The Romaniote Jews or the Romaniotes (, ''Rhōmaniôtes''; ) are a
Greek-speaking ethnic Jewish community. They are one of the oldest Jewish communities in existence and the oldest Jewish community in Europe. The Romaniotes have been, and even remain historically distinct from the
Sephardim
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendan ...
that have settled in
Ottoman Greece after the
expulsion of Jews from Spain and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
after 1492.
Their distinct language was
Yevanic, a Greek dialect that contained
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
along with some
Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
and
Turkish words, but today's Romaniotes speak
Modern Greek
Modern Greek (, or , ), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the language sometimes referred to ...
or the languages of their new home countries.
Their name is derived from the
endonym
An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
''Rhōmanía'' (), which refers to the
Eastern Roman Empire ("Empire of the Romans", ). Large Romaniote communities were located in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
,
Ioannina,
Arta,
Preveza
Preveza (, ) is a city in the region of Epirus (region), Epirus, northwestern Greece, located on the northern peninsula of the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. It is the capital of the Preveza (regional unit), regional unit of Preveza, which is the s ...
,
Volos
Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...
,
Chalcis
Chalcis (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: , ), also called Chalkida or Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief city of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...
,
Thebes,
Corinth
Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...
,
Patras, and on the islands of
Corfu
Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
,
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
,
Zakynthos
Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; ; ) or Zante (, , ; ; from the Venetian language, Venetian form, traditionally Latinized as Zacynthus) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, with an are ...
,
Lesbos,
Chios
Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...
,
Samos,
Rhodes
Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...
, and
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, among others.
Most of the
Jews of Greece were murdered in the
Holocaust after the
Axis occupation of Greece
The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers () began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany Battle of Greece, invaded the Kingdom of Greece in order to assist its ally, Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy, in their Greco-Italian War, ongoing war that w ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the deportation of most of the Jews to
Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe.
The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
. After the war, a majority of the survivors emigrated to
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, and
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
. Today there are still functioning Romaniote
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
s in
Chalkis (which represents the oldest Jewish congregation on European soil), Ioannina,
Veria,
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, New York City, and Israel.
Name
The name ''Romaniote'' refers to the
Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium, which included the territory of modern Greece, which this Jewish group inhabited for centuries. Historically, the Empire was commonly referred to as ''Rhōmanía'' () and its Christian citizens as ''Rhōmaîoi'', "Romans" (), while the Greek-speaking Jews were called ''Rhōmaniôtes'' (Ῥωμανιῶτες), essentially meaning inhabitants of Rhōmanía.
History
Jews have lived in Greece since at least the
Second Temple era (516 BCE – 70 CE). Recorded Jewish presence in Greece dates back over 2,300 years to the time of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
. The earliest reference to a
Greek Jew is an inscription dated , found in
Oropos, a small coastal town between
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
and
Boeotia
Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...
, which refers to "Moschos, son of Moschion the Jew", who may have been a
slave
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
.

A
Hellenistic Jewish synagogue was discovered in 1829 near the ancient military port of the capital of the island of
Aegina
Aegina (; ; ) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the mythological hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king.
...
by the Scottish-German historian
Ludwig Ross, who was working for the court of King
Otto of Greece. The floor was covered for protection and was studied again by
Thiersch in 1901,
Furtwängler in 1904,
E. Sukenik in 1928 and
Gabriel Welter in 1932 under the auspices of the National Archaeological Service. Based on the quality of the floor's mosaic, the building is believed to have been constructed in the 4th century CE (300–350 CE) and used until the 7th century. The mosaic floor of the synagogue consists of multi-colored
tesserae that create the impression of a carpet, in a geometric pattern of blue, gray, red and white. Two Greek inscriptions were found in front of the synagogue's entrance, on the western side of the building. Today, only part of the synagogue's mosaic floor is extant, and it has been moved from its original location to the courtyard of
the island's Archaeological Museum.
In 1977 another ancient synagogue was discovered in Athens, the
Synagogue in the Agora of Athens, which may be the synagogue in which
Paul the Apostle preached. Inscriptions in the
Samaritan and
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...
s found in Thessaloniki may originate from
Samaritan synagogues. Concurrently the oldest synagogue found in the
diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...
is also the oldest Samaritan synagogue: it is the
Delos Synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
, which has an inscription dated between 250 and 175 BCE
The Romaniotes are Greek Jews, distinct from both
Ashkenazim
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
and
Sephardim
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendan ...
