The
Romaniote Jews or
Romaniots (, Romaniotes) are a
Jewish community with distinctive cultural features and who have lived in the territory of
Greece and neighboring areas for more than 2,000 years. Their languages were
Yevanic, a Greek dialect, and
modern Greek. They derived their name from the old name for the people of the
Byzantine Empire,
Romaioi. Large communities were located in
Thebes,
Ioannina,
Chalcis,
Corfu,
Arta,
Corinth, and on the islands of
Lesbos,
Chios,
Samos,
Rhodes, and
Cyprus, among others. The Romaniotes are historically distinct from the
Sephardim, who settled in Greece after the 1492
expulsion of the Jews from Spain.