Ginger: Second Impressions of Athens

Athens: a lively European city filled with diversity flooding the streets, the continuous noise of car engines, screeching wheels and honking horns all in harmony with the city’s marriage between modern architecture and ancient ruins. Yet, Athens bears the weight of present economic hardship and suffering outside of its Ancient historical grandeur. At first glance, the rocky terrain holds the jewels of the Ancient world, such as the Parthenon, Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Apollo at Delphi but upon closer inspection, one can see the imprint of the country’s financial need. The remains of ancient cities world renown through myth and architecture inhabit this small country’s land and create a first impression of awe to any scholar who has studied the Ancient Greek ruins. However, this awe quickly gives way to the present condition of Athens. Athens is an international city working from the foundations of recent political upheaval and poverty. It is hard to ignore the present day suffering. Although we have come to study the Ancient Greek world, we cannot remove our self from the present-day Greek condition.

Great monuments share the streets with the modern Athenian. The ancient ruins stand side by side with the despondent pan-handlers asking for change; young boys playing music for a Euro; girls selling Kleenex at dinner tables; increased police-force guarding ally ways; graffiti tagging on old and new buildings alike and stray cats and dogs looking for momentary human companions. Greece continues to have limited employment compared to the population. The city of Athens is notorious for unemployment due to the small city size compared to the large population. One poignant moment in my travel was seeing the panhandlers and homeless whom suffered the loss of limbs. Men without legs used skateboards to wander the tourist streets asking for money and an old man without hands aimlessly walked the median of the Athens highway with a small grocery bag of clothes on his arm. In order to avoid the dangers of poverty, people try to find work wherever they can, using any mean they possess.

Hence, money is needed and the people in Athens try many different ways to gain financial revenue, weather it be a tour guide, restaurant worker, swindler or panhandler. This is evident in our experience at restaurants; while walking down the street one cannot avoid the restaurant workers blocking the walkway, insisting one eat at their restaurant. This can be annoying and hard to decline due to their persistence but it gives insight into the financial need that drives many Athenians forward interactions with tourists. Once a tourist finds a restaurant to eat, they can be bombarded by children wanting money or to steal wallets; our group experienced this during a late night dinner near the Roman Forum. Hence the old and modern worlds are always connected to each other creating a dialogue between the classical world, revered by many, and the modern country, identified through the UN as struggling economically.  

Maria, our Acropolis tour guide, discussed the connection between the classic and modern Athenian. While one influenced the foundation of many different cultures and architecture, the other cannot support their own population. The Ancient Greek scholarship and material are not viewed as property of the Greeks. Instead many German scholars who have historically been at the forefront of classical studies dominate the topic. Unlike the time of Socrates, in recent history there has been little access to education in Greece and many students must leave the country in order to get a good education and be recognized in their field.

Further a majority of Greece’s prized artifacts are not in Athens but are owned by foreign museums. Maria illustrated that the majority of the Pantheon’s reliefs live in the British Museum of London. The British explained that they would not return the reliefs because the Greeks did not have a proper museum for them; the Greeks in response build the New Acropolis Museum. Yet, the British museum has shown no intention of immediately returning the pieces. This conflict raises good questions for debate. Do the Greeks own the artifact material material? If it were in the Acropolis museum, more tourists would visit the country instead of going to other countries that have acquired the pieces through excavation, the black market and collection. This increase in tourism would then help the economy and people. However, the issue is complex and due to their financial instability, one could argue that their care and maintenance of the material could be impacted due to financial limitations.

As a visitor of Greece, I am inclined to think about this topic and place myself in their situation. It is a great privilege to be here studying Classics, seeing the actual locations of historical and mythical events and ancient cultural exchange. However, as global citizens we do have the responsibility to care for all people and find ways to help alleviate a countries struggle.