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Mediterranean Chronicle

Mediterranean Chronicle
Volume 6, 2016

Volume 6, 2016
D I AV L O S
Contents

1. Liana Lomiento, University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”: Between myth and plot:
necessary mediations in Sophoclean tragedy...............................................................3
2. Helen Gasti, University of Ioannina: Sophocles’ Electra 147-149:
An Authorial Comment ...............................................................................................21
3. Spyridon Tzounakas, University of Cyprus:
Contrast of Prayers in Persius’ Second Satire ...........................................................37
4. Luigi Andrea Berto, Western Michigan University: I Musulmani nelle
cronache dell’Italia centro-settentrionale altomedievale (secoli VIII-XI) .................57
5. Roumpini Dimopoulou, University of Athens: Buondelmonti’s Delos:
Restoring the present with reminiscences of the past embellished by borrowings.....97
6. Dora E. Solti, Eötvös-Loránd-University, Budapest: Ein deutsches
Prognostikon über die Rückeroberung Konstantinopels und seine
griechische Übersetzung...........................................................................................119
7. Arnd Kerkhecker, University of Berne: Gottebenbildlichkeit in Goethes Faust .....129
8. Konstantinos Spiridon Doukakis, Hellenic Open University –
Open University of Cyprus: Between the public and the private:
Social welfare in the Ionian State (1815-1864)........................................................145
9. Stathis Birtachas, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: “In defence
of the liberty and the rights of Great Mother Greece”. The Italian
Garibaldini Volunteers in Epirus: the decline of a long tradition in Greece.
Evaluation of an old story and new research perspectives ......................................161
10. Sapfo Mortaki, Hellenic Open University-TEI of Central Macedonia:
Migration Stories: the case of Greek migrant artists in America ............................183
11. Etolia-Ekaterini (Eliana) Martinis, Ionian University:
Mediterranean nature and interwar modernism:
the Homeric shores of Gerasimos Steris ..................................................................211
12. Thanassis Agathos, University of Athens & Yannis G.S. Papadopoulos,
University of Peloponnese: Imperial palaces and village huts:
Byzantium in Greek cinema and television...............................................................243
13. Theodora D. Patrona, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
(Independent Scholar): The Italian-American Macho Housekeeper:
Male Ethnic Identity in Who’s the Boss (1984-1992) ...............................................261
Book reviews..................................................................................................................279
Guidelines for authors ....................................................................................................287
 Thanassis Agathos

University of Athens

&

Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

University of Peloponnese

Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and

television*

Since its foundation, the Modern Greek State had approached its “past”, and
particularly Byzantium, with ambivalence and ambiguity. Little perceived
and even less examined as an organic state, as all states are, Byzantium was
understood within the bipolar scheme of West versus East. During the first
years after the independence of Greece, following the authors of the
Enlightenment and the historiographic schema by Edward Gibbon,
Byzantium was deliberately identified as a theocratic medieval empire, whose
values, contrary to the modernizing ideology of a liberal state, were bound to
traditionalism.1 In this context, the first rector of the University of Athens
included the Byzantines in the series of conquerors of Greece.2 After the
middle of the nineteenth century though, organic intellectuals and statesmen
claimed its heritage in order to justify Greek territorial claims. The first efforts
to introduce Byzantium in the national history made by Constantinos

* A first version of this paper was presented in the Gennadius Library on September 20, 2016,
under the title “Byzantium in Greek cinema and television”. We want to thank Mrs Maria
Georgopoulou, director of the Library, for the kind invitation, Mrs Maria Smali and Mrs
Evangelia Balta, for their fruitful collaboration. We would also like to express our gratitude to
the anonymous reviewers of Mediterranean Chronicle, who helped us enormously with their
thorough remarks on the final draft of the paper, to Prof Spyridoula Bella (University of
Athens), for her extremely useful suggestions, and to Mrs Eleni Vellianiti.
1 Antonis Liakos, “The Construction of National Time. The Making of the Modern Greek

Historical Imagination” in Jacques Revel, Giovanni Levi (eds.), Political Uses of the Past. The
Recent Mediterranean Experience, London: Routledge 2002, p. 33.
2 Christina Coulouri, Ιστορία και Γεωγραφία στα ελληνικά σχολεία (1834-1914). Γνωστικό

αντικείμενο και ιδεολογικές προεκτάσεις. Ανθολόγιο κειμένων - Βιβλιογραφία σχολικών

εγχειριδίων, Athens: Geniki Grammateia Neas Genias 1988, p. 36.

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Thanassis Agathos & Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

Paparrigopoulos were met with resistance on the part of many intellectuals.

