Ancient Poliochne, on the east coast of the North Aegean island of Lemnos is considered one of the major early urban centers of the Early Bronze Age (c. 3200 – 2100 BC) and the first city in Europe with a basic social and civic structure. Positioned on an elongated rise near the cove of Vroskopos and between two rivers, it thrived due to its strategic location and trade connections with the Northeast Aegean, Asia Minor, the Greek mainland, and the Cyclades. Lemnos was part of the cultural sphere of the Northeast Aegean, along with Troy (Minor Asia), Thermi (on the island of Lesbos), Emporio (Chios), and the Heraeon (Samos). Poliochne offered safe mooring, fresh water, and fertile land, and was inhabited from the mid-5^th to the late 2^nd millennium BC. Several other settlements on Lemnos developed concurrently with Poliochne (Cover photo: Aerial view of Poliochne southern sector, Source: poliochne.gr)

A rectangular building with a double row of stepped seats along its long sides, located on the southwest side of the hill of Poliochne, is considered the earliest evidence of democracy in Europe. Dating back to the Yellow Period (2200–2100 BC), this structure measures over 50 square metres and could have accommodated more than 50 individuals. According to Italian archaeologists, who were in charge of the excavations in the area, the building was likely used as a type of "Bouleuterion" (assembly house), serving as a meeting place for the "notables" or elders - representatives of the settlement's families. These individuals would gather to discuss and address the community’s concerns, highlighting an early form of civic organization. (Source: ime.gr, Photo:  Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesbos)

The city of Poliochne featured fortifications, public buildings, squares, paved roads with water drains, wells, mansions, and smaller stone-built houses. Distinctive pottery styles emerged, such as the stemmed fruit-bowl, tripod pot, and depas cup. Residents engaged in farming, fishing, textile-making, the manufacture of stone tools and weapons, and metalworking— employing techniques such as lost-wax casting by the Green Period. (Source: odysseus.culture.gr)

Aerial view of the archaeological site of Poliochne (Source: poliochne.gr). Excavations began in the 1930s, conducted by the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens A. Della Seta, the School's director, along with his students, excavated nearly two-thirds of the settlement between 1931-1936. Further research continued in phases through the 1980s, with the aim of restoring the buildings.

Poliochni’s development during the Early Bronze Age is marked by color-coded phases. The Blue Period (3200–2700 BC), probably before Troy I, saw a population of around 800–1,000, growing to nearly 1,500 in the Green Period (2700-2400 BC). The city declined in the Red Period (2400–2200 BC) and was abandoned during the Yellow Period (2200–2100 BC) after a major earthquake. (Source: poliochne.gr)

The best-preserved and most thoroughly investigated section of the enclosure wall - measuring 130 m in length, 4.50 m in preserved height, and between 0.70 and 2.80 meters in thickness - is the one that defines the west and south sides of the hill of Poliochne. This structure, of a public and multifaceted nature, is closely linked to the architecture and organization of the Early Bronze Age settlement. (Source: poliochne.gr)

Excavation research in the eastern sector (left, Source: poliochne.gr). Depas cup (Amphikypellon) from Poliochne, found in 1953, Early Bronze Age (2200-2100 BC), height 0,224 m, Archaeological Museum of Lemnos. The depas is a distinctive Bronze Age drinking cup mentioned by Homer,  characterized by a tall, narrow beaker with a round base and two opposing handles forming a circle (right, Source:  odysseus.culture.gr)

Room 643 at Poliochne yielded a golden hoard, contemporary with the one discovered by Schliemann at Troy, which demonstrates the owner's financial and political importance and the extent to which wealth was accumulated with the creation of social classes. Hair rings (top left), a pin (bottom left), necklaces (middle) and a choker (bottom right). The hoard is exhibited at the Athens National Archaeological Museum. (Source: Austrian Archaeological Institute)

Basket earrings with dangling pendants, Poliochne, Lemnos, Early Bronze Age (ca. 2450-2200 BC), Athens, National Archaeological Museum. Especially close ties with artifacts in the Trojan Gold are visible in items such as gold basket earrings worked in filigree and granulation with dangling pendants of cutout gold sheet found at Poliochne. (ca. 2450-2200 BC) (Source: academia.edu)

Lemnos is a beautiful island in the northern Aegean Sea, shaped by volcanic eruptions in the distant past. It boasts a centuries-old history and is a popular holiday destination that captivates visitors with its striking rock formations, unusual volcanic landscapes, rolling green hills, fertile plains, vast sand dunes, golden beaches, and wetlands teeming with life — an ideal place to relax. The island is home to impressive archaeological sites, fortresses, traditional villages, and warm, hospitable locals. Its distinctive and delicious cuisine is considered among the best in the Aegean, featuring products renowned since antiquity — including wine, honey, cheese, fresh fish, and seafood dishes.

