Suchergebnisse

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Kostas Raptis, Merchants in Imperial Austria during the 'Long' Nine­teenth Century This article, which draws mainly on the Archives of the Austrian Ministry of Commerce, as well as on contemporary works and modern li­ terature, focuses on the examination of the historical course of merchants (above all the whole sale traders and the well suited shopkeepers and retail merchants) in Old Austria as a distinctive group within the Central European bourgeoisie. The contribution of the merchant­magnates (Großhändler) to the industrialization of the Austrian Half of the Habsburg Empire and the formation of a powerful business class, the importance of the involvement of businessmen from abroad in Austrian wholesale and foreign trade, the grip of the state and imperial allegiance in the commercial sector, the social position and the political activity of merchants– primarily at local and regional levels –as well as the attitudes of the multi­ethnic merchant class towards all kinds of nationalist movements in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, are the central issues of this essay. Merchant­magnates, among whom many of foreign provenance or/ and not of Catholic faith (Protestants, Jews and Greek­orthodox) established themselves as the most active entrepreneurial group within the Austrian bourgeoisie during most of the nineteenth century (at least until the 1870s), since they exploited promptly every new opportunity to accumulate and augment their capital and income: in industry, banking, insurance and other share­holding companies, transport, shipping and real estate. The bourgeois status of the Austrian merchants is confirmed for the same period by their participation in all sorts of (bourgeois) associations, their subscription to public benefit causes, their charitable and philanthropic activities. The imperial state's favorable disposition towards entrepreneurs in general and merchants in particular, its recognition and reward of their contribution to the Austrian economy and export trade, of their mercantile knowledge and professional experience, as well as of their charity and philanthropic work, are documented in the appointment of honorary consuls of Austria abroad or of consuls of foreign states in the capital and cities of the Monarchy, the conferring of the highest social distinctions on merchants by Emperor Franz Joseph through award of medals, honorary titles and titles of nobility or the merchants' collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce as elected members and officials of chambers of commerce, as experts, special advisers and commission agents. In addition to the merchants' indirect relations with politics there were direct ones too, in other words their active participation as elected representatives, primarily to municipal councils and secondarily to the local and imperial parliaments of Austria after the constitutional reforms of 1860­1861. During the so­called era of liberalism, from the 1860s up to the mid­1880's, it was mainly german­speaking merchants, who, together with industrialists and other middle class groups, dominated in most towns, whereas in the three decades which preceded the First World War –an era of increasing anti­semitism and nationalism– they had to share power with new emerging petit­bourgeois strata (among them many shopkeepers). The article concludes with a remark on the upheavals caused to the merchant world by the two World Wars and national­socialism, which destroyed the unified economic space of Austria­Hungary, nationalized its cosmopolitan bourgeoisie and finally led to the expulsion, material depravation or/and extermination of such a dynamic and prominent group, like the Jewish merchants and entrepreneurs, followed by the abolition of the capitalist economy by the new socialist regimes in Central and East­Central Europe after 1945.

