In our first week of the program, we explored several ancient historical sites throughout Attika. These visits included a walk through the Acropolis on our second day in the country and then a day-long journey to various archaeological sites on the borderlands between the ancient Athenian state and Boeotia, its nearest neighbor to the North. These trips, in combination with a short in-class history of the region, helped us situate where we are and what we will be exploring throughout the term.
In our visit to the Acropolis, I was struck by how various periods in Greek history were given different levels of attention within the site. What got attention from the modern government and what featured less prominently shows how nation-building requires privileging some history over others.
I also found it interesting that the Acropolis seemed to be a central part of the Athenian and Greek mind almost at every point in its history. It was changed to fit the needs of the times, but it was always a center for state-led activity. The centrality shows how once a place is established to be a power and cultural center, it can be difficult to remove its significance, especially if it is viewed as central to the mythos of the nation.
This view, however, was coded by what the Greek government wanted me to think of the experience. With such grand momentums and the attention paid to them, we are led to believe that Athens was always the center of Greek life. While it played an important role, we were informed that by the founding of the modern Greek state, the city and its monuments had decayed, and only with substantial investment did the city and its sites spring back to the center of the Greek mind.
In exploring the Mazi plain, we further contextualized the region we will be studying for the next ten weeks, as well as the techniques to study and explore these areas in depth. We discussed how Athens was, in ancient times, surrounded by neighboring states, only an hour or so drive away from the city center. The plain represented our first look at a borderland. It was a space with several fortifications and villages that were controlled at various points in time by these differing states. In moving through these sites I couldn’t help but wonder about how seeing your neighbors across the horizon, and knowing that your town might be invaded at any point in time, did to your psychology. Moreover, I thought it was impressive how the states organized to provide protection and security by these quite complex fortifications.
In conjecture with the other courses I am taking, an Ethnography of Modern Greek Culture as well as Border, Boundaries, and Migration I am starting to see similar themes emerge in all of my classes. States influence how people perceive themselves and how they act. Empire encourages self-identity, which in turn develops a cultural memory of how and why things are the way they are. As this occurs throughout history, it is important to question who and what is included in the development of this culture. Different peoples are integrated or excluded and a picture of how modern society forms emerges.