, who trace back their history to the times of the Greek-speaking
Byzantine Jews and can be subdivided in a wider sense in a Rabbanite community and in the Greco-Karaite community of the
Constantinopolitan Karaites which still survives to this day. A Romaniote oral tradition says that the first Jews arrived in
Ioannina shortly after the
destruction of the
Second Temple
The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
in 70 CE. Before the migration of the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi Jews into the Balkans and Eastern Europe, the Jewish culture in these areas consisted primarily of Romaniote Jews.
The Romaniote
rites represent those of the Greek-speaking Jews of the Byzantine (or former Byzantine) Empire, ranging from southern Italy (in a narrower sense the
Apulian, the
Calabrian and the
Sicilian Jewish communities) in the west, to much of Turkey in the east, Crete to the south, Crimea (the
Krymchaks) to the north and the Jews of the early medieval
Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
and
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
.
The
Sefer Yosippon was written down in the 10th century in Byzantine
Southern Italy by the Greek-speaking Jewish community there.
Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi, a Romaniote Jew from
Achrida edited and expanded the Sefer Josippon later. This community of Byzantine Jews of southern Italy produced such prominent works like the Sefer Ahimaaz of
Ahimaaz ben Paltiel, the Sefer Hachmoni of
Shabbethai Donnolo, the Aggadath Bereshit and many
Piyyutim. The liturgical writings of these Romaniote Jews, especially the piyyut were eminent for the development of the
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
Mahzor, as they found their way through Italy to
Ashkenaz and are preserved to this day in the most Ashkenazi mahzorim.
The Jews of Southern Italy (where they were living together with their Greek-speaking
Christian counterparts) continued to be Greek-speakers until the 15th century. When they were expelled and went to different regions of Greece, especially
Corfu
Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
,
Epirus
Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...
and
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
, they could continue to speak their Greek language, even if this language was somewhat different from that of Greece.
In the 12th century,
Benjamin of Tudela travelled through the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
and recorded details about communities of Jews in
Corfu
Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
,
Arta, Aphilon,
Patras,
Corinth
Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...
,
Thebes,
Chalkis,
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
, and
Drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
. The largest community in Greece at that time was in Thebes, where he found about 2000 Jews. They were engaged mostly in
cloth dyeing,
weaving, in the production of
silverware and
silk garments. At the time, they were already known as "Romaniotes".
The first Romaniote synagogue coming under
Ottoman rule was ''Etz ha-Hayyim'' (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: עץ החיים, lit. "Tree of Life", frequently a name of Romaniote synagogues) in
Prousa in
Asia Minor which passed to Ottoman authority in 1324. After the
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-da ...
on 29 May 1453,
Sultan
Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
Mehmed II
Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.
In Mehmed II's first reign, ...
found the city in a state of disarray. The city had indeed suffered
many sieges,
a devastating conquest by
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Crusaders in 1204 and even a case of the
Black Death
The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...
in 1347, and now had been long cut off from its
hinterland, so the city was a shade of its former glory. The event of the conquest of Constantinople was written down by a Romaniote Payetan in a lament hymn, composed with several phrases from the Old Testament in the ''shibusi style''.
As Mehmed wanted to make the city his new capital, he decreed its rebuilding.
[Inalcik, Halil. "The Policy of Mehmed II toward the Greek Population of Istanbul and the Byzantine Buildings of the City." ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'' 23 (1969): 229–249, specifically 236.] And in order to revivify Constantinople he ordered that
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
s,
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
and
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
s from all over his empire be resettled in the new capital.
Within months most of the Empire's Romaniote Jews, from the
Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
and
Anatolia
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
, were concentrated in Constantinople, where they made up 10% of the city's population.
[Avigdor Levy; The Jews of the Ottoman Empire, New Jersey, (1994)] The forced resettlement, though not intended as an
anti-Jewish measure, was perceived as an "expulsion" by the Jews. Nevertheless, the Romaniotes would remain the most influential Jewish community in the Empire for decades to come, determining the
Chief Rabbis of the towns and the
Hakham Bashi of the Ottoman Empire until their leading position was lost to a wave of new Jewish arrivals. These events initiated the first great numerical decline of the Romaniote community.
The number of Jews was soon bolstered by small groups of
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
that immigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1421 and 1453.
Waves of Sephardi Jews were expelled from
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
in 1492; many settled in
Ottoman-ruled Greece. They spoke a separate language,
Ladino. Thessaloniki had one of the largest (mostly Sephardi) Jewish communities in the world and a solid rabbinical tradition. On the island of
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
, the Jews historically played an important part in the transport trade. In the centuries following 1492 most of the Romaniote communities were assimilated by the more numerous Sephardim.

