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The DNA of Greeks

By

Dr. Ricardo Duchesne

There is a mistaken assumption that the Ottoman occupation of Greece from the mid-15th century to the early 19th century had a major genetic impact on Greece, resulting in strong admixture with Turkic genes. Don't believe it. The Ottomans acted mainly as rulers, military overseers, and tax collectors. There was no Turkic settler population. The Greeks maintained social separation.

Ottoman rulers emphasized control and taxation (via the conscription of Christian boys into the Janissary elites, leading to their Islamization and separation from their Greek origins). But this involved a small number of Greeks. Greeks were left to self-govern themselves under the Orthodox Church.

Conversions to Islam among a few Greeks did occur (for tax relief or status), but these converts integrated into the Turkish identity. Turks did not integrate into Greek society. There are now genetic studies showing "minimal Turkish admixture in modern Greeks".Modern Greeks exhibit "strong continuity with ancient populations."  Greeks share approximately 70-80% of their DNA with Indo-European Mycenaeans (Bronze Age Greeks) and Anatolian farmers who settled in ancient Greece before the Mycenaeans arrived.

After this genetic influx, the only external genetic influence into Greece came from Slavic medieval migrations around the 6th-10th centuries, not Ottoman Turks. The Slavic gene flow is evident particularly in the northern regions of Greece, Macedonia and Thessaly, estimated at 15 to 20%. In the southern regions, Slavic admixture is estimated at 5-10%. The Anatolian farmer migration occurred around 7000-6000 BC. This Anatolian influence is evident in many regions of Europe, particularly the south. It is known as the "Early European Farmer" (EEF) ancestry.These Anatolian Neolithic farmers were Caucasian, not Semitic, not Levantine, not Phoenicians or Hebrews. They represented a distinct "West Eurasian population", deriving most of their ancestry (80-90%) from local Anatolian hunter-gatherers. Their languages included "pre-Indo-European substrates" (ancestral to Hittite).

Yes, they were darker than modern Europeans, but all Europeans were "darker" back in prehistorical times, since the European-white race evolved in the course of time in the continent of Europe. There is no such thing as a primeval white population. Lighter skin pigmentation in Europe, after all, evolved gradually through selection and later admixtures over thousands of years. The Anatolian Neolithic farmers, who migrated into Europe (and Greece) already carried some alleles associated with lighter skin, though, overall, these farmers had olive to medium brown skin tones. The shift toward lighter skin in Europe, including among Greeks, occurred gradually due to lower UV radiation levels in Europe as compared to the Near East. These "white skin" variants were already present at "low frequencies" in some Neolithic populations in Europe, increasing in frequency in the course of time, particularly in northern Europe, where selection pressure was stronger due to lower UV exposure.

NOTE: 

Omaimon Paradosis does not full agree with this article (Fex the info about Slavic gene is obviously exaggerated). But in general its in the right the direction about the Greek DNA through the centuries

SEE ALSO:

Carleton S. Coon - The Races of Europe

The Ancient DNA of the Greeks

At The Tomb of Alexander The Great

 

Caesar August Visits the Tomb of Alexander 

About this time he had the sarcophagus and body of Alexander the Great brought forth from its shrine,⁠  and after gazing on it, showed his respect by pla­cing upon it a golden crown and strewing it with flowers; and being then asked whether he wished to see the tomb of the Ptolemies as well, he replied, "My wish was to see a king, not corpses."

The Text: 

SUETONIUS - The Life of Augustus

The Painting:

FRANCOIS SCHOMMER - Augustus at the tomb of Alexander

Martin Heidegger in Greece

 

"Heidegger's philosophy is largely concerned with the historical role of post-Socratic Greek thought and the oblivion of Being - Heidegger always favored the fragments and poetic sayings of the pre-Socratics ... finally, in 1962, he traveled to Greece and is here shown at the Acropolis and at Delphi ... however it was at Delos (not shown) where he truly felt the "presence of that which grants Being-present" (Safranski) ... in the second part of the clip Heidegger responds to charges that he is only concerned with Being and not with human beings: "Being needs human beings.... One cannot ask about Being without asking about the essence of human beings ...""

The Doomed Procession

 

"The Wild Hunt of Odin" 

by Peter Nicolai Arbo (1872)

National Gallery, Oslo, Norway

Forget peaceful gods and gentle myths,this painting captures the Norse apocalypse in full throttle. Here, Odin doesn’t just lead heroes, he leads an army of the dead, outcasts, and furious Valkyries tearing through the sky like a cosmic tornado. 

The Wild Hunt wasn’t just folklore,it was a terror passed down through generations. People truly believed that seeing this spectral horde meant death, plague, or war was coming. Odin’s not the kindly god here,he’s the unpredictable judge, riding with lost souls, witches, and spirits who don’t fit in heaven or hell. Some legends even say those who witnessed the Hunt could be snatched away, forced to join the doomed procession for eternity.

Source: Stories Behind Art