Myrina is the capital and main port of Lemnos, built on the site of the island’s ancient town on the west coast. It is named after the wife of Thoas, the first king of Lemnos. The town’s slab-paved alleys, seaside promenade lined with traditional residences, and the castle overlooking the harbor offer some of the most picturesque views on the island. The Byzantine castle stands on a steep, rocky peninsula. It was originally constructed by Byzantine Emperor Andronicus I Comnenus and later took its final form in the early 13th century under Filocalo Navigajoso, the Venetian Grand Duke of Lemnos. (Source: visitgreece.gr, Photo: limnos.gov.gr)

Houses of the so-called "Macedonian type," where the second floor projects outward and is supported by wooden beams (known as sachnisi), can be seen in the narrow alleys of Myrina. This architectural style is also found on other islands in the northeastern Aegean. The 19^th century was a period of economic prosperity for Lemnos. The growth of trade and the influx of wealth from Lemnian emigrants created new economic conditions, which are reflected in the island’s architectural character. (Source:  limnosguide.com.gr)

Hephaestia is an ancient town located on the northern coast of Lemnos. The town was named in honor of Hephaestus, the Olympian god of fire and metallurgy, whose worship was prominent on the island. Myth has it that Hephaestus, had his workshop on Limnos Island. He landed on the legendary Mt. Mosychlo, when Zeus, the father of gods, in his anger seized him and threw him away from Mt. Olumpus. From the 8^th to the 6^th century BCE, Hephaestia served as the island’s capital. The ancient Greek theater at the site dates from the late 5^th to early 4^th century BC. (Photo: limnos.gov.gr)

The winding shoreline stretches and curves for 260km, shaping the island’s sheltered coves, picturesque little harbors, and golden sandy beaches washed by crystal-clear waters.

Plati Beach, just a short distance from Myrina, is known for its well-developed facilities. (Source: limnosguide.com.gr)

Agios Ioannis, with its shallow, crystal-clear waters and organized beach awarded the Blue Flag, is an ideal place to watch the sunset. (Source: limnosguide.com.gr)

The silky white sand, and the crystal-clear, green-azure and calm waters, render Zematas one of the most popular beaches on the island. Its shallow waters are excellent for families with young children. (Source: limnosguide.com.gr)

On the north part of the island, on the hillsides of Katalakkos village lies an area of uncommon beauty. Pachies Ammoudies, are dunes of fine sand, which alongside the scattered brush woods recall the charm of the desert at the north of the Aegean Sea. Expanding over an area of 17.5 acres, they create a magnificent landscape that is unique in Greece. (Source: limnosguide.com.gr)

I.A.

The post Poliochne on the Island of Lemnos: The Earliest Evidence of Social and Civic Structure in Europe appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Brook Manville is a Yale and Oxford trained historian, writer and independent consultant who writes about politics, democracy, technology and business. Through a career that has combined university teaching, media, technology, and consulting, he has authored multiple books and publications on leadership, organizations and democracy, often emphasizing the lessons of ancient democracies for modern-world issues.

His latest book, emphasizing the lessons of ancient democracies for modern world self-governance is The Civic Bargain - How Democracy Survives(Princeton University Press, 2023), which he co-wrote with Josiah Ober, the Constantine Mitsotakis Chair in the School of Humanities and Sciences at the Stanford University. The two also collaborated on an earlier book, A Company of Citizens  - What The World's First Democracy Teaches Leaders About Creating Great Organizations. Manville now also writes a Substack newsletter, further exploring the ideas of his Civic Bargain book: https://civicbargain.substack.com/

Brook spoke to Greek News Agenda* about the role of Athens in the establishment of the democratic paradigm, the lessons that contemporary citizens can take from the study of ancient democracies, and the necessary conditions for democratic survival today.

While in college, what was it that made you switch your study area from pre-med to Classical Civilization?

I was schooled in the 1950s and 60s, when Cold War competition focused American public education on science and math skills. I brought that bias to college at Yale, which provided similar courses, and a path toward my initial goal of attending medical school. However, because of Yale’s historic liberal arts tradition, I also had the opportunity to be exposed to a broad range of humanistic subjects. When I was casting about for a class to fulfil my distribution requirements, my roommate—who was a Classical Language major—suggested a popular course on the basics of Greek philosophy. It was taught by a young, charismatic professor who opened my eyes for the first time to Plato and Aristotle. Their work resonated with me so much: it was clear but also penetrating—and so applicable to questions of the day. My intellectual interest grew, and I went on to take more courses in the ancient world. Upon graduation, I won a scholarship to pursue a degree in ancient history at Oxford—which only increased my enthusiasm. I later returned to Yale for my PhD in that subject, and then wrote my first book: the Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens.  

Can you say more about how your passion for ancient Greek civilization developed?

I was intellectually curious when I entered college, and as I got into the introductory courses about ancient Greece, I realized there was this whole world that I knew nothing about, but was also the basis of so much of western civilization. I had earlier studied American history, and various courses in literature -mostly American, some English- and suddenly I realized many of the questions posed across all the humanities were first asked by the Greeks.  Like the great scholars of the Renaissance –who had the vision of “going back to the sources”– I came to appreciate how special the Hellenic civilization had been. Because its peoples not only asked but also tried to answer those questions—for example, about existence, the good life, political concepts, and learning from history.

How did your collaboration with the historian Josiah Ober come about?

Before my first book, on Athenian citizenship, was to be published by Princeton University Press, it had to be approved by a panel of outside experts. Ober was a rising academic star who had recently joined the Princeton faculty and he was part of that panel. He liked the book, but thought it needed some revisions before publication—which he discussed with me, and I was happy to make. From those first conversations, we became friends, and over the years worked on several other projects together, each bringing a complementary perspective that made for an enduring collaboration. Our book, The Civic Bargain, was first hatched from a discussion he and I started when we were speakers at a National Geographic convention on the future of democracy, in 2016.

