UNESCO studied the history of the Greek language and recognized its universal importance. The UN organization highlighted the virtues of Greek, its millennia of continuity, its enriching science and humanities all over the planet with vocabulary, concepts and meaning.
By Evaggelos Vallianatos
On Saturday, April 5, 2025, the Hellenic Library of Southern California sponsored a global Zoom meeting and discussion praising the virtues of the Greek language. This celebration was a tribute to the February 9 International Greek Language Day that hymned Greek as the “Language of the Light of History.”
The Zoom meeting brought together 17 organizations from around the world. From Greece, there were two municipalities of Athens, Sepolia and Haidari, the Aegean islands of Astypalaia and Kastellorizo, Volos / Iolkos (Thessaly), Ioannina (Epiros, northwest Greece), Karakovouni Kynourias (Arcadia in Peloponnesos), Crete and Methoni (Messenia, Peloponnesos).
Organizations outside of Greece came from Cyprus, Argentina, China, London, Los Angeles, Naples, New York, and Chicago.
Listening to the Greek speakers from Greece, Cyprus, the United States, Argentina, Italy, and the UK, and to the Chinese teachers of Greek from Beijing University and the University of Shanghai, was a pleasure. All, without exception, hymned Greek, its millennial history, civilizing influence and worldwide reach. One of the two Chinese professors of Greek teaching at the University of Shanghai, Sophia Hu Jingjing, spoke Greek so well and so eloquently that it brought to mind the spread of Greek in Asia during the Alexandrian Age.
The Greek poet C. P. Cavafy, 1863-1933, in one of his stories/poems, speaks of Alexander the Great and the Greeks “without the Lakedaimonians” sending battle trophies to the Athenians for the Parthenon from their victories against the Persians.
Cavafy lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He was full of pride for the victories of Alexander and the establishment of Hellenic hegemony in Persia, and the spread of Greek all over Alexander’s empire. He says:
“And from the wonderful Panhellenic campaign, the victorious, the brilliant,
the talked about, the glorified,
as no other was ever glorified,
the unparalleled: we emerged and became
a new great Greek world.
“We the Alexandrians, the Antiochians,
The Seleucids, and the numerous
other Greeks of Egypt and Syria,
And those in Media, and in Persia, and all the others. With the extensive territories,
With the diverse action of thoughtful adaptations.
And the Common spoken Greek language
we took all the way to the people of Bactria, and to the people of India.”
Cavafy was right. Alexander the Great and the institutions of civilization he and his successors built in Asia and Egypt spread Greek to the world. Some 2,500 years later, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is about to formally dedicate February 9 of each year for the celebration of the World Greek Language Day.
UNESCO studied the history of the Greek language and recognized its universal importance. The UN organization highlighted the virtues of Greek, its millennia of continuity, its enriching science and humanities all over the planet with vocabulary, concepts and meaning. I quote extensively from the UNESCO text:
“[Greek has an] unbroken continuity of 40 centuries of oral tradition and 35 centuries of written tradition… the alphabetic script… makes Greek the longest continuously spoken and written language in Europe. As the poet Giorgos Seferis said during his Nobel Prize Banquet speech in 1963:
“Greek language has never ceased to be spoken. It has undergone the changes that all living things experience, but there has never been a gap.”
“A highly elaborated structure as a language (vocabulary, grammar and syntax), due to its use by unparalleled historical figures of literature, poetry, theatre, philosophy, politics and science, such as Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus, Thucydides, Hippocrates, Archimedes and the Fathers of the Church.
The UNESCO text continues:
“A widespread presence in many languages, as, over time, Greek has been one of the most important languages in terms of its influence on all other European languages and, through them, in the world of languages. Moreover, the particular significance of the Greek language is clearly confirmed by the fact that it is taught internationally both in its ancient form in Classical Studies chairs around the world and in its medieval (Byzantine) and modern form in Medieval and Modern Greek Language chairs worldwide.
“The Greek language was and remains to this day an inexhaustible source of international scientific terminology, especially in medicine, but also in mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, astronomy, quantum mechanics, social sciences and humanities. This is an internationally recognized feature of Greek, which is clearly documented, based on empirical and historical data.
“As the linguistic cradle of basic concepts of culture, science and philosophy, Greek holds, by historical and objective criteria, a distinct place among the languages of the world…. Galileo Galilei, considered the Greek alphabet to be “man’s greatest discovery.”
