George Thomson and the Dialectics of Hellenism

Abstract

When I think of G. Thomson one question which immediately springs to mind is: why was he, and why is he still, so popular in Greece, a country he visited only four or five times? Was it his scholarly work, his Marxist beliefs or his emphasis on the continuity of Greek culture that bestowed on him respect and acclaim among Greeks? It seems to me that it was a combination of all these three factors which resulted in the fact that Thomson is one of the few classical scholars whose major studies have been translated into Greek and enjoyed wide publicity. He is now considered in Greece not only an exception among classicists but an exception among those who have studied the historical development of Greek culture and vehemently stressed its continuity. Despite the fact that his views were largely ignored during the debate of the 1960s and early 70s concerning the question of continuity, and which centred around Byzantium, Thomson's views on the subject must seriously be taken into account.     

1973: the Metapolitefsi that never was

Abstract

Despite the abundant literature on the Greek democratic transition of 1974, the dictatorial regime's failed self-transformation attempt of 1973 (the so-called ‘Markezinis experiment’) has attracted very little attention. Based on the account of the nature and structure of the regime, and of the tactics of the actors (regime elites and counter-elites) during the transition period, this article tries to account for this short-lived and ill-fated attempt, the outcome of which has condemned it to oblivion.     

Encountering the Epistemological Challenge or,beyond Humanism: Contemporary Greek Criticism and the Languages of Theory

Abstract

It has been a common assumption that the great number of existing Histories of Modern Greek Literature reflects the growing maturity and sophistication of Greek literary studies. Specialists in the field argue that the variety of approaches and perspectives used in these surveys, while establishing a sense of tradition and achievement, has also stimulated both significant research and major reappraisals. If one adds to this scholarly labour the anthologies, the dictionaries, the encyclopaedias, as well as the studies on particular periods and schools, the picture of a thriving critical industry emerges clearly. It is then very difficult to try and reconcile these promising signs with the pervasive scarcity of meta-theoretical work, beginning with the embarrassing absence of a History of Modern Greek Criticism itself. For how can a field develop without introspection? How can a discipline refine its methods or advance its causes without undergoing vigilant self-examination? The lack of theoretical reflexivity on the part of contemporary Greek literary studies gives often the alarming impression that Greek criticism does not even know its history …     

Miloš Obrenović and the deposition of a Constantinopolitan Patriarch

Abstract

In my limited study of the Greek and Serbian Churches in the nineteenth century, I had found numerous cases of Greek meddling in Serbian affairs, but never a reverse case. Then I came across a passing reference in Gavrilovic´s fine biography of Prince Milo? Obrenovi? of Serbia (who ruled from 1815 to 1839) to Milo?’ playing a major part in ousting a Patriarch of Constantinople. Following up Gavrilovi?'s citation led me to the following letter written by Prince Milo? during his triumphal visit to Constantinople in 1835. It was written (and it should be noted this means dictated since Milo? was illiterate) to his wife Ljubica on 28 September 1835. Since I have never come across any reference to the events Milos describes in any work I have made use of on the patriarchate in the 19th century, I have taken the liberty of translating the letter from Milo?’ Serbian both to call attention to it and to make the text available to a wider range of scholars. The original text is to be found in Mita Petrovi?, Financije i Ustanove obnovljene Srbije do 1842, Beograd, 1901, pp.336–37.     

Perfectly absent: the emergence of the Modern Greek perfect in Early Modern Greek

Abstract

This paper traces the emergence of the Standard Modern Greek perfect ?χω + infinitive in the Early Modern Greek period. It shows that the construction appears in written sources towards the very end of the seventeenth century. Special attention is given to ‘phantom’ perfects, which can be found in editions of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literary and non-literary texts as well as in the bibliography and which distort the picture of its emergence.     

Anti-Venizelist criticism of Venizelos' policy during the Balkan Wars (1912‒13)

Abstract

Although the Balkan Wars are regarded as a defining moment in modern Greek history that led to the expansion of Greek territory, they also constitute an important chapter in the history of internal Greek politics: the Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos consolidated his position as the country's most competent politician; the Palace, at the head of the victorious Greek army, regained much of its lost prestige after the unsuccessful Greco–Turkish war of 1897; and most importantly, the old parties began to function as a united front against Venizelos. This reaction was majorly triggered by Venizelos' handling of the country's foreign affairs in 1912?13. The anti-Venizelists' rhetoric against Venizelos diplomacy invested heavily in tradition and the role of the king and was a harbinger of the national schism of 1915?16.     

