared
29640-849: The number at 287,000 after their so called "Greek census" in 2013. This census is not recognised by the Albanian government. As of 2022, the number of Albanian citizens who are holders of special IDs as homogeneis (Greek co-ethnics) has been reduced to 13,329. A number of Northern Epirotes have migrated since the late 19th century to the Americas, and are generally integrated in the local Greek-American communities. The Pan-Epirotic Union of America, an organization which consists of 26 branches in various cities, according to its estimates counted nearly 30,000 Northern Epirotes in North America in 1919. According to post-war sources, Northern Epirotes in America numbered over 15,000 families in 1965. Northern Epirotes also emigrated to Australia, where they are active in raising political issues related to their motherland and
29835-400: The number is closer to just below five million. Integration, intermarriage, and loss of the Greek language influence the self-identification of the Greek diaspora ( omogenia ). Important centres include New York City , Chicago , Boston , Los Angeles , Sydney , Melbourne , London , Toronto , Montreal , Vancouver , Auckland , and Sao Paulo . In 2010, the Hellenic Parliament introduced
30030-482: The official status of ethnic minority , through voting of a bill by Albanian Parliament . According to official government figures (census 2002), there are 9,695 Aromanians or Vlachs, as they are officially called in North Macedonia. According to the census of 1953 there were 8,669 Vlachs, 6,392 in 1981 and 8,467 in 1994. Aromanians are recognized as an ethnic minority, and are hence represented in Parliament and enjoy ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious rights and
30225-409: The participation of a number of ethnic Greek candidates. Vasilis Bolanos was re-elected mayor of the southern town of Himarë despite the governing and opposition Albanian parties fielding a combined candidate against him. Greek observers have expressed concern at the "non-conformity of procedure" in the conduct of the elections. In 2015, Jorgo Goro, supported by the Socialist Party of Albania became
30420-409: The past. Also, Aromanians from villages around Vlorë, who identified as "Helleno-Vlach", were able to obtain visas and work permits without any difficulties. It has been suggested that a certain number of Aromanians have claimed to be Greek in exchange for benefits; such as Greek pensions , passports and visas. However, the official Albanian definition about minorities did not recognize as members of
30615-410: The place of Romiós , that was seen negatively by him. The relationship between ethnic Greek identity and Greek Orthodox religion continued after the creation of the modern Greek nation-state in 1830. According to the second article of the first Greek constitution of 1822, a Greek was defined as any native Christian resident of the Kingdom of Greece , a clause removed by 1840. A century later, when
30810-439: The political heirs of imperial Rome , the descendants of their classical Greek forebears and followers of the Apostles ; during the mid-to-late Byzantine period (11th–13th century), a growing number of Byzantine Greek intellectuals deemed themselves Hellenes although for most Greek-speakers, "Hellene" still meant pagan. On the eve of the Fall of Constantinople the Last Emperor urged his soldiers to remember that they were
31005-843: The previous year. By comparison, about 9,000 Greeks emigrated to Germany in 2009 and 12,000 in 2010. Aromanians The Aromanians ( Aromanian : Armãnji, Rrãmãnji ) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian , an Eastern Romance language . They traditionally live in central and southern Albania , south-western Bulgaria , northern and central Greece , and North Macedonia , and can currently be found in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, south-western and eastern North Macedonia, northern and central Greece, southern Serbia, and south-eastern Romania ( Northern Dobruja ). An Aromanian diaspora living outside these places also exists. The Aromanians are known by several other names, such as " Vlachs " or "Macedo-Romanians" (sometimes used to also refer to
31200-474: The primary level. If a few Albanian families moved into a town or village, the minority's right to be educated in Greek and publish in Greek newspapers was revoked. One of the major issues between the Albanian government and the Greek minority in Albania is that of education and the need for more Greek-language schools, due to overcrowded classrooms and unfulfilled demand. In addition, the Greek minority remands that Greek language education be made available outside
31395-429: The prohibition of the Greek language if spoken outside the recognised so-called "minority zones" (which have remained after their establishment in the communist era) and even limitations on the official use of its language within those zones. During the same period many formerly Greek place-names were officially changed to Albanian ones. Greeks from the "minority zones" were also frequently forcibly moved to other parts of
