View source for Hellenization

{{short description|Spread of Greek language and culture}}
{{About|the spread of Greek culture|the renaming of places in Greece|Hellenization of place names}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
[[File:Delos Haus der Delfine 02.jpg|thumb|300px|One of the [[mosaics of Delos]], [[Greece]] with the symbol of the [[Punic]]-[[Phoenicia]]n goddess [[Tanit]]]]
'''Hellenization'''{{efn|[[British English|also spelled]] '''Hellenisation''' or '''Hellenism'''<ref name=oup359 />}} or '''Hellenification''' is the adoption of Greek [[Greek culture|culture]], [[Religion in Greece|religion]], [[Greek language|language]], and [[Ethnic identity|identity]] by non-Greeks. In the [[Ancient Greece|ancient period]], [[Greek colonisation|colonisation]] often led to the Hellenization of indigenous people in the [[Hellenistic period]], many of the territories which were conquered by [[Alexander the Great]] were Hellenized.

== Etymology ==
The first known use of a verb that means "to Hellenize" was in Greek (ἑλληνίζειν) and by [[Thucydides]] (5th century BC), who wrote that the [[Amphilochian Argos|Amphilochian Argives]] were Hellenised as to their language by the [[Ambracia|Ambraciots]], which shows that the word perhaps already referred to more than language.<ref name=oup359>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2014|p=359}}.</ref> The similar word '''Hellenism''', which is often used as a synonym, is used in [[2 Maccabees]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|2 Maccabees|4:13|NRSV}}</ref> (c. 124 BC) and the [[Book of Acts]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Acts|6:1|ESV}},{{Bibleverse|Acts|9:29|ESV}}</ref> (c. AD 80–90) to refer to clearly much more than language, though it is disputed what that may have entailed.<ref name=oup359 />

== Background ==
=== Historical ===
[[File:MacedonEmpire.jpg|thumb|400px|Map of the [[Macedonian Empire]], established by the military conquests of Alexander the Great in 334–323 BC.]]
By the 4th century BC, the process of Hellenization had started in southwestern Anatolia's [[Lycia]], [[Caria]] and [[Pisidia]] regions. (1st century fortifications at Pelum in [[Galatia]], on Baş Dağ in [[Lycaonia]] and at [[Isauria|Isaura]] are the only known Hellenistic-style structures in [[central Anatolia|central]] and [[eastern Anatolia]]).<ref>{{harvnb|Mitchell|1993|p=85}}.</ref>

When it was advantageous to do so, places like [[Side, Turkey|Side]] and [[Aspendos]] invented Greek-themed origin myths; an inscription published in [[Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum|SEG]] shows that in the 4th century BC Aspendos claimed ties to [[Ancient Argos|Argos]], similar to [[Nikokreon of Cyprus]] who also claimed Argive lineage. (Argos was home to the [[Kings of Macedon]].)<ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|1991|p=71}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2014|p=360}}.</ref> Like the [[Argead]]s, the [[Antigonids]] claimed descent from [[Heracles]], the [[Seleucid]]s from [[Apollo]], and the [[Ptolemies]] from [[Dionysus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Patterson|2010|p=65}}.</ref>

The [[Seuthopolis inscription]] was very influential in the modern [[Thracology|study of Thrace]]. The inscription mentions Dionysus, Apollo and some [[Samothrace|Samothracian gods]]. Scholars have interpreted the inscription as evidence of Hellenisation in inland Thrace during the early Hellenistic, but this has been challenged by recent scholarship.<ref>{{Cite journal
  | doi        = 10.1515/klio-2018-0006
  | volume     = 100
  | issue      = 1
  | pages      = 178–194
  | last       = Graninger
  | first      = Charles Denver
  | title      = New Contexts for the Seuthopolis Inscription (IGBulg 3.2 1731)
  | journal    = Klio
  | date       = 2018-07-18
  | s2cid = 194889877
 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
  | last       = Nankov
  | first      = Emil
  | title = Vasilka Gerasimova-Tomova in memoriam
  | date=2012
  | place=Sofija
  | publisher=Nacionalen Archeologičeski Inst. s Muzej
  | chapter     = Beyond Hellenization: Reconsidering Greek Literacy in the Thracian City of Seuthopolis
  | access-date = 2018-07-29
  | url        = https://www.academia.edu/1469923
  |pages=109–126
}}</ref>

