New Byzantines

A fresh take on Greece’s forgotten Near Eastern past—and its enduring cultural, political and economic ties with its eastern neighbours today. 

Greece lies in a geopolitical fault-zone. Popularly considered the birthplace of Western civilisation, it is a Christian Orthodox country on the edge of the Islamic world. Politically allied to NATO and the EU, its closest cultural relatives reside to its east. Sean Mathews reveals how Greece is being reabsorbed into the Near East. As Western Europe stagnates, Greece has emerged as a pivotal player in the Eastern Mediterranean, its economic boom fuelled by tourism and property investment— much of this from the Middle East. New pipelines are being built in its borderlands, where Turkey vies for influence. Old Mediterranean trade routes are being revived to link Europe and Asia again. Meanwhile, global conflicts are driving mass migration into this frontier state. 

Travelling across the region, Mathews brings to life the story of a cosmopolitan melting-pot. He meets Istanbul’s surviving Greeks, insightful witnesses to Turkey’s break with the West; in Jerusalem, he explores the budding alliance between Greece and Israel; and in a faded Ottoman port, he encounters football hooligans loyal to a Russian oligarch. 

This bold reappraisal of Greece’s position as a Near Eastern state shows how its Byzantine and Ottoman past can help it succeed in today’s chaotic world.