Yet, gradually it became accepted that Byzantium was a Medieval Greek
empire.3 According to Antonis Liakos, this marks the transition “from the
schema of revival to one of continuity” and constitutes a revolt “against a
view of national self that had been imposed on Greece by European
classicism”.4 Intriguingly enough though, for Paparrigopoulos classified the
self-governing local communities and the heterodox groups, and not the state,
as the agent that perpetuated the “Greek spirit” during the Middle Ages.
Byzantium in other words was so important for it by default acclaimed the
Greekness of a certain region, yet also so unimportant for it basically it just
perpetuated the essence of the (ancient) Greek spirit. Although in the official
discourse the Modern Greek state was seen as heir of Byzantium, a hesitant
attitude towards the Empire is evident during the late 19th and the 20th
century. The first chair of Byzantine Art was established at the University of
Athens in 1912 and that of Byzantine History in 1924, after the efforts to
restore the Empire were crushed.5 During that time Greek Marxist historians
proposed their own interpretations of Byzantium. One of them that had the
most significant impact during the late twentieth century was Nikos
Svoronos. Exiled in Paris after the end of the Civil War he claimed in his
history of Modern Greece that the sparks of Modern Greek identity can be
traced in the 13th century after the sack of Constantinople during the 4th
Crusade. This event and the subsequent efforts by the states of Epirus and
mainly Nicaea to liberate the empire from the Latins, constitute, according to
him, an expression of the inherent “Greek spirit of resistance”, led to a
nationalization process.6 Thus at least the last centuries were on the one hand
a period of decline, but on the other hand an age of cultural renaissance and
marked the beginning of a process that led to the struggle for Greek
independence.
These various interpretations of Byzantium, as a mighty Christian
Empire, the ark of Greek culture during the Middle Ages, a battleground
between patriots and greedy indifferent officers, or an abode of superstition
and debauchery, are reflected in the TV shows and films that have been
inspired by Byzantine History and have been produced during the colonels’
regime and after the restauration of democracy. Most of them are based on
novels. This presentation aims to introduce these products of visual culture in
their historical context and reflect on the image of Byzantium that they
portray to the Greek public.

3 Ibid., pp. 37-38.

4 Liakos, “The Construction of National Time…”, p. 33.
5 Tonia Kioussopoulou, “Η πρώτη έδρα βυζαντινής ιστορίας στο Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών”,

Μνήμων 15 (1993) 258 (257-276).

6 Nikos Svoronos, Το Ελληνικό έθνος, Γένεση και διαμόρφωση του Νέου Ελληνισμού, ed. by

Nassos Vagenas, Athens: Polis 2004.

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Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and television

The first attempt for a Byzantine TV-series appeared in early 1973,

during the military dictatorship (1967-1974), when Nikos Foskolos was at the
peak of his television success; his TV series O agnostos polemos / Ο άγνωστος
πόλεμος (The Unknown War), a war melodrama, which had started to air on
the Armed Forces TV station, YENED, in October 1971 and was still going
strong 15 months later, had scored very high rates, about 90%, a record that
remains unsurpassed in the history of Greek television.7 By that time Foskolos
was asked by the makers of the same TV station to create a second series and
he decided to go ahead with En touto nika / Εν τούτω νίκα (In this sign you shall
conquer), a costly,8 for those times, production, which would focus on the life
of Constantine the Great and his mother, St. Helena. Foskolos himself directed
the first episodes, before being replaced by Costas Andritsos. Dimitris
Papakonstantis was director of cinematography, Vassilis Tenidis composed
the music (the theme of the credits was a variation of “To Thee, the Champion
Leader”, the famous anthem of militant Byzantium), the impressive sets were
designed by Dionysis Fotopoulos, the costumes were designed by Ioanna
Papantoniou and Aimilia Bakourou was history consultant. Kostas Karras
and Gelly Mavropoulou, both very popular at that period,9 interpreted the
two central roles, Constantine and Helena respectively, while other important
roles were played by Nikos Vastardis (Galerius), Niki Triantafyllidi
(Minervina), Kostas Karagiorgis (Philip), George Siskos (Cassander), Nikos
Papachristos (Emperor Diocletianus), Maria Aliferi (Demetra), Vasilis
Tsivilikas (Tavern-keeper), Christos Konstantopoulos (Constantius Chlorus),
Emilia Ypsilanti (Theodora) and many other well-known actors .
The series premiered Sunday, February 18, 1973 and aired every
Sunday and Thursday at 21.00. The last of the 116 episodes aired Sunday,
April 28, 1974. The original idea of Foscolos was to prepare four episode
cycles. The first, entitled “In the years of Constantine the Great”, was the only
one that materialized. The other three planned circles would focus on

7 Interesting details concerning the popularity of The Unknown War can be found in: Gregory
Paschalidis, “Entertaining the Colonels: Propaganda, Social Change and Entertainment in
Greek Television Fiction, 1967-1974”, in Peter Goddard (ed.), Popular Television in
Authoritarian Europe, Manchester 2013, pp. 53-70.
8 According to a report in a popular magazine of the time, the cost of each episode amounted

to 300,000 drachmas and a lump-sum of over 2,500,000 drachmas had been spent for the sets,
which included Roman castles, palaces, thrones, Roman and Byzantine costumes, taverns,
torture chambers, etc., while for the fighting scenes hundreds of extras were used and horses
were offered by the Hellenic Army General Staff [«‘Εν τούτω νίκα’ αλλά…», Οικογενειακός
Θησαυρός 292 (6 March 1973) 42-43].
9 Kostas Karras had co-starred with Aliki Vougiouklaki and Dimitris Papamichael in

Foscolos’ resistance drama Ypolohagos Natassa / Υπολοχαγός Νατάσσα (Lieutenant Natassa),

which was released in 1970 and remained for three decades the biggest money maker in the
history of Greek cinema. Gelly Mavropoulou was the female star of Foscolos’ phenomenally
succesful TV series O agnostos polemos (1971).

