BSA Course Day 11 - National Historical Museum & the BSA Collections

Weather: Hot & sunny, 32 degrees

Step count: 15590

Back 'home' at the BSA after our two-day taster of life on the road, we spent the morning at the National Historical Museum. Fittingly housed in the impressive Old Parliament building, first permanent home of the Greek National Assembly before the government moved to its current location in Syntagma Square, the collections tell the story of the Greek War of Independence from Ottoman rule and the establishment of Greece as an independent state.

It was fascinating, and moving, to learn how the modern state of Greece came into being through a long and complex struggle for freedom and unity which began long before the revolution of 1821 and continued for many years afterwards. The exhibition in the gallery of the historic building allowed a constant view of the assembly hall below, a space that wouldn't have existed without the many years of bloodshed and strife that led to its creation.

We considered how thousands of years of history helped to construct a modern Greek identity, and how philhellenes, including Lord Byron, were drawn by a love of the past to join in the fight for the future of Greece. It was interesting to see how an idealised vision of classical history, perpetuated by the Grand Tour undertaken by the well-to-do of Europe in the 18th century, was used to produce merchandise, such as fans and playing cards, to raise funds for the campaign.

The war played out at sea as well as on land, again drawing on the identities of the past with many ships named for famous classical figures and ancient heroes, both mythical and historical, or bearing their likenesses as figureheads. L-R Agamemnon, Leonidas and Pericles.

Secret societies with their own codes and ciphers for communication helped to set up the revolution.

Doctors shared treatments for injuries and disease, as captured in this rare 'Iatrosophion' or 'medical wisdom' manuscript.

Women too fought - and died - in the battles. Ioanna Gistrakou defended her family tower along with her son and 45 men until reinforcements arrived. Her death mask is displayed alongside the stories of women who played their part in the revolution.

Just this small selection of objects helped to illustrate the brutal reality of the war, far from the often-romanticised portrayal of Byron's involvement, and eventual death, in the conflict. A reality which he seemed all too aware of, as his words are shown alongside some of the items associated with him, including the camp bed he took to Missalonghi.

"To be a philhellene no longer means to stand still and meditate, to stop to admire broken statues, to study fragments of texts: it means to suffer and to act."

Lord Byron

It was incredible to see the first version of the Greek constitution, the state seal bearing an image of the goddess Athena, and an early version of the flag that showed a united Greece, amongst the many significant historical artefacts. I left the museum with a greater appreciation of a period I knew very little about, and I am determined to find out more.

After a long morning and a walk into the city and back, my feet were just as excited as I was to spend the afternoon at the BSA. We started with a lecture about digital archaeology, and how the discipline has moved on considerably from the 'old school analogue archaeology' of the recent past. We learned that archaeologists are multi-skilled; investigations require IT skills to create records, produce 3-D models, and to interrogate the vast catalogues of information available online from many different sources. It was exciting to see how science and technology have opened up the field to facilitate networking and collaboration across disciplines.

Photo credit: British School at Athens

Our second session looked at the BSA's continually-growing digital archive. Guided by librarian Deborah Harlan, we started to find our way around the vast amount of material that is publicly available online. For me, starting out in academia as a mature student via a distance learning degree with the Open University, one of the many benefits of the undergraduate course is the opportunity to find out about resources that will assist as I progress through the modules. And you don't need to be an IT expert to use it.

Photo credit: British School at Athens

It was a real treat to be introduced to some of the physical objects that make up this fascinating repository, which includes the mapping of archaeological discoveries at Knossos since Arthur Evans' excavations, the Byzantine Research Fund archive of architectural drawings, photographs and notebooks, botanical samples from the Fitch Laboratory and the personal papers of many archaeologists, historians and scholars dating back to the 18th century.

Deborah had laid out a selection of images from the photographic collection in their original formats, from glass negatives to slides and prints. One particularly interesting photograph showed the Lion of Chaeroneia in pieces, before the monument was reconstructed in 1902, with the head visible to the left of the image.

Our final activity was another handling session with the ceramic collection. Tutor Michael encouraged us to think about the challenges and benefits of categorising objects, and the many ways in which they can be classified such as by shape, size, material, use, colour, design, etc to support the story you are trying to tell.

Although our designated course day was over, we had the opportunity to join outgoing BSA director John Bennet in a Q&A session in the garden with assistant director Michael Loy. Professor Bennet gave us an interesting insight into his long career as an Aegean archaeologist and his work on Linear B, an early form of writing using signs and symbols which pre-dates the Greek alphabet by several hundred years.

The votes for our evening of 'optional fun' were counted, and those of us who still had the energy joined tutors Michael and Matt in the Finley common room for the winning activity - a photogrammetry workshop.

We enjoyed playing with the technology, photographing my little Lego alter-ego Bronwen from a multitude of angles before uploading them to create a 3-D digital model that could be manipulated on screen. We got to see how useful this could be when used to study larger objects such as buildings, and the final result wasn't too bad for a first try!