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The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East
Caught between wars raging in both Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Greece is an island of relative stability. Popularly considered the cradle of Western civilisation, this is a Christian Orthodox state on the edge of the Islamic world. And, after a half-century of integration into NATO and the EU, Greece is now reabsorbing into the Near East, as the West fractures and new Middle Eastern powers rise. The country’s importance as a cultural and geopolitical hybrid is growing.
Travelling through the region, Sean Mathews explores at ground level the tectonic shifts reshaping Europe and the Middle East. He meets the last Greek merchants in Cairo, and hears from Istanbul’s remaining Greeks about Turkey’s break with the West. In Jerusalem, he discovers a budding alliance between Greece and Israel; and in a faded Ottoman port, he encounters football hooligans loyal to a Russian oligarch.
This bold reappraisal of Greece as a Near Eastern nation uncovers its Byzantine and Ottoman past as a key to survival in today’s chaotic, shrinking world.
Travelling through the region, Sean Mathews explores at ground level the tectonic shifts reshaping Europe and the Middle East. He meets the last Greek merchants in Cairo, and hears from Istanbul’s remaining Greeks about Turkey’s break with the West. In Jerusalem, he discovers a budding alliance between Greece and Israel; and in a faded Ottoman port, he encounters football hooligans loyal to a Russian oligarch.
This bold reappraisal of Greece as a Near Eastern nation uncovers its Byzantine and Ottoman past as a key to survival in today’s chaotic, shrinking world.
397 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 10, 2025
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February 26, 2026
Is Greece the new rising Middle Eastern power that nobody is talking about? Sean Mathews’ The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East makes the bold case that the Hellenic state is reembracing its Middle Eastern roots and is an emerging power who is playing a crucial role in dealing with a ‘revisionist’ Turkyie, America’s wavering commitment to NATO, Israel’s search for new allies and throwing its weight behind Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Mathews makes interesting arguments about why Athens is a growing regional power; however, some of the reasons he cites that account for the rise also risk stalling it and it may be the case that we will look back on this period as what Greece could have been.
For some the claim Greece is reembracing its Middle Eastern roots might seem jarring as it is a Christian country, member of NATO & EU and we tend to think of Ancient Greece as the birthplace of Western civilisation. Over the course of the 20th century, Greece has consciously moved towards being more integrated into Europe and dissociating itself from its Eastern roots. As Mathews argues, if you scratch beneath the surface, you will find Greek culture is still deeply entwined with the Middle East. The notion Greece is part of the West is a recent one, 19th and 20th century travel writers, who visited Greece saw it as very much an Eastern country.
The New Byzantines is partly a historical travel journal as Mathews tries to demonstrate that Greece is ‘returning’ to its Middle Eastern roots. What is fueling Greece’s geopolitical return to the Middle East is the sense that the West is in decline; the European Union is less reliable; America might withdraw from NATO; Turkish expansionism; Russia’s militarised foreign policy; and growing Middle Eastern investments in Greece.
The post-Arab Spring fallout has led to instability, but as Mathews argues, Greece has benefitted from the regional conflicts of the 2010s. He points out the Greek economy is one of the best performing in the bloc and it is growing at twice the rate of the European average.
This is partially due to the influx of Middle Eastern capital with Lebanese, Israelis, Turks, Gulf Arabs are others buying up luxury property. Reliance on tourism and real estate might seem a risky strategy, Mathews asserts, ‘Yet, in a world of trade wars, Greece’s reliance on these industries is becoming an asset, compared to, say, heavy industrial production.’
Greece’s stability and the relatively low cost of living is an attractive proposition to many fleeing instability and repression in the Middle East. Athens is being transformed and turned back into an eastern city, where it always belonged, according to Mathews.
However, the influx of foreign capital adds challenges to the Greek people, the book acknowledges foreigners buying up real estate has priced many Athenians out of the market. Salaries are low, to raise a family requires at least double the estimated 1,500 euros monthly income.
