Nikolaos Politis presents his first ethnological studies

Nikolaos G. Politis (1852-1921) shaped the modern Greek ideology and introduced Greece to the science of Ethnology. His “Studies on the life of modern Greeks” (1871-1874) and his collection of folk tales, demotic songs, fables, local customs, and traditions of contemporary Hellenism establish him as an influential figure in the development of national identity.

In 1883, through the magazine Hestia, he organized a literary contest on “Hellenic” themes, a gesture that sparked the interest and involvement of major Greek authors with ethnography, realism, and psychological profiling in literature. The work of N. Politis, based on the study of ethnography, influenced the ideological maturity of the Greek nation at the turn of the 20th century greatly.