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May 7
People online are arguing about whether modern Greeks are the only descendants of the medieval Romans of the East. Greeks say they are, others react that they are not, but a lot of that disagreement is really Greeks and foreigners using very different definitions of descent and ethnicity. So before answering the question, we first have to define ethnicity and nation, because this is not just about blood, and it is not just about claiming a label.

1. What Ethnicity Means

Anthony D. Smith defines an ethnicity as a named human community held together by shared ancestry, shared historical memories, common culture such as language, religion, and customs, a link with a homeland, and a sense of solidarity. It is the same kind of peoplehood the ancient Greeks themselves recognized through shared blood, shared language, shared religion, and shared customs. So the real question is not just who has Roman ancestry, but who continued the east Roman people as a living historical community.

2. What I Am Actually Claiming

With that in mind, my argument is not that Greeks own ancient Rome or descend alone from all Romans, because that would be too much. Many peoples descend from Roman-era populations, and many later nations took pieces of Roman civilization, but descent from Roman-era people, or borrowing from Roman civilization later, is not the same thing as living continuity with the medieval Roman world of Constantinople.

My claim is more specific, that modern Greeks are the only living continuation of the east Roman people and their culture as a historical community, the way it existed for most of the medieval empire's history.

My claim is more specific, that modern Greeks are the only living continuation of the east Roman people and their culture as a historical community, the way it existed for most of the medieval empire’s history and as it naturally evolved afterward. Of course there were changes, but that is how historical continuity works.

3. East Roman Culture as Lived Continuity

The east Romans had a living culture made from Greek language, Orthodox Christianity, Roman political memory, icons, hymns, saints, feast days, monasticism, folk traditions, and the memory of Constantinople as the Queen City.

After the empire fell, those things did not vanish and then get revived later as an aesthetic. They continued inside Greek-speaking Orthodox communities as a living culture, in church, in speech, in songs and musical traditions, in laments, in family customs, in village life, and in the old identity of Romiosini.

4. Why Descent Alone Is Not Enough

Descent on its own does not preserve an identity, since people can descend from Roman subjects while having no living Roman culture left. But culture on its own is not enough either, because someone copying icons or chanting hymns or calling himself Roman today is not suddenly the continuation of that historical people.

A real continuation needs both, descent from the historical community in some meaningful sense and the survival of its language, religion, memories, customs, and identity through time.

5. The Problem of “Too Many Romans”

There is also the issue of what Kaldellis calls “too many Romans.” If Roman simply meant anyone living under the emperor, then the word would stop describing a real people and would become only an abstract legal label. This is also why the modern label “Byzantine” creates confusion, because it can mean either every subject of the empire or only the Roman majority from whom the minorities were distinguished.

As Kaldellis says in Romanland, the label “obscures the difference between imperial subjects who were ethnically Roman and those who were not.” He makes the point directly: “Rather than a scarcity of Romans, we may now face the embarrassment of too many Romans. Some historians believe that everyone living within the empire or under the emperor’s jurisdiction was automatically a Roman, which turns what appears to be an ethnonym into an abstract formality.”

But he rejects that view, because “not everyone living within the empire or serving the emperor was regarded ethnically as a Roman. The Byzantine empire was inhabited by both Romans and non-Romans, and the latter were designated by separate ethnic names and frequently associated with stereotypes.” So the empire could rule non-Romans, use non-Roman soldiers, and even assimilate foreigners into the Roman people, but that only proves that Roman identity had real boundaries.

It was not just residence under the emperor. It involved belonging to the Roman historical community through law, culture, language, religion, homeland, memory, and assimilation into the people, a real ethnic group.

6. Why Modern Greeks Are Different

Other peoples got off the Roman bus earlier and built their own states and identities, so they may have Roman ancestry or Roman influence, but they did not continue as the Greek-speaking Orthodox Roman people of Constantinople. Greeks did.

The medieval Roman world survived only directly in the people who kept its language, its church, its songs, its saints, its memory of fallen cities and heroes like Digenis Akritas, and its longing for the City. The empire fell, but its people did not disappear. They continued as Romioi and as modern Greeks.