Your book, The Civic Bargain uses historical examples of democracy (ancient Athens and Republican Rome, the founding of modern Britain and America) to offer lessons for citizens today worried about democracy’s future. How easy is it to draw parallels among eras with such differing geopolitical characteristics, socioeconomic norms and technological advancement?

Well – it's not easy. But because we thought those comparisons could make a distinctive contribution to current debates, we wanted to figure out how to make them work. After a lot of research and discussion, we hit upon two hypotheses that helped us tease out lessons from our four case examples—despite the many differences you note. 

First, if we could look beneath the variations of time, institutions, technology, etc. of each of the four cases, and get to the deepest fundamentals about what democracy is for any organization, we could find enough essential commonality to compare them.

Second, the comparison could be more fruitful if we could also look beyond questions of why democracy has failed through history –or is now failing– which so much of the contemporary scholarship has emphasized. To use a medical analogy, instead of asking “when and why is the (democratic) patient going to die?” we thought we should ask, “when the patient grew up and became strong and healthy,” what can we learn from its ‘wellness’?” We pursued this idea because even though the ancient democracies did eventually collapse, each of them (Athens and Republican Rome), endured, or continue to endure, for hundreds of years.

On the first point about fundamentals, despite differences in institutions and historical settings, the four cases all exhibit some essential commonalities. For example, they all created some kind of system that allowed people to live and thrive free of the rule of an overarching “boss”—a king, tyrant, oligarchy, etc. Also, they all had to make their system work well enough to deliver what people expect of any kind of governed community, even as a democracy—basic security and welfare. Though their institutions varied in form, they all operated to make collective decisions, hold leaders accountable, and resolve conflicts when they arose. And they all designed their institutions to be led by citizens—which they had to define and defend as a concept.

On the second point, about wellness, we saw that in al the examples, the way the democracy arose, and the way it kept strong, was citizens accepting and acting upon certain shared beliefs and norms necessary for self-governance: willingness to compromise when needed for the common good; and maintaining an attitude of “civic friendship”—tolerance of disagreement, and refusal to demonize or use violence against political opponents. And finally, they all had a commitment to keep educating one another, and the next generation too, about the institutions and norms that make democracy work.

It was from these two themes that we developed the overall concept of the book—that democracy is really a “civic bargain”—a deep agreement (in some parts tangible, in some parts implicit) among citizens, that they will do what’s needed to rule themselves, delivering security and welfare, and remaining free of control by a boss. We saw in the examples that the formation of these democracies all emerged out of a willingness of citizens to accept such terms of freedom; and that these democracies flourished as long as citizens remained committed to their “bargain” with one another—even if it meant periodically renegotiating and revising certain terms of the bargain.

These two themes, about fundamentals and conditions of “wellness,” taken together, provide the core lessons of the book: that any democracy can remain strong and resilient if the citizens are willing to build, defend, and renew as needed, the basic bargain by which self-governance first arises.

You’ve said Athenians were not historically the first to gather, debate ideas and vote, but rather the first to “conceive, and put into operation, an explicit bargain that bound people to one another with a civic identity”. What factors led to this development in that moment of history?

Great question. First a general observation: any kind of innovation, from the Internet to pharmaceutical or bioengineering breakthroughs often happen in very unexpected places. Human ingenuity and the conditions that allow it to flower are hard to predict and hard to replicate; and it’s hard to explain why some renaissance or explosion of genius happened here and not somewhere else. In the case of Greece, and its great innovation of democracy, civic self-governance,  and broader democratic culture, arguments are made about many perhaps critical factors: distinctive leaders; its geographic centrality in a world of rising trade and exchange, the influence of supporting innovations like the spread of writing and improved metallurgy, or the striving and reflection among competitive poleis about the best way to build and manage a community—or some combination of “all of the above.” But these are questions bigger than what our book attempted to answer: about the lessons of its historical democracy for modern states.

In fact, many scholars argue other pre-Greek civilizations deserve the credit of the self-governance innovation. Anthropological and archaeological studies suggest that certain prehistoric communities in other parts of the world (and also pre-archaic Greece) operated with a king who was not absolute or even with no clear leader—perhaps a kind of basic democracy. But celebrating the innovation really turns on how you define democracy—is it simply evidence that some earlier people once made some decisions without a boss? We say that’s a necessary but not sufficient condition—that, what makes a democracy is when a relatively large population (when Athens launched its democracy it was at least 30,000 citizens), relatively diverse in terms of people's backgrounds, are governing themselves as free and equal citizens, under arrangements of some kind of bargain for institutionalized self-rule. There’s a discipline and system that defines democracy, beyond simple or occasional participative decision-making. This kind of more systematic approach, and the development of a bargain for citizens to govern themselves are difficult to prove before 6^th C. BC Greece. There were many “democratic” Greek states in the ancient era, but Athens is the most fully documented.

Whatever reasons might explain the breakthrough and timing of classical Greek democracy, what Athenians accomplished has been an inspiration through the history of Western civilization. It has always motivated me to think about what we can take away from the very special centuries of ancient Athenian greatness.

You’ve also written that ancient Athens was history’s “first high-performing knowledge organization.” Would you like to expand on that?

Well, this is a bit of jargon from the 1990s but the concept implied remains relevant. Over the last decades, the world has seen that to succeed in the modern economy the knowledge and the collective wisdom of the people is a competitive differentiator. In the age of the networks and human talent, the countries with the best network of specialists and expertise are the ones that will flourish and be most successful. And the same competition is now pointing to future battles about who will create the best artificial intelligence.

