History of the Pindus with Molly Greene – Mountain Stories, Mountain Futures
In this episode Jason König interviews Molly Greene about her research on the history of the Pindus mountains in Ottoman Greece, from 1400-1821.
Molly is Professor of History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University. Her research has focused on many different aspects of the history of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire, and the Greek world. Her interests include the social and economic history of the Ottoman Empire, the experience of Greeks under Ottoman rule and the early modern Mediterranean. Her publications include her award-winning 2010 book, Catholic Pirates and Greek Merchants: A Maritime History of the Mediterranean 1450-1700.
Molly starts by talking about how she first came to be interested in the mountain regions of Greece as a possible research topic, first of all during the four years she spent living in Greece after her undergraduate degree, and then again in the early 2010s, on a wintry detour through the mountains during a drive from Athens to Thessaloniki.
She discusses some of the models she has found helpful for thinking about mountains, in the work of historians like Fernand Braudel and James Scott, before going on to outline some of the challenges of telling the story of a region that has traditionally been viewed as being ‘without history’.
We talk about the importance of monasteries and monastic history for understanding the region’s connectedness with the rest of Greece, but also some of the difficulties of accessing sources.
Molly then zooms in on a case study of the monastery and bridge at Tatarna before offering some final reflections on why it matters to make mountain history more visible.
To learn more about the broader Mountain Stories, Mountain Futures project you can visit our website, and subscribe for updates. Alternatively, please follow the project on Bluesky @futuremountain.bsky.social.
Follow the podcast on:
For versions with transcripts or closed captions, view the Mountain Stories, Mountain Futures playlist on YouTube.
If you want to subscribe to the Mountains of Greece episodes specifically, save the Mountains of Greece playlist on YouTube, and follow the Mountains of Greece project on Bluesky @mountainsofgreece.bsky.social.
Sound editor: Zofia Guertin
Video editor: Mary Woodcock Kroble