Greek Identity after Independence
Hellenic Place-names
"The tools used for the regeneration of Hellas were, in addition to language, also history and geography and, from the end of the nineteenth century, folklore. In order to regenerate Hellas and the Hellenes, it was necessary first to locate them in place and time and eventually try to discover traces of them among their descendants, the modern Greeks. History and geography went hand in hand with classics and archaeology. Ancient historians and geographers were recruited for the purpose of identifying ancient regions and the sites of ancient cities. Albanian, Slav and Turkish place-names were in many cases abandoned and replaced by respectable Hellenic ones. Thus Vostitsa became Aigion, Leontari became Megalopolis and Koulouri Salamis. The hellenisation of place names, which annoys anthropologists so much that they use the non-hellenic equivalents when doing their job, was an important aspect of the drive to efface the non-Greek vestiges of post-Hellenic times."
Page 243, from Greece, The Modern Sequel: From 1831 to the Present, by John S. Koliopoulos and Thanos M. Veremis. Published by New York University Press, 2002.
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