Further, there is little social and economic mobility while the middle classes are being hollowed out. Many commentators would question the long-term stability of this model and assume some kind of political backlash might follow. I think here is where Mathews makes his most ambitious argument, ‘Spain and Italy might talk about cracking down on foreign homebuyers and real estate speculation.
Greece is too Eastern not to embrace the trend. I suspect the coming years will see a divide emerge in the Mediterranean, where the western half imposes more regulations on foreign investment, while Greece continues to court outsiders.’ In other words, Greece’s cultural orientation will likely mean it will remain open to foreign investment and this is a key factor for Athens economic and geostrategic position.
The cultural orientation is also why Greece has not followed the populist trend seen elsewhere; the Mediterranean country’s Orthodox Christian faith is at the heart of it. ‘This is a religion that has neither tried to accommodate nor confront modernity. Instead, it rises above it…Because the Orthodox faith is so conservative, it rises above the cultural conflicts ranging in the West.’ I find this part of the argument the most challenging because Mathews’ idea of culture is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. He is not necessarily arguing that Greece is immune to populist politics in the future, but based on what he has observed so far, there is reason to think it will resist the populist urge.
Given how important this will be for the future of Greece’s economy and geopolitical future, if we follow Mathews’ logic here, Greece could falter as a Near Eastern power if it succumbs to populist politics. The lack of economic diversity in the sense of major industries and productions also makes this problem more acute.
Turkiye is ever present throughout the book as almost every development the book explores from internal tensions in western Thrace, tension with Bulgaria, growing outreach to Israel, maritime demarcation lines and Russia/Ukraine war, concerns about Turkish power and influence drive a lot of decision making in Athens. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seen as seeking to disrupt the international system and poses a security challenge to Greece.
Fear of Ankara is coupled with concerns the United States is pulling back from Western alliances, Athens hopes reinserting itself into the Middle East will keep Washington engaged and view Greece as a useful partner. Egypt represents one of Greece’s biggest gambles, ‘Egypt gives Greece a Muslim and Arab ally to counter Erdogan. Greece can’t give Egypt what it needs most, money, but it has become a staunch defender of Cairo in the European Union and United Nations, working to stamp out criticism of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah-Sisi’s horrendous human rights record.’
The relationship between Athens and Cairo deepened after Sisi seized power in 2013, concerns about regional chaos, Islamism and Turkiye led to Greece throwing its weight behind President Sisi. Mathews points out that while Greek-Turkish tensions are not new, in the past, every time tensions heated up, the US would intervene to deescalate, but if the US is pulling back, tensions might boil over into war. A key source of tension is the maritime dispute, where Greece lays claim to thousands of islands that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, would give Athens a maritime zone of up to 200 miles of the coastlines off these islands. That would mean these waters are free for Greece to exploit for natural gas exploration, Turkiye rejects Athens claim as it would box them in and exclude Ankara from energy exploration in the region.
As Turkiye is less dependent on the West and is bigger than Greece, the balance of power would favour it in the Eastern Mediterranean including in this maritime dispute, if the US pulls back. Enter Egypt, where both militaries hold regular exercises together, diplomats from both countries work closely on the world stage and a possible cooperation over natural gas. While Egypt offers Greece an important ally, the Arab country has major economic difficulties and if Sisi doesn’t hold onto power, a new administration could come into power in Cairo that is hostile to Athens and open to Ankara. This could harm Greece’s ambitions to be a Middle Eastern power.
The New Byzantines makes for a compelling read and Mathews takes us from port to port to explore the new Greece. He rightly challenges us to rethink what Greece is and the potential it offers. He fuses together history, reportage, travel and geopolitics sprinkled with personal anecdotes and meeting people both in Greece and around the Middle East. There are many interesting threads to follow including Russia’s influence in Greece, how Syrian businessmen are transforming Athenian neighbourhoods, why some Istanbul Greeks have a favourable view of the Turkish president and how Greece’s culture makes it a natural fit into the Middle East. The book offers plenty of food for thought and much to explore, it will definitely be something people who are interested in Greece, US withdrawal, populism and the emerging world order, will have much to debate over. However, the central thesis that Greece is an emerging Middle Eastern power, while it has merit to the claim, a number of factors could harm or curtail Athens’ ambitions.
