“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”George Orwell
I am walking in the center of Thessaloniki for many years as a student firstly and afterward as an inhabitant and I am always impressed by its monuments no matter how many times I pass by them. They always give a distinctive flair to my memories. Waiting beside the Arch of Galerius (Kamara) in Egnatia Street my good friends from university for the last meet before the summer vacation, for example. The everyday life and its incidents somehow have different gravity, when they happen near these imposing monuments. But, I never really thought of them as a whole.
This Saturday we were near Rotonda and our little son wanted to walk and run in its yard. So, we visited it after a long time (note that the admission is free anyway). And, when we came back and I started dusting up historic texts and books, in order to write a few words with my photos, I came upon information that I never thought.
When we talk in Thessaloniki about Gallerian Symplex, most of us think of the few remains that are saved in Dimitriou Gounari Street (Plateia Navarinou) from the palace of Galerius and the ancient hippodrome. But, in fact, the Arch of Galerius (Kamara as we call it in Thessaloniki) and the Rotonda (or Rotunda), which later in Byzantine times was transformed into the church of Ayios Georgios, are all elements of a whole architecture simplex around the palace of Galerius. Rotonda was built in 309 AD to be used either as a mausoleum of Galerius or as a temple of Zeus. Unfortunately, this connection is not obvious not only for the tourists that visit the monuments but also for the locals who live around. And, it is a little sad, because when you think of all these monuments as a whole, your understanding of history is enriched and changes for the better.