Contested Antiquity: Archaeological Heritage and Social Conflict in Modern Greece and Cyprus

Description

While the archaeological legacies of Greece and Cyprus are often considered to represent some of the highest values of Western civilization--democracy, progress, aesthetic harmony, and rationalism--this much adored and heavily touristed heritage can quickly become the stage for clashes over identity and memory. In Contested Antiquity, Esther Solomon curates explorations of how those who safeguard cultural heritage are confronted with the best ways to represent this heritage responsibly. How should visitors be introduced to an ancient Byzantine fortification that still holds the grim reminders of the cruel prison it was used as until the 1980s? How can foreign archaeological institutes engage with another nation's heritage in a meaningful way? What role do locals have in determining what is sacred, and can this sense of the sacred extend beyond buildings to the surrounding land? Together, the essays featured in Contested Antiquity offer fresh insights into the ways ancient heritage is negotiated for modern times. Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Contested Antiquity in Greece and Cyprus Part I: Between Nationalism, Colonialism, and Crypto-Colonialism: Historical Perspectives and Current Implications 1. Hellas Mon Amour: Revisiting Greece’s National “Sites of Trauma” 2. Archaeology and Politics in the Interwar Period: The Swedish Excavations at Asine / Niki Sakka 3. Contested Perceptions of Archaeological Sites in Cyprus: Communities and Their Claims on Their Past / Alexandra Bounia 4. Pressed On in Press: Greek Cultural Heritage in the Public Eye: The Post-War Years / Marlen Mouliou Part II: Spatial Metaphors and Ethnographic Observations: Heritage, Memory, and Dissonance 5. The Gentrification of Memory: The Past as a Social Event in Thessaloniki of the Early Twenty-First Century / Styliana Galiniki 6. The Oracle of Dodona: Contestation over a “Sacred” Archaeological Landscape / Katerina Konstantinou 7. Archaeological “Protection Zones” and the Limits of the Possible: Archaeological Law, Abandonment, and Contested Spaces in Greece / Aris Anagnostopoulos Part III: Competing Pasts 8. Heritage as Obstacle: Or Which View to the Acropolis? / Andromache Gazi 9. Eptapyrgio, a Modern Prison inside a World Heritage Monument: Raw Memories in the Margins of Archaeology / Eleni Stefanou and Ioanna Antoniadou 10. Contemporary Art and “Difficult Heritage”: Three Case Studies from Athens / Eleana Yalouri and Elpida Rikou Dedication Index