The Goulianos (Ioulianos) family, though largely neglected in modern scholarship, appears prominently in seventeenth-century sources as part of the Greek Orthodox aristocracy of Ottoman Constantinople. Closely connected to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, influentialPhanariotfamilies, and the rulers of the Danubian Principalities, they held key administrative offices and exercised considerable influence in both secular and ecclesiastical spheres. Constantine Goulianos, Grand Logothete of the Patriarchate, was a central figure in the intellectual circle of Theophilos Korydalleus and a close associate of Ioannes Karyophylles and Eugenios Giannoules. His residence in the Phanar served as a venue for Korydalleus's lectures, linking the family to the dissemination of Neo-Aristotelian thought and the reformist program of Cyril Loukaris. Manuscript evidence, letters, and biographical annotations preserved by Nikolaos Kritias and Nikolaos Karatzas document the family's educational, theological, and political interests and activities. This single Phanariot household came to embody the shifting contours of Orthodox elite identity in seventeenth-century Constantinople through its sustained involvement in ecclesiastical politics, the exercise of key administrative functions, and the transmission of Neo-Aristotelian philosophy. Tracing the intellectual, political, and social networks of the Goulianos family highlights the formation, consolidation, and transformation of Orthodox elites duringa pivotal moment in early modern Ottoman history.
The cultural heritage space of Athens was shaped and then reshaped to depict two distinct historiographical narratives. First was the narrative of Revival, which internalized Western Hellenism and Philhellenism; later, the narrative of Continuity emerged, addressing discrepancies that challenged a coherent and lasting national identity. The reconsideration of Athens' cultural heritage space to represent the latter narrative began in the early twentieth century following the expansion of the Greek kingdom and incorporated Byzantine heritage as a common feature of both the Old and the New Lands, as well as the territories claimed by Greek irredentism. Within this context, the depiction of Continuity became a heritage management priority, eventually shaping Athens' cultural heritage landscape in its present form.
In Ottoman Heraklion, Crete, a Roman statue made of white marble and embedded in a Venetian fountain was painted black and became the object of veneration by the trans-Saharan African community of the city. Criticized as "superstitious" by both bewildered foreign antiquarians and Christian Cretans of the time, and overlooked by historians and archaeologists until recently, the blackwashing of the statue and the associated African religiosity are indicative of alternative engagements with monuments of classical antiquity. The engagement in this case was not shaped by the dogmatic antiquarianism of white elite Europeans; instead, it was developed by Black people who were typically marginalized and often remain invisible and silenced in the textual record of previous centuries. This case highlights the politicized dynamics of whitewashing and blackwashing in constructions of the Greek past and classical antiquity; it also underscores the role of trans-Saharan African communities within the broader context of the Black Mediterranean.
During the First World War, Greek society became sharply polarized around the figures ofLiberal Party leader Eleftherios Venizelos, who supported intervention on the Allied side, and King Constantine, who favored neutrality. This rift, known as the National Schism, eventually resulted in the country's split in 1916-1917 with the formation of the pro-Allied "National Defense" regime in Thessaloniki while the official government in Athens remained neutral. The limited historiography on the National Defense putsch has generally prioritized high politics and diplomacy, disregarding the political dynamics on the ground in Thessaloniki and Greek Macedonia. A perspective "from below"shows that the coup enjoyed only modest popular support. The National Defense regime's unpopularity helps illuminate the later evolution of the National Schism.
The framing of nuclear science and space achievements in Cold War Greece reveals the strategies of US cultural diplomacy and the pivotal role of the United States Information Agency (USIA) in these strategies. American scientific and technological accomplishments formed a vital component of the American image promoted by USIA, with the "Atoms for Peace" campaign (1953) serving as a particularly decisive propaganda move. Nevertheless, the launch of Sputnik in 1957 challenged American cultural diplomacy by reshaping global public perceptions of the Soviet Union as an advanced technological power. USIA functioned as an agent of science communication within the ideological clash of the Cold War, as evidenced by USIA and State Department archival materials documenting the design and evaluation of cultural diplomacy projects in Greece. USIA opinion poll data from that era serves to illuminate Greek public perceptions. Situating US cultural diplomacy initiatives within Greek public debates on nuclear physics and space exploration reveals both the strategic significance of US efforts to advance American foreign policy objectives within the US-Soviet rivalry and the complexity of Greek public opinion.
