sheerwaan OP t1_ixtppbd wrote
Reply to comment by Lothronion in What is the oldest tribe or clan that has been existing throughout history? And also, the oldest ethnicity? by sheerwaan
You can consider that included in what I am asking for. Religion is very much culture after all. The Greeks do not follow any of their ancient Greek values and believes but those of a Jewish reformer from Israel. Thats not Greek "culture". If you know a better word, you are welcome to tell me.
Alternative_Demand96 t1_ixtq23z wrote
The Greeks decide themselves what Greek is , Christianity became a part of Greek culture in the same way it became a part of Roman culture
sheerwaan OP t1_ixtqc8y wrote
Well, this is not how things work. And neither you nor the Greeks can change what "continuity" and "passing on" means. The Greeks would change their culture the moment they converted to Christianity. Their culture would become different to their Greek culture from a decade earlier than that. Thats a cut, meaning continuity was broken, and thats what is relevant to my specific question.
Lothronion t1_ixtri9u wrote
The Christianization of the Greeks is not a spontaneous event, it is a transition that lasted for basically 6 centuries, from the teachings of the Apostle Paul to the last examples of Polytheists mentioned in the Eastern Roman Empire (the one in the 10th century AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine Porphyroghenetos is a mistake, he confused the nationaly Hellenes Mainotes with the religiously Hellenes Melingoi Slavs).
With that in mind, it is important to also remind how Greek Polytheism was not something static. In the 7th century BC, during the time of Solon, you would find Athena being worshiped in Athens, but 6 centuries before that, in the 13th century BC, you would find Potnia instead (which became Potnia of Athens, and from there formed Athena).
sheerwaan OP t1_ixtvhgq wrote
Thats comprehensive, thanks. Of course I am not excluding cultural heritance based on the strictness of "having the same verses and instructions" or smth. I dont do that for Guran or Hinduistic Indo-Aryans either. Hinduims is (largely?) Vedic-derived and that suffices since tongue and ethnic identity as even ethnic continuity is given. And the Guran are not Zoroastrians either. But we do have the very same core values as our ancestors established and rooting from exactly what was established with Zoroaster among them millenia earlier. So the issue I have with Greeks here is that they are Christians and this comes from a different people and a different area and a different cultural sphere all while the Greeks were already existing as such. Aside of that I consider the Greeks the same as the Guran and the Hindu Indo-Aryans.
MassErect69 t1_ixts2h7 wrote
I think to prevent further confusion, it would be good to rephrase your question to something like “What is the oldest culture in existence that has remained largely unchanged since it originated?”
But this is a really difficult question. Most cultures, especially in the modern age, end up adopting aspects of other cultures that they enjoy
Lothronion t1_ixtsam9 wrote
>“What is the oldest culture in existence that has remained largely unchanged since it originated?”
Then the answer would be the Indigenous Australians.
Their oral stories, the Dreamtime, speaks of prehistoric fauna, now extinct!
Schertzhusker117 t1_ixtrlrr wrote
I mean if you’re looking for the complete authoritarian right wing that was the European way for so long I’m sure there are Windsor monarchists that want the Magna Carta revisited. What your asking for is so arbitrary that you need to revisit your question with more qualifiers of what truly is a culture. If you don’t take Greek as a definitive culture because modern Greeks are not traditional polytheists. Then you’re splitting hairs to a point that is undefinable. Best bet is governments at that point where the Magna Carta could be the most contiguous at this point, event if the philosophy of the country has changed more substantially since then (including a religious change).
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