Macedonian Renaissance is a label sometimes used to describe the period of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (867-1056), especially the 10th century, which some scholars have seen as a time of increased interest in classical scholarship and the assimilation of classical motifs into Christian artwork. Because of problems with the term, scholars have employed alternative names to describe this period, including "renaissance" (with a small "r"), "renascence",Middle Byzantine Renaissance or First Byzantine Renaissance (the Palaeologan Renaissance from the 13th century on being the second). Macedonian art refers to the art of this period.

The term “Byzantine” arose from the city of Byzantium which was founded in the eighth century on the same site that was Constantinople and is now Istanbul. Being the eastern most territory of the Roman Empire allowed the groundwork for the Macedonian Renaissance to come about. Latin was the imperial language of law and government while Ancient Greek was the language of its literature and the religion was Orthodox Christianity.

Leo the Mathematician or the Philosopher (Greek: Λέων ὁ Μαθηματικός or Φιλόσοφος, Léōn ho Mathēmatikós or Philósophos; c.790 – after 869) was a Byzantine philosopher and logician associated with the Macedonian Renaissance and the end of Iconoclasm. His only preserved writings are some notes contained in manuscripts of Plato's dialogues. He has been called a "true Renaissance man" and "the cleverest man in Byzantium in the 9th century". He was archbishop of Thessalonica and later became the head of the Magnaura School of philosophy in Constantinople, where he taught Aristotelian logic.

Leo was born in Thessaly, a cousin of the Patriarch of Constantinople, John the Grammarian. In his youth he was educated at Constantinople, but he travelled to the monasteries of Andros, where he could obtain rare manuscripts and was taught mathematics by an old monk. He originally taught privately in obscurity in Constantinople. The story goes that when one of his students was captured during the Byzantine–Arab Wars, the Caliph al-Mamun was so impressed by his knowledge of mathematics that he offered Leo great riches to come to Baghdad. Leo took the letter from the caliph to the Byzantine emperor Theophilos, who, impressed by his international repute, conferred on him a school (ekpaideutērion) in either the Magnaura or the church of the Forty Martyrs.

Pitu Guli (Cyrillic: Питу Гули) (1865, Kuruşova — 1903, Kuruşova, Ottoman Empire) was an Aromanian revolutionary in Ottoman Macedonia, a local leader of what is commonly referred to as the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO).

Born to a poor family, he demonstrated an independent and rebellious nature early in life. He left his home in Macedonia at the age of 17 in search of wealth in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. In 1885, he returned to Macedonia, formed a rebel squad and joined other elements of the revolutionary movement against the Ottoman Empire.

Upon his return to Macedonia, Pitu was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, seven years of which were spent in the prison in Trabzon, Turkey. In 1895, he again returned to Kruševo and became a member of IMRO. From this time on, he was fully committed to the independence of Macedonia from Turkish rule. In 1902, he once again traveled to Bulgaria where he met with Toma Davidov. On his return to Macedonia, he was injured at the border and was forced to turn back.

The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking. The Greek is a mysterious figure involved in numerous criminal activities. His given name is never mentioned on the show, and though he is known only as "The Greek", he has stated (in the episode Port in a Storm) that he is not actually Greek. A quiet and unassuming man, the Greek prefers to keep a low profile, operating all of his business through his lieutenant Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos. His smuggling organization operated from a small diner in Baltimore for years, and while Vondas would conduct business the Greek would listen in quietly at the counter. Nick Sobotka, upon seeing the Greek identify himself, was amazed that the shadowy figure had been in plain sight the entire time.

Despite his calm appearance, the Greek is cunning and ruthless, and only interested in facts that make him more money. Series creator David Simon has said that The Greek is an embodiment of raw unencumbered capitalism. Anyone interfering in this process is eliminated immediately, and he prefers to leave victims headless and handless to hinder identification.