Delphi was one of the most sacred, most mysterious, and most revered sites in the ancient world, and no wonder. The temples were built into a mountainside; a pilgrim reaching them after many hours of upward trudging past the shrines and monuments built along the route would have turned around to see a spectacular view of the valley, and immediately felt himself closer to the gods.
We went to the Delphi Economic Forum last week, an annual event held nearby, and were lucky enough to see the same view:
Visitors did not usually meet the Pythia, the oracle herself. She was sitting on a three-legged stool, perched over a crack in a rock that probably emitted methane, ethane, ethylene and other fumes. She was also probably chewing oleander leaves; the combination brought on hallucinations and inspired the cryptic (indeed Delphic) statements for which the site was famous. But until visiting the site this week, I didn’t realize that her words were always translated and interpreted by a priest who would likely have been plugged in to the political issues of the day, and could understand what the visiting kings and generals might really want to know. A layer of rationality and strategic thinking, at least some of the time, was thus imposed on the Pythia’s torrent of words and emotions.
I’m stretching a metaphor a bit too much here, but it is notable how Greece has benefited, in recent years, from the imposition of rational and strategic thinking on formerly chaotic politics. If you didn’t know that the Greek economy is doing well right now, that’s no surprise: national stereotypes always lag behind reality. In 2009, Greece was gripped by one of the worst economic crises in modern European history. I was living in London at the time, and can remember whole evenings consumed by people arguing for Greece to be expelled from the Eurozone, and maybe from the European Union, on the grounds that the country was fundamentally ungovernable.
Fifteen years later, Britain has left the European Union while Greek prosperity is rising. The Economist magazine recently ranked Greece - based on its GDP, consumer prices, inflation, stock market and debt - the best economy in the world. The politics are calmer too. Historically dominated by far-left and far-right forces (indeed they fought a terrible civil war in the 1940s) Greece is now run by a moderate, center-right, liberal prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. His moderate liberalism shows up in social issues - Greece has finally recognized same-sex marriage - as well as foreign policy. Despite the Greek far-left’s old links to Moscow, and despite Russian influence on some parts of the nationalist far-right, Mitsotakis has supported Ukraine with both money and weapons.
His efforts have been buoyed by the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church, who made the courageous decision to recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox church when it split away from Moscow a few years ago. My colleague Robert Worth described the extraordinary politics of this decision recently in the Atlantic. (For those who want to know more, read his Clash of the Patriarchs).
Just as I didn’t want to overdo the metaphor, I don’t want to exaggerate the success. Some of the economic growth comes from a booming tourist industry whose fast expansion has created a backlash from Greeks who don’t want all of their islands overdeveloped or taken over by wealthy foreigners. Some of the politics seem fragile too. Mitsotakis has been criticized for his government’s overuse of spyware and other abuses; if you want to know more about that, read Aristides Hatzis on the “rule of law” debates in Greece:
Still, what is most striking in conversations with Greek politicians and journalists is their sense of fragility. They feel that they have carved out a moment of calm, a time when they can concentrate on solving genuine problems: digitalizing Greece’s notoriously flawed land registry, for example, or reforming the tax system. But so many challenges loom on the horizon. Some are environmental - Greece suffered from horrific wildfires last summer - but others are political. New populist movements that want to stoke culture wars or make impossible promises are always waiting in the wings, hoping to take advantage of the government’s mistakes.
The current window of opportunity, a moment when rational thinking is valued and expertise is used to solve problems, could be shut at any moment, swept away by another wave of anger or emotion. Of course this has always been true: Looking back over thousands of years of Greek history, these liberal, democratic moments have been very few and very precious. Looking back over thousands of years of human history, one could say the same about almost any country.
Anyway - please enjoy this extraordinary bronze charioteer from the Delphi museum, cast in the fifth century BC. With its bronze eyelashes and perfect feet, the sculpture made me wonder if we don’t congratulate ourselves too often on the successes of our civilization. For all of our technological gains, I don’t know if anyone could create something quite like it today.
Good news, for a change—
Good insights and writing Thankyou