Andrea Marcolongo: “The myth of Europe is one of the most violent of classical mythology”

He also recovered the figure of Jason and the Argonauts in ‘The measure of the heroes’, died in the pages of the dictionary to write ‘Etymologies to survive chaos’ and sealed with its readers an adventure and knowledge pact in ‘The art of resisting’ and ‘One night in the museum’, the latter published in Spain last year.

Andrea Marcolongo, Italian philologist and writer of the French Navy, has returned to Spain to participate in the Genius Awards 2025an event dedicated to innovation organized by Vocento, and in which this intellectual based in Paris offered a conference about the notion of time that the classics and their direct relationship on the way of understanding and living the contemporary world.

How do you see the times that run today in Europe?

They are bad times for Europe. They have always been. The myth of Europe is one of the most violent of classical mythology. Europe is that kidnapped woman, raped by Zeus. That of our continent is a story of great confusion and danger. But it is just its strength, that force, which has allowed Europeans to find an answer and an identity. In the darkest times it is when the values ​​of a town are seen, of a continent.

We are at war or the doors of a major war. You see.

That is why I also think of the Aeneid, which for me is the poem of crisis times, of bad times. The awardeid begins with the destruction of Troy, with the rapture of the very symbol of Troy, which is this paladium. That is, aeida begins when a world ends. Poor Aeneas has to look for a way to rebuild, another way of living and understanding the world. Us too.

Is it possible?

If you want to continue being Europe, if you want to continue surviving, you have to find a new way of thinking about itself. If we want to continue living with the same values ​​that make us feel European, it is necessary to find another way. It is that clear. If Europe is not planted and says: these are our values ​​and everyone will recognize them, we are not anywhere.

The European myth is violent, but … is Europe?

Europe is a violent continent. It is the continent of infinite wars. The first literary work, the Iliad, is a war poem. How many wars have there been? I do not know, someone will have told how many wars there have been in Europe from the century, of the year 1000 AC until today. So Europe does not stop in front of a war, whenever I find an answer.

In his talk he said that the human being cannot go behind time, but to stand before him. Is Europe too old already?

Europe’s values ​​are old, but not old. I believe that the force of Europe are its values, values ​​that have begun with the Greek culture up to at least the end of World War II. Being European is also sharing those values. And I insist that they are not too old, especially if we talk about today’s world, because if not, what is left? They cannot tell me that the referent is economic power. I cannot think much less to agree that the New World is the Arab Emirates or China.

Regarding the United States, have we been alone?

Responsibility is ours. Europe also has to have the ability to see that those values ​​that unite us, to look at the past as what really unites us. What keeps us standing is much more than money. It’s about looking for an ancient form of heroism.

How is that?

Let’s think about what is happening with Ukraine. Who is the hero, who the European leader who speaks at this time? It cannot be Macron, because it is not his role either. It cannot be Ursula von der Leyen, which embodies European bureaucracy. Who is it? I think of a hero like Aeneas, someone who believes in those values. The lack of such heroism gives to think.

Who could be the hero today?

The person who reads. I think there are many more readers than we imagine. Then what space does it have? That is a very good question. I am struck by the fact that in political discourse not even a second politicians, whether Spanish, French or Italians, talk about what they are reading. Not at Christmas, when Obama at least took the photos with four books on the table.

Let’s take up the etymology for chaos, what would you choose from?

Well, that is: chaos. Inside and outside Europe we live times of political, economic, social chaos. It is the word that best embodies what we are all living. And in fact classical mythology as well. This is not Homer, it is Hesiod, who wrote that the history of the Greek world began with infinite chaos, that is, with something that had no shape. The key is to give a form to the general chaos, put it in order. And without that fear we feel in Europe.

The fear of Europe?

Yes. Fear is a European neurosis. On the one hand is Putin, who has a great time in the midst of chaos and that he is able to live in a permanent chaos. On the other, we look for more laws, more bureaucracy, more things, more taxes, more rules even about absurd things when what is about living with this chaos, understanding it and shaping it.

Was the ceremony of the Olympics decadent or just a sign of the times?

It is a paradox. Look also a very good word! Because they are paradox times and very radical times, that is, if we return for example to the Olympic ceremony, a part would think what this madness is. None of what is there corresponds to me. And the other unit would think it was very good. The issue is that neither of those two worlds communicates with each other.

What can we do?

The paradoxes must be crossed. We believed that ancient Greece was a unit. Not at all, each city had its language, its political system. The Greeks detest everything that is unique, everything that is dogmatic. But the value that united them was this idea of ​​being Greeks. Everyone felt Greeks. Therefore, sometimes, I see consensus as a neurosis. Yes, it is the contemporary neurosis of putting everything in order and to pretend that we all agree, when it is not. I do not know in Spain, but in France there are at least two or three parallel worlds that do not communicate.