African Greeks
Έλληνες της Αφρικής | |
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| Languages | |
| Greek·Local languages | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity:Coptic·Greek | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Egyptian Greeks·Ethiopian Greeks·Sudanese Greeks·Roman Africans |
| Part ofa serieson |
| Greeks |
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History of Greece (Ancient·Byzantine·Ottoman) |
African Greeks,orGreeks in Africa(Greek:Έλληνες της Αφρικής), are theGreekpeople in the continent ofAfrica.Greek communities have existed in Africa since antiquity.
Ancient Egypt
[edit]Greeks have been present in Egypt since at least the 7th century BC.Herodotusvisitedancient Egyptin the 5th century BC and claimed that the Greeks were one of the first groups of foreigners that ever lived there.[1]Diodorus Siculusclaimed thatRhodianActis,one of theHeliadae,built the city ofHeliopolisbefore thecataclysm;likewise theAtheniansbuiltSais.Siculus reports that all the Greek cities were destroyed during the cataclysm, but the Egyptian cities including Heliopolis and Sais survived.[2]
First historical colonies
[edit]According toHerodotus(ii. 154), KingPsammetichus I(664–610 BC) established a garrison of foreign mercenaries atDaphnae,mostlyCariansandIonianGreeks.
In 7th century BC, after theGreek Dark Agesfrom 1100 to 750 BC, the city ofNaucratiswas founded in Ancient Egypt. It was located on theCanopicbranch of the Nile river, 45 mi (72 km) from the open sea. It was the first and, for much of its early history, the only permanent Greek colony in Egypt; acting as a symbiotic nexus for the interchange of Greek and Egyptian art and culture.
At about the same time, the city ofHeracleion,the closest to the sea, became an important port for Greek trade. It had a famous temple ofHeracles.The city later sank into the sea, only to be rediscovered recently.
From the time of Psammetichus I onwards,Greek mercenary armiesplayed an important role in some of the Egyptian wars. One such army was led byMentor of Rhodes.Another such personage wasPhanes of Halicarnassus.
Hellenistic times
[edit]Rule of Alexander the Great (332–323 BC)
[edit]Alexander the Greatconquered Egypt at an early stage of his conquests. He respected the pharaonic religions and customs and he was proclaimedPharaohof Egypt. He established the city ofAlexandria.After his death, in 323 BC, his empire was divided amonghis generals.Egypt was given toPtolemy I Soter,whose descendants would give Egypt her final royal dynasty – a glittering one. The dynasty was composed solely by ethnic Greeks and produced dynasts such as the famousCleopatra.Its capital was Alexandria. Ptolemy added legitimacy to his rule in Egypt by acquiring Alexander's body. He intercepted the embalmed corpse on its way to burial, brought it to Egypt, and placed it in a golden coffin in Alexandria. It would remain one of the famous sights of the town for many years, until probably destroyed in riots in the 3rd century AD.[3]
The Ptolemaic Empire (323–30 BC)
[edit]
The initial objective of Ptolemy's reign was to establish firm and broad boundaries to his newly acquired kingdom. That led to almost continuous warfare against other leading members of Alexander's circle. At times he heldCyprusand even parts of mainlandGreece.When these conflicts were over, he was firmly in control of Egypt and had strong claims (disputed by theSeleucid dynasty) toPalestine.He called himself king of Egypt from 306 BC. By the time he abdicated in 285 BC, in favour of one of his sons, thePtolemaic dynastywas secure. Ptolemy and his descendants showed respect to Egypt's most cherished traditions – those of religion – and turned them to their own advantage.
