The ‘Greek Genius’ in the Service of the Nation

This chapter attempts to examine the association of both the ‘Greek genius’ and commerce with education, beneficence, culture and national ideology during the period of the Greek Enlightenment. Between the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, the concept of ‘genius’ underwent many semantic shifts in the Greek ideological sphere, directly related not only to the introduction by A. Korais of the European debate on ‘progress’ in human history and the (commercial) ‘characters’ of nations, but also to the attempt to establish the modern Greeks' lineage from their ancient forebears. It appears that the ‘Greek genius’ had not yet been fully conceptualised as a national and natural attribute; nor was the Greek word ‘daimonion’ used yet to describe it. However, the notion of Greek commercial ingenuity, whatever expressed, was instrumental in linking the flourishing Greek Orthodox commercial class with Greek education, transforming the former into a constituent agent of Greek national ideology.