So, we realized that when the Athenians invented what became their version of democracy, it was organized around this very innovative combination of people being mixed together from different parts of Athens and brought together regularly in the center of city, in the agora and then later the Pnyx; it was all about getting the collective minds of the community discussing and debating in open form, to face various challenges. One of the famous examples was in the year 480, with the great threat from the Persian Empire. The people get together and they debate different strategies (fleeing on ships and starting a new polis, fighting them on land), but the idea that gained traction was to man the newly built ships and meet the Persians out at sea, which of course led to the famous Battle of Salamis, which was kind of a counterintuitive strategy that came about as a result of the debate in the assembly.

I think that little story is one example of a model of what is now called the wisdom of the crowd; when you get large numbers of people with different backgrounds together with enough of a culture of harmony and willingness not to always agree together but to debate in a civil way, so that the best answer comes forward, when you create that climate of what we call civic friendship, then great wisdom can come forward. And of course, the best ideas also are what helped create this incredible renaissance of Classical Greece, marvelous architecture, new ways of depicting the human body, theater and arts--it's this this climate of many people working together, debating, trying, testing and coming up with new ideas, new innovations, that individuals on their own would never have thought of.

So, what are the lessons we should draw from ancient Athenian democracy—about democratic collapse, and fortifying against future collapse for 21^st century systems?

If we return to the premise that began our book –and this discussion– collapse is really the result of failure to preserve and renew what launched democracy in the first place. Metaphorically, once more on analogy of the human body, failure to preserve and strengthen “wellness” explains much of what ultimately becomes death. Death for humans is inevitable but not necessarily for democracy—or at a minimum, we say it can be sustained for a much longer time than people realize, if citizens are willing to keep committed, and renew/adapt as necessary the “health” of their civic bargain with one another.

That's what we have to remember when we get into the debate about "is democracy dying"-- and the answer is yeah it might be but it's in the hands of you, the citizens, to understand what you need to do so that doesn't happen. Υes, there are people who are threatening our democracy today, absolutely right, but it's in the hands of the citizens understanding, with some grasp of history, about what keeps it strong: that is the best defense.

In practice, that means citizens staying committed to the essentials of their bargain—doing what’s needed, and making changes as necessary, so they can keep governing themselves without a boss. For example, it requires them to be very clear about who's a citizen and who's not, having norms of what we call civic friendship, and willingness to compromise with one another.

Look at most Western nations today, who are struggling because of massive immigration; many people are unhappy about that and the systems are being over overwhelmed, and then political debate gets very ideological and partisan: people say if you're against immigrants then you're racist or if you are for immigrants you're throwing away our heritage. And we’re too quick to destroy political trust by abandoning basic civic friendship—so we can find common ground on those important questions. If we don’t find our way back in today’s democracies, we’ll all end up in destructive civil war. 

Here again, we can learn from history.

We saw that in Greece and Athens, for example, at the end of the Peloponnesian War, there was an oligarchic revolution, the so-called Thirty Tyrants took over with help from the Spartans and there was a democratic uprising which forced them out. Now at that point the Athenians could have said "we're going to kill every one of those people and we're going to kill everybody who supported them--we're just going to cleanse our nation of these people who dared to do that.” But instead, they decided "no we're not going to do that, we're essentially going to have an amnesty, because it's better for the culture and viability of our democracy if we can say, look, we forgive you, let's just follow the democratic rules together, we won't chase you and pursue you like vigilantes, but we expect you to be part of this system again". And that's what they did and Athenian democracy flourished for another 50-60 years.

Another thing we talk about is civic education; there needs to be education so that every new generation understands that the traditions and pieces of the civic bargain are essential to keeping democracy alive. So, the content of the civic bargain is just the tip of the iceberg: citizens and future citizens must understand the norms and underpinning conditions that support it.

In contrast to the common trend of pondering the death of democracy, you express an optimistic view in your book. Are you optimistic about democracy today, and if so why?

When our book was published, critics described it as a more optimistic view of democracy’s future. Which perhaps it was, in contrast to all the “doom and gloom” being published, and still today. But in many ways, what was being described as our “optimism” was misunderstood.

We weren’t implying democracy will always live forever—don’t worry. What we were really saying was that doom is not inevitably pending—there’s still life to preserve and extend, if we face the challenge. Through history, great democracies have always struggled—but today, if we pay attention to what kept them going when they successfully rebounded in the past, it’s potentially in our power to do the same now.

The ancient Athenians made renewing changes to their democracy after their loss of the devasting 5^th. C. BC Peloponnesian War—they completely rehabbed all the commercial activities to compensate for the loss of their empire. They put in new laws, and changed how laws themselves would be made, to protect themselves against the sort of volatility of the crowd which had produced some disastrous decisions. So, adaptation and changes to the bargain are fundamental; if you can do that, there's a case for optimism but it's optimism, without a guarantee. If collapse is not inevitable, neither is eternal success. Citizens who cherish democracy holds the bargain on which it depends in their own hands.

*Interview by Nefeli Mosaidi and Christina Fiorentzi, with the help of the Public Diplomacy Office of the Embassy of Greece in Washington, DC.

