Reclaiming the Past examines the post-antique history of Argos and how the city’s archaeological remains have been perceived and experienced since the late eighteenth century by both local residents and foreign visitors to the Greek Peloponnese. The first western visitors to Argos—a city continuously inhabited for six millennia—invariably expected to encounter landscapes described in classical texts—yet what they found fell far short of those expectations. At the same time, local meanings attributed to ancient sites reflected an understanding of the past at odds with the supposed expertise of classically educated outsiders.
Jonathan M. Hall details how new views of Argos emerged after the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830) with the adoption of national narratives connecting the newly independent kingdom to its ancient Hellenic past. With rising local antiquarianism at the end of the nineteenth century, new tensions surfaced between conserving the city’s archaeological heritage and promoting urban development. By carefully assessing the competing knowledge claims between insiders and outsiders over Argos’s rich history, Reclaiming the Past addresses pressing questions about who owns the past.
Table of Content
Introduction: Who Owns the Past?
Part One: From Ancient History to the Modern Era
1. A Greek Town for 6, 000 Years
2. The Rediscovery of Argos
3. Devastation and Reconstruction
Part Two: Reclaiming the Past
4. Safeguarding Heritage
5. A New Age of Archaeological Heritage
Conclusion: Preservation or Progress?
About the author
Jonathan M. Hall is the Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. His recent books include A History of the Archaic Greek World, ca. 1200–479 BCE and Artifact and Artifice.
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