Legends of Hagia Sophia and the Fall of the City: Anniversary narrative of commemoration and restoration of insulted cultural and historical symbols.<\/p>\n
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The special weight of the Fall of the City as a collective memory and historical landmark for the preliminary launch – according to many historians – of the new Hellenism from 1453 onwards, is undoubtedly linked to an important cultural legacy that is reflected in a wide range of expressions of popular culture, such as folk songs and oral traditions but even in a great diversity of folk art (eg weaving, wood carving, marble work, clothing). Beyond and far from any nationalist mood or ideology, with historical roots the post-revolutionary Great Idea of \u200b\u200ball sorts of Colettes, visible and invisible, named and anonymous, royal houses and progressive politicians, the reference to the Fall of the City is inextricably linked to a miracle of architecture and architectural art and religious importance and historical memory, which is condensed in a building-symbol which is none other than the Church of Hagia Sophia. The micro-magnifications of various emerging Sultanisms, expression of nationalistic daydreams by unfortunate and dangerous – but certainly not without background and deeper patronage – behaviors of incurable senile insanities of branded liars of the East – separating the people from their governments – have recently opened a new cycle of insults in cultural – now monuments of international recognition by UNESCO, turning a world symbol of Christianity and museum space into a mosque. It is unquestionably their best by far from all the other mosques they have built, (in a popular metaphor we would say “Mosque with foreign bricks” – as opposed to “with a foreign hut”) and they know it well, which is why the preview of the projection of fantasy events in the wider area. Of course, what others see and treat, the foreign visitors to Constantinople as a museum, the Greeks everywhere – those who voluntarily desire it and feel it as a deep cultural need – look at it with awe and many with admiration, connecting it with an entire historical period -longer than a thousand years-which gives rise to multifaceted approaches, interpretations, research and conclusions. It must be remembered here that the Seljuk Turks, pure-blooded ancestors of today’s racially and religiously achtamazidic blends of the friendly neighboring country, which for many decades tries to squeeze uncomfortably under the holey and small umbrella of Pan-Turkism since it lacks any other consciousness-“identity” to appropriation – known for their cultural contribution to the world’s cultural development – they were very jealous of the first teaching Crusaders of the 4th Crusade of 1204 who showed the most – mostly Christian – love to the neighboring populations of the Byzantine capital by hunting and plundering with excess and imaginative looting the Reigning. The recent – in previous years – protests by Turkish bodies such as the “Art History Society” for the unacceptable treatment of the Hagia Sophia area (placing shoes of the pilgrims of the extortionate “mosque” in gaps in the building, the deterioration of the imperial gate) – in to the extent that they are sincere and not part of a Catholic mockery of international public opinion, practices that the neighbors are well aware of, show that an international campaign to save the world monument, which has stood for almost a thousand years (537-1453 AD and with earlier temple presence than 360 AD) before his later promising subversives appeared. The earlier reports about the scraping of the mortar of the walls of Hagia Sophia and its depositing in bags by the popular element, how should it be interpreted? The “unprovoked” but not by chance – since it had been pre-decided years before – the conversion of the Monastery of Chora into a mosque, after Hagia Sophia, is proof of the intentions of the neighbors who have been “scratching” their backs for so many years and “scratching” themselves with covert dispositions and sometimes unprovoked aggression. The anniversary victory report invoked by the visionaries of these so-undoubtedly-tasteful fireworks with an air of historical swagger and phantasmagorical frenzy, remind us if nothing else that they display an extraordinary logical-mathematical thinking and practical ability, since every year they add +a year from the previous year, (571 in total they tell us). And because such events have earlier historical imprints from related races of the same topographical origin, let us remember that in the most recent years of the world’s historical experience, only the Nazis paraded under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as a sign of triumphant victory, grafting and passing torches – because noble rival – the idea to their current political and diplomatic partners, to carry out similar celebratory events. Let’s wish them wholeheartedly to always celebrate it, so they don’t forget the importance of the achievement. In fact, we would suggest that in order to restore the balance and remove any misunderstandings, they should change this Instabul, which results from the ill-mannered Greek-derived linguistically derived “In the City”, and find something richer, more Turkish and linguistically cleaner. The recent celebrations of the supporters of the party that won in the neighboring country, inside the temple area, are a sign of how they perceive the fate of the thousand-year-old monuments that they will never be able to create .<\/p>\n