Konstantinos Katsoudas, "A Dictatorship that is not a Dictatorship". Spanish Nationalists and the 4th of August The Spanish Civil War convulsed the international public opinion and prompted most foreign governments to take measures or even intervene in the conflict. Greek entanglement either in the form of smuggling war materiel or the participation of Greek volunteers in the International Brigades has already been investigated. However, little is known about a second dimension of this internationalization of the war: the peculiar forms that the antagonism between the two belligerent camps in foreign countries took. This paper, based mainly on Spanish archival sources, discusses some aspects of the activity developed in Greece by Franco's nationalists and the way Francoist diplomats and emissaries perceived the nature of an apparently similar regime, such as the dictatorship led by general Metaxas. The main objectives of the Francoist foreign policy were to avoid any escalation of the Spanish civil war into a world conflict, to secure international assistance for the right-wing forces and to undermine the legitimacy of the legal Republican government. In Greece, an informal diplomatic civil war broke out since Francoists occupied the Spanish Legation in Athens and Republicans took over the Consulate in Thessaloniki. The Francoists combined public and undercover activity: they worked hard to achieve an official recognition of their Estado Nuevo, while at the same time created rings of espionage and channels of anticommunist propaganda. The reason of their partial breakthroughs was that, contrary to their Republican enemies, the Nationalists enjoyed support by a significant part of the Greek political world, which was ideologically identified with their struggle. Francoist anti-communism had some interesting implications for Greek politics. An important issue was the Francoist effort to reveal a supposed Moscow-based conspiracy against Spain and Greece, both considered as hotbeds of revolution in the Mediterranean, in order to justify both Franco's extermination campaign and Metaxas' coup. Although this effort was based on fraudulent documents, forged by an anti-Bolshevik international organization, it became the cornerstone of Francoist and Metaxist propaganda. General Metaxas was the only European dictator to invoke the Spanish Civil War as a raison d'etre of his regime and often warned against the repetition of Spanish-like drama on Greek soil. Nevertheless he did not approve of Franco's methods and preferred Dr. Salazar's Portugal as an institutional model closer to his vision. For Spanish nationalist observers this was a sign of weakness. They interpreted events in Greece through the disfiguring mirror of their own historic experience: thus, although they never called in question Metaxas' authoritarian motives, the 4th of August regime was considered too mild and soft compared to Francoism (whose combativeness and fanaticism, as they suggested, the Greek General should have imitated); it reminded them the dictatorship founded in Spain by General Primo de Rivera in 1920s, whose inadequacy paved the way for the advent of the Republic and the emergence of sociopolitical radicalism. Incidents of the following years, as Greece moved towards a civil confrontation, seemed to strengthen their views. ; Konstantinos Katsoudas, "A Dictatorship that is not a Dictatorship". Spanish Nationalists and the 4th of AugustThe Spanish Civil War convulsed the international public opinion and prompted most foreign governments to take measures or even intervene in the conflict. Greek entanglement either in the form of smuggling war materiel or the participation of Greek volunteers in the International Brigades has already been investigated. However, little is known about a second dimension of this internationalization of the war: the peculiar forms that the antagonism between the two belligerent camps in foreign countries took. This paper, based mainly on Spanish archival sources, discusses some aspects of the activity developed in Greece by Franco's nationalists and the way Francoist diplomats and emissaries perceived the nature of an apparently similar regime, such as the dictatorship led by general Metaxas. The main objectives of the Francoist foreign policy were to avoid any escalation of the Spanish civil war into a world conflict, to secure international assistance for the right-wing forces and to undermine the legitimacy of the legal Republican government. In Greece, an informal diplomatic civil war broke out since Francoists occupied the Spanish Legation in Athens and Republicans took over the Consulate in Thessaloniki. The Francoists combined public and undercover activity: they worked hard to achieve an official recognition of their Estado Nuevo, while at the same time created rings of espionage and channels of anticommunist propaganda. The reason of their partial breakthroughs was that, contrary to their Republican enemies, the Nationalists enjoyed support by a significant part of the Greek political world, which was ideologically identified with their struggle. Francoist anti-communism had some interesting implications for Greek politics. An important issue was the Francoist effort to reveal a supposed Moscow-based conspiracy against Spain and Greece, both considered as hotbeds of revolution in the Mediterranean, in order to justify both Franco's extermination campaign and Metaxas' coup. Although this effort was based on fraudulent documents, forged by an anti-Bolshevik international organization, it became the cornerstone of Francoist and Metaxist propaganda. General Metaxas was the only European dictator to invoke the Spanish Civil War as a raison d'etre of his regime and often warned against the repetition of Spanish-like drama on Greek soil. Nevertheless he did not approve of Franco's methods and preferred Dr. Salazar's Portugal as an institutional model closer to his vision. For Spanish nationalist observers this was a sign of weakness. They interpreted events in Greece through the disfiguring mirror of their own historic experience: thus, although they never called in question Metaxas' authoritarian motives, the 4th of August regime was considered too mild and soft compared to Francoism (whose combativeness and fanaticism, as they suggested, the Greek General should have imitated); it reminded them the dictatorship founded in Spain by General Primo de Rivera in 1920s, whose inadequacy paved the way for the advent of the Republic and the emergence of sociopolitical radicalism. Incidents of the following years, as Greece moved towards a civil confrontation, seemed to strengthen their views.