Read also via Greek News Agenda: Rethinking Greece | Kostis Kornetis on the Democratic Transitions of Greece, Spain, and Portugal: Memory and Legacy; Bruce Clark: “The Acropolis never ceased to be a place of spiritual importance”

The post Brook Manville on what Ancient Athens can Teach Us about Democracy Today appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Κοstis Kornetis is Assistant Professor of Contemporary History at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He has studied History and Political Science in Munich, London and Florence, taught history at Brown University, New York University and the University of Sheffield. His monograph "Children of the Dictatorship: Student Resistance, Cultural Politics and the 'Long 1960s' in Greece" (2013) won the Edmund Keeley prize, while he has co-edited the volumes “Consumption and Gender in Southern Europe since the “Long 1960s” (2016), “Rethinking Democratisation in Spain, Greece and Portugal” (2019), and “The 1969 Greek Case at the Council of Europe. A Game Changer for Human Rights” (2024).

Kornetis’ research is focused on the history of dictatorships in southern Europe and the social movements of the twentieth century, especially around 1968 and the 'long 60s'. Likewise, he has published theoretical reflections on transnational history, oral history and the relationship between history and cinema. His most recent line of research focuses on the so-called history of the present and analyzes the history of democratic transitions in Spain, Portugal and Greece and the collective memory built around them.

On the occasion of the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the restoration of Democracy in Greece as well as  the impending publishing of his new monograph “A Collective Biography of Southern European Democratization,” professor Kornetis spoke to Rethinking Greece* on how Greece, Spain and Portugal experienced and remember their respective democratic transitions, the imprint of the Metapolitefsi (post-dictatorship) period in Greek culture and of course, its political legacy.

Your latest book manuscript is titled “A Collective Biography of Southern European Democratization: The Age of Transitions.” Could you tell us a bit about this periodization of three generations and its significance?

The Age of Transitions is about how Greece, Spain and Portugal remember, represent, and commemorate their transitions today beyond similarities and differences: how moments of change, and the steady acceleration of events, are reflected in memory; how the transitions solidified into settled ‘autobiographies’ of individuals, of a generation, of each nation. I expound these transitions and their afterlives according to multiple political generations, identifying missing links between stories, storytellers, contexts, and respective political generations.

Hence the book shifts the attention of inquiry from institutional breakthroughs and setbacks to political generations. As transitions are inherently ‘multi-generational’ the book looks at three distinct generations. One that went through the events of the transitions as young adults and hence remembers them fully. One with people who were children during the transitions – not old enough to have participated in the events, but old enough to hold memories of them, however vague. And a third one, which was not born then, but contains ‘projective’ (post)memories of the events that go beyond family memories and recollections. The book is largely based on people who have become academics, artists and activists, at times with an overlap between these different functions, and hence combines their own lived experience with their capacity to reflect on the events using the tools of their disciplines or craft. Several of them have worked on the very issue of transitions, hence the book operates on multiple levels of analysis. 

In the book I sought to explore the intersection between personal recollections and collective remembrance, linking democratization studies to oral history and memory studies. I look at the memory battles, or conversely the synergies, between two sets of opposing poles: between individual memory and collective memory, and between private microhistories and dominant transition narratives. To do so, I bring into dialogue historical and biographical time. The similarities in memories across time, geography, and generations are surprising, outweighing their differences. 

Generational memory, I conclude, plays a crucial role in shaping the political, social and cultural developments of the entire post-authoritarian period, affecting people’s political conclusions. The diverse memories are, the book argues, concomitant with the myriad experiences of transition; and these unique experiences, and their memories subsequently structure present political space. They determine the meaning of democracy, as well as the identities of the political Left and Right.

What do you believe were some of the biggest challenges Greece faced in transitioning to a democratic system? How did the initial years of Metapolitefsi shape the political landscape of Greece?

Greece transitioned to a full-fledged democracy after many decades of political stalemate, extreme polarization, political exclusion and violence. Its post-1974 democratization did not signify the return to the status quo ante, meaning the pre-1967 state of affairs, but rather the end of the long post-civil war period. It was the final end of the “30-year war” according to novelist Alexandros Kotzias’s acute description, himself being an emblematic literary figure of the transitional years. So Greece had to move away from the anticommunist state of ethnikofrosyni and the ‘sickly democracy’ [καχεκτική δημοκρατία] per Ilias Nikolakopoulos, into a plural, parliamentary system, that included the banned Communists after decades of persecutions. In this respect, and despite inertias, it proved to be successful – with the last chapter of the revival of the repressed being written in 1981 with PASOK’s spectacular victory. The three additional challenges being the settlement of the nature of the country’s political system, the constitutional process, and the issue of transitional justice were all swiftly and efficiently dealt with: Greece abolished monarchy once and for all, voted a liberal Constitution, and put the culprits of the 1967 coup d’état on trial and in prison. Another great success was that for the first time in the 20th century the army stayed in the barracks where it belongs. Less successful was the issue of ‘dejuntification’, or cleansing, of the police and the judicial system from authoritarian residues.

How does Greece’s experience of transitioning to democracy compare with Portugal and Spain?

These are three societies that had to deal with a different set of problems and different chronologies as far as the onset of authoritarianism is concerned, with the Iberian dictatorship being residues from the interwar years. Nevertheless, they synchronized at the time of their transitions, being faced with similar challenges as far as democratic consolidation was concerned. Portugal faced the crucial issue of the loss of its empire, propelled by a revolutionary process, hence a full rupture with the authoritarian past. Spain, on the other hand, experienced a ‘pacted’ transition, based on an agreement between regime holders and recently legalized political parties aspiring to power. This transition from within had its own complexities but was hailed for a long time as a ‘model’ transition. The greatest challenge of the new democracy were the local nationalisms – Basque and Catalan, above all, a legacy that the transition bequeathed to the present day. Greece of course had its own major issue which was the ongoing conflict in Cyprus that followed the Turkish invasion. It did not deal with this issue head on as it was of existential proportions – a possible direct involvement in warfare might have had tremendous consequences for the country as a whole. Instead Karamanalis opted for the clever move of the removal from NATO’s military wing to let off steam. However, this lack of direct engagement of sorts fuelled resentment and a lingering trauma – especially in Cyprus proper, of course.

