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Greece by Land and
Sea
September 5 – 19, 2003
Our trip to Greece began with a
flight from Dulles Airport to Paris, then to Athens. Most of
the group left from New York. We meet our study guide, Eleni
Zachariou and her husband outside the customs area at the
airport. From there, we took a short bus ride to the St.
George Lycabettus Hotel. Lycabettus Hill is one of the
highest points in Athens and has a wonderful of Athens, the
Acropolis, and the harbor.
We took a walk through the Kolonaki neighborhood, stopping at
a grocery store to buy a razor for Ron. The neighborhood has
lots of nice shopping and the outdoor cafes are busy meeting
places for Athenians throughout the day.
In the evening we met the rest of the group. We were
traveling with Smithsonian Journeys. There were 25 of us in
all, including the study leader, the tour manager, and the
Smithsonian representative.
On Sunday morning, September 7th, we
headed for the Agora, the town center for the people of
ancient Athens, where Professor Steve Diamant of the
American School of Classical Studies in Athens gave us
an excellent tour. The American School has been
excavating in the area of the Athenian Agora since 1931,
bringing to light the history of the area over a period
of 5000 years. Finds range from scattered pieces of
pottery of the late Neolithic period (ca. 3000 BC) to
the contents of 19th and early 20th century basements.
The Agora of the 5th and 4th centuries BC has been the
main focus of attention. Scholars have identified the
often scanty material remains on the basis of ancient
references to the Agora as the center of civic activity
of ancient Athens. Public documents inscribed on stone,
weight and measure standards, and jurors' identification
tickets and ballots reflect the administrative nature of
the site, while traces of private dwellings in the area
immediately bordering the open square, with their
household pottery and other small finds, throw light on
the everyday lives of Athenian citizens.
In the 1950's, the area was landscaped
and the Hellenistic Stoa of Attalos (Stoa – an ancient
shopping mall) was rebuilt to serve as museum and work
space. The reconstruction, under the authority of the
Department of Restorations of the Greek Ministry of
Education, was paid for by American donors, half the
amount being given by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
The Agora is a unique resource in Mediterranean archaeology,
in that every object and its complete archaeological record
are housed together and can be studied side by side. Choice
objects from all periods of the history of the site are on
display in a museum on the ground floor of the Stoa,
including important remains of Bronze and Iron age burials
from the earlier periods, and objects from Hellenistic, Roman
and Byzantine times representing the post-classical Agora.
Professor Diamant covered the history of the Agora, how it
changed over the years, and what use the buildings had. He
talked about the political system and the checks and balances
that were used. It truly was a representative democracy where
no one person could become all powerful.
We left the Agora and proceeded to the Benaki Museum for
lunch. It was founded in 1930 by Antonis Benakis and was
based on his collection, but has also had many donations from
other collectors. The museum is housed in the former home of
the Benakis family and has displays from pre-history to the
Modern Greek state.
From the museum we walked back to the hotel (uphill all the
way). In the evening we had a lecture on Greece in the Bronze
Age presented by Dr. Gerry Lalonde, a Grinnell professor on
sabbatical in Greece. Later in the evening we joined two
other couples for dinner in a restaurant at the very top of
the hill. We watched the night lights come on across Athens.
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On Monday morning we headed to the
Acropolis. Eleni talked about the construction and
reconstruction of the temples. There was a lot of
scaffolding as Greece continues to prepare for the 2004
Olympics. We entered the Acropolis through the
Propylaia. Next to it is a small temple of Athena Nike
(421 BC). The Parthenon, the most famous of the temples,
was constructed in the 440’s BC. It was badly damaged in
1687 AD when an Ottoman munitions dump inside the temple
exploded. About 1600 of the marble blocks that were
scattered during the explosion have been recovered, and
are being used to reconstruct more of the temple. The
entire temple was constructed of marble, except for a
wooden roof which was used to support the marble roof
tiles. It is a Doric temple with some Ionic elements.
The original temple would have been painted brilliant
blues and reds with gold embellishments, but all but
traces of the painting have disappeared. The temple was
used as a church and a mosque at different times through
the years. There are models of the pediment sculptures
in the museum. The originals were removed and taken to
Britain where they are in the British Museum. We also
visited the Erechteion which has the Caryatids, columns
in the shape of women supporting a porch over the tomb
of the mythical founder of the ancient Athenian royal
family. There is also a chamber for the goddess Athena.
From the Acropolis, we went to the Plaka,
the old quarter clustered at the foot of the Acropolis,
for lunch. We ate at the Hermion Restaurant where we had
a selection of Greek traditional foods, including
stuffed grape leaves, spinach fritters, etc. Then we
were on our own to wander through the Plaka, exploring
the shops. We made a few small purchases, and then
walked back to the hotel through the National Garden
which had a small zoo. Dinner was at the hotel and
included souvlaki (pork kabobs).
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