Δεν παρατίθεται περἰληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Lina Venturas – Dimitria Groutsis, The Cold War and international migration regulation: The establishment of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration The immediate post WWII period saw the establishment of the Inter-governmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) (now International Organisation for Migration, IOM), as a key organisation in the management of post WWII migration. This paper examines the debates and policies surrounding the creation of the ICEM as an agent responsible for the facilitation and administration of labour migration from parts of Europe to a variety of overseas countries. At the conclusion of the Second World War, the problems surrounding 'surplus population' and unemployment in Europe were discussed in many international forums. It was from these discussions that a consensus emerged which saw emigration as a viable solution. To this end, in 1951, the International Labour Organisation convened a Migration Conference in Naples, bringing together key stakeholders. The Naples Conference failed, an outcome driven mainly by the US. The US was particularly concerned with economic stagnation and mounting social unrest related to the 'surplus population' in European countries in this Cold War period. At the same time however, it strived at limiting international influence over migration and refugee policies and on receiving countries retaining their sovereign immigration policies. In spite of the disagreements and through a process of negotiation, the US subsequently led the creation of an intergovernmental body, which was established at a conference convened in Brussels in 1951. This newly formed organisation, initially named the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe (PICMME), was open only to states with a 'liberal' political regime and had specifically designed functions based on inter-governmental negotiations. The US ensured its predominance in the organization through budgetary control and other means. In 1953, the PICMME became a permanent 'fixture' of migration regulation and was renamed the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM). Hereafter, ICEM offered operational and financial assistance for migrants' transportation, language training, reception facilities, settlement services and labour market placement.

Zoi Mella, The Greek Civil War and the Spanish Press during Franco's DictatorshipIn this article we would like to approach a quite unknown subject: the presence of the Greek Civil War in the Spanish Press. Our objective was to ascertain the impact this event had at the post war Spanish Press. How would react Spain in view of such a confrontation, especially since it had already experimented a Civil War? It was a complicated period for Greece, as well as for Spain, a time when both countries experienced problems of different nature but equally serious: Greece was suffering the devastating consequences of the Second World War and Spain was trying to encounter the contempt of the international political world. The Greek Civil War was the first confrontation between two worlds that were exiting reinforced from the Second World War. It became the field of conflict between the USSR and the Anglo-Saxon allies during several years. The interior problem of some rebels, who couldn't, or wouldn't, adapt themselves to the new post war situation or were discontented with the new regime, was transformed to an international matter of great impact, that managed to confront USSR, on one hand, and the US and Great Britain, on the other, in the International Organism of the United Nations. Our interest was centred in the various approaches that the newspapers and the magazines of the time made. Moreover we were interested in the points of view and the conclusions manifested by the diverse papers, according to their political and ideological affinities, without forgetting the strict regime of control and censure that was in force at that moment. This investigation forms part of a broader subject that is the bilateral relations of these two countries, rather different at first sight, that during the XX century were affected by very similar events, such as a civil war. ; Zoi Mella, The Greek Civil War and the Spanish Press during Franco's DictatorshipIn this article we would like to approach a quite unknown subject: the presence of the Greek Civil War in the Spanish Press. Our objective was to ascertain the impact this event had at the post war Spanish Press. How would react Spain in view of such a confrontation, especially since it had already experimented a Civil War? It was a complicated period for Greece, as well as for Spain, a time when both countries experienced problems of different nature but equally serious: Greece was suffering the devastating consequences of the Second World War and Spain was trying to encounter the contempt of the