Probably the most famous living Greek is Giannis Antetokounmpo, better known as the “Greek Freak.” Not only is Antetokounmpo a celebrity athlete in the U.S., he is the face of Greece in a recent Aegean Airlines safety video, where he takes the viewer on a tour of the country, from Athens’ summer cinema to the windmills of Mykonos, from a fishing boat to a wintry mountain taverna, all filmed with austerity-savvy thrift in an empty warehouse. In Plaka, the old town underneath the Acropolis, souvenir shops sell Antetokounmpo jerseys, in both Milwaukee Bucks green and white and in the blue and white of the Greek national team, with his name in Greek characters.
What makes this all the more remarkable is that Antetokounmpo was born in Athens to Nigerian immigrant parents. Originally stateless—Greece does not have birthright citizenship—he and his brothers used to hawk watches and handbags on the streets to make ends meet before their talent for basketball was discovered; he was only awarded Greek citizenship in 2013. But his Greekness is now accepted in Greece and abroad, so much so that he is Greece’s unofficial tourism ambassador. In this, he has breathed fresh air into the ancient idea that “Greekness” is not a race or ethnicity, but a proficiency in the language and an embracing of the culture.
