HISTORIC PHOTOS

Samothrace of the 1980s documented through the photographic lens of the archaeologist Dimitris Matsas

The photographic shots date to the period 1981–1989, the first decade of the archaeological work of Dimitris Matsas on Samothrace, when he, as an archaeologist of ΙΘ΄ Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities based in Komotini, was in charge of Samothrace and supervised the excavations at Mikró Vouní and Vrychós. During this period, he also conducted the Samothrace Archaeological survey in the western flat part of the island and the ethnoarchaeological research on the traditional water management documenting the water-driven installations (watermills, olive oil mills). At the same time, he carried out the autopsies of the official daily routine, which enabled him to be acquainted with the Samothracian countryside and the Samothracians. This period marked too his active involvement in the local society being elected for a couple of years at the head of the board of the Cultural Society of Samothrace. A series of photographic shots is the fruit of this first osmosis with the past and the present of the island. D. M. had then a Nikon FM camera, with a NIKKOR 50mm 1: 1.4 and a NIKKOR 35mm 1: 2.8 lenses; he used mostly Agfachrome-CT 18, Agfa DIA DIRECT, Kodak Ektachrome 64, Fujichrome 100 RD, Kodak Ektachrome Professional, Kodachrome 25 KM, Kodachrome 64 KR και Ektachrome 100 slides. He depicted the harmonious relation of the anthropogenic with the natural environment, as it appears in the ravines around the unique in insular environments central mountain massif, a landmark in the northern Aegean, which rivals in dignity Mount Athos. He documented the architecture of Chóra and of the Samothracian countryside, as an anthropogenic extension of the Samothracian landscape. His shots included the partly cobbled roads characterizing the traditional communication network, the occupations of the inhabitants, the sea, the running waters, and the people. The latter were represented either as faces marked by a diachronic patina of the nature of the island or in the framework of the social association, like the café scenes photographed from an unobtrusive distance, or practicing the most traditional profession on the island, that of the shepherd. It is important to note that this decade is the last one, which had the pre- and proto-industrial technical systems (watermills – olive oil mills respectively) still operating on Samothrace; and in which, time on the island continued as a slow circular recurrence in the Braudelian sense of the longue durée. This period echoed the prehistory and proto-history Dimitris Matsas was investigating at Mikró Vouní and Vrychós.

Spyros Meletzis photographing Samothrace in 1948

Spyros Meletzis (Imbros 1906 – Athens 2003), “the poet of photography,” as he was characterized, went in for photography initially at the studio of Alekos Panayiotou in Alexandroupolis (1923–1927) and afterwards (1927–1937) at the studio of Yioryis Boukas in Athens. From 1937 on he started at photographing the Greek countryside, its people and its history; his first work was in Epirus. In 1942 Spyros Meletzis photographed Mt Olympos and in 1943 Peloponnesos. In 1944 ascended the mountains to become the official photographer of the National Resistance. In 1948 he was assigned with photographing Greek landscapes for the decoration of the coaches of the Greek railways. In the same year he visited with Yiorgos Panayiotou, Alekos’ son, and he photographed Samothrace.

His photographs are considered historical documents of Greece before, during and after the 2^nd World War, in politically difficult periods; they represent the ageless Greek landscape prior to the changes of the following development. Spyros Meletzis has photographed also kings, politicians, artists, and intellectuals.

The photographs presented here originate from printings with dimensions 13X18cm made by Meletzis himself from negatives 6X6cm, a selection of which decorated the calendar of 1987 published by the Cultural Society of Samothrace and edited by the photographer himself. The total number of shots is 65. Their themes are the antiquities of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, the ancient city of Samothrace including the Gattilusi fortification, and views of Palaeopolis (15 shots), Chóra and its people (23), Kamariótissa and its people (6), mountain and riverside landscapes (8), and the Samothracian kechayiás ( = stock-breeder / shepherd, 13). Especially impressive, apart from the composition of the frame, are the moral quality of the human characters depicted with the contrast of the details of their figures, and the dramatical aspect of the black-and-white gradations in the anthropogenic and natural environment.