An Anti-Philhellene’s View of Greece: Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer

Abstract

This article is about Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer (1790-1861) and his
concept of Greece. In the History of the Morea Peninsula during the
Middle Ages (1830), Fallmerayer contradicted the prevailing philhellenic
paradigm of a continuity between ancient and modern Greece.
After a quick glance on the author’s biography, the biologisms and stereotypes
in his argumentation are investigated. It has to be underlined
that his attacks are not so much directed against Greece as against
philhellenism. Even though the content value of his argumentation
has long been outdated, a certain stylistic value of his texts cannot
be denied.