Editing Nation (section)

=== The existence of earlier nations ===
{{See also|Nationalism in Antiquity|Nationalism in the Middle Ages}}
The broad consensus amongst [[Nationalism studies|scholars of nationalism]] is that nations are a recent phenomenon.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mylonas |first1=Harris |last2=Tudor |first2=Maya |date=2023 |title=Varieties of Nationalism: Communities, Narratives, Identities |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/varieties-of-nationalism/479019877D9D7F0504AD64F6D9AF102B |journal=Cambridge University Press |language=en |doi=10.1017/9781108973298 |isbn=9781108973298 |s2cid=259646325 |quote=a broad scholarly consensus that the nation is a recent and imagined identity dominates political science}}</ref> However, some historians argue that their existence can be traced to the medieval period, or a minority believe even to antiquity.

[[Adrian Hastings]] argued that nations and nationalism are predominantly Christian phenomena, with Jews being the sole exception. He viewed them as the "true proto-nation" that provided the original model of nationhood through the foundational example of [[ancient Israel]] in the [[Hebrew Bible]], despite losing their political sovereignty for nearly two millennia. The Jews, however, maintained a cohesive national identity throughout this period, which ultimately culminated in the emergence of [[Zionism]] and the establishment of modern lsrael.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=Adrian |title=The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-521-59391-3 |location=Cambridge |pages=186-187}}</ref> [[Anthony D. Smith]] wrote that the Jews of the late [[Second Temple period]] provide "a closer approximation to the ideal type of the nation ... perhaps anywhere else in the ancient world."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Anthony D. |title=National Identity |date=1993 |publisher=University of Nevada Press |isbn=978-0-87417-204-1 |edition=Reprint |series=Ethnonationalism in comparative perspective |location=Reno Las Vegas |pages=48-50}}</ref>

[[Susan Reynolds]] has argued that many European medieval kingdoms were nations in the modern sense, except that political participation in nationalism was available only to a limited prosperous and literate class,<ref>{{cite book |first=Susan |last=Reynolds |author-link=Susan Reynolds |title=Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900–1300 |location=Oxford |date=1997}}</ref> while Hastings claims England's Anglo-Saxon kings mobilized mass nationalism in their struggle to repel Norse invasions. He argues that [[Alfred the Great]], in particular, drew on biblical language in his law code and that during his reign selected books of the Bible were translated into [[Old English]] to inspire Englishmen to fight to turn back the Norse invaders. Hastings argues for a strong renewal of English nationalism (following a hiatus after the [[Norman conquest]]) beginning with the [[Wycliffe's Bible|translation of the complete bible into English by the Wycliffe circle in the 1380s]], positing that the frequency and consistency in usage of the word nation from the early fourteenth century onward strongly suggest [[English nationalism]] and the English nation have been continuous since that time.<ref>{{cite book |first=Adrian |last=Hastings |author-link=Adrian Hastings |title=The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1997}}</ref>

However, [[John Breuilly]] criticizes Hastings's assumption that continued usage of a term such as 'English' means continuity in its meaning.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Özkirimli |first1=Umut |title=Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |pages=78 |edition=2nd}}</ref> [[Patrick J. Geary]] agrees, arguing names were adapted to different circumstances by different powers and could convince people of continuity, even if radical discontinuity was the lived reality.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Özkirimli |first1=Umut |title=Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |pages=77 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

[[Florin Curta]] cites Medieval [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian nation]] as another possible example. [[First Bulgarian Empire|Danubian Bulgaria]] was founded in 680-681 as a continuation of [[Old Great Bulgaria|Great Bulgaria]]. After the adoption of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] in 864 it became one of the cultural centres of [[Slavs|Slavic]] Europe. Its leading cultural position was consolidated with the invention of the [[Cyrillic script]] in its capital [[Preslav]] on the eve of the 10th century.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIAYMNOOe0YC&pg=PR1 |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks |first=Florin |last=Curta |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2006 |pages=221–222 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9780521815390 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Hugh Poulton argues the development of [[Old Church Slavonic]] literacy in the country had the effect of preventing the assimilation of the [[South Slavs]] into neighboring cultures and stimulated the development of a distinct ethnic identity.<ref name="Poulton2000">{{cite book |last=Poulton |first=Hugh |title=Who are the Macedonians? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppbuavUZKEwC&pg=PA19 |edition=2nd |year=2000 |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |isbn=978-1-85065-534-3 |pages=19–20 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> A symbiosis was carried out between the numerically weak Bulgars and the numerous Slavic tribes in that broad area from the Danube to the north, to the [[Aegean Sea]] to the south, and from the [[Adriatic Sea]] to the west, to the [[Black Sea]] to the east, who accepted the common ethnonym "''Bulgarians''".<ref>{{cite book |first=Vassil |last=Karloukovski |url=http://www.kroraina.com/macedon/mik_6_1.html |script-title=mk:Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македонија. Иван Микулчиќ (Скопје, Македонска цивилизација, 1996) |title=Srednovekovni gradovi i tvrdini vo Makedonija. Ivan Mikulčiḱ (Skopje, Makedonska civilizacija, 1996) |language=mk |trans-title=Medieval cities and fortresses in Macedonia. Ivan Mikulcic (Skopje, Macedonian Civilization, 1996) |isbn=978-9989756078 |page=72 |publisher=Kroraina.com |access-date=2015-02-11 |year=1996 |archive-date=15 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915012207/http://www.kroraina.com/macedon/mik_6_1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 10th century the Bulgarians established a form of national identity that was far from modern nationalism but helped them to survive as a distinct entity through the centuries.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUVgsK_GfxYC&pg=PA11 |title=An Introduction to Post-Communist Bulgaria: Political, Economic and Social Transformations |first=Emil |last=Giatzidis |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9780719060953 |year=2002 |via=[[Google Books]] |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115223028/https://books.google.com/books?id=MUVgsK_GfxYC&pg=PA11 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C&q=Thus+by+Peter%27s+reign+the+Bulgar+and+Slavic+elements+had+merged+to+form+a+Slavic |title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century |first=John V. A. Jr. |last=Fine |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] |year=1991 |page=165 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=978-0472081493 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{Clarify|reason=If it's "far from modern nationalism" explain how this fits into the discussion|date=August 2023}}

[[Anthony Kaldellis]] asserts in ''Hellenism in Byzantium'' (2008) that what is called the [[Byzantine Empire]] was the Roman Empire transformed into a [[nation-state]] in the [[Middle Ages]].{{Page needed|date=August 2022}}

Azar Gat also argues [[China]], [[Korea]] and [[Japan]] were nations by the time of the [[European Middle Ages]].<ref>Azar Gat, ''Nations: The Long History and Deep Roots of Political Ethnicity and Nationalism'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2013, China, p. 93 Korea, p. 104 and Japan p., 105.</ref>