However, Hellenization had its limitations. For example, areas of southern [[Syria]] that were affected by Greek culture mostly entailed [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] urban centres, where [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] was commonly spoken. The countryside, on the other hand, was largely unaffected, with most of its inhabitants speaking [[Syriac language|Syriac]] and clinging to their native traditions.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|Grenet|1975|p=353}}: "South Syria was thus a comparatively late addition to the Seleucid empire, whose heartland was North Syria. Here Seleucus himself created four cities—his capital of Antiochia-on-the-Orontes, and Apamea, Seleucia and Laodicia—all new foundations with a European citizen body. Twelve other Hellenistic cities are known there, and the [[Seleucid army]] was largely based in this region, either garrisoning its towns or settled as reservists in military colonies. Hellenisation, although intensive, seems in the main to have been confined to these urban centers, where Greek was commonly spoken. The country people appear to have been little affected by the cultural change, and continued to speak Syriac and to follow their traditional ways. Despite its political importance, little is known of Syria under Macedonian rule, and even the process of Hellenisation is mainly to be traced in the one community which has preserved some records from this time, namely the Jews of South Syria."</ref>

By itself, archaeological evidence only gives researchers an incomplete picture of Hellenization; it is often not possible to state with certainty whether particular archaeological findings belonged to Greeks, Hellenized indigenous peoples, indigenous people who simply owned Greek-style objects or some combination of these groups. Thus, literary sources are also used to help researchers interpret archaeological findings.<ref>{{harvnb|Boardman|Hammond|1982|pp=91–92}}.</ref>

=== Modern ===
{{Empty section|date=February 2025}}

== Regions ==
=== Anatolia ===
{{quote|Greek cultural influence spread into Anatolia in a slow rate from the 6th to 4th century. The [[Lydians]] had been particularly receptive to Greek culture, as were the 4th century dynasties of [[Carians|Caria]] and [[Lycia]] as well as the inhabitants of the [[Kingdom of Cilicia (ancient)|Cilician plain]] and of the regions of [[Paphlagonia]]. The local population found their desires for advancement a stimulus to learn Greek. The indigenous urban settlements and villages in Anatolia coalesced, on their own initiative, to form cities in the Greek manner. The local kings of Asia Minor adopted Greek as their official language and sought to imitate other Greek cultural forms.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lxHPgAACAAJ | isbn=978-1-59740-476-1 | title=The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh Through the Fifteenth Century| page=43 | year=2008 | publisher=American Council of Learned Societies }}</ref>}}

The first properly Greek settlements in Anatolia originated shortly after the end of the Bronze age, around the 11th century BCE.<ref>Brewster, H. (1994). ''Classical Anatolia: The Glory of Hellenism''.</ref> [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] settlements at [[Halicarnassus]], [[Miletus]], and [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]] existed before this, but Mycenaean colonization in the region was sporadic at best and not on the same scale as the later Greek colonization of Anatolia. These initial posts in the 2nd millennium BCE, however, were less colonies in the traditional sense and more akin to the [[Factory (trading post)|factories]] of the [[Age of Discovery]]; that is, that they were trading posts initially established to conduct trade with Anatolian locals. By the beginning of the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]], settlement of Anatolia had begun to grow at a quick rate, and proper colonies in the traditional sense were established in the form of predominantly Greek city-states ({{lang|grc|πόλεις}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|póleis}}). Extensive trade between mainland Greece and the Hellenistic portions of Anatolia was underway by the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, with fish, grain, timber, metal, and often slaves being exported from the land. It is believed that this kind of contact with the spread of Hellenistic culture, religion, and ideas in Anatolia was a peaceful process.<ref>Boys-Stones, G., et al. (2009) ''The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies'', https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb, accessed 21 Feb. 2024.</ref>

Worship of the Greek pantheon of gods was practiced in Lydia. Lydian king [[Croesus]] often invited the wisest Greek philosophers, orators and statesmen to attend his court. Croesus himself often consulted the famous oracle at Delphi-bestowing many gifts and offerings to this and other religious sites for example. He provided patronage for the reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis, to which he offered a large number of marble columns as dedication to the goddess.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/1/The%CC%80se%20entie%CC%80re%20vol%20I.pdf|title=La Lydie d'Alyatte et Crésus|website=orbi.uliege.be|language=fr|access-date=6 March 2023|archive-date=9 October 2022|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/220928/1/The%CC%80se%20entie%CC%80re%20vol%20I.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfrLDwAAQBAJ | isbn=978-1-78346-910-9 |title=Beyond the Gates of Fire: New Perspectives on the Battle of Thermopylae |year=2013 | publisher=Casemate Publishers }}</ref>