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Thanassis Agathos & Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

Justinian I, Basil II (nicknamed as the Bulgar Slayer) and the Isaurian Dynasty
respectively.
Referring to the experience of the television series En touto nika that
scored high ratings,10 Nikos Foskolos argued that: ‘‘En touto nika was one of
my favorite TV projects. Both my Byzantium series had great success.11 Of
course, broadcast owners are afraid of them. Personally, I am in favor of such
ambitious productions. They concern lots of people. Indeed, it was a very
expensive production. The set designers built walls, palaces. They had
expensive costumes, brought horses and many actors. The audience was
impressed. For the first time, such an expensive series was produced for
Greek television. But I think the issue was of particular interest. Not only for
the intellectuals, but also for the common people. I said then that En touto nika
would be a great success, like the films about ancient Rome. Rome was not
carrying in itself any cultural elements from the past, while Byzantium was
carrying across Ancient Greece, along with a huge religious, Christian
passion. Also, Byzantium had a substantial Greek cultural content, which
deserved to be displayed in plays and films indeed written in such a way as
to touch a large audience. Because young and old audiences were always
fascinated by thrones, kings, palaces, swords, scheming, love affairs,
ambitions, wars [...] But let's have a look at the issues of the Roman films.
What do they sell? They sell their loves, the background, passions, infidelities,
massacres, murders, the follies of Nero, Caligula! Unlike Byzantium, which
has so much glory, so much sparkle and yet so much darkness, so many
intrigues and wild ambition’’.12
Although the series was based on the eminent personalities of
Constantine and Helena, presenting them in a rather hagiographic way, it also
had some sub-plots concerning everyday people like officers, soldiers, tavern-
keepers and Christian martyrs. It should be noted that Nikos Foskolos was
honored by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece for the contribution of En
touto nika to the objectives of the Orthodoxy.13
A few months after the end of En touto nika, a second Byzantine series
appeared in Greek television, I gyftopoula / Η γυφτοπούλα (The Gypsy Girl),
based on the famous novel by Alexandros Papadiamantis (1851-1911), the
third in a row and last –before his final turn to short stories and novellas–
novel of the writer, published as a roman-feuilleton in the Vlassis
Gavrielidis’s newspaper Acropolis (21.4-11.10.1884). With this novel
Papadiamantis finally won the love of a large audience and became a writer

10 Makis Delaportas, Ο άγνωστος Νίκος Φώσκολος, Athens: Orpheas 2004, p. 105.

11 The second Foscolos series about Byzantium is Porphyra and Blood, which will also be
discussed in this paper.
12 Delaportas, Ο άγνωστος Νίκος Φώσκολος, p. 105.

13 Giannis Zouboulakis, “Πέθανε ο Νίκος Φώσκολος – Ο χρυσοδάκτυλος του εμπορικού

θεάματος”, Το Βήμα, 30 Οκτωβρίου 2013, http://www.tovima.gr/culture/article/?aid=537120

Mediterranean Chronicle 6 (2016) - 246 -

Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and television

to reckon with. The action of the novel is set in Laconia on the eve of the Fall
of Constantinople and the main storyline is the love affair between Aima and
Machtos. A major character in the novel is a historical one, Georgios Gemistos
or Pletho, the great philosopher of the XV century, who is depicted to
advocate a return to the Olympian gods of the ancient world, with the
utopian conception that the revival of the ancient Greek religion could meet
the irrepressible human desire to be united with God;14 moreover, he believed
that the return to Greek tradition and Spartan spirit could save, at least
Peloponnese, from the Ottoman advance. We can also notice other historical
figures of the end of the empire such as George Scholarios and cardinal
Bessarion.15 The novel can be read both as a Threnody for the Fall of the
Byzantine Empire and as an anthem for the beauty of the ancient world,
pointing at the same time to the struggle for Greek Independence of 1821.
A few years before the fall of Constantinople Georgios Gemistos, the
pagan philosopher, best known as Plethon, a daring opponent of the Christian
religion, advisor of the Emperor and rival of the Patriarch, is being chased for
his ideas. Gemistos throws the six-year-old Aima from a rock in order to save
her. She survives and grows in the hut of a Gypsy family somewhere in
Laconia. Ten years later, in 1453, we find the heretic Plethon in a cave in
Mystras, worried about the Ottoman threat and committed to the re-
establishment of pagan worship and ancient Greek spirit. Aima is aware that
she is not true daughter of the gypsy and falls in love with her brother
Machtos; later on she is driven to a monastery and after a series of adventures
she finally arrives to Plethon’s cave, which is full of statues of the Olympian
gods. The young woman is killed in the cave when the statues fall on her
body after a terrible earthquake in the morning of May 29th, 1453.
The producer of the series, Dimitris Pontikas, who had already offered,
a year earlier, a successful television adaptation of another Papadiamantis
novel Oi emporoi ton ethnon / Οι έμποροι των εθνών (The nations merchants,
1973, EIRT), claimed in a recent interview that, while in the first series he tried
to utilize the language of Papadiamantis, in I gyftopoula he tried to emphasize
on the philosophical aspect of Papadiamantis, ignoring the language.16

14 Eleni Politou-Marmarinou, “Αλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης”, Η παλαιότερη πεζογραφία

μας. Από τις αρχές της ως τον πρώτο παγκόσμιο πόλεμο, vol. ΣΤ΄ (1880-1900), Athens:
Sokolis 1997, pp. 114-209; N. D. Triantafyllopoulos, “Ο άγονος έρωτας ή desinit in piscem”,
in Η αδιάπτωτη μαγεία. Παπαδιαμάντης, Athens: Idryma Goulandri-Horn 1992, pp. 13-38:
33.
15 On Papadiamantis’ knowledge of Byzantium see Athanassios Markopoulos, “Αι ιστορικαί

βυζαντιναί γνώσεις του Αλεξ. Παπαδιαμάντη ως προκύπτουν εκ της ‘Γυφτοπούλας’”,

Επετηρίς της Εταιρείας Βυζαντινών Σπουδών ΛΕʹ (1966) 367-375.
16 “Αποκλειστική συνέντευξη του Δημήτρη Ποντίκα & της Κατερίνας Αποστόλου στο

