By Academician EASA Alexios P.PANAGOPOULOS

(ORCID iD 0009-0008-9304-4040)

Part B

At this point, we will proceed to mention some specific characteristics of the ancient Greek world contained in Greater Greece. Magna Graecia and Sicily, as well as Mother Greece, have had a common culture and a spiritual bond for many millennia, ever since the ancient Greek history. The ancient Pelasgians inhabited both these areas of the Mediterranean in ancient times. This is confirmed archaeologically by the Cyclopean walls that have been found in several areas in both Magna Graecia and Mother Greece. The ancient Minoans made several colonies especially in Apulia and Sicily. The Mycenaeans built several small villages as trading posts for their ships to the South. The colonization of the archaic and classical periods ensued, with the establishment of more than 80 cities. Many would move from the Peloponnese and Achaia, so that this area in Sicily, facing the island of Corfu, to this day retains the name of Achaean Coast (Costa delli Achai). The expansion of the ancient Greeks was facilitated by ships, as early as the 7th century BC, even in the ancient Greek city of Antivaris and the city of King Cadmus, the well-known Tivat of today’s Montenegro and Dubrovnik and Cavtat (Epidauros) in Croatia (History, 1926).
Then during the rule of Constantine the Great and the Eastern Roman State, and throughout the Byzantine period, the Adriatic Sea had on both its coasts ancient Greek populations and organized ship supply stations, especially during the period of iconoclasm in Byzantium and the wars with the Arabs and the Persians. But even later, after the fall of Constantinople (1453) due to the Ottoman Turkish introduction of slavery, thousands of people from Mother Greece would occasionally seek refuge in Magna Graecia. Thousands of Greeks who were slaves of the Ottoman conquest moved to Sicily, as well as throughout the Italian peninsula and Magna Graecia.
The people of Magna Graecia brought forth the great forms of spirit and science, genuine science and art, which enlightened the entire European world, and thus the unique wonder of classical European civilization was created. I will mention here the big names:
Archimedes, Pythagoras, Nossis, Sappho, Gorgias, Empedocles, Plato, Philolaus, Theocritus, Stesichorus, Aeschylus, Hippasus, Archytas, Herodotus, Xenophanes, Alcmaeon, Parmenides, Zeno, Zeuxis, Archestratus, Aristoxenus, Zaleucus, Charondas, Demokides and so many others. It is no coincidence that they were born or worked in the and that are today called Magna Graecia. Theirs is also the well-known hero of Salamis, Faulus, who manned his ships from Croton, to go and help effectively in the Naval Battle of Salamis, against the Persian conquerors who wanted to dominate all of Europe (Aristotle, 1999;
Alexiadis, 1989; Beloch, 1912; Compernolle, 1981; Christofilopoulos, 1973; Ciaceri, 1940).
The historical name of Magna Graecia was not established entirely by chance. The ancient Greek ancestors of Magna Graecia acquired the most populous Greek cities in antiquity. They had nine cities with pure Greek population. Syracuse was the largest and most populous, as well as the most beautiful city of the European ancient Greek world, and was located in Magna Graecia. They had 500,000 inhabitants, when Athens had only 280,000. In fact, later, when Syracuse
became the capital of the Byzantine Empire for six years, Athens and Sparta were but shadows of themselves.
The ancient Greek temples that were built over time were usually much larger in diameter than the temples that existed in Mother Greece. They had eleven ancient Greek Doric ancient temples with more than six columns on their facade. At the same time in Mother Greece, there was only one Doric temple, the Parthenon in Athens, which had more than six columns on its facade. In fact, the temple of Olympian Zeus in Akraganta and the temple of Apollo in Selinunda were each four times larger than the famous Parthenon (History, 1926).
The cities of Magna Graecia had countless winners in the ancient Greek Olympic Games. They were highly valued, they were celebrated as wise people, and they gave away their acquired treasures to all the Panhellenic Sanctuaries of ancient Greece. Whatever I present or describe here, I will not be able to perfectly convey the high majesty of their historic cities and their sacred ancient Greek ancestors. Then, together with the rest of the ancient Greeks, these people became among the first to embrace the teaching of Christianity and from there spread it throughout Europe. This is evidenced by the rare early Christian churches and the historical and archaeological findings. Then with the decree of Milan, the secularization under Constantine the Great and the consolidation of Christianity, the architecturally beautiful Byzantine churches, with their distinct and special art, as well as distinct Byzantine monasteries were built (Alexiadis, 1989; Vavouskos, 1980).

