Home has felt a long way away this week, and not just because 36C heat seems very un-British.
Watching the violent, racist protests erupt in pockets from 1,500 miles was a disconcerting and alarming experience, especially when viewed through the frustratingly piecemeal world of the now-ubiquitous Live Blog. (What happened to the journalist putting things in order of importance instead of the reader having to wade through “updates” themselves?)
The two-hour time difference in Athens meant we went to bed on Wednesday night unsure how the grim hype of “100 riots” would play out. It turns out it’s easier to get 100 people to one riot than it is to get more than one person to 100 different riots. Intimidating and alarming though the thugs surely are, it’s amazing how quickly these “protesters” manage to go from being subjects of fear to subjects of ridicule. Nothing hurts more than being made to look silly.
The anti-racist counter demos, with the twee, funny, sweary posters and chants, restored faith in humanity. And democracy.
By coincidence we were visiting the Acropolis, literal birthplace of democracy, on Thursday morning. Political debate, the discussion of ideas, their grounding in principles and truth, can seem a long way from the foaming torrent on whatever it is Twitter is called now.
But somehow the idea of “democracy” - power to the people, has survived, off and on, for centuries. Millenia. Sometimes the actual silent majority just needs to make themselves gently heard over the noisy few.
Strange bits of my philosophy A-level came flooding back to me, or maybe it was just the heat. Plato wasn’t big on it was he? “Democracy leads to anarchy, which is mob rule.” Nor was his old mate Socrates. Nor, come to think of it, was Aristotle: “Tyranny is a kind of monarchy which has in view the interest of the monarch only; oligarchy has in view the interest of the wealthy; democracy, of the needy: none of them the common good of all.”
Well from Athens, it’s worth coming back home and a line from perhaps the only person quoted more than the great Athenian thinkers, Churchill:
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Emperor on the throne
The Acropolis museum, which opened in 2009, is fabulous. And fabulously air-conditioned. As you climb its floors you rebuild the vast marble edifice in the mind using the jigsaw pieces that remain. Space has been left, perhaps optimistically, for the Parthenon pieces which currently reside in the British Museum.
The whole thing is built over the ruins of Roman and Byzantine houses, not without controversy. It does mean you can go down below and imagine the rooms, and families, which once made up Athens, including, most importantly, the toilets.
One thing that stood out was the things Roman Emperors have given their names to. Caesar got a salad. Hadrian a wall. Nero a chain of coffee shops.
And poor old Vespasian? As the information board in the excavation area points out, he gave his name for His name will forever be attached to “large public latrines, known as ‘vespasians’.” Everyone needs a legacy.
Best/worst Parliaments: vote now
Excellent changing of the guard outside the Hellenic parliament this morning. Much scraping of nailed shoes, slow-motion raising of pom-pommed feet and delicate rearranging of pleated skirts and tassels. All very respectful in front of the tomb of the unknown solider, but also bonkers. As I’m sure the red tunics and bearskins playing a brass band Abba medley looks to tourists in London.
The parliament building isn’t open for tours in August, and from outside it was impressively bland. Three stories high, ochre-coloured, classic well, Neo-classical pile. Greek flag on top, obvs.
I’ve collected quite a few parliament buildings on my travels. Ranking my favourites is probably for another week, but do post in the comments details of any you’ve seen/toured and general reviews for other political nerds on tour.
If you like this sort of thing, do hit like, or better still restack, so that other people who might like this sort of thing can like and restack it too.
Very well written.
Ohh hear hear 'Live Blog' can get in the bin!