From Space to Speech: Researching the Script of Old Xanthi
How can one write about a society they never belonged to, from an era they never lived in? This question is often posed to historians, archaeologists, novelists, poets, essayists, and, in our times, various content creators, who serve a wide range of research approaches, literary genres, and expressive mediums, from academic essays to popular science and the so-called “camp aesthetic.” However, how should a research team respond when aiming to deliver accurate yet appealing content, reconstructing soundscapes of the past through augmented reality digital applications? In seeking an answer, the “Athena” Research Center team working on the Echoes project decided to begin—where else?—with the landscape itself.
The Landscape
A good script is first and foremost characterised by an appropriate setting. The concept of landscape dominates our time, focusing on perspective, the point of view, and the perception of reality. Thus, we have moved from studying space, a notion understood as objectively existing, to studying the landscape, which we consciously perceive through our senses. Old Xanthi, with its cobbled streets that tell stories of centuries and its mansions standing as witnesses of past eras, is a landscape that functions as a true time capsule, a container of the noises and whispers of the past. As visitors walk through it, they are invited to engage all their senses. However, these characteristics of the Old City impose constraints on the researcher who aims to enhance the visitor’s experience by reconstructing a soundscape. This is because the final application must be based on a script that complements, rather than competes with, the environment it frames. And, of course, it must rely on thorough historical research.
The Archive
Historical research inevitably starts with archival material. In modern thinking, the archive is a fundamental repository of knowledge and truth, where documents collected by experts guarantee the objectivity of historical narrative. Today, this perception is questioned. The archive, once a custodian of valid knowledge, has become a field of continuous negotiation, with interpretive plurality becoming the new goal. This does not mean that archival sources have lost their value—far from it!—but that their use has become more complex and demanding. The historical sources for the Xanthi region cannot be characterised as insufficient. However, they are more fragmented than we would like. For example, in the General State Archives of Xanthi, records and collections are more complete primarily for the period from 1945 to the present. The gap is somewhat filled by the publications of local historians (e.g., S. Ioannidis, Th. Exarchou, P. Georgantzis), the, mainly photographic, archives of Xanthi collectors (D. Mavridis, T. Tefronidis, M. Houmas, etc.), and recent postgraduate theses and dissertations focusing on modern and contemporary Xanthi.
The Script
The ultimate goal of the research effort is the writing of the script. However, the text must meet many conditions. The described sounds must correspond to the specific spatiotemporal context. What sounds would be heard in a Xanthi market at the end of the 19th century? How would they “blend” with the sound of the church bell and the muezzin’s call? And how should the problem of incorporating realistic dialogues be solved? What would the teacher and Manos Hadjidakis’ mother discuss shortly before the family’s departure for Athens? Should the local dialect or a form of urban Katharevousa (a formal version of Greek) be used? Each point of interest requires its own script and is characterised by its own unique challenges. The meticulous historical research, adherence to context, the interdisciplinary nature of the team, and above all, the team’s passion and love for Xanthi are the “fuel” driving the effort to meet these challenges.