The status of
Jewry in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
often hinged on the whims of the
sultan
Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
.
Murad III for example ordered that the attitude of all non-Muslims should be one of "humility and abjection" and should not "live near Mosques or in tall buildings" or own slaves.
After the liberation of Ioannina on February 21, 1913, the Rabbi and the Romaniote community of Ioannina welcomed at the New Synagogue of Ioannina the liberator of the city, Crown Prince Constantine, the future
King of the Hellenes Constantine I
Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Romaniote community of Ioannina numbered about 4,000 people, mostly lower-class tradesmen and craftsmen. Their numbers dwindled after that due to economic emigration; after the Holocaust and in the wake of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, there were approximately 1,950 Romaniotes left in Ioannina. Centered around the old fortified part of the city (or Kastro), where the community had been living for centuries, they maintained two synagogues, one of which, the Kehila Kedosha Yashan Synagogue still remains today.
A strong Romaniote community was present in Corfu until the late 19th century, when a
pogrom
A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
sparked by
blood libel charges forced most of the Jewish community to leave the island.
Nusach and Minhag

The Romaniote prayer rite (
Nusach) as seen in the original ''Mahzor Romania'' and the Romaniote commentaries (
Minhag) on
Jewish exegesis and
Jewish law, vary from those of the
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
,
Sephardic and
Mizrachi Jews, and are closer to those of the
Italian Jews: some of these are thought to have been based on the
Jerusalem Talmud instead of the
Babylonian Talmud (see
Eretz-Yisrael minhag). This Minhag was once widespread in Southern Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Anatolia and the Crimea.
The Romaniotes spoke
Judaeo-Greek for a long time, and many of them still use the
Greek language
Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...
today.
Tobiah ben Eliezer (טוביה בר אליעזר), a Greek-speaking Talmudist and poet of the 11th century, worked and lived in the city of
Kastoria
Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...
. He is the author of the ''Lekach Tov'', a
midrashic commentary on the
Pentateuch and the
Five Megillot
The Five Scrolls or the Five Megillot ( , ''Hamesh Megillot'' or ''Chomeish Megillos'') are parts of the Ketuvim ("Writings"), the third major section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The Five Scrolls are the Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, the Bo ...
and also of some poems. Romaniote scholars translated the
Tanakh into Greek. A polyglot edition of the
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
published in
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
in 1547 has the Hebrew text in the middle of the page, with a Ladino (
Judaeo-Spanish) translation on one side, a
Yevanic translation on the other and the
Judaeo-Aramaic Targum at the bottom of the page.
In the early Romaniote rite the
Torah
The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
was subdivided in
Sedarim while the whole Torah was read in the Palestinian way of the
Triennial cycle. The order for reading the
Haftarah followed a specific custom, particular to the Romaniote rite. The Romaniote Torah scrolls are housed in ''tikim'' ('tik', from Greek ''thḗkē'', θήκη "container"), from which they are never completely taken out. Among the Romaniote Jews, tradition dictates, that the most holy Sefer Torah, the Law of Moses, be read with the scroll standing upright in its ''tik''; it is considered improper to lay it flat.
The
siddur (prayer book) for the Romaniote rite was known as the ''Mahzor Romania''. The Romaniote Jews have their own form of wedding blessing. Upon the betrothal, seven blessings are bestowed on the bride and groom to be, while wedding
wreaths are covering the heads of the groom and the bride and are interchanged on their heads. At the end of a full year, the
Ketubah was read at the wedding ceremony proper. This is different in that other Jews bless the bride and groom at the time of the actual wedding. In addition, there are ritual differences in the building of the Synagogue and in the building and the use of the
mikve. It is a Romaniote tradition to write on the Ketubah the year
since creation of the world and the year since the
destruction of the Temple.

The Romaniotes traditionally gave to a child a mystical document known as an "aleph". This hand-painted "birth and circumcision certificate" was created by a family member and then handed down. The aleph was written in mystical codes for the purpose of warding off the wiles of
Lillith, Adam's first wife.
The Romaniotes are well known for their hymns in Judaeo-Greek and Hebrew, for their special way of
cantillation, based on the
Byzantine melos and for their Jewish-Greek folksongs, based on regional melodies.