It feels like Greek power hinges on a lot of things that seem fragile, whether it’s the alliances it is trying to build, the economic model it is pursuing and if we don’t see a major backlash in Greece to some of the changes taking place in the country. It could well be that Mathews has correctly identified a great emerging power, but it remains to be seen whether they will fully develop into one in the long term.
Mathews makes interesting arguments about why Athens is a growing regional power; however, some of the reasons he cites that account for the rise also risk stalling it and it may be the case that we will look back on this period as what Greece could have been.
For some the claim Greece is reembracing its Middle Eastern roots might seem jarring as it is a Christian country, member of NATO & EU and we tend to think of Ancient Greece as the birthplace of Western civilisation. Over the course of the 20th century, Greece has consciously moved towards being more integrated into Europe and dissociating itself from its Eastern roots. As Mathews argues, if you scratch beneath the surface, you will find Greek culture is still deeply entwined with the Middle East. The notion Greece is part of the West is a recent one, 19th and 20th century travel writers, who visited Greece saw it as very much an Eastern country.
The New Byzantines is partly a historical travel journal as Mathews tries to demonstrate that Greece is ‘returning’ to its Middle Eastern roots. What is fueling Greece’s geopolitical return to the Middle East is the sense that the West is in decline; the European Union is less reliable; America might withdraw from NATO; Turkish expansionism; Russia’s militarised foreign policy; and growing Middle Eastern investments in Greece.
The post-Arab Spring fallout has led to instability, but as Mathews argues, Greece has benefitted from the regional conflicts of the 2010s. He points out the Greek economy is one of the best performing in the bloc and it is growing at twice the rate of the European average.
This is partially due to the influx of Middle Eastern capital with Lebanese, Israelis, Turks, Gulf Arabs are others buying up luxury property. Reliance on tourism and real estate might seem a risky strategy, Mathews asserts, ‘Yet, in a world of trade wars, Greece’s reliance on these industries is becoming an asset, compared to, say, heavy industrial production.’
Greece’s stability and the relatively low cost of living is an attractive proposition to many fleeing instability and repression in the Middle East. Athens is being transformed and turned back into an eastern city, where it always belonged, according to Mathews.
However, the influx of foreign capital adds challenges to the Greek people, the book acknowledges foreigners buying up real estate has priced many Athenians out of the market. Salaries are low, to raise a family requires at least double the estimated 1,500 euros monthly income.
Further, there is little social and economic mobility while the middle classes are being hollowed out. Many commentators would question the long-term stability of this model and assume some kind of political backlash might follow. I think here is where Mathews makes his most ambitious argument, ‘Spain and Italy might talk about cracking down on foreign homebuyers and real estate speculation.
Greece is too Eastern not to embrace the trend. I suspect the coming years will see a divide emerge in the Mediterranean, where the western half imposes more regulations on foreign investment, while Greece continues to court outsiders.’ In other words, Greece’s cultural orientation will likely mean it will remain open to foreign investment and this is a key factor for Athens economic and geostrategic position.
The cultural orientation is also why Greece has not followed the populist trend seen elsewhere; the Mediterranean country’s Orthodox Christian faith is at the heart of it. ‘This is a religion that has neither tried to accommodate nor confront modernity. Instead, it rises above it…Because the Orthodox faith is so conservative, it rises above the cultural conflicts ranging in the West.’ I find this part of the argument the most challenging because Mathews’ idea of culture is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. He is not necessarily arguing that Greece is immune to populist politics in the future, but based on what he has observed so far, there is reason to think it will resist the populist urge.
