Before the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, another less known but equally major catastrophe shook the Hellenic Empire of Byzantium to its foundations. Unlike 1453, Constantinople wasn’t destroyed by Ottoman Turks fighting jihad for their Prophet but by “friends” of the West fighting under the Christian Cross.

In April 1204 Frankish and Venetian troops of the Fourth Crusade on their way to liberate Muslim-held Jerusalem and led by the Doge himself, treacherously sacked Constantinople leaving the City and its people in ruins for generations to come. True there was some minor provocation. Prince Alexios, son of Isaac II had promised the crusaders 200, 000 silver marks if they detoured to Constantinople and helped him take the throne from his uncle Alexios III. Seeing an opportunity, the crusaders obliged the foolish young Prince installing him as Emperor Alexios IV. Everyone seemed happy for a while until it was time for Alexios to pay-up for the favour.

When he didn’t (or he couldn’t) the crusaders, thinking it was their rightful due, raped and pillaged their way through Constantinople for five days with such ferocity that the Byzantine historian of the time Niketas Chroniates wrote in anguish: “Constantine’s fine city, the common delight and boast of all nations, was laid waste by fire and blackened by soot, taken and emptied of all wealth, public and private, as well as that which was consecrated by God, by the scattered nations of the West…the dashing to earth of the venerable icons and the flinging of the relics of the saints….seizing as plunder the precious chalices and patents …the outcries of men, screams of women, the taking of captives …and the raping of bodies” (from Judith Herrin’s excellent book, Byzantium).
The City “the eye of all cities” was reduced to ashes and soot. Its people killed or sold as slaves. It took the Greek Emperors more than sixty years to return to their fabled City.
Even after 800 years it is hard not to feel the sadness and the rage at this unspeakable treachery and compare what happened then with what’s happening in Athens in 2012.

With such Christian “friends” who needs enemies? It is any wonder that when Constantinople was under siege and about to fall for the last time in 1453, the Greeks’ reply to the Pope’s offer for help on the condition they accepted his authority was “better the Turkish turban than the Papal tiara”. Or as the legendary reverend Ian Paisley when addressing the EU Parliament is reputed to have said, “No Pope here!”
As history has shown time and time again, Greeks can only be pushed so far, whether it is the Persians who are doing the pushing, the Franks, the Turks, the Venetians, the English, the Italians or the Germans. When push comes to shove, they fight back. As my Irish father used to say “it’s not the size of the dog that matters, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” And the Greeks fought some big battles throughout their 3000 year-old history, living to tell tales of honour and glory. True tales, such as the story of Thermopylae, when 300 Spartans fought to the last man rather than give way to the hordes of Persians.

Their laconic epitaph a simple declaration of resolute duty to their country:
Ω ξείν, αγγέλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις, ότι τήδε κείμεθα, τοις κείνων ρήμασι πειθόμενοι
(Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by that here, obedient to their laws, we lie)
When next you hear the Last Post played, think of them too.
Perhaps this is merely of symbolic value for Greeks today. However, even if it is just symbolism and nothing else, it can still be a powerful and inspiring catalyst for action and for change. For Greece’s collective memory spanning the depths of time constitutes the Greek identity without which individual Greeks won’t be the people they are today. Greeks to a single man and woman are the battles and sacrifices their ancestors made. Every Greek has deep down inside them a Leonidas, a Boumboulina, and a Socrates. Even wider still, for the entire Western world, these culture-whispers urge us on to “never give up”. It’s in the genes.

As Greece faces one of its darkest hours (and there have been a few of late, the mass migration of the 1950s following the civil war, 1967, 1974) all Hellenes should reflect on the past so that they can find the ancestral courage and resolve to change their present direction for a future worthy of their heritage and ancestry.

They have the demonstrable capacity to be winners when they desperately need to be: just as they did in 2004 when against all expectations and all the mathematical odds, they won the European Cup. Not Germany, not France, not England nor Spain, but Greece – eleven ordinary players doing extraordinary things – for their country. Okay, so the coach was German – but a philhellene, nonetheless. APOEL from little old Cyprus did something as startling recently when they beat the French team Lyon to qualify for the quarter-finals of the European Champions League – even as Moody’s reduced Cyprus to junk status.

The peerless Greek goalie Dionissis Chiotis saving two penalty kicks – two! He had the spirit of a Marathon in him- how else.
Pericles’ funeral oration to the Athenians inspires all that can be inspired, Greeks and Gentiles, by words of things that matter. Really matter and not just what makes a profit (not much these days) on the Stock Exchange. An ancient Chinese proverb says that one who seeks change must “jump over the Dragon’s door”. The time has come for Greece to jump over their Dragon’s door and transform itself into what it has always been capable of being. Brave, beautiful, free: and wary when “friends come bearing gifts”. Cassandra was right after all.
Sure we need some money to live comfortably. However, the message that I am hearing from our culture-whisperers is clear and loud: in the 21st century wisdom will matter more than money. Ela Socrate, esena perimenoume.

* Dr Edward Spence is a Senior Research Fellow at the ARC Special Research Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. He teaches applied philosophy and communication ethics in the School of Communication and Creative Industries at Charles Sturt University. His edited book “A Good Life in a Technological Age” (Routledge) is forthcoming.