international political world. The Greek Civil War was the first confrontation between two worlds that were exiting reinforced from the Second World War. It became the field of conflict between the USSR and the Anglo-Saxon allies during several years. The interior problem of some rebels, who couldn't, or wouldn't, adapt themselves to the new post war situation or were discontented with the new regime, was transformed to an international matter of great impact, that managed to confront USSR, on one hand, and the US and Great Britain, on the other, in the International Organism of the United Nations. Our interest was centred in the various approaches that the newspapers and the magazines of the time made. Moreover we were interested in the points of view and the conclusions manifested by the diverse papers, according to their political and ideological affinities, without forgetting the strict regime of control and censure that was in force at that moment. This investigation forms part of a broader subject that is the bilateral relations of these two countries, rather different at first sight, that during the XX century were affected by very similar events, such as a civil war.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Alexandros N. Teneketzis, Art and Politics in Cold War. The International Sculpture Competition for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner The gradual transfer of the metropolis of the western art world from Paris to New York and specifically in circles around the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) under the leadership of Alfred H. Barr Jr. and with the theoretical foundation by Clement Greenberg, but practically under the guidance and financing from the CIA, was also visible in the case of public memory and art about the Second World War. The international institution that was the cause for the widespread diffusion of the artistic standards grown in USA was the "International Sculpture Competition for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner", which was organized under the auspices of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London and the Tate Gallery, but actually with the encouragement, blessings and supervision of the CIA. The competition was from the beginning a large turnout and the proposals submitted until January 1953 surpassed 3.500 –mainly abstract or semi­abstract stylistic suggestions. The biggest names at the time in the international arena of sculpture in West took part, while artists from the Eastern Bloc boycotted the process. Therefore were precluded any realistic academic representative works and of course any relationship with socialist realism, giving thus the tone for both the style, and for all other future monuments in the western world. Eventually, the first prize of 2.500 pounds awarded to the British sculptor Reg Butler, unknown to the general public until that time but with a decisive commitment to abstraction. However, the work of Butler was never completed, principally because of the changing international circumstances and relationships after the death of Stalin in '53 and Khrushchev's secret speech in '56. The new "Thaw" era in East­West relations imposed the final rejection in 1960. A public monument like that of Butler's, which would refer to the previous tense situation, was no more possible. Nevertheless, the dual objective of recognition and legitimization of abstract art in the western world and at the same time of the weakening of socialist realism and therefore of communism was promoted and achieved up to a certain degree.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Basil C. Gounaris, The Adventures of Constantis Calamattas and of other Greek Privateers in British Service (1756-1763) The story of the Angligrecs is not an untold one; nor is the name of Constantis Calamattas, a privateer from Mahon (Minorca) who raided French ships during the Seven Years War commissioned by the British Admiralty. It is, however, the first time, we learn, through the use of various British archival sources, in detail his adventures in Minorca, London, the Archipelago and Constantinople, where he ended up a prisoner of the Ottomans. The study of his correspondence with the British ambassadors reveals that bravery and a British letter of marque were not enough for a Greek Orthodox privateer to survive in the Archipelago. His protection was subjected to the complicated politics between the Levant Company and the Embassy. Curtailing French trade could be a serious threat for the provisioning of the Ottomans. Dissatisfaction also endangered British diplomatic maneuvering. To make thing even worse for Calamattas, his arrested crew participated in a slave revolt and the capture of an Ottoman man-of-war. Under these circumstances his release was not a British priority and his sympathies with the Royal Navy insufficient to get him off the Ottoman hook without the employment of bribery.

