Greece is a modern concept #shorts

[miyama]

It is very similar to the german states before the unification. There wasn't really a shared vision of a country for German people, and more regional identities

[agnisumant]

Even India as a "country" didn't exist until colonization. India was a culture and a collection of kingdoms

[Peacich]

Looking actively down on people from other villages/citys/regions is still very much a thing in Germany. I also think this is still pretty common in Europe. Source: I am a German

[harlequingnoll]

"I hate those Persians but I also hate speaking to those Spartans, Argosians, Thebians...."

[robertyianni]

I just want to clarify that, as a Greek, that we were indeed a nation with or without a State. Americans, due to their new birth, have a very different understanding of a nation than us people of ancient civilisations. In Greek, the word for nation is ethnos - where the English word ethnic and ethnicity comes from or genus - where you get the word gene for (I think). Therefore, with or without a state, we can identify what we would understand as the Hellenic nations. It was in this name that we fought for independence. Moreover, we regard the Greek-speaking Byzantium as being “our” State. Additionally, we do identify as Romans simultaneously.

Moreover, we would not consider the USA a “nation” in the same capacity as we do ourselves - you do not have Herodotus’ definition; a common bloodline, your (own) common language, common religion, common culture. Of course this is a general picture but you get the gist. It is pertinent to note that this is said with the deepest of affection for the people of America and not meant to be degrading in the slightest.

Finally, I must thank you wholeheartedly for being interested in and informing others of our history. It is nice to be noted, and the entirety of Western civilisation, and the Hellenic ethnos, Romiosyni, have a lot to learn from looking back at our history in the defining recalibration we will be facing over the next hundred years.

[bigbootros]

I love how so many people and especially YouTubers can casually insult a whole entire culture and heritage and then be surprised when the people they insulted are upset.

[karras.apostolos]

The league of Corinth or THE HELLENIC LEAGUE united most of the Hellenic states under the General Emperor of the Hellens Philip II!
Plus the Delian League united Hellenic states under Athenian rule. Most Hellenistic kingdoms tried to unite Hellas, Eastern Roman Emperors were insulted by German barbarians when the were addressed as Emperor of the Greeks. The Latin Empire even tried to make a Catholic Greek state. The Eastern Roman Empire was THE Hellenic State.

As such the concept and in very limited circumstances Hellenic unity was achieved before the Renaissance, the Idea of a Nation State and the French Revolution.

[mcds]

At first you said state, which I can agree with - there wasn't a Greek 'state' - but then you said nationality. The Greek nationality (i.e the Greek ethnicity) DID exist before the 19th century, at least since the persian wars, if not before that. We have a lot of clear evidence that Greeks were ethnically unified, even if not politically so.

[XenophonSoulis]

That map of Alexander's empire seems out of place with the words it accompanies. The Macedonian empire was not "an empire that conquered Greece", but a Greek empire by itself. The Greek identity existed since the antiquity, despite the existence of local identities too. They did fight with each other, but not in a time of emergency against a common enemy (like the Persian Wars). Alexander's empire was the first time Greece had a mostly unified state. It did take a war to get to that unification, but with the exception of Sparta Phillip (and eventually Alexander) was eventually recognised as a unifier and not a conqueror. Also, from some time in the 4th-6th century BCE till 1453 (plus some until the last areas in Peloponnese fell to the Ottomans) the Eastern Roman Empire was Greek.

[Pan]

"Under the control of great empires that controlled them"
**Proceeds to show the most quintessentially Greek kingdom ever existed**

[jswilson]

That's true of almost any country. England and France are probably the first Europeans to have any strong national identity. Identifying oneself principally as "an American" wasn't really a thing until after the civil war. "Germany" and "Italy" weren't a concept until around the 1830s at the earliest. In parts of the world more insulated from western ideology, it still isn't a thing like in Afghanistan, Yemen, or the DRC.

[isocratist]

The ancient Greeks had literal racial judges, that would determine if contestants in the Olympic Games were Greeks, they were called "Hellanodikes", that's how ancient, continuous and well defined the idea of Greek NATIONHOOD is. Fun fact, Alexander I of Macedon (as well as the Macedonians) took part in the Olympic Games JUDGED to be Greek by the Hellanodikes.

[NIKOS_GEROSIDERIS]

Dude just proved his stupidity by saying "there wasnt a Nation of Greece" while Herodotus was the first to explain the term...🥶

[iliasfilip]

Well, friend, many ancient Greeks like Isocrates supported the idea of a pan hellenic union which was eventually created by Macedon, a Greek Kingdom. Moreover, the Eastern Roman Empire evolved into a Hellenic empire in all but name, thus being the dominant medieval greek state. Greece as we know it today (Hellenic Republic) is obviously a modern concept, just like Germany, France and so many others.

[mormacil]

I mean that goes for a loooot of iconic countries. Between the fall of the Western Roman empire and today Italy wasn't a thing that existed for 90% of the time. It only became a unified country in the 19th century. Germany? Similar story, also a country more modern then the USA. Ireland only really gained it's current borders in the 20th century though you can argue that the Kingdom of Ireland is it's own thing but at the same time, that was just an administrative thing and not an independent country, it was a client state.

[ignorasmus]

The idea of Greece as a country is a pretty modern concept.
Correction -
The idea of country is a pretty modern concept.
(I made this comment on the original video too and I this this would have clarified the point in case already.)

[thisisjr]

Yeah, but you said they were always under a larger empire, which is still not really right. The Greeks were the dominant force in the Byzantine Empire, so they were the Empire, not the ones oppressed by it.

[MilesDei]

That is 100% truth same for Italians, India, Spain. Even a difference in culture in hellenos you had lakonian, thessalian, macedonian etc

[lauritorni]

The idea of Greece as a whole is in fact an ancient concept. The idea of a united Greece was first thought of by Isocrates near 380 BC which would spread throughout the Greek world and notably to Phillip the second. The Panhellenic idea as it was called said that Greeks should strive to unite against all their enemies, something that was put to practice when Alexander the Great united most of the Greek World and created a Greek state against the Persians which would defeat them and shortly after collapse, though the empire fell apart the seeds of Panhellenism still remained and the idea of city states went out of favor to large kingdoms(those of Alexander's generals).

[Jameman]

Imagine not understanding the concept of a nation state is very new and that a national rivalry is when you compete against another nation politically, economically and militarily for dominance.

Then imagine voicing that out loud while believing you’re the smartest man in the room