It was in the towns that Hellenisation made its greatest progress, with the process often being synonymous with urbanisation.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lxHPgAACAAJ | isbn=978-1-59740-476-1 | title=The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh Through the Fifteenth Century | page=43 | year=2008 | publisher=American Council of Learned Societies }}</ref> Hellenisation reached [[Pisidia]] and [[Lycia]] sometime in the 4th century BC, but the interior remained largely unaffected for several more centuries until it came under Roman rule in the 1st century BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Hornblower|2014|p=94}}.</ref> [[Ionia]]n, [[Aeolians|Aeolian]] and [[Dorians|Doric]] settlers along Anatolia's Western coast seemed to have remained culturally Greek and some of their [[city-states]] date back to the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic Period]]. On the other hand, Greeks who settled in the southwestern region of Pisidia and Pamphylia seem to have been assimilated by the local culture.<ref name=mitchell>{{harvnb|Mitchell|1991|pp=119–145}}.</ref>

=== Crimea ===
{{Main|Bosporan Kingdom}}
[[Panticapaeum]] (modern day [[Kerch]]) was one of the [[Greeks in pre-Roman Crimea|early Greek colonies in Crimea]]. It was founded by [[Miletus]] around 600 BC on a site with good terrain for a defensive [[acropolis]]. By the time the [[Cimmerian]] colonies had organised into the [[Bosporan Kingdom]] much of the local native population had been Hellenized.<ref>{{harvnb|Boardman|Hammond|1982|pp=129–130}}.</ref> Most scholars date the establishment of the kingdom to 480 BC, when the [[Archaeanactid dynasty]] assumed control of Panticapaeum, but classical archaeologist [[Gocha R. Tsetskhladze]] has dated the kingdom's founding to 436 BC, when the [[Spartocid dynasty]] replaced the ruling Archaeanactids.<ref>{{harvnb|Tsetskhladze|2010}}.</ref>

=== Judea ===
{{main|History of Palestine#Hellenistic_period}}
{{see|Hellenistic Judaism}}

The Hellenistic [[Seleucid]] and [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Ptolemaic]] kingdoms that formed after Alexander's death were particularly relevant to the history of [[Judaism]]. Located between the two kingdoms, Judea experienced long periods of warfare and instability.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2012|p=Palestine lay on the border separating these two kingdoms and therefore was a constant bone of contention, passing sometimes into Seleucid and at other times into Ptolemaic control.}}.</ref> [[Judea]] fell under Seleucid control in 198 BC. By the time [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] came to rule Judea in 175 BC, [[Jerusalem]] was already somewhat Hellenized. In 170 BC, both claimants to the High Priesthood, [[Jason (high priest)|Jason]] and [[Menelaus (High Priest)|Menelaus]], bore Greek names. Jason had established institutions of [[ephebos|Greek education]] and in later years Jewish culture started to be suppressed including forbidding [[circumcision]] and observance of the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]].<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2012|pp=55–66}}.</ref>

Hellenization of members of the Jewish elite included names and clothes, but other customs were adapted by the rabbis, and elements that violated the [[halakha]] and [[midrash]] were prohibited. One example is the elimination of some aspects of Hellenistic banquets, such as the practice of offering [[libations]] to the gods, while incorporating certain elements that gave the meals a more Jewish character. Discussion of [[Scripture]], the singing of sacred songs and attendance of students of the [[Torah]] were encouraged. One detailed account of Jewish-style Hellenistic banquets comes from [[Ben Sira]]. There is literary evidence from [[Philo]] about the extravagance of Alexandrian Jewish banquets, and ''The Letter of Aristeas'' discusses Jews dining with non-Jews as an opportunity to share Jewish wisdom.<ref>{{harvnb|Shimoff|1996|pp=440–452}}.</ref>

=== Parthia ===
{{expand section|date=July 2018}}
[[File:Nisa_helmeted_warrior_(black_background).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Nisa helmeted warrior]], a [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] figure or deity, from the Parthian royal residence and necropolis of [[Nisa, Turkmenistan]], 2nd century BC]]
[[File:MithridatesIParthiaCoinHistoryofIran.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ancient drachma|Drachma]] of [[Mithridates I of Parthia|Mithridates I]], showing him wearing a beard and a royal [[diadem]] on his head. Reverse side: [[Heracles]]/[[Verethragna]], holding a club in his left hand and a cup in his right hand; Greek inscription reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "of the Great King Arsaces the [[Philhellene]]"|alt=Two sides of a coin. The side on the left showing the head of a bearded man, while the right a standing individual.]]
[[File:Rhyton terminating in the forepart of a wild cat MET DT905.jpg|thumb|[[Rhyton terminating in the forepart of a wild cat]] showing Hellenistic influences]]

