Although the Pluralism Project/Harvard University has been contacted several times by various Hellenes, and informed about the true nature of Hellenismos, they continue to paint a misleading picture of our culture and religion.
Up until today we have not received a response to our mails. Much more important, the Pluralism Project at Harvard University is still misrepresenting Hellenismos as being the reconstructed religion of “Hellenic Pagans,” supporting in this way the distortion of our ethnic religion and the instrumentalization of our ethnonym by parts of the neopagan movement and followers of the ideology of “white supremacy.”[1][2]
At this point we have to consider that this is being done deliberately.
This misrepresentation of our ancestral culture is violating the collective dignity of the Hellenic people because it is geared towards the usurpation of our ethnonym and the designation “Hellenismos.” It is an attack on Hellenic culture and its history: an act of blatant anti-Hellenism, the more so as the Christian apologists and the Nazis used a similar method in order to appropriate parts of Hellenismos and, more importantly, alienate the Greeks from their legacy.[3][4]
Insofar, this approach of pagan colonialists, their assumption of rights (“innovations are necessary to keep the religion relevant to the modern world”)—which contrasts with the Greek right of self-determination—is nothing new and it has been addressed numerous times in the past. But the evidently unexamined adoption of their self-conception or self-staging (“Hellenic Pagans”) by the Pluralism Project caps it all. It can be turned round as you like, this whole thing is quite an unappetizing affair.
Indeed, the fact that Harvard University sponsors the Pluralism Project is a clear indication that colonialism is still well and alive within the heart of Classical studies.[5] The critical, self-reflective reappraisal of the field’s colonial legacy seems to be overrated in the eyes of Harvard University.
Regardless of Harvard University’s stance toward the legacy of colonialism and ethnocentrism in the Classical studies, we will not make peace with colonialism, especially as colonialism is obviously merrily raging, in our times apparently hidden behind the label of “diversity” and “education.”
Therefore we will continue to call them out on their anti-Hellenism until they stop misleading the public with false information about Hellenismos. As ethnic Hellenes we are willing and able to defend our collective dignity, history and culture. Come what may.
Previous mails to the Pluralism Project:
The Pluralism Project continues to spread misinformation, August 30, 2023
Open letter to The Pluralism Project, June 28, 2023
Sources:
[1] Stilian Korovilas: Another pagan deception or Colonialism is in vogue. Hellenismos heute, May 15, 2022.
[2] Jen Pinkowski: Hate Groups Love Ancient Greece and Rome. Scholars Are Pushing Back. Undark, May 27, 2019.
[3] Aaron P. Johnson: Niketas Siniossoglou, Plato and Theodoret: The Christian Appropriation of Platonic Philosophy and the Hellenic Intellectual Resistance. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Book review.
[4] Kristof Smeyers: Chapoutot, Greeks, Romans, Germans. How the Nazis Usurped Europe’s Classical Past. Review of Greeks, Romans, Germans. How the Nazis Usurped Europe’s Classical Past by Johann Chapoutot (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016).
[5] Katerina Apokatanidis: When Greece is not Ancient: Colonialism, Eurocentrism and Classics. Everyday Orientalism, April 27, 2021.
Hellenismos heute 