The Age of Transitions is actually grounded in the premise that each country’s transitional process led to distinct political histories and national trajectories. These distinctions, in turn, caused major variation in how each generation remembers the transitions. How people remember the transitions and both their achievements and their setbacks matters because these people became the very subjects of democratic rule.

All three Transitions (Portuguese, Spanish, Greek) are considered as “political masterpieces”. How has this perception changed over time? Do you believe the public memory of the Transitions still plays a role in contemporary politics?

This perception has changed a great deal, especially regarding the Spanish case, which spearheaded the idea of the “model transition” which inspired the entire field of ‘transitology’ back in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. It was supposed to be smooth and peaceful but nowadays we are much more aware of the bloody aspects of that transition, with extreme right-wing and left-wing political violence ruling the day, but also institutional one lurking from the Francoist era. More importantly, Spain’s transition was based on a so-called pact of silence regarding the past and the flagrant lack of transitional justice as far as Francoist crimes are concerned. This particular issue has come to be a matter of intense debate in the past years. Portugal on its own right was considered a rare case of a revolution that was both bloodless and without an authoritarian outcome. By contrast it led to a long and stable democracy ever since 1976 and the first free elections. However, some dark aspects concerning in particular the issue of war crimes, were never tackled head-on, as the militaries who made the revolution were themselves involved in that bloody conflict that lasted thirteen years. Connected to the above was the issue of half a million refugees from the ex-colonies, dubbed the ‘returnees’ who experienced great difficulties in becoming assimilated in Portuguese society. These are all issues which were slipped under the transitional carpet. For Greece dejuntification and Cyprus remained, as mentioned above, unresolved issues.

Such issues experienced a powerful comeback in the past years due especially to a new generation of thinkers, intellectuals, politicians, activists and artists wanting to promote uneasy memories. Definitely in terms of academia there is a much more analytical and critical approach to the transitions, backed up by more reflexive writings and artwork. In all three cases the public memory of transitions became weaponized during the years of the Great Recession (2009-2015). While the hegemonic discourse transitioned from celebratory to condemnatory, we might be reaching a point of more balanced approaches. After all, fifty years since the events are always a landmark point that triggers more reflection.

What was the imprint of the Metapolitefsi period in Greek culture and arts?

If we consider as Metapolitefsi the short period of 1974-75 or even 1974-81, its imprint was great, since this was a time of great effervescence. It is a time that is very much connected to the last years of the Colonels’ regime. In music, cinema, and the visual arts, we witness the dynamism and passion of the dictatorship years being channeled into creative expression. Contestatory action was fueling the arts and vice versa. So, we need to keep in mind the fact that, even though 1974 is a rupture and a turning point politically, much of what is happening in the arts has its origins, inspiration and raison d’etre in the previous era. Both New Greek Cinema and the dawn of the Greek political song date in the dictatorship years – and the same applies to the so-called Generation of the 70s in literature, or even the burgeoning counterculture and figures such as Leonidas Christakis, for instance. The current exhibition at the National Gallery of Greece on “Democracy” charts precisely this dynamism and the suffering of the Junta years being transformed into creativity in the mid-1970s onwards. As the exhibition shows, similar traits can be spotted in the Iberian Peninsula around the time of the fall of the dictatorships as well. 

What I find interesting in the book is the revival of certain political and aesthetic norms during the Great Recession (2009-2015) in Greece. The political or éngagé art had a comeback, or an afterlife – in a way several artists felt the need to go back to codes of a time of rupture and renewal to deal with a time of stagnation and crisis.

What do you think is the legacy of the transition in Greece?

The legacy of the transition is twofold. The present stable parliamentary system that managed to overcome grave crises has its roots in those very days, including the Constitution, which has remained basically unaltered. The ‘big bang’ of the Metapolitefsi, in historian Antonis Liakos’ fitting term, generated the socio-political plurality that characterized Greece in the following decades. I don’t share the negative appraisals of the Metapolitefsi which dominated the 2010s, identifying it with corruption, cronyism, clientelism and populism, to name but a few examples. Even though such traits existed and continue to exist, I doubt that they are the main characteristics of Greek democratic practice – to quote Robert M. Fishman's term– from 1974 to the present.

The second one has to do with the dual nature of the Greek transition: it bore from the very outset both the legacy of the Polytechnic uprising in November 1974, which discredited Papadopoulos’ ‘liberalization’ ‘from below’, and the actual collapse of Ioannidis’ junta on 23-24 July1974, that triggered regime change ‘from above’. The abundance of social movements during the first Metapolitefsi years and the continuous symbolic significance of the Polytechnic till the present-day attest to that dual significance. What is more, much of what happened in the first Metapolitefsi years and in a way shaped Greek democratic practice was moulded through these characteristics. In my book I quote legendary left-wing composer Mikis Theodorakis boasting in 1975 about Karamanlis’ above-mentioned withdrawal of the country from NATO’s armed wing, as being a left-wing demand all along. It is this dialogue between Left and Right, the government and the movements, unheard of until that moment, that can and should be catalogued alongside the Metapolitefsi characteristics – and why not, a legacy that should be rescued.