Alexandria became the centre of the Greek andHellenisticworld and the centre of international commerce, art and science. TheLighthouse of Alexandriawas one of theSeven Wonders of the Ancient Worldwhile during the reign ofPtolemy II Philadelphus,theLibrary of Alexandriawas the biggest library in the world until it was destroyed. The last Pharaoh was a Greek princess,Cleopatra VII,who took her own life in 30 BC, a year after thebattle of Actium.[3]
Roman and Byzantine Egypt
[edit]
After its conquest by the Roman forces in 30 BC, Egypt became a province of the newRoman Empireand remained anEastern Romanterritory until theMuslim conquestof Egypt in 641. Under Greco-Roman rule, Egypt hosted severalGreeksettlements, mostly concentrated inAlexandria,but also in a few other cities, where Greek settlers lived alongside some seven to ten million nativeEgyptians.[5]Faiyum's earliest Greek inhabitants were soldier-veterans andcleruchs(elite military officials) who were settled by the Ptolemaic kings on reclaimed lands.[6][7]Native Egyptians also came to settle in Faiyum from all over the country, notably theNile Delta,Upper Egypt,OxyrhynchusandMemphis,to undertake the labor involved in the land reclamation process, as attested by personal names, local cults and recoveredpapyri.[8]
Christianity probably arrived in Egypt among theHellenizedAlexandrian Jews, from Palestine's communities of Jewish Christians.[9]The earliest evidence of Christianity in Egypt is a letter written in the first half of the 3rd century and mentioning the gymnasiarch and theboulē(thereby indicating the author and recipient were of the upper class) uses the Christiannomina sacraand theBiblical Greek:ἐν κυρίῳ,romanized:en kyrίōi,lit. 'in the Lord', drawn from thePauline epistles.[10]TheChurch in Egypt (Patriarchate of Alexandria)split into theGreek Orthodox Church of Alexandriaand theCoptic Orthodox Churchof Alexandria following the fourthecumenical council,theCouncil of Chalcedonin 451. Some 30,000 Greeks of Chalcedonian persuasion were ranged against some five millionCopticnon-Chalcedonians.[11]The Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria remained in communion with the other patriarchs by accepting the council's decision, and were referred to asmelkites( "the King's men", meaning those loyal to theByzantine emperor).[12]
Coptic Greeks
[edit]
It is estimated that as much as 30 percent of the population of Faiyum was Greek during thePtolemaicperiod, with the rest being native Egyptians;[13]theFaiyum mummy portraitsreflect the complex synthesis of the predominant Egyptian culture and that of the elite Egyptian Greek minority in Faiyum.[13]
By the Roman period, much of the "Greek" population of Faiyum was made up of eitherHellenizedEgyptians or people of mixed Egyptian-Greek origins,[14]and by the time of Roman emperorCaracallain the 2nd century AD, ethnic Egyptians could be distinguished from Egyptian Greeks only by their speech.[15]
Egyptian Greek is the variety of Greek spoken in Egypt from antiquity until theIslamic conquest of Egyptin the 7th century. Egyptian Greek adopted many loanwords fromEgyptian language;there was a great deal of intracommunitybilingualismin Egypt.[16][17]
The following is an example of Egyptian Greek language, used in theCoptic Church:
ⲇⲟⲝⲁ ⲡⲁⲧⲣⲓ ⲕⲉ ⲩⲓⲱ: ⲕⲉ ⲁ̀ⲅⲓⲱ ⲡⲛⲉⲩⲙⲁⲧⲓ: ⲕⲉ ⲛⲩⲛ ⲕⲉ ⲁ̀ⲓ̀ ⲕⲉ ⲓⲥ ⲧⲟⲩⲥ ⲉⲱⲛⲁⲥ ⲧⲱⲛ ⲉ̀ⲱ̀ⲛⲱⲛ ⲁ̀ⲙⲏⲛ
Δόξα Πατρὶ κὲ Υἱῷ κὲ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, κὲ νῦν κὲ ἀῒ κὲ ἰς τοὺς ἐῶνας τῶν ἐώνων. Ἀμήν.
Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
According to Walker, early Ptolemaic Greek colonists married local women and adopted Egyptian religious beliefs, and by Roman times, their descendants were viewed as Egyptians by the Roman rulers, despite their own self-perception of being Greek.[18]The dental morphology[19]of the Roman-period Faiyum mummies was also compared with that of earlier Egyptian populations, and was found to be "much more closely akin" to that of ancient Egyptians than to Greeks or other European populations.[20]Victor J. Katz notes that "research in papyri dating from the early centuries of the common era demonstrates that a significant amount of intermarriage took place between the Greek and Egyptian communities".[21]
Ancient Ethiopia
[edit]
The nameEthiopiaitself is Greek and means "of burned face".[22]It is first attested in the Homeric epics but it is unlikely to have referred to any particular nation, but rather, to people of African descent in general.[23][24]
Beginning in theHellenistic agearound the third century BC, Greek culture permeated the regions of ancient Ethiopia. Greeks established colonies in Ethiopia, withPtolemais TheronandAxumbecoming major capitals ofEthiopian Greekculture. In the second century BC,Ptolemy III Euergetesannexed several northern Ethiopian cities such asTigrayand the port ofAdulis,which became major trading hubs for Ethiopian Greeks.[25]
Axumites of Ethiopia
[edit]