Jewish immigrants from Sicily brought to Ioannina the celebration of the Sicilian
Purim Katan. The Jews of Ioannina call this holiday ''Pourimopoulo''. They read the special "Megillah for the Purim Katan of Syracuse" and sing corresponding songs and hymns for this festivity.
The Mahzor of the Romaniote
Kaffa Rite from the year 1735 gives the order to read the
Megillat Antiochos in the Mincha of Shabbat Hanukkah. In the second half of the 19th century, the Romaniote community of Greece made an effort to preserve the Romaniote liturgical heritage of Ioannina and Arta, by printing various liturgical texts in the Hebrew printing presses of Salonika.
[The Jewish Museum of Greece, The Jewish Community of Ioannina: ''The Memory of Artefacts'', 2017, p. 40 (Booklet).] Today, the Romaniote Liturgy follows (with slight differences) the mainstream Sephardic usage, while the Romaniotes and the Jews of Corfu have preserved their old and own Judaeo-Greek and Hebrew ''piyyutim'', their own way of cantillation and their special customs. A custom, which is still followed in the
Etz Hayyim Synagogue of Crete, is to read on
Yom Kippur the
Book of Jonah in Judaeo-Greek. Another custom was to chant the
Song of Songs verse by verse by alternating from Hebrew to its paraphrasing
Targum Jonathan translation after the morning service on the last two days of Pessach.
Romaniote Synagogues have their own layout: the
''bimah'' (where the
Torah scrolls are read out during services) is on a raised
dais on the western wall, the
Aron haKodesh (where the Torah scrolls are kept) is on the eastern wall and in the middle there is a wide interior
aisle
An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...
.
Votive offerings made of silver as stars or tablets called ''shadayot'' were a thankful gift to the Synagogue of congregants who have received help, healing or salvation by God. The Romaniote term for the Passover ceremony (Seder) is חובה (''Hova''), which means obligation. In 2004 the
Jewish Museum of Greece published a Romaniote rite Pesach-Seder CD (''The Ioannina Haggadah''). In the years 2017 and 2018 the Romaniote rite Haggadah and the Romaniote rite prayer book (''
siddur'') have been published in a series, containing also Romaniote poetry, the
haftarot according to the Romaniote custom and other texts. A Romaniote rite based reform ''siddur'' in Greek and Hebrew has also been published in 2018.
Language and literature
The intellectual pursuits of Romaniote Jews reflected in their history their geographical location within the Jewish and gentile world. Direct heir to Palestinian Jewish traditions on the one hand, they were also heir to the teachings of the
Greco-Roman world
The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...
. The Byzantine Jewish/Romaniote literature shows a rich blend of
Hellenistic Jewish and
Palestinian rabbinic traditions. Romaniote Jewry, throughout its history, expended great effort on religious poetry, which reached its peak during the period 1350–1550. The writing of piyyutim was clearly held as its own genre. In the twelfth century
Hillel ben Eliakim wrote down his exegetical commentary, ''Sifre ve Sifra''.
Shemarya HaIkriti who moved after 1328 to Negroponte prepared his supercommentary to Ibn Ezra and, circa 1346–47 wrote his ''Sefer Amasyahu'', a handbook of biblical apologetics. In tune with the intellectual currents among Romaniotes, Shemarya was trained in philosophy and was able to translate directly from Greek to Hebrew. The ''
Sefer Yosippon'' was written by the Byzantine Jews of Southern Italy. R. Elnatan ben Moses Kalkes (from
Kilkis) wrote a lengthy kabbalistic treatise entitled ''Eben Saphir''.
Mordecai Komatiano has left a legacy of some fifteen works on astronomy, grammar (dikduk), biblical commentaries and piyyutim; some of the later have even been included in the Karaite prayerbook. Several manuscripts containing mystical works have survived. The question of an independent Romaniote
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...
tradition, probably deriving directly from Palestinian antecedents, is proved. An abridgement of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
's ''Logic'' by Yoseph HaYevani was made available to those Jews (Sephardi immigrants) who were less proficient in Greek. The Byzantine Karaites showed a knowledge of Greek philosophical terminology. Rabbinic authors spiced their comments with Greek phrases. The familiarity of Romaniote Jewry with the
Greek language
Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...
is well documented. Biblical translations, piyyutim, folksongs, Ketubbot, liturgical instructions, glossaries, mystical texts and the use of Greek words in commentaries in Judaeo-Greek are known.
