New Books by Panagiotis Roilos Explore Greek Independence and Philhellenism

Join us in celebrating Panagiotis Roilos and his two new publications, The Greek War of Independence: Comparative and Transhistorical Perspectives (Routledge) and Redefining Philhellenism: Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century German Philhellenes and the Work of Johann Wülfer (Eurasia Books)! 

The Greek War of Independence: Comparative and Transhistorical Perspectives

From the publisher: The Greek War of Independence brings together papers from an international conference on the Greek Revolution of 1821, held at Harvard University and the Fletcher School at Tufts University in September 2021. The Greek Revolution marked a pivotal moment in European history: it catalyzed the birth of the modern Greek state, enabled Greeks to reclaim their cultural and national identities after centuries of Ottoman rule, and inspired patriotic national movements across the continent.

This volume pursues two primary objectives. First, it situates the Greek Revolution within a broader comparative framework, examining its place among modern revolutionary movements. Second, it illuminates neglected dimensions of the political, historical, and cultural forces that precipitated the Greek uprising against Ottoman rule and shaped its ultimate success. Particular attention is devoted to the formation of the Greek state—a process that represented both the culmination of Greek revolutionary struggle and a reconfiguration of diplomatic, geopolitical, and ideological priorities among the European Great Powers. This volume also explores how this foundational moment in Greek nation-state formation has been received, interpreted, and instrumentalized across diverse political, historical, and ideological contexts from 1821 to the present. This book is essential reading for scholars and students in modern European history, comparative revolution studies, political science, and Hellenic Studies, as well as readers interested in nationalism, state formation, and the enduring legacies of revolutionary movements.

Redefining Philhellenism: Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century German Philhellenes and the Work of Johann Wülfer

From the publisher: When did European Philhellenism truly originate? While traditional historiography tends to link this phenomenon exclusively to the Greek Revolution, thereby limiting its study to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Panagiotis Roilos’s groundbreaking monograph proposes a substantial revision of the chronological boundaries and methodological criteria of this field of research.

This book, which serves as a prelude to a broader study by the author on the origins of modern Hellenism, has two primary research aims:

• It highlights neglected aspects of German Philhellenism from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries. The discussion centers on the Philhellenic network of scholars in the Nuremberg region during the second half of the seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries. Particular emphasis is placed on the fascinating and virtually unknown poetic work, written in Homeric Greek, Ἡ νῦν Ἑλλὰς ἐλεεινολογοῦσα διὰ τὴν ἐρήμωσιν, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἀλλοδαπῶν, μάλιστα δὲ Τευτόνων, βοήθειαν αἰτουμένη ("Contemporary Greece Lamenting Her Desolation and Seeking Aid from Foreigners, especially the Teutons [Germans]," 1669), by the German scholar Johannes Wülfer of Altdorf.
• It redefines the phenomenon of Philhellenism, which is approached here as a distinctly cultural political movement or initiative, and shows that its roots are closely linked to the formation of modern Hellenism and extend much further back in time than existing research has previously assumed.

This is an exceptionally penetrating and thoroughly researched study that revises established paradigms and opens new avenues for historical inquiry.