Nikos Christofis, Assistant Professor of International Cultural Relations at the Department of Language and Intercultural Studies at the University of Thessaly, was interviewed by Rethinking Greece* on the occasion of the publication of the collective volume History and Historiography in Greece :Recent Trends, which he edited. Professor Christofis examines how Greek historiography has evolved—from nation-building narratives to transnational and interdisciplinary approaches. He highlights the impact of the Metapolitefsi period, the rise of gender and memory studies, and the growing internationalization of the field and interconnection between historiography and national identity. Finally, he emphasizes the importance of transnational and comparative frameworks in decentering Greek exceptionalism and aligning modern Greek historiography with broader international scholarly trends. Despite challenges such as language barriers and limited funding, Greek historiography is increasingly dialoguing with global currents.

What are the central aims and motivations behind this volume on history and historiography in Greece?

The idea for this collection originated at the 26th Modern Greek Studies Association Symposium, held in Sacramento, California, on 7–9 November 2019. The symposium showcased a wide range of topics and high-quality research on various aspects of modern Greek history, which brought to my attention the pressing need for an updated volume on Greek historiography. The vision for this book became even clearer when I began teaching the course “Theories of History and Historiography” in the “Public History” postgraduate program at the Hellenic Open University, where I serve as an adjunct lecturer. It became evident that a comprehensive volume addressing the key themes explored in that course could serve as a valuable resource for both graduate and postgraduate students.

Against this background, the project aspires to serve as a contemporary companion to the monumental two-volume proceedings of the Fourth International History Congress, published by the Institute for Neohellenic Research in 2002, which was entirely dedicated to Greek historiography. The book traces the evolution of Greek historical scholarship by reviewing the ideas, methods, and schools of history shaping the field, while, at the same time, places Greek historiography in an international context by checking how these developments correspond with international trends and their rate of development alongside global shifts in scholarship.

How did the establishment of the Greek state in 1830 influence the development of historical writing in Greece? What was the "national mission" of the University of Athens and its historians in the early decades of the Greek state?

As in many parts of the world, the development of the historical sciences in Greece was closely tied to the formation of the modern Greek nation-state in 1830. From the outset, historians made significant efforts to conceptualize a unified national state with a continuous historical narrative and a shared national consciousness, enabling the Greek people to claim a legitimized past stretching from antiquity to the present.

Following the Greek Revolution and the establishment of the independent state, history proved instrumental in achieving the broader goal of national consolidation. Greek antiquity and the Byzantine period were especially emphasized as sources of prestige and cultural legitimacy, particularly through the influential writings of figures such as Constantine Paparrigopoulos and Spyridon Zambelios.

In this context, the University of Athens—founded in 1837—played a central role in shaping the historical sciences in Greece for more than eight decades. It not only supplied personnel for the emerging state apparatus but also helped construct and disseminate a national historical narrative. The university’s symbolic authority was pivotal in promoting the Megali Idea, the dominant irredentist nationalist ideology of the time, and in advancing the cause of Hellenism, particularly within the territories still under Ottoman rule. Language, religion, and especially history were employed as key unifying elements, intended to forge connections between the subjects of the new Hellenic Kingdom and the Greek-speaking Orthodox populations of the Ottoman Empire.

How did the Metapolitefsi period (post-1974) impact Greek historiography and introduce new approaches?

The Metapolitefsi—the period following the fall of the Colonels’ dictatorship in 1974—marked the beginning of a gradual yet profound sociopolitical transformation in Greece. In the realm of historiography, it sparked a significant "explosion," evident in the structural evolution and expansion of the professional historical community. Many Greek historians who had sought refuge primarily in Europe during the dictatorship returned shortly thereafter, bringing with them fresh perspectives and revitalizing the field. Exposed to new intellectual currents and in dialogue with international scholars, these returning historians introduced critical questions and approaches that enabled the integration of Greek history into broader global narratives. To a considerable extent, this generation reshaped the practice of historical writing in Greece, with many assuming influential roles within the emerging institutional landscape.

What roles have Gender History, Biography & Memory Studies played in shaping recent historiographical developments in Greece? What significance do these approaches hold within the broader field of Greek historical studies?"

Gender History, Biography, and Memory Studies emerged within the broader intellectual movement known as the New History, which gained prominence across various national historiographical traditions. Broadly speaking, this movement represented an epistemological shift from viewing history as a fixed set of facts to understanding it as a field of inquiry and interpretation. The New History critically challenged both the positivist illusions of traditional historiography and the dominant nationalist narratives propagated by established academic institutions. Instead, it emphasized the analysis of economic and social structures, prioritized interpretation over description, and employed impersonal analytical categories. In essence, history began to be approached as a social science.

Although the roots of this paradigm shift in Greek historiography can be traced to earlier decades, it crystallized during the late 1970s and 1980s. These new approaches have offered alternative perspectives on the past, particularly by highlighting the experiences of marginalized groups and questioning established historical narratives. Through the lenses of gender history, biography, and memory studies, scholars are now able to interrogate social structures, analyze gendered discourses, explore individual lives, personalize history, and examine collective memory and cultural practices. Collectively, these fields have made Greek historiography more inclusive, dynamic, and nuanced.

In what ways have comparative and transnational frameworks impacted Greek historiography, and how have they contributed to rethinking national narratives or methodological approaches?

Comparative and transnational frameworks have profoundly reshaped Greek historiography – transnational more than comparative history, I believe – by challenging the traditional nation-centered narratives that emphasized Greece’s exceptionalism (e.g. the example of the Greek Revolution) and linear national development. These approaches situate Greek history within broader regional, European, and global contexts, revealing the interconnectedness of Greek experiences with those of the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. By highlighting cross-border flows of people, ideas, and goods, they have decentered, or at least they try to do so, the nation-state as the sole unit of analysis and introduced interdisciplinary methods that incorporate social, cultural, and economic perspectives. This has led to more pluralistic histories that include minority voices, diasporic influences, and transnational actors, thereby complicating nationalist myths and encouraging critical reflection on the construction of Greek identity. Consequently, Greek historiography has become more dialogic and internationally engaged, enriching both its methodological toolkit and its understanding of national narratives as contingent and multifaceted rather than fixed and exceptional.

In your view, how do historiography and national identity intersect, and in what ways do they shape or influence one another?

Historiography and national identity are deeply interconnected, as the writing of history often serves as a crucial tool in constructing and legitimizing the nation. Through selective emphasis on certain events, figures, and cultural achievements—while often omitting uncomfortable or divisive aspects—historiography helps forge a shared narrative that binds individuals into a collective identity. This narrative is further reinforced through educational curricula, public monuments, national holidays, and museums, all of which draw from dominant historical interpretations to cultivate a sense of belonging and continuity. Conversely, national identity also shapes historiographical agendas, as state institutions, political ideologies, and cultural priorities influence which histories are preserved, taught, or suppressed. In more recent decades, however, the emergence of new historiographical approaches—such as gender history, memory studies, and postcolonial critique—has begun to challenge traditional nationalist narratives, offering more inclusive and critical perspectives that reflect the diversity and complexity of the past. As a result, the relationship between historiography and national identity remains dynamic, with each continually shaping and reshaping the other in response to evolving political, social, and intellectual contexts.

What do you identify as the current trends and key challenges in the study of modern Greek history? To what extent does the Greek academic community engage with broader international developments in historiography?

Current trends in the study of modern Greek history reveal a significant shift away from traditional nation-centric narratives toward more nuanced, transnational, and interdisciplinary approaches. Greek historians are increasingly situating Greece within broader Ottoman, Balkan, and Mediterranean, but also global contexts, exploring shared histories and cross-border influences that challenge earlier linear and exceptionalist national stories. This shift is complemented by the incorporation of gender studies, social history, and cultural analysis, which have expanded the field beyond elite-focused perspectives to include marginalized voices and diverse experiences.

However, the field faces key challenges, notably a degree of insularity due to the predominance of Greek-language scholarship and limited translations into English – although all the more the new generation of Greek historians publish in other languages – which restrict its international visibility and integration. Economic difficulties have further compounded these issues by reducing funding for research and causing a brain drain of promising scholars seeking opportunities abroad. Despite these obstacles, the Greek academic community is increasingly engaging with global historiographical developments through participation in international research networks, publication in global journals, and interdisciplinary initiatives that align with contemporary methodological trends. Prestigious European grants and collaborations, such as those involving the Institute for Mediterranean Studies, demonstrate growing recognition of Greek scholarship internationally. Thus, while resource limitations and language barriers remain significant challenges, the adoption of comparative and transnational frameworks alongside efforts to foster global academic dialogue signal a promising evolution in modern Greek historiography.

*Interview to Ioulia Livaditi

The post Rethinking Greece | Nikos Christofis on History and Historiography in Greece appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Dimitris Tziovas is Professor Emeritus of Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham, where he taught for over thirty five years and supervised many research students. In 2022 he received the Grand Greek State Award for his contribution to scholarship. His book Greece from Junta to Crisis: Modernization, Transition and Diversity (Bloomsbury 2021) won the European Society of Modern Greek Studies Book Prize. He has served as Director of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham (2000-2003), on the editorial board of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (1995-2009; 2020-; Reviews Editor 1995-2005) and Journal of Modern Greek Studies (U.S.A 1992-2007). His most recent publication is "Ιστορία, Έθνος και Μυθιστόρημα: Τραύμα, Μνήμη και Μεταφορά" (2024). His research interests involve the study of Greek Modernism in a comparative context; the reception of Greek antiquity and Byzantium; the study of Greek fiction informed by recent developments in critical theory; Greek diaspora and travel writing; nationalism and Greek culture; the Greek language controversy; and the cultural encounters between Greece and the Balkans.

Professor Tziovas spoke to Rethinking Greece* on the duration of Metapolitefsi, the aftermath of the crisis and its impact on the (self)image of Greece, how Greek fiction proposed a critical revisiting of the past, the influence of the Greek diaspora on cultural production, why Greek cinema was successful in conversing with global cultural trends, his proposal for a "hybrid" model of analysis instead of the dualist and ‘pendulum' models that accentuate polarities in Greek modern history, and finally, on the Metapolitefsi period as an era of identities.

Beyond your academic career, you are a public intellectual that often writes on Modern Greek Studies and Greece’s image abroad. In your book “Greece from Junta to Crisis,” you mention that the recent financial crisis led to a reassessment of the Metapolitefsi era and yet another “rediscovery” of Greece from the West. Where do you think we stand on these issues today i.e. the assessment of Metapolitefsi and Greece’s (self)image?

The period following the fall of the military junta in 1974 is known in Greek as Metapolitefsi (meaning regime change), referring both to the transition from dictatorship to democracy and to the ensuing period. Though it has been praised as a period of peace, democratization and improved access to health and education, there is no agreement as to when it ends. Some argue that it ends as early as June 1975, others place its conclusion in 1989 with the end of the Cold War or much later with the economic crisis. In my view, the crisis was both a global and a local event which turned the international spotlight to Greece, judging from the number of articles in the popular press, prime-time television programmes and academic studies on the Greek crisis. Since 1974, no other event in Greece attracted such a global interest. During the crisis a frequent use of stereotypes was made either of those modelled on Zorba depicting Greeks as feckless, lazy or profligate, or the ones based on the contrast between ancient and modern Greece.

