For Ottoman Greek refugees displaced by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and Lausanne, antiquities served as conduits, symbols, metaphors, and allegories for expressing the trauma linked to their state of uprootedness and forced exile. Artemis Papatheodorou’s research draws on refugee testimonies from the Oral Tradition Archive of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies. She engages specifically with the significance of antiquities for Ottoman Greek refugees in their memory making. As she explains in this conversation, recorded on 17 October 2024, the refugees in question employed “reverse rescue archaeology”: it was a case of antiquities salvaging refugees rather than the other way round. In this podcast Enno and Artemis also discuss aspects of the literary world of Smyrna-born poet and Nobel Laureate George Seferis, a prominent representative of the Ottoman Greek refugee community. Artemis also argues that the Oral Tradition Archive interviewees had more agency than is often assumed.

Normally it is a human being who salvages antiquities, in the context of an excavation for example. But in the case of my study this function is reversed. The human beings in question, the Ottoman Greek refugees, use antiquities in order to deal with their trauma. Antiquities salvage the refugees.

Episode 59 – Reverse Rescue Archaeology

Artemis Papatheodorou holds a DPhil in Oriental Studies from Oxford. Her research interests focus on the history of archaeology, heritage and classical reception in the Ottoman long nineteenth century. Artemis has taught history at the American University of Sharjah and Panteion University in Athens. She was previously an Early Career Fellow in Hellenic Studies with Harvard’s Centre for Hellenic Studies; a Fellow in Provenance Research with the Berlin Museums and a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the ANAMED Research Centre (Koç University). Artemis is also a co-editor of the Bulletin of the History of Archaeology. To read her recent contribution to “New Perspectives on Turkey”, click here.

Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.

IMAGES: RING WITH INTAGLIO OF SCHEMATIC FIGURE AND RING WITH INTAGLIO OF FEMALE FIGURE, ROMAN, C. 50 CE. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, 1992.263.7 and 1992.263.9. PUBLIC DOMAIN.