RetroManiaΧ”,
http://www.retromaniax.gr/vb/forum/%CE%B3%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%
AE-%CF%83%CF%85%CE%B6%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B7/projects-

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Thanassis Agathos & Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

It was the famous playwright Pavlos Matesis who undertook the

adaptation and direction of the series. In an interview he gave in a magazine
of the time17 he specified the criteria of selection of this particular novel: “The
hidden lyricism of Papadiamantis, his humanitarian point of view, the
historical moment in which he placed the plot, all these elements are a
triumphant passport for a TV adaptation of I gyftopoula.’’ To the question if he
faithfully followed Papadiamantis’s text, Matesis replies: ‘‘No, I didn’t follow
the text faithfully. Here, the written text is translated into an image. The
‘medium’ of communication with the public is different. The book has a
reader. The television has a viewer, a spectator. And Papadiamantis himself,
if he was to write for television, would follow the same path. Secondly, I
believe that a slavish adherence to a literary text is an insult to the text and a
betrayal of the viewer. I follow, of course, the spirit of Papadiamantis, as
much as I have captured it.’’ And referring to the language he used in the text
of the TV adaptation: ‘‘I preferred an idiom that fits in the atmosphere of the
book, rural, Peloponnesian, with late Byzantine elements, a language still
alive till today in our villages, an idiom, which, perhaps, is no longer spoken
by the urban population’’.
I gyftopoula was a big hit at the time of its first broadcast. Katerina
Apostolou played the title role, while Nikos Tzogias, a veteran star of the
National Theatre of Greece, incarnated George Gemistos. The cast also
included Maria Alkaiou, Lazos Terzas, Giannis Lambropoulos, Dora
Simopoulou, Nikos Lykomitros and Stathis Psaltis; the musical score was
provided by important composer Giannis Markopoulos. The 48-episode
Papadiamantis adaptation was one of the very few 1970’s series that were not
erased and can be found today in the ERT archives.
The third TV series about Byzantium appeared in 1977 and was,
once more, written and directed by Nikos Foskolos. It was entitled Porfyra kai

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17 “Εκεί όπου γυρίζεται το φιλμ Η γυφτοπούλα. Μια συζήτηση με τον σκηνοθέτη Παύλο

Μάτεσι”, Ραδιοτηλεόραση 251 (1-7 December 1974) 18, 66.

Mediterranean Chronicle 6 (2016) - 248 -

Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and television

aima / Πορφύρα και αίμα (Porphyra and Blood) and was based on Kostas
Kyriazis’ novel Ρωμανός Δ' Διογένης (Romanos Diogenis, 1974), which won
the Prize of the Academy of Athens. A deep connoisseur of Byzantine history,
Kyriazis wrote a series of novels inspired by Byzantium: Agni I Franca / Αγνή
η Φράγκα (Agnes the Francs), Oi teleftaioi Komninoi / Οι τελευταίοι Κομνηνοί
(The Last of the Komninos dynasty), Vassileios o Voulgaroktonos / Βασίλειος ο
Βουλγαροκτόνος (Basil the Bulgar-Slayer), Herkacleios: ti Ypermacho Startigo /
Ηράκλειος: τη Υπερμάχω στρατηγώ (Heraclius: To Thee, the Champion
Leader), Theophano: I estemmeni fonissa / Θεοφανώ; Η εστεμμένη φόνισσα
(Theophano: the Crowned Murderess), Konstantinos Paleologos: Piran tin poli piran
tin / Κωνσταντίνος Παλαιολόγος: Πήραν την πόλη πήραν την (Konstantinos
Paleologos: They Took the City). In his novels he attempts to recreate the
Byzantine era, giving a realistic depiction of the ambiguous atmosphere of
intrigue and sacrifice. The life, customs and manners of the period constitute
the framework of his historical novels.18
The 54-episode series, like the Kyriazis novel, focused on the turbulent
life of Romanos Diogenes, a General of the Byzantine Empire who, circa 1067
AD, disappointed by the military disorganization of the country and the
attacks of Seljuk Turks, prepares a revolution against Eudokia, the Empress of
Byzantium, who, after the death of her husband, Emperor Constantine X
Doukas, tries to balance between the two ruling classes of Byzantine society,
the military and the palace bureaucracy. Against all odds, Evdokia falls in
love with Romanos. Michael Psellos, the famous philosopher and a person at
the center of power intrigues, closely monitors the activity of Romanos and
gives Eudokia all evidence of the general’s guilt. The Empress’ dilemma is
large, as she must condemn the man with whom she is in love. However, she
finds the way to overcome law obstacles and marries Romanos, offering him
the throne and the power to fight the enemies of Byzantium and the internal
conspirators. Unfortunately, after the defeat of the Byzantine army in the
battle of Manzikert (1071), Romanos is dethroned and murdered, while
Eudokia is exiled and her son becomes the Emperor.
The series –which was subtitled ‘‘A dramatic return to Byzantium’’–
was considered to be rather faithful to the Kyriazis novel, following carefully
the plot and the characters of the book, although Foscolos was criticized for
using his usual mannerisms and the pompous vocabulary known from his
films and TV series. It is interesting that in the period following the colonels’
regime the series exalts the patriotism of the military officers personified by
Romanos and scorns the civilian officers and specifically Psellos, more

18Cf. the remarks of Mary Theodossopoulou about Kyriazis’ historical novels: “For years
Kyriazis writes historical novels insisting on the faithful depiction of events and persons,
while, with the freedom of fiction, he covers dark or poorly studied areas’’ (Mary
Theodossopoulou, “Βιβλιοπωλεία”, εφημ. Η Εποχή, 5 July 1992).