7. The Church as the Surviving Roman Institution

After the empire fell, the Greek Orthodox Church helped carry the Roman people through four centuries of Ottoman rule because it was the main surviving Roman institution, and it took on many of the roles that the Roman state had once held for the Roman nation.

People sometimes claim that Roman institutions were completely lost when the empire fell, but this overlooks the Church, since the Ottomans preferred dealing with religious institutions over secular ones, so the Patriarchate of Constantinople was made head of the Rum millet and put in charge of the Romioi as a people. That meant the Church carried their political and ethnic interests, ran the courts that handled their marriages, inheritances, and family disputes, kept their schools, and protected their literature and language.

The institution that had been the spiritual heart of east Rome ended up holding the whole Roman nation together when there was no longer a Roman state to do it. The Patriarchate was also put in charge of the non-Roman Orthodox peoples, just like the Roman state had been in medieval times and now in place of it, and it promoted east Roman culture among them, including the Greek language, which the east Romans called both Greek and Romaiika, meaning Romaic or the Roman language.

8. From Romaios to Hellene

The later shift from Romios to Hellene was not a swap that created something unrelated, because the two names meant the same thing. The medieval taboo that made Hellene mean pagan was gone, so it could finally be used the way Graikos and Romaios always had been. Hellene took the place of Graikos, which is the word the east Romans themselves used to distinguish themselves from the Latin West.

As Anthony Kaldellis puts it in Hellenism in Byzantium, "Graikos differentiated a Greek-speaking Roman from a Latin-speaker. These labels did not necessarily carry ideological weight, but sometimes they did, as in the exchange of insults between Michael III and pope Nicolaus I in the 860s." Greeks made Hellene their primary national identity to emphasize the Greek-speaking territories and churches, which were the core of that east Roman empire. Romios kept going in everyday speech, in church, in folk songs, and in laments, and Hellene meant the same thing to them, literally, eventually also becoming the primary ethnic identity, but without implying that they are not Romioi and the descendants of the medieval Romans.

9. Ethnicity and Nation Without One State

You can see the same logic in Cyprus today, where people call themselves Cypriot but mean Greek, because the state is its own thing while the nation behind it is the same. The logic was the same in antiquity too, since the Greek city-states didn't share one state but were still one Greek people. A single legal state has never been the test of who counts as the same nation, so modern Greece and Cyprus do not continue the east Roman state in any legal sense, but they continue the same people through the same logic, and they have kept alive its central institution, the Church, which as I explained earlier was much more than just a religious institution.

10. Continuity Through Change

In case some people think I am saying the East Romans were only “medieval Greeks” or “medieval Greece” using a fake Roman title, that is not my argument. They claimed the real Roman inheritance, but Roman identity itself had changed through history. In The New Roman Empire, Kaldellis compares this to the Ship of Theseus, saying that the Roman polity “gradually changed its component elements over the centuries, but never lost its underlying identity. It built a new capital in the east, lost the old one in the west, converted to Christianity, absorbed new populations, forgot Latin to fully embrace Greek, and adapted its institutions to meet new challenges as they came.”

The point is that people can change language, religion, capital, and institutions without becoming a completely different people, as long as the change happens through continuous historical development rather than a later artificial revival. So when I say modern Greeks continue the east Romans, I am not denying that the east Romans were real Romans. I am saying that modern Greeks descend from the east Romans and continue the later form that Roman identity and the Roman ethnic community took in the medieval empire: Greek-speaking, Orthodox, Constantinopolitan, and of course, Roman.

Sources:

Anthony D. Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations (Oxford, 1986).

John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith (eds.), Ethnicity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).

Anthony Kaldellis, Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2019).

Anthony Kaldellis, Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
The song above is “Ο Κωνσταντίνος ο μικρός / Μικροκωσταντίνος,” a Greek traditional akritic folk song from Northern Greece. It belongs to the medieval frontier-song world of the Akritai, the border warriors of the east Roman frontiers.

Akritic songs are Greek folk songs about the Akritai, the frontier warriors who guarded the borderlands of the medieval east Roman world, especially along the eastern frontier with the Arabs, but also in wider Greek-speaking frontier regions. These songs survived to this day in Greek oral tradition and are part of modern Greek culture, which is why they matter as evidence of historical memory and cultural continuity.

