Wednesday, April 12, 2006 The Global Hellenic Village or Hermes and the Internet by Dr. Christos P. Ioannides* Last Friday, April 7, there was an event at the Greek Press Office in New York. The occasion was to introduce to the Greek American business community primarily, but also to the broader New York business world, the latest Greek business innovation: greekbiz.com. It is an Internet club and virtual meeting place for Greek business and professionals around the globe.  Following a warm welcome by Greek Press Counselor Theodosis Demetrakopoulos, a very cosmopolitan Greek lady made some introductory remarks. She was Demetra Egan, a special advisor to INFOTE, who spoke eloquently in a charming Australian accent. Then Dr. Ioannis Vassilaras  took the podium.  He is the CEO of INFOTE, the subsidiary of OTE, the Greek Telecommunication Company, which owns greekbiz.com. He explained the objective of greekbiz.com, which is to promote the interaction among Greek businessmen in all five continents using the Internet as the means of communication. Already, 15,000 companies have become members of greekbiz.com and membership is growing. From Greece, Cyprus, the Balkans, Europe, Russia and the Middle East, to Australia, Canada and the United States, Greek but also non-Greek businesses “talk” to each other, exchange information and make deals via the Internet.  Globalization has reached the Greeks worldwide, one might say. Well, the idea of “global” Greek commerce is not exactly new. As Dr. Vassilaras pointed out, the first global commercial network goes far back. In fact, globalization was invented by the Greeks over 2,000 years ago. The ancient Greeks were par excellence people of commerce and trade. By the middle of the sixth century BC, Greek traders sailed all over the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, establishing colonies and trading with the other peoples of these regions. By the time of Alexander the Great, Greek ships also sailed around the Arabian Sea and in the Indian Ocean. By the end of Alexander’s reign, a global culture was created, known as Hellenistic, which prevailed for several centuries. Hellenic ideas and learning was the Google of the time and the lingua franca of the Mediterranean and beyond was Greek, as English is the dominant language on the Internet today. But for the Greeks, trade was not a goal on its own. As the father of History Plutarch put it, “Greeks engaged in commerce in order to trade goods and to learn (pros mathesin).” In the end, this has been the genius of Hellenism: To give to the world via commerce what it has generated and also to offer its ideas and culture to others while in return receiving and learning from other peoples and cultures. In this way, Hellenism became richer as it was able to appreciate and absorb the ideas and customs of others without loosing its core values. In the process, Hellenism became a force of enlightenment throughout the centuries.  It no accident that the Greek God for commerce and “news” was Hermes known as Aggieliaforos (news bearer). The Romans called him Mercury. He could fly fast around the globe wearing his winged sandals and in order to overlook his kingdom of commerce while reporting the news of the time to the world, this on behalf of the other Gods. News such as, “The Athenian fleet is destroyed in Syracuse harbor and mighty Athens is loosing the war in far away Sicily.” It is not that different from news reports in the American media 2,340 years later: “American forces are evacuating Saigon and the mighty United States has lost the war in far away Vietnam.”  I am sure Bill Gates will not mind if Hermes is pronounced the “Patron of the Internet.” After all, Gates’ ambition, in addition to trading his products and services, is to advance learning (mathesis) worldwide, just as Plutarch described the trading ancient Greeks. In the end, the johmetaxas.com Greek News Blog is following the tradition of his ancestors, going back in history. The idea and the philosophy are the same. Bring news to a worldwide community of Greeks and beyond. Only the means is different. It is called Internet. Still, Hermes had an advantage over our Internet. No, virus, no worms and no “Trojan Horses” could fool the cunning Hermes for he possessed the ultimate anti-virus weapon and firewall against all man-made intrusions aimed to fool and mislead other men and women. He was the God of the ancient Internet, not to be fooled by any man. *Dr. Ioannides is Director of the Center for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, CUNY. The views expressed above are strictly his own.