=== Pisidia and Pamphylia ===
Pamphylia is a plain located between the [[highland]]s of [[Lycia]] and [[Cilicia]]. The exact date of Greek settlement in the region is not known; one possible theory is that settlers arrived in the region as part of [[Bronze Age]] [[maritime trade]] between the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]], [[Levant]] and [[Cyprus]], while another attributes it to population movements during the instability of the [[Bronze Age Collapse]]. The Greek dialect established in [[Pamphylia]] by the Classical period was related to [[Arcado-Cypriot]].<ref name=wilson>{{harvnb|Wilson|2013|p=532}}.</ref>

[[Mopsus]] is a legendary founder of several coastal cities in southwestern Anatolia, including [[Aspendos]], [[Phaselis]], [[Perge]] and [[Sillyon]].<ref name=wilson /><ref name=stoneman>{{Cite book
  | publisher = Yale University Press
  | isbn      = 978-0-300-14042-2
  | last      = Stoneman
  | first     = Richard
  | title     = The Ancient Oracles: Making the Gods Speak
  | date      = 2011
  | chapter   = 6. The Oracle Coast: Sibyls and Prophets of Asia Minor
  | pages     = 77–103
}}</ref> A bilingual [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] and [[neo-Hittite]] [[Luwian]] inscription found at [[Karatepe]], dated to 800 BC, says that the ruling dynasty there traced their origins to Mopsus.<ref name=mitchell /><ref name=wilson /> Mopsus, whose name is also attested to in [[Hittites|Hittite]] documents, may originally have been an Anatolian figure that became part of the cultural traditions of Pamphylia's early Greek settlers.<ref name=wilson /> Attested to in [[Linear B]] texts, he is given a Greek genealogy as a descendant of [[Manto (mythology)|Manto]] and [[Apollo]].<ref name=stoneman />

For centuries the indigenous population exerted considerable influence on Greek settlers, but after the 4th century BC this population quickly started to become Hellenised.<ref name=mitchell /> Little is known about Pisidia prior to the 3rd century BC, but there is quite a bit of archeological evidence that dates to the [[Hellenistic period]].<ref name=survey /> Literary evidence, however, including inscriptions and coins are limited.<ref name=mitchell/> During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, native regional tongues were abandoned in favour of [[koine Greek]] and settlements began to take on characteristics of Greek ''[[polis]]''.<ref name=mitchell /><ref name=survey>{{harvnb|Mitchell|Vandeput|2013|pp=97–118}}.</ref>

The [[Iron Age]] [[Panemoteichos]] I may be an early precursor to later regional Hellenistic settlements including [[Selge]], [[Termessos]] and [[Sagalassos]] (believed to be the three most prominent cities of Hellenistic Pisidia).<ref name=mitchell /><ref name=survey /> The site is evidence of "urban organisation" that predates the Greek ''polis'' by 500 years. Based on Panemoteichos I and other Iron Age sites, including the [[Phrygia]]n [[Midas şehri]] and the [[Cappadocian]] fortification of [[Kerkenes]], experts believe that "behind the Greek influence that shaped the Hellenistic Pisidian communities there lay a tangible and important Anatolian tradition."<ref name=survey />

According to the writings of [[Arrian]] the population of [[Side, Turkey|Side]], who traced their origins to [[Aeolians|Aeolian]] [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Cyme]], had forgotten the Greek language by the time Alexander arrived at the city in 334 BC. There are [[Numismatic|coins]] and stone inscriptions that attest to a unique script from the region but the language has only been partially deciphered.<ref name=wilson /><ref name=mitchell />

=== Phrygia ===
The latest dateable coins found at the Phrygian capital of [[Gordion]] are from the 2nd century BC. Finds from the abandoned Hellenistic era settlement include imported and locally produced imitation Greek-style [[terracotta]] figurines and ceramics. Inscriptions show that some of the inhabitants had Greek names, while others had Anatolian or possibly [[Celts|Celtic]] names.<ref name=kealhofer>{{Cite book
  | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press
  | isbn      = 978-1-934536-24-7
  | last      = Kealhofer
  | first     = Lisa
  | title     = The Archaeology of Midas and the Phrygians: Recent Work at Gordion
  | date      = 2011-01-01
  | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=bqMORufXqJUC&pg=PA13
}}</ref>
Many [[Phrygia]]n cult objects were Hellenised during the Hellenistic period, but worship of traditional deities like the Phrygian mother goddess persisted.<ref>{{harvnb|Roller|2011}}.</ref> Greek cults attested to include [[Hermes]], [[Kybele]], the [[Muses]] and [[Tyche]].<ref name=kealhofer />

