The Athens 2004 Olympic Games presented an opportunity for Greece to celebrate its ancient traditions and modern organizational skills. The organizers used archaeology as theory, iconography, idealism and so on. They particularly focused on Classical antiquity, when the Games were at their height before their modern revival. This article, however, will examine the use of Minoan archaeology. I argue that, although there is no archaeological evidence to connect Minoan archaeology to the original Olympic Games, the modern Greek national narrative adapted it to the current national image of the Olympic Games. I analyse this phenomenon by deconstructing some of its processes, taking Crete as a case study. I also highlight broader issues, concerning the instrumentality of the public domain in the shaping of cultural heritage.
BAER, A. , 2001. Consuming history and memory through mass media products . European Journal of Cultural Studies4(4): 491–501 .
2.
BINTLIFF, J.L. , 1984. Structuralism and myth in Minoan studies . Antiquity58: 33–38 .
3.
BROWN, K. and D. THEODOSSOPOULOS , 2004. Others' Others: talking about stereo-types and constructions of Otherness in Southeast Europe . History and Anthropology15(1), 3–14 .
4.
CADOGAN, G. , 2004. ‘The Minoan distance’: the impact of Knossos upon the twentieth century. In G. Cadogan , E. Hatzaki and A. Vasilakis (eds), Knossos: Palace, City, State: 537–545. London: British School at Athens (Studies 12).
5.
COPELAND, T. , 2002. Citizenship education and heritage. Internet Archaeology 12. URL (accessed 29 November 2002): http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue12/%20copeland_index.html
6.
COPELAND, T. , 2004. Presenting archaeology to the public: constructing insights onsite. In N. Merriman (ed.), Public Archaeology: 132–144. London: Routledge .
7.
COULBY, D. , 2005. Globalization and the narrative of civilization: Classical Greece as curricular construct. In D. Coulby and E. Zambeta (eds), World Yearbook of Education 2005: Globalization and Nationalism in Education: 193–212. London: Routledge .
8.
DEWSBURY, J.D. , 2002. Embodying time, imagined and sensed . Time and Society11(1): 147–154 .
9.
DIMAKOS I.C. and K. TASIOPOULOU , 2003. Attitudes towards migrants: what do Greek students think about their immigrant classmates?Intercultural Education14(3): 307–316 .
10.
Farnoux, A., 2003. Mινωίτες και Mυκηναίοι στον 20ό αιώνα. Αρχαιολογία & Τέχνες 86 (March):36–41.
11.
GEISSLER, K. , 2002. A culture of temporal diversity . Time and Society11: 131–140 .
12.
HAMILAKIS, Y. , 1996. Through the looking glass: nationalism, archaeology and the politics of identity . Antiquity70: 975–978 .
13.
HAMILAKIS, Y. , 1999. La trahison des archéologues? Archaeological practice as intellectual activity in postmodernity . Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology12(1): 60–79 .
14.
HAMILAKIS, Y. , 2000. Cyberspace/cyberpast/cybernation: constructing Hellenism in hyperreality . European Journal of Archaeology3(2): 241–264 .
15.
HAMILAKIS, Y. , 2001. Interrogating archaeological pedagogies. In P. Rainbird and Y. Hamilakis (eds), Interrogating Pedagogies, Archaeology in Higher Education, Lampeter Workshop in Archaeology 3: 5–12. Oxford: Archaeopress, BAR International Series 948 .
16.
HAMILAKIS, Y. , 2002. The past as oral history: towards an archaeology of the senses. In Y. Hamilakis , M. Pluciennik and S. Tarlow (eds), Thinking Through the Body: Archaeologies of Corporeality: 121–136. New York: Kluwer Academic/ Plenum .
17.
HAMILAKIS, Y. , 2003. ‘Learn history!’ Antiquity, national narrative, and history in Greek educational textbooks. In K.S. Brown and Y. Hamilakis (eds), The Usable Past: Greek Metahistories: 37–66. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield .
18.
HAMILAKIS, Y. and E. YALOURI , 1996. Antiquities as symbolic capital in modern Greek society . Antiquity70: 117–129 .
19.
HAMILAKIS, Y. and E. YALOURI. , 1999. Sacralising the past: cults of archaeology in modern Greece . Archaeological Dialogues6(2): 115–135 .
20.
HERZFELD, M. , 1991. A Place in History, Social and Monumental Time in a Cretan Town. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
21.
HODDER, I. , 2003. Sustainable time travel: toward a global politics of the past. In S. Kane (ed.), The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in a Global Context: 139–147. Boston, MA: Archaeological Institute of America .
22.
JOHNSTONE, C. , 1998. ‘Your Granny had one of those!’ How visitors use museum collections. In J. Arnold , K. Davies and S. Ditchfield (eds), History and Heritage, Consuming the Past in Contemporary Culture: 67–77. Shaftesbury: Donhead .
