By Catherine Tsounis
The tale of the refugee describes the Greek Nation from the Fall of Constantinople till the 1821 Greek Revolution. “For a good man to leave his city, his rich fields and go a-begging is of all things the most miserable. Wandering with mother dear and aged father with little children and wedded wife. For hateful shall such an one be among all those to whom he be among, all those to whom he shall come in bondage, to want loathsome penury (poverty) and doth shame to his lineage and belie his noble beauty followed by all evil and dishonor,” – ancient Greek poet Tyrtaeus.1
Exile, a person without a country was the life of a Greek. But it was more bitter for the vast and less fortunate majority of Greeks from the conquered Byzantine Empire. The late Dr. Peter Charanis, an immigrant born in Limnos of the Ottoman Empire, was Editor of Rutgers Byzantine series. “In our own troubled times, the Greek people have felt a need greater than ever before…to demand the historical origins of their nation and its place in contemporary civilization…The Greek is conscious of the weight of the past.”
The origins of the Greek nation took place in the horrors of Frankish rule (1204) and Turkish occupation (1453 to 1912 when Balkan Wars freed rest of Modern Greece). A sense of Greekness, remembering ancient Greek heritage and a national church free of Latin domination kept the enslaved Greek alive for 400 years. Greek heritage and Orthodox church created the Greek nation that we know in 2021.2
The wandering Greek scholars believed they would have had a different reputation if they had come from a country that was free. Death in battle was preferable than slavery. The exiled Greek scholars believed that freedom was a supreme and greater good. Those who had freedom were blessed. Scholar/Churchman Bessarion said “Unfortunate Greece was destroyed by disunity and civil war that was the downfall of the Greeks.”3
Lars Brownworth, a former high school history teacher, is the creator of the podcast phenomenon “12 Byzantine Rulers” that iTunes named as one of the podcasts that define the genre. In an interview with The Greek Current, author Brownworth answered the question “Why is Byzantine Empire largely neglected and ignored in High School and College History Departments? The Byzantine Empire is a loser in History. I say it loving it. There is not a political successor to the Byzantine Empire, The lands it controlled, the heartland, Middle East, Turkey is Muslim. They do not look back to the Byzantine Empire for culture or religion. The current inhabitants of Byzantine lands do not look to the Byzantine Empire for culture and religious heritage, except for Greece. The West ignores it too.” 4 Excellent point few acknowledge.
This was how the subjugated Greek nation felt for 400 years, leading to the 1821 Greek Revolution. Special appreciation to Despina Siolas, MD/Ph.D. for research on Greek and Byzantine sources in the New York City public library system.
Links:
1. Vacalopoulos, Apostolos E. “Origins of the Greek Nation: The Byzantine Period, 1204-1461, translation Ion Moles, revised by author. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N.J., Foreword XXIII
2. Vacalopoulos, Foreword.
3. Vacalopoulos, p. 261,263.
4. https://thegreekcurrent.simplecast.com/episodes/interview-with-lars-brownworth-on-the-b-lcX4wPNQ
