The Parthenon Enigma (66 page)

Robert A. McCabe’s evocative photographs of Athens in the 1950s capture the magic and power of place that embrace this extraordinary city. I thank him for his generosity in sharing them and for thirty years of treasured friendship.

And to George Marshall Peters, whose new drawings of the Parthenon frieze are presented here, I give thanks, for his exquisite work and for the pleasure of having excavated together across two decades on Yeronisos off Cyprus.

Andreas Constantinou’s powerful cover image of the Parthenon within the greater cosmos makes us wonder just how many catasterized heroes and heroines still inhabit the night sky. Kevin Glowacki’s photographs of the Acropolis slopes and caves give access to the natural landscape circumscribing the Sacred Rock. I am grateful to them both.

The Acropolis Museum has been for me a shining beacon of scholarly exchange and I thank its director, Prof. Dimitrios Pandermalis, and his colleagues who have generously shared its light with me during the writing of this book. Kathy Paraschis, Cornelia Hadziaslani, Christina Vlassapoulou, Nikki Dolis, Fani Mallouchou-Toufano, Angeliki Koureli, Eleni Korinou, and Eirene Manoli have read parts of the manuscript,
answered questions, facilitated photographic orders, and helped in other ways for which I am ever grateful.

A stimulating year as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton has made all the difference to this book. Words cannot adequately express my thanks to Angelos Chaniotis, Professor of Ancient History and Classics, for supporting
The Parthenon Enigma
every step of the way and for sharing with me his knowledge and kindness. Interaction with the institute’s larger community of scholars has shaped this book in important ways, for which I am especially grateful to Danielle Allen, Yves Alain Bois, Caroline Bynum, Nicola di Cosmo, Freeman Dyson, Didier Fassin, and Richard Taylor.

I thank the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for its support during a critical period of research and thinking at the start of this work. I am grateful for visiting fellowships at All Souls College, Magdalen College, New College, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, and at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, all of which gave access to great libraries and great scholarly communities at the beginning of my research.

Anton Bierle kindly invited me to serve as visiting professor in the Departement Altertumswissenschaften, University of Basel, which offered the perfect setting for the final period of work on
The Parthenon Enigma
. I am much indebted to the students of my graduate seminar, Performance, Myth, Archaeology, Text, for helping me strengthen the arguments presented here. Dr. Tomas Lochman, curator of the Skulpturhalle Basel des Antikenmuseums, facilitated my study of the rich collection of
plaster casts of the Parthenon sculptures, for which I am very grateful.

Andreas Scholl, director, Antikensammlung Berlin, generously shared his time and hospitality with me during my study of the Pergamon Altar and offered a host of valuable insights for which I thank him.

I am grateful to my students at New York University for the lively class discussions upon which this book was forged, especially members of my undergraduate lecture course The Parthenon and Its Reception from Antiquity to the Present and three graduate seminars: The Athenian Acropolis, Archaeologies of Performance, and Archaeologies of Ritual.

A talented team of students from Bryn Mawr College, Columbia University,
New York University, and Princeton University gave invaluable help in the preparation of the manuscript, bibliography, and illustrations. I thank Angel An, Molly E. Allen, Michael Anthony Fowler, Megan Gannon, Philip J. Katz, Rooni Lee, Andreina Mazzei, Eric Miller, Catherine Person, Calloway B. Scott, Laura Surtees, Christina Tsui, Talia Varonos-Pavlopoulos, Catherine Wayland, and Donna Zuckerberg for their excellent work and for bringing much joy to this labor.

Marina Thomatos’s computer formatting, Matt Kania’s brilliant new maps, Angela Schuster’s inspired touch in the preparation of images, and Gene McGarry’s expert copyediting have contributed mightily to this effort. Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan, archivist of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, was wonderfully generous with her time in assisting me in the school’s archives. I thank them all.

Cassandra Pappas’s exquisite design skills have blessed every page of this book. Working with her, and the extraordinary team at Knopf, especially Maria Massey (production editor), Kathryn Zuckerman (publicity), and Juhea Kim (editorial), has been an author’s dream.

I am deeply indebted to generous colleagues and friends who have read all or part of the manuscript, offered valuable suggestions, answered a host of questions, and given important help in other ways. I thank Mehmet Ali-Ataç, Richard C. Anderson, Norbert S. Baer, Margaret Bent, Alan Boegehold, Efrosyni Boutsikas, Jan Bremmer, John McK. Camp, Miriam Caskey, Angelos Chaniotis, Alexandra Christopoulou, Tracey Cullen, James Diggle, Freeman Dyson, Nathan Elkins, Gloria Ferrari, Jean Gascou, Kevin Glowacki, Yannis Hamilakis, Nancy Klein, Elena Korka, Manolis Korres, Mary Lefkowitz, David S. Levene, Dionysia Mavromati, Socratis Mavrommatis, Robert A. McCabe, Gregory Nagy, Phillis Pantilidou, Domniki Papadimitriou, Nickolas Pappas, Kathy Paraschis, Michael Peachin, Brunilde S. Ridgway, Niki Sakka, Charles Scribner III, Guy Smoot, Anthony Snodgrass, Marion Boulton Stroud, Noel Swerdlow, D. Tsalkanis, Peter Van Alfen, Christina Vlassoupoulou, Anastasia P. Vournas, and M. L. West. I am especially grateful to James Ottaway Jr. for cheering this work on at every stage and for offering invaluable comments on the text.

The encouragement of Colin Austin, Isaiah Berlin, Joan and Patrick Leigh Fermor, Homer and Dorothy Thompson, Martin Robertson, and George Lucas, at critical times in this work, have contributed more than they will ever know.

Tina Bennett has nurtured this book with the thoughtful care of the most beneficent of naiad nymphs. George Andreou, an Olympian among editors, has given me the supreme delight of being challenged by the finest, and most generous, of minds. To both, I am ever grateful.

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