=== Syria ===
Greek art and culture reached [[Phoenicia under Hellenistic rule|Phoenicia]] by way of commerce before any Greek cities were founded in Syria,<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1940|p=1}}.</ref> but the Hellenisation of Syrians was not widespread until it became a [[Roman Syria|Roman province]]. Under Roman rule in the 1st century BC, there is evidence of Hellenistic style funerary architecture, decorative elements, mythological references, and inscriptions. However, there is a lack of evidence from Hellenistic Syria; concerning this, most scholars view it as the case that the "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".<ref>{{harvnb|Jong|2017|p=199}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite conference
  | publisher  = Social Science Research Network
  | last       = de Jong
  | first      = Lidewijde
  | title      = Narratives of Roman Syria: A Historiography of Syria as a Province of Rome
  | location   = Rochester, NY
  | date       = 2007-07-01
  | ssrn = 1426969
 }}</ref>

=== Bactria ===
The [[Bactrians]], an Iranian ethnic group who lived in [[Bactria]] (northern [[Afghanistan]]), were Hellenised during the reign of the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] and soon after various tribes in northwestern regions of the [[Indian subcontinent]] underwent Hellenisation during the reign of the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]].

== Early Christianity ==
The [[periodisation]] of the [[Hellenistic Age]], between the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]] up to [[Octavian]]{{'}}s victory at the [[Battle of Actium]], has been attributed to the 19th-century historian [[J. G. Droysen]]. According to this model the spread of Greek culture during this period made the rise of [[Christianity]] possible. Later, in the 20th century, scholars questioned this 19th-century [[paradigm]] for failing to account for the contributions of [[Semitic languages|Semitic-speaking]] and other [[Near Eastern]] cultures.<ref name=oup359 />

The twentieth century witnessed a lively debate over the extent of Hellenisation in the [[Levant]], particularly among the ancient [[Jews]], which has continued until today. Interpretations on the rise of [[Early Christianity]], which was applied most famously by [[Rudolf Bultmann]], used to see [[Judaism]] as largely unaffected by Hellenism, and the Judaism of the diaspora was thought to have succumbed thoroughly to its influences. Bultmann thus argued that Christianity arose almost completely within those Hellenistic confines and should be read against that background, as opposed to a more traditional Jewish background. With the publication of [[Martin Hengel]]'s two-volume study ''Hellenism and Judaism'' (1974, German original 1972) and subsequent studies ''Jews, Greeks and Barbarians: Aspects of the Hellenisation of Judaism in the pre-Christian Period'' (1980, German original 1976) and ''The 'Hellenisation' of Judaea in the First Century after Christ'' (1989, German original 1989), the tide began to turn decisively. Hengel argued that virtually all of Judaism was highly Hellenised well before the beginning of the Christian era, and even the Greek language was well known throughout the cities and even the smaller towns of Jewish Palestine. Scholars have continued to nuance Hengel's views, but almost all believe that strong Hellenistic influences were throughout the Levant, even among the conservative Jewish communities, which were the most nationalistic.

In his introduction to the 1964 book ''[[Meditations]]'', Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth discussed the profound influence of [[Stoicism|Stoic philosophy]] on Christianity:
<blockquote>
Again in the doctrine of the Trinity, the ecclesiastical conception of Father, Word, and Spirit finds its germ in the different Stoic names of the Divine Unity. Thus [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], writing of the supreme Power which shapes the universe, states, 'This Power we sometimes call the All-ruling God, sometimes the incorporeal Wisdom, sometimes the holy Spirit, sometimes Destiny.' The Church had only to reject the last of these terms to arrive at its own acceptable definition of the Divine Nature; while the further assertion 'these three are One', which the modern mind finds paradoxical, was no more than commonplace to those familiar with Stoic notions.<ref>{{cite book
  | last       = Aurelius
  | first      = Marcus
  | author-link = Marcus Aurelius
  | title      = Meditations
  | url        = https://archive.org/details/meditations0000marc_m9z0
  | url-access = registration
  | year       = 1964
  | location   = London
  | publisher  = [[Penguin Books]]
  | page       = [https://archive.org/details/meditations0000marc_m9z0/page/25 25]
  | isbn       = 978-0-140-44140-6
}}</ref></blockquote>