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Thanassis Agathos & Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

interested in power than the protection of the state from external threats. The
reconstitution of the Byzantine era was successful, with expensive sets by
Manolis Maridakis, and the first-rate cast included Nikos Vastardis (as
Romanos Diogenes), Voula Zoumboulaki (as Empress Eudokia), Dimitris
Myrat (Michael Psellos),19 Giorgos Tzortzis (Caesar John Doukas), Gogo
Atzoletaki (Theodora), Alberto Eskenazy, Pepi Metallidou, Errikos Briolas
and Nikos Galiatsos.
The fourth –and last until today– Byzantine series premiered in
October 1984 and was entitled Alexios Kallergis / Αλέξιος Καλλέργης. It was a
13-episode color production –the previous three series were in black and
white– based on Nikos Angelis’s historical novel of the same title, which “is
read pleasantly and without violating the historical truth vividly presents an
entire period, a difficult and important one”.20 The director was Kyros
Rossidis, the screenplay was written by Violetta Sotiropoulou, the producer
was Soulis Athanassiou and the main cast included Stefanos Kyriakidis (in
the eponymous role), Ourania Basli, Christos Biros, Ilias Lambridou, Ersi
Malikenzou, Spyros Mavidis, Grigoris Vafias and Giannis Rozakis. The series
followed the adventurous life of Alexios Kallergis, the legendary ruler of the
Venetian era, who lived in the late 13th century. Because he used both
diplomacy and weapons to fight the Venetians and Genoese, Alexios is
considered the most important of all the members of the Kallergis dynasty. In
the series instead of an astute diplomat and a landlord with a local political
agenda who wanted to safeguard his privileges, Kallergis is presented as a
precursor of the 19th century revolutionaries fighting for the liberation of
Crete from the Venetians. Taking into account PASOK’s influence in Crete the
choice of the book could be seen as an effort to address the sensibilities of a
local political clientele and regional pride. Despite the relatively good
production values, the series failed to make an impact and is almost forgotten
today.
Also noteworthy is a TV special entitled 1000 xronia prin / 1000 χρόνια
πριν (1000 Years Ago), a co-production of the Greek and the French Television,
which aired simultaneously in Greece and France in the New Year of 1977.
This historical musical revives the Byzantine celebration of the Calends, “a
way of wiping the slate clean and starting afresh”,21 in New Year’s Eve in
Constantinople in 976 AD. The screenplay –written by major playwright
Iakovos Kambanellis– includes songs, dances, lies contests and theatrical

19 It is interesting that Zoumboulaki and Myrat had starred some years earlier (1971) in
Giorgos Roussos’ play Fonos sto iero palati / Φόνος στο ιερό παλάτι (Murder in the Holy Palace),
in which they interpreted Empress Theophano and Ioannis Tsimiskis respectively. Vastardis
had played Galerius in Foscolos’ En touto nika.
20 “Επισημάνσεις”, Το Βήμα, 26 March 2000.

21 Michael Angold, “Church and Society: Iconoclasm and After”, in John Haldon (ed.), A

Social History of Byzantium, Malden–Oxford–West Sussex 2009, pp. 249: 233-256.

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Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and television

performances in the heart of the Byzantine era. Roviros Manthoulis and

Giorgos Michaelidis directed, the 1,000 square meters of sets and 250
costumes of the era was the work of Vassilis Fotopoulos, while Stavros
Xarchakos wrote the (original) music, especially written for this musical to
form a suite of dance rhythms and improvisations drawn through the long
musical tradition of the place. The dance rhythms don’t represent in any way
the music of the tenth century; rather, they constitute an effort to project to
Byzantium Greek popular tunes. Pontic Greek dances, representing Greek
tradition of the Asia Minor, play an important role in the film. The stellar cast
included Giannis Vogiatzis, Thanasis Vengos, Despo Diamantidou, Katia
Dandoulaki and Thimios Karakatsanis.
Although all four series discussed in this paper appeared within a
short period of 11 years (1973-1984), each of them represents a different phase
in the history of Modern Greece. En touto nika was produced during the two
last years of the dictatorship of the colonels and it can be read within the
subtext of the junta’s will to emphasize on the unity of the glorious historical
past, without dividing lines between Ancient Greece, Byzantium and Modern
Greece;22 and certainly the story of Constantine the Great and St. Helen had
already been the focus of Dimitris Vernardakis’ historical drama Fausta (1896),
Kosmas Politis’ obscure play Konstantinos o Megas / Κωνσταντίνος ο Μέγας
(Constantine the Great, 1957) and Kostas Kyriazis’ historical novel Konstantinos
o Megas / Κωνσταντίνος ο Μέγας (Constantine the Great, 1969). I Gyftopoula was
one of the first TV series of the Metapolitefsi period and mirrored the
attempts of the first New Democracy government for a “serious” television,
with a major literary figure like Papadiamantis guaranteeing both artistic and
commercial success. Porfyra kai aima was Foscolos ‘retour en force’ in Greek
TV and Byzantium, after a 3-year absence for political reasons. And Alexios
Kallergis is the only Byzantine series produced during the PASOK
(Panhellenic Socialist Movement) socialist government of the 1980s; a serious
work, undoubtedly, but without the popularity of the previous three.
Three of the series were based on historical novels. The Papadiamantis
and the Kyriazis novels followed the practice of pre-1980 Greek TV
adaptations (i.e. extended to far too many episodes) and sold many copies
during the 1970’s;23 the fact that, for a variety of reasons, they are not

22 Some decades earlier, in 1947, Faidon Koukoules had claimed that Byzantium could offer a
solution even to the controversial international issues of Greece (Faidon Koukoules,
Βυζαντινών βίος και πολιτισμός, vol. 1, Athens: Papazissis 1947, pp. 7-8).
23 According to Sarah Cardwell, “books that are adapted for television will sell more copies”.

