Greeks

ETHNONYMS: Ellines, Hellenes

Orientation

Identification.

Greeks constitute an ethnic group of great longevity, tracing their origins to the first appearance of complex society in southeastern Europe. A common sense of Culture, language, and religion signified by the term "Greek" (Hellene) developed in antiquity and has endured, with changes, to the present. Greek identity today emphasizes early Greek civilization, the Christian traditions of the Byzantine Empire, and the concerns of the modern Greek nation established in 1831. Throughout Greek history, members of other groups were periodically assimilated as Greeks, while Greeks themselves migrated in a worldwide diaspora. The ethnic Greeks now residing outside the Hellenic republic equal those within. This article, however, is restricted to the latter.

Location. The southernmost extremity of the Balkan Peninsula, Greece is located between 34° and 41° N and 19° and 29° E. It contains 15,000 kilometers of coastline and over 2,000 islands fanning into the Mediterranean Sea. The total land surface is 131,947 square kilometers, of which 80 percent is hilly or mountainous with only scattered valleys and plains. Nine geographical regions are generally recognized. Macedonia, Epirus, and Thrace form Greece's northern border with Albania, Macedonia (that section of what was Yugoslavia that is now seeking recognition as a separate nation), Bulgaria, and Turkey. The southern mainland includes Thessaly, central Greece, and the Peloponnesos. The Ionian Islands to the west of the mainland, the Aegean Islands (Including the Cyclades and Dodecanese) to the east, and Crete to the south constitute the major island regions. The climate varies from Mediterranean to central European with generally hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters.

Demography. The 1991 Greek census recorded 10,042,956 citizens, of whom 96 percent were ethnic Greeks. There were also small numbers of Jews, Turks, Slavo-Macedonians, Gypsies, Albanians, Pomaks, Armenians, Lebanese, Filipinos, Pakistanis, North Africans, recent refugees from eastern Europe, and transhumant shepherd groups, Including Koutsovlachs, Aromani, and Sarakatsani. The national population has increased greatly from its 1831 level of 750,000, because of territorial accretion, the immigration of Greeks from outside Greece, and a rate of natural increase annually averaging 1.5 percent prior to 1900 and 1 percent thereafter. This growth was countered, however, by massive emigration to North America, northern Europe, Australia, and other locations throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The once sizable Turkish, Bulgarian, and Serbian populations living within current Greek boundaries also fell to minimal levels after several treaties and population Exchanges around the time of World War I.

Linguistic Affiliation. The primary language of Greece is Greek, an Indo-European language first attested around 1400 b.c. Modern Greek has two major forms: katharevousa, a formal, archaizing style devised by Greek nationalist Adamantis Korais in the early nineteenth century; and dimotiki, the language of ordinary conversation, which has regional variations. Many Greeks mix these forms according to demands of context and meaning, and the choice of one or the other for schooling and public discourse has been a political issue. Hellenic Orthodox church services are conducted in yet another Greek variant, koine, the language of the New Testament. While 97 percent of Greek citizens speak Greek as their primary language, there are small groups who also speak Turkish, Slavo-Macedonian, Albanian, Vlach (a Romanian dialect), Pomak (a Bulgarian dialect), and Romany.

History and Cultural Relations

The ancient origins of the Greek people remain obscure and controversial, particularly as regards the relative importance of conquering invasions, external influence, and indigenous development. Most now agree that by 2000 b.c. Greek speakers inhabited the southern mainland, at the same time that non-Greek Cretans developed Minoan civilization. Mycenean society, arising in the Peloponnesos around 1600 b.c., spread Greek language and culture to the Aegean Islands, Crete, Cyprus, and the Anatolian coast through both Conquest and colonization. By the rise of the classical city-states in the seventh to eighth centuries b.c., Greek identity was firmly in place throughout these regions as well as Greek colonies near the Black Sea, southern Italy, Sicily, and North Africa. The Macedonian kings, Philip II and his son, Alexander the Great, spoke Greek and embraced Greek culture. They conquered and united Greek lands and built an empire stretching to India and Egypt during the fourth century b.c. These Hellenistic kingdoms quickly crumbled, and Greek dominions gradually fell to the Roman Empire during the first and second centuries b.c. Greeks lived as a conquered but valued cultural group under the Romans. After this empire split in AD. 330, the eastern half, centered in Constantinople and unified by the new religion of Christianity, quickly evolved into the Byzantine Empire, in which Greeks controlled much of the eastern Mediterranean world for over one thousand years. The Venetian-led Fourth Crusade seized Constantinople in 1204, reducing the Byzantine Empire to a much smaller territory, established Frankish feudal principalities in much of what is now Greece. Both Byzantine and Frankish holdings eventually fell to the advancing Ottoman Empire, which conquered Constantinople in 1453. The Ottoman Turks treated Greeks as a distinct ethnic group, forcing them to pay taxes and often work on Turkish estates but allowing them to keep both identity and religion. Inspired by nationalistic ideals, and supported by England, France, and Russia, the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829) against the Turks produced the modern nation of Greece in 1831. The original nation contained only the southern mainland and some Aegean islands, but it gradually expanded through successive wars and treaties with the Turks and other neighbors. Nevertheless, attempts to gain the predominantly Greek areas of Constantinople, the western coast of Anatolia, and Cyprus were not successful. Compulsory Population exchanges after World War I removed most Greeks from the first two areas, as well as most Turks and other non-Greeks from Greece.