After the Romans annexed the Ptolemaic Empire, the Axumite kingZoskales(Ancient Greek:Ζωσκάλης) established theAxumite Empire(Ancient Greek:Ἀξωμίτης) (c. 100 AD–c. 960 AD), which maintained Ethiopian Greek culture and used Greek as itslingua franca.In the city ofAxum,many obelisks, statues, and architecture made inEgyptian Greekstyle still mark the landscape.[25][26]
As the Islamic conquest of North Africa severed Axum's link with the Greek world in the 7th century, Greek culture and knowledge waned; Muslim presence in the Red Sea also caused Axum to suffer economically and it declined in power. Axum's final three centuries are considered a dark age, in which Ethiopian Greek culture disappeared; the Axumite Empire finally collapsed around 960 AD.[27]Despite its position as one of the foremost empires of late antiquity, Axum fell into obscurity as Ethiopia remained isolated throughout the Middle Ages.[28][29]
Abyssinian Greeks
[edit]
Later Abyssinian Greeks were attested in the 1700s, largely descending from Greek craftsmen and sailors residing in Abyssinia, who facilitated commerce between Abyssinia and Europe.[31][32]The explorerJames Brucereported that a number of Greek refugees fromSmyrnahad also arrived inGondarduring the reign of EmperorIyasu II.The Smyrniot refugees included twelve silversmiths, whom the emperor put to work producing a variety of items for both his court and the churches of Gondar.[33]
Abyssinian Greeks held many of the highest positions in theAbyssinian Empire;the principal Abyssinian Greek community stayed with theAbyssinian Emperorin the capital, Gondar.[34]EmperorTheodore IIspecifically made known that he favored the Abyssinian Greeks, because of their virility and integrity of character.[35]
Ancient Libya
[edit]Libyan Greeks of Cyrenaica
[edit]
CyrenaicawascolonizedbyGreeksbeginning in the 7th century BC. The first and most important colony was that ofCyrene,established in about 631 BC by colonists from the Greek island ofThera,which they had abandoned because of a severe famine.[36]Their commander, Aristoteles, took the Libyan name Battos.[37]His descendants, known as theBattiad dynasty,persisted in spite of severe conflict with Greeks in neighboring cities.
The eastern portion of the province, with no major population centers, was calledMarmarica;the more important western portion was known as the Pentapolis, as it comprised five cities:Cyrene(near the modern village of Shahat) with its port ofApollonia(Marsa Susa), Arsinoe orTaucheira(Tocra),Euesperidesor Berenice (near modernBenghazi), Balagrae (Bayda) andBarce(Marj) – of which the chief was the eponymous Cyrene.[36] The term "Pentapolis" continued to be used as a synonym for Cyrenaica. In the south, the Pentapolis faded into theSaharantribal areas, including the pharaonic oracle ofAmmonium.
The region produced barley, wheat, olive oil, wine, figs, apples, wool, sheep, cattle andsilphium,a herb that grew only in Cyrenaica and was regarded as a medicinal cure andaphrodisiac.[38]Cyrene became one of the greatest intellectual and artistic centers of the Greek world, famous for its medical school, learned academies and architecture, which included some of the finest examples of theHellenistic style.TheCyrenaics,a school of thinkers who expounded a doctrine of moral cheerfulness that defined happiness as the sum of human pleasures, were founded byAristippusof Cyrene.[39]Other notable natives of Cyrene were the poetCallimachusand the mathematiciansTheodorusandEratosthenes.[38]
Libyan Greek culture
[edit]
The most influential of the Libyan Greeks were the Cyreneans. The Cyreneans invited Greek colonists from all over the Greek world to settle in Cyrene.[40][41]
The Cyrenean government was originally an absolute monarchy, but underDemonax,it became a constitutional monarchy with a senate. Demonax divided the Cyreneans into three groups to elect senators: first, the originalTherancolonists andethnic Libyans,second, Peloponnesians and Cretans, and third, Aegean islanders. Under the Cyrenean constitution, the king only had the authority to grant land to citizens, and held the role of chief priest, in charge of religious duties.[40][41]
Libyan Greek religion was directly influenced byAncient Egyptian religion.The Cyreneans assimilated the Egyptian godAmunwithZeusas "Ammon", embodying Zeus in his style and Amun in his nature, attributing the horns of a ram to his image.[40][41][42]
Ammon had a wife,Ammonia,and a son, Parammon (Thoth-Hermes), considered Ammon'shypostasis(incarnation). Parammon was also the secretary ofOsiris,one of the sons of Ammon.[40][41][42][43][44]
Ancient Nubia
[edit]
Intercultural exchange between the Hellenic andNubiancivilizations started at least two and a half millennia ago. The Greek presence in theNileValley and its considerable impact on ancient Nubia have long been recognized by scholars.[45]The first recorded contact took place in 593 BC: graffiti atAbu Simbelreveal that large numbers of Greekmercenariesserved underPsamtik IIin his invasion of what is now Sudan.[46]
