December 13th, 2008 – The inhabitants of Greece enter their seventh day of agitated protest. It was fomented by the killing (accidental we assume) of a young teenager by policemen last week. Everything points to a gouvernmental cover-up and to the officers being acquitted very soon therefore the victim’s family, their friends, their friends’ cousins and by extension the majority of the Greek people have gone ballistic. They have called for the immediate fall of the current parliament in Athens to replace this seemingly corrupt and uncaring administration yet Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis refuses to step down and trigger a fresh round of elections. Needless to say, the Greek capital is falling prey to rioting and massive vandalism. Furthermore, the police forces that are supposed to re-establish the peace are being directly targeted by the projectiles and bombs of the population. One could possibly call this civil unrest and frustration (as Karamanlis did) yet I am willing to side with the protestors and call it a revolution against a corrupt government.
Of course, being a historian, I am constantly terrified by earthquakes, fires and civil unrest that encroach on the priceless heritage of Greek history. Yet this time, it must be said that the people of today outweigh the concerns of the past. They would know, this is not the first time that the administrators of Greece go too far and are slaughtered in a legendary demonstration of violent revolution and nationalism.
Greek patriots declared independence in 1821 and had to fight with everything they had for eight years before they could accede to their sovereignty from the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Vastly outnumbered, Greek volunteers had to take city by city back as the massive Ottoman reach could feed legion after legion of forced volunteers from Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Bulgaria… Somehow, through sheer determination to be free or die fighting, Greece was the first nation to break away from European empires and monarchy in the XIXth century. Although this was not the first time that an insurmountable hoard of foreign invaders aimed to subdue the Greek people.
In 480 BC, organised civilisation was blossoming and Greece was ancient. Although not a unified state, the various Greek cities that dotted the mainland as well as the littoral of the Mediterranean sea had a certain solidarity referred to as panhellenism. Athens, Thebes, Syracuse, Sparta, Corinth, Massalia and many others fought bloody wars against one another, often for economic superiority over the rest. One day, the Eastern world awoke and the Persian Empire threatened the panhellenic way of life and strictly regulated way of fighting. It was not perfect, but a tacit alliance held together the city states, offering a unified front against the millions of invading barbarians (the number may have been slightly exaggerated by Herodotus). But not really. Athens wanted Sparta to come defend Athens but the Spartans wanted to be stubborn so they just stayed home and waited to see how things would play out. Of course, the Athenians theorised more than they actually fought so they and their pathetic attempt at naval warfare were wiped out immediately, which brings us down to the Peloponnesian peninsula and to its timeless capital, Sparta. King Leonidas and 10,000 men under him confronted the Persian army (anywhere between 100,000 and 2 million) at Thermopylae. Unfortunately, the fairy tale endurance of the Greek people ends here because they succumbed quickly to the invading Persians (7 days) and the importance of their stand has been greatly exaggerated in recent history. They were simply a hiccup in King Xerxes’ invasion.
There is no great moral of the story here, except maybe “don’t piss off the Greeks; you wouldn’t like the Greeks when they’re angry”. They make the Rodney King affair and LA riots look like a vigorous backrub by comparison.
Of course, being a historian, I am constantly terrified by earthquakes, fires and civil unrest that encroach on the priceless heritage of Greek history. Yet this time, it must be said that the people of today outweigh the concerns of the past. They would know, this is not the first time that the administrators of Greece go too far and are slaughtered in a legendary demonstration of violent revolution and nationalism.
Greek patriots declared independence in 1821 and had to fight with everything they had for eight years before they could accede to their sovereignty from the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Vastly outnumbered, Greek volunteers had to take city by city back as the massive Ottoman reach could feed legion after legion of forced volunteers from Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Bulgaria… Somehow, through sheer determination to be free or die fighting, Greece was the first nation to break away from European empires and monarchy in the XIXth century. Although this was not the first time that an insurmountable hoard of foreign invaders aimed to subdue the Greek people.
In 480 BC, organised civilisation was blossoming and Greece was ancient. Although not a unified state, the various Greek cities that dotted the mainland as well as the littoral of the Mediterranean sea had a certain solidarity referred to as panhellenism. Athens, Thebes, Syracuse, Sparta, Corinth, Massalia and many others fought bloody wars against one another, often for economic superiority over the rest. One day, the Eastern world awoke and the Persian Empire threatened the panhellenic way of life and strictly regulated way of fighting. It was not perfect, but a tacit alliance held together the city states, offering a unified front against the millions of invading barbarians (the number may have been slightly exaggerated by Herodotus). But not really. Athens wanted Sparta to come defend Athens but the Spartans wanted to be stubborn so they just stayed home and waited to see how things would play out. Of course, the Athenians theorised more than they actually fought so they and their pathetic attempt at naval warfare were wiped out immediately, which brings us down to the Peloponnesian peninsula and to its timeless capital, Sparta. King Leonidas and 10,000 men under him confronted the Persian army (anywhere between 100,000 and 2 million) at Thermopylae. Unfortunately, the fairy tale endurance of the Greek people ends here because they succumbed quickly to the invading Persians (7 days) and the importance of their stand has been greatly exaggerated in recent history. They were simply a hiccup in King Xerxes’ invasion.
There is no great moral of the story here, except maybe “don’t piss off the Greeks; you wouldn’t like the Greeks when they’re angry”. They make the Rodney King affair and LA riots look like a vigorous backrub by comparison.
(Pictured: idealised version of the battle of Thermopylae - The Athens riot police have their hands full...so to speak)
End. 
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