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The Italians... Wait : Italy was originally part of the Proto-Greek Ekoumene, occupied by P-Gr. migrants, where they evolved into the Etruscans, the Latins, the Apulians, etc.(with their respective language and culture). Then, in the first millennium B.C., the Aegean/Helladic Greeks [Hellenes] colonised southern Italy ["Magna Graecia"] and Sicily. These should be called Italic Greeks; they themselves coined the term Oyitalia or Italia -- which was later applied to the whole peninsula, The Italians are mainly Greeks to begin with and produced more original culture than they copied (within the Ekoumene), etc. etc.The Italians are the Chinese of Europe, they have copied everything from the Greeks!
We are so similar! I'm sure we've both shared so many aspects of each others culturesThe Italians... Wait : Italy was originally part of the Proto-Greek Ekoumene, occupied by P-Gr. migrants, where they evolved into the Etruscans, the Latins, the Apulians, etc.(with their respective language and culture). Then, in the first millennium B.C., the Aegean/Helladic Greeks [Hellenes] colonised southern Italy ["Magna Graecia"] and Sicily. These should be called Italic Greeks; they themselves coined the term Oyitalia or Italia -- which was later applied to the whole peninsula, The Italians are mainly Greeks to begin with and produced more original culture than they copied (within the Ekoumene), etc. etc.
What a left wing response. You must be ItalianWe are so similar! I'm sure we've both shared so many aspects of each others cultures
Indeed ethnically I am Italian or, specifically Magno-Gracian. My ancestral city is Thoyrioi [in Calabria], which was founded after the flooding and destruction of Sybaris. After Thoyrioi suffered the same fate, Pericles sent Hellenes to repopulate it. Among them were the sophist Protagoras and Herodotos, who noticed a sanctuary to Athena by the nearby river Krathis -- hence "Athena Krathia". Then came Hannibal (ca, 204 B/C.) The refugees founded a town near the source of the Krathis: my native town.What a left wing response. You must be Italian
What a left wing response. You must be Italian
The Italians are the Chinese of Europe, they have copied everything from the Greeks!
I wished to add that my username (with an heta at the end) is a transposition of my real last name. It is an occupational name and is rather frequent in my native town and environs. Remember: the wealth of Sybaris etc. was based on the almond business and trade, made possible by the huge almond plantation near Sybaris, which today is called Amendolara. [I am living in New York, without almonds.]What a left wing response. You must be Italian
This is so interesting...I didn't know about this ethnic group or this story. So is this group still considered Italian or are they basically Greek at this point?Indeed ethnically I am Italian or, specifically Magno-Gracian. My ancestral city is Thoyrioi [in Calabria], which was founded after the flooding and destruction of Sybaris. After Thoyrioi suffered the same fate, Pericles sent Hellenes to repopulate it. Among them were the sophist Protagoras and Herodotos, who noticed a sanctuary to Athena by the nearby river Krathis -- hence "Athena Krathia". Then came Hannibal (ca, 204 B/C.) The refugees founded a town near the source of the Krathis: my native town.
There are only 2 types of people in this world Greeks and people who want to be GreeksThis is so interesting...I didn't know about this ethnic group or this story. So is this group still considered Italian or are they basically Greek at this point?
This is so interesting...I didn't know about this ethnic group or this story. So is this group still considered Italian or are they basically Greek at this point?
Matters are rather complex here. Simple answers: Since the political unification of Italy in 1861, Calabria (the region of the ancient "Italiotai") has been part of Italy and the inhabitants see themselves as Italians. However, some individuals know their history and cherish their Greek heritage. The language of my native town, which I have been probing for some ten years (from memory, not from non-existing literature) has various lexical layers: exclusively Greek words like Cullura, Aioste [aiosthe]; Latin words, which started to be adopted, "borrowed", from the Romans who came to chase Hannibal off of Italy; and Italian, especially the vocabulary of modern science and technology. We have also [vanishing] ancient customs, such as leaving a table set for the dead, on halloween (the eve of all saints' day), which goes back to Hekate's Suppers left at the three-way roads. Etc. // Meanwhile, Italy has some great Greek-Italians, like the poet Foscolo and the Greek-Sicilian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chririco, and, at least in my days, the teaching of classical Greek in all public schools, thanks to the Gr-Sic. philosopher Giovanni Gentile. // Thank you for posting the video... and I agree with what you said.This is so interesting...I didn't know about this ethnic group or this story. So is this group still considered Italian or are they basically Greek at this point?
I wish these traditions weren't vanishing!! They sound so coolMatters are rather complex here. Simple answers: Since the political unification of Italy in 1861, Calabria (the region of the ancient "Italiotai") has been part of Italy and the inhabitants see themselves as Italians. However, some individuals know their history and cherish their Greek heritage. The language of my native town, which I have been probing for some ten years (from memory, not from non-existing literature) has various lexical layers: exclusively Greek words like Cullura, Aioste [aiosthe]; Latin words, which started to be adopted, "borrowed", from the Romans who came to chase Hannibal off of Italy; and Italian, especially the vocabulary of modern science and technology. We have also [vanishing] ancient customs, such as leaving a table set for the dead, on halloween (the eve of all saints' day), which goes back to Hekate's Suppers left at the three-way roads. Etc. // Meanwhile, Italy has some great Greek-Italians, like the poet Foscolo and the Greek-Sicilian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chririco, and, at least in my days, the teaching of classical Greek in all public schools, thanks to the Gr-Sic. philosopher Giovanni Gentile. // Thank you for posting the video... and I agree with what you said.