Πάτρα, 1828–1860. Μια ελληνική προτεύουσα στον 19ο αιώνα (review)

Reviews 127 (by Denise lonas) are not merely pleasing, but done to very high standards. The book is likely to become a "collector's item" in addition to its value to scholars. Anyone who has traveled in Cyprus will have noticed how designs and materials change from region to region. This matter is given systematic attention, its characteristics being explained by the nature of production systems and available resources in the localities in question . Not only is this a work of solid documentation and analysis; it is also a labor of love by one whose eye is sensitive to the very great beauty of many rural houses, with their idiosyncratic design features, often chosen in order to make use of a particular slope, or an orientation to the sun. lonas has a sense of the how satisfying are the arches, the steps, the contrasts of light and dark, the pools of cool shade in cloistered courtyards. The author's self-defined task is to emphasize architectural features and their relation to the practicalities of economic life. Had he broadened his scope to include the social and symbolic distinctions expressed in the design of Cypriot rural houses, the volume would have been even richer. I am thinking of the work of anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu on the Kabyle peasant house as one starting point, and that of Kostas Ioannou as another. There is also the work of various anthropologists and sociologists who have written about Cypriot peasant life over the last 20 years. This limitation has to be mentioned, but all scholarly works have limitations, and this one should not detract from the very solid achievement of this book, for which all lovers of Cyprus and students of rural life should be deeply grateful. Peter Loizos London School of Economics Nikos Bakounakis. Πάτϕα, 1828-1860. Μια ελληνική πϕοτεϕουσα στον 19ο αιώνα. Athens: Kastaniotis. 1988. Pp. 285, including maps and plates. The subject of this book is the history of the town of Patras from 1828 to 1860. The reader would do well to ignore the subtitle, "a Greek capital in the 19th century," and instead read this as an introduction to the city's history. As such, Bakounakis' study has much to offer. 128 Reviews The author is at pains to show that his choice of 1828-1860 was not influenced by the concerns of a political historian. The dates reflect the period in which the city, following Greece's independence, consolidated its social and economic role as a commercial and export center. The author remains faithful to that dual perspective: social and economic. Although this is a history of a city, the book is not an urban history per se. The work is divided into three main sections: the first and shortest deals with the city as a space, the second deals with its social structure, and the third with its economy. Also included are four appendices containing factual information about 104 prominent citizens, the publications of Patras, the price of commodities, and the average annual price of currants (raisins). Bakounakis has done a very thorough job of bringing together a remarkably wide range of sources on Patras' history. The first part opens with a consideration of how artists' impressions of the city as a space evolved over time. Bakounakis discusses the city plan and touches only briefly on the role of the municipality in the post-independence era. In describing the ways artists conceived of the city on canvas (valuable plates depict eight separate impressions) Bakounakis echoes the tone of many Annalistes authors who have written in a manner that personifies cities. In this sense the book evokes the style of writing on the history of Greek cities inaugurated by Kostis Moskoff in his work on Thessaloniki (1974) and followed up by Vasias Tsokopoulos in his study of Piraeus (1984). Bakounakis' discussions of the development of Patras' city plan and of an urban infrastructure produce several interesting pieces of information. For instance, the government's involvement in the city's affairs was uneven—public and private property were dealt with differently , compensation for land used for urban development was not immediately forthcoming, and a great deal of unplanned construction took place and no cadastral survey was...