ABSTRACT
This chapter studies the role of the classics in the nationalism of Iberian nations. Since the Renaissance, the classics have been a core element in the formation of the modern nation, inspiring a myth of origins sustaining the principle of a secular state. Even the Reformation, and the rise of the modern nations in Central Europe, were a consequence of the humanistic critique of religion. In Spain the classics featured prominently in the early modern era, sustaining the formation of the Castilian nation and its quick evolution to empire. Conversely, during the decline of its empire, Spain did not continue to rely as much on classic references, overtaken in this regard by those states that were in turn vying for hegemony. Nineteenth-century Spanish intellectuals appropriated classic references not to set up a horizon of aspiration but to claim them as Spanish, and indirectly to assert a classicizing or civilizational spirit of the land. By contrast, in turn-of-the-century Catalonia, Noucentisme relied on the archaeological ruins of Emporion to generate a myth of continuity with the deep past in order to found a new ethos in the present. A partly imagined tradition of austerity and a desired nomos of order and rationality were given an aesthetic varnish by reference to the alleged classic imprint on Catalan mores.
