Romaniotes

The Romaniotes are a Ethnicity Juif of Greek culture which lived all around the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea during more than 2.300 years: their presence is attested as of the time Hellénistique. They have their own language the Yévanique, or judéo-Greek.

Etymology

The Romaniotes (Greek: Ρωμανιώτες) draw their name from the Romania (Greek: Ρωμανια), official name of the Roman Empire of the East which also gave Romagna (in Italy), the Roumis (" chrétiens" in Turkish, name of Ρωμαιoι that the citizens of the Roman Empire of the East were given), Romania, and Roumélie in Balkans (of Turkish Roum-ili, " country of Roumis").

History

Romaniotes installed in the Eastern Mediterranean dice antiquity were mainly assimilated by the Séfarade S, which settled in Greece and minor Asia at the time Othoman, after the expulsion of the Jews of Spain in 1492. As they they were very affected by the Second world war which resulted in the elimination of most of the population.

Localization

At the beginning of the 20th century, the greatest communities still living in Greece were located at Thèbes, Ioannina, Chalcis, Corfou, Arta, Corinthe, like on the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Rhodos; there was also of Romaniotes with Cyprus. The majority of those which were not destroyed by Shoah, emigrated towards the anglophone countries or Israêl after the war, and passed to Hebrew. Nowadays there remain only three active communities romaniotes, one in Ioannina in Greece, the other with New York with the the United States (see Kehila Kedosha Janina) and the last in Jerusalem.

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