While the archaeological legacies of Greece and Cyprus are often considered to represent some of the highest values of Western civilization-democracy, progress, aesthetic harmony, and rationalism-this much adored and heavily touristed heritage can quickly become the stage for clashes over identity and memory.

In Contested Antiquity, Esther Solomon curates explorations of how those who safeguard cultural heritage are confronted with the best ways to represent this heritage responsibly. How should visitors be introduced to an ancient Byzantine fortification that still holds the grim reminders of the cruel prison it was used as until the 1980s? How can foreign archaeological institutes engage with another nation's heritage in a meaningful way? What role do locals have in determining what is sacred, and can this sense of the sacred extend beyond buildings to the surrounding land?

Together, the essays featured in Contested Antiquity offer fresh insights into the ways ancient heritage is negotiated for modern times.

About the Author

Esther Solomon is Assistant Professor in Museum Studies at the University of Ioannina. She has worked as curator in several museums in Greece and abroad and has published extensively on museum representations, the social and political uses of the past, material culture, social identity, cultural memory, and tourism.

Reviews

"It is fitting that archaeologists, whose profession played a key role in the establishment of Greece as a client state subservient to the European colonial powers, should today be a vocal majority in this extraordinarily rich critical review of archaeology's political role in Greece and Cyprus over the past two centuries. Contested Antiquity transcends the geographical boundaries of its subject, offering a comprehensive, thoroughly documented, and meticulously argued account that will serve for years to come as a model for the investigation of the impact of ideology and politics on serious scholarship."-Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University

Book Information
ISBN 9780253055972
Author Esther Solomon
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press