>> You're wearing some extremely hefty rose-coloured nationalistic glasses. For example, the golden period was very early in the story, isn't yet 3000 years old, yet you're claiming 5000 years of dominance?
Let's not have a fight over this. I take the start of the Minoan civ to be the beginning, some 3.5 kya, and the fall of Constantinople to be the end of the Good Old Days, followed by a few hundred years of decline. That makes very nearly 5k years.
I resent the accusation of nationalism. I can wear my rose-tinted glasses all I like (and you're free to laugh at me all you wish) but I'm pretty sure my right to be proud of my heritage does not deny others' right to be proud of theirs [1]. As far as I am concerned a patriot is someone who loves their country, a nationalist is someone who hates everyone else's. I am very confident I'm not the latter.
>> Ancient and modern Greece are two different places
Totally no objection about this. You can't have 5k ish years of history and remain the same people throughout.
>> It's not like modern Greeks have a particularly notable reputation for education, like Jewish people do.
That's alright. Another part of my definition of "patriot" is someone who loves their country regardless of its history, or current condition. It's nationalists who long for the Good Old Days (of Empire, usually). Although for the kind of Good Old Days I'm talking about, of brilliant intellectual achievements, I would make an exception and say that I do wish we hadn't declined as far as we have.
So, happy now? You broke my heart and rubbed my face in my own dirt. Can't an ancient people be left to decline in peace?
___________
[1] If the descendants of the Mongols or the Brits feel robbed of their right to be proud of being the biggest butchers in history, I consider that to be their problem.
Let's not have a fight over this. I take the start of the Minoan civ to be the beginning, some 3.5 kya, and the fall of Constantinople to be the end of the Good Old Days, followed by a few hundred years of decline. That makes very nearly 5k years.
I resent the accusation of nationalism. I can wear my rose-tinted glasses all I like (and you're free to laugh at me all you wish) but I'm pretty sure my right to be proud of my heritage does not deny others' right to be proud of theirs [1]. As far as I am concerned a patriot is someone who loves their country, a nationalist is someone who hates everyone else's. I am very confident I'm not the latter.
>> Ancient and modern Greece are two different places
Totally no objection about this. You can't have 5k ish years of history and remain the same people throughout.
>> It's not like modern Greeks have a particularly notable reputation for education, like Jewish people do.
That's alright. Another part of my definition of "patriot" is someone who loves their country regardless of its history, or current condition. It's nationalists who long for the Good Old Days (of Empire, usually). Although for the kind of Good Old Days I'm talking about, of brilliant intellectual achievements, I would make an exception and say that I do wish we hadn't declined as far as we have.
So, happy now? You broke my heart and rubbed my face in my own dirt. Can't an ancient people be left to decline in peace?
___________
[1] If the descendants of the Mongols or the Brits feel robbed of their right to be proud of being the biggest butchers in history, I consider that to be their problem.