ABSTRACT
Antiquity was particularly important in the formation of the new Greek state, as its appeal had resulted in the return of Greece to the historical spotlight in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the twentieth century, the epicentre of national consciousness shifted from Athens to Thessaloniki, while the same questions regarding the state's identity in relation to its past and its European future reappeared. For Macedonia in particular, the relationship between ancient heritage and national ideology developed on two main axes: the first dealt with the glamour of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia and the emblematic personality of Alexander the Great and the second with the important Byzantine heritage. At the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century another turn in Greek history occurred, strongly influencing the national ideology. Archaeological investigations in the large centres of Ionia did not merely legitimise Greek presence but also served their debt to one of the birthplaces of Greek civilisation.
