7 - Athens: The Image of Modern Hellenism

Summary

Introduction

This chapter examines how the concept of Greek identity has been shaped by the urban space of Athens, the capital city of the modern Greek state. As the Greek state has been Atheno-centric since its foundation, the capital has always been its showcase. Every fortune and misfortune of the state has had an effect on its capital city in cultural or physical terms. Conversely, the image of Athens has played a vital role in the propagation of notions of modern Greek identity. Accordingly, this chapter focuses on key transformations in the capital since the foundation of modern Greece. I also examine its place within wider debates about Greek history and identity, for Athens has often been seen to embody and illustrate the narratives and myths of national history. I shall also touch upon current conservation approaches that are interrelated with the construction of the historic Athenian urban environment and the recent attempts at redefining Greek identity.

Constructing Greek Identity

Official narratives of the historical and cultural development of the Greek nation are largely based on the notion of continuity with antiquity. Continuity can be seen as the essence of national historiography and has had a direct effect on the outbreaks of nationalist sentiment that have always been on the agenda of Greek social life and have been experienced by every generation, even today. In the popular imagination the nation is always under threat, whether under the guise of the ‘Albanian advance’ after the fall of Hoxha’s totalitarian regime, or as a result of the demands of neighbouring countries for a share of the unquestionable ethnic purity of the ancient narrative. Likewise, every success that brings Greece into international headlines acquires a national importance and comes to prove the truthfulness of ethnic ‘continuity’ through the centuries. I approach the idea of an ethnically defined nation, in this case the Greek nation, as an ideological construct, as the creation of either the state or elite intelligentsias, set in extremely malleable historical, cultural and symbolic frameworks.

In Greece itself, the concept of a modern Greek ‘nation’ became established in the collective consciousness around the end of 19th century (Kitromilidis 1989; Lekkas 1996).