Greek Royal Guards in fustanella, dancing in Athens
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | BSA SPHS Image Collection |
| Reference No. | BSA SPHS 01/7762.C3245 |
| Level | Item |
| Description | Film negative, approximately half plate size, an original negative. |
| Dimensions | 14 x 9 cm |
| Place |
Athens |
| Donor/Creator |
Rutherford, Miss Helen |
| Scope and Content | The original description in the SPHS register reads: "Athens, soldiers dancing (royal guard)". |
| Notes | Dates based on the caption in the 1925 slide accession list to the short rein of King George II of Greece. He became king in 1922 after the assassination of his father in 1922 and ceased with the declaration of the Republic in 1924. This image appears in the SPHS Slide Set: No Author (ca. 1932) Modern Greek Country Life, slide number 25. |
| Further information | Scenes from Modern Greek Life Historic images often show scenes from modern life. These are not modern in the current sense, but reflect a time they were taken. Some were captured unintentionally, recording an aspect of contemporary activity while composing scenes of other interest such as ancient or historical monuments. However, many were taken with the express purpose of recording folk life, part of a trend in the latter part of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The process of categorizing these ethnographic scenes of everyday life in image collections reflected contemporary folklore categories: material life (eg. domestic architecture, dress, craft and agricultural production), social life (eg. games, festivals) and spiritual life (eg. superstitions, religious activities). However, a significant idea encapsulated in these ethnographic images was the 19th-century concept of continuity - relics or survivals - of ancient social life and practices in the present. In Greece, this concept of continuity was notably promoted by the scholar of folklore (laographia), Nikolaos Politis, and held by many British classicists and archaeologists of the time. In fact, the Irish classical scholar, J.P. Mahaffy encapsulated this idea in his 1876 travel book, Rambles and Studies in Greece: "Everywhere the modern Greek town is a mere survival of the old". These survivals were often linked to classical literature, cult and myth by scholars of the Greek world. It is clear that these images are not simply quaint historical scenes, but they embody principles inherent in the discipline of Hellenic Studies in the recent past. |
| Reference |
1925 JHS 45: 11th accession to 1913 slide catalogue. lxi.SPHS C.3245. Link to article |