Settlements

Greeks have been very mobile throughout their history. Areas of population concentration have shifted, and villages have come and gone with transitions from one period to another. Since establishment of the Greek nation, there has been much movement from upland, interior villages to lowland and coastal ones. Hundreds of new villages have been founded in the process. There has also been increasing migration from all villages to a few large cities. Greece became over 50 percent urbanized in the late 1960s. Metropolitan Athens now houses nearly one-third of the national population. Villages, which now average 500 inhabitants, can be compact clusters around a central square, linear strings along a road, or even sometimes scattered housing dispersed over a region. Market towns, ranging between 1,000 and 10,000 residents, are intermediaries between various regions and such major cities as greater Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Iraklion, and Volos.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Under the Ottomans, most Greeks were peasants or craftsmen. At the end of this period, however, a few shippers and merchants rose to power and wealth by mediating between the expanding Capitalist economies of western Europe and the Ottomans. After independence, Greece entered a fully "marketized" economy from a largely dependent position. Feudal estates were replaced by small family-farming operations. While an elite class continued, their wealth did not foster national Economic development. Greece remains at the bottom of European Community economic indicators. Subsistence agriculture of grain, olives, and vines has given way to cash cropping of these and other produce such as cotton, tobacco, and fresh fruits. The difficulties inherent in farming on mountainous terrain have led many to seek urban or foreign employment. By 1990, less than one-third of the Greek population were farmers.

Industrial Arts. Greece is one of the least industrialized European nations. While carpentry, metalworking, and similar shops exist in all Greek towns, other industry is heavily concentrated in Athens, Thessaloniki, and a few other cities. Work is often organized along family lines, and in 1990, 85 percent of Greek manufacturing units had less than ten employees. The most important industries are food, beverage, and tobacco processing, with textile, clothing, metallurgical, chemical, and shipbuilding operations following.

Trade. At independence, Greeks exported currants and other produce to northern Europe, importing metal goods, coffee, sugar, grain, and dried fish in return. While trade has since increased greatly, it remains heavily weighted against Greece and toward its current trading partners—Germany, Italy, France, the United States, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Greece now exports textiles, tobacco, produce, ores, cement, and chemicals while importing food, oil, cars, electronic items, and other consumer goods. Partially offsetting this unfavorable balance are receipts from shipping and tourism and remittances from Greeks abroad. Greece initiated Membership in the European Community in 1962, becoming a full member in 1981.

Division of Labor. Despite the importance of women's productive work in farming, household maintenance, and familial businesses, wage labor outside the family has been male-dominated until recently. At present, many Greek women work for wages only until they marry, and only 30 percent of wage earners are women. Of the total labor force in 1990, less than 29 percent were in agriculture, about 30 percent in manufacturing, and the rest in the service sector. Emigration to find work abroad has generally kept Greek unemployment rates under 5 percent.

Land Tenure. At independence, prime agricultural lands were controlled by Turkish (and a few Greek) overlords and by Hellenic Orthodox monasteries. The new government established a series of land reforms, whereby large estates were distributed to poor and landless peasants during the nineteenth century. The practice of bilateral partible inheritance has since led to considerable farm fragmentation, whereby familial holdings average 3 hectares scattered in several different plots.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. The relatives who share a household are a basic unit of economic cooperation and collective identity. Extending outward from the household, loose networks of both consanguineal and affinal kin provide social support. This bilateral kindred is often referred to as a soi, although this term has an agnatic bias in certain regions. Marriage connects family lines, as does ritual kinship. Those chosen as wedding sponsors or godparents stand in a special relationship to the entire kindred.

