Ancient monuments and modern identities: a critical history of archaeology in 19th and 20th century Greece

237 Pages·2017·2.8 MB·English

by  Voutsaki

Ancient Monuments and
Modern Identities

Ancient Monuments and Modern Identities sets out to examine the role of
archaeology in the creation of ethnic, national and social identities in 19th
and 20th century Greece. The essays included in this volume examine the
development of interpretative and methodological principles guiding
the recovery, protection and interpretation of material remains and their
presentation to the public. The role of archaeology is examined alongside
prevailing perceptions of the past, and is thereby situated in its political and
ideological context. The book is organized chronologically and follows the
changing attitudes to the past during the formation, expansion and consoli-
dation of the Modern Greek State. The aim of this volume is to examine the
premises of the archaeological discipline, and to apply reflection and critique
to contemporary archaeological theory and practice. The past, however, is
not a domain exclusive to archaeologists. The contributors to this volume
include prehistoric and classical archaeologists, but also modern historians,
museum specialists, architectural historians, anthropologists, and legal scholars
who have all been invited to discuss the impact of the material traces of the
past on the Modern Greek social imaginary.
Sofia Voutsaki is Professor of Greek Archaeology at the University of
Groningen, the Netherlands.
Paul Cartledge is A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow of Clare College,
Cambridge, and A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, emeritus, University
of Cambridge, UK.

Ancient Monuments and
Modern Identities
A Critical History of Archaeology in
19th and 20th Century Greece

Edited by
Sofia Voutsaki and
Paul Cartledge
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 selection and editorial matter, Sofia Voutsaki and
Paul Cartledge; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Voutsaki, Sofia. | Cartledge, Paul.
Title: Ancient Monuments and Modern Identities: a Critical History
of Archaeology in 19th and 20th Century Greece / edited by Sofia
Voutsaki and Paul Cartledge.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York,
NY: Routledge, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016011639 | ISBN 9780754652892 (hardback:
alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315513454 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Greece—Antiquities. | Cultural property—
Protection—Greece—History. | Archaeology—Political aspects—
Greece—History. | Archaeology—Social aspects—Greece—
History. | Nationalism—Greece—History. | Group identity—
Greece—History. | Social change—Greece—History. | Greece—
Politics and government—19th century. | Greece—Politics and
government—20th century.
Classification: LCC DF78. A49 2016 | DDC 938—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016011639
ISBN: 978-0-7546-5289-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-51345-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Keystroke, Neville Lodge, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton
Contents

List of figures vii
List of contributors ix
Editors’ preface xi
List of abbreviations xiii
Introduction: ancient monuments and modern identities 1
SOFIA VOUTSAKI
1 The provenance of Greek painted vases: disciplinary
debates and modern identities in the early 19th century 24
GIOVANNA CESERANI
2 Travellers and ruins in the Spartan landscape:
a ghost story 41
PARASKEVAS MATALAS
3 The reception of J.J. Winckelmann by Greek
scholarship during the formative stage of the
Modern Greek state (1832–1862) 62
IRENE FATSEA
4 The legal protection of antiquities in Greece and
national identity 77
DAPHNE VOUDOURI
5 Displaying archaeology: exhibiting ideology in 19th
and early 20th century Greek museums 95
ANDROMACHE GAZI
vi Contents
6 Archaeology and politics: the Greek–German Olympia
excavations treaty, 1869–1875 117
THANASSIS N. BOHOTIS
7 The Hellenization of the prehistoric past: the search
for Greek identity in the work of Christos Tsountas 130
SOFIA VOUTSAKI

8 ‘The stamp of national life’: plaster casts and their uses
in Greece at the end of the 19th century 148
ALEXANDRA ALEXANDRI
9 Beyond the debt to antiquity: constructing a national
architecture for Modern Greece 164
ELENI BASTÉA
10 Are histories of archaeology good to think with? 186
MICHAEL FOTIADIS
11 Why should the state protect the cultural heritage?
The answer offered by Greek law 199
VASSILIS VOUTSAKIS
Index 212
Figures

Frontispiece View of the Temple of Olympian Zeus
(from north-west) xv
1.1 The frontispiece of the second issue of the Annali
dell’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica 29
2.1 Jan Styka, At Leonidas’ Tomb (1912–13) 41
2.2 View of the Theatre at Sparta 43
2.3 Plan of Sparta 44
2.4 Chateaubriand in the ruins of Sparta 45
2.5 The famous actor Talma, in the tragedy Leonidas by Pichat (1825) 47
2.6 ‘Leonidas’ just unearthed (Sparta 1925) 52
2.7 ‘Taygetos, where shine . . . an enormous Spartan soul . . .’ 55
2.8 ‘Sparta and Taygetos’ 56
5.1 The National Museum, Athens 101
5.2 Mykonos, with the museum in foreground and the town 101
5.3 Volos Archaeological Museum 102
5.4 Thera Museum, the vase display in the 1900s 105
5.5 Sparta Museum, vestibule 105
5.6 Herakleion Museum, view of the main room 106
5.7 The statue of Pallas Athena, with caption. National
Archaeological Museum, Athens 107
7.1 Tsountas’ evolutionary sequences: ethnic groups, houses
and graves 135
9.1 The National Technical University of Athens, Averof Building
(1861–76) 167
9.2 House with caryatids on Hagion Asomaton Street, Athens 168
9.3 The Monument to the Unknown Soldier, Athens 173
9.4 Thessaloniki train station 174
9.5 Elementary School, Lycabettus Hill, Athens 175
9.6 Experimental School, Thessaloniki 176
9.7 Example of multi-storey, residential, signature architecture,
118 Benaki Street, Athens 180
9.8 Representative example of anonymous, multi-storey
apartment buildings, designed and built by contractors,
Alaca Imaret neighbourhood, Thessaloniki 181

Contributors

Alexandra Alexandri worked as an archaeologist at the Hellenic Ministry of
Culture for over two decades. She was research coordinator and principal
researcher during Greece’s participation in the AREA – ARchives of
European Archaeology project (1999–2008). She has extensive experience
in the documentation and digitization of archaeological archival material
and was the technical advisor on IT developments for AREA III (2001–
2004). She has presented papers and posters and chaired sessions on the
history of archaeology at numerous conferences, and has collaborated on
two exhibitions highlighting the importance of archaeological archives.
Eleni Bastéa is Regents’ Professor of Architecture and Director of the
International Studies Institute at the University of New Mexico. Her
books include The Creation of Modern Athens: Planning the Myth (Cambridge
University Press, 2000, co-winner of the John D. Critikos Prize and
finalist for the Runciman Award, recently translated into Greek), Memory
and Architecture (University of New Mexico Press, 2004), and a collection
of poems, Venice without Gondolas (Finishing Line Press, 2013). Her
research focuses on memory and place.
Thanassis N. Bohotis has taught Modern History at the Department of
Political Science (University of Crete, 2002–06), at the Department
of Philosophy (University of Patras, 2007–08), and at the Hellenic Open
University (2001–14). His research focuses on fascism, the political aspects
of archaeology, and the relationship between literature and ideology.
Giovanna Ceserani is Associate Professor of Classics at Stanford University.
Her research focuses on the classical tradition with an emphasis on the
intellectual history of classical scholarship, historiography and archaeology
from the eighteenth century onwards. She is also the author of Italy’s Lost
Greece: Magna Graecia and the Making of Modern Archaeology (Oxford
University Press, 2012).
Irene (Rena) Fatsea is Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture
and Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
Her research interests concentrate on the intellectual exchanges between