23.
KANE, S. , 2003. The politics of archaeology and identity in a global context. In S. Kane (ed.), The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in a Global Context: 1–9. Boston, MA: Archaeological Institute of America .
24.
KARDULIAS, P.N. , 1994. Archaeology in modern Greece: bureaucracy, politics and science. In P.N. Kardulias (ed.), Beyond the Site: Regional Studies in the Aegean Area: 373–385. Lanham, MD: University Press of America .
25.
KAσBIKHσ K., 2004. Αρχαίολογίκεσ ςΑφηγησσείς καί Εκπαίδευση, Αναδλυση δνου καί είκονογραδφησης στα σχολίκαδ εγχείρίδδία του Δημοτίκου δ. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of History and Archaeology, Aristoteleian University of Thessalonike.
26.
KOHL P.L. and C. FAWCETT , 1995. Archaeology in the service of the state: theoretical considerations. In P.L. Kohl and C. Fawcett (eds), Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology: 3–18. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
27.
LOWENTHAL, D. , 1985. The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
28.
MERRIMAN, N. , 2004. Introduction: diversity and dissonance in public archaeology. In N. Merriman (ed.), Public Archaeology: 1–17. London: Routledge .
29.
MCCRONE D. , 1998. The Sociology of Nationalism: Tomorrow's Ancestors. London: Routledge (International Library of Sociology).
30.
MOULIOU, M. , 1996. Ancient Greece, its Classical heritage and the modern Greeks: aspects of nationalism in museum exhibitions. In J.A. Atkinson , I. Banks , and J. O'Sullivan (eds), Nationalism and Archaeology: 174–199. Glasgow: Cruithne Press .
31.
PHILLIPS, R. , 1998. Contesting the past, constructing the future: history, identity and politics in schools. In J. Arnold , K. Davies and S. Ditchfield (eds), History and Heritage: Consuming the Past in Contemporary Culture: 223–235. Shaftesbury: Donhead .
32.
RENFREW, C. and P. BAHN , 1996. Archaeology, Theories, Methods and Practice (2nd edn). London: Thames & Hudson .
33.
ROCHE, M. , 2003. Mega-events, time and modernity: on time structures in global society . Time and Society12(1): 99–126 .
34.
SILBERMAN, N.A. , 1995. Promised lands and chosen peoples: the politics and poetics of archaeological narrative. In P.L. Kohl and C. Fawcett (eds), Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology: 249–262. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
35.
SIMANDIRAKI, A. , 2004. Minopaidies: the Minoan civilisation in Greek primary education . World Archaeology36(2): 177–188 .
36.
SIMANDIRAKI, A. in press. The ‘Minoan’ experience of schoolchildren in Crete. In Y. Hamilakis and N. Momigliano (eds),Uses and Appropriations of the ‘Minoan’ Past. Creta Antica, special volume.
37.
SIMANDIRAKI, A. forthcoming. ‘The Minoans founded the Olympics’ – A survey of public perception.
38.
SMARDZ FROST, K.E. , 2004. Archaeology and public education in North America: view from the beginning of the millennium. In N. Merriman (ed.), Public Archaeology: 59–84. London: Routledge .
39.
STONE, P.G. , 1994. Introduction: a framework for discussion. In P.G. Stone and B.L. Molyneaux (eds), The Presented Past: Heritage, Museums and Education: 15–28. London: Routledge .
40.
TASTSOGLOU, E. and J. HADJICOSTANDI , 2003. Never outside the Labour Market, but always outsiders: female migrant workers in Greece . The Greek Review of Social Research110: 189–220 .
TRIGGER, B.G. , 2003. Alternative archaeologies: nationalist, colonialist, imperialist. In B.G. Trigger , Artifacts and Ideas, Essays in Archaeology: 67–86. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers .
43.
UCKO, P. , 1986. Political uses of archaeology. In C. Dobinson and R. Gilchrist (eds), Archaeology, Politics and the Public: 45–50. York: York University Archaeological Publications No.5 .
44.
YALOURI, E. , 2001. The Acropolis: Global Fame, Local Claim. Oxford: Berg .
45.
ZAMBETA, E. , 2005. Globalized history in a nationalist context: the curricular construction of Greece. In D. Coulby and E. Zambeta (eds), World Yearbook of Education 2005: Globalization and Nationalism in Education: 213–236. London: Routledge .
46.
KAKPIΔHΣ, I. Θ., 1986. Eλληvική Μυθολογία, vol. 2, Οι Θεοί. Αθηνα: Εκδοττικη Aθηνών: 296–299.
47.
XAPΩNITHΣ, Β. Γ., 2004. Για Ένα Κλαδί Ελιάς, Παιδικό Μυθιστορημα για τους αρχαίους Ολυμπιακουδς Αγώνες, Αθήνα: Ίππόκαμπος.
