Names of the Greeks
The Greeks () have been identified by many ethnonyms. The most common native ethnonym is "Hellen" (), pl. "Hellenes (" ); the name "Greeks" () was used by the ancient Romans and gradually entered the European languages through its use in Latin. The mythological patriarch "Hellen" is the named progenitor of the Greek peoples; his descendants the Aeolians, Dorians, Achaeans and Ionians correspond to the main Greek tribes and to the main dialects spoken in Greece and Asia Minor (Anatolia).

The first Greek-speaking people, called Myceneans or Mycenean-Achaeans by historians, entered present-day Greece sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age. Homer refers to "Achaeans" as the dominant tribe during the Trojan war period usually dated to the 12th–11th centuries BC, using "Hellenes" to describe a relatively small tribe in Thessaly. The Dorians, an important Greek-speaking group, appeared roughly at that time. According to the Greek tradition, the "Graeci" (Latin; , "Graikoi", "Greeks") were renamed "Hellenes" probably with the establishment of the Great Amphictyonic League after the Trojan war.

When the Romans first encountered Greek colonists in southern Italy, they used the name Graeci for the colonists and then for all Greeks; this became the root of all relevant terms in European languages. The Persians used the name "Yaunas" ("Yunans") after the Ionians, a Greek tribe who colonized part of the coasts of western Asia Minor. The term was used later in Hebrew ("Yevanim", ), Arabic, and also by the Turks. The word entered the languages of the Indian subcontinent as the "Yona". A unique form is used in Georgian, where the Greeks are called "Berdzeni" (ბერძენი).

By Late Antiquity (c. 3rd–7th century CE), the Greeks referred to themselves as "Graikoi" (, "Greeks") and "Rhomaioi"/"Romioi" (//, "Romans") the latter of which was used since virtually all Greeks were Roman citizens after 212 CE. The term "Hellene" became applied to the followers of the polytheistic ("pagan") religion after the establishment of Christianity by Theodosius I.
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ethnonym
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Hellenes
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ancient Romans
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European languages
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Hellen
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Greek peoples
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Aeolians
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Dorians
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Achaeans
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Ionians
MEDIA
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Greece
LOC
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Asia Minor (Anatolia)
LOC
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Greek-speaking
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Myceneans
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Bronze Age
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Homer
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Achaeans
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tribe
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Trojan war
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Thessaly
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Dorians
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Great Amphictyonic League
Concept
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Italy
LOC
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Europe
LOC
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Persia
LOC
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Yaunas
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Ionians
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Hebrew
Concept
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Arabic
Concept
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Turks
Concept
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Yona
PER
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Georgian
Concept
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Berdzeni
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Late Antiquity
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Rhomaioi
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Greeks were Roman citizens
TIME
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polytheistic
Concept
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pagan
Concept
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Christianity
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Theodosius I
PER
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subclass of
ethnic group
time period
continent