Judaeo-Greek
After World War II, the
Judaeo-Greek language of Ioannina underwent a process of ''
koinezation''. The only phonetic differences to
Standard Modern Greek, which could be noted shortly after the war have been
>
before front vowels, unusual intonation patterns and some peculiar lexical items, mostly of Hebrew-Aramaic provenance. Lexemes, such as Hebrew-Aramaic loans, were easily identified as "ours" and "theirs," i.e., Sephardic vs. Romaniote. While composing texts on their religion, the Greek Jews followed the literary standards of Greek syntax and morphology, using a number of Hebrew-Aramaic loanwords.
[Krivoruchko, J. G. "Not Only Cherubs: Lexicon of Hebrew and Aramaic Origin in Standard Modern Greek (SG) and Modern Greek Dialects." In: ''Proceedings of the Second International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory'', ed. Mark Janse, Angeliki Ralli and Brian Joseph, Patras: University of Patras, 205-219.] The Hebrew-Aramaic component would be written down in ways reflecting traditional Romaniote pronunciation, for example ''Shalom'', was spelled and written as ''Salom'' (Σαλώμ).
Krivoruchko states in her work ''Judeo-Greek in the era of globalization'' that Judaeo-Greek has always been interchangeable with the spoken variety of Greek, which was used by the surrounding Christian community, but had a few special features in its various geographical and chronological types (for example the Judaeo-Greek of Crete
�� 1945and that of Constantinople). Besides the few phonetic differences between Judaeo-Greek and Standard Modern Greek the most common difference has been the use of Hebrew and Aramaic loanwords in Judaeo-Greek.
Considerable are also the phonetic differences between Romaniote Hebrew (look downwards on paragraph ''Romaniote Hebrew'') and Sephardic Hebrew, for example Sephardic ''Shavuot'' was spelled as ''Savóth'' (Σαβώθ) in Judaeo-Greek.
Second and third generation Romaniote immigrants in New York city have good knowledge of Greek. In the beginning of the 21st century 90% asserted that they understand Greek while 40% could speak Greek comfortably. Over a third could read Greek satisfactorily. The number of persons fluent in the Greek Language is much lower in the group of the Greek Sephardim outside of Greece.
Romaniote Hebrew
The Romaniote pronunciation of the Hebrew language is very close in its major features to the common Modern Hebrew pronunciation. The vowel-system is a simple five-vowel system without either quantitative or qualitative distinctions. Typical was the absence of distinction between: the Semitic velarized and non-velarized stops
and
�� spelled
�/ט and
/q spelled
�/ק The distinction between
and
��(ס/צ) is maintained as
vs.
s i. e., a voiceless alveolar fricative against a voiceless alveolar affricate, a pronunciation common to Byzantine and Ashkenazic pronunciation; "strong" and "weak"
spelled
�ּ/ת(t/θ) preserved in Ashkenazic pronunciation as
velar and pharyngeal
�and
� spelled
�/כ both of which are pronounced
� as in Ashkenazic; the glottal and pharyngeal stops
�and
� spelled
�/א both of which are weakened to the point of almost total absence in syllable-initial and syllable-final position, another characteristic shared with the Ashkenazic tradition. שׁ was pronounced as
in the Romaniote tradition of Hebrew pronunciation. The loss of spirantization rule for postvocalic, non-geminated Old Hebrew b, d, g, p, t, k homorganic fricatives (this rule is not found now in either the Balkan or the North African Sephardic diaspora) may have been due Romaniote practice (it is observed partly in Yiddish Hebraisms and in the Ashkenazic pronunciation of monolingual Hebrew texts). The
�was pronounced as and the
�as
�which are typical sounds of the
Standard Modern Greek.
The Hebrew Paleography resp. the Hebrew Epigraphy recognises a specific "Byzantine" or "Romaniote" Handwriting system of the
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet (, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is a unicase, unicameral abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably ...
, which has been developed among the
Soferim of the Greek-speaking lands. In many cases manuscripts of Romaniote origin from the Byzantine Empire, or from later times can be recognised as "Romaniote", only with the science of Paleography, if they do not contain a
Colophon (publishing) or other characteristics of identification.
Holocaust and afterwards
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, when Greece was occupied by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, 86% of the Greek Jews, especially those in the areas occupied by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
and
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, were murdered. Some Greeks collaborated with the deportations or expropriated Jewish property; a few, encouraged by the
Greek Orthodox Church
Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...