The imaginative force of Greek mythology has been repeatedly deployed to describe the trials of the Greek people in images and cartoons or in stereotypical headlines such as ‘Greek tragedy’, ‘Greeks bearing gifts’ and ‘Odyssey without end’. It is interesting to note that the connection between Ancient and Modern Greece is made by westerners only in difficult periods in order to criticize contemporary Greeks as not worthy of their heritage. In short, the Metapolitefsi starts with the euphoria of the restoration of democracy (despite the invasion of Cyprus) and ends with the melancholy of the crisis and an attempt by the country to redefine its (self)image. After the crisis Greece, together with other countries, are entering an era of polycrisis and are facing increasingly new challenges posed by the climate, artificial intelligence, migration, demography and the shortage of energy.

In Greece, literature often explored historical topics—like the Civil War—before historians did, at least until the post-dictatorship period. Does this trend still exist? How has the relationship between history and literature changed in recent decades?

The gradual transformation of Greek fiction since the fall of junta involved the erosion of the national history by highlighting marginalized events and the critical revisiting of the past. Fiction explored aspects of the historical past not touched before or followed the trend in Greek society towards diversity and the creation of space for the inclusion of the Other more closely than poetry did. The themes which have preoccupied fiction writers since the early 1990s can be classified under three broad and overlapping categories: identity and otherness, the historical past and the validity of representation, and cultural metaphors and cosmopolitanism. Novels with a historical theme do not aim to recreate the past but challenge the modalities of historiography and the truth-seeking involvement with the past. Narrativity emerged as the common ground between literature and history while the notion of mnemohistory signifies the impact of memory studies on both fields. It is remarkable the number of novels published on the Greek Civil War and its aftermath, focusing on the role of memory and highlighting the interaction between fiction and archival investigation. The emergence of graphic novels reinvigorated to some extent the historical orientation of Greek fiction which now tends to deal with current biopolitical issues.

You have noted that, during the Metapolitefsi, Greek culture became more outward-looking, with a renewed appreciation for the diaspora’s role. Can you tell us more about how the Greek diaspora’s perspective has influenced cultural production?

Up to 1974 Greece’s image was the one constructed mostly by foreign writers and scholars such as Arnold Toynbee, Henry Miller, Lawrence Durell, Patrick Leigh Fermor or Jacques Lacarrière. Following the fall of the dictatorship Greece gradually attempted a rebranding by promoting its own image and becoming more extrovert. This coincides with a preoccupation with Greekness and the publication in collective volumes of the essays by important literary figures of the 1930s such as George Seferis, Odysseas Elytis and George Theotokas. Since the 1980s the term ‘diaspora’ has been less strongly associated with a traumatic experience and has started to signify something positive in terms of its historical and cultural contribution. Diaspora writers and artists received special attention, and Greek populations were ‘discovered’ in some former socialist countries. Many writers started placing their stories outside Greece and there has been a particular emphasis on border literature. The global aspirations of the Greek nation since the 1990s changed dramatically during the crisis when Greece became once again a country of emigration, this time not of manual workers but of young professionals seeking skilled employment abroad due to the crisis. The earlier touristic image of the country as earthly paradise has been challenged and Greece has been treated as an ideological construct of the West or as a cryptocolony, even though the country has never been strictly speaking a western colony.

The push for Europeanization has made national identity an important topic, shaping Greece’s modern identity in dialogue with Europe. How do you see this relationship evolving in today’s complex political landscape?

Attitudes to Europe are central to the culture of post-junta Greece and reflect its ambivalence, ranging from Euroscepticism to fervent Europeanism. The West started to be associated more with Europe and democracy and not so much with the Cold-war identification with anti-communism. Economic and institutional Europeanization/integration have led to a preoccupation with identity since statements such as ‘Greece belongs to the West’ can be seen as identity statements. The dominance of the term ‘Europeanization’ in the political discourse raises the question as to whether we can talk about the Europeanization of Greek culture in the same way as many analysts talk about institutional or political Europeanization. On the other hand, anti-Europeanism has often been associated with populism and been represented as defying rationalism and modernization but, most importantly, culturally isolationist and unproductive.

In your books, you point out that, during the Metapolitefsi, Greek novels aimed to go beyond national boundaries, and in the past 15 years, Greek cinema has tried to do the same. Have these efforts been successful? How did these two art forms relate to broader European and international artistic trends?

Several recent Greek novels take place (partly or entirely) outside Greece or are written by Greeks residing abroad. They involve travel or migration, and they point to the increasing centrality of space, the growing role of technology and the fluidity of identities. As part of the effort of making Greek culture more extrovert there were attempts to promote Greek literature abroad, but the emphasis is no longer on national literatures but on individual writers or texts as part of a global literary network. Contemporary Greek literature lacked the emblematic figures of Angelopoulos and Lanthimos who made Greek cinema known beyond its national borders. By overcoming the earlier preoccupation with political history, the new cinema of the period of the crisis has become increasingly transnational, performative and biopolitical. The new filmmakers deconstruct the image of Greece as a holiday idyll that had been constructed by earlier films, going one step further in interrogating the notion of national cinema, trying to reach a transnational audience. In this respect, Greek cinema was more successful than Greek literature in gaining wider recognition and conversing with global cultural trends.

One of the most enduring interpretations of modern Greek identity is that of cultural dualism—between a culture of modernization and an underdog mentality. What do you think of this interpretation? Would you suggest an alternative?

Cultural and political dualism, in its various forms, has emerged as the dominant model of analysis for the post-junta period as well as the earlier history of Greece. In the early 1990s the political scientist Nikiforos Diamandouros charted the evolution of two cultures. The older of these two, the underdog culture, has been marked by a pronounced introversion, xenophobia, anti-Westernism and adherence to pre-capitalist practices. This culture competes with its younger counterpart, the modernizing or reformist culture, which has its intellectual roots in the Enlightenment and liberalism. Apart from the dualist pattern there is also the ‘pendulum model’ which sees Greek history and culture as swinging between polarities: archaism/anachronism and modernization (Vassilis Vamvakas), individual and society (Vaggelis Hatzivasileiou), catastrophes and triumphs (Stahis Kalyvas). An alternative method of analysis, based on hybridity, does not highlight polarities or the struggle for the supremacy of modernizing culture but the in-between space which involves the tension and hydridization of competing cultures or opposites. The language reform of 1976 can serve as a case in point here. On the one hand, it could be seen as a victory of modernization and on the other hand as a rehabilitation of the underdog culture and its Romeic strand. It is also interesting to note that some of those who fought for the institutionalization of the demotic language resisted the introduction of the monotonic system in the early 1980s or agonized over the decline of linguistic standards.

You define the Metapolitefsi period as an era of identities, noting that identity issues unite both phases of this period. Can you tell us more about the concept of identity, how it was expressed during the Metapolitefsi era, and how it reflects current global cultural and political developments?

First, I should point out that a classic book Keywords (1976) by the British Marxist intellectual Raymond Williams did not contain an entry on identity which was added in the second posthumous edition (New Keywords, 2005). This suggests that the emphasis on identity is a relatively recent phenomenon, and its rise coincides with the post-junta period. In Greece the prominent role of identity in various forms resulted from the major shift from politics to culture and the disentanglement of group identities from political affiliations. After 1974, Greece opened to the world and renegotiated its position and its image by looking not only towards the West but also eastward and engaging with its forgotten Balkan and Ottoman pasts. The common denominator in the fundamental questions that preoccupied Greeks during the post-junta period (how the nation is defined; who owns the past; and how the past is remembered) is the quest for identity. As a result of the critical engagement with the past and its perceived loss of stability, questions were posed about identity more intensely than ever before. The thematic shift in contemporary Greek cinema away from the grand narratives of political history to concerns about identity, sexuality and family dynamics coincided with similar transitions in social movements. Queer culture gained in visibility, while homosexuality began to be perceived as an identity and no longer just a sexual practice. In conclusion, politics might help to divide the post-junta period into phases, culture and identity draw it together, acting as its overarching metaphors.

*Interview to Ioulia Livaditi

The post Rethinking Greece | Dimitris Tziovas on Greece in Transition: Identity, Culture, and Global Engagement appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Panagiotis Roilos is George Seferis Professor of Modern Greek Studies and of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. Professor Roilos's wide-ranging research interests include Greek literature (from antiquity to the present), European aestheticism (with a focus on Greek and British literature), the Enlightenment, German Romanticism and the Classics, premodern and modern critical theory, historical and cognitive anthropology, philosophy and rhetoric, comparative oral poetics, diaspora, and cultural politics. In 2022, Prof. Roilos was elected President of the European Cultural Centre of Delphi.

Among his major publications are the books C. P. Cavafy: The Economics of Metonymy (2009), Amphoteroglossia: A Poetics of the Twelfth-Century Medieval Greek Novel (2005), and Towards a Ritual Poetics (2003; co-author with D. Yatromanolakis). His current book-length projects include “Abducting Athena: The Nazis and the Greeks” and “Neomedieval Metacapitalism”.

Professor Roilos spoke to Rethinking Greece,* on issues as varied as the formation of modern Greek identity during the 16^th century, Cavafy’s idiosyncratic discourse,  Nazis’ appropriation of Greek antiquity, the unprecedented impact AI will have on political institutions, our language as a bastion against hegemonizing tendencies, the present and future of Modern Greek Studies, and finally, on his plans for this year's Delphi Dialogues.

You’ve suggested that the roots of modern Hellenism can be traced back to the 16th century. Could you expand on the historical elements that mark this period as a starting point?

Let me repeat what I have written in one article on the topic. There, I have argued the following: “The Fall of Constantinople gave rise to, or rather accelerated, an intense process of what, adapting Gregory Bateson’s concept of “schismogenesis” to the Greek case, I would call the ‘schismogenetic formation of early modern Greek ethnic and cultural identity.’ This transitional process unfolded when Greek Orthodox populations of the former Byzantine Empire, especially the Greek speaking ones, would gradually forge, or rather further corroborate, a sense of a common cultural and historical heritage, probably of a distinct ethnic identity, too, by strongly counter-distinguishing themselves from what at the time they perceived as their quintessentially cultural and ethnic “other,” the Ottoman Turks.” Already in the late 15^th c. and throughout the 16^th and 17^th c. Greek intellectuals, mainly of the diaspora, cultivated a cultural politics that aimed at 1. promoting the view that contemporary Greeks are the legitimate heirs to classical antiquity and 2. on the basis of this valuable cultural capital, instigating (and at times co-ordinating) the Philhellenic sentiments (occasionally, initiatives, too) of their European interlocutors. In that sense, I have contended that the educational and cultural political movement orchestrated mainly by Adamantios Korais and his associates finds a significant parallel in the 16^th century, a parallel that is unfortunately almost entirely neglected in recent and current scholarship.  

You've written extensively on C.P. Cavafy, including your book “The Economics of Metonymy”. What do you find most enduring about Cavafy’s poetry? What do you think of modern approaches that examine his work through lenses like queer theory?

All approaches are legitimate and welcome to the extent that they do to not lay claim to Cavafy’s own work and thought, or to absolute and exclusive interpretive authority. Queer theory can provide very interesting insights into Cavafy’s poetry and ideology; in fact, it has done so in certain cases. In the book you mention I discuss systematically and holistically Cavafy’s idiosyncratic economic ideas, sexuality, poetic and ideological discourses. Cavafy developed a discourse that, by adopting “prosaic” discursive modes and promoting what I call “liminal” themes, transcended his contemporary poetic and ideological restrictions. This is what in general makes his poetry especially topical even today.   

