Dem Bones…
When beginning our project we thought that, once a person’s
burial in the First Cemetery was confirmed and we looked hard enough, we would
find the grave. We had not considered
that graves and their contents often disappear.
The Reasons:
If a family dies out or the
upkeep for a grave is not paid after a certain period, - or a rental period has
expired, the space reverts to the municipality and is re-allotted.
The bones from these graves are most often placed in a
box and then may be moved to a small ‘locker’,
to the large ossuary in the Plaza,
or be re-interred in smaller plots.
By law, disinterment requires the presence of a family
member.
There is a
less attractive solution for bones if not claimed; they are
then buried in a common grave. This has occurred frequently in the last years
because of the ongoing economic crisis in Greece. (1)
Even in
permanent family tombs, when space is required, bones might be disinterred and arranged
in smaller containers and placed in compartments in the same grave precinct.
A stroll almost anywhere in the
cemetery will reveal debris from abandoned or forfeited graves:
Some are in the process of renovation:
This explains
why a recent burial may very well be found in the oldest part of the cemetery
and why a regular visitor notices so much activity going on in the cemetery
that is not always related to funerals.
Bones are Not All Equal in the Sight of the Municipality
There is a
mechanism in place that, if a committee considers a person’s or a family’s
contribution to the state to be significant enough, they may agree to a grave remaining
in spite of the rules. This has worked
pretty well, - well enough for Dimitrios Vikelas’ comment that the cemetery was
a 'modern Greek pantheon' to be true - but mistakes happen and some graves, like
those of the architect Stamatis Kleanthes
and Ernst Ziller are no longer there. (2)
The Graveyard Shift
There is ample
evidence that city fathers, over the years, have taken measures to add to the “pantheon”,
overcoming the inconvenient fact that many Greek heroes and intellectuals died
elsewhere.
Many have been brought back and re-interred –
some at public expense, some privately.
IoannisVarvakis, one of Greece’s earliest benefactors died in 1825 in Zakynthos, but now
rests in the Number Two spot in the Plaza.
Plaza, Number 2
Adamandias Koraiswas buried in Paris in 1833. His bones were brought here in 1877 and placed beneath
the impressive monument that Athenian intellectuals of the day believed he
deserved.
Section 2, Number 110
And then there is George Averoff, whose impressive mausoleum was
commissioned by the city in order to receive the great nineteenth century
benefactor’s remains from Alexandria in Egypt where he had died and, in fact,
lived all of his life.
Mistakes Have
Been Corrected…
OdysseasAndroutsos, was
considered a traitor in 1825 when he died ‘trying to escape’ a Greek prison on
the acropolis and he was buried unceremoniously somewhere on the north side of
the acropolis near the Church of the Metamorphosis. When the government changed
its mind in 1865, a funeral was held in the Athens cathedral church and attended
by politicians and his wife who was still living. His bones were brought in
procession and laid to rest in a small grave just inside the original gates of
the cemetery.
Section 1,
Number 160
And History
Nudged …
The Communist
Party of Greece brought back the bones of Chyssa Hadzivassiliou, a party member who had participated in the
Varkisa agreement of 1945 but who had died
in Bulgaria, exiled from Greece and her
own party in 1950. They reburied her in a tiny grave directly behind Agios
Lazarus church.
Section 2, near
Number 444
The same treatment was given to the remains of Nikolaos Zachariadis, the famous Communist
General Secretary and resistance fighter who died in Siberia under mysterious
circumstances in 1973. The KKE brought him to the First in 1991, perhaps feeling that his presence could act as a
counterbalance to people like Ioannis Metaxas, Nikolaos Plastiras, and Napoleon Zervas who were already there.
New Section Δ 3 (East
of section 8)
Dem Bones Gonna Walk Around
Bones can leave too. As regions in Greece have developed
their own sense of local history, some areas have demanded their heroes back. (3)
The bones of Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greece’s greatest
hero of the War of Independence were transferred in 1930 with great pomp and
ceremony from his grave in Athens to Tripoli in Arcadia.
His bones with a rider dressed as him parading past his equestrian statue
on Stadiou Street! (4)
The
veneration of bones goes back to early Christian times and the founding of
Constantinople by Constantine the Great. When he founded his new Rome on the
Bosphorus, the transfer (called ‘translation’) and veneration of Saints’ bones
had political as well as religious overtones. He was bringing the saints ‘home’
to be venerated at the seat of his power and their presence enhanced the city,
the Church, and his own rule! (5)
Cenotaph
Vs Grave
There are a number of cenotaphs in the cemetery, for some
members of the Filiki Etairia, for example and, of course, the grave of
Kolokotronis is now a cenotaph – something we did not know when we wrote our
text about him.
Does the
presence or non-presence of bones make a difference? One
day we were discussing the transfer of Kolokotronis’ bones to Tripoli. Filia commented
that his empty grave was not a problem for her. I, the lapsed Protestant, agreed.
But, I have to confess: somehow it isn’t quite the same these days when I pass by
Kolokotronis’ empty grave…
Footnotes
(1) We
are not sure of the fate of the boxes we spotted in a shed behind the Ag.
Theodoroi Church.
(2) We have noticed that the
attrition rate for architects is especially high. But that may be because we
have lately been looking for their graves.
(3) I have read, but cannot yet confirm, that the
bones of Odysseas Androutsos were transferred
yet again to the area of his birth in Previsa on the west coast of
Greece.
(5) In Byzantine
(and Roman Catholic) practice, there has been no prohibition of a saintly bodies
being dismantled and their veneration shared in many locales. The same holds
true of some of Greece’s civic saints although to a lesser degree. Constantinos Kanaris, for example, is buried in
the First, to the west of Agios Lazarus Church, but his heart is encased in
marble and on display in the national History Museum on Stadiou Street.
Note on “Dem Bones”. This famous spiritual seemed
like a good frame of reference for the blog entry, especially because of the
choruses: “Dem bones gonna rise again” and “Dem bone gonna walk around”.
Certainly no disrespect is intended but, that was the song repeated in my mind as I considered ‘the bones'.
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