Vizyinos's Acropolis: Thracian Archaeology through Greek State and Ottoman Policies in the Late Nineteenth Century

Georgios Vizyinos (1849-1896) wrote three ekphrastic descriptions of a hill in his native Thrace, which he describes as an acropolis containing a variety of archaeological strata: pre-Hellenic, classical, medieval, and Ottoman. The diachronic variety of architectural styles and influences stands in stark contrast to the more famous Athenian Acropolis, the centerpoint of the then Greek state’s developing historical ideology emphasizing continuity with classical antiquity above all else. Vizyinos’s Thracian acropoleis embody a regional history composed of Hellenic and non-Hellenic elements which is richer than the classicizing and centralizing focus of Greek-state historical imaginings. They also counter contemporary Ottoman policies which asserted Ottoman ownership of antiquities within imperial borders. Instead, Vizyinos’s fictional archaeologies emphasize local Thracian understandings of the region’s past in a rejection of the emerging national histories and archaeologies of both the Greek state and the Ottoman Empire.