Your project “Abducting Athena,” on the Nazis’ appropriation of Greek antiquity for their own cultural propaganda sounds fascinating. Could you give us a preview this study? How you believe it can inform the way we approach classical Greece?

This is the topic of a course I’ll offer at Harvard this coming spring. The barbaric arbitrariness of the sustained “state of emergency” that consolidated and promoted the Nazi regime involved a monstrous misrepresentation and abuse of the cultural capital of aspects of Greek antiquity. It constitutes a frightening example of how racism, sexism, populism, ultra-nationalism, the barbaric dogma of “white supremacy” may be complemented and “validated” by a propagandistic, systematic appropriation and misinterpretation of cultural and historical heritage with a view to manipulating and controlling huge parts of the population, to rendering them to a homogenized and disenfranchised mass.    

You are currently completing a book on digital post-humanism and democracy entitled “Neomedieval Metacapitalism,” which is concerned with the impact of the prevalence of technology and AI in our modern democracies. What challenges does post-humanism pose for democracy?

In this book I explore in detail the concept of “neomedieval metacapitalism,” which I introduced in articles and lectures several years ago.  I have put forward this concept to describe what, to my mind, constitutes an important—but by and large unnoticed—paradox: the persistence in the fourth industrial revolution of deep structures of thought that are supposed to go back or be similar to corresponding perceptual patterns usually associated with the Middle Ages. To repeat what I have argued elsewhere: “By and large the digitization of many sectors of human interaction and their restructuring with the help of AI often entail the distancing of individuals from their surroundings, from their world, and from nature itself, while also developing a sense of an essentially non-transcendental reality which, paradoxically, transcends individual perceptual abilities and purviews—hence its quasi-metaphysical character.”

This marks a cosmogonic development in the history of humanity, which will have an unprecedented impact on the ways in which political institutions operate and on civil and human rights. Especially democratic polities have no excuse to not protect those rights from their potential subversion and restriction entailed by the accumulation of technological, and concomitant political and economic power, in the hands of the few ones who have access to centers of decision-making in these sectors.     

What is your perspective on the current state and future direction of Modern Greek Studies in U.S. universities? What are emerging opportunities or challenges you feel will shape the field in the coming years?

Modern Greek Studies should dynamically and confidently converse with other fields, including developments in major current developments in cultural theory. Such creative dialogues should not neglect the comprehensive study and teaching of all centuries of modern Greek culture and history. Presentism is by no means an interpretive, scholarly, or educational panacea. Just the opposite: it’s an easy, more often than not simplistic, and potentially dangerous “solution.”

You are the President of The European Cultural Center of Delphi. Your initiative, the Delphi Cultural Dialogues, have become a vital part of the Center’s programming. How did it come to life, and what are the key goals you aim to achieve through these dialogues?  Could you share any themes you’re excited to explore in the Delphi Cultural Dialogues 2025?

It was a great honor and responsibility for me to succeed Professor Hélène Ahrweiler, an iconic academic figure in Europe, to the Presidency of that prestigious European Cultural Center. My main goal has been to make Delphi a "navel" of contemporary culture and thought. The Delphi Dialogues is one of the new international institutions I recently established. They aim at shedding new light on thorny and pressing issues that our world is facing today: for instance, AI and Democracy, technology and culture, environmental crisis, refugee crisis, etc.

Every summer some of the world's leading and most impactful thinkers and scholars come to Delphi and engage in highly original, cross-disciplinary dialogues. The Delphi Dialogues have began to establish themselves as a major international institution in contemporary thought. Their global impact has so far been immense: I should only note that the Second Delphi Dialogues were watched online by more than 190.000 (one hundred ninety thousand) people from all over the world!. This coming summer the Third Delphi Dialogues will focus on biopolitics, bioethics, and democracy.

 In an increasingly globalized world, how do you see modern Greek culture and identity evolving? Are there unique contributions or challenges Greece faces in navigating its identity on an international stage?

No “identity” is, can, or should be “pure.” And, to a great extent, almost all sorts of “identity” tend to be constructed, habitually formed, adopted, and performed. This also means that in general there is nothing by definition “unique” or “exclusive” to the challenges that Greece is facing in today’s globalized world. To my mind, one of the most pressing cultural challenges that very many parts of the world today, Greece included, face is the threat of cultural (and, as a result, ideological, behavioral, and sociopolitical) homogenization and hegemonization mainly by dominant, i.e. Anglosaxonic, cultural industries and modes of thought. As a vehicle not only of practical communication but also of what I call “historical and cultural mythemes,” language constitutes a powerful bastion against such hegemonizing tendencies.      

* Interview to: Ioulia Livaditi

* Featured photo © AMA-MPA

The post Rethinking Greece | Panagiotis Roilos: “Language constitutes a powerful bastion against hegemonizing tendencies” appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Katerina Lagos is Professor of History at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), USA. Her interests are focused on the interwar Greece, minorities, and the Metaxas dictatorship, and her more recent publication is The Fourth of August Regime and Greek Jewry, 1936-1941 (2023). Vangelis Calotychos is Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Classics at Brown University, where he teaches courses in comparative literature, cultural studies, and reception studies. His most recent monograph, The Balkan Prospect Identity, Culture, and Politics in Greece after 1989 (2013) has won the Edmund Keeley Prize.

Professors Lagos and Calotychos are the President and Executive Director respectively of the the Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA) an international organization that fosters and advances Modern Greek Studies in North America. Connecting scholars, educators, and students worldwide, the MGSA fosters interdisciplinary research, dialogue, and collaboration. It organizes conferences, publishes the Journal of Modern Greek Studies, and supports academic initiatives in the field. This October, the MGSA’s 28^th international symposium, took place at Princeton University, gathering modern Greek scholars from around the world to explore contemporary topics in modern Greek studies and share cutting-edge research on Greece's history and society.

Professors Lagos and Calotychos spoke to Rethinking Greece* on Modern Greek Studies Association's mission and activities, the multi- and inter-disciplinary aspect or Modern Greek Studies, the growth of interest in Diaspora studies and in the Greek Diaspora , the era of Metapolitefsi, reading neo-Hellenism through the lens of postcolonial critique and finally, the opportunities and challenges in the field of Modern Greek Studies today.

The MGSA symposiums have evolved significantly over the years, from focusing on modern Greek literature to examining themes like civil war, colonialism and migration. Could you walk us through MGSA’s history, mission and activities?

Katerina Lagos: The first MGSA symposium was focused on Greek language and literature and was also held at Princeton University (coincidentally where the 2024 symposium was just held). The title of the symposium was “Modern Greek Literature and its European Background.” Since then, the MGSA has taken on quite controversial topics. One of the leading symposia occurred in 1978 at The American University (Washington, D.C.) with the title “Greece in the 1940s”. The symposium focused on the Greek Civil War and broke new ground on this highly contentious and politically charged topic. At the time, this topic was not discussed at Greek universities so having the MGSA take on the Civil War was quite bold. Since then, the MGSA has explored a wide variety of controversial and less-controversial topics in a growing array of scholarly disciplines. The diversity of presentation topics is welcome in the association, and this is reflective of the expansion of scholarly disciplines that have emerged.

Vangelis Calotychos: Since 1995, the MGSA’s biennial symposium has been open theme. In other words, our Program Committee welcomes abstract proposals from scholars presenting their current research in all areas of Modern Greek Studies, though we also highlight each symposium certain topical, pressing, or commemorative themes. This year, for example, fifty years since the Turkish invasion in Cyprus, our keynote address was delivered by Professor Elizabeth A. Davis, anthropologist from Princeton, who focused “On the Uses and Abuses of a History of Conflict: Context & Recursion in Cyprus, 2024.” In all, our recent symposium hosted by the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies at Princeton featured over 160 speakers representing multiple disciplines and speaking on a wide array of topics. The strength of our field has always been its multi- and inter-disciplinary aspect. In keeping with our strong desire to support graduate students, adjunct lecturers, and junior scholars from outside North America, the MGSA joined the host institution and other sponsors to offer financial assistance to 45 graduate students and over 20 scholars, many from Greece and Cyprus. For many, after covid, it was their first international, in-person conference.

This year marks the 50th anniversary since the fall of the military junta and the restauration of democracy in Greece. The concept of the "Metapolitefsi" and its impact on Greek society and culture was central to many discussions in the 28th MGSA Symposium panels. How do you think the cultural and political shifts of the post-junta period continue to shape contemporary Greece?

KL: It was rewarding to see so many panels focusing on the “Metapolitefsi” and its legacy on Greek society and politics. For over two decades, the immediate impact of the post-junta period dominated the historical narrative. From Andreas Papandreou’s “America out” to banning the police from entering universities, this was a period of reaction to the events of the junta and post-Civil War period in Greece. Certain aspects of the period have remained in place – such as the banning of the military in politics and the legalization of the KKE – that are a positive development in the country’s evolution. The PASOK years also reflect this reaction and much of the social legislation is reflective of this: separation of church and state, full legalization of abortion, etc. However, as much as the 1970s-1990s represent this reaction, I think that Greek economic crisis (2009-2015) has changed the paradigm of politics and has led Greece to a new chapter in its history. Both the Metapolitefsi and post-junta period can now be analyzed critically and less polemically. 

Some of the panels of the Symposium concentrated on the transnational and diasporic studies, a field that has seen significant growth. What is the contribution of this diasporic studies to our understanding of Greek diasporic/global identity? What new directions do you see emerging in the way Greek communities abroad are understood and represented?

KL: In the past, diaspora studies have typically presented Greek emigration as a one-way movement with Greeks embarking to destinations around the world. Scholars have sought to identify, explain, and compare these communities. One of the challenges in recent years was to establish a clear definition of the term Greek diaspora. More recently, the phenomena of Greeks returning to Greece has added a new layer of complexity to this issue. There has been a growing interest in diaspora communities beyond that of the United States, Canada, and Australia. Greater attention needs to be given to Greek emigration to sub-Saharan Africa. The Greek immigrants did very well financially as they established companies and brought technical expertise to these African countries.

VC: This interest in the Greek diaspora has steadily grown since the early 2000s. Our Transnational Studies Committee has steadfastly updated and curated a Greek American Studies Research portal that lists and describes research, activities, and resources in the field of Greek American Studies. Notably, three consecutive recent winners of our MGSA Karagiannaki Edited Book Prize have been focused on Greek American diaspora issues. Meanwhile, our Transnational Committee is broadening its base by strengthening collaborative work undertaken by Modern Greek Studies programs globally. To this end, a fund for the support of initiatives in Modern Greek Studies—the MGSA Innovation Fund—is open to members representing academic programs and nonprofits worldwide, and not only in north America. Lastly, we have just advertised a new grant supporting research in Greek American Studies, the The Harry J. Psomiades Research Grant.

Post-colonial critique, such as professor Herzfeld‘s “crypto-colonialism” concept and professor Hamilakis’s call to “decolonize archeology” is an increasingly strong trend in modern humanities. In the MGSA symposium you featured a panel on the project “Decolonize Hellas.” Could you tell us more about how post-colonial theory informs modern Greek studies and what are the themes this approach touches upon?