ABOUT LITERACY, HERESY, ICONOGRAPHY AND POLITICAL AMBITION ON THE SEALS OF NIKEPHOROS BOTANEIATES The scarce information of the 11th-c. historians on the long military career of Nikephoros Botaneiates before his ascension to the throne is supplemented to a great extent by 31 lead seals of Botaneiates, today kept in private and museum collections in more than seven countries around the world. The epigraphic and iconographic study of this sigillographic material reconstructs the social ascent and military activities of the future emperor, while at the same time it sheds light on his personality (level of culture, religious sensitivities, political ambition) and the socio-political conditions of his era. ; ABOUT LITERACY, HERESY, ICONOGRAPHY AND POLITICAL AMBITION ON THE SEALS OF NIKEPHOROS BOTANEIATES The scarce information of the 11th-c. historians on the long military career of Nikephoros Botaneiates before his ascension to the throne is supplemented to a great extent by 31 lead seals of Botaneiates, today kept in private and museum collections in more than seven countries around the world. The epigraphic and iconographic study of this sigillographic material reconstructs the social ascent and military activities of the future emperor, while at the same time it sheds light on his personality (level of culture, religious sensitivities, political ambition) and the socio-political conditions of his era.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Maria Papathanassiou, Illegitimate Children and Foster Children in the Eastern Alps: Research Directions and Perspectives This article deals with the history of illegitimate and foster children (usually also illegitimate) in the region of Eastern Alps (Austria) between the mid-18th and the early 20th centuries. During that period these childrens' number, though not stable, remained considerably high in absolute and relative terms. The paper discerns three basic trends in literature on the subject and comments on their results: a) Studies related to an international historical debate on bastardy in Europe and trying to explain impressive statistical data by pointing to social and economic factors, such as the domination of animal husbandry, the system of inheritance, the family system, labour organization and the so-called «agricultural revolution» in Europe. b) Studies on legislation, on official politics regarding single mothers and illegitimate or foster children, as well as studies on public institutions taking care of illegitimate children and their mothers from the second half of the 18th century on. Austrian law did not provide clearly for illegitimate children until the civil code was enacted in 1811 and only in 1919 a new law came into being regarding illegitimate and foster children together. c) Studies in a «history from below» direction, regarding people and their experiences but clearly not dominating the field in terms of numbers as well as analytical breadth. This essay suggests a more systematic approach in this last direction, particularly by comparing social groups, for example illegitimate children with peasant children, illegitimate children in rural with illegitimate children in urban environments, illegitimate foster children with other foster children in rural Austria, single mothers born and grown up as illegitimate children themselves with single mothers born and grown up as peasant daughters etc.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Kostas E. Lambrinos, Nobles and Cittadini in the Community of Venetian Sitia. Social Fermentations and Rearrangements (late sixteenth-seventeenth century) This study highlights the community of upper social class in Sitia, a small town in eastern Crete, in the late period of the Venetian dominion. Using new evidence from the State Archives of Venice, the article examines unknown aspects of the topic, such as the social identity of the community council (the so-called consiglio della comunità), the political functions and the evolution of this body, its internal social rearrangements and its particularities by comparison with the community dynamics in the other Cretan towns. The archival data indicate that this socio-political organ played a central role in local public life, but had a secondary position within the Venetian political system. Regarding its social composition, the community originally consisted of nobles-feudatories, according to the model of strict social organization in the island under Venetian rule. However, multiple factors of crucial importance, such as the small number of nobles in Sitia, the inadequate fortification of the town and the increasing financial needs of this region, had a catalytic effect on the local social fabric and, consequently, on the structure of the community: in the early seventeenth century it lost its aristocratic profile and acquired characteristics, which differentiate it from the other community entities of Crete. This decisive evolution occurred with the social advancement of the cittadini. Τhis intermediate social group acquired, with the consent of the Venetian authorities, the right to participate in the community in order to meet government targets in this politically sensitive area of the island. Hereinafter the cittadini had an increasingly strong presence in the community processes, gained more social power and enjoyed privileges previously monopolized by the aristocracy.