[...]... Western to Indigenous Hellenism: Antiquity, Archaeology, and the Invention of Modern Greece 4 The Archaeologist as Shaman: the Sensory National Archaeology of Manolis Andronikos 5 Spartan Visions: Antiquity and the Metaxas Dictatorship 6 The Other Parthenon: Antiquity and National Memory at the Concentration Camp 7 Nostalgia for the Whole: the Parthenon (or Elgin) Marbles 8 The Nation in Ruins? Conclusions... were taking place in archaeology (mirroring the erosion of ontological and epistemic certainties in a number of disciplines), the importance and eVects of nationalism in western societies were realized At the same time, the links between archaeology, archaeological material and sites, and nationalist discourses and practices became clear As a result, the recording and study of these links and associations... But the explosion in the writings and debates on nationalism in various disciplines in recent times can be dated with some certainty after the events in Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s A positive development that followed was the attempt in some studies to go beyond the analysis of conXict itself and understand the frames of meaning that these conXicts were based upon It was realized by these... Greece) , or in other parts of the world While I am sympathetic to Coopers argument, I believe that the concept still maintains its validity (cf Jameson 2002: 214), especially in contexts such as Greece, and in analysing processes such as national imagination and the development of the oYcial archaeological apparatus, with its links to colonialnational and state power In discussing such processes, it becomes... transactions and moves, and more importantly, daily routines, tastes, and preferences, from eating and drinking to admiring art; and all the time constantly under the gaze of the whole western world, which had constructed its own version of the classical heritage, had appropriated it as its own origin myth, and always felt unsure and ambivalent in dealing with the present-day inhabitants of the glorious land... Used in this book as a shorthand to denote the centres of power in western Europe, and (in many cases, such as this one) North America and other centres of Eurocentrism elsewhere, being at the same time aware of the diversity and inherent instability of the term 12 Memories Cast in Marble: Introduction not attempt to investigate the social logic of the nation as an organizing concept and its links... Cycladic (third millennium bc) Wgurine, from the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics cities, and the Olympic Xame went on a long relay around Greece, mostly following the countrys borders (from Crete to the eastern Aegean islands, Thrace, northern Greece, and then southern Greece) , before it reached Athens The opening ceremony itself was dominated by themes from antiquity: it opened with an image... Age (Minoan) wall painting from Knossos, during parades at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics immigrant workers)2 in the rush to have all the buildings and infrastructure ready on time, did invoke reactions, but these were not suYcient to derail the event or even taint the glamorous image of the Games Yet the story of the 2004 Athens Olympic crusade started many years earlier: in 1992,... MULTI -NATIONAL CA PITAL In 2004, Greece hosted the Olympic Games for the Wrst time since 1896, when the Wrst internationally recognized modern Olympics had taken place there They followed many months of international controversy, organizational diYculties, and the constant attention of the worlds media; the most common leitmotif in that media frenzy was that Greece was horribly behind schedule, and it... language Others opt for a combination of the two The argument for the Wrst system also invokes a position that empowers non-elites, and is pitted against oYcialdom and the national intellectuals who are often keen to propagate and demonstrate purity and linguistic continuity (often the unstated motivations of some of the proponents of the second system) Given the arguments in this book, I am sympathetic . Yannis, 1966– The nation and its ruins : antiquity, archaeology, and national imagination in Greece / Yannis Hamilakis. (Classical presences) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN–13:. national imagination need material traces from the past? How do these traces operate in the everlasting process of imagining the nation? How do antiquities contribute to the dreaming of the national. tradition; they have also pointed to the paradox of the centrality of the classical past in the western imagination on the one hand, and the relative marginality of the modern nation- state of Greece in