==Eastern Roman Empire==
{{Main|Byzantine Empire|Hellenization in the Byzantine Empire}}
The [[Greek East]] was one of the two main cultural areas of the Roman Empire and began to be ruled by an autonomous imperial court in AD 286 under [[Diocletian]]. However, Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts of the empire, and Latin was the state language. When the [[Western Roman Empire|Western Empire]] fell and the [[Roman Senate]] sent the regalia of the Western Emperor to the Eastern Emperor [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] in AD 476, [[Constantinople]] ([[Byzantium]] in [[Ancient Greek]]) was recognised as the seat of the sole Emperor. A process of political Hellenisation began and led, among other reforms, to the declaration of Greek as the official language.<ref>{{harvnb|Stouraitis|2014|pp=176, 177}}, {{harvnb|Stouraitis|2017|p=70}}, {{harvnb|Kaldellis|2007|p=113}}.</ref>

== Modern times ==
{{main|Geographical name changes in Greece}}
{{see also|Grecomans}}

In 1909, a commission appointed by the Greek government reported that a third of the villages of [[Greece]] should have their names changed, often because of their non-Greek origin.<ref name="Zacharia2008">{{harvnb|Zacharia|2008|p=232}}.</ref> In other instances, names were changed from a contemporary name of Greek origin to the ancient Greek name. Some village names were formed from a Greek root word with a foreign suffix or vice versa. Most of the name changes took place in areas populated by ethnic Greeks in which a stratum of foreign or divergent toponyms had accumulated over the centuries. However, in some parts of northern Greece, the population was not Greek-speaking, and many of the former toponyms had reflected the diverse ethnic and linguistic origins of their inhabitants.

The process of the change of toponyms in modern Greece has been described as a process of Hellenisation.<ref name="Zacharia2008"/> A modern use is in connection with policies pursuing "cultural harmonization and education of the linguistic minorities resident within the modern Greek state" - the Hellenisation of minority groups in modern Greece.<ref name="Koliopoulos-Veremis">{{harvnb|Koliopoulos|Veremis|2002|pp=232–241}}.</ref> The term ''Hellenisation'' (or Hellenization) is also used in the context of Greek opposition to the use of the [[Slavic dialects of Greece]].<ref name="hrw">{{cite book
  | url       = https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/g/greece/greece945.pdf
  | title     = DENYING ETHNIC IDENTITY – The Macedonians of Greece
  | publisher = Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
  | year      = 1994
  | isbn      = 978-1-56432-132-9
}}</ref>

In 1870, the Greek government abolished all Italian schools in the [[Ionian islands]], which had been annexed to Greece six years earlier. That led to the diminution of the community of [[Corfiot Italians]], which had lived in [[Corfu]] since the Middle Ages; by the 1940s, there were only 400 Corfiot Italians left.<ref>{{harvnb|Giulio|2000|p=132}}.</ref>