48.
NEWSPAPER, 2004a. Οι θρησκείες ενωδνουν!. Στο Καρφί 14–15 August 2004:10.
49.
NEWSPAPER, 2004b. Διαθρησκειακη συνάντησις 2004, Θρησκεια, Ειρηδνη και αθηνω Ολυμπιακο δ Ιδεωδδες, Διακηδρυξη του αμαρουσί δου. αδεδσμευτος Τυδπος 15 August 2004:3.
50.
NEWSPAPER, 2004c. Οι ηγεδτες του κοδσμου στις εξεδδρες. αδεδσμευτος Τυδπος 14 August 2004:26.
51.
NEWSPAPER, 2004d. Ξεκινα π η αναδπλαση της Κνωσουδ. Χανιωδτικα νεδδ 15 August 2004: 11.
ΠAΠAΔOΓIANNAKH Β., 2004. Εντεί δνεταί η δίαμαχη γία το μίνωίκοδ πλοίδο. Κρηδτη TV online version 24 June 2004. URL (accessed 18 August 2004): http://www. cretetv.gr/
ΠαΤΖίΟσ Κ., 2004. Η Ολυμπία δοα καί οί business. To Βηδμα Της Κρηδτης 27 August Ελευθεροτυπί 2004:2.
85.
σπinoσ Π., M. Koyσteneσ & σT. Πaπaσπypoσ, 2004. Πoλλά μπράβο, λίγη γκρίνια. κυριακάτικη ελευθεροτυπία 15 August 2004:33.
86.
σynoλakhσ B., 2004. H Ιστορία της Ελλάδας σε ένο. σκαρφί 14-15 August2004:15.
87.
σΩthpoΠoyλoσ Δ.A., 2004. Eυαίσθητη ισορροπία. Το Βήμα της Κυρυακης 15 August 2004:46.
88.
Tepezakhσ N.M., 2006. Οι κώπηλáτeς τov, 'Μιρώά', 2004. Aπάρτηση σε δημοσίευμα του περιοδικο ‘Ταχυδροδμος’ της 21ης ίανουαρίδου 2006. Χανίωδ τίκη Ελευθεροτυπίδα 31 January 2006.
89.
TIBEPIOσ M., 2004. To πιο αισιόδοξο μáνυμα στον κáσμο. To Báμα 15 August 2004:A10.
90.
TOUBIS S.A. , 2004. Herakleion Olympic city greeting carddepicting Herakleion as an Olympic city , no.020075.
Tσimaσ Π., 2004. 24 ‘Ωρες (daily broadcast), NET 16 August 2004, 00.15–02.00, interview with D. Papaioannou.
93.
Typoσ A., 2004. Γιάννα μδ το καδλλος σου... ‘Eργα καί Ημεδρες (inset of O Kοδσμος δ) 14–15 August 2004:1.
94.
ΥΠ.ΠΟ., 2004. ‘Ekθεση, Τα αθλη δματα στην αρχαίδα Κρηδτη, αποδ τους Μίνωίδτες αθλητεδς στους Κρηδτες Ολυμπίονίδκες, Υπουργείδο Πολίτίσμουδ, αρχαίολογίκοδ Μουσεί δο Ηρακλείδου, νομαρχίακηδ αυτοδίοίδκηση Ηρακλείδον, Ηραδκλείο, brochure.
95.
ΦαναΡασ σ., 2004. Δία δλογοί, η Ελλαδδα καί τα ξéνα ΜΜΕ: Δεν είδμαστε το μαυδρο του Επενδυτη δβατο. Κυρίακαδτίκη Ελευθεροτυπίδα 29 August 2004:24.
96.
ΦΡΕΜΕνΤίΤΗσ σ. & Μ. Πολυχρονία δδης, 2004. Χρυσοδ στο σουβλαδκί, αργυροδ στα δ εδναρξης καί η εντελεδχεία της ίστορίδας. To Βηδμα 15 προ δτίκη Ελευθεροτυπίδα 29 August 2004:45.
97.
ΧαΡΩνίΤΗσ Λ., 2004 (DVD).Κρήτες Ολυμπιονίκες — Olympic Champions of Crete, Ηράκλειο: Νομαρχιακή Αυτοδιοίκηση φρακλείου, DVD.
98.
Κρη δτες Ολυμπίονίδκες – Olympic Champions of Crete, pins. Kυρίακα 2004:A24.
99.
ΨΥΧΟΓίΟσ Δ., 2004. H τελετη δκλείο: νομαρχίακηδAυτοδίοίδκηση Ηρακλείδου, DVD. ΧίΩΤΗσ Β., 2004. H ολυμπίακη δ δίπλωματίδα της κυβεδρνησης. Το Βηδμα 15 August Hρα August 2004:A12.