*Interview to: Ioulia Livaditi

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The post Rethinking Greece | Kostis Kornetis on the Democratic Transitions of Greece, Spain, and Portugal: Memory and Legacy appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

In 2024, Greece commemorates the 50th anniversary of the fall of its military dictatorship (1967–1974) with a series of exhibitions reflecting on the nation's journey from repression to democracy. These exhibitions explore the social, political, and cultural impacts of the dictatorship and its collapse, offering a window into this pivotal period in modern Greek history. Key exhibitions include “1974. From Dictatorship to Democracy” at the National Library of Greece, which chronicles the struggle against the regime and cultural and societal shift of the first years of the Metapolitefsi; “City of Athens 1974 & 1944 – Athens Celebrates its freedom” honoring two crucial milestonesons, the 50 years since the restoration of democracy in July 1974 and 80 years since the liberation of Athens from the Nazi occupation in October 1944 and finally, “Democracy,” an art exhibition at the National Gallery of Greece that explores artistic responses to the struggles against authoritarian rule and pursuit of democracy in 1960s-70s Greece, Spain, and Portugal.

National Library of Greece: "1974. From Dictatorship to Democracy"

The National Library of Greece (EBE), the General State Archives (GAK) and the Greek Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) are co-organizing an exhibition in celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the Metapolitefsi (post-dictatorship) period, entitled "1974. From Dictatorship to Democracy," taking place from July 17 to December 31, 2024 at the National Library of Greece.

The exhibition presents unique archival evidence and rich audio-visual material on the dictatorship as well as the anti-dictatorship struggle, outlining the major institutional changes of first year of the Metapolitefsi period, but also the grand scheme changes in the social and cultural landscape of the country, up to the first years of the 1980s.

National Broadcaster ERT participates in the exhibition with material from its archive, including, among others, 100 photographs, 240 minutes of audio-visual material, censored documents from broadcasts and news, 20 vinyl records, etc. The National Library of Greece participates with material from its Collections, which mainly includes newspapers, magazines and books (over three hundred items in total). The exhibition is accompanied by a 288-page color catalogue, which is a publication of the National Library of Greece, edited by Stavros Zoumboulakis.

The artistic curation of the exhibition has been undertaken by Vassilis Zidianakis and ATOPOS, who invited the visual artist Alexis Fidetzis to present the installation "Phoenix Canariensis" on the ground floor of the National Library, posing the question: How does one present the continuity of archives through the plastic language of visual arts?

As the president of the National Library of Greece, Stavros Zoumboulakis notes: “Let us repeat the undeniable: the unprecedented, in Greek history, period of untroubled democratic life spanning half a century, was entrenched in those first few months of the Metapolitefsi. The Metapolitefsi is not merely the restoration of a pre-dictatorship Republic, but also the transition to a new period of a full democratic life.

We all know its three most critical achievements: the army’s return to the barracks, the end of the Monarchy, and the abolishment of Emergency Law 509. It was all carried out swiftly and dutifully by the first post-dictatorship national unity government and the first Prime Minister, Konstantinos Karamanlis, who undoubtedly played a pivotal role, as well as by dint of the forceful demand of mass democratic movements.

But no one can appreciate the significance of the Metapolitefsi without knowing about the dictatorship, its violence and its vulgarity. We want our exhibition to be one of memory and education, aiming to convey to its visitors, and especially to school pupils, both the horror of the Dictatorship and, most importantly, the belief that the Metapolitefsi of 1974 is a major political achievement. In a country with such high rates of self-pity, let us hold that fact in mind with a certain amount of pride.

In the purely political and institutional field, the Metapolitefsi lasted a few months, until the end of the year or, at the extreme, until the passage of the new Constitution in June 1975. But beyond that purely political and institutional Metapolitefsi, there is also a social and, even more so, cultural Metapolitefsi, whose limits cannot ever be strictly defined. What is for certain is that the wind of political change began to blow strong in the final years of the dictatorship, as early as 1970-71, with that unprecedented publishing boom, but was brutally interrupted by the junta of Ioannidis that seized power on 25 November 1973. In the summer of 1974, the country’s intellectual world picks up the severed thread once again and extends it, dynamically and with optimism. In the field of cultural Metapolitefsi, the exhibits of our exhibition stretch as far as the early 1980s."

The President of the General Archives of the State, Dimitris Sotiropoulos commented that this exhibition brings together individual memory and the historiographic record. The exhibition, which spans the three floors of the EBE at the SNFCC, will run until 31 December 2024. Admission is free and the public can visit the exhibition every day of the week from 09:30-20:00.

City of Athens “1974 & 1944 | Athens Celebrates its freedom”: 50 years since the restoration of Democracy & 80 years since the Liberation of Athens

The year 2024 marks 50 years since the restoration of democracy in July 1974 and 80 years since the liberation of Athens from the Nazi occupation in October 1944. The City of Athens, in a spirit of unity and collaboration, is honoring these two crucial milestones for the country’s journey to freedom and democracy, as well as the struggles of the Greek citizens for national independence, by organizing a series of events called “1974 & 1944: Athens celebrates freedom”. The program, aiming to highlight the city’s vibrant historical memory and initiate a dialogue with our modern history is being designed and carried out by the City of Athens Culture, Sports and Youth Organization (OPANDA) and the Technopolis City of Athens, featuring a wide array of events and artistic and educational activities, which will take place until the end November.

