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HellenesThe Hellenes are the nation that has populated Greece from the 17th century BC until today. A few Greek nationalists dogmatically believe that the modern Greeks are pure descendants of the Ancient Greeks; on the other extreme are those that believe that the Ancient Greeks genetically disappeared at some point in time (for example, see Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer). Most modern ethnologists agree that the ancient and the modern Greeks are the same nation based on the linguistic, cultural and physical evidence that points to a continuum that links the two people across time, without discarding the cultural and genetic infusions that occurred during these 38 centuries. This has been reinforced by the work of population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza. The name Hellene According to Thucydides, Hellenes were the people of Hellas. Greek mythology states that they were named after Hellen. A more scientific approach considers this an aitiological myth, placing the origin of the name in Epirus, the land of the Dorians, where people were called Selloi or Helloi. The etymology of the term is *sedlēnes, meaning "settlers" (from the PIE root *sed, "to sit"). The spread of the worship of Zeus in the rest of Greece (based in Dodoni), the Dorian tendency to form amfictionies and the increasing popularity of the Delphic religion caused the name to refer to all people today known as Greeks (that name having come from the Graikoi, another tribe of Epirus). Before that, the Hellenes (or Greeks) were distinguished by tribes (phylae) such as Achaians, Dorians, Ionians, etc. In 212 the Roman emperor Caracalla gave people from Roman provinces equal rights to those of the citizens of Rome and the right to call themselves "Romans". The name Hellenes, which by then had become a synonym of attachment to old religions, was replaced by the name Roman. The name Hellenes began to mean Greek again around the 11th century when the Byzantine Empire was already a "Greek state", although preserving the name "Eastern Roman Empire". During the Ottoman occupation of Greece (1453–1828) the Christian inhabitants of Greece were again called Romans (Rhomioi). This name is still in everyday use. History of the Hellenes The history of the Hellenic people is closely associated with the History of Greece. While Hellenes have migrated away from Greece for many centuries, historically these colonists or emigrants remained close to their homeland. During the Ottoman rule of Greece, a number of Greek enclaves around the Mediterranean were cut off from the the core, notably in Southern Italy, the Caucasus, Syria and Egypt. During the 20th century, a huge wave of migration to the United States, Australia, Canada and elsewhere created a Greek diaspora which, in many ways, has developed a cultural identity separate from that of the Greeks who remained home. See also
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