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De ‘plaatselijkheid’ van Griekenland: De territoriale verankering van het Griekendom in de vroege 16de eeuw

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Abstract

This article discusses the problem of imagining ‘Greece before Greece’ and focuses on one of the very first politico-territorial conceptualisations of the Greek world by a Greek. Against the background of the general confusion about the exact location of Greece in ancient and pre-modern sources, it shows how Giovanni Gemisto of Epidaurus created an unprecedented image of ‘Graecia’ in his long crusade poem to Pope Leo X, written in Latin hexameters in ca. 1516. It also demonstrates how Gemisto tried to dissimulate the fact that his image of the Greek world was exceptional, if not unparalleled. By exploring some of the strategies with which the poet anchored his notion of ‘Graecia’ in the mytho-historical past of ancient Hellas, it places Gemisto’s imagined country in its literary and rhetorical context in order to understand its peculiarities.

How to Cite:

Lamers, H., (2014) “De ‘plaatselijkheid’ van Griekenland: De territoriale verankering van het Griekendom in de vroege 16de eeuw”, Tetradio 23(1): 5, 101–125. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tetradio.91836