Ancient Monuments and Modern Identities sets out to examine the role of archaeology in the creation of ethnic, national and social identities in 19th and 20th century Greece. The essays included in this volume examine the development of interpretative and methodological principles guiding the recovery, protection and interpretation of material remains and their presentation to the public. The role of archaeology is examined alongside prevailing perceptions of the past, and is thereby situated in its political and ideological context. The book is organized chronologically and follows the changing attitudes to the past during the formation, expansion and consolidation of the Modern Greek State. The aim of this volume is to examine the premises of the archaeological discipline, and to apply reflection and critique to contemporary archaeological theory and practice. The past, however, is not a domain exclusive to archaeologists. The contributors to this volume include prehistoric and classical archaeologists, but also modern historians, museum specialists, architectural historians, anthropologists, and legal scholars who have all been invited to discuss the impact of the material traces of the past on the Modern Greek social imaginary.

Ancient Monuments and Modern Identities sets out to examine the role of archaeology in the creation of ethnic, national and social identities in 19th and 20th century Greece. The essays included in this volume examine the development of interpretative and methodological principles guiding the recovery, protection and interpretation of material remains and their presentation to the public. The role of archaeology is examined alongside prevailing perceptions of the past, and is thereby situated in its political and ideological context. The book is organized chronologically and follows the changing attitudes to the past during the formation, expansion and consolidation of the Modern Greek State. The aim of this volume is to examine the premises of the archaeological discipline, and to apply reflection and critique to contemporary archaeological theory and practice. The past, however, is not a domain exclusive to archaeologists. The contributors to this volume include prehistoric and classical archaeologists, but also modern historians, museum specialists, architectural historians, anthropologists, and legal scholars who have all been invited to discuss the impact of the material traces of the past on the Modern Greek social imaginary.

'Legacies of Ancient Greece in Contemporary Perspectives' provides readers with opportunities to reconnect with the origins of thought in an astonishingly wide variety of areas: politics, economics, art, spirituality, gender relations, medicine, literature, philosophy, music, and so on. As the chapters in the book show, Classical Greek thought still informs much of contemporary culture. There are countless books and articles that deal with ancient Greece historically, and a similar number that focus on Greece as a contemporary travel destination. There is both a lot of interest in Greece as a place now, and in Greece’s history and culture, which formed the early origins of much of Western civilisation. The distinctive attraction of 'Legacies of Ancient Greece in Contemporary Perspectives' is that it brings together, by means of fascinating examples, the two areas of interest: Greece’s past in relation to its, and our, present. In addition to the general interest factor, the book suggests questions for re-examination: the individual chapters provide abundant original research on their subjects, and in most cases offer critiques on the assumptions about, and the interpretations of, Greece’s ancient and contemporary cultural practices. These challenges themselves stimulate far-reaching thought and discussion, a feature highly attractive to readers (and students) wishing to develop a more in-depth understanding of the legacies of ancient Greece.

In this book, Alessandro Sebastiani examines how architecture and urbanism can be used to construct national identity. Using Rome as his case study, he explores how the city was transformed to accommodate different political ideologies in the period from 1870 to the end of World War II. After unification, Rome's classical architecture served as a reference point, guiding transformations of the urban fabric that met contemporary needs but also supported the agenda of the newly-formed Italian state. The advent of fascist state in the 1920s ushered in a different order of ideological placemaking. The monuments of ancient Roman were isolated in order to enhance their structural elegance, a scheme that powerfully conveyed political messages in support of Mussolini's regime. Sebastiani's volume offers a new approach to understanding the sophisticated relationships between archeology, urban planning, and politics within the city of Rome. Moreover, it highlights the consequences of suppressing historical evidence from monuments and archaeological sites.

In May 1999, a second conference of Hellenists (of all periods and subject areas) from the Dutch-speaking countries was organized in Groningen. The theme of this second conference was ‘Constructions of Greek Past. Identity and Historical Consciousness from Antiquity to the Present.’ The conference theme was described as follows: When seeking to establish its own identity, a culture (country, people, nation) readily resorts to its own history, which it uses either as an example or as something to react against. In recent years there has been a growing awareness that this process often reveals more about a culture in the present day than the historical era to which it harks back: its own identity, and thus its own history, are ‘constructed’ in this way. The constructional approach is usually applied to the birth of new nation states and the development of their national ideologies, particularly in the nineteenth century. But it can be applied more broadly too. Greek culture is an excellent subject area for studying this phenomenon even further back in history, precisely because its history is so long and included several ‘Golden Ages’ to which later periods could (and can) hark back. Greek culture still presents itself as a product of Ancient Greek and/or Byzantine culture. However, the problem of continuity in Greek culture has frequently manifested itself, particularly during periods of radical political, ideological or demographic change. The Homeric influence on the Mycenaean world is therefore also an aspect of this phenomenon. The Homeric world served as an example for later periods, as did the Attic period for the Greeks in the Hellenistic-Roman age. The tensions between the Hellenistic and Roman character of the Greek world had a strong influence on the shaping of the Greek identity during late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Those tensions still exist today (ellenismós/ellenikótita v. romiosyni). The theme was designed to bring together Hellenists of all periods and disciplines (literature, language, history, archaeology, ecclesiastical history, sociology etc.) relating to the Greek world. The colloquium sessions were held in Dutch, but the papers are published in English (two in French).

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.

30 papers explore a wide range of topics such as women’s voices in archaeological discourse; researching race and ethnicity across time; use of diversified science methods in archaeology; critical ethnographic studies; diversity in the archaeology of death, heritage studies, and archaeology of ‘scapes’.