31590-560: The protection of Italy at the end of World War I, called Principality of the Pindus . Aromanians have been very influential in Greek politics, business and the army. Revolutionaries Rigas Feraios and Giorgakis Olympios , Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis , billionaires and benefactors Evangelos Zappas and Konstantinos Zappas , businessman and philanthropist George Averoff , Field Marshal and later Prime Minister Alexandros Papagos , and conservative politician Evangelos Averoff were all either Aromanians or of partial Aromanian heritage. It
31785-493: The recognition of the Aromanians as a distinct millet (the Ullah millet ) by the Ottoman Empire on 22 May 1905, with corresponding freedoms of worship and education in their own language. Nevertheless, due to the advanced assimilation of the Aromanians, this came too late to lead to the creation of a distinct Aromanian national identity; indeed, as Gustav Weigand noted in 1897, most Aromanians were not only indifferent, but actively hostile to their own national movement. At
31980-419: The religious sphere, this was a period of profound change. The spiritual revolution that took place, saw a waning of the old Greek religion, whose decline beginning in the 3rd century BC continued with the introduction of new religious movements from the East. The cults of deities like Isis and Mithra were introduced into the Greek world. Greek-speaking communities of the Hellenized East were instrumental in
32175-500: The rest of the Balkan countries, the Levant and the Black Sea states, remnants of the Old Greek Diaspora (pre-19th century). The total number of Greeks living outside Greece and Cyprus today is a contentious issue. Where census figures are available, they show around three million Greeks outside Greece and Cyprus. Estimates provided by the SAE – World Council of Hellenes Abroad put the figure at around seven million worldwide. According to George Prevelakis of Sorbonne University ,
32370-420: The right to education in their language. There are Aromanian cultural societies and associations such as the Union for Aromanian Culture from North Macedonia, The Aromanian League of North Macedonia, The International League of Aromanians and Comuna Armãneascã "Frats Manachi" , (The Aromanian Community Manaki Brothers) in Bitola (Aromanian Bituli or Bitule ). There also are two political parties representing
32565-448: The rights of the Greek minority only to those people who live in the areas which are recognized as minority zones. The last census that included ethnicity, from 1989, included only the numbers of the Greek minority in the minority zones. Ethnic Greeks living outside those areas were not counted as such. This has had a practical effect in the area of education: With the exception of the officially recognized Greek minority zones, where teaching
32760-428: The rights of the Greek populations still living there. The largest number of such persons are in the state of Victoria with further communities in the states of New South Wales and South Australia. The Greek dialects of Albania mainly belong to the branch of southern Greek dialects . In addition to Albanian loanwords, they retain some archaic forms and words that are no longer used in Standard Modern Greek, as well as in
32955-421: The sake of conquest" or at least conquest for the sake of riches, glory and power and view the "ideal" as useful propaganda directed towards the city-states. In any case, Alexander's toppling of the Achaemenid Empire , after his victories at the battles of the Granicus , Issus and Gaugamela , and his advance as far as modern-day Pakistan and Tajikistan , provided an important outlet for Greek culture, via
33150-457: The same time, the Greek–Romanian antagonism over Aromanian loyalties intensified with the armed Macedonian Struggle , leading to the rupture of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1906. During the Macedonian Struggle, most Aromanians participated on the "patriarchist" (pro-Greek) side, but some sided with the " exarchists " (pro-Bulgarians). However, following the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, Romanian interest waned, and when it revived in
33345-536: The second-class status of Christians inherent in the Ottoman millet system, according to which Muslims were explicitly awarded senior status and preferential treatment. These Greeks either emigrated, particularly to their fellow Orthodox Christian protector, the Russian Empire , or simply converted to Islam, often only very superficially and whilst remaining crypto-Christian . The most notable examples of large-scale conversion to Turkish Islam among those today defined as Greek Muslims —excluding those who had to convert as
33540-562: The secular tendency in the interest in the classical past. However, it was the combination of Orthodox Christianity with a specifically Greek identity that shaped the Greeks' notion of themselves in the empire's twilight years. In the twilight years of the Byzantine Empire, prominent Byzantine personalities proposed referring to the Byzantine Emperor as the "Emperor of the Hellenes". These largely rhetorical expressions of Hellenic identity were confined within intellectual circles, but were continued by Byzantine intellectuals who participated in
