Table Of ContentHistorical Memory in Greece,
1821–1930
This book presents a social and cultural history of collective memory in
modern Greece during the first century of state independence, contribut-
ing to the debate over the relationship between memory and identity.
It discusses how modern Greek society commemorated its distant and
recent pasts, both real and imagined, namely, antiquity, Byzantium, the
Greek Revolution and the Asia Minor Catastrophe; how cultural mem-
ory was shaped by the various war experiences (victory, defeat, mass
death and mourning, refugeedom); and how memory politics became
arenas of social and political strife. Historical painting, monuments, his-
torical pageantry, tableaux vivants, national anniversaries, performances
of ancient drama and revivals of ancient games are analyzed as instances
where the past was visualized, represented, performed and “consumed”.
An explosion in public history has taken place over the last decades
around the world, with a veritable flood of commemorations, anniversa-
ries and “memory wars”. As more and more social groups claim the
“right to remember”, public discourse and polemics have arisen at the
same time that traumatic memory has become a field of international
academic research. In the arena of public history, historical memory is
being constructed through the sentimental, irrational reception of mytho-
logical narratives told through images.
Christina Koulouri is Professor in Modern and Contemporary History at
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece.
Routledge Studies in Cultural History
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116 Travel, Writing and the Media
Contemporary and Historical Perspectives
Edited by Barbara Korte and Anna Karina Sennefelder
117 A History of Competitive Gaming
Lu Zhouxiang
118 Historical Memory in Greece, 1821–1930
Performing the Past in the Present
Christina Koulouri
119 Creating and Opposing Empire
The Role of the Colonial Periodical Press
Edited by Adelaide Vieira Machado, Isadora de Ataíde Fonseca, Robert
S. Newman and Sandra Ataíde Lobo
120 The Dangers of Gifts from Antiquity to the Digital Age
Edited by Alexandra Urakova, Tracey A. Sowerby and Tudor Sala
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
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Historical Memory in Greece,
1821–1930
Performing the Past in the Present
Christina Koulouri
First published in English 2023
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2023 Taylor & Francis
The right of Christina Koulouri to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
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tion and explanation without intent to infringe.
Published in Greek as Φουστανέλες και χλαμύδες. Ιστορική μνήμη
και εθνική ταυτότητα, 1821–1930 by Alexandria Publications,
2020.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Koulouri, Christina, author.
Title: Historical memory in Greece, 1821–1930 : performing the
past in the present / Christina Koulouri.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Routledge
studies in cultural history ; volume 118 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022010352 (print) | LCCN 2022010353
(ebook) | ISBN 9780367501037 (hardback) | ISBN
9780367501051 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003048817 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781000638646 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781000638653 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Public history--Greece. | Collective memory--Greece. |
Greece--History--1821--Historiography. | Rites and ceremonies--Greece. |
National characteristics, Greek. | Arts, Greek--Political aspects. | Arts
and history--Greece.
Classification: LCC DF757 .K677 2023 (print) | LCC DF757
(ebook) | DDC 949.5--dc23/eng/20220314
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022010352
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022010353
ISBN: 978-0-367-50103-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-50105-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-04881-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003048817
Typeset in Sabon
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
Contents
List of illustrations viii
Preface and acknowledgments x
Chronology xiv
Introduction 1
Revisiting the social and cultural history of memory 1
Memory and history 3
Visualizing and performing history 7
Memory and identity 10
Structure of the book 13
Notes 20
1 Images 24
The present becomes history 24
The philhellenic gaze 30
Missolonghi as a realm of memory 32
Depicting the beginning of the revolution 35
The Bavarian visual canon 38
The need for a historical picture gallery 43
The “great men” 46
The visual canon of national memory 49
Popularization 52
Popular images and traditional painting 55
Notes 58
2 Monuments 64
The first hero 64
Mnemonic strategies and the heyday of Kolettis 68
Monuments to foreigners and non-autochthonous Greeks 72
Claiming the memory of the revolution 78
The university and official memory 83
vi Contents
An odd trinity 87
Literary “great men” 95
Byron: romantic hero or symbol of English influence? 99
Kapodistrias and the politics of forgetting 103
“National memories” set in stone 107
Notes 112
3 Panoramas 120
History comes alive 120
The Naval Battle of Navarino 122
An “eyewitness” visual account 124