VC: Yes, a session on the “Decolonize Hellas” initiative was one of four special, lunchtime sessions at this year’s symposium. In fact, there was one on global diaspora led by our Transational Committee. Typically, special sessions showcase topical issues and initiatives in our field and guarantee more time for discussion with the audience. The speakers included leading figures from the Decolonize collaborative that has inspired a slew of programs, panels, and publications that address and interrogate the colonial genealogies underlying pressing, though often marginalized, issues in Greek society and beyond: orientalism, Balkanism, xenophobia, homophobia, racism, and sexism:

Previously the general impetus for reading neo-Hellenism through the lens of postcolonial critique had emerged from work in the United States in the 1990s and later from the contributions of colleagues such as Herzfeld and Hamilakis. During the sovereign debt and migration crisis, talk of Greece as a ‘colony’ of one sort or another became commonplace; and the derogatory resonances of such talk, much of it emanating from Europe, called for a renewed reflection on western civilizational models. The collaborative emerged at around the time of celebrations marking the bicentennial of the Greek Revolution. And, in contrast to much scholarship from that time, the Decolonize Hellas group was inspired by the crisis within Europe, decolonial theory, studies of racial capitalism, and movements stirred by the Black Lives Matter protests in the States and other emancipatory, anti-colonial calls for social justice worldwide. 

How does the integration of different academic fields such as gender and media studies impact and redefine the scope of Modern Greek Studies? Could we say that interdisciplinary approaches are among the emerging trends for Modern Greek Studies in the North American academic landscape?

KL: The integration of different academic fields is something that is reflective of the general changes and progressiveness in university education. The traditional disciplines have made room for new academic centers and area studies. As gender studies and media studies take on greater prominence in university education, then it is only logical that Greece and the Greeks would be included in their topics of scholarship.   

Looking ahead, what do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for the field of Modern Greek Studies? With the challenges facing humanities how can Modern Greek Studies ensure its relevance and attract both academic and public interest?

KL: One of the more recent challenges that Modern Greek Studies faced was the association of our field as an outdated, narrow, or white hegemonic area of academia. It is unfortunate to see this perception – more correctly, misperception - especially in light of the various aspects that Greek studies can be analyzed and understood. Greek studies is unique as it combines both the ancient and the contemporary. An example of this can be seen in migration studies, environmental studies, gender studies, etc. Modern Greek Studies brings the past to the present and is far more dynamic and relevant than it typically understood. The MGSA’s advocacy of newer academic fields and areas of scholarly interest helps reinforce the timeliness and relevance of Greek studies.

*Interview to Ioulia Livaditi

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When citing Greece’s contributions to world culture -from democracy to theatre and athletics- philosophy is one of the first that come to mind. Unsurprisingly, its name is Greek, from philosophia meaning "love of wisdom".

Unlike other practices and bodies of knowledge, such as architecture and visual arts, which were perfected but not invented by Greeks, Greece is believed to be the birthplace of Western philosophy, in that the notion of philosophy as the study of the basic axioms that comprise knowledge was actually created there.

There are of course older philosophical systems in the world, such as the Hindu Samkhya tradition, but they are generally believed to have developed independently, and there is no substantial historical evidence of contacts and exchanges between these cultures -until the times of Alexander the Great- that would suggest an influence of one over the other. Similarities between Hindu and early Greek thought are therefore generally considered incidental.

When thinking about Greek philosophy, certain names inevitably crop up. Figures like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle -each a disciple of the former- are held to universal acclaim and may often be referred to even by people completely unfamiliar with the study of philosophy. In this article, you can find a small list of important thinkers and philosophers of Greek origin you may not have heard about.

This list includes not only ancient Greek philosophers, but also several prominent thinkers of the Byzantine era and Modern times. They are anything but obscure within the sphere of philosophy and academia, but anyone not specialised in these fields is very likely to never have heard of them or at least know much of their actual contributions.

We begin with the pre-Socratics, the philosophers that either preceded Socrates, or were his contemporaries but developed completely independent schools of thought with no influence from him. All the philosophers that followed Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were to some extent influenced by some or all of them, even if only by their differences.

PRE-SOCRATIC

Thales

Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – c. 546 BC) was regarded as the first philosopher by Aristotle, and reckoned among the Seven Sages of Greece. He is recognised as the first known person to have turned away from mythological explanations, trying instead to interpret natural phenomena through naturalistic theories and hypotheses, in a precursor to modern science. He thus charted the course for all the other pre-Socratic philosophers. According to Aristotle, Thales’ cosmological thesis was that the originating principle of nature was a single material substance: water.

Pythagoreans celebrate sunrise, 1869, Fyodor Bronnikov (via Wikimedia Commons)

Pythagoras

Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570 – c. 495 BC), is mostly famous nowadays for developing the eponymous theorem, one of the basic rules of geometry. Hence, many might think of him solely as a mathematician. Yet, at his time, science and philosophy were closely intertwined. He is credited with scientific discoveries including Pythagorean tuning, the five regular solids and the Theory of Proportions, while he was also among those said to have originated the idea of Earth's sphericity.

Around 530 BC he travelled to the Greek colony of Croton in southern Italy, where he founded a "school", functioning mostly as a commune or sect. Adherents were bound by a vow to Pythagoras and each other, shared all their possessions among them, practiced vegetarianism and lived ascetic lives dedicated to the study of religious and philosophical theories. One of Pythagorianism's main doctrines appears to have been metempsychosis, and another one was of the "harmony of the spheres", which maintained that the planets and stars move according to mathematical equations, which correspond to musical notes and thus produce an inaudible symphony.

Heraclitus

Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BC) propounded a distinctive theory which he expressed in oracular language. He is best known for his doctrines that things are constantly changing, that opposites coincide, and that fire is the basic material of the world. He is credited with the phrase panta rhei ("everything flows") and philosophy has been summed up with the adage "no man ever steps in the same river twice" (a phrase that he didn’t explicitly utter, although he often used the river as a metaphor).

Parmenides

Parmenides of Elea (early 5th BC) is said to have composed one single work, a metaphysical and cosmological poem, which has come to be known under the title "On Nature". He is generally recognised as having played a major role in the development of ancient Greek natural philosophy and metaphysics, was among the first to propose an ontological characterisation of the fundamental nature of reality. He is credited with the phrase "For to be aware and to be are the same" and with the dictum "Nothing comes from nothing". His adage "whatever is is, and what is not cannot be" has been contrasted with Heraclitus’ concept of constant change.

Anaxagoras

Anaxagoras (c. 500 – c. 428 BC) propounded a physical theory of "everything-in-everything", and claimed that nous (intellect or mind) was the motive cause of the cosmos. Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras described the world as a mixture of primary imperishable ingredients, where material variation was never caused by an absolute presence of a particular ingredient, but rather by its relative preponderance over the other ingredients. He also gave a number of novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena; he was the first to give a correct explanation of eclipses, and described the Sun and stars as a fiery masses.

Empedocles

Empedocles (c. 494 – c. 434 BC) is primarily known for pioneering the influential four-part theory of roots (air, water, earth, and fire) along with two active principles of Love and Strife, which influenced later philosophy, medicine, mysticism, cosmology, and religion. The philosophical system responded to Parmenides’ rejection of change while embracing religious injunctions and magical practices. Influenced by Pythagoras, he developed his own theory on reincarnation; he is also credited with the first comprehensive theory of light and vision.

Protagoras

Protagoras (c. 490 – c. 420 BC) was one of the most important sophists and exerted considerable influence in fifth-century intellectual debates. His teaching had a practical and concrete goal, and was mainly devoted to the development of argumentative techniques. He addressed subjects connected to virtue and political life, and especially was involved in the question of whether virtue could be taught. He is famous for his statement that "man is the measure of all things", interpreted by Plato to mean that there is no objective truth.

Democritus

Democritus (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) known in antiquity as the "laughing philosopher" because of his emphasis on the value of "cheerfulness", was one of the two founders of ancient atomist theory. He elaborated a system originated by his teacher Leucippus into a materialist account of the natural world. Many consider Democritus to be the "father of modern science", and Greece’s National Centre for Scientific Research is named after him. Later Greek historians consider Democritus to have established aesthetics as a subject of investigation and study, as he wrote theoretically on poetry and fine art long before authors such as Aristotle.

Diogenes, 1860, Jean-Léon Gérôme (via Wikimedia Commons)

CLASSICAL

Diogenes

Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412/404 – c. 323 BC) was one of the founders -and most famous proponent- of Cynicism, a school of thought first outlined by was Antisthenes, one of Socrates’ pupils. Arriving in Athens, Diogenes developed great admiration for Antisthenes’ ascetic lifestyle and teachings. He became his disciple, viewing him -and not Plato- as the true heir to Socrates. He was an advocate of nature over convention, and was famous for living in a wine jar and going about with a lantern looking for "a man" – i.e., someone not corrupted. According to another famous anecdote (a subject of many artistic works over the centuries), Alexander the Great met the philosopher in Corinth. When, standing before him in awe, the young king asked if there was any favour he might do for him, Diogenes replied "Yes. Get out of my sunlight".

Aristippus

Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 435 – c. 356 BC) the founder of the Cyrenaic school of hedonism (from hedone "pleasure"), the ethic of pleasure. A pupil of Socrates, he distanced himself from his master’s teachings, and posited the belief that among human values pleasure is the highest and pain the lowest. He warned his students to avoid inflicting as well as suffering pain, and maintained the superiority of physical pleasures over intellectual ones. Aristippus believed that people should dedicate their lives to the pursuit of pleasure, but also that they should use good judgment and exercise self-control to temper powerful human desires. He was the first of Socrates’ disciples to demand a salary for teaching philosophy.

Epicurus

Epicurus (341 – 270 BC) was the founder of a highly influential philosophical movement named after him. He rejected Plato's teaching and established his own school in Athens, called "the Garden". Influenced by thinkers such as Democritus, he believed in atomic materialism, dismissing the idea of an afterlife, as well as of divine punishment and supernatural intervention. According to Epicureanism, the purpose of philosophy was to help people attain a happy, tranquil life characterised by ataraxia (peace and freedom from fear) and aponia (the absence of pain).

Epicurus also placed an extremely high value on friendship, emphasising unequivocal loyalty to friends as the only way to maximise one’s security and, thus, felicity. His teachings differed from Cyrenaic hedonism because he emphasised the superiority of mental pleasures, and prioritised calmness and the avoidance of pain over the active pursuit of pleasures and luxuries. His most famous adage is lathe biōsas "live in obscurity", meaning that an ideal life is a peaceful one, where one does not attract too much attention by acquiring excessive wealth or power or pursuing a career in politics.

HELLENISTIC & ROMAN

Zeno

Zeno of Citium (c. 334 – c. 262 BC [not to be confused with the pre-Socratic Zeno of Elea]) was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy. Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism (named after the porch [stoa poikilê] in the Agora at Athens, where the members of the school congregated) laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of Virtue in accordance with Nature. Its followers believed that emotions like fear, envy, but also passionate love and desire arose from false judgments, and that the sage -a person who had attained moral and intellectual perfection- would not undergo them.

Origen

Origen of Alexandria (185 – 254) was a Christian exegete and theologian, who made copious use of the allegorical method in his commentaries, and (though later considered a heretic) laid the foundations of philosophical theology for the church. He wrote about 2,000 treatises in multiple branches of theology and was one of the most influential figures in early Christian theology, apologetics, and asceticism. Origen was the first Christian to speak of three “hypostases” in the Trinity and to use the term homoousios (though only by analogy) of the relation between the Father and the Son. He has been described as "the greatest genius the early church ever produced".