=== Arvanites ===
{{main|Arvanites|Arvanitika}}

Arvanites are descendants of [[Albanians|Albanian]] settlers who came to the present [[southern Greece]] in the late 13th and early 14th century. With participation in the [[Greek War of Independence]] and the [[Greek Civil War]], this has led to increasing assimilation amongst the Arvanites.<ref>Hall, Jonathan M. ''Ethnic Identity in Greek Antiquity''. Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 29, {{ISBN|978-0-521-78999-8}}.</ref> The common [[Eastern Orthodox Church| Orthodox Christian]] faith they shared with the rest of the local population was one of the main reasons that led to their assimilation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hemetek|first=Ursula|title=Manifold identities: studies on music and minorities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awgJ2LtnU6oC&q=Arvanites%20assimilation&pg=PA55|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Press|isbn=978-1-904303-37-4|page=55}}</ref> Other reasons for assimilation are large-scale [[internal migration]] to the cities and subsequent intermingling of the population. Although sociological studies of Arvanite communities still used to note an identifiable sense of a special "ethnic" identity among Arvanites, the authors did not identify or never identified a sense of 'belonging to Albania or to the Albanian nation'.<ref>Trudgill/Tzavaras (1977).</ref> Many Arvanites find the designation "Albanians" offensive as they identify nationally and ethnically as Greeks and not Albanians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/reports/arvanites.html |publisher=greekhelsinki.gr |title=GHM 1995 |access-date=2017-03-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003100942/http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/reports/arvanites.html |archive-date=2016-10-03 }}</ref> Because of this, relations between Arvanites and other Albanian-speaking populations have diverged over time. During the onset of the Greek war of Independence, Arvanites fought alongside Greek revolutionaries against Muslim Albanians.<ref name=Heraclides/><ref name=Andromedas/> For example, Arvanites participated in the 1821 [[Tripolitsa Massacre]] of Muslim Albanians,<ref name = Heraclides>Heraclides, Alexis (2011). ''[http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/45693/1/GreeSE%20No51.pdf The essence of the Greek-Turkish rivalry: national narrative and identity]''. Academic Paper. The London School of Economics and Political Science. p. 15. "On the Greek side, a case in point is the atrocious onslaught of the Greeks and Hellenised Christian Albanians against the city of Tripolitza in October 1821, which is justified by the Greeks ever since as the almost natural and predictable outcome of more than ‘400 years of slavery and dudgeon’. All the other similar atrocious acts all over Peloponnese, where apparently the whole population of Muslims (Albanian and Turkish-speakers), well over twenty thousand vanished from the face of the earth within a spat of a few months in 1821 is unsaid and forgotten, a case of ethnic cleansing through sheer slaughter (St Clair 2008: 1–9, 41–46) as are the atrocities committed in Moldavia (were the "Greek Revolution" actually started in February 1821) by prince Ypsilantis."</ref> while some Muslim Albanian speakers in the region of Bardounia remained after the war, converting to Orthodoxy.<ref name=Andromedas>Andromedas, John N. (1976). "Maniot folk culture and the ethnic mosaic in the southeast Peloponnese". ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences''. '''268'''. (1): 200. "In 1821, then, the ethnic mosaic of the southeastern Peloponnese (the ancient Laconia and Cynouria) consisted of Christian Tsakonians and Albanians on the east, Christian Maniats and Barduniotes, and Moslem Albanian Barduniotes in the southwest, and an ordinary Greek Christian population running between them. In 1821, with a general Greek uprising impending, rumors of a "Russo-Frankish" naval bombardment caused the "Turkish" population of the southeastern Peloponnese to seek refuge in the fortresses of Monevasia, Mystra, and Tripolitza. Indeed, the Turkobarduniotes were so panic stricken that they stampeded the Moslems of Mystra along with them into headlong flight to Tripolitza. The origin of this rumor was the firing of a salute by a sea captain named Frangias in honor of a Maniat leader known as "the Russian Knight." Some Moslems in Bardunia,’ and elsewhere, remained as converts to Christianity. Thus almost overnight the whole of the southeastern Peloponnese was cleared of "Turks" of whatever linguistic affiliation. This situation was sealed by the ultimate success of the Greek War for Independence. The Christian Albanians, identifying with their Orthodox coreligionists and with the new nationstate, gradually gave up the Albanian language, in some instances deliberately deciding not to pass it on to their children."</ref> In recent times, Arvanites have expressed mixed opinions towards recent Albanian settlers within Greece. Other Arvanites during the late 1980s and early 1990s expressed solidarity with Albanian immigrants, due to linguistic similarities and being politically leftist.<ref>Lawrence, Christopher (2007). ''Blood and oranges: Immigrant labor and European markets in rural Greece''. Berghahn Books. pp. 85–86. "I did collect evidence that in the early years of Albanian immigration, the late 1980s, immigrants were greeted with hospitality in the upper villages. This initial friendliness seems to have been based on villagers’ feelings of solidarity with Albanians. Being both leftists and Arvanites, and speaking in fact a dialect of Albanian that was somewhat intelligible to the new migrants, many villagers had long felt a common bond with Albania."</ref> Relations too between Arvanites and other Orthodox Albanian-speaking communities such as those of Greek [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]] are mixed, as they are distrusted regarding religious matters due to a past Albanian Muslim population living amongst them.<ref>Adrian Ahmedaja (2004). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=awgJ2LtnU6oC&pg=PA54 On the question of methods for studying ethnic minorities' music in the case of Greece's Arvanites and Alvanoi.]" In Ursula Hemetek (ed.). ''Manifold Identities: Studies on Music and Minorities''. Cambridge Scholars Press. p. 60. "That although the Albanians in Northwest Greece are nowadays orthodox, the Arvanites still seem to distrust them because of religious matters."</ref>

There are no monolingual Arvanitika-speakers, as all are today bilingual in Greek. However, while Arvanites are bilingual in Greek and Arvanitika, Arvanitika is considered an [[endangered language]] as it is in a state of [[language attrition|attrition]] due to the large-scale language shift towards Greek among the descendants of Arvanitika-speakers in recent decades, becoming monolingual Greek speakers in the end,<ref>Salminen (1993) lists it as "seriously endangered" in the ''Unesco Red Book of Endangered Languages.'' ([http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_report.html#Arvanitika]). See also Sasse (1992) and Tsitsipis (1981).</ref> and since Arvanitika is almost exclusively a spoken language, Arvanites also no longer have practical affiliation with the Standard Albanian language used in Albania, as they do not use this form in writing or in media.