Sarah Cardwell, Adaptation Revisited: Television and the Classic Novel, Manchester and New
York: Manchester University Press 2002, p. 2. In a similar logic, Zacharias Siaflekis argues that
‘‘the idea that the ‘whole story’ of the novel can’t be found in its TV adaptation leads a big
number of spectators to buy and read the novel itself”’ (Zacharias Siaflekis, “Ερμηνευτικές

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Thanassis Agathos & Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

accessible today24 has eliminated their educational prospects.25 However, with

the exception of Papadiamantis’ I gyftopoula, Greek TV producers did not
capitalize on major works of Modern Greek fiction set in Byzantium like
Penelope Delta’s Ton kairo tou Voulgaroktonou / Τον καιρό του
Βουλγαροκτόνου (In the Heroic Age of Basil II: Emperor of Byzantium, 1911),
Angelos Terzakis’ Prngipessa Izambo / Πριγκηπέσσα Ιζαμπώ (Princess Izambo,
1945) or Maro Douka’s Enas skoufos apo porfyra / Ένας σκούφος από πορφύρα
(Come Forth, King, 1995. Cinema directors that used Byzantium as the
background of the plot had the same attitude.
Of the four “Byzantine” Greek films, the first one, Kassiani / Κασσιανή,
is based on a rather obscure play, Kassiani ymnodos / Κασσιανή υμνωδός
(Kassiani the hymnographer), by Kostas Papageorgiou, who also wrote the
screenplay. The film is a biopic of Kassiani,
the Byzantine abbess, poet, composer and hymnographer (805/810 - before
865). This 1960 production focuses on Kassiani’s partcipation in the ‘‘bride
show’’ (the process by which a Byzantine prince/emperor sometimes chose a
bride, by giving a golden apple to his choice) organized for the young
bachelor Theophilos by his stepmother, the Empress Dowager Euphrosyne,
and the young woman’s unfortunate love affair with Theophilos, which leads
her to the monastery. The film was directed by Ilias Paraskevas, the costumes
were designed by major painter Spyros Vassiliou, the color cinematography
was by Vangelis Karamanidis and the cast included Aliki Zaverdinou (in the
title role), Andreas Barkoulis (as Theophilos), Giorgos Kampanellis, Theano
Ioannidou and Christophoros Nezer. The film was a moderate boxoffice hit at
the time, but is rarely revived nowadays.
The second one Byzantini rapsodia / Βυζαντινή ραψωδία (Byzantine
Rhapsody, also advertized in English as Imperiale), produced in 1968, was
directed by Yiorgos Skalenakis26 with a script by Yannis Tziotis. The cast
included Thodoros Roubanis (who was also the producer and wrote the
music), Betty Arvaniti and Kostas Karras. Responsible for the art direction
and the set decoration was Dionysis Fotopoulos. The focus of the film is on an
incestuous relation, underlining at the same time the superstitious character
of the Byzantines. The Empress of Byzantium, believing that the end of the

προτάσεις για την τηλεοπτική πρόσληψη της ελληνικής και ξένης λογοτεχνίας”, in his
book Συγκρητισμός και ιστορία της λογοτεχνίας, Athens 1988, pp. 178-196).
24 I Gyftopoula was revived during the 1970’s and 1990’s, Porfyra kai aima has been erased, En

touto nika can be found in a private collection but not in the ERT archives and Alexios Kallergis’
fate remains unknown.
25 According to Ellis, ‘‘showing recalcitrant students the film or the television serial is

regarded as a way to encourage them to read the original novel’’, J. Ellis, “The Literary
Adaptation”, Screen 23/1 (May-June 1982) 3-5.
26 Film historian Aglaia Mitropoulou considers Byzantini rapsodia as Skalenakis’ “most

ambitious film”, although she finds the result unworthy of his possibilities; see Aglaia
Mitropoulou, Ελληνικός κινηματογράφος, Athens: Papazissis 2006, p. 232 (1st edition 1980).

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Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and television

world is approaching, decides to abandon her husband in favor of her lover

chief of the guard of Monemvasia.27
Twenty years later (1988) Fotos Lambrinos made Doxobus / Δοξόμπους,
a film that portrays the life of common people in a village at the bank of
Strymonas during the 14th century. The film was a big-budget production
with notable contributors: architect and poet Panos Theodoridis collaborated
with Lambrinos in the screenplay and took a role in the film, Giorgos
Arvanitis was director of cinematography, Mikes Karapiperis was responsible
for the set decoration and Ioanna Papantoniou designed the costumes. The
cast included Tasos Palatzidis, Stelios Kapatos, Varvara Mavromati and
Lazaros Andreou. Contrary to the films for the broad public of the 1960s
Doxobus is a characteristic example of the post 1974 artistic New Greek
Cinema. Instead of focusing on the glamour of the Imperial palace, the
director, chose to focus on the repercussions of the civil war between
Andronicus II and his grandson Andronicus III in Macedonia. The plot
follows the successful social ascent of an orphan child, of probably Slavic
origin, who manages to become the overlord of the region. Through him it
shows how the changes in the social structure coincided with the appearance
of a new type of leader (άρχων) that replaced the traditional protogeros
(πρωτόγερος).28 The director doesn’t make any effort to idealize Byzantium
and the plot showcases the complex relations between civil and religious
authorities, the court intrigues, the violence that military and religious
authorities exercised over villagers and the persecutions of heretics. The script
authors conducted thorough research into the available archival sources so as
to portray the period with accuracy. Nevertheless, at times he sacrifices
historical accuracy in order to depict the complexity of medieval society.29
Therefore Doxobus can be seen also as a deconstructive reflection on the idea
of “Hellenism” and “Greekness”.30 The film won five awards in the
Thessaloniki film festival of 1988 including that of photography, art direction
and set decoration. The influence of Sergey Paradjanov and Andrei
Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev is visible in the aesthetics and the general
atmosphere of the film. Although Doxobus is a decent effort to portray the
complexities of life in rural Macedonia during the late Byzantine period, “a