Plotinus

Plotinus (204/5 – 270) is generally regarded as the founder of what has come to be known as Neoplatonism. Although he was born in Roman Egypt, and his ancestry is uncertain, he is recognised as a Greek philosopher, since he wrote in Greek and was an illustrious continuator of Plato. He was also influenced by the teachings of Persian and Indian philosophy and Egyptian theology. The three basic principles of Plotinus’ metaphysics, described in the Enneads, are called by him "the One", the Intellect, and the Soul; these principles are both ultimate ontological realities and explanatory principles. The supreme, totally transcendent and indivisible "One" was identified with the concept of 'Good' and the principle of 'Beauty'.

Sarcophagus identified as depicting Plotinus with his disciples (Wikimedia Commons)

BYZANTINE

Stephanus of Alexandria

Stephanus of Alexandria (late 6th /early 7th century) was a Byzantine philosopher and teacher who, besides philosophy in the Neoplatonic tradition, also wrote on alchemy, astrology and astronomy. He was involved in the controversy over Monophysitism, apparently taking positions on both sides. Many works are attributed to Stephanus, some falsely, and he has been identified by some as the same person as the philosopher Stephanus of Athens.

Michael Psellos

Michael Psellos (c. 1017 – c. 1078/1096) was a Byzantine philosopher, theologian, and statesman whose advocacy of Platonic philosophy as ideally integrable with Christian doctrine initiated a renewal of Byzantine classical learning that later influenced the Italian Renaissance. Psellos made lasting contributions to Byzantine culture, including the reform of the university curriculum to emphasise the Greek classics, and Platonist thought, he interpreted as precursory to Christian revelation.

Gregory Palamas

Gregory Palamas (c. 1296 – 1357/1359) was Gregory Palamas a monk on Mount Athos and later archbishop of Thessaloniki, who was canonised in 1368. He was a renowned theologian and intellectual leader of Hesychasm, an ascetical method of mystical prayer that integrates repetitive prayer formulas with bodily postures and controlled breathing. He is also famous for his defense of the uncreated character of the light of the Transfiguration, and the distinction between God's essence and energies. His theological contributions are sometimes referred to as Palamism, and his followers as Palamites.

Gemistus Plethon

George Gemistus (called Plethon, c. 1355/1360 – 1452/1454) was one of the most renowned philosophers of the late Byzantine era. He was a chief pioneer of the revival of Greek scholarship in Western Europe. He rekindled the Western humanists’ interest in Plato when he delivered his treatise "On the Difference Between Aristotle and Plato" during the 1438–1439 Council of Florence. Plethon also introduced the Geography of Strabo to the West (where it had hitherto been unknown) and led the way to the overthrow of Ptolemy’s erroneous geographical theories. As revealed in his last literary work, the Nomoi or Book of Laws, which he only circulated among close friends, he rejected Christianity in favour of a return to the worship of the classical Hellenic Gods, in a merging of Stoic philosophy and Zoroastrian mysticism.

MODERN

Theophilos Kairis

Theophilos Kairis (1784 – 1853) was a priest, philosopher and one of the leading intellectuals of the Greek Revolution. He had studied theology, mathematics, natural sciences and philosophy, and shared to the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment. He established the Orphanotropheio ("Orphanage"), a progressive school that embraced the modern university system. Kairis, along with a few disciples, founded Theosebism, a pietistic revivalist movement -inspired by the French revolutionary cults, radical Protestantism and deism- anathematised by the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Viewed as a heretic, he was defrocked and sentenced to confinement, exile and imprisonment.

Cornelius Castoriadis

Cornelius Castoriadis (1922 –1997) was a Greek-French philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group. He was influenced by his understanding and criticism of traditional philosophical figures such as the Ancient Greeks, German Idealists, Marx, and Heidegger. He authored over twenty major works and numerous articles spanning many traditional philosophical subjects, including politics, economics, psychology, anthropology, and ontology. His oeuvre can be understood broadly as a reflection on the concept of creativity and its implications in various fields. Perhaps most importantly he warned of the dangerous political and ethical consequences of a contemporary world that has lost sight of autonomy, i.e. of the need to set limits or laws for oneself.

Sources: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Encyclopedia Britannica; The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Wikipedia

Read also via Greek News Agenda: A Tribute to Socrates; Cornelius Castoriadis, thinker of autonomy; Education Otherwise: Τhe School of Athens heritage; Lesbos - An island of culture and history; The fascinating history of the island of Samos

N.M. (Intro image: School of Athens [detail], 1511, Raphael (via Wikimedia Commons)

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First conceived in 1983 and presented for the first time in 1986, the Runciman Award is an annual literary award offered by the Anglohellenic League for a work published in English dealing wholly or in part with Greece or Hellenism. Named in honor of Sir Steven Runciman, the eminent Byzantine scholar, the aim of the Award is to stimulate interest in Greek history and culture culture from earliest times to the present, to reward and encourage good and accessible writing as well as to promote wider knowledge and understanding of Greece’s contribution to civilization and values.  Previous winners have included Mark Mazower, Antony Beevor, Richard Clogg,K.E. Fleming, Emily Greenwood, Juliet du Boulay, Bruce Clark,  A.E. Stallings, and of course, Roderick Beaton, the only author to have won it four times.

The judging panel for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award, has agreed the short list for the competition in 2024. Out of their long list of 24 books announced in January, the judges have selected seven books for their short list. Judith Mossman, the chair of judges, said:

“We had an extremely varied and stimulating long list from which to choose, which enabled us, after much discussion, to select one of our most varied shortlists of the last few years, ranging in subject-matter over many centuries, from the beginnings of Greek literature and philosophy through to the Byzantine era and thence right up to our own day; and in terms of genre from scholarly biography, diachronic history and popular philosophy to poetry and poetic translation. We are very excited about all the shortlisted works.” The short list of seven titles is:

• Emily A. Austin, Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life (OUP) Philosophy
• Islam Issa, Alexandria: The City That Changed the World (Sceptre) History
• Eli Payne Mandel, The Grid (Carcanet) Poetry
• Adam Nicolson, How To Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks (Harper Collins) Philosophy
• Peter Sarris, Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint (John Murray) Biography
• Kostya Tsolakis, Greekling (Nine Arches) Poetry
• Emily Wilson (trans.), The Iliad by Homer (W.W. Norton) Literature in translation

Emily A. Austin, Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life

Pleasure feels amazing! Anxiety, however, does not. The Ancient Greek Philosopher Epicurus rolled these two strikingly intuitive claims into a simple formula for happiness and well-being—pursue pleasure without causing yourself anxiety. But wait, is that even possible? Can humans achieve lasting pleasure without suffering anxiety about failure and loss? Epicurus thinks we can, at least once we learn to pursue pleasure thoughtfully.

In Living for Pleasure, philosopher Emily Austin offers a lively, jargon-free tour of Epicurean strategies for diminishing anxiety, achieving satisfaction, and relishing joys. Epicurean science was famously far ahead of its time, and Austin shows that so was its ethics and psychology. Epicureanism can help us make and keep good friends, prepare for suffering, combat imposter syndrome, build trust, recognize personal limitations, value truth, cultivate healthy attitudes towards money and success, manage political anxiety, develop gratitude, savor food, and face death.

Readers will walk away knowing more about an important school of philosophy, but moreover understanding how to get what they want in life—happiness—without the anxiety of striving for it.

Emily A. Austin is Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Her scholarly work focuses on Ancient Greek theories of complex emotions, including the fear of death, grief, patriotism, and comedic malice. 

Islam Issa, Alexandria: The City That Changed the World

Inspired by the tales of Homer and his own ambitions of empire, Alexander the Great sketched the idea of a city onto the sparsely populated Egyptian coastline. He did not live to see Alexandria built, but his vision of a sparkling metropolis that celebrated learning and diversity was swiftly realized and still stands today.

Islam Issa’s father had always told him about their city's magnificence, and as he looked at the new library in Alexandria it finally hit home. This is no ordinary library. And Alexandria is no ordinary city. Combining rigorous research with myth and folklore, Alexandria: The City That Changed the World is an authoritative history of a city that has shaped our modern world. Soon after being founded by Alexander the Great, Alexandria became the crucible of cultural exchange between East and West for millennia and the undisputed global capital of knowledge. It was at the forefront of human progress, but it also witnessed brutal natural disasters, plagues, crusades and violence.

Major empires fought over Alexandria, from the Greeks and Romans to the Arabs, Ottomans, French, and British. Key figures shaped the city from its eponymous founder to Aristotle, Cleopatra, Saint Mark the Evangelist, Napoleon Bonaparte and many others, each putting their own stamp on its identity and its fortunes. And millions of people have lived in this bustling seaport on the Mediterranean. From its humble origins to its dizzy heights and its latest incarnation, Islam Issa tells us the rich and gripping story of a city that changed the world.

Islam Issa is a literary critic and historian, whose work has focused on the cultural history of the Middle East and the modern-day reception of English literature, including Shakespeare, in global contexts. He is Professor of Literature and History at Birmingham City University, where he was awarded the university's Researcher of the Year prize for two consecutive years.

Eli Payne Mandel, The Grid

The Grid is about the end of worlds, ancient and modern. In three sequences of poems interspersed with Mandel's own translations from classical texts, figures of obsession and loneliness try to decrypt what Maurice Blanchot called 'the writing of the disaster'. Like a detective novel, the title sequence pieces together archival fragments into a lyric essay about Alice Kober, the half-forgotten scholar behind the decipherment of the ancient writing system called Linear B. Across different wartimes, Mandel adapts the typography and formatting of archived papers, their overlaps and errors and aporias, which compel readers to invest creatively in the very act of reading, learning new ways into language as they go.

The leaps between past and present work in dialogue like a series of exhilarating stepping stones. This is a collection of what, though sometimes written as prose, turn out to be poems. From Ovid's bitter letters of exile to the prime minister's letters of instruction to nuclear submarine captains, The Grid tells a series of stories about four thousand years of apocalypse. Strange, humane, and deeply rooted in the ancient world, Mandel's first book surveys the ruins of the West with no nostalgia.

Eli Payne Mandel is a poet, scholar, and psychoanalytic candidate. He is currently a Lecturer in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. The Grid is his first book.

Adam Nicolson, How To Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks

Before the Greeks, the idea of the world was dominated by god-kings and their priests, in a life ruled by imagined metaphysical monsters. 2,500 years ago, in a succession of small eastern Mediterranean harbour-cities, that way of thinking began to change. Men (and some women) decided to cast off mental subservience and apply their own worrying and thinking minds to the conundrums of life.

These great innovators shaped the beginnings of philosophy. Through the questioning voyager Odysseus, Homer explored how we might navigate our way through the world. Heraclitus in Ephesus was the first to consider the interrelatedness of things. Xenophanes of Colophon was the first champion of civility. In Lesbos, the Aegean island of Sappho and Alcaeus, the early lyric poets asked themselves ‘How can I be true to myself?’ In Samos, Pythagoras imagined an everlasting soul and took his ideas to Italy where they flowered again in surprising and radical forms.

Prize-winning and bestselling writer Adam Nicolson travels through this transforming world and asks what light these ancient thinkers can throw on our deepest preconceptions. Sparkling with maps, photographs and artwork, How to Be is a journey into the origins of Western thought. Hugely formative ideas emerged in these harbour-cities: fluidity of mind, the search for coherence, a need for the just city, a recognition of the mutability of things, a belief in the reality of the ideal — all became the Greeks’ legacy to the world. Born out of a rough, dynamic—and often cruel— moment in human history, it was the dawn of enquiry, where these fundamental questions about self, city and cosmos, asked for the first time, became, as they remain, the unlikely bedrock of understanding.