In the Byzantine period, there also emerged the great figures of the Christian spirit. Several well-known Saints of Christianity originated from these places. The well-known Saints include St. Lucia from Syracuse, St. Agatha from Catania, St. Nicholas in Bari from Asia Minor, St. Athanasios bishop of Methoni from Messina, Saint Andrew of Messina, Saints Gregory, Theodore and Leo of Sicily, Saint Leo of Calabria, Saint Luke of Tauromenio, Saint Nikitas, Saint Nicholas of Sicily or Calabria, St. Nicephorus Hexakionitis, St. Nicon of Naples, St. Paul of Sicily later bishop of Corinth, St. Peter of Sicily later bishop of Argos, St. Peter of
Syracuse, St. Simeon of Syracuse, Saints Philadelphus and Alpheios. Several people from Magna Graecia moved to Mother Greece, where they lived and were sanctified due to their exemplary lives. One of the distinguished originating from Magna Graecia was monk Barlaam the Calabrian (1290–1350) who came from the Seminary of Calabria. He studied natural sciences, philosophy and theology in Rome. He played a leading role in the western renaissance, which had begun with Ioannis Katakouzenos as its leader. He taught astronomy and mathematics at the well-known famous university of Konstantinoupolis and was a huge success. Barlaam was one of the early forerunners of the Western Papal Revival and Western Christianity.
He renewed his philosophical interest in Plato and the unknown scholars from the East and became the father of Western European and Italian humanism.
These teachers from Magna Graecia shone their spiritual and cultural light on the whole of Western Europe and entire educated Western world, thus facilitating the progress of the entire humanity, while Mother Greece, unfortunately, had to endure the unbearable Turkish Ottoman occupation for 400–500 years. Even in recent times, one can find enlightened people like the old man Arsenije (Γέροντα Αρσένιο) (1918–2008). Elder Arsenios Kobugia had special spiritual gifts. “He was friendly, humble and a man of prayer. He communicated everything to the God of love through prayer and lived in simplicity, trusting in God’s providence. He was distinguished by humility, modesty, restraint and prudence. He didn’t think he was doing anything special. He avoided much socializing with people (sometimes hiding) and considered himself unworthy of honor. He was a traditionalist, as he lived an example of traditional hesychast monasticism, the way
old man father Philoteos Zervakos had taught him, but also since he himself wanted to experience life in such an exemplary way.“ (Panagopoulos, 2010b: 13). This culture and knowledge that Magna Graecia spread to Western Europe, should once be recognized by the institutions of Europe. One day, the civilized world of Western Europe should recognize the value of Magna Graecia and its contribution to the science, society and culture of Europe (Diodorus Siculus, 1933;
Dunbabin, 1948; Finley, 1984; Franciscis, 1972; Freeman, 1891–1894; Graham, 1982). Otherwise, one gets the impression that European institutions
are in a phase of change, that they are shaken, while the political systems are sluggish and insufficiently efficient, and altogether insufficiently prepared to help nations stabilize with the help of their cultural and traditional values. The European institutions themselves are faced with the creation of a new world order, i.e. multi-polarities that divert the focus from democratic standards, stepping mutedly towards totalitarianism (Panagopoulos, 2024).
Also, in recent times, the well-known Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was one of the most advanced European States in Western Europe, with countless leading achievements in the fields of science and economy. Some of the many such achievements include: first economics chair in the world, third country in the world in terms of industrial development in 1856, First Nautical Code in the world, first nautical atlas in the world, first mineralogical museum in the world, the third city in Europe, after Paris and London, to get gas lighting, in 1856, also the first electric seismograph in the world built by Luigi Palmieri, the first cruise ship in Europe named ‘Francesco I’, as well as the first steamship in the Mediterranean known as ‘Ferdinando I’. They made the First railway in the Italian peninsula, for the Naples-Portici route, in 1860. They distinguished themselves as one of the first Academies of Architecture in Europe in the year 1762. They acquired the highest proportion of Doctors, per number of inhabitants, in the Italian peninsula. In the year 1860, the city of Naples was the first city in the Italian peninsula in terms of the number of theaters, publishing houses, newspapers, printing houses, music conservatories, i.e. in culture and art, where the ancient Greek spirit was
mainly at the forefront. In the year 1783 in Palermo, they created the first cemetery in Europe, intended for all social classes of people. In the year 1813, they built the first psychiatric hospital in the Italian peninsula (Real Morotrofio di Aversa). In 1832 they created the first iron suspension bridge in Europe over the Garigliano River (Giornata Nazionale delle Università, 2024; Hugh, 1911; History, 1926; Lacey, 1968; Nakos, 1990).
By 1860, they had managed to have the best economic and tax system with the lowest tax burden in Western Europe and became the First State on the Italian peninsula in terms of the quantity of gold pounds, which was kept in their own state banks in the amount of 443 million, against 225 million collected by all the other states of the Italian peninsula. All these scientific miracles for the world, science and progress, had occurred until the tragic year of the social and economic crash in 1861, when the war conflicts resulted in them losing all their earlier creative freedom.
Then they, unfortunately, accepted, as they still seem to accept, the varied unequal treatment and the aggressive policy of the unjust interests of Northern Italy. Initially this was also done militarily, with battles and conflicts, and at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. But then the manner of the attack, since it did continue, changed mainly to an economic one, with the aim of impoverishing the European South, and continued culturally and socially. In the same way, today’s Greece is exposed to an unequal economic attack from the powerful banking houses of Western Europe, who are trying to make it a powerless protectorate for exploitation.
In recent years the various movements similar to “Insorgenza Ellenica” call their people not only to unite them with all the remaining pieces of the ancient Greek world, but to also cancel all the negative pathogenicity that was created after the tragic year of 1861. The example of Sicily is typical: for centuries, Sicily has been the destination of many creative people, as it is a place of great natural beauty and fertility, having a good climate and ideal conditions for human life.
And yet the wretched and deliberate policy that politicians have exercised for many years, made today’s Sicily a poor place, with 2/3 of its population having become emigrants and living outside Sicily (about 5 million in Sicily and 12 million outside Sicily). A terrible demographic crime has been underway, a unprecedented in the last century. The State destroyed the European South during the last century, resulting in negative records when it comes to economic and social indicators. As we noted for the year 1861, when the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was conquered by Northern Peoples, the per capita income of the Southern Europeans was clearly higher than that of their Northern European conquerors. Over the following decades, a targeted policy of violence turned the European South into a colony of economic exploitation. Even today, most government money goes to investments in the North, so that the economic gap between North
and South has been persistently growing. It is enough to compare the modernized railway network of the North with that of the impoverished South. In the North, there are many train and high-speed lines, while in the South one, or none. In no country in the world is there such an unequal and unfair distribution of state funds as in Italy. It is an unacceptable and shameful practice for all of Europe. Thousands of families from Sicily see their children immigrate to Northern Italy or other European countries. A settler from the South who would immigrate for economic reasons to the North would really be going there to a completely different and foreign world, which is why many prefer to leave for America.
Today, perhaps it is indeed the right time and our own scientific task to highlight this social inequality and geopolitical significance and to re-unite, culturally and on many different levels, Southern Europe with the European World, together with Magna Graecia, Mother Greece and Cyprus. These regions of the European South should be reconnected and take the lead again geopolitically, economically, culturally and socially in the united Europe (Lacey, 1968; Nakos, 1990; Pantazopoulos, 1968; Vavouskos, 1980; Woodread, 1962; Kolokotronis 1838, 8).
As a first supportive step we consider that the European South should acquire its autonomy, its self-determination as a separate region and then, because it had it in the past, for many centuries: its own European autonomy, and later possibly also to cooperate dynamically, socially, culturally, geopolitically, legally with the rest of Europe, as a form of autonomous independent legal entity within the European Union. We all believe that we should work and contribute towards a European direction, where the people of Magna Graecia will once again become the protagonists in their own right rather than being led by the politicians and micropolitics of the North which, as has been written in the press, uses every opportunity and carries out the various instances of looting the European South, working for so many years exclusively in their own interest.

