The Creation of Modern Athens: Planning the Myth is the first book to examine the urban development of Athens in the nineteenth century. Analyzing the process of architectural and urban design, Eleni Bastea reveals the multiple and often conflicting interpretations of the new city. By following two parallel processes--the building of the new capital and the construction of a new national Greek identity--Bastea demonstrates that Athens' elaborate urban design and civic architecture reflected both international neoclassical ideals as well as the national aspirations of the modern Greek nation.
Modern Greece: A History since 1821 is a chronologicalaccount of the political, economic, social, and cultural history ofGreece, from the birth of the Greek state in 1821 to 2008 by twoleading authorities. Pioneering and wide-ranging study of modern Greece, whichincorporates the most recent Greek scholarship Sets the history of modern Greece within the context of a broadgeo-political framework Includes detailed portraits of leading Greek politicians Provides in-depth considerations on the profound economic andsocial changes that have occurred as a result of Greece’s EUmembership
An up-to-date accessible history of the phenomenal rise and fall of the greatest city of antiquity, describing its rise to pre-eminence and rapid demise as the greatest of all Greek tragedies. The first history of the city to continue the story through 1500 years of obscurity to its romantic revival under Byron's influence and up to the present day, is eminently qualified to write this book. A classicist by training, he has translated many of the key texts for Penguin Classics and OUP, is intimate with the latest scholarship and travels to Greece every year.
Focusing on one of the most dramatic and controversial periods in modern Greek history and in the history of the Cold War, James Edward Miller provides the first study to employ a wide range of international archives_American, Greek, English, and French_t
This book explores the development of the city of Athens after the Greek War of Independence. It presents the process of creation of a neo-classical capital, in the place of a pre-existing town with the remains of a long history. The book examines the treatment of the pre-revolutionary town, its connection with the neo-classical city, the position of old churches in this antiquity-centered capital, and the factors that influenced the implementation of the projects for the new capital and their consequences on the city’s evolution. It will be of interest to historians, geographers, architects and scholars of Europe.
The remains of antiquity define Greek architecture in the popular imagination, but Greek edifices encompass far more than these ancient structures. Offered here is a comprehensive survey of modern Greek architecture of the past hundred-plus years. The book explores the buildings and architects of modern Greece, ranging from nineteenth-century neoclassical edifices to minimalist contemporary works and urban renewal projects. The ideas driving the creation of these buildings are given full attention, as the authors examine the influence of the rise of Modernism in the arts and the characteristics of regional styles, while also considering the reasons behind the bland, functional structures that have dominated Greek cityscapes since World War II. Greecesituates this design survey within the nation’s tumultuous cultural and political history, including the two world wars, a military dictatorship, civil war, and the consumerist boom of the 1990s. A penetrating and thorough study, Greece offers a compelling account of modern Greek architecture that will be invaluable for all scholars of design and European history.
Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize • One of The Economist's top history books of the year From one of our leading historians, an important new history of the Greek War of Independence—the ultimate worldwide liberal cause célèbre of the age of Byron, Europe’s first nationalist uprising, and the beginning of the downward spiral of the Ottoman Empire—published two hundred years after its outbreak As Mark Mazower shows us in his enthralling and definitive new account, myths about the Greek War of Independence outpaced the facts from the very beginning, and for good reason. This was an unlikely cause, against long odds, a disorganized collection of Greek patriots up against what was still one of the most storied empires in the world, the Ottomans. The revolutionaries needed all the help they could get. And they got it as Europeans and Americans embraced the idea that the heirs to ancient Greece, the wellspring of Western civilization, were fighting for their freedom against the proverbial Eastern despot, the Turkish sultan. This was Christianity versus Islam, now given urgency by new ideas about the nation-state and democracy that were shaking up the old order. Lord Byron is only the most famous of the combatants who went to Greece to fight and die—along with many more who followed events passionately and supported the cause through art, music, and humanitarian aid. To many who did go, it was a rude awakening to find that the Greeks were a far cry from their illustrious forebears, and were often hard to tell apart from the Ottomans. Mazower does full justice to the realities on the ground as a revolutionary conspiracy triggered outright rebellion, and a fraying and distracted Ottoman leadership first missed the plot and then overreacted disastrously. He shows how and why ethnic cleansing commenced almost immediately on both sides. By the time the dust settled, Greece was free, and Europe was changed forever. It was a victory for a completely new kind of politics—international in its range and affiliations, popular in its origins, romantic in sentiment, and radical in its goals. It was here on the very edge of Europe that the first successful revolution took place in which a people claimed liberty for themselves and overthrew an entire empire to attain it, transforming diplomatic norms and the direction of European politics forever, and inaugurating a new world of nation-states, the world in which we still live.
Examines the persistence and ultimate collapse of Georgia's plantation-oriented colonial society and the emergence of a modern state with greater urbanization, industrialization, and diversification
"When we think of ancient Athens, the image invariably coming to mind is of the Classical city, with monuments beautifying everywhere; the Agora swarming with people conducting business and discussing political affairs; and a flourishing intellectual, artistic, and literary life, with life anchored in the ideals of freedom, autonomy, and democracy. But in 338 that forever changed when Philip II of Macedonia defeated a Greek army at Chaeronea to impose Macedonian hegemony over Greece. The Greeks then remained under Macedonian rule until the new power of the Mediterranean world, Rome, annexed Macedonia and Greece into its empire. How did Athens fare in the Hellenistic and Roman periods? What was going on in the city, and how different was it from its Classical predecessor? There is a tendency to think of Athens remaining in decline in these eras, as its democracy was curtailed, the people were forced to suffer periods of autocratic rule, and especially under the Romans enforced building activity turned the city into a provincial one than the "School of Hellas" that Pericles had proudly proclaimed it to be, and the Athenians were forced to adopt the imperial cult and watch Athena share her home, the sacred Acropolis, with the goddess Roma. But this dreary picture of decline and fall belies reality, as my book argues. It helps us appreciate Hellenistic and Roman Athens and to show it was still a vibrant and influential city. A lot was still happening in the city, and its people were always resilient: they fought their Macedonian masters when they could, and later sided with foreign kings against Rome, always in the hope of regaining that most cherished ideal, freedom. Hellenistic Athens is far from being a postscript to its Classical predecessor, as is usually thought. It was simply different. Its rich and varied history continued, albeit in an altered political and military form, and its Classical self lived on in literature and thought. In fact, it was its status as a cultural and intellectual juggernaut that enticed Romans to the city, some to visit, others to study. The Romans might have been the ones doing the conquering, but in adapting aspects of Hellenism for their own cultural and political needs, they were the ones, as the poet Horace claimned, who ended up being captured"--