Kinship Terminology. Greek terminology follows a cognatic (or Eskimo) pattern. The gender of cousins is denoted by different endings, and in some regions more distant cousins are distinguished from first cousins. There also exist special terms for men married to two sisters and women married to two brothers. The terms for bride and groom broadly refer to people married by various members of one's family.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Greeks exhibit higher marriage and lower Divorce rates than northern Europeans. Marriage is Monogamous, and it is forbidden between first cousins by the Hellenic Orthodox Church. Civil marriage outside the church has only recently been allowed. Divorce is permitted by both law and religion, and, since 1982, it can be granted through common consent. Marriages were commonly arranged by parents until the last few decades. Both families take an active interest in the groom's potential inheritance and the bride's dowry. Men and women generally marry in their mid-to late twenties. Postmarital residence is normally neolocal with respect to the actual house or apartment, although some couples reside temporarily with either the bride's or groom's parents. With respect to the village or neighborhood where a new rural couple resides, however, postmarital residence tends toward virilocality on the mainland and uxorilocality in the islands. The urban pattern is more complex, although much uxorilocality occurs in Athens.

Domestic Unit. The nuclear family household is statistically the most common, although stem families and other combinations of close kin also form households, as a result of economic need, recent migration, and variations during the life cycle. Elderly parents often reside with an adult child toward the end of their lives. House or apartment ownership is a major familial goal, and considerable resources are directed toward this. Greece ranks at the top of the European Community in per capita construction of dwellings.

Inheritance. By both custom and law, all children inherit equally from their parents. Daughters generally receive their share as dowry when they marry, and sons receive theirs when the parents retire or die. Dowries consist of land, houses, livestock, money, a trousseau, furnishings, and, more recently, apartments, household appliances, education, and a car. Significant dowry inflation has occurred during the last few decades, a circumstance favoring female inheritance over male. A 1983 law correspondingly limited the use of the dowry. Whether called a wedding gift or dowry, however, the practice of providing daughters with much of their inheritance at Marriage continues.

Socialization. Parents assume primary responsibility for raising children, assisted by many members of the kindred. Godparents also look after a child's material and spiritual welfare. Most children are minimally disciplined during early childhood; later they are actively trained into their proper roles through example, admonition, teasing, and comforting designed to teach such traits as wariness, cleverness, family loyalty, verbal proficiency, and honorable behavior. Nine years of formal education are both free and compulsory. A full 82 percent of Greek children complete twelve years of secondary education, and another 17 percent attend university.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Kinship, ritual kinship, local connections, and patronage shape Greek social relations. People operate through networks of known and trusted others, extending their relationships outward through these. Status accrues from a combination of honorable behavior, material wealth, and education. Social stratification varies between city and countryside. In rural areas, large landowners, professionals, and merchants are at the top; farmers, small shopkeepers, and skilled workers in the middle; and landless farm workers at the bottom. In cities, bankers, merchants, shipowners, industrialists, wealthy professionals, and bureaucrats compose the upper stratum; executives, civil servants, shopkeepers, office workers, and skilled workers the middle; and unskilled workers the bottom. In both cases, the middle class is the majority, and there is considerable opportunity for upward social mobility.

Political Organization. The modern Greek state, initially established as a monarchy guided by northern European nations, has emerged as a republic with a unicameral legislature headed by a prime minister as head of government and a president as ceremonial head of state. Public officials are elected by universal adult suffrage. For the last two decades, two main political parties have alternated control of the government: the conservative Nea Dimokratia party, and the Socialist PASOK party. The political system is highly centralized, with considerable power residing in national ministries and offices. The nation contains approximately 50 nomoi (Districts), each divided into eparchies (provinces), demoi (municipalities), and koinotites (communities). Local officials, elected on the basis of patronage and personality as well as political party, oversee regional affairs.

Social Control. Struggle and competition among different families is a major theme of Greek life. Familial conflicts emerge over land, flocks, political office, and a variety of local affairs. Insults, ridicule, feuds, and even theft sometimes result. The formal legal system is based on codified Roman civil law, with a network of civil, criminal, and administrative courts. Towns have a corps of city police, while rural regions have a gendarmerie modeled on the French system.