, sheltered Jews. Roughly 49,000 Jews—Romaniotes and Sephardim—were deported from
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
alone and murdered. Many Greek Jews were forced to pay their own tickets to the death camps. Almost all Romaniote Jews of the island of Crete, together with some resistance fighters, died on the ship ''
Tanaḯs'' when it was torpedoed by the British submarine
HMS ''Vivid'' on 9 June 1944.
During the German occupation, the Romaniotes' ability to speak
Greek enabled them to hide better from German deportations than Sephardi Jews who spoke
Ladino.
The majority of Romaniotes who survived the Holocaust left for Israel or the United States at the end of the war. The creation of the state of
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
in 1948, combined with the violence and anarchy of the
Greek Civil War (1946–1949), led to an immigration of a number of Romaniotes to Israel. The
great earthquake on the island of
Zakynthos
Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; ; ) or Zante (, , ; ; from the Venetian language, Venetian form, traditionally Latinized as Zacynthus) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, with an are ...
in 1953 led the last remaining Romaniote Jews to leave the island towards Athens. The vast majority of Romaniotes have relocated to Israel and the United States, with the world's largest community located in New York.
Present day
Today approximately 4,500 to 6,000 Jews remain in Greece. Of these, only a small number are Romaniotes, who live mainly in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
,
Ioannina,
Chalkis and
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
. About 3,500 Jews now live in Athens, while another 1,000 live in Thessaloniki. A mixed community of Romaniote and
Apulian Jews still lives on the Island of
Corfu
Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
.
Greece
Athens
The Ioanniotiki Synagogue, situated above the Jewish Community of Athens offices at #8 Melidoni St., is the only Romaniote synagogue in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
. Built in 1906, it now has services only during the
High Holy Days, but can be opened for visitors upon request through the Jewish Community office.
The
Jewish identity
Jewish identity is the objective or subjective sense of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. It encompasses elements of nationhood, "The Jews are a nation and were so before there was a Jewish state of Israel" "Jews are ...
of another building found in the excavations of the ancient Agora in Athens, is questionable. It is believed that the
Metroon, discovered in 1930 at the foot of the hill
Hephaestion (Thesion) was used as a synagogue during its construction at the end of the 4th century CE (396–400). This view was expressed by the archaeologist H. Thompson, from the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, but was not developed into a complete theory. The
Jewish identity
Jewish identity is the objective or subjective sense of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. It encompasses elements of nationhood, "The Jews are a nation and were so before there was a Jewish state of Israel" "Jews are ...
of the Metroon was based on a small piece of marble found near the Metroon that had two Jewish symbols carved on one side, and the resemblance of the building to the synagogue of Sardis in Asia Minor.
Chalkis
The Romaniote Jewish Community of Chalkis is not the oldest one in Greece, but it is the only one in Europe that has been living in the same city for 2,500 years without interruption and the community is still active in the city's life. The community has a synagogue and a cemetery with important and old inscriptions. The Synagogue is on Kotsou Street. It is unknown when the first synagogue in Chalkis was constructed. In 1854, during the Holy Week a great fire destroyed the synagogue. In 1855 it was re-constructed in the same size with funds offered by
Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance. The Synagogue opens every Friday evening and occasionally on Shabbat morning.
Ioannina

In
Ioannina, the Romaniote community has dwindled to 50 mostly elderly people. The Kehila Kedosha Yashan Synagogue there is open primarily on the High Holidays, or in the case of the visit of a chazzan, or is opened for visitors on request. Immigrant Romaniotes return every summer to the old synagogue. After a long time a
Bar Mitzvah (the Jewish ritual for celebrating the
coming of age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
of a child) was held in the synagogue in 2000, and was an exceptional event for the community.
The
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
is located in the old fortified part of the city known as ''Kastro'', at 16 Ioustinianou street. Its name means "the Old Synagogue". It was constructed in 1829, most probably over the ruins of an older synagogue. Its architecture is typical of the
Ottoman era, a large building made of stone. The interior of the synagogue is laid out in the Romaniote way: the
Bimah (where the
Torah scrolls are read out during services) is on a raised
dais on the western wall, the
Aron haKodesh (where the
Torah scrolls are kept) is on the eastern wall and in the middle there is a wide interior
aisle
An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...
. The names of the Ioanniote Jews who were killed in the
Holocaust are engraved in stone on the walls of the synagogue. The Bet Chaim cemetery in Ioannina belongs to the community.
