The Portrayal of Collective Identity in the Works of Gennadios Scholarios

Abstract

The paper analyzes the portrayal of collective identity in the works of Gennadios Scholarios, focusing on his autobiographical writings. Tracing his use of the terms Hellene (Ἕλλην), fatherland (πατρίς), and race (γένος), it explores Scholarios’ understanding of his collective and political identity before and after the Fall of Constantinople. The portrayal of collective identity of a learned Byzantine and assessment of the elements he used to determine the group with which he identified provide grounds to reconstruct a broader picture of identity questions in the late Byzantine period, especially in the relationship between the terms Rhomaios and Hellene.