Conflict. Greece has a standing army and universal male conscription. Turkey is perceived as the greatest threat to national security, and the Turkish occupation of Cyprus since 1974 has caused considerable regional tension. Greece's relations with its northern neighbors, stable for some time, have recently become more tenuous as the Eastern bloc dissolves into separate ethnically based nationalities and the Boundaries established after World War I are called into question. On a broader level, Greece's strategic location involves it in various international struggles. A member of NATO since 1952, Greece generally has been aligned with the West.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Over 97 percent of Greece's population belongs to the Hellenic Orthodox church, a branch of Eastern Orthodoxy. Since the Byzantine Empire, and particularly after the schism between eastern and western Christianity in 1054, Eastern Orthodoxy has been part of Greek ethnic identity. Proselytization by other religions is legally forbidden. There are only small numbers of Muslims, Roman Catholics, other Christians, and Jews. The formal theology of Eastern Orthodoxy is often mixed with informal beliefs in fate, the devil, and other supernatural forces.

Religious Practitioners. During the last few centuries, various nationally based Eastern Orthodox churches separated from the patriarch of Constantinople, among them the Hellenic Orthodox church, established in 1833. Each of these fifteen autocephalous churches runs its own affairs, while recognizing the historical and spiritual importance of the patriarch. Except for a few regions, the Hellenic Orthodox church is governed by the Holy Synod convened by the bishop of Athens. The church hierarchy includes bishops of the approximately 90 dioceses, as well as monks and nuns. While these clergy are celibate, priests may marry. Most priests have families, and many continue to practice a trade or farm in addition to performing their religious duties. Members of the local community voluntarily maintain the church building and assist with weekly services.

Ceremonies. The Sunday liturgy is the most significant weekly ritual of the Hellenic Orthodox church. There are also twelve annual Great Feasts, of which Easter and the Holy Week preceding it are the most important. Other rituals mark various points in the life cycle, particularly birth, marriage, and death. Baptism and confirmation of infants are performed simultaneously, and infants can then receive communion.

Arts. Displays of ancient and Byzantine art in museums, public archaeological sites, and reproductions permeate the Greek landscape, attracting tourists and symbolizing Greek identity. Contemporary artistic expression draws from folk, religious, and international traditions in varying ways. Weaving, knitting, embroidery, carving, metalworking, and pottery remain active crafts in most regions. Dancing demonstrates individual and group identity and is an integral part of most celebrations. Contemporary composers work with the instruments and motifs of folk music, particularly the more urban bouzouki, as well as the clarinet, santouri (dulcimer), violin, lute, and drums. Contemporary literature, film, and theater echo pan-European styles, and Greece counts two Nobel laureates among its modern authors, George Seferis and Odysseus Elytis. Television and cinema, both foreign and domestic, are prevalent and very popular.

Medicine. Scientific medicine is well developed and accepted. Hospitals and clinics exist in most towns, and the National Health Service sends doctors to more remote areas. Hospital births have largely replaced the use of midwives. Abortions performed by both doctors and lay practitioners are a major means of birth control and may equal live births in number. The belief that illness stems from emotional, moral, and social causes coexists with the formal medical system. Folk healers, generally women, are sometimes called to use divination, spells, and herbal remedies against both sickness and such forces as the evil eye.

Death and Afterlife. Death practices follow Hellenic Orthodox ritual modified by other beliefs, regional traditions, and contemporary circumstances. Upon death, a person's soul is thought to leave the body: at first it remains near the house, but gradually it moves farther away, until finally, after a year's time, it reaches God, who pronounces judgment and consigns the soul to paradise or hell. The body is buried within twenty-four hours of death with ceremonies at both house and local church led by the priest and female mourners who sing ritual laments. Important rituals are performed at the grave both forty days and one year after the death. After several years, the bones generally are exhumed from the ground and placed in a community ossuary.

See alsoCretans; Cyclades; Cypriote; Greek-Speaking Jews of Greece; Ionians; Macedonians; Mount Athos; Peloponnesians; Pontic; Sarakatsani; Tsakonians

Bibliography

Campbell, John (1964). Honour, Family, and Patronage: A Study of Institutions and Moral Values of a Greek Mountain Community. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Danforth, Loring M. (1989). Firewalking and Religious Healing: The Anastenaria of Greece and the American Firewalking Movement. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Dimen, Muriel, and Ernestine Friedl, eds. (1976). Regional Variation in Modern Greece and Cyprus: Toward a Perspective on the Ethnography of Greece. New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Science.

Friedl, Ernestine (1962). Vasilika: A Village in Modern Greece. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Herzfeld, Michael (1985). The Poetics of Manhood: Contest and Identity in a Cretan Mountain Village. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Hirschon, Renee (1989). Heirs of the Greek Catastrophe: The Social Life of Asia Minor Refugees in Piraeus. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

SUSAN BUCK SUTTON