33735-404: The so-called "minority zones" ( Albanian : Zona e minoritarëve ), consisting of 99 villages in the southern districts of Gjirokastër, Sarandë, and Delvina. Tirana's official minority policy defines the Greek origin of Albanian citizens according to the language, religion, birth and ancestors originating from the areas of the so-called "minority zones". The Albanian law on minorities acknowledges
33930-420: The southern shore area of the Black Sea, contemporaneous with and following the failed Greek Asia Minor Campaign , was part of this process of Turkification of the Ottoman Empire and the placement of its economy and trade, then largely in Greek hands under ethnic Turkish control. The terms used to define Greekness have varied throughout history but were never limited or completely identified with membership to
34125-456: The special identity card was extended to non-Greek members in the families of ethnic Greeks. About 189,000 individuals acquired the special identity card by 2008. After Greek citizenship was made available, the number of special identity card holders has declined to about 13,000 in 2023. The minority's sociopolitical organization from promotion of Greek human rights, Omonoia , founded in January 1991, took an active role on minority issues. Omonoia
34320-408: The spread of early Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and Christianity's early leaders and writers (notably Saint Paul ) were generally Greek-speaking, though none were from Greece proper. However, Greece itself had a tendency to cling to paganism and was not one of the influential centers of early Christianity: in fact, some ancient Greek religious practices remained in vogue until the end of
34515-418: The state funds some Aromanian published works (magazines and books) as well as works that cover Aromanian culture, language and history. The latter is mostly done by the first Aromanian Scientific Society, "Constantin Belemace" in Skopje (Aromanian Scopia ), which has organized symposiums on Aromanian history and has published papers from them. According to the last census, there were 9,596 Aromanians (0.48% of
34710-402: The time considered them to be around 200,000. According to Miranda Vickers (2010), Albanian sources noted the Greek population at the time between 40-50,000. She also notes that the high Greek official figure would likely have had to include Orthodox communities such as Aromanians and Albanians. The vast majority of ethnic Greeks from Albania have emigrated to Greece since the 1990s. According to
34905-432: The town of Himara in 1770. In Moscopole, an educational institution known as the " New Academy " ( Greek : Νέα Ακαδημία ) and an extensive library were established during the 18th century. A local monk founded in 1731 the first printing house in the Balkans (second only to that of Constantinople ). However, after the destruction of Moscopole (1769), the center of Greek education in the region moved to nearby Korçë . In
35100-438: The town was still under Venetian control, while in Gjirokastër a Greek school was founded in 1633. The most important impetus for the creation of schools and the development of Greek education was given by the Orthodox missionary Cosmas of Aetolia together with the Aromanian Nektarios Terpos from Moscopole . Cosmas the Aetolian founded the Acroceraunian School , harkening back to the region's name in classical antiquity, in
35295-466: The two Byzantine Greek brothers, the monks Saints Cyril and Methodius from the port city of Thessalonica , capital of the theme of Thessalonica , who are credited today with formalizing the first Slavic alphabet . Following the Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453, many Greeks sought better employment and education opportunities by leaving for the West , particularly Italy , Central Europe , Germany and Russia . Greeks are greatly credited for
35490-497: The use of the minority languages has been discouraged in Greece, although recently there have been efforts to preserve the endangered languages (including Aromanian) of Greece. Since 1994, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki offers beginner and advanced courses in "Koutsovlach", and cultural festivals with over 40,000 participants—the largest Aromanian cultural gatherings in the world—regularly take place in Metsovo. Nevertheless, there are no exclusively Aromanian newspapers, and
35685-426: The years of communist rule, any form of organization by minorities was prohibited. In 1991, when the communist regime collapsed, the political organization Omonoia ( Greek : Ομόνοια ) was founded, in the town of Dervican by representatives of the Greek minority. The organization has four affiliates, in Sarandë , Delvinë , Gjirokastër and Tirana , and sub-sections in Korçë , Vlorë and Përmet . Its leading forum
