1901. Eighty years after the revolution against the Ottoman Empire, the small Greek state is claiming its place in the international arena, while at the same time, possibly as a consequence, it continues to search for its identity. The main issues in the public discourse concern the origin, the continuity of the Greek nation, the language, and even the name of the Greeks. Graikoi? Romioi? Or Hellenes?

The two texts, by Kostis Palamas and Nikolaos Politis, published in this edition for the first time, highlight an important part of the concerns and disputes of that era. They are both of particular significance, firstly because they come from two prominent figures in Greek history in the fields of culture and science, and secondly because they contribute to the study of the history of ideas.

The fact that today, two hundred years after '21 and a century after their recording, this dispute between Politis and Palamas remains an open topic of discussion in the Greek Public Sphere, demonstrates in the most characteristic way the open wounds of modern Greek identity, with the national myths and conflicting ideological elements that compose it.

Thus, this unique written dialogue between two leading Greek thinkers of the early 20th century emphatically reminds us that historical knowledge is the main path to national self-awareness.