MACEDONIA

The reference of the eponym 'Graikos' found in Hesiod΄s Catalogue of Women or the village 'Graia' noted in Homer΄s Catalogue of ships or even the later reference to the Graeci in Aristotle΄s Meteorological. The term which classicists acknowledge as the proper denomination and that is that of Hellenes (even though they have been used interchangeably). Hesiod΄s reference to a 'race of the Hellenes' (works and days).

While it is conveniently true that Greece wasn΄t used by Ancient Greek geographers to describe the region in question, we know of several of them that use the term 'Hellas' (Agatharchides, Pausanias and Strabo being some of the more well known examples). If we were to look towards Roman writers with Pliny the Elder΄s Natural History being one of the finest examples, we΄d find that throughout his entire work and especially books 3-5 which are geography related, the term 'Greece' is constantly used to define the region.

So the term 'Rhomios' was used by the Greek population to define themselves?

While the term Rhomios may indeed be partly alien to their ancestors, one can΄t neglect to note that it derives from the 'Constitution Antoniniana of Caracalla' which allowed all freemen of the Roman provinces to obtain Roman citizenship and that it is directly related to the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) which they were subjects. A term forged to represent their citizenship but also their Greek ancestry (see Andreas Osiander΄s Before the State), hence why it (and not 'Rhomaios') was also used to strictly designate the subjects of Greek ancestry and them alone. It is also interesting to note the perception of some of the empire΄s neighbors. Armenians, Russians, Georgians, Jews and even Ottomans titled the subjects 'Graikoi', Yunan, Yavani , or the authors Theodorus Studitus, Anna Komnene, George Gemistos Plethon, Michael Psellus and Theophanes Confessor all used the ethnonym Hellenes.