Volos
In the community of Volos many of the Romaniote pre-Sephardic traditions prevail. The community consists of Romaniotes as well as Sephardim (particularly from
Larissa) and
Corfiots. Ancient historic texts mention that Jews lived in the region of
Magnesia,
Thessaly
Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...
and in particular in neighbouring
Almyros as early as the 1st century AD. Historians argue that Jews have been living in ancient
Demetrias since the 2nd century AD. Ancient Jewish tombstones dating back to 325–641 AD, were also discovered in the neighbouring city of
Phthiotic Thebes.
Moshe Pesach was Rabbi of Volos who saved Greek Jews during the Holocaust and helped to consolidate the community of Volos after World War II.
Israel
Most Romaniotes in Israel live in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
. There are two Romaniote synagogues in Israel: the Zakynthos Synagogue in Tel Aviv, and the Beit Avraham Ve'ohel Sarah liKehilat Ioanina in
Nachlaot,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. The former Romaniote
Yanina Synagogue in the
Christian Quarter, Jerusalem is no longer in use. In Beit Avraham Ve'ohel Sarah liKehilat Ioanina in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, the prayers today follow the Sephardic rite, but they preserve a few piyyutim from the Romaniote rite.
United States
Only one Romaniote
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
(from originally several Romaniote Synagogues in New York) is in operation in the entire Western Hemisphere:
Kehila Kedosha Janina, at 280 Broome Street, on the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
, where it is used by the Romaniote emigrant community.
[Laura Silver, "Spreading little-known history of Romaniote Jews", '']New York Daily News
The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'', June 18, 2008. It maintains a mailing list of 3,000 Romaniote families, most of them living in the
tri-state area.
It is open for services every Saturday morning as well as all major Jewish holidays. The synagogue also houses a museum devoted to Greek Jewry and offers guided tours to visitors on Sundays.
Like the community in Jerusalem, the prayers today follow the Sephardic rite, but they preserve a few piyyutim from the Romaniote rite.
Genetics
DNA research
and genealogical works based on the Romaniote communities of Ioannina and Zakynthos are in progress. Nearly 4/5th of the
autosomal DNA of
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
is related to that of Romaniote Jews. Romaniote Jewish men have been found to belong to various branches of
Y-chromosomal haplogroups
E1b1b1,
G,
J,
Q,
R1a, and
R1b.
In 2024, a team of researchers announced that a modern Romaniote Jewish man from Greece belongs to "a previously undiscovered" branch of the Y-chromosomal haplogroup J-P58 found to be "dating straight back 7,000 years to the
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
era." Romaniote Jewish
mitochondrial DNA haplogroups include
HV1b2,
U5b, and U6a3.
Notable Romaniotes
Byzantine times to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
*
Asaph ben Berechiah
*
Moses Capsali
*
Mordecai Comtino
*
Moses of Crete, a
Jewish messiah claimant of the 5th century C.E.
*
Shabbethai Donnolo
*
Tobiah ben Eliezer
*
Hillel ben Eliakim
*
Elia del Medigo
*
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo
*
Ahimaaz ben Paltiel
*
Eleazar ben Killir
*
Elijah Mizrachi,
Hakham Bashi of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
*
Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi
*
Leo II Mung Archbishop of Ohrid
*
Shemariah of Negropont
*
Zerachiah HaYavani
*
Sabbatai Zevi, a Jewish messiah claimant of the 17th century C.E.
Greek-speaking
Karaites of Constantinople
*
Caleb Afendopolo
*
Elijah Bashyazi
*
Aaron ben Joseph of Constantinople
*
Aaron ben Elijah
*
Judah Hadassi
Modern times
*
Abraham Cohen of Zante, a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
,
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
, religious philosopher and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
on
Zakynthos
Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; ; ) or Zante (, , ; ; from the Venetian language, Venetian form, traditionally Latinized as Zacynthus) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, with an are ...
*
Abraham Benrubi, American actor
*
Mordechai Frizis, officer of the Greek Army during the
Greco-Italian War
*
Moshe Pesach, Rabbi and Recipient of the
Order of the Phoenix (Greece), which was given to him by
King of the Hellenes
*
Rae Dalven, a prominent Romaniotissa, particularly noted for her translation of modern Greek poetry
*
Amalia Bakas, a singer of Greek traditional and
rembetiko songs with a successful career in the United States.
*
Mathias Naphtali, Former Assistant District Attorney of Brooklyn, and Liberal Party candidate for New York State Senate in 1950
*
Albert Cohen, francophone Swiss writer
*
Jack H. Jacobs, Vietnam War veteran. Medal of Honor recipient
*
Albert Levis, a psychiatrist, philosopher and innkeeper of the
Wilburton Inn in
Manchester, Vermont
Manchester is a New England town, town in, and one of two shire towns (county seats) of, Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,484 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
Manchester (village), Vermont, Mancheste ...
