Greeks in Italy

Greeks in Italy

Greek presence in Italy is dated to the time of the Old Greek Diaspora in the 8th century BC. Today the community consists of some 30,000 people, most of whom are to be found in Central Italy. There are also ancient Greek communities in the South and Sicily (the old Magna Graecia region) that speak a distinctive dialect of Greek called Griko. [ [http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/en-US/Policy/Geographic+Regions/Europe/Relationships+with+EU+Member+States/Italy/ Greek MFA: Greek community in Italy] ]

Ancient

In the eighth and seventh centuries BC, for various reasons, including demographic crisis (famine, overcrowding, climate change, etc.), the search for new commercial outlets and ports, and expulsion form their homeland, Greeks began a large colonization drive, including southern Italy. [ [http://www.initaly.com/regions/classic/greek.htm Greek Italy:A Roadmap] ]

In this same time, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the Black Sea and Massalia (Marseille). They included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula. The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of the boot of Italy "Magna Graecia" (Latin, “Greater Greece”), since it was so densely inhabited by Greeks. The ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia and Calabria — Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions.

Medieval

During the Early Middle Ages, new waves of Greeks came to Magna Graecia from Greece and Asia Minor, as Southern Italy remained governed by the Eastern Roman Empire. Although most of the Greek inhabitants of Southern Italy became de-hellenized and no longer spoke Greek, remarkably a small Griko-speaking minority still exists today in Calabria and mostly in Salento. "Griko" is the name of a language combining ancient Doric, Byzantine Greek, and Italian elements, spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region. There is rich oral tradition and Griko folklore, limited now, though once numerous, to only a few thousand people, most of them having become absorbed into the surrounding Italian element. Records of Magna Graecia being predominantly Greek-speaking, date as late as the eleventh century (the end of Byzantine domination in Southern Italy).

The migration of Byzantine Greek scholars and other emigres from Byzantium during the decline of the Byzantine empire (1203-1453) and mainly after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the 16th century, is considered by modern scholars as crucial in the revival of Greek and Roman studies, arts and sciences, and subsequently in the formation of Renaissance humanism. [ [http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/late/laterbyz/harris-ren.html Byzantines in Renaissance Italy] ] These emigres were grammarians, humanists, poets, writers, printers, lecturers, musicians, astronomers, architects, academics, artists, scribes, philosophers, scientists, politicians and theologians. [ [http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/polyglots/greeks-in-italy.html Greeks in Italy] ]

References

ee also

* Griko
* Magna Graecia
* Greek-Calabrian dialect
* Colonies in antiquity

External links

* [http://www.grikamilume.com/ Grika milume!] An online Griko community
* [http://www.geocities.com/enosi_griko/ Enosi Griko] , Coordination of Grecìa Salentina Associations
* [http://www.greciasalentina.org/ Grecìa Salentina] official site (in Italian)
* [http://www.salentogriko.info/ Salento Griko] (in Italian)
* [http://www.molossia.org/griko2.html English-Griko dictionary]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Italy — • In ancient times Italy had several other names: it was called Saturnia, in honour of Saturn; Enotria, wine producing land; Ausonia, land of the Ausonians; Hesperia, land to the west (of Greece); Tyrrhenia, etc. The name Italy, which seems to… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Italy — [it′ l ē] [L Italia, altered, prob. by Greeks living in S Italy < earlier (prob. Oscan) Víteliú; orig. used only of the SW point of the peninsula] country in S Europe, mostly on a peninsula extending into the Mediterranean & including Sicily,… …   English World dictionary

  • Greeks — This article is about the Greek people. For the finance term, see Greeks (finance). Greeks Έλληνες 1st row: Homer • King Leonidas • Pericles • Herodotus • Hippocrates 2nd row: Socrates • Plato • Aristotle • …   Wikipedia

  • Italy — Italia redirects here. For other uses, see Italia (disambiguation). This article is about the republic. For other uses, see Italy (disambiguation). Italian Republic …   Wikipedia

  • Greeks in Albania — About a general view on history, geography, demographics and political issues concerning the region, see Northern Epirus. Northern Epirotes Βορειοηπειρώτες …   Wikipedia

  • Greeks in Ukraine — A Greek presence throughout the Black Sea area existed long before the beginnings of Kievan Rus. For most of their history in this area, the history of the Greeks in Russia and in Ukraine forms a single narrative, of which a division according to …   Wikipedia

  • Italy — /it l ee/, n. a republic in S Europe, comprising a peninsula S of the Alps, and Sicily, Sardinia, Elba, and other smaller islands: a kingdom 1870 1946. 57,534,088; 116,294 sq. mi. (301,200 sq. km). Cap.: Rome. Italian, Italia. * * * Italy… …   Universalium

  • Italy in the Middle Ages — History of Italy This article is part of a series Ancient history …   Wikipedia

  • Italy —    Estimated Gypsy population: 100,000. In 1422 the first company of Gypsies came from the north into Italy, to the town of Bologna, in the shape of Duke Andrew of Little Egypt with a party some 100 strong. They had a letter of safe conduct from… …   Historical dictionary of the Gypsies

  • Italo-Greeks — • The name applied to the Greeks in Italy who observe the Byzantine Rite Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Italo Greeks     Italo Greeks      …   Catholic encyclopedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”