The role of language in Greek ethnicities

Abstract

The subject of ethnic identity in antiquity has a long-established – if somewhat dubious – pedigree. From as early as the end of the eighteenth century, scholars such as Friedrich von Schlegel were applying themselves to the art, customs and political forms which were thought to characterise Greek Stämme such as the Dorians, Ionians, Aeolians and Athenians. It was the nineteenth century, however, which witnessed a more systematic treatment of ancient ethnicity, as scholarly intuitions were subjected to the rigorous interrogation that was demanded by the newly-established discipline of Altertumswissenschaft. Typical of the new breed of professional scholars was Karl Otfried Müller, who devoted himself to analysing the Volksgeist of groups such as the Etruscans, the Minyans and – most famously – the Dorians.