Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony Greek References (Allegory and Klepsydra)

Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony Greek References (Allegory and Klepsydra)

"Which were the elements or deep structures that led to the spur of nationalist sentiments in the reception of the ceremonies by many Greek nationals? Starting with the lake that dominated the arena, what was its symbolism, and what was its ideological backbone? The transformation of the stadium’s stage into a nocturnal waterscape recalled a double birth: that of cosmos and nation. The evocation of a universal, cosmic space identified with Greece’s prehistory and what is seen, since the 1930s, as the birth of Greek civilization. This implied a double-sided union: a cultural continuity from prehistory to the present in the specific geographical area of Greece and a restatement of the belief that the birth of Greek civilization coincides with the birth of the world’s civilization. The pluralism suggested by the portraits of people of various ethnic backgrounds projected onto the statues’ fragments opened up the subject of universalism, though soon after, the symbolism returned to Greekness, thus collapsing the open, universal cosmos with the specific topos of Greece. This identification of the cosmic landscape with the specific topography of the Greek archipelagos continues a tradition that emphasizes the Aegean as the Greek landscape par excellence and Greece as the naval of earth. Thus, the segment Allegory, as a rite of passage from cosmos to topos, reaffirmed what was already known, at least for the Greek audience: that modern Greece is the natural descendant of the prehistoric and ancient Greek civilization, that last of which, according to neoclassical ideals prevalent in modern Greece, represents the foundation of the European civilization. The sequential representation of Greek art in the Clepsydra series restated the belief in Greece’s continuity from prehistory to the present. This view, rather being simply a symptom of neo-Hellenic nostalgia, allowed, and still allows, Greece today, as argued by anthropologist Neni Panourgia (2004), not only to reclaim, repossess, and colonize its past but also to modernize and Europeanize itself, adopting an idea that, having emerged in the Enlightenment, encapsulates the intellectual foundation of modern Europe." - JILLY TRAGANOU

Team Athens

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