In the Balkans, political identity has rarely been separated from mythic memory, sacred geography, and collective historical consciousness. National communities were shaped not only through institutions and borders, but also through narratives of sacrifice, faith, historical destiny, and symbolic attachment to territory. In such a political and cultural environment, myth became more than a simple story about the past – it evolved into a mechanism through which societies interpreted history, legitimized statehood, and constructed geopolitical identity.
Religion, myths and homo balkanicus
Anthony D. Smith underlines that myths are understood as indispensable components of the cultural framework of nationalism. In the context of nation states, foundational myths therefore play a crucial role in shaping collective consciousness and fostering a sense of national identity. In addition, Chiara Bottici defines political myth as a shared narrative through which members of a social group give meaning to their political experience and action. In this sense, it can function both as a means of emancipation and as an instrument of domination, depending on whether it leads toward autonomy or subordination.
Mihailo Đurić, one of Serbia’s most prominent philosophers, says the cradle of myths in the Balkans is religion, and in this context, mythic truth transcends all human boundaries. He emphasizes that it is superhuman, infinite, absolute truth. All state-building processes in the Balkans, and all the roots of today’s systems of sovereign states, emerged through the differentiation of religion. Contemporary secularity is imbued with mythic beliefs and no clear boundary can be established between myth and modernity, the religious and the secular, the spiritual and the enlightened, the rational and the emotional.
Myth unites space, body, spirit, and mind of the Balkan individual (homo balkanicus). Homo Balcanicus describes a specific cultural, psychological, and historical mentality characteristic of the peoples of the Balkans. It is often used in literature, sociology, and anthropology as an archetype of a personality shaped by turbulent history, cultural hybridity, strong emotions, and traditional values. Balkan peoples often display a deterministic relationship to territory, overestimating “their” place and elevating it to the center of the world. In popular tradition, one encounters myths of being located at a global crossroads, myths of great natural wealth, myths of sacred protective land and saintly rulers, as well as myths of national greatness and a special historical mission.
A notable example is the widespread Balkan myth of being located at the “crossroads of civilizations.” In various national narratives, the Balkans are portrayed not as a peripheral region, but as a strategic and civilizational meeting point between East and West, Christianity and Islam, Europe and Asia. This perception grants geopolitical and symbolic importance to territory, while simultaneously reinforcing collective beliefs about historical significance, sacrifice, and a special civilizational mission.
The geographical code
For Balkan peoples, the geographic code represents a structured mental and cultural relationship to their geographic space. This code is not naturally given; it is a culturally constructed system of meanings formed over time through myths, history, religion, language, and ritual. It functions as a collective mental map organizing space into categories of “ours,” “theirs,” “sacred,” “dangerous,” “central,” or “marginal.” Space thus acquires symbolic character – a mountain is no longer merely a geological formation but becomes the dwelling place of gods, ancestors, or heroes. Such symbolic elements transform space into a narrative resource of collective history.
Cetinje represents a fusion of the sacred and the secular, functioning simultaneously as a spiritual and political center of Montenegrin historical consciousness. Situated beneath Mount Lovćen, it exists within a landscape deeply embedded in collective memory and national mythology. In this sense, Lovćen is not merely a mountain, but a symbolic dwelling place of history and historical greatness associated with Petar II Petrović-Njegoš. At the same time, Cetinje lies on a karst field, a geographical formation often perceived as a symbol of Balkan endurance and identity, demonstrating how space becomes inseparable from myth and political imagination.
In the context of the Balkan peoples, myth represents a fundamental link to a concrete spatial framework: territory. Over the course of history, this symbolic and narrative function of space has become the basis for the development of two key dimensions: national states and geopolitical identities. National states often draw their legitimacy and sense of belonging precisely from mythic narratives describing attachment to a particular land and historical tradition, while geopolitical identities integrate mythic elements into strategic perceptions of a people’s position within the region and beyond. In this sense, myth is not merely a cultural or historical phenomenon, but a constructive factor of political and spatial self-awareness.