27 Vrasidas Karalis praises the film’s “historical accuracy” and “impressive costumes”; see
Vrasidas Karalis, A History of Greek Cinema, New York: Continuum 2012, p. 125.
28 Konstantinos Chryssogelos, “The Byzantine Heritage in Greek Cinema: The (Almost) Lone

Case of Doxobus”, Byzantine Studies Alive (forthcoming) 2.

29 Ibid., p. 2.

30 According to the director Fotos Lambrinos, “Doxobus uses a documentary-style

reconstruction of a mythified [sic] age (the fourteenth-century) to call into question

established stereotypes and widely-held views that permeate Greek historiography on the
‘Greekness’ of the Byzantine empire”, cited in ibid., p. 14.

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Thanassis Agathos & Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

bold experimental film for a distant period”,31 it wasn’t very successful and
met the disapproval of the public during the film festival.
In 1991 Yiorgos Stampoulopoulos presented Dyo ilioi ston ourano / Δύο
ήλιοι στον ουρανό (Two Suns in the Sky) a coproduction of Greece, Cyprus and
France, a film that in a way is also confronting the traditional line of the Greek
historiography. The screenplay was authored by the director and the cast
included actors from Greece, France and Poland such as Piotr Fronczewski,
Benoit Roussel, Nikiforis Naneris, Katerina Razelou and Yiorgos Armenis.
Before Alejandro Amenabar’s Agora (2009), Stamboulopoulos took a position
in favor of the last Gentiles that were fighting a losing battle against the
Christians. The action takes place around 359 CE during the reign of the
emperor Theodosius I and had as its center a revolt that took place in Antioch.
The actor Timotheus presents Euripides Bacchae in Antioch, stirs the
population of the city against the emperor and defies the Christian clergy.
Lazarus, a Cappadocian magistrate, persecutes him all over the Empire and
manages to capture him but Dionysus miraculously liberates him. The film
copies the plot or the Bacchae with Lazarus in the role of Pentheus being
dismembered by the maenads in Thrace.32 The film ends with the funeral of
Lazarus and Timotheus walking towards Light. The two heroes reflect the
opposition between the openness of Ancient Greek spirit, on the one hand,
and the intolerance of Christianity and the obscurantist Byzantine Empire, on
the other. According to Stampoulopoulos, ancient drama could be a means to
redeem Hellenism from Christianity, a religion unable to provide responses to
the ideological and existential deadlocks that Greek society faces.33 While
taking a position in favor of ancient knowledge he is also showcasing the
Gnostics as an alternative, more tolerant, form of Christianity that was also
annihilated by the Orthodoxy adopted by the emperors of Constantinople.34
Contrary to Doxobus, the director focused more on this binary opposition than
on an effort to portray with accuracy the society of Eastern Mediterranean
during the 4th century CE.35 We have to note that Dyo ilioi ston ourano came out
during a period when, following a trend that appeared in Western Europe,
both the extreme Right and a part of the Ecological left started showing an

31 Giannis Soldatos, Ιστορία του ελληνικού κινηματογράφου, vol. 2, Athens: Egokeros 2002,
p. 324.
32 The sacrifice of a devoted Christian by «Pagans» might be inspired by the culminating

scene of the 1973 film The Wicker Man by Robin Hardy.

33 Cited in «Δύο ήλιοι στον ουρανό. Παρουσίαση της ταινίας του Γ. Σταμπουλόπουλου»,

Δαυλός τχ. 131 (1992), http://epicureasgarden.blogspot.com.ar/2010/09/blog-post.html

accessed December 20.2016.
34 “Δύο ήλιοι στον ουρανό. Παρουσίαση της ταινίας του Γ. Σταμπουλόπουλου”,

http://epicureasgarden.blogspot.com.ar/2010/09/blog-post.html accessed December 20.2016.

35 As an example in a discourse in Antioch Timotheos while addressing a mixed public of

Christians and Gentiles uses for the later the term idolaters, something that no follower of the
ancient religion would do.

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Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and television

interest on Neopaganism. Therefore, the rejection of Christianity, although

shocking for Greece at the time, was not a novelty.36 The film won four state
awards in 1991 as well as the direction award at the Alexandria film festival in
1993.
The fifth –and last until today– “Byzantine” film is Panagiotis
Portokalakis’ Oi theatrines / Οι θεατρίνες (Playing Parts, 2003), with a
screenplay by Vicky Dimou and a cast including Lena Kitsopoulou, Giorgos
Karamichos, Maria Protopapa, Laertis Vassiliou and Christos Stergioglou. The
plot focuses on the love affair between Antonina, a beautiful actress, and the
son of a powerful general during the Greek Middle Ages. The film starts in a
light mood presenting Antonina as a frivolous enchantress, gets darker as she
enters the milieu of the Byzantine general and finds herself involved with
intrigues, and ends tragically with the heroine's arrest, pillory and
imprisonment. Despite its rather small budget the film offers a good
reconstruction of the era and attempts to give a realistic depiction of everyday
life in Byzantium.37
The series and the films that we presented reflect the ambivalence of
Modern Greek society towards Byzantium. Although integrated gradually in
the genealogy of modern Greece, the Eastern Roman Empire rarely managed
to capture the imagination of film directors. On the contrary the public was
and remains receptive to period dramas involving war, court intrigues and
passion, irrespective of the historical context. This might explain the success
of the 1970s TV series and more recently the interest for Turkish period soap
operas and films like The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. On the other
hand, Doxobus and Alexios Kallergis that tried to portray life in the provinces
were unsuccessful. Future research38 may include films on Byzantium
produced in other countries or study the visual products on Byzantium as
part of the interest for Middle-Ages in the Post-War period. But this is a
subject to be further elaborated upon.