Vice versa, ancient Nubia also had an influence on Greek culture from those early times onwards, as it was well known by scholars throughout the Hellenic world, where several of the classical writers mentioned it. It evidently inspired curiosity about the exotic lands South ofEgyptand particularly about the sources of theNileriver. Hence, the pioneering historianHerodotus(circa 484 – circa 425 BC) made references to Nubia as a land of "burned faces" (Ethiopians) and the source of the Nile.[47]Though he is assumed to have been personally familiar with the river only as far asAswan,he did identify a "city of Ethiopians" atMeroë,apparently from reports by Psamtik II andCambyses II.[48]
A new era of Greek-Nubian relations began in 332 BC, whenAlexander the Greatconquered Egypt and soon dispatched reconnaissance expeditions into Nubia, possibly to find the sources of the Nile. Scholars assume that the potentialPtolemaicthreat contributed to the decision by theKushitickingNastasento move the capital fromNapatato Meroë. Greek language and culture were introduced to the Kushitic ruling classes, which may have triggered the creation of an alphabeticMeroiticwriting. Hellenic influences are also evident from changes in art styles.[48]
Nubian contact with the Greek world remained sporadic untilPtolemy II's Nubian campaign for Meroë in the 270s BC. Ptolemy's interest in Nubia was to secure a source of war elephants from Meroë, and to gain access to Meroitic gold mines.[49]At the same time,Ergamenes(Arkamani II), a king of one of the nine Nubian kingdoms, studied Greek language and customs at the Alexandrian court in the Ptolemaic Empire.[48][50][51]
Eratosthenes(circa 276–194 BC), the Greek geographer and librarian atAlexandria,sketched "with fair accuracy" the course of the Nile as far south as what is nowKhartoum,based on the accounts of various travellers.[47]Plinylisted a number of Greeks who had travelled to Meroë and sometimes beyond:Dalion,Aristocreon,Bion,Basilis, andSimonides the Younger,who apparently lived at Meroe for five years.[52]
Relations between Kush and Ptolemaic Egypt thereafter remained tense, but stable.[49]By the time ofPtolemy VIII(170-163 BC), Greek ships regularly sailed on theRed Seaand to Meroitic ports.[48]The Nubian upper class traded with Greek merchants and adopted certain Hellenic styles of life.[53]However, following the death ofCleopatraVII in 30 BC and an unsuccessful attempt by theRomansto conquer the kingdom,[49]Greek influences withered in Nubia.[48]The account ofStrabo,the geographer and historian of Greek descent, in hisGeographiais one of the last references to Nubia from that time.[47]
Axumite subjugation of Nubia
[edit]
TheAxumite Empireengaged in a series of invasions that culminated in the capture of the Nubian capital of Meroë in the middle of the 4th century AD, signaling the end of independent Nubian Pagan kingdoms. The Axumites then converted the Nubians to Christianity, establishing the authority of theCoptic Churchin the area, and founded new Nubian Christian kingdoms, such asNobatia,Alodia,andMakuria.[54][55][56]
Tribal nomads like theBeja,Afar,andSahomanaged to remain autonomous due to their uncentralized nomadic nature. These tribal peoples would sporadically inflict attacks and raids on Axumite communities. The Beja nomads eventuallyHellenizedand integrated into the Nubian Greek society that had already been present inLower Nubiafor three centuries.[54][55][56]
Nubian Greeks
[edit]
Nubian Greek culture followed the pattern ofEgyptian GreekandByzantine Greekcivilization, expressed in Nubian Greek art and Nubian Greek literature. The earliest attestations of Nubian Greek literature come from the5th century;the Nubian Greek language resembles Egyptian andByzantine Greek;it served as alingua francathroughout the Nubian Kingdoms, and had acreolizedform for trade among the different peoples in Nubia.[57]
Nubian Greek was unique in that it adopted many words from bothCoptic EgyptianandNubian;Nubian Greek's syntax also evolved to establish a fixed word order.[58]
The following is an example of Nubian Greek language:
ⲟⲩⲧⲟⲥ ⲉⲥⲧⲓⲛ ⲁⲇⲁⲩⲉⲗ ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲉⲩ ⲙⲱⲥⲉⲥ ⲅⲉⲱⲣⲅⲓⲟⲩ, ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲉⲩ ⲛⲟⲩⲃⲇⲏⲥ, ⲁⲣⲟⲩⲁ, ⲙⲁⲕⲣⲟ
Οὗτός ἐστιν ἀδαύελ Βασιλεύ Μώσες Γεωργίου, Βασιλεύ Νουβδῆς, Ἀρουά, Μακρό
This is the great King Moses Georgios, the King of Nobatia, Alodia, Makuria[59]
A plethora of frescoes created between 800–1200AD in Nubian cities such asFarasdepicted religious life in the courts of the Nubian Kingdoms; they were made inByzantine artstyle.[60]
Nubian Greek titles and government styles in Nubian Kingdoms were based on Byzantine models; even with Islamic encroachments and influence into Nubian territory, the Nubian Greeks sawConstantinopleas their spiritual home.[60]Nubian Greek culture disappeared after the Muslim conquest of Nubia around 1450AD.[60]
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