They are usually about warriors, raids, border fighting, captivity, heroic strength, family honor, love, death, exile, and the struggle between the human world and wild forces. Some are realistic war songs, while others become almost mythic, with heroes fighting monsters, wrestling with Charon (personification of Death), crossing impossible distances, or facing death like epic figures.

The most famous akritic hero is Digenis Akritas, whose name means something like “the two-blooded frontier man,” because he is usually presented as having mixed Roman and Arab ancestry. His songs and legends show the frontier as a place where cultures meet, fight, and create heroes.
Cover of the song by
Read 4 tweets
May 7
Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote, "I have been seeing lots of stories on Facebook and YouTube about Gentiles who have converted to Judaism.

I understand why people are doing these stories.
1)
The Christians and Muslims are also posting articles & videos about people joining them. I get the impression that the reason for all these public declarations is at least in part about people seeing conversions to their belief system as some confirmation of their being right.
2)
And that is why I disagree with posting such stories.

These stories are sort of a competition, sort of saying, “See how wonderful we are that people join our faith.”

Christianity and Islam as religions have always done this. This is not a new thing.
3)
Read 6 tweets
May 7
Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote, "What should you call it when gasoline prices rise in the USA - because of war in the Middle East. — When the USA is self-sufficient in oil and not tied to the world price of oil.
1)
War profiteering: The act of making excessive profits from armed conflict. This is often considered unethical and, in some cases, illegal.

Price gouging: A closely related term where businesses increase prices for essential goods, services, or
2)
commodities to an unreasonable level during a declared emergency, such as a war, pandemic, or natural disaster.

Corporate profiteering: A broader term where large corporations use crises, including wars, as a justification to hike prices and increase profit margins.
3)
Read 5 tweets
May 7
🧵The Iranian regime’s “oil storage clock” is ticking down to zero — and the U.S. Navy just turned up the dial.

Tankers are bottled up. No exports means no cash. With no revenue, even the mullahs can only last so long.

But it's even worse than that. ⏰🇺🇸 Image
2/ Since Trump’s blockade began, 1.5+ million barrels per day have nowhere to go. Storage is nearly full.

Analysts say forced shut-ins hit mid-May to mid-June. $13 billion a month in regime revenue — gone.

And shut-in fields are damaged fields. Some may not recover. Image
3/ When storage runs out, wells get shut in and may never recover. Corrosion, “wax” oil solidifying, water coning — possibly permanent loss of 300,000–500,000 barrels per day.

That’s $9–15 billion a year the mullahs would NEVER get back. 💥 Image
Read 7 tweets
May 7
Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote, "In the UK, famous stage and television actress Maureen Lipman, age 80, is being harassed and boycotted by pro-Hamas, pro-terrorist, “Free Palestine” activists. — For one reason. She is Jewish."
1)
And what is the UK Government doing about this blatant antisemitism??? Nothing

And this is a growing problem all over the UK, efforts to marginalize and exclude Jews from public life.

Now here is the big question.
2)
If Jews and Christians did this to Muslims, what would the authorities do?

Ask Tommy Robinson. Ask the many people whose civil rights, jobs, positions in society, have been revoked, damaged, penalized by making public statements against Muslims and Islam.
3)
Read 5 tweets
May 7
Anyone notice a pattern?

"Overseas revenue as a share of total income at Chinese mainland-listed businesses rose to a record high of nearly 17% last yr, at a time when growth in the domestic market has slowed...
/1

yicaiglobal.com/news/the-propo…
"...Combined overseas revenue at the firms reached almost CNY12.4 trillion (USD1.8T) in 2025, marking the 1st time it has surpassed CNY12 trillion, according to new data from Shujubao, a financial information provider run by Securities Times..."
/2
"...At the same time, revenue increased by <2% at the companies overall last year vs 2024, indicating that overseas business has become the main corporate growth driver."
/3
Read 3 tweets
May 7
The fiber super supplement you've never heard of:

Psyllium husk.

It reduces insulin resistance almost as much as Ozempic but without the side-effects, muscle loss and gaining the weight back.

Here's how it works, its health benefits (and how to use it properly): 🧵 Image
1. It forms a gel that slows glucose absorption.

In your stomach, psyllium absorbs water and becomes a thick gel.

