The Search for Identity and the Image of Europe among the Greeks from the 17th to the early 19th Century

The paper traces in detail the controversies concerning Europe among different groups of the Greek society during the examined period. The problems connected with the image of Europe among the Greeks is important for the rationalization of their notion about themselves, about the Greek identity. The first point of view is connected with the Enlightenment and lays special emphasis on the following of the European patterns, whereas the second one places in the foreground the role of the Greek (antique and Byzantine) culture in the process of the origination of the notion of Europe.