Adam Nicolson is the author of many books on history, landscape, and great literature. He is the winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, the W. H. Heinemann Award, and the Ondaatje Prize. His books include The Life Between the Tides and Why Homer Matters.

Peter Sarris, Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint

Justinian is a radical reassessment of an emperor and his times. In the sixth century CE, the emperor Justinian presided over nearly four decades of remarkable change, in an era of geopolitical threats, climate change, and plague. From the eastern Roman—or Byzantine—capital of Constantinople, Justinian’s armies reconquered lost territory in Africa, Italy, and Spain. But these military exploits, historian Peter Sarris shows, were just one part of a larger program of imperial renewal.

From his dramatic overhaul of Roman law, to his lavish building projects, to his fierce persecution of dissenters from Orthodox Christianity, Justinian’s vigorous statecraft—and his energetic efforts at self-glorification—not only set the course of Byzantium but also laid the foundations for the world of the Middle Ages. 

 Even as Justinian sought to recapture Rome’s past greatness, he paved the way for what would follow. 

Peter Sarris is Professor of late antique, medieval, and Byzantine studies at the University of Cambridge. He is author or editor of eight books on the history of late antiquity, the early Middle Ages, and Byzantium, including Byzantium: A Very Short Introduction.

Kostya Tsolakis, Greekling

Greekling, the much-anticipated debut poetry collection by Kostya Tsolakis, celebrates and commemorates damaged and rejected Greek bodies, be they of flesh and blood, made of marble, or natural bodies. In intertwining Greek culture, history and poetic influences with the contemporary queer experience, this collection is perceptive, lyrical, and deeply evocative of time and place. From an Athenian childhood to a closeted adolescence in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic, towards sexual self-discovery, maturity and freedom – Tsolakis charts the pursuit of unconditional happiness.

These poems explore queer joy on dance floors, darkrooms and bedsits, but also the risks of crossing strangers’ thresholds or in encountering the violent machismo and hypermasculine expectations of the society you grow up in. And ever-present through the collection is Athens – the city the poet once turned his back on at eighteen but has come to love again. Moving between lament and celebration, Greekling reflects on a changing and often misrepresented country, the nature of motherlands and mother tongues; it is a voyage out – and a return.

Kostya Tsolakis was born and raised in Athens, Greece, and now lives in London. He is founding editor of harana poetry, the online magazine for poets writing in English as a second or parallel language. In 2019 he won the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition (ESL category). His poems have been widely published in magazines, and anthologies.

Emily Wilson (trans.), The Iliad by Homer

The greatest literary landmark of antiquity masterfully rendered by the most celebrated translator of our time.

When Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017—revealing the ancient poem in a contemporary idiom that was “fresh, unpretentious and lean” (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)—critics lauded it as “a revelation” (Susan Chira, New York Times) and “a cultural landmark” (Charlotte Higgins, Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English. Now Wilson has returned with an equally revelatory translation of Homer’s other great epic—the most revered war poem of all time.

The Iliad roars with the clamor of arms, the bellowing boasts of victors, the fury and grief of loss, and the anguished cries of dying men. It sings, too, of the sublime magnitude of the world—the fierce beauty of nature and the gods’ grand schemes beyond the ken of mortals. In Wilson’s hands, this thrilling, magical, and often horrifying tale now gallops at a pace befitting its legendary battle scenes, in crisp but resonant language that evokes the poem’s deep pathos and reveals palpably real, even “complicated,” characters—both human and divine.

The culmination of a decade of intense engagement with antiquity’s most surpassingly beautiful and emotionally complex poetry, Wilson’s Iliad now gives us a complete Homer for our generation.

Emily Rose Caroline Wilson is a British American classicist, author, translator, and Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2018, she became the first woman to publish an English translation of Homer's Odyssey. Her translation of the Iliad was released in September 2023.

The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award Ceremony 2024, under the joint sponsorship of the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A. G. Leventis Foundation, and in partnership with the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College London will take place Monday, 17 June 2024, at King's College London (Great Hall) from 19:00 to 21:00.

A the award ceremony, the chair of judges, Prof. Judith Mossman, will announce the winner. The winner will attend the event and speak about the winning book. The keynote speech will be given by Prof. Alexander Lingas on ‘Recovering the Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia’. The event will be hosted and addressed by Dr John Kittmer, chair of the Council of the League, and Prof. Gonda Van Steen, director of the Centre for Hellenic Studies.

Alexander Lingas, Music Director and founder of Cappella Romana, is Professor Emeritus of Music at City, University of London, and a Research Fellow of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Cambridge, UK). He formed and directed the Byzantine Chant Ensemble for the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla in 2023. His present work embraces not only historical study but also ethnography and performance. In 2018, His All-Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, bestowed on him the title of Archon Mousikodidáskalos. Having been Spring 2023 Artist in Residence at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York, he has returned there during 2023–24 as Professor of Music and Associate Director of its Institute of Sacred Arts.

Attendance in person and viewing by Zoom are free but you must register for either in advance, for more details please click here.

I.L.

The post Short List for the 2024 Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Marinos Sariyannis has been working as a researcher at the Institute of Mediterranean Studies/FORTH since 2007, specializing in Ottoman social, cultural and intellectual history. He is deputy director of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH and member of the Editorial Board of Archivum Ottomanicum (Wiesbaden) and of Bulletin de Correspondance hellénique moderne et contemporain (Athens – Paris). He has published more than fifty articles and chapters in journals such as Turcica, Archivum Ottomanicum, International Journal of Turkish Studies, Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient, Turkish Historical Review, and others. His monograph entitled “A History of Ottoman Political Thought up to the Early Nineteenth Century” was published in 2019.

Sariyannis spoke to Rethinking Greece* about the shift in the perception and study of the Ottoman past in Greek historiography and the emergence of a new generation of Greek Ottomanist scholars, whose ease with both Greek and Ottoman sources allows them to examine Ottoman realities in the Greek lands in a multifaceted way; on the main fields of Ottoman Studies research in Greece (urban history, agricultural realities, the peculiarities of islands, the commercial and maritime activity, monasteries); on the project GHOST, an effort to explore the meaning and content of what the Ottomans meant by “marvelous”, “strange” or “extraordinary”, and whether the Weberian notion of “disenchantment” can be applied in an Ottoman context; and finally, on his monograph "A History of Ottoman Political Thought up to the Early Nineteenth Century,” claiming that "the Ottomans had their own share in the 'Age of Revolutions,' although a very sui generis one."

Up until the 1980s-1990s, the Ottoman period (termed Tourkokratia or ‘Turkish rule’) was seen generally by Greek scholars as a period not worth studying. Why do you think this perception had remained prevalent for so long in Greek historiography? What was the shift that caused this perception to change?

Undoubtedly, this perception was primarily a result of the prevalent nationalist foundations of Greek historiography. Greek historians felt their duty was to study the development of the ‘Greek nation’ throughout the centuries; the Ottoman period was considered a lacuna of sorts, a dark space of yoke and repression between two brilliant periods of independent glory (the Byzantine Empire considered a predominantly Greek formation). Being a pillar of the ideological foundations of the Greek state, this concept remained prevalent for more than one hundred and fifty years. The Ottoman period was seen as a foreign rule, an occupation that lasted centuries and prevented any kind of intellectual and social development, during which nothing mattered but the efforts of the Greeks to revolt.

By the end of the 1970s, however, after the fall of the nationalist military junta, a new generation of historians had begun studying this period in its own right, focusing in its economic and social realities and trying to take into account the few translated Ottoman sources. It was in this context that the first generations of Ottomanist scholars, trained in the UK, the USA, Austria or France, begun exploring and publishing Ottoman archives on the history of the Greek lands. Some of them inspired young students to pursue Ottoman studies, and with the help of some financially happy years that allowed several posts of Ottoman history to be created in universities and research centers all along Greece in the 2000s the field is now thriving.

What did the Greek perspective bring to the field of Ottoman studies? And on the other hand, how has the inclusion of Ottoman studies influenced our understanding of modern Greek history?

The main advantage of Greek Ottomanists over their peers is exactly their ease with both Greek and Ottoman sources, which allows them to examine Ottoman realities in the Greek lands in a multifaceted way. Their emphasis on the hard data is dictated both by their training in the intellectual climate of modern Greek historiography and by the nature of the Ottoman sources, i.e. mainly tax registers or judicial proceedings. The combination of Ottoman administrative sources and Greek communal narratives and archives leads to an emphasis in “history from below” and has perhaps contributed to a more nuanced understanding of the coexistence of religious groups under Ottoman rule. On the other hand, the work of Greek Ottomanists showed that no history of the Greek lands can be written without studying Ottoman sources and without taking into account not only the Ottoman institutions, but also non-Greek populations. What is more, the Ottoman period is not any more seen as a static context of a dynamic Greek nation; we now understand that the institutional and social realities of the Ottoman Empire developed considerably from the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries.

What can you tell us about Ottoman Studies in Greece now? What are the principal fields of studies?

Ottoman studies are blooming in Greece: there are professors and researchers of Ottoman history in almost every university and research center, and postgraduate students often choose an Ottomanist direction. Greek Ottoman scholarship has been predominantly occupied with economic, demographic and social history: this is only too natural, given the multitude of such sources preserved in Greek archives. Urban history, agricultural realities, the peculiarities of islands, the commercial and maritime activity, monasteries – these have been the main topics that occupy Greek Ottomanists. Furthermore, some scholars have addressed wider topics that apply to the Ottoman Empire as a whole, such as revolts, centre-periphery relations or issues of cultural and intellectual history.

You teach at the Department of Ottoman History at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH in Rethymnon. How has the history of Crete during influenced research in the Department? What are the particular sources that a specialist in Ottoman history can study οn the field?

To be more precise, I only teach in the postgraduate program which is run jointly by the Institute and the University of Crete; the Department at the Institute mainly deals with research, rather than teaching. That said, ever since its creation in the mid-1980s the Department has been focusing in Cretan history, engaging in a long-time project that aims to publish the huge Ottoman judicial archive of Iraklio/Kandiye (Candia) since 2000. All of the members have also dealt with various aspects of the history of Ottoman Crete. However, in the last ten years our research directions have moved toward other sources and topics as well, ranging from the study of other places in Ottoman Greece to the janissary networks in the Eastern Mediterranean, not to mention my own musings in cultural and intellectual history. At any rate, Crete remains a favorite object of our research, not least because of the wealth of archival sources available. These include the voluminous judicial registers, but also tax registers and other documents preserved in Istanbul.

Since 2018 you direct the project "GHOST - Geographies and Histories of the Ottoman Supernatural Tradition: Exploring Magic, the Marvelous, and the Strange in Ottoman Mentalities”. Can you tell us more about this fascinating premise and the insight it brings to Ottoman studies?

