The ghost of Athens in Byzantine and Ottoman times
Part of : Balkan studies : biannual publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies ; Vol.43, No.1-2, 2002, pages 5-115
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5-115
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Articles
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Among early Byzantines the history of the Athenians retained someinterest for the history of education and the last phase of the performance ofpagan religious ceremonies. After the reign of Justinian even this restrictedhistory disappears, and Athens lives on as a kind of mythic survival of theByzantine literary cult of ancient Hellenism. Still the use of both forms of theGreek language (learned, popular) continued as is evidenced by the Parthenoninscriptions and the writings of Byzantine classicizing bureaucrats. This“ghost” of classical Athens became even more diluted in Ottoman times. Itwas in the writing of two historical memories by two Athenians that the Ghostof Athens and its actual contemporary history were reunited at a time of theinfluence of the European Enlightenment and the expansion of capitalist institutions(maritime commerce). The two authors were the Athenians Benizelosand Skouzes, the former a classicizing teacher and the latter a merchantmarine captain.
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Αθήνα, Βυζαντινή και Οθωμανική εποχή