35880-479: Was banned entirely alongside the other religious faiths all over the country. The process started in 1949, with the confiscation and nationalisation of Church property and further intensified in 1967, when the state launched its atheistic campaign. However, some private practice managed to survive. This campaign was also part of the state persecution against the identity of the Greek people; as many of their traditions were closely related to Eastern Christianity. The ban
36075-405: Was banned in the parliamentary elections of March 1991, because it violated the Albanian law which forbade 'formation of parties on a religious, ethnic and regional basis'. This situation resulted in a number of strong protests not only from the Greek side, but also from international organizations. Finally, on behalf of Omonoia, the Unity for Human Rights Party contested at the following elections,
36270-403: Was contact with barbarian (non-Greek) peoples, which was deepened in the new cosmopolitan environment of the multi-ethnic Hellenistic kingdoms. This led to a strong desire among Greeks to organize the transmission of the Hellenic paideia to the next generation. Greek science, technology and mathematics are generally considered to have reached their peak during the Hellenistic period. In
36465-416: Was discernible. The Greeks of classical antiquity idealized their Mycenaean ancestors and the Mycenaean period as a glorious era of heroes, closeness of the gods and material wealth. The Homeric Epics (i.e. Iliad and Odyssey ) were especially and generally accepted as part of the Greek past and it was not until the time of Euhemerism that scholars began to question Homer's historicity. As part of
36660-426: Was examined in the form of a questionnaire. Another issue with the special ID card had to do with ethnic Albanians using fake documents which presented them as members of the Greek minority to obtain it. In 2008, the citizenship law change in Greece allowed for holders of special ID cards to obtain Greek citizenship and about 45,000 did so just in the first three years of its implementation. The Omonoia organization put
36855-480: Was given 2 billion lei help from the Romanian government. They also have a political party named Alliance for Equality and European Justice (ABDE; Ligãturea ti Egaliteati shi Ndrept European ), which is the only in the world along with two in North Macedonia, and two social organisations named Shoqata Arumunët/Vllehtë e Shqiperisë (The Society of the Aromanians/Vlachs of Albania) and Unioni Kombëtar Arumun Shqiptar (The Aromanian Albanian National Union). Many of
37050-504: Was held in both the Greek and Albanian languages, in all other areas of Albania lessons were taught only in the Albanian language. Work in Greece is of importance in Albania, and people who declare to be members of the Greek minority or prove their "Greek origin", receive special benefits and identity cards. A substantial number of Aromanians (Vlachs) in south-eastern Albania, as well as some Muslim Albanians, have claimed Greek identity based on pro-Greek social networks and identity idioms of
37245-407: Was lifted in 1990 just in time for Christians to observe traditional Christmas rites. Thus, one of the first Orthodox masses was celebrated in the town of Dervican on 16 December of that year. During the first period of Ottoman occupation, illiteracy was a main characteristic of the wider Balkan region, but contrary to that situation, Epirus was not negatively affected. Along with the tolerance of
37440-447: Was rejected by the Albanian authorities due to a three-year conviction in the past. Albanian electoral law allows participation in elections as a candidate after 10 years have passed from the later conviction of a candidate. In the following election most of the Greek minority abstained from the procedure and Goro was re-elected. Several irregularities were also reported during the elections. In 2004, there were five ethnic Greek members in
37635-412: Was the next period of Greek civilization, the beginnings of which are usually placed at Alexander's death. This Hellenistic age , so called because it saw the partial Hellenization of many non-Greek cultures, extending all the way into India and Bactria , both of which maintained Greek cultures and governments for centuries. The end is often placed around conquest of Egypt by Rome in 30 BC, although
37830-407: Was within the Latin sphere of influence in the Northern Balkans, north of the Jireček Line , which roughly demarcated the areas of influence of Latin and Greek. With the Slavic breakthrough of the Danube frontier in the 7th century, Latin-speakers were pushed further southwards. Based on linguistic considerations, Olga Tomic concludes that Aromanians moved from Thrace to their present locations after
38025-426: Was written in the Greek alphabet and aimed at spreading Greek among Aromanian-speakers. By the early 19th century, however, the distinct Latin-derived nature of the Aromanian language began to be studied in a series of grammars and language booklets. In 1815, the Aromanians of Budapest requested permission to use their language in liturgy , but it was turned down by the local metropolitan. The establishment of
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