The GHOST project, which now comes toward its end, is an effort to explore the meaning and content of what the Ottomans meant by “marvelous”, “strange” or “extraordinary”, and, vice versa, the correspondent notions that covered what we now describe as “supernatural/preternatural” and “irrational”. We seek to specify the Ottoman attitudes against beliefs in such phenomena or practice of such methods, both holy (e.g. miracles of dervishes) and suspect (magic, witchcraft). Various authors might attribute such phenomena to actions by the jinn or, alternatively, to a secret interaction of the cosmic elements. A major aim of the project is to analyze the various ways changes took place from the mid-seventeenth century onwards: for instance, we tried to study whether certain phenomena were pushed from the field of “inexplicable” to the field of “marvelous”, whether we can speak of any trend to “rationalize” the image of the world, or, in other terms, whether the Weberian notion of “disenchantment” can be applied in an Ottoman context.

To this aim, we sought to trace the semantic shifts in terms denoting nature, miracles, magic and so forth, examining miracles, dreams and the various beliefs concerning the role of stars and the homologies and hierarchies of the microcosm and the macrocosm. There is also the “preternatural”, i.e. what is deemed natural (not miraculous) but inexplicable (the “paranormal” in modern terms): wonders of the world, hermetic knowledge, the jinn, and of course the shifting ways to interpret natural phenomena. Furthermore, we analyzed efforts and techniques designed in order to establish human control over such phenomena: in other words, Ottoman occult sciences, such as divination, magic, astrology, alchemy and so forth.

The results of the project can be seen in more detail in our publications: mainly, the papers published in our online, open access journal called “Aca’ib: Occasional papers on the Ottoman perceptions of the supernatural” and in a monograph I wrote,  Ottomans and the Supernatural: Nature, the Hereafter, and the Limits of Knowledge in the Ottoman Empire, which is hopefully to be published soon.

Υou are the author of the book “A History of Ottoman Political Thought up to the Early Nineteenth Century.” What are your thoughts on the existence of “Ottoman Enlightenment?” Can you identify any enduring legacies of Ottoman political thought in modern political theory or practice?

This book was the result of another research project, back in 2014-2015, which sought to trace the history of Ottoman political ideas and their relationship to social and political developments. Now, this project had no aspirations of making any connections with the present; it aimed in mapping the intellectual trends from the fourteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, seeing them in the background of previous Islamic thought, rather than modern ideas. There has been a lively discussion about “Ottoman Enlightenment”, indeed, or if you prefer an “Islamic Enlightenment” of the eighteenth century. This has less to do with political ideas than with a democratization of knowledge and a legitimization of individual thought, which in my view was linked somehow paradoxically with the influential fundamentalist movement of the seventeenth century, the Kadızadelis. Indeed, if Islamic fundamentalism is a recurrent idea in modern political realities it has its origins in the Ottoman era. But in my view it is more interesting to examine certain political developments of the eighteenth century, namely the self-legitimization of the janissary networks seeing themselves as representatives of all Muslims and thus legitimate members of the political nation (the community which could claim a share in political deliberation). It can be said that the Ottomans had their own share in the “Age of Revolutions”, although a very sui generis one, and that the internal dynamics of Ottoman society were less “despotic” than we usually tend to think.

*Interview to: Ioulia Livaditi

Read also from Greek News Agenda:

• Restoration of Ottoman monuments in Greece
• Remembering the Ottoman Past
• Antonis Hadjikyriacou on the Ottoman period, the Greek Revolution of 1821, and new paths in Greek historiography

The post Rethinking Greece | Marinos Sariyannis on the thriving field of Ottoman Studies in Greece appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

From the 11th to the 14th of September 2023 the heart of Modern Greek Studies beat at the University of Vienna. The Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies of the Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, the European Society of Modern Greek Studies and the Austrian Society of Modern Greek Studies organized the 7th European Congress of Modern Greek Studies entitled “Zoom in and Focus on Modern Hellenism: texts, images, objects, histories”.

The European Congresses of Modern Greek Studies are held every four years and are open to all fields of Modern Greek Studies. Following the call for papers for this year, presentations focused on migrations and forced population movements, with a distinctive emphasis on the imprint of the Lausanne Treaty for the exchange of populations (1923) in current historical research, but also as a subject of literature, individual and collective memory and trauma, and media representations. Other key topics were the Greek Diaspora, language and linguistics, material remains and representations, press and historical narratives. The sessions were focused on a wide variety of themes, such as: Philhellenic and memoir texts on 1821, Poetic experimentation, Divergent perspectives on iconic events, Greek-Orthodox communities in the Ottoman period, Early modern Greek religious thought, Jews in Greece, Contemporary film and television, Political refugees after the Greek Civil War, Late Ottoman and Fanariotic literature, C. P. Kavafy, Theatrical performance of Greekness, Students and travelers from and to Greece, Cretan literature, Balkan authors and images, History of schoolbooks, and more.

There was a strong focus on Early Modernity, also due to the long tradition of Greek commercial, literary and printing presence in Vienna and of the relevant scholarship starting already in the 19th century with Emile Legrand and Spyridon Lambros and continuing to this day, as Professor Maria A. Stassinopoulou of the University of Vienna and the Austrian Society of Modern Greek Studies explained in her inaugural speech on behalf of the organizing committee. Papers on prose and poetry discussed great figures of modernity such as Kavafy and Kazantzakis, but also reached into the narratives of utopia and dystopia in contemporary literary publications and media. The intersection between migration and language, the history of the language question, and language in the media were discussed in numerous papers.

The European Congresses of Modern Greek Studies are held every four years at a European university with active Modern Greek Studies and are the flagship endeavor of the European Society of Modern Greek Studies, as its president, Professor Vassilis Sabatakakis from Lund University, pointed out in his inaugural speech. Since its founding in 1995, the society has become a major mediator of Modern Greek Studies in Europe with a clear focus on the support of international scholars. In collaboration with the Directorate of Letters of the Ministry of Culture of the Hellenic Republic, the Society also promotes translation projects in European languages, the most recent of which were presented by director Dr. Athanasia Papathanasiou at the congress. The European Society of Modern Greek Studies acts as patron of international conferences and workshops, offers prizes for the best published doctoral dissertation and the best monograph as well as fellowships for participation in both its major congresses and its conferences for young researchers and strives for the active interdisciplinary presence of the field internationally. The invigorating presence of young scholars with new ideas was felt by all in the closing ceremony; we shall meet again in 2027.

The congress was warmly embraced and supported by the University of Vienna; to celebrate the event, Ambassador of Greece to Austria, Catherine Koika honored a congress delegation with an invitation to the Embassy of Greece in Vienna. Additionally, the congress was sponsored by the Tsiter Kontopoulou Fund of the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, the City of Vienna and Meeting Destination Vienna, the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as the European Society of Modern Greek Studies in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Hellenic Republic.

For further information on the 7th European Congress of Modern Greek Studies and on Modern Greek Studies in Europe:

• https://7th-european-congress-of-modern-greek-studies.univie.ac.at
• https://www.eens.org 

Ι.L, with text from Professors Vassilios Sabatakakis and Maria A. Stassinopoulou

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Kristina Gedgaudaitė is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Amsterdam. She has published a monograph based on her thesis titled “The Memory of Asia Minor in Contemporary Greek Culture” by Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies Series (2021). Previously, she was a Mary Seeger O'Boyle postdoctoral research fellow at the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton University. Her research interests fall within the fields of 20th century Greek literature and culture, cultural memory, migration, comics and graphic novels.

Kristina Gedgaudaitė spoke to Rethinking Greece* on how representations of the Asia Minor refugee experience in popular Greek culture have changed through the decades, on her work on Soloup’s graphic novel Aivali, on why the graphic novel is an apt format to represent a difficult historical past and finally on the educational project Greek Studies Now.

Your most recent research project focused on the memory of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) in contemporary Greek culture. How have representations of Asia Minor refugee experience changed in popular culture through the decades? Was there a turning point when refugee memory found its place in Greek history?

The memory of the Greco-Turkish War always played an important role in Greek culture, yet this role has not been the same over the period of the last hundred years, as it changes shape in accordance with the needs of the communities by which it has been invoked. To illustrate this point, my book Memories of Asia Minor begins from the testimony of a refugee woman, Marianthe Karamousa, recorded by the Center for Asia Minor Studies; at a certain point of accounting her hardships, she laments that these experiences do not find a place in history. The testimony is recorded in 1962, that is forty years after the war, the same year when many commemoration ceremonies were held across Greece. It is also the year that some of the works that are today regarded as most prominent on this subject were published, such as Aivali, My Homeland by Fotis Kontoglou or Bloodied Earth (transl. Farewell Anatolia) by Dido Soteriou. Yet this refugee still felt that her experiences lay outside history, even at the moment of narrating those experiences for the historical record to the interviewer of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies. The testimony was published in the first volume of the Center for Asia Minor Studies' collection The Exodus in 1980; the decade of the 1980s can indeed be regarded as the moment when refugee experiences assume great significance in the public sphere. All this happens at a transnational conjuncture, when a human rights discourse is on the rise and there is increased attention to individual stories that lay claim to these rights. Yet, while certain experiences, such as the exodus from Smyrna become watershed moments in the history of the Greco-Turkish War, others, such as those of Turkish-speaking Christians that left Greece, never obtain the same visibility. In this context, the focus of my project is on the role memories of Asia Minor come to play in present-day Greece.

What is the role of memories of Asia Minor in contemporary Greek culture? How do they connect to Greek society’s current hopes and fears?

I view cultural memory as a toolbox, which can indeed provide tools to position oneself in history and to address the present in a certain way, be it to assume a distinct cultural identity, to provide a template for responding to present-day issues, or to advocate for recognition and social justice. The two examples of this process I focused on in my research are the history textbook edited by the team led by Maria Repousi and the 2015-2016 response to the currently ongoing refugee crisis. Both attracted wide public attention, albeit in different ways: the former leading to outcries of outrage, while the latter – to solidarity. Perhaps one could say that the underlying premise of my work was that we need to take such emotions seriously, to understand where they come from and where they lead.

It was also important for me to foreground that while memories operate within certain social, cultural and political frameworks, the meaning that they take on is ultimately determined in an encounter with others. During my research, I witnessed a number of occasions when cultural works dealing with refugee memories deemed alternative visions were embedded in the national culture, and vice versa – the works that were considered as reflective of nationalist discourses served as a meeting point for diverse viewpoints to emerge. Hence taking into account encounters with memories was important for showing that contingent futures of memory emerge from established views and openings to difference.

How does your work on Asia Minor memories connect to current global debates over contested pasts and refugeehood?

While this is not a new phenomenon, the declared refugee crisis in 2015 brought this issue to the foreground of European politics. Returning to the case of refugees from Asia Minor in this context, offers an interesting point of departure for considering what meanings of refugeehood persist when the initial sense of emergency and crisis that led to it are long gone.

Looking into the ways in which contemporary identity politics intertwine with questions about the past, and how claims of ownership over this past inevitably come endowed with specific demands for the future, resonates strongly with debates taking place in other global contexts, be it on exclusions and inclusions that characterize commemoration practices or the role of migratory heritage within national culture. Finally and importantly, the compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey served as a blueprint for executing a number of other displacements, most notably after World War II, and exploring those links offers a vantage point for viewing the legacies of war in the global context, beyond Greece and Turkey. I have made some steps in exploring the latter in my most recent work. 

Your current research project deals with Greek comics and graphic novels. How did you get from researching memories of Asia Minor to comics?