This gel slows digestion and flattens the post-meal glucose spike (the spike driving insulin resistance over time).

Take it 15 minutes before meals. Image
2. It triggers your body's own GLP-1.

Psyllium feeds your gut bacteria, which ferment it and release short-chain fatty acids.

These SCFAs signal your intestinal L-cells to release GLP-1 (the exact hormone Ozempic mimics).

Same pathway.

No injection needed. Image
Read 12 tweets
May 7
Don't make Dua without knowing this, whoever uses it, no du'a is rejected:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ بِأَنِّي أَشْهَدُ أَنَّكَ أَنْتَ اللَّهُ
لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ أَنْتَ الأَحَدُ الصَّمَدُ
الَّذِي لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
Allahumma Inni As'aluka Bi Anni Ashhadu Annaka Antalllah, La llaha Illa Anta Al-Ahadus-Samadu, Alladhi Lam Yalid Wa Lam Yulad, Wa Lam Yakun Lahu Kufuwan Ahad

O Allah, I ask You because I testify that You are Allah, there is no god except You, the One, the Eternal Refuge, Who neither begets nor is begotten, and none is comparable to You.
Read 4 tweets
May 7
1/ "Online Child Safety Acts" are being passed in every state, every country, every legislature on Earth — all at the same time, all using the same language, all promising to protect your children.

These laws are NOT what you think they are.
2/ Ask yourself one question. If lawmakers actually wanted to protect children online, why did they reject every solution that would have actually worked?

They could have banned the algorithms that push self-harm content to teenage girls within minutes of signup.

They could have banned infinite scroll, autoplay, and targeted advertising to minors.

They didn't.
3/ They could have empowered parents with the tools that already exist on every smartphone, every router, every computer.

They could have implemented device-side age verification — proposed by Apple — that flags a child's device without surveilling every adult.

They could have used cryptographic age proofs that verify age without identity disclosure.

They rejected all of it.
Read 12 tweets
May 7
🧵The high-stakes battle for #HYBE: From the outsider ‘ugly duckling’ to a golden goose
Is the IPO probe a witch hunt or legal accountability? Analysts and legal observers are questioning the alternate motives behind this 16-month investigation.
Let’s walk through them. #DS_HYBE Image
1🧵 A key legal tension is the backdated application of 2024 Capital Markets Act standards to 2019 actions. Critics argue the state is judging past contracts using "One Strike Out" policies that did not exist during the original IPO preparations. #HYBE Image
2🧵 Financial analysts from Hana Securities like Lee Ki-hoon highlight a lack of actual victims. Given the IPO’s commercial success and absence of investor complaints, they argue the charges appear to be a backdated attempt to criminalise standard 2019 business deals. #HYBE Image
Read 24 tweets
May 7
There's a diet proven to cut visceral fat by 14%, even if you don't lose a single pound on the scale.

It's not keto. It's not carnivore. And it's not counting calories.

It's called the Optimized Mediterranean Diet. Here's how to do it: Image
Visceral fat is the fat you can't pinch. It wraps around your liver, pancreas, and intestines, pumping inflammatory compounds into your bloodstream 24/7.

People in the top quartile have 10x higher odds of hypertension, 6x higher odds of diabetes, and 81% higher all-cause mortality.
The scary part is midlife belly fat predicts Alzheimer's markers 20 years before symptoms appear.

Higher visceral fat correlates with poorer executive function independent of total body fat. Your brain is paying the price before you notice anything wrong.
Read 11 tweets
May 7
1/ The S&P 500 is hitting records, but under the hood, a massive "Private Stimulus" is keeping the engine running. Here’s why the $700B AI spending spree is both the market's savior and its biggest threat. 🧵👇
2/ The Numbers: This week, ~8% of the S&P 500 hit new 52-week highs. Is it "narrow"? Not as bad as the 2000 Dot-com bubble (2-3%), but far from a broad-based rally. It’s a "rotation" market, for now.
3/ The Spending: Big Tech (MSFT, GOOG, META, AMZN) is on track to spend $725B on AI capex in 2026 alone.
To put that in perspective: That’s more than the inflation-adjusted cost of the Apollo Moon Landing. 🚀
Read 8 tweets

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