Traditional oral theatre meets popular middle-class melodrama: the Greek shadow-theatre puppeteer Vasilaros

Abstract

Vasilaros (1899–1979), a moderately educated Greek shadow-theatre puppeteer, adapted popular melodramas and novels with strong bourgeois morality, such as Οι δ?ο λοχ?αι in 1931, Η ?γνωστο? in 1937, Αι δ?ο ορφανα? in 1944, and Οι ?θλιοι in 1955. The adaptations indicate that by the mid-1930s, the borderline between the traditional oral art of shadow theatre and mainstream culture had become considerably blurred. This article explores the convergence of these two cultures in terms of dramatic structure and ideology.     

‘I beg you to tear up my letters …’ Nikos Skalkottas's last years in Berlin (1928–33)

Abstract

Nikos Skalkottas (1904–49), the Greek pupil of Schoenberg, was one of the greatest and most prolific atonal and twelve-note composers of the twentieth century, though unrecognised in Athens during his lifetime. The fifty-six letters that he wrote to his patron Manolis Benakis illuminate Skalkottas's life and his music, the financial and emotional difficulties leading to his enforced departure from Berlin, his aesthetic viewpoint, his opinions on Greece and its musical life, and his reasons for composing the popular ‘36 Greek Dances’. This is the first published account of this important documentary source.     

Abducted Wives: A Hellenistic Narrative in Judges 21?

the author suggests the possibility that Judges 13-16, 17-21, and 2 Samuel 21-23 may have been added to the Deuteronomistic History in the late Persian or Hellenistic period, for this literature shows continuity with Greek literature. In particular, the author traces the similarities between the biblical account of the “Abduction at Shiloh” in Judges 21 with the account of the “Rape of the Sabine Women” found in Livy and Plutarch. Though the biblical author lived before these classical authors, the biblical author may have known an earlier version of the tale, as demonstrated by at least twelve plot similarities between the narratives.     

The doubling of the self in the private diaries of Ion Dragoumis,George Seferis and George Theotokas

Abstract

The 'doubling of the self' is a phenomenon that appears in entries of private diaries and consists in the division of the diarist's self into two: the self that acts and the self that observes and writes. This phenomenon can be found in Dragoumis' ?υλλα ημ?ρολογιου, Seferis' M?ρ?ζ and Theotokas' T?τραδια ημ?ρολογιου. There are entries where the doubling of the self occurs in practice and entries where it is described, discussed or analysed. All these reveal the three Greek diarists' contradictory feelings about the doubling of the self, but also the latter's significance for the private diary.     

The uses of Greek Orthodoxy in the early poetry of Yannis Ritsos

Abstract

The influence of Greek Orthodoxy on Ritsos' poetry, previously neglected because of the poet's political commitments, is examined. Against the backdrop of the poet's Orthodox upbringing and his early conversion to communism, Ritsos' uses of Orthodoxy in certain poems written before 1948 are considered. The diversity is demonstrated during this period of Ritsos' conception and treatment of the tensions and oppositions between Orthodoxy and Marxism. The ideological influence of Varnalis on the earliest collection, Tρακτ?ρ, can be contrasted with the more nuanced use of Orthodox material in Eπιταφιο? and the sympathetic depiction of childhood religion in Mια πυγολαμπιδα φωτιζ?ι τη νυχτα. Only in the particular conditions of wartime Greece does Ritsos manage a bridge between Orthodoxy and Marxism: H Kυρα Aμπ?λιων synthesizes Ritsos' liberation message with images rooted in popular religion.     

The Particle γάρ: From Ancient Greek Sentence Connector to Blatant Line Filler? A Case-study on the Late Medieval Greek Chronicle of Morea