Just as I was starting my research project on memories of Asia Minor, as part of my doctoral dissertation at the University of Oxford in 2014, Soloup’s graphic novel Aivali was published. I found it very engaging and particularly reflective of the ways in which the grandchildren of refugees relate to their cultural heritage. Just think of your own family memories: rarely they come as a full story, and much more often – as fragments, prompted by something in our everyday. It is then our task to piece those fragments together. This is a process which is often facilitated by delving into the archive to fill in the gaps in the story as well as a journey of return to the homelands of one’s ancestors. This is exactly what we see happening in the case of Soloup’s Aivali, but also other recent works on the topic.

The graphic novel is a particularly apt format to represent what dealing with a difficult historical past and what tis entails, which can be seen from the proliferation of such narratives across the globe. Graphic narrative is built around a number of tensions; between word and image, between single image and page as a whole, between representing and exposing the process of mediating representation. What is more, they often break down linear historical chronologies and as a result mange to expose history as a process with long lasting consequences beyond the event itself. The capacity of the comics medium to render history is what caught my initial interest and eventually led me to the wider exploration of comics and graphic novels as a means of artistic innovation and social critique in contemporary Greece, first conceived while on a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University, and currently continuing within the framework of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowship, held at the University of Amsterdam.

You are one of the coordinators of the project Greek Studies Now. Could you tell us more about this project? What are the stakes for Modern Greek Studies in the current cultural conjecture?

Greek Studies Now started as an initiative between the University of Oxford and the University of Amsterdam in 2020, with Durham University joining as a third institutional partner in 2023. Yet from the very beginning it served as a network bringing together colleagues across different universities and career stages. The key question that this network addresses is how Greek studies can offer a vantage point for critical engagement with wider global contexts and debates. Over the course of three years since this network’s inception, the topics that were addressed in this framework ranged from eco-criticism to the trial of the Golden Dawn, from AIDS commemoration to Albanian-Greek identity, and much more. At the core of the network’s activities lies an invitation to think contrapuntally – weaving connections across topics, contexts, and disciplinary boundaries. Most importantly, I believe this kind of critical engagement with the present also invites reconsideration of one’s own role and positionality as a researcher. While this is certainly a much wider call, I see more and more colleagues who are active participants in the network activities to think through and engage with their research topics in various ways beyond academia.

Read also from Greek News Agenda:

Rethinking Greece | Emilia Salvanou on the Greek-Turkish population exchange after 1922 and the making of Greek refugees' memory

Reading Greece: The Asia Minor Catastrophe in Modern Greek Literature

* Interview to: Ioulia Livaditi

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This volume, a part of Brill’s Studies in Maritime History, presents Greek Maritime History and unravels the historical trajectory of a maritime nation par excellence in the Eastern Mediterranean. At the core of the book lies the rise of the Greek merchant fleet and its transformation from a peripheral to an international carrier. Following the evolution of Greek shipping for more than three centuries (17th-20th century), the book traces a maritime nation in its making and provides proof of a different, yet successful pattern of maritime development compared to other European maritime nations.

Greek-owned shipping holds a leading position in global shipping in the world’s dry bulk fleet and the world’s tanker fleet. The extraordinary course of the Greek shipping industry worldwide has attracted a great deal of public attention, especially in contrast to the small size of the Greek national economy. The contradiction of a nation that is small in spatial terms, yet has a big impact in the maritime realm, as has also been the case for Norway, has led to the ‘miracle of Greek shipping’ narrative. Due to the lack of a concrete scientific approach, the analysis of this impressive growth of the Greek shipping industry has relied mostly on a variety of traditional, if not metaphysical, interpretations such as the charisma of individual entrepreneurs or a genetic predisposition of Greeks towards the sea and the maritime industry that is still resonant to the present day.

The introduction of Greek Maritime History to academia in the 1990s counterposed a coherent scientific approach for the study of the historical evolution of the shipping industry. Over the last decades, Greek Maritime History has carved an impressive course and is in its current state, mature and well equipped enough to encompass the multilevel human interaction with the sea and contribute to the international agenda, methodology and research. The chapters of this volume, edited by Katerina Galani and Alexandra Papadopoulou, reflect the multidimensional, comparative, interdisciplinary and intertemporal capacity of Greek maritime historiography. The scope spans from the 16nth to the 20th century, as well as from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea to the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, it covers a wide range of topics, from business history, technology and innovation to colonial and diaspora studies, naval history, fishing, maritime communities, shipping and trade.

A central analytical tool used in the volume is the social and economic networks that organized and coordinated trade and shipping through the formation of local, peripheral and international transport systems. Networks lie at the foundations of the business organisation of shipping and trade. Furthermore, networks have revealed the role of the small maritime communities of the Aegean and the Ionian seas that emerged during the sailing-ship era, in the making of Greek shipping. Beyond the history of major ports, the study of seafaring communities has been critical in deepening our understanding of the ‘geography’ and roots of powerful European shipping. Furthermore, it opens up new potential for interregional and transnational comparisons and brings about new questions on the existence of a common pattern of maritime development among Europe’s seas (the Mediterranean, North Sea, Baltic, and so on).

The relation between modern shipping and globalization is another contributing factor to the growth of Greek shipping. The international expansion of commercial and shipping networks was a crucial factor in the emergence of shipping as a global business, and in the role of sea transport in global interconnectedness. The consolidation and connectivity of local, peripheral and international transport networks that extended beyond the maritime region of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black and Azov seas towards Western Europe and the Atlantic Ocean has been crucial in the rise of modern Greek shipping. The interplay between shipping and globalisation is reflected in recent studies conducted on the level of the markets, by probing maritime regions and their share of the global maritime industry, as well as on the level of the firms, mostly of diaspora entrepreneurs who have acted as architects of transnational networks.

Naming ceremony for M/T Sibella in 1952 

Volume Chapters and Contents

The chapters adopt a multidimensional and interdisciplinary approach – spanning from shipping and trade to piracy, technology, human resources and entrepreneurship – and reflect the main directions of Greek maritime historiography over the last thirty years.

Greek Maritime History: Navigating Greek Historiography in Domestic and International Waters: Gelina Harlaftis deservingly holds the first main chapter in this volume. In a dense description of the evolution of Maritime Studies in Greece and its current situation in research and teaching, she encapsulated the central methodological issues of the last decades of research and the consolidation of models applied to conceptualise the history of Greek shipping. She provides a synopsis of the main research findings, which have challenged long-standing impressions in the existing historiography, relating and justifying the growth of Greek shipping in the eighteenth century.

From Venetian to Ionian Protectionism|Research in the Early Modern Maritime History of the Greek Subjects of Venice: Gerassimos Pagratis, a medievalist and early modern historian of the Venetian Republic, presents recent findings on Greek shipping in the Ionian Sea, under the Venetian rule and the Septinsular Republic, while he offers a critical survey of the early modern historiography, pointing out the prevailing topics and approaches, as well as their strengths and limitations.

Caught Between Empires|Agency, Neutrality and a Middleman Minority: Katerina Galani addresses one of the key comparative advantages of the Greeks in the Mediterranean of the early modern period: their role as intermediaries in the empires. Finding their way through the cracks of the system, they became the principal sea carriers of the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century, and acted as economic brokers – that is, as agents and partners – for Western traders operating in the Levant.

Piracy in the Aegean|Aspects and Contradictions of Stereotypes: Dimitris Dimitropoulos raises the issue of the perils of the sea in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries through the records of the Aegean Islands, with an eye to demographic, social and economic changes. Drawing upon contemporary sources and the existing literature, he challenges the long-standing negative assertions on piracy and corsairing and proposes a wider interpretation that encompasses the different nuances of the terms and practices across time and space.

 "The arrival of Karaiskakis in Phalero. Oil on canvas", Konstantinos Volanakis (1837-1907)

Three chapter in this volume form a distinct thematic unit and are dedicated to the study of the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, mirroring the growing interest of Greek historians in this maritime region over the last decades. The rise of modern Greek shipping since the late eighteenth century has been intertwined with the development of the Black Sea as an international market. Therefore, the Black Sea economy has been placed at the centre of historical research by examining its position and relations with international trade, the rise of diaspora merchant communities and their role as conduits of trade and shipping to the global economy, the economic development of port cities and the formation of transport networks.

The Black Sea in the Global Economy of the Nineteenth Century|Introducing the Black Sea Historical Statistics: The chapter by Alexandra Papadopoulou and Socrates Petmezas presents the series of the ‘Black Sea Historical Statistics’ (BSHS) that span from 1812 to 1914. BSHS was created as part of a larger interdisciplinary project and focuses mostly on providing hard evidence on the development of trade and shipping from and to the Black Sea for over a century.

The Creation of the Main Export Port of Crimea: Port Policy, Traffic, Infrastructure in the Port of Theodosia: Anna Sydorenko examines the development of port systems on the south coast and their connection with the hinterland and foreland during the integration of the Black Sea market in the global economy. Through the case study of Theodosia in the Crimea, the chapter follows the construction and operation of a port that served grain exports and probes the political, economic and geo-political factors that promoted its development.

Beyond the Mediterranean: Greek Family Business and the Familiarity of the Black and Azov Seas Maritime Space: The importance of the Black Sea in the development of Greek shipping is further analysed by Evrydiki Sifneos, an esteemed scholar who sadly passed away during the preparation of this book. Sifneos had worked extensively on the multifaceted history of the Black Sea, and here she examines the city of Taganrog in the Azov Sea, which hosted a sizeable maritime community of the Greek diaspora.

The Advent of Steam Navigation in Greece in the Nineteenth Century: Apostolos Delis focuses on the early stages of steam shipping in Greece through the records of the first Hellenic Steam Navigation Company. During thirty years of service, the chapter argues, the Company contributed to the diffusion of innovation in iron shipbuilding and marine engineering in Greece. At the same time, it introduced passenger shipping, the modernisation of maritime communications and the geographical cohesion of the Greek state and its connection to international markets.

The Introduction of Maritime Technology in Greek Fisheries: Diving Suites in Sponge Fishing in the Aegean: Evdokia Olympitou’s chapter describes the adoption of new techniques in sponge fishing in the islands of the Aegean. The author examines the introduction and the establishment of a mechanical diving method, the so-called ‘skafandro’ that intensified production while at the same time evoking a range of social and economic changes in the sponge-diving populations of the Aegean.

Business Groups’ Diversification Strategy: The Case of Ralli Bros Diversifying in Shipping: Focusing on a case study from the Greek diaspora, Katerina Vourkatioti investigates the evolution of family business into international business groups. Vourkatioti, through the rich and understudied business archive of the Ralli Bros, probes one of the most prominent families of the Greek diaspora, who flourished within the context of the British Empire in the twentieth century, analyzing thier strategy of diversification from trade to shipping as a means of expansion and survival of the business group.

Greek Shipping in the Twentieth Century: The Human Resources: The competitive advantage of Greek shipping in the twentieth century is investigated by Ioannis Theotokas through the factor of human resources. Entrepreneurs who engage in the shipping market, seafarers and crews and shipping officers ashore create a critical resource for Greek shipping, with a cost-effective operation and management of the fleet that overcomes disadvantages related to capital shortage.

The Development of Naval History in Greece, 1989–2020: Zisis Fotakis focuses on the development of modern naval history in Greece, explaining the limited interest of Greek academia in naval history and presenting its corresponding accomplishments and omissions. He also sketches the substantial interest in modern naval history of the Greek public and the Ministry of Defence. The doubling numbers of maritime museums in Greece and the substantial expansion and better preservation of Greek naval records could promote further research into modern naval history in the country.

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