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Maria Damilakou, The image of the gaucho in the argentine society (1830- 1940): ideological uses and historiographie approaches This article attempts to show the different images of the gaucho, symbol of the argentine pampa, that predominated the local society as long as to associate them to the different interpretations of the historical past and the process of construction of the argentine national identity. This process required contacts, confrontations and interchanges among different social groups and sectors, such as the lower classes, the intellectual and political elites, the marginal rural element and the new coming immigrants. The construction of the gaucho's image was a long process, extended from the first half of the 19th century until the peronist years. From the «heroic son of the earth» who stood up the Spanish conquerors during the Revolution of 1810, he became the «barbarian of the desert» through the discourse of the illuminated elite that, during the second half of the 19th century, undertook the national organization of the country, its fast modernization and the creation of «obedient citizens». During the same period, the popular culture provided a different aspect of the gaucho, especially through the figures of Martin Fierro and Juan Moreira: the gaucho now became the center of a large cultural phenomenon that was picturing the rural way of life, codified common experience and expectations and became a form of resistance to the process of modernization. Later, in the 1910s, the image of the «obedient» Martin Fierro was adopted by the cultural nationalism of the period and used as the symbol of the argentine national identity and as the incarnation of the argentine essence and soul. At last, the leftwing forces adopted the gaucho as the symbol of the oppressed social groups, whereas the nationalist movements of the 1930s used his image in order to support their revisioned interpretations about the national historical past.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Powerful revisionist currents are now flowing through the social sciences against what have been termed «society-centred» modes of explanation. The swift away from social determination has centred on the problem of the material referent of political motivation. This essay, talking about the language, wants to discuss some of the most problematic legacies of the social historical methodology. Linguistic turn in history focuses on the ways meaning is constituted in and through language in order to explain the world. Discourse is the organising concept term for conceptualising and practising the history of meaning. Discourse operates so as to structure thought and speech in certain ways and to preclude being structured in others. The problem of organising a social identity becomes one of representation: ideas certainly do matter, but the ways in which they matter, indeed their very existence as identifiable ideas, depend on processes of institutional and cultural mediation. That's why there is always an element of discordance between «social being» and its interpretation in «social consciousness». The disequilibrium results from the fact that their linkage is a product of human convention. People's responses to their experiences help shaped social change.

Lambros Flitouris, The Suez Crisis and the Greek-French Relations The Suez crisis in 1956 constitutes an important point in the development of the international relations at the period of the cold war. 1956 is a landmark year for the appointment of the Arabic nationalism as a basic constitutive element of the anti-colonialist wave that convulsed the world. During this period, the relations of Greece with the states involved in the crisis were to a large extent precarious. The anti-imperialists tones of Nasser found impression in the Greek common opinion that was exceptionally irritated from the EOKA's fight in Cyprus. In the present article we examine one particular aspect of the crisis: the relations of Greece with France. The agreements of economic collaboration that was achieved by Markezinis in 1953 signalled a new era in the activation of French capital in Greece. In combination with the big cultural tradition that Prance had in the country but also with the crisis in the relations of Greece with the UK because of the Cypriot question, the French factor in Greece acquired a great importance. However, the French diplomacy followed the policy of London and because of this the relations between Greece and France faced their more important post-war crisis. The Greek common opinion also turned against France, while the French diplomacy lost a great opportunity to strengthen her place in Greece. In the sector of economic relations and cultural exchanges befell a period of algidity with extensions in the Greek internal political life. The crisis of the period 1956-1958 constituted a negative parenthesis in the traditionally good relations between Athens and Paris, while it could be characterized as an adjacent negative result of the anti-colonial struggle and the Cypriot affair. ; Lambros Flitouris, The Suez Crisis and the Greek-French RelationsThe Suez crisis in 1956 constitutes an important point in the development of the international relations at the period of the cold war. 1956 is a landmark year for the appointment of the Arabic