IN-PERSON: Prague – Section A

Abstract

Since the foundation of their state, Greeks have considered antiquity’s classics their heritage and based their cultural and national identity on them. Nevertheless, modernization, shifting cultural practices in the West, and the economic, sociopolitical, and cultural changes taking place in Greece after the fall of the junta (1974) and up until the 2009 economic crisis, have problematized the place that cultural objects from the (distant) past hold. Based on semi-structured interviews with university students of different departments, I look into participants’ discourses to illuminate how Greeks discuss, evaluate and relate to classics as cultural objects. The findings of my study show that antiquity’s classics are still praised as valuable and universal, while also being considered important part of Greece’s heritage. Yet people do not unequivocally link classics to modern Greece nor do they equate ancient Greek heritage with Greekness. Instead, discussing antiquity encourages critical reflection on contemporary Greece. It provides the opportunity to reflect on how ancient Greeks are culturally different from modern ones, or how they do not fit into today’s understandings of Greekness. It also initiates conversations about whether moderns live up to the model of the ancients, or even whether they know that heritage. Moreover, while classics are recognized as part of the Greek identity, they are not reduced to it. Explicitly nationalist readings are rejected and classical heritage tends to be perceived more as universal treasure, rich in humanistic values and ideals, rather than a resource of narrowly Greek interest. Such findings can help us appreciate the changing perception and evaluation of ancient heritage in Greece (by younger, educated adults), the tensions and interconnections between perceptions of world heritage and perceptions of national heritage, and, finally, the special status that cultural objects of the past can hold even in times of rapid chan