Ancient Greek is widely regarded as a language with an extraordinary number of so-called “Wackernagel P2 particles” such as γ?ρ, δ(?), and μ?ν, which serve a multitude of discourse functions. From the post-Classical period on, however, these small words gradually lose their importance in discourse and die out. This is reflected in the interest of scholars: while there are many studies on particles in older stages of Greek, not much research has been conducted on the particles in late medieval Greek (LMG; twelfth to fifteenth centuries). At this stage of the Greek language, the P2 particles are acknowledged to no longer be part of the living spoken language. Nonetheless, some of these small words still turn up in texts written in the vernacular. Since most LMG vernacular literature is composed in the metre of the 15-syllabic πολιτικ?? στ?χο? (vernacular prose being extremely scarce in this period), these occurrences are traditionally explained by appealing to metrical and/or stylistic reasons: the particles constitute archaizing relics merely inserted to give a classicizing flavour to the text, or are even used “metri causa”, simply to achieve the required number of syllables. In this note, I present a case-study on the “explanatory” particle γ?ρ (“for”) in the Chronicle of Morea, the best-known verse chronicle of the Greek Middle Ages. I show that γ?ρ is more than a blatant line filler. First, γ?ρ is not at all distributed at random, but consistently occupies P2 and thus obeys the so-called “Law of Wackernagel”, as the particles in Ancient Greek do. Moreover, γ?ρ can still exert a clear discourse function, albeit often a different one than in Ancient Greek.     

Feminist geographies in Greece: a personal trajectory between ‘local’ and ‘international’

Abstract

Feminist debates in the context of an active women's/feminist movement found their way into the Greek academy in the second half of the 1970s, initially in history. Urban studies and geography were ‘late-comers’ in these debates which took place in different disciplinary environments where geography courses were taught. The article presents a personal account in and through the development of feminist approaches in urban geography, drawing from my teaching and research experience since 1982 in a department of urban and regional planning. This experience has been accumulated as a hard exercise in navigating through the denial and reluctant consent of various levels of administration, students’ changing acceptance, some women’s valuable active support, in the university and beyond, and other colleagues’ opposition or indifference. In this process, recent and longer-term developments have contributed to form a (continuously negotiated and contested) space for feminism, for tolerance, diversity and difference, in which a ‘we’ has been tortuously formed which speaks across worlds, participates in a plurality of communities, communicates in more than one languages and in a plurality of voices between ‘local’ and ‘international’.     

Oriental borrowings in Medieval Greek: new evidence from the BnF manuscript Supplément persan 939

Abstract

The topic of this article is the historical evolution of Greek foreign policy in the Middle East over the past thirty-five years. It essentially seeks to explain the broad framework of conditions and objectives within which Greek foreign policy has been made towards the Arab Middle East and Israel. It argues that the amount of involvement of Greek foreign policy in the area was relatively little. Though much has changed in Greece's approach towards the Middle East since the 1990s, there is also a significant continuity of attitude, in the sense that serious attention has not been paid to this part of the world.     

On Sappho 1: vv. 7–15 and Rigveda 1.118; an Emendation in v. 18

The literary image in Sappho 1.7–15 of a goddess ascending on and travelling by a chariot which is yoked to birds occurs also of the Daughter of the Sun in hymn 1.118 of the Rigveda. Apart from the image as such, the shared context of prayer in the two poems and certain features common to the identities of both goddesses suggest that the images share a common ancestor in Indo-European religious discourse.

In Sappho 1.18, the emendation πε?θην, together with the understanding of the major ms. tradition in v. 19 as a crasis κ?c?γην?相似文献   

Heirs to Byzantium: identity and the Helleno-Romaic dichotomy amongst the Istanbul Greek migrant community in Greece

Abstract

The Istanbul Greek migrant community resident in Greece exists in the space between two homelands and two identities, expressed in the dichotomy between the Hellenic and the Romaic. The migrants exploit this flexibility and ambivalence in Greek identity to contextually navigate a range of social pressures – diaspora, discrimination, alienation, and even financial collapse. At times they pursue assimilation with their host population as the most Hellenic of the Hellenes, whilst at other times they assume a Romaic identity to distinguish themselves from the mainland Greeks. Deploying an identity rooted in Byzantium, the Istanbul Greeks are able to be Greek but more than simply Hellenic.     

Creating the world: the origins of all things in ancient Greek myth and medicine

Abstract

In the sixth and fifth centuries BC, a series of dramatic shifts in science and the arts took place in the Greek world, and history, medicine, philosophy, and science came into being. This paper examines 'the Greek miracle', looking at how new ideas about 'the origin of all things' were rooted in traditional mythic patterns of thought. In particular, it examines how medical writers thought about the origins of the cosmos, and of disease. The multiple creations of the world present in Greek myth, where the origin of all things was seen as a process of differentiation out of original similarity, may have predisposed the Greeks to be open to the new theories of early scientific thinkers.