Textbooks of historical “scenography” 131
The panorama at the Olympic Games of 1896 135
The “unfortunate war” of 1897: commemorating defeat 141
Notes 145
4 The new past 150
The monarchy 150
New heroes and the anonymous fallen 155
Pavlos Melas, a “mythogenic” figure 160
The Balkan Wars and war art 163
The Asia Minor Catastrophe and traumatic memory 167
The army, war memory and the national past 175
Notes 180
5 The old past 185
Present antiquity 185
Nationalization of antiquity 189
Images for tourists 198
When churches became monuments 202
The familiar past 206
The Byzantine Empire regenerated, Constantinople
“reconquered” 209
The royal past and the last emperor 215
Notes 222
6 Revivals 232
Spectacular history 232
Wax displays and tableaux vivants 234
Revival as rebirth and continuity 239
Authenticity, forgery, replication 242
Revival of ancient games 245
Contents vii
Staging antiquity 253
The Delphic Festivals 261
Notes 267
7 Fustanellas 275
Clothing and identity 275
Evzones and “Amalias” 277
“Traditional costume”, a transnational tradition 287
The fustanella’s journey from historical drama to the popular
shadow theater 292
Notes 300
8 Pageants 306
Traditional ceremonies and modern civic festivals 306
National anniversaries and parades 314
Historical pageants in Western cities 320
“Historical liturgies” 323
Notes 329
9 Centennials 335
Celebrating regeneration in turbulent times 335
Local centennials and the geography of historical memory 338
A “celebratory year”: local anniversaries and monuments 346
“Feminism of the Greek Revolution”: the women’s movement and
female memory 354
Historical pageants and reenactments of national history 359
Notes 367
Epilogue 372
One hundred years of memory 372
Images and monuments 373
Memory politics 374
War memory 376
The spectacle of history 378
Regeneration and revival 379
Antiquity and Byzantium 381
Unequal pasts 382
Clio’s clothing 383
Notes 385
Index 386
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Palaion Patron Germanos Raises the Flag of Independence in the
Monastery of Agia Lavra on 25 March 1821, colored lithograph
based on the painting by Ludovico Lipparini (1838). Νέος
Αριστοφάνης 25 (8.6.1894), fig. 393. Historical Archives of the
National Bank of Greece; Library of the Hellenic Parliament. 37
1.2 Georgios Karaiskakis. Lithograph from the album by Karl
Krazeisen, Bildnisse ausgezeichneter Griechen und Philhellenen,
nebst einigen Ansichten und Trachten. Nach der Nature
gezeichnet und herausegegeben von Karl Krazeisen,
Munich, 1831. National Historical Museum, Engravings
Collection, cat. no. 100192-13. 42
2.1 A Greek Girl, sculpture by David d’Angers (1827).
Copy by G. Bonanos (1916) in Missolonghi. 68
2.2 Ioannis Kolettis, leader of the French Party and prime
minister of Greece (1844–1847). Νέος Αριστοφάνης
10 (3.3.1894), fig. 358. Historical Archives of the
National Bank of Greece; Library of the Hellenic Parliament. 72
2.3 Mounted statue of Theodoros Kolokotronis by
Lazaros Sochos in Athens (1904). 82
2.4 Statue of Rigas Feraios at the Propylaia of the
University of Athens, by Ioannis Kossos (1871). 88
2.5 Statue of Patriarch Gregory V at the Propylaia of the
University of Athens, by Georgios Fytalis (1872). 94
2.6 Monument for Byron at the Zappeion, by Henri
Chapu and Alexandre Falguière (1896). 102
3.1 The Fall of Constantinople. Thoughts by Makrygiannis.
Tempera on wood by Panagiotis Zografos. National
Historical Museum, Paintings Collection, cat. no. 3750-θ. 130
4.1 Pavlos Melas, oil on canvas by Georgios Iakovidis,
1905–1908. National Historical Museum, Paintings
Collection, cat. no. 2649. 161
Illustrations ix
4.2 Axioupolis Memorial for the Fallen in 1917–1918, by
Dimosthenis Papagiannis (1929). Dressed in an ancient Greek
chiton, Country or Glory holds a mortally wounded soldier. 167
4.3 The Monument to the Unknown Soldier in
Syntagma Square, Athens (1932). 180
5.1 The Greek pavilion at the World’s Fair in Paris, 1900.
Joseph Hawkes, via Wikimedia Commons. 203
6.1 Spyros Louis, winner of the marathon race at the
Olympic Games of 1896, wearing a fustanella
(photograph by Albert Meyer). Benaki Museum, Historical
Archives, Album of the Olympic Games, Entry 509/19. 251
6.2 Delphic Festivals, 1930. Pythian games. National Historical
Museum, Photographic Collection. 263
7.1 Portrait of Otto, oil on canvas by Peter App, 1836. National
Historical Museum, Paintings Collection, cat. no. 4472. 281
7.2 Karagiozis wearing a fustanella, ca. 1925. Ο Καραγκιόζης του
Μόλλα. Έργον ΙΣΤ΄. Ο Κατσαντώνης…, Karagiozis
Library, no. 16, Athens: Delis, [n.d.], p. 20–21. 294
8.1 The eras of Greek civilization as presented by the Lyceum
Club of Greek Women in their festivals at the Panathenaic
Stadium, 1926. Ελεύθερον Βήμα 8.5.1926. 327
9.1 Laskarina Bouboulina, oil on canvas. National Historical
Museum, Paintings Collection, cat. no. 325. 358
9.2 Centennial celebrations in the Panathenaic Stadium.
Reenactment of Alexandros Ypsilantis leading the
Sacred Band. National Historical Museum, Photographic
Collection. 362
Table
4.1 Festivals of combat military units, 1927. Based on the
circular “On the determination of festivals of combat military
units” (26 January 1927), Επίσημον Δελτίον Υπουργείου
Στρατιωτικών 1927 (Official Bulletin of the Ministry of
Military Affairs), p. 70–72. In 1919, only one battle
belongs to the Ukraine Campaign. 177
