Already in antiquity, Isocrates, a great rhetorician, spoke of the Greeks as a cultural entity, to which all those who shared classical values belonged. In the 20th century, Sir Moses Finlay, an expert on classical culture, emphasized that the Greeks of antiquity constituted a nation.
Today, however, things are moving forward with a forced willingness to break with the past and hope for a new future. In the modern era of globalization, nihilism and self-transcendence, where everything is questioned in the service of ideologies or political theories, academics who question the continuity of the Greek nation and claim that the relationship of modern Greeks with antiquity has been severed prevail.
Recognizing this new problem, which mainly affects the university establishment, Spyros I. Nikolaou, Honorary State Counselor and co-founder of the Society for the Study of Greek History, deemed it necessary and useful to write the present book entitled The Concept of the Nation in Greek History. It brings to the fore historical research and scientific discussions surrounding the diachronic existence or non-existence of a Greek nation. It touches on the “scientific” theories about its disappearance. It analyzes its formation and historical course. Through a thorough manner, thorough evaluation, and methodical argumentation, it reaches the clear conclusion of the historical continuity of Hellenism.