nationalism as a basic constitutive element of the anti-colonialist wave that convulsed the world. During this period, the relations of Greece with the states involved in the crisis were to a large extent precarious. The anti-imperialists tones of Nasser found impression in the Greek common opinion that was exceptionally irritated from the EOKA's fight in Cyprus. In the present article we examine one particular aspect of the crisis: the relations of Greece with France. The agreements of economic collaboration that was achieved by Markezinis in 1953 signalled a new era in the activation of French capital in Greece. In combination with the big cultural tradition that Prance had in the country but also with the crisis in the relations of Greece with the UK because of the Cypriot question, the French factor in Greece acquired a great importance. However, the French diplomacy followed the policy of London and because of this the relations between Greece and France faced their more important post-war crisis. The Greek common opinion also turned against France, while the French diplomacy lost a great opportunity to strengthen her place in Greece. In the sector of economic relations and cultural exchanges befell a period of algidity with extensions in the Greek internal political life. The crisis of the period 1956-1958 constituted a negative parenthesis in the traditionally good relations between Athens and Paris, while it could be characterized as an adjacent negative result of the anti-colonial struggle and the Cypriot affair.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Panayotis Stathis, Rethinking the 1821 Greek Revolution. A reading of Ni­kos Theotokas, The Life of General Makriyannis: History and Memoirs Nikos Theotokas' most recent book on Makriyannis is a characteristic specimen of new trends in the study of the Greek revolution of 1821, which shift emphasis from battles and politics to society. Theotokas uses as main analytical categories the antithetic notions of "tradition" and "modernity". However, Theotokas follows a less rigid and more sophisticated approach of this scheme. Instead of treating people of the traditional and modern world in a static way, he explores how they interacted, and emphasizes the dynamic nature of their relationship during the transitional period of the revolution. Theotokas' study on Makriyannis comprises a double venture. On the one hand it constitutes a historical biography of the General, while on the other it examines the long process of writing (1829-1852) his memoirs. Through this parallel narrative, Theotokas reveals how Makriyannis' changing attitude towards facts stated in the memoirs is modified by the specific historical conjuncture in which each of these facts is narrated by the author. The earliest parts of the text, written in the aftermath of the revolution, comprise a mixture of traditional and modern political discourse, in which the responsibility for both the negative developments of the war and of civil conflicts is often attributed to the traditional social elites. However, under the King Otto's reign, Makriyannis' expectations concerning his new position in the post-revolutionary society were gradually disappointed. Thus, in the latter parts of the memoirs Makriyannis clearly formulates a moralistic interpretation of the political developments, according to which the outlandish, selfish and warless politicians seized power and treated unfairly the pure fighters of the revolution who gave everything for its success.

Despina Iosif, «Christianos ad Leonem». The Case of Perpetua Two Greek editions of the diary of Perpetua have recently appeared, one by Polymnia Athanassiadi and the other by Thanassis Georgiadis, both bound to attract attention. Perpetua lived at Thuburbo Minus, west of Carthage in North Africa. She was an upper class, well-educated Roman citizen, twenty-two years of age, newly married and mother of a baby boy, who converted to Christianity and chose martyrdom instead of sacrificing to the traditional gods of the Roman Empire. Her decision was interpreted as an insult to the gods and the emperors, and a direct challenge to the established order and resulted in her being sentenced to death to the beasts of the arena in Carthage in 203 CE. It was a well-established Roman belief that the traditional gods offered military victories, stability, prosperity and grandeur to the Roman people. In return and to secure the continuation of this benevolence, the Roman people carried certain strictly defined rites in honour of their gods. Pagan religion was less a matter of personal devotion than of national significance. The Christians despised the traditional gods, declaring that they did not exist or that they were malevolent demons and neglected or obstructed the traditional religious rites. This conduct disrupted the agreement the Romans had made with their gods and made the empire vulnerable. From the second century on, natural disasters were being attributed to the wrath of gods as a result of the Christian atheism and the hatred Christians allegedly had for the world. It is extremely fortunate that Perpetua's diary, which she kept while in prison awaiting her death, has survived. It is a bold, vivid and honest account of her prison life, her dreams and the hopeless efforts of her father to persuade her to conform and sacrifice. The fact that the text praised prophesy