*
Michael Matsas, an author and holocaust survivor
*
Minos Matsas, of the Matsas family from
Ioannina, music producer (see
Minos EMI)
*
Savas Matsas, is a Greek intellectual, author and leader of the
Workers Revolutionary Party (Greece)
*
Joshua Matza, is a former
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
i Minister of Health and former president and CEO of
State of Israel Bonds
*
Katherine, Crown Princess of Yugoslavia, a descendant of the Romaniote branches ''Batis'' and ''Dostis''
*Leon Batis, a holocaust survivor and hero
*
Alexander Levis, university professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at George Mason University and former chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force
*
Alberto Nahmias, legendary Greek football player who played for
Iraklis Thessaloniki club and was the first ever official goalscorer for the
Greece national football team
The Greece national football team (, ) represents Greece in men's international Association football, football matches, and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece is one of only ten ...
*
Avram Pengas, a musician of traditional and popular Greek music in the United States
*Albert Sabbas, a renowned nuclear physicist
*
Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-Greek-French singer-songwriter
*
Moisis Elisaf, mayor of
Ioannina (2019–2023)
*
Silvio Santos
Senor Abravanel (; 12 December 1930 – 17 August 2024), known professionally as Silvio Santos, was a Brazilian television presenter and business magnate. Widely regarded as the greatest personality in Television in Brazil, Brazilian television, ...
, Brazilian entrepreneur, media tycoon and television host
*
Kenneth Alvin Solomon (1947–), American nuclear and forensic scientist
See also
*
Greek citron
*
Hellenistic Judaism
*
History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire
*
History of the Jews in Cyprus
*
History of the Jews in Greece
*
History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire
*
History of the Jews in Turkey
*
Jewish Koine Greek
*
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
and
Ioannina, the two cities in Greece with the most prominent Jewish communities
References
Further reading
* Connerty, Mary C. ''Judeo-Greek: The Language, The Culture''. Jay Street Publishing, 2003. .
*
Dalven, Rae. ''The Jews of Ioannina''. Cadmus Press, 1989. .
* Fromm, Annette B. ''Folklore and Ethnic Identity of the Jewish Community of Ioannina, Greece''. Lexington Books, 2008, .
* Gkoumas, P. ''Bibliography on the Romaniote Jewry''. First Edition, 2016. .
* Goldschmidt, Daniel, ''Meḥqare Tefillah ve Piyyut'' (''On Jewish Liturgy''), Jerusalem, 1978 (in Hebrew). One chapter sets out the Romaniote liturgy.
External links
Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum, Romaniote Synagogue in New York City Official websiteThe Association of Friends of Greek JewryUnited Brotherhood Good Hope Society of Janina Inc.First edition Romaniote Machzor Venice 1523.
''Seder Tefillot ke-minhag kehillot Romania'', Venice 1545 Romaniote prayer book for the Weekdays and Holidays
Piyyutim Recordings and written folios from the communities of Ioannina, Chalkis, Volos and Corfu and of other Greek Jewish communities* Marie-Élisabeth Handman,
("The Other for Non-Jews ... and Jews: the Romaniots") , ''Études balkaniques'', 9, 2002
* Vincent Giordano
Before the Flame Goes Out: A Document of the Romaniote Jews of Ioannina and New York sponsored by The International Survey of Jewish Monuments
Vincent Giordano Before the Flame Goes Out Collection Queens College (New York) Special Collections and Archives and Hellenic American Project
Vincent Giordano Photographs documenting Romaniote Jews of Ioannina and New York Queens College (New York) Special Collection and Archives and Hellenic American Project, JSTOR Open Community Collections
*
Romaniote Memories, a Jewish Journey from Ioannina, Greece to Manhattan: Photographs by Vincent Giordano', digital exhibition
* Edward Victor
account of the Kehila Kedosha Yashan Synagogue in Ioannina, with photos (personal site)
* Deborah S. Esquenazi
"The pre-Ashkenazi and Sephardi Romaniote Jews" ''Jerusalem Post Magazine'', October 5, 2006
* Isaac Dostis
"Farewell My Island"
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Ethnic groups in Greece
Greek people of Jewish descent
Jewish ethnic groups
Jewish Greek history
Nusachs