== See also ==
* [[Aromanians]]
* [[Byzantine Greeks]]
* [[Byzantine Empire]]
* [[Culture of Greece]]
* [[Dehellenization of Christianity]]
* [[Greek nationalism]]
* [[Greek Orthodox Church]]
* [[Hellenistic philosophy]]
* [[Hellenistic philosophy and Christianity]]
* [[Hellenization in the Byzantine Empire]]
* [[Hellenocentrism]]
* [[History of Greece]]
* [[Koine Greek]], the [[language of the New Testament]]
* [[Mixobarbaroi]]
* [[Philhellenism]], particularly from the mid-19th century

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==

=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

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}}
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}}
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|journal=Byzantinische Zeitschrift
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|issue=1
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}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Stouraitis
|first=Yannis<!-- same person as above, diff spelling -->
|date=July 2017
|title=Reinventing Roman Ethnicity in High and Late Medieval Byzantium
|journal=Medieval Worlds
|number=5
|pages=70–94
|doi=10.1553/medievalworlds_no5_2017s70
|doi-access=free
|hdl=20.500.11820/b24f10ba-a0a8-419b-a87e-e186e49e5864
|hdl-access=free
}}
*{{Cite book
  | last       = Tsetskhladze
  | first      = Gocha R.
  | date       = 2010
  | chapter    = Bosporus, Kingdom of
  | title      = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome
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}}
*{{Cite book
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  | date      = 2013-10-31
  | title     = Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece
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  | publisher = Routledge
  | isbn      = 978-1-136-78800-0
}}
*{{cite book
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  | first     = Katerina
  | title     = Hellenisms: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity from Antiquity to Modernity
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}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite journal
  | last    = Athanassakis
  | first   = Apostolos N.
  | title   = N.G.L. Hammond, ''Migrations and Invasions in Greece and Adjacent Areas'' (review)
  | journal = American Journal of Philology
  | volume  = 99
  | number  = 2
  | year    = 1977
  | pages   = 263–266
  | jstor   = 293653
  | doi   = 10.2307/293653
  }}
*{{Cite book
  | last1     = Daskalov
  | first1    = Roumen
  | last2     = Vezenkov
  | first2    = Alexander
  | date      = 2015-03-13
  | title     = Entangled Histories of the Balkans
  | volume    = III: Shared Pasts, Disputed Legacies
  | publisher = Brill
  | isbn      = 978-90-04-29036-5
}}
*{{cite book
  | last       = Goldhill
  | first      = Simon
  | author-link = Simon Goldhill
  | title      = Who Needs Greek? Contests in the Cultural History of Hellenism
  | location   = Cambridge, United Kingdom
  | publisher  = Cambridge University Press
  | isbn       = 978-0-521-01176-1
  | url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=ylQBwT8PFlUC
  | year       = 2002
}}
*{{cite book
  | last      = Hammond
  | first     = Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière
  | title     = Migrations and Invasions in Greece and Adjacent Areas
  | publisher = Noyes Press
  | year      = 1976
  | isbn      = 978-0-8155-5047-1
  | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=_VBoAAAAMAAJ
}}
*{{cite book
  | last      = Isaac
  | first     = Benjamin H.
  | title     = The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity
  | publisher = Princeton University Press
  | year      = 2004
  | isbn      = 978-0-691-12598-5
  | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=jfylyRawl8EC
}}
*{{cite book
  | last1     = Lewis
  | first1    = D. M.
  | last2     = Boardman
  | first2    = John
  | title     = The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 6: The Fourth Century B.C
  | publisher = Cambridge University Press
  | year      = 1994
  | isbn      = 978-0-521-23348-4
  | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=vx251bK988gC
}}
*{{cite book
  | last1       = Pomeroy
  | first1      = Sarah B.
  | author-link = Sarah B. Pomeroy
  | last2       = Burstein
  | first2      = Stanley M.
  | last3       = Donlan
  | first3      = Walter
  | last4       = Roberts
  | first4      = Jennifer Tolbert
  | title       = A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture
  | publisher   = Oxford University Press
  | year        = 2008
  | isbn        = 978-0-19-537235-9
  | url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=6NMrAQAAIAAJ
}}
*{{cite book
  | last1     = Webber
  | first1    = Christopher
  | last2     = McBride
  | first2    = Angus
  | title     = The Thracians, 700 BC – AD 46
  | publisher = Osprey Publishing
  | year      = 2001
  | isbn      = 978-1-84176-329-3
  | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=5FHuDZYFrbcC
}}

== External links ==
* [http://wihs.uwaterloo.ca/ Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies]

{{Cultural assimilation|sp=ize}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cultural assimilation]]
[[Category:Hellenistic period]]
[[Category:Culture of ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Culture of Greece]]
[[Category:Greek diaspora]]
[[Category:History of Hanukkah]]