Eight time-tested oral traditions related to the taking of the City, in a modular sequence of events, unfold perceptions of the collective imaginary from before the Fall – during and after the Fall, as reflected in folk narratives that time saved, with the temple of Agia Sophia as its central axis. The oral literature of the people meets History and retold stories are melodically embraced with original music in traditional streets of the rhythms of the City and of Asia Minor, through newborn verses. \u00a8A creative meeting of the arts of poetry and music that lend a hand to oral storytelling is prepared with love, passion, care and responsibility in the form of an audiobook where the stories are eight + one creating a unique atmosphere of emotion. Contributors Poetry – lyrics : Dimitris Fileles Music composition – song : Philippos Plakias Narration : Dimitris V. Prousalis Co-organizer : Association of Greek Nationals Deported from Turkey “Fairytales and Myths on the Centaur’s Back” Necessary note-The meaning and function of legends Beyond and far from any nationalist mood, the narrative approach of the legends about the Fall of the City is another category in the themes that enrich the repertoire of a modern storyteller who “converses” with the creations of the imagination of the popular element. Legends as a category of popular oral literature belong to the wider family of Traditions. The latter concern believable stories that are geographically connected – with a strong local element – to life in its visible and invisible dimension, in a totality of which the common man and his lived experience are a part. In a large part of them, they are characterized by a causal mood, but they are not limited to it. Nikolaos Politis, “father” of the science of Folklore in Greece, proceeded to categorize the Traditions of the Greek people into 39 different themes, highlighting the wealth of narrative compositions, projections and creations of the Greek-speaking world through stories about the ancients, the monuments, the saints, the months, diseases, death, fairies, goblins, vampires, meteorological phenomena, etc. In contrast to the more poetic folk tales, which close with a positive ending – “And they lived well and we lived better” -in an entertainment context, folk traditions move in more historical contexts and their end leaves a neutral taste of flatulence that leans towards the dramatic. The Legends of the Fall Legends, as a special category of Traditions, are the imaginative reception, reflection and approximation of real historical events, monuments, etc. but through how the people understood them and expressed themselves fictionally about them. Many times the popular imagination undermines the historical truth of events and sometimes falsifies them by creating exaggerations or distortions. However, these are also some of the characteristics of popular fiction. Specifically, the Legends of the Fall of the City are the expression of popular fiction, which tried to “accept” the idea of \u200b\u200bthe loss of a symbolic city, which was for more than 1000 years the center of reference and culture as the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The multinational and synthetic Byzantine empire with many emperors of non-Greek origin, was unified under the prevalence of Christianity, the gradual establishment of the Greek language and administrative and legislative unification. Constantinople saw many would-be conquerors standing in front of its walls expecting its fall. Worst of all proved to be the co-religion crusaders of the west who showed their true colors in 1204 when they captured the city of Constantine and carried out an unprecedented looting of antiquities and theft of works of art. The Byzantine Empire followed the fate of all great empires and ancient civilizations, decline. What is lost in 1453 is nothing but the remnant – like a bad joke – of an old empire that is now limited to a very small area of \u200b\u200bland around the Bosphorus, when everything else around has been lost and Muhammad (“The Conqueror”) occupies the a ghost of a city that was once something else, but despite its decline still holds the allure of the coveted prize. The people mourn over time not the city itself that was destroyed, but the idea of \u200b\u200ba city-symbol that is permanently and irrevocably lost and precisely for this reason causes collective sadness. He creates fantastic stories about what one cannot accept as accomplished, because he was the recipient of collective projections as a common place of desire. The stories-legends refer to key elements of these projections, the temple reference of the Christian world of the east, Hagia Sophia and her world, her priests, her Holy Table, her images and tragic figures such as the last of the Paleologues . In order for one to be able to stand on an equal footing in the dialogue of communication and reciprocation with “others”, in a multicultural world that is changing by creating new realities, one must, in our humble opinion, know one’s roots and the path of one’s people through time, regardless of whether he agrees or disagrees or how he ultimately stands against the historical facts, which anyway have many approaches, perspectives, truths and interpretations. The appropriation or monopolization of use of key historical events by dark circles of various ideologies on the one hand, or the permanent discrediting over time by other moving opposites, softens and does injustice to the real dimension of the events by weakening the historical memory that must be controlled, corrected, enriched, to regroup…<\/p>\n
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