and placed martyrs above the established church hierarchy led scholars to believe that is was a Montanist product. Fourth and fifth century bishops felt uncomfortable with Perpetua's diary and surrounded it with homiletic commentaries. Instead of letting the text speak directly to the community of the faithful, they guided the understanding of words, subtly changing its messages, and controlled its dissemination. They made Perpetua less appealing as a role model and less threatening to the social order. The impression and fascination her diary exerted, however, remain unchanged. ; Despina Iosif, «Christianos ad Leonem». The Case of Perpetua Two Greek editions of the diary of Perpetua have recently appeared, one by Polymnia Athanassiadi and the other by Thanassis Georgiadis, both bound to attract attention. Perpetua lived at Thuburbo Minus, west of Carthage in North Africa. She was an upper class, well-educated Roman citizen, twenty-two years of age, newly married and mother of a baby boy, who converted to Christianity and chose martyrdom instead of sacrificing to the traditional gods of the Roman Empire. Her decision was interpreted as an insult to the gods and the emperors, and a direct challenge to the established order and resulted in her being sentenced to death to the beasts of the arena in Carthage in 203 CE. It was a well-established Roman belief that the traditional gods offered military victories, stability, prosperity and grandeur to the Roman people. In return and to secure the continuation of this benevolence, the Roman people carried certain strictly defined rites in honour of their gods. Pagan religion was less a matter of personal devotion than of national significance. The Christians despised the traditional gods, declaring that they did not exist or that they were malevolent demons and neglected or obstructed the traditional religious rites. This conduct disrupted the agreement the Romans had made with their gods and made the empire vulnerable. From the second century on, natural disasters were being attributed to the wrath of gods as a result of the Christian atheism and the hatred Christians allegedly had for the world. It is extremely fortunate that Perpetua's diary, which she kept while in prison awaiting her death, has survived. It is a bold, vivid and honest account of her prison life, her dreams and the hopeless efforts of her father to persuade her to conform and sacrifice. The fact that the text praised prophesy and placed martyrs above the established church hierarchy led scholars to believe that is was a Montanist product. Fourth and fifth century bishops felt uncomfortable with Perpetua's diary and surrounded it with homiletic commentaries. Instead of letting the text speak directly to the community of the faithful, they guided the understanding of words, subtly changing its messages, and controlled its dissemination. They made Perpetua less appealing as a role model and less threatening to the social order. The impression and fascination her diary exerted, however, remain unchanged.

Δεν παρατίθεται περίληψη στα ελληνικά. ; Nassia Yakovaki, The «Traité des trois imposteurs)) and the European Enlightenment The aim of this article is to present the obscure but fascinating story of the production and diffusion of the Traité des trois imposteurs, the best seller of the clandestine literature in Europe during the first half of the 18th century and to discuss the new and to some extent controversial interpretations that the study of this text has provoked as far as the understanding of the European Enlightenment is concerned. The importance of this text derives, first of all, from its subversive ideas: it offers a bold and straightforward attack on all three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) by rejecting the principle of revelation and by pronouncing their founders as «impostors», while attributing the appearance of organized religions to political interests. Yet, the significance of this text goes beyond its content: the conditions of its production as well as of its circulation offer to modern historical research the chance to explore an «underground universe», peopled by relatively unknown figures, working among the middlemen of the publishing world. These circles —as it seems— had the readiness to respond creatively to a turbulent religious and political environment, to adopt rigid philosophical stands and to step into radical politics. Historical research has recently succeeded in investigating the complicated issues of the origin, dating, authorship and circulation of this notorious text and in disentangling the thread connecting this late 17th century production with the medieval legend of the «imposture». Crucial among these findings is on the one hand the bond that links the Traité with the works of Spinoza and on the other the connection between the production of the text and a group of people in late 17th and early 18th century Holland. The interesting questions concerning the general understanding of the era of «the crisis of the European consciousness» that the historical scholarship about the Traité has raised have already led to the formation of a new, stimulating, yet controversial historiographical trend which elaborates a new interpretation of the Enlightenment, around the idea of an early and radical Enlightenment (Margaret Jacob, 1981 and 2003, Jonathan Israel, 2001).