The major historical exhibition “1974 & 1944: Athens celebrates freedom”, which is the centerpiece of the City of Athens’ celebrations, is hosted at the OPANDA Arts Center, in Eleftherias Park. The venue, with its buildings of profound historical and architectural value, is part of the memorial site of the old junta Detention and Interrogation centers. From July 22 to October 28, the grand historical exhibition, a joint effort of the Technopolis City of Athens, the Contemporary Social History Archives (ASKI), and the General State Archives, commemorates this double anniversary.

Divided into two major sections, dedicated to the events of 1944 and 1974 respectively, the exhibition narrates a journey from darkness to light, from the extreme cruelty of the Nazi occupation to the frenzied celebration of the first days of freedom, and from the brutality of the junta to expectations born of the fall of the authoritarian regime. Through rare photographs, audio-visual material, documents, newspapers, posters, works of art, notices, personal items and rich archival material, the more than 500 items in the exhibition "1974 & 1944: Athens celebrates its freedom" the exhibition highlights the collective historical memory and the popular struggles for freedom and democracy, focusing on the feelings of hope and joy that these generate and the same enthusiasm that accompanied the Athenians both on the festive days of 1944 and 1974.

At the same time, the exhibition cannot but to unite joy with sorrow, redemption with pain, relief with agony, as the double holiday outbreak was weighed down by both the shadow of the Decemberists and the fear of civil war in 1944, as well as the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

Visitors discover, among other things, evidence from the period of the great famine of 1941 in Athens, audiovisual material related to the arrest and torture practices of the junta, an installation with personal stories of three women of the Resistance who sacrificed themselves for the liberation, and also an installation dedicated to the 25 murdered activists of the Polytechnic Uprising.

And on the other hand, in the center, unique impressions from the river of people that on the day of liberation in 1944 flooded the flag-decorated streets of the capital with songs and dances, flyers, banners and improvised posters full of festive slogans, celebratory front pages for the triumph of democracy, snapshots of hugs with those who returned from places of exile.

Some of the bitterest moments of Athens' modern history join its happiest, in a unique exhibition that is a tribute to two different eras and two different worlds united by the same city, Athens, but the common demand of its inhabitants for democracy and freedom, the collective dream for a better life.

The exhibition, which ends on October 28 and has free entry, is surrounded by talks, discussions, screenings, special guided tours by the exhibition's curators, educational programs, exhibitions, theatre, music, dance, theatrical and historical tours, activities for children and schools as well as an insert of contemporary dance and dance performances. See here for the detailed program of events.   

National Gallery of Greece: “Democracy”

As nearly half the world goes to the polls in 2024 in a historic year of elections, the National Gallery of Greece in Athens unveils a timely exhibition on art, social change, and democracy. This is the first major exhibition to explore artistic responses to the struggles against authoritarian rule and pursuit of democracy in 1960s-70s Greece, Spain, and Portugal. It marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of democracy in Greece.

Featuring 140 works by 55 artists, brought together in collaboration with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía – MNCARS, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona – MACBA, Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, Centro de Estudos Multidisciplinares Ernesto de Sousa and private collections from Greece and Portugal.

Running from 11 July 2024 to 2 February 2025, this is the first major international exhibition to examine the political role of art during the pivotal period in Southern European history as Greece, Portugal and Spain transitioned from authoritarian to democratic rule during the 1960s to 1970s.

The large-scale presentation brings together 140 masterpieces by 55 artists and artist groups, showcasing a diverse range of styles, perspectives, and practices. It explores how artists were inspired by and depicted the struggle against the era’s dictatorial regimes and the new cultural expressions and creative practices that evolved during the pursuit of civil liberties, including the rise of critical realism and abstract art, as well as the emergence of performance and conceptual art.  The formation of artistic collectives, the art of protest in posters and prints, the politics of the body and the involvement of art in the public sphere all underscored the demand for democracy in the realm of the arts, providing a vibrant field for creative research and activity.

The National Gallery aims to reflect on the current socio-political state of the world and its resonance with the conflict and turmoil of 1960s and 1970s Southern Europe. Against the backdrop of a historic year of global elections and challenges to democratic values, the exhibition traces the shared cultural experiences, emotions, and trauma shaped by disruption, acts of protest, defiance, and resistance, that are just as relevant today as they were fifty years ago.

Syrago Tsiara, Curator and Director of National Gallery says “We proudly present our landmark exhibition on Democracy and Art in Greece, Spain, and Portugal, showcasing powerful artistic responses to repression and the fight for freedom. This exhibition prompts reflection on our historical experiences, achievements, and their impact on our collective identity and future. Amid rising extremist voices, declining voter turnout, and growing scepticism towards institutional credibility, it serves as a poignant reminder of the ongoing need to defend democracy. In these challenging times, museums and art play a vital role beyond solace, empowering profound engagement with imagery, ideas, and critical questions that shape our social interactions and coexistence.”

The exhibition explores themes of ‘Facing the Enemy’, ‘Resistance’, ‘Uprising’, and ‘Arousal’ through  a range of artistic mediums, including sculpture, painting, engraving, posters, video, performance art, as well as theatre and literature and runs until 02.02.2025

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I.L.

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