All of us, who have to work for reunification of the pieces of the ancient Greek world within the united Europe, feel as Rigas Feraios felt, as he sacrificed his life for the Trans-Balkan Commonwealth of Peoples, against the rule of the Ottomans. Also, Theodoros Kolokotronis, as commander-in-chief of the Greeks in the Revolution of 1821 against the Ottoman yoke, noted when we started the revolution, we did not ask if we had money, if we had weapons, if we had strength and skills. But in all of us there has been a strong desire for freedom, so we all agreed and made the Revolution.3 “In a word, revolutionary changes have become an integral part of the life and work of both individuals and organizations” (Soloviov, Radosavljević & Panagopoulos, 2012: 96).

Source: Panagopoulos, A. (2024). Geopolitical and Social Significance of the Magna Graecia Development – From Yesterday to Today. In: Maksimovic, M. &
Rohrbach, W. (Eds). The Geo-Economic Landscape: A Market and Social Approach, pp. 324–343. Edited Volumes. Belgrade: Institute of Social Sciences; Krems: University for Continuing Education Krems, Danube University Krems. https://doi.org/10.59954/QGRL7430-12

PANAGOPOULOS ALEXIOS, Academician EASA, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Greece, and former Rector of the Athoniada Academy in Karyes, Holy Mountain Athos. Panagopolous is a doctor of political sciences, bioethics, political history and religion, and holds a post-doctorate in law. Scientific Research: University of Munich; Vienna University; Tomas College University in Warsaw, IKY scholarship in Geneva; Chambesy Center of Ecumenical Patriarchate; Interdisciplinary Hellenic Studies Program Coordinator in the Institute of Saint Gregorious Nazianzine in Central America; Faculty of Religious Law; Rector of Athoniada Ecclesiastical Academy in Karyes, Holy Mountain Athos – in 2012–2013. Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in Salzburg. Member of the International Slavic Academy of Sciences, Education, Arts & Culture, Moscow & Belgrade.