“During the post-classical Hellenistic period, Greek had been for six whole centuries the first international language, the transactional language of many different peoples (lingua franca) and, at the same time, a culture language (Kultursprache). The Greek language blossomed during the reign of Alexander the Great, it was accepted and embraced by the Roman civilization which adopted the Greek script in the form of the Latin alphabet… it was discovered and promoted by the Renaissance and harnessed to the fullest extent by the Enlightenment.
“The electronic Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG), which includes texts written in Greek from Homer to the 15th century historians, comprises 12,000 Greek texts by four thousand (4,000) authors, consisting of 105,000,000 words (in all word types that appear in the texts).
“Historically, the Greek language occupies a key position in intellectual thought, in the linguistic expression and formulation of fundamental concepts and key words of European and wider, almost universal intellectual thought which are conveyed, understood or traced in words / concepts of the Greek language. Some indicative examples are:
Αλφάβητο (alphabet), διάλογος (dialogue), διπλωματία (diplomacy), δημοκρατία (democracy), ιδέα (idea), ιστορία (history), φιλοσοφία (philosophy), θεωρία (theory), πολιτική (policy / politics), κρίση (crisis), θέση (thesis), σύνθεση (synthesis), συμφωνία (symphony), συνέργεια (synergy), συμβίωση (symbiosis), αρμονία (harmony), μουσική (music), ποίηση (poetry), ραψωδία (rhapsody), μελωδία (melody), μονόλογος (monologue), δράμα (drama), ρυθμός (rhythm), ορχήστρα (orchestra), θέατρο (theatre), τραγωδία (tragedy), πάθος (pathos), ήθος (ethos), σχολείο (school), πλανήτης (planet), σφαίρα (sphere) ατμόσφαιρα (atmosphere), κλίμα (climate), σύστημα (system), οικοσύστημα (ecosystem), ωκεανός (ocean), ωκεανογραφία (oceanography), συμπτώματα (symptoms), διάγνωση (diagnosis), πρόβλημα (problem).
The treasures of the Greek language, known and recognized the world over, could lift the self-esteem of Modern Greeks. They should know their civilization killed darkness and barbarism, while launching the Renaissance and the Enlightenment in Western Europe. Modern Greeks are the descendants of men and women who invented democracy, science and life worth living in freedom. Their language, rule of law, gorgeous architecture and science were global for centuries.
Modern Greeks could still rebuild the Sacred Independent Hellas of Alexander the Great and Ioannis Kapodistrias. Start by toning down antagonisms at home. Think of festivities and games like the Olympics – and practice them exactly like the ancient Greeks did. They will help you think of why all Greek-speaking humans are brothers and sisters.
Working together will eliminate toxic foreign influence and corruption. Stop undermining Hellenic studies in Greek high schools and universities. Drop foreign ideas no matter how fashionable they appear to be. Focus on Greek ideas and Hellenic national interests. Start teaching Homer to students from the moment they start elementary schools. Homer was the teacher of the Greeks for millennia. Aristotle gave Alexander the Great the epics of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Strengthen your defense forces to the point they will reverse the strategic imbalance in the Aegean. Work a common defense strategy (in facing the aggressive Turks) with the Kurds, Armenians, Egyptians, Indians and Israelis.
Revive democracy, direct democracy exactly like the Athenians of the fifth century BC. Become a school of democracy and science. Europe and the world need Greek guidance on how to live in peace, eudaimonia / flourishing, and in harmony with the natural world, the source of life. Create this new Hellenic order without fossil fuels. Ancient Greeks, especially in Rhodes, worshipped the Sun god Helios. The Sun and wind suffice to provide all the energy Greece may need.
Remember, the Greek language is in fact the light of Greek and world history and civilization. It is also the key to understanding the gorgeous virtues of our beautiful and life-giving Mother Earth.
Evaggelos Vallianatos, Ph.D., is a historian and ecopolitical theorist who studied zoology and history at the University of Illinois, earned his doctorate in history at the University of Wisconsin, did postdoctoral studies in the history of science at Harvard, worked on Capitol Hill and the US EPA, taught at several universities, published hundreds of articles and nine books, including Freedom: Clear Thinking and Inspiration from 5,000 Years of Greek History (Universal Publishers, 2025)
