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By saving and restoring the past, archaeology renders ruins "unancient" and modern. But does this rob ruins of their mystique, as some commentators have claimed? Can modernized ruins still mesmerize? Do we have a meaningful relationship to ancient sites fenced off from their urban and natural setting, trampled by tourists, and littered with Kodak boxes? A look at Greek modernism shows that Greek poets returned to the classical past despite its glorification for two centuries. Rather than seeing in ruins sites for rapture, as is true for Western travelers, they problematized them, coming to terms with their existence and the weight of their meaning.

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