36 For an introduction on Neopaganist movements see Joanne Pearson, Richard H. Roberts

and Geoffrey Samuel, Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World, Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press 1998.
37 For an overview of everyday life in Byzantium, see Marcus Louis Rautman, Daily Life in the

Byzantine Empire, Connecticut – London: Greenwood Press 2006.

38 There is also a current research by Ilias Giarenis concerning the presence of Byzantium in

Greek Radio; see Ilias Giarenis, “Το Βυζάντιο στο ραδιόφωνο”, in M. Tziatzi-Papagianni &
G. Papagiannis (eds.), Ζ΄ Συνάντηση Βυζαντινολόγων Ελλάδος και Κύπρου. Παράδοση και
ανανέωση στο Βυζάντιο, Komotini 2011, pp. 438-442.

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Thanassis Agathos & Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

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Haldon (ed.), A Social History of Byzantium, Malden–Oxford–West Sussex
2009, pp. 233-256.
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Konstantinos Chryssogelos, “The Byzantine Heritage in Greek Cinema:
The (Almost) Lone Case of Doxobus”, Byzantine Studies Alive (forthcoming).
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J. Ellis, “The Literary Adaptation”, Screen 23/1 (May-June 1982) 3-5.
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Papagianni & G. Papagiannis (eds.), Ζ΄ Συνάντηση Βυζαντινολόγων Ελλάδος
και Κύπρου. Παράδοση και ανανέωση στο Βυζάντιο, Komotini 2011, pp. 438-
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University Press 1998.

Mediterranean Chronicle 6 (2016) - 256 -

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Eleni Politou-Marmarinou, “Αλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης”, in Η

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Thanassis Agathos & Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos

Abstract
Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and
television
The various interpretations of Byzantium, as a mighty Christian Empire, the
ark of Greek culture during the Middle Ages, a battleground between patriots
and greedy indifferent officers, or an abode of superstition and debauchery,
are reflected in the TV shows and films that had been inspired by Byzantine
History and have been produced during the colonels’ regime and after the
restauration of democracy. Some of them are based on novels. This
presentation aims to introduce these products of visual culture in their
historical context and reflect on the image of Byzantium that they portray to
the Greek public.

Keywords
Byzantium-Greek television-Greek cinema-Modern Greek literature-
adaptation-Alexandros Papadiamantis-Nikos Foskolos- Fotos Lambrinos.

Thanassis Agathos is an Assistant Professor of Modern Greek Literature at

the Faculty of Philology of the National and Kapodistrian University of
Athens. He holds a B.A. in Philology from the University of Athens, an M.A.
in Modern Greek Literature from the University of Oxford and a Ph.D. in
Modern Greek Literature from the University of Athens. His research
interests include Modern Greek Literature of the 19th and 20th century,
reception theory, the relationship between literature and cinema. He has
published studies on the work of Emmanuel Roidis, Alexandros Rizos-
Rangavis, Spyridon Zampelios, Kostis Palamas, Nikos Kazantzakis,
Constantinos Theotokis, Stratis Myrivilis, George Seferis, Odysseas Elytis,
Elias Venezis, Angelos Terzakis, Vassilis Vassilikos etc. Books: Από το Βίος
και πολiτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά στο Zorba the Greek (From Vios kai politeia
tou Alexi Zorba to Zorba the Greek, 2007, Athens, Aigokeros). Οι επιστολές
του Νίκου Καζαντζάκη στην οικογένεια Αγγελάκη (The Letters of Nikos
Kazantzakis to the Angelakis family, 2013, Heraklion Crete, Nikos
Kazantzakis Museum). Η εποχή του μυθιστορήματος (The Era of the Novel,
2014, Athens, Govostis). Η κινηματογραφική όψη του Γρηγορίου Ξενόπουλου
(The Cinematic Aspect of Grigorios Xenopoulos, 2016, Govostis).

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Imperial palaces and village huts: Byzantium in Greek cinema and television

Yannis G. S. Papadopoulos holds a PhD in History from Panteion University

in Athens, a DEA in Anthropology from EPHE in Paris, an MPhil in Cultural
Information Systems from the University of Crete, and a BA in History and
Archeology from the University of Ioannina. He is a research fellow at
Panteion University and teaches History of Migration at the University of
Peloponnese. His PhD dissertation dealt with the "Greek Orthodox
immigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the USA and the foreign policy of
the Greek State from 1890 to 1927". His research focuses on issues of
migration, ethnicity, nationalism, collective memory and the representation of
history in cinema. He currently studies Post-War migration to Brazil and
strategies of development in Latin America.

Thanassis Agathos
University of Athens
thagathos@phil.uoa.gr
https://uoa.academia.edu/ThanassisAgathos

Yannis G.S. Papadopoulos

University of Peloponnese
ypapado@gmail.com
https://uop-gr.academia.edu/YannisGSPapadopoulos

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