This is the lecture given by the famous Byzantium scholar on March 19, 1996 at the Gennadius Library on the subject of historical continuity in relation to time and space, a flexible space that sometimes expands with the colonies and sometimes shrinks, including both indigenous and non-indigenous Greeks, since, little by little, the only conditions for participation in Greek society become the knowledge and use of the Greek language, which separates Greeks from barbarians, and participation in Greek education. A fundamental characteristic of Greek culture is anthropocentrism: Man, the absolute reference of every law, broadens and deepens the boundaries of knowledge and tames nature in order to better understand the universe. Christianity will embrace this characteristic and the idea of freedom: man's path towards salvation is an act of freedom like that of the ancients towards self-knowledge. This very firm commitment to freedom constitutes an undeniable element of Greek continuity. The laconic "molon lave" makes the Greek die standing so as not to live on his knees. The physical proof of this continuity is the Greek language, a code of a collective cryptomnesia that goes back to ancient times, just as symbols are the condensed meaning of a historical solidarity that is shared only by those who are consciously or unconsciously moved by their sight. Eleni Glykatzi-Arveler was born in Athens in 1926 and studied at the School of Philosophy of the University of Athens. She specialized in Byzantine History in Paris with a scholarship from the French government and in 1967 was elected professor at the Sorbonne, where in 1976 she became the first female rector. In 1982 she was appointed rector of the Paris Academy and chancellor of its universities. She has been honored with many distinctions and titles from many European and international institutions and scientific organizations.