**Georgios Steiris**

Department of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15703 Athens, Greece; gsteiris@philosophy.uoa.gr

Received: 23 December 2019; Accepted: 22 January 2020; Published: 31 January 2020

**Abstract:** Recently, seminal publications highlighted the Romanitas of the Byzantines. However, it is not without importance that from the 12th century onwards the ethnonym Hellene (῝Ελλην) became progressively more popular. A number of influential intellectuals and political actors preferred the term Hellene to identify themselves, instead of the formal Roman ( <sup>Ρ</sup>ωμαῖ*o*ς) and the common Greek (Γραικ*ó*ς). While I do not intend to challenge the prevalence of the Romanitas during the long Byzantine era, I sugges<sup>t</sup> that we should reevaluate the emerging importance of Hellenitas in the shaping of collective and individual identities after the 12th century. From the 13th to the 16th century, Byzantine scholars attempted to recreate a collective identity based on cultural and historical continuity and otherness. In this paper, I will seek to explore the ways Byzantine scholars of the Late Byzantine and Post Byzantine era, who lived in the territories of the Byzantine Empire and/or in Italy, perceived national identity, and to show that the shift towards Hellenitas started in the Greek-speaking East.

**Keywords:** Romanitas; Hellenitas; Graecitas; Hellene; Greek; Byzantine Empire; identity; consciousness
