 However, they were included as Greeks in an ethnographic study published by French historian and ethnographer Alexander Synvet in 1878.According to Greek historian Pavlos Karolidis writing in 1908, they are a mixture of ancient Greek settlers and particularly Macedonians, Roman-era Greeks, and Byzantine Greeks ("Rûm"), as well as indigenous Levantines.Karolidis was attempting to refute the Russian claims that they were of Aramaic origin.