Greek Ethnous
The Ancient Greeks Believed They Were One Nation: Here’s Why
Written By: Alexandros
Modern historians and anthropologists have fascinated themselves with the study of the Greeks. One of the earliest and most advanced civilizations of the time, the ancient Greek nation possessed a unique feature: it was divided into multiple city-states. And, just like in early American history, regional and local identities were often stronger than national ones.
Since the ancient Greeks did not act as a unified political entity, discovering how they perceived themselves was and still is a politically salient question. Modern scholars often forward the belief that the ancient Greeks were not a unified ethnic group, but rather a loose connection of religiously and linguistically similar city-states that were later formed into a cohesive group. To offer a refute of this popular opinion, I will explore the differences between Greeks and non-Greeks through a thorough consultation of the philosophers themselves, primarily Plato’s Republic and Menexenus.
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