Given how important this will be for the future of Greece’s economy and geopolitical future, if we follow Mathews’ logic here, Greece could falter as a Near Eastern power if it succumbs to populist politics. The lack of economic diversity in the sense of major industries and productions also makes this problem more acute.
Turkiye is ever present throughout the book as almost every development the book explores from internal tensions in western Thrace, tension with Bulgaria, growing outreach to Israel, maritime demarcation lines and Russia/Ukraine war, concerns about Turkish power and influence drive a lot of decision making in Athens. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seen as seeking to disrupt the international system and poses a security challenge to Greece.
Fear of Ankara is coupled with concerns the United States is pulling back from Western alliances, Athens hopes reinserting itself into the Middle East will keep Washington engaged and view Greece as a useful partner. Egypt represents one of Greece’s biggest gambles, ‘Egypt gives Greece a Muslim and Arab ally to counter Erdogan. Greece can’t give Egypt what it needs most, money, but it has become a staunch defender of Cairo in the European Union and United Nations, working to stamp out criticism of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah-Sisi’s horrendous human rights record.’
The relationship between Athens and Cairo deepened after Sisi seized power in 2013, concerns about regional chaos, Islamism and Turkiye led to Greece throwing its weight behind President Sisi. Mathews points out that while Greek-Turkish tensions are not new, in the past, every time tensions heated up, the US would intervene to deescalate, but if the US is pulling back, tensions might boil over into war. A key source of tension is the maritime dispute, where Greece lays claim to thousands of islands that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, would give Athens a maritime zone of up to 200 miles of the coastlines off these islands. That would mean these waters are free for Greece to exploit for natural gas exploration, Turkiye rejects Athens claim as it would box them in and exclude Ankara from energy exploration in the region.
As Turkiye is less dependent on the West and is bigger than Greece, the balance of power would favour it in the Eastern Mediterranean including in this maritime dispute, if the US pulls back. Enter Egypt, where both militaries hold regular exercises together, diplomats from both countries work closely on the world stage and a possible cooperation over natural gas. While Egypt offers Greece an important ally, the Arab country has major economic difficulties and if Sisi doesn’t hold onto power, a new administration could come into power in Cairo that is hostile to Athens and open to Ankara. This could harm Greece’s ambitions to be a Middle Eastern power.
The New Byzantines makes for a compelling read and Mathews takes us from port to port to explore the new Greece. He rightly challenges us to rethink what Greece is and the potential it offers. He fuses together history, reportage, travel and geopolitics sprinkled with personal anecdotes and meeting people both in Greece and around the Middle East. There are many interesting threads to follow including Russia’s influence in Greece, how Syrian businessmen are transforming Athenian neighbourhoods, why some Istanbul Greeks have a favourable view of the Turkish president and how Greece’s culture makes it a natural fit into the Middle East. The book offers plenty of food for thought and much to explore, it will definitely be something people who are interested in Greece, US withdrawal, populism and the emerging world order, will have much to debate over. However, the central thesis that Greece is an emerging Middle Eastern power, while it has merit to the claim, a number of factors could harm or curtail Athens’ ambitions.
It feels like Greek power hinges on a lot of things that seem fragile, whether it’s the alliances it is trying to build, the economic model it is pursuing and if we don’t see a major backlash in Greece to some of the changes taking place in the country. It could well be that Mathews has correctly identified a great emerging power, but it remains to be seen whether they will fully develop into one in the long term.
January 11, 2026
Matthews annoyingly has the habit of dumbing down to prose to make it seem more journalistic. This on occassion makes him say completely inane things, such as that the Suez Canal was the artifical intelligence of the 1870s, or that the European royal families were the 'deep state' of the nineteenth century. This is presumably a verbal tic he picked up from the Economist, which has a similarly slurpy house style.
May 3, 2026
This is a cracking book, a real page Turner, outlining Greece is importance geopolitically and also it’s ties to the east which have never really diminished. Do yourself a favour have a read of this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews