Progonoplexia (Greek: Προγονοπληξια),[1] roughly translated as 'ancestoritis', is a term used by George Theotokas, Richard Clogg and others to reflect an obsession that modern Greeks have with their historical heritage and cultural forebearers.[2][3][4][5]
It is similar to archaeolatria, used to describe the concept of "excessive reverence of antiquity".[6] Dennis Deletant suggested that these two traits started to gain popularity in the early nineteenth century.[7] Norman Berdichevsky has discussed it as a "key element of Greek identity."[8]
Christos Mylonas described it as an "inate belief of a linear descent from the classical past", giving a "precept of national distinction within a highly contested spatial and cultural constellation".[9] Paul Stephenson suggested the fundamental importance of understanding history to "comprehend and shape the present and the future". Arguing for it's intrinsic correctness, Stephenson suggests "every generation must rewrite the past to give it meaning, and in doing so ask new questions of the evidence at hand."[4] The tendency of some Greeks to favor katharevousa, a form of Greek more like that of the ancients than what they perceive to be more 'corrupt' modern vernacular Greek, has been described as a manifestation of progonoplexia.[4][5]
References
edit- ^ Stavros Stavrou Karayanni (1 January 2004). Dancing Fear and Desire: Race, Sexuality, and Imperial Politics in Middle Eastern Dance. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. pp. 128–. ISBN 978-0-88920-926-8. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ^ Panayiotis J. Vatikiotis (1974). Greece: a political essay, p. 37. Sage Publications. ISBN 978-0-8039-0510-8. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
- ^ Richard Clogg (20 June 2002). A Concise History of Greece. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-0-521-00479-4. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
- ^ a b c Paul Stephenson (7 August 2003). The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–. ISBN 978-0-521-81530-7. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
- ^ a b the Foyer/Merib. Kolor. Journal on moving communities - Nr. 2. Garant. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-90-441-1320-4. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ^ Felipe Fernández-Armesto (1994). The Times guide to the peoples of Europe, p. 207. Times Books. ISBN 978-0-7230-0624-4. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
- ^ Dennis Deletant (1988). Historians as nation-builders: Central and South-East Europe, p. 16. Macmillan, in association with School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London. ISBN 978-0-333-44504-4. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
- ^ Norman Berdichevsky (2004). Nations, Language, and Citizenship. McFarland. pp. 225–. ISBN 978-0-7864-1710-0. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
- ^ Christos Mylonas (2003). Serbian Orthodox Fundamentals: The Quest for Eternal Identity. Central European University Press. pp. 219–. ISBN 978-963-9241-61-9. Retrieved 27 November 2012.