by Alexander Colombos, CRC, MA, MPS, MA (Ed)
(see full bio below)
PowerPoint Presentation in the 1st Symposium of Greek Language Education by Prometheus Greek Teachers Association of New York, where I have the honor to be its Secretary General and Director of Technology/Webmaster. It was done in Greek. The event took place on Sunday February 17, 2019 at the school library of St Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church School in Astoria, NY. The topic was "How to learn history and Greek by creating an ancient manuscript".
In other words, teaching the evolution of Greek language, writing, and the alphabet from prehistory to the present is crucial. It's important to make a distinction between language and writing. For instance, prehistoric scripts, such as Linear B were proved to be Greek. Also, there are many serious scholars who propose that Cretan hieroglyphics and Linear A are Greek, as well. The Greek alphabet was not always as we know it today. Lowercase was used after the 9 century AD. Some letters were added and others were removed form the Greek alphabet by Euclid, not to be confused with the well-know mathematician, as he was an Athenian Archon of 4th century BC, hence the Euclidean Alphabet. Errors in inscriptions and vases dating before the Euclidean Alphabet prove that the Erasmic or Erasmian pronounced of ancient/Classical Greek is artificial invented by Erasmus, as he says in his book that no one reads and not the real pronunciation of ancient Greeks.
This lecture was also about teaching not just the primary sources, but even directly the archaeological objects of the primary sources (e.g. illuminated manuscripts, codices, parchments, papyri, etc.) in the Greek Parochial Schools of the US and of course the same should apply in Greece, Cyprus, the US and all over the world as the best way of learning history with accuracy and authenticity. Taking into consideration the Greek national crisis, it's pivotal to make students aware of the Greek National Issues (e.g. The Aegean, N. Epirus, E. Thrace, Asia Minor Coastline and Macedonia are all Greece, not just Greek). Also, neopagan propaganda is another issue. In fact, recent studies show that reuse is the number 1 reason for the destruction of many Greek manuscripts as well as ancient Greek buildings and works of art and it still is. Marble was and still is used for building materials and papyri and parchments for writing were used for writing on the top new Byzantine hymns and sermons while there was an abundance of copies of all different types of ancient Greek literature. And that is because thanks to monks, deacons, priests and high priests, who were also great scholars and classicists, the glory and wisdom of the Ancient Greeks is known to us today. Students do not learn that "Byzantine" and "Byzantium" are early modern inventions (E.g. Hieronymus Wolf, 17th century). Byzantine Greeks called themselves "Romans" or Romioi as they still say today and their culture Romaiosini or Romiosini. By doing that, they didn't imply they were Romans from Rome and the Western Empire and spoke Latin, but they were Eastern Romans coming from the Eastern Empire and spoke Greek. The East Roman Empire was the only part of the Roman Empire that did not fell to the Barbarians of the Early Middle Ages, unlike the West. They still knew they were Greek and were aware of their history and their culture. Their dedication to the Hellenic Studies is obvious from their writings. Modern scholars and historians have distorted that truth in order to make new theories, thus making profit by presenting their inventions as something new in history. History is history. It cannot be reinvented just because some pseudoscholars of the ivory towers want to make profit and build careers in the clouds of modern myths and urban legends. Today, students don't learn that the core of the Byzantine culture was Greek as well as the official language was Greek, at least after the 6th century AD. Those are things they are not usually learnt in schools and need to be learnt today more than ever!
The best way to do that is the teaching of primary sources as directly and genuinely as possible and that's through archaeology and art history, as in the case of ancient Greek and Byzantine manuscripts. That can happen by using innovative methods of educational psychology as well as arts and crafts and technology in teaching history, Orthodox Christian religion, and modern Greek as a Second Language. Students come to the Greek parochial school tired from the public school and having received historical information that is full of propaganda and distorted historical truth about Hellenism while they learn nothing about Christianity, not to mention Orthodoxy (Orthodox Christianity). It's not only the US or the European schools were propaganda is taught, though. Tragically, the anti-Greek and anti-Christian governments of Greece and Cyprus which are homes of the Greek language and culture support even more intense and systematic anti-Greek and anti-Christian propaganda! Today's students of Greece and Cyprus do not really learn the history and language of their ancestors and ancient Greeks and the Byzantine Greeks! That wouldn't surprise us, as even the most well-educated philologists/Greek teachers from Greece and Cyprus, the US or elsewhere in the world do not know the auxiliary historical sciences (paleography, codicology, epigraphy, numismatics and textual criticism) and cannot directly read the archaeological artifacts of writing (inscriptions, parchments, papyri, codices, illuminated manuscripts, coins, etc.) in a museum or an archaeological site!
However, here in the US, most members of the Greek-American community love and respect their history,language and culture and want to teach it to their children. America offers the freedom and the opportunity to do so. Greek Parochial School teachers need to motivate students and teach them the historical truth right from the horse's mouth which is the primary sources and as a matter of fact their archaeological medium/material, since the primary sources have been distorted in translation and modern interpretation and reception. Also, by using arts & crafts (e.g. coloring, drawing and painting papyri, parchments and illuminated manuscripts, as they do in museum education programs) and also by using technology, such as social media (e.g. Pinterest), they have fun and they learn easy and fast and boost their creativity and critical thinking as well as multiple types of intelligence (e.g. verbal, visual, artistic, etc.).
