In the years between about 1810 and 1840, Edinburgh-long and affectionately known as 'Auld Reekie'-came to think of itself and be widely regarded as something else: the city became 'Modern Athens', an epithet later turned to 'the Athens of the North'. The phrase is very well-known. It is also much used by those who have little understanding of the often confused and contradictory messages hidden within the apparent convenience of a trite or hackneyed term that conceals a myriad of nuanced meanings. This book examines the circumstances underlying a remarkable change in perception of a place and an age. It looks in detail at the 'when', the 'by whom', the 'why', the 'how', and the 'with what consequences' of this most interesting, if extremely complex, transformation of one city into an image-physical or spiritual, or both-of another. A very broad range of evidence is drawn upon, the story having not only topographical, artistic, and architectural dimensions but also social, cerebral, and philosophical ones. Edinburgh may well have been considered 'Athenian'. But, in essence, it remained what it had always been. Maybe, however, for a brief period it was really a sort of hybrid: 'Auld Greekie'.
Dr Iain Gordon Brown FSA FRSE, whose academic career began as a student of ancient history and classical archaeology, was principal curator of manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland, where he is now honorary fellow. He has held the office of curator of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy, and has also been president of the Old Edinburgh Club and a trustee of Edinburgh World Heritage. He is consultant to the Adam Drawings Project at Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Auld Greekie brings together many long-standing interests and builds on a lifetime's study of place and period.
Preface and Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; 1 Prologue: 'Gilded by the rays of an Athenian sun'; 2 The Northern Athens in the Eye: 'One splendid whole ... one glorious scene'; 3 The Modern Athens in the Mind: 'The sun that shines on Athens looks bright alike on us'; 4 The Athens of the North in Stone: 'To try their skill in pediment and pillar' 5 'The Athens' from Within: 'Every man imagines himself an architect and a man of taste'; 6 New Athens from Without: 'The soul of the scene, that to which all bow'; 7 Athenian Edinburgh in British Satire: 'The false air of a Modern Athens'; 8 The Anti-Greeks of Modern Athens: 'Unblushing servility and bits of borrowed lustre'; 9 Epilogue: 'Some Greek airs and classic temples on her crags'; Endnotes; Bibliography; Index.
