The New Byzantines
The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East
A fresh portrait of Greece’s forgotten Near Eastern identity, with old cultural, political and economic ties reforming in today’s turbulent world.
Description
Caught between wars raging in both Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Greece is an island of relative stability. Popularly considered the cradle of Western civilisation, this is a Christian Orthodox state on the edge of the Islamic world. And, after a half-century of integration into NATO and the EU, Greece is now reabsorbing into the Near East, as the West fractures and new Middle Eastern powers rise. The country’s importance as a cultural and geopolitical hybrid is growing.
Travelling through the region, Sean Mathews explores at ground level the tectonic shifts reshaping Europe and the Middle East. He meets the last Greek merchants in Cairo, and hears from Istanbul’s remaining Greeks about Turkey’s break with the West. In Jerusalem, he discovers a budding alliance between Greece and Israel; and in a faded Ottoman port, he encounters football hooligans loyal to a Russian oligarch.
This bold reappraisal of Greece as a Near Eastern nation uncovers its Byzantine and Ottoman past as a key to survival in today’s chaotic, shrinking world.
Reviews
‘A major contribution to a slim field of books about modern Greece. Colourfully written and deeply researched, Mathews’ travels through the country reveal a compelling cast of characters and a story about how a small country on the fringe of Europe is transforming itself into a cultural and diplomatic powerhouse.’ — Hannah Lucinda Smith, Istanbul correspondent and author of Erdoğan Rising
‘The eastern Mediterranean or greater Levant has been a pivotal region in imperial history and now again in postmodern geopolitics. Mathews expertly guides the reader through not only the sights and smells of the region, but its political and cultural layers. This is what travel writing is supposed to do: blend description with analysis.’ — Robert D. Kaplan, author of Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis
‘A timely and colourful journey through Greece’s oriental past and increasingly Middle Eastern future. The author identifies the new frontier between Europe and the Middle East and it runs through Greece.’ — Michael Vatikioitis, author of Lives Between The Lines: A Journey in Search of The Lost Levant
Author(s)
Sean Mathews is a Greek-American journalist who has covered a wide swath of the Middle East. He is a correspondent with Middle East Eye, and has also written for The Economist and Al-Monitor, among others. He calls Athens home and travels often in the region. This is his first book.
Related books
