Saturday, September 23, 2017

Athens Lost

Giovanni Battista Lusieri
Monument to Philopappos, Athens
1805
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Giovanni Battista Lusieri
South-east Corner of the Parthenon, Athens
1803
watercolor
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

ATHENS

It is my love for Athens, city famed through the centuries,
that writes these words, a love sporting with shadows
that warm and soften my yearning. For nowhere, alas,
can I find that city whose glories have been sung,
a city that for long countless years has lain hidden in the depths of Lethe.
I suffer as a guileless lover suffers when he cannot see his beloved in the flesh
and, at a loss, gazes upon her picture, fanning the flames of love.
Poor man that I am, a new Ixion, in love with Athens
as Ixion was with Hera. Not seeing her, he embraced a phantom.
Alas for what I suffer and say and write!
I live in Athens but see no Athens,
only hallowed, wretched, empty ashes.
Where is your greatness, long-suffering city?
All has perished and turned into myth:
courts and judges, tribunes, ballots,
laws and speeches made in your assemblies,
silver-tongued orators and councils of elders,
festal processions and army generals,
admirals of the fleet, muses of every kind,
and the power of words.
Dead is the glory of Athens.
Nothing remains, not even a dim trace.
I cannot see the Athens sung in song,
so forgive me for casting its image with my pen.

– Michael Choniates (ca. 1140-1220) – was born at Chonae in Asia Minor, studied in Constantinople, and was appointed archbishop of Athens (1182-1204). When Constantinople was captured by the Franks in 1204, he left Athens and retired to the island of Chios. His writings, which include homilies, speeches, poems, and letters, shed light on the poor conditions in medieval Athens. 

Translation by Peter Constantine, published in The Greek Poets (New York: Norton, 2010)

Dimitrios Constantin
Monument to Philopappos, Athens
1865
albumen silver print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Dimitrios Constantin
Temple of Zeus Olympios, Athens
1865
albumen silver print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Dimitrios Constantin
Acropolis from the southwest, Athens
1865
albumen silver print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Dimitrios Constantin
Corner of the Parthenon, Athens
ca. 1858-60
albumen silver print
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Dimitrios Constantin
Propylea from the west, Acropolis, Athens
1865
albumen silver print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

William J. Stillman
View from above the Parthenon facing east, Athens
1870
carbon print
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Eastern Façade of the Parthenon, Athens
1870
carbon print
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Joseph Philibert Girault de Prangey
Propylaeum on the Acropolis, Athens
1842
daguerreotype
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Joseph Philibert Girault de Prangey
Tower of the Winds, Athens
1842
daguerreotype
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Edward Steichen
Isadora Duncan in the Parthenon, Athens
1921
gelatin silver print
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio

Parthenon (West Pediment)
 Surviving fragment of Oreithyia statue
ca. 430 BC
marble
British Museum

Parthenon (West Pediment)
Surviving fragment of Athena statue
ca. 430 BC
marble
British Museum