Ours Once More? Byzantine Archaeology and the Construction of Greek National Identity (1830-1930)

The paper traces the history of Byzantine Archaeology in Greece as defined by changes in political and cultural context within the country in the first hundred years of its existence as an independent nation after the liberation from the Ottoman rule (1830-1930). The Hellenic ideals adopted by the newly independent state of Greece after the liberation and the corresponding primary importance accorded to the classical heritage had as their corollary a matching dislike of the more recent Byzantine past. The Byzantine period was long considered an era of despotism and obscurantism that separated ancient Hellas an archaeological interest for the Middle Ages, and it was only during the second half of the nineteenth century that Byzantium began to be considered as an integral part of Greece’s national past and its material testimonies as worthy of study and preservation. The incorporation of imperial narratives into modern Greek ideology and the military engagement of the nation in Macedonia, Epirus and Asia Minor contributed further to the rehabilitation of the Byzantine heritage, that was often exploited to substantiate ethnic claims in these newly-conquered regions. The failure of the Great Idea, the irredentist dream of expanding the Hellenic territory in the East and making Constantinople the capital of Greece, had an immediate impact on the field of Byzantine Archaeology and inspired an unprecedented interest in daily life, signifying the retrenchment of the nation’s horizons within more restricted limits.