Olympia: a cultural history

Abstract

they did – such matters are not suited to this kind of book. In particular, the gazetteer-like approach to geographical regions, while it permits a breadth of coverage that one almost never finds elsewhere, obscures the course of the fighting as seen from 30,000 feet above. Finally, it is meant as no criticism of the editors or contributors to reflect on some topics that receive relatively short shrift. One concerns ethnicity, for this remains, despite the pioneering contribution by Ilicak, and the coverage of European culture and philhellenism, very much a Greek story in which what it is to be Greek is by and large assumed rather than argued for. There are few Muslims in these pages, and the Albanian factor which was so critical throughout, multivalent and complex, falls by the wayside. Likewise, it would have been interesting to have had some consideration of language itself. We know enough about the period to know that the educated secretaries (grammatikoi), who served the leading chieftains, prettified the language they actually spoke; we know too that people commonly spoke more than one language, and often a complex lingua franca as well. Relatively little research exists on spoken communications during the Revolution – slang, curses, jokes, and oaths – so perhaps it is no surprise that it is not discussed here. Although there are chapters on the constitutional assemblies of the Revolution and on economics, much new work is appearing on both the emergence of quasi-modern administrative structures, as well as on the underlying economic imperatives that drove revolutionary decisions and governed military capabilities. We await more work on the agrarian economy, and on taxation as it operated in practice rather than in theory. Finally, and as importantly as anything, the volume says relatively little about popular religious beliefs, the Messianic strain that unquestionably helped shape Greek nationalism and drove the uprising. But it would be quite wrong to end on a carping note. This book is a remarkable achievement, beautifully produced and agreeably rendered into English, which will be an essential companion volume for all students of the Greek revolution for many years to come.