The Greek and Jewish diasporas are the most significant diasporas of Western civilisation. Homelands and Diasporas is the first book to explore the similarities and differences between these two experiences. In the process it sheds fascinating light on their fundamental importance for both Greek and Jewish societies._x000D__x000D_Homelands and Diaspora is an important study that links the histories of Jewish and Greek diaspora experiences and offers many insights into this cultural, geographical and social phenomenon. The word 'diaspora' was coined by Jews translating the Scriptures into Greek and the two societies have always maintained close links, both geographically and culturally. However, the authors argue that there is also a fundamental difference between them: Jewish culture perceives diaspora as a negative phenomenon, resulting from sin whereas Greeks take the opposite view, seeing the establishment of new cities and the dispersal of Greeks throughout the world as an expression of power, initiative and nobility. _x000D__x000D_The authors examine Greek and Jewish diasporas throughout history, from classical and Biblical times to the present, and all over the world - in Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, Russia, the Near and Middle East, Spain and the US. They analyse the very nature of diaspora, examining both the Greek concept of noble expansion and the Jewish idea of enforced exile, and analyse community structures as well as social and religious networks, combining Scriptural analysis with cultural and political history._x000D__x000D_Diaspora is a difficult and emotive concept but Homelands and Diasporas offers a balanced and perceptive guide to the connected histories of these two peoples away from their homelands. _x000D_