This roman statue well illustrates Clytaemnestra's saying, "It becomes the victor to give way".  Athenian is pictured with her feet on the roman wolf. 

Horse tack

BBQ spits

Monday, April 2^nd

Athens, Greece

Mrs. Hinrichs

After a delicious breakfast including yogurt, boiled eggs, and bread, the entire group gathered on the bus, for one last trip together. We started out with a tour of modern Athens, driving by the Parliament building, Prime Minister’s home, the home of Schliemann, (the German archaeologist who discovered the ruins at Mycenae) modern sculptures created for the 2004 Olympics, as well as the official Olympic stadium.

James told us that “in true Mediterranean fashion”, once Athens had been designated as the site of the 2004 Olympics, it was five years before any real planning began. The last two years were a frenzy of Greek activity, as the rest of the world wrote newspaper articles proclaiming that there was no way Athens would be ready in time. In retrospect, James says that the two best organized Olympics were in Barcelona and Athens, proving that Mediterraneans work well under pressure. One Greek soccer player was asked if Greece would be ready for the games and his response was, “Will they start in the morning or the afternoon?”

Almost half of Greece’s population is centered in Athens, and looking out over the tightly-packed houses surrounding the city, it is not difficult to believe that over 4 million people live here.

The next stop was the Parthenon, the crowning glory of classical Greek architecture, built under the direction of Pericles. It was a steep climb up to the Acropolis, set apart as a sacred site. Though it was challenging at first to envision it as a sanctified place while meandering through hundreds of fellow tourists, most from a cruise ship and dressed more for time at the beach than looking at ancient architecture, we were rewarded for our perseverance. The ruined columns rose imposingly from the marble steps of the Parthenon. James pointed out how the architects had designed the building to look straight by curving the steps and the columns. This feat took great planning and understanding, to the point of taking into consideration how the light of the sun would effect the appearance of the building. Lord Elgin of Britain took whatever he could from the Parthenon because of a “misunderstanding” between himself and the Greek government. They are now in the British Museum, where they have not been taken care of as well as one might think. At one point, curators decided to “clean” the marble, which hastened further decay in the artifacts. Nike, the goddess of victory traditionally has wings, but not in Athens, because they did not want victory to fly away. There once was a very large statue of Athena in the Parthenon, but over centuries of fighting and looting, that statue has been lost.

We moved from a sacred site of the pagans to a sacred site for Christians, as we descended to the Areopagus, or Mars Hill. This is where Paul spoke to convince pagans of the existence of one true God. James translated sections of Acts? Romans? Explaining that each person was given six minutes to speak freely here. Standing on this hill, with the Parthenon just above us and the rest of Athens below us, we had a glimpse of Paul’s ministry in the midst of a large, pagan city with idols on every corner. Understanding the society of his day brings Paul’s words to life in a new way for me.

Next stop was a Byzantine church, only 900 years old. The paintings on the walls have been scratched off or painted over, so there was not too much to see here, but the acoustics were lovely. In true ETS fashion, we attempted to sing the benediction here, but were quickly asked by the guard to stop.

We spent some time wandering around the Agora, or marketplace, and imagining what it would have looked like in Socrates’ time. Today, there are columns here and there, but one must imagine the rest. For those who need more visual help, the nearby museum is inside of a reconstructed stoa. The stoa is a two-story line of columns where merchants would rent stalls from the city of Athens in order to sell their wares. During the reconstruction, the builders placed drainage spouts shaped like lion heads over each column, in imitation of the past. However, they left out the tongues of the lions and discovered that they were a necessary part of the design. Without them, the water does not drain in the proper place. Amazing to think about how the details were not only beautiful, but practical.

We stopped under some trees to read Plato’s account of the death of Socrates. He would have been put to death somewhere in this area, so it was moving to read this passage here. Socrates was sentenced to drink poisonous hemlock because he had “corrupted the youth”, according to authorities. The main charge was that he was teaching them about new divinities. Some say that Socrates’ teachings prepared people to believe in Christ, as some of what he taught was more similar to Jesus’ teachings than what was taught in his day. When asked what he thought his punishment should be, Socrates said he should be given a lifetime of food and housing from the state, obviously delighting in defending himself. At the end, he did not fight when given the hemlock, but went to his death bravely and with characteristic humor. His friends were distraught, but Socrates’ last words were, “Crito, we ought to offer up a cock to Asclepius.” Since Asclepius was the god of healing, Socrates is either saying that there’s time for Asclepius to heal him, or that he will be healed after death. At any rate, despite my hunger and the smells of food wafting past me, I was able to engage in the reading, to the point of shedding some tears at the end. Of course, the death of Socrates always makes me a little weepy. J

Finally, we left the old Agora and headed to the new marketplace of Athens, bustling with refugees from Africa, and others who looked more Middle Eastern and Indian than Greek. These people were selling anything from scarves to DVDs of the recent 300 movie about the Spartans. Following the lead of Mr. and Mrs. Askegaar, known for their prowess in locating the best local food, we dined on a feast of delicious lamb gyros. To sit in the restaurant, one would pay seven euros. For almost the same amount of food, one can pay less than two euros if one is willing to stand outside. We each had two gyros and an ice cream cone, discovering during our meal that the gyro maker was a man who had lived in Orange County. Pierre was a friendly fellow, with family in Greece and the U.S. He even wanted his picture taken with us.

The die-hard philosophy fans (i.e. those that were not ready to shop yet) got back on the bus for one final stop with Costas and James. The ruins of Plato’s Academy are nothing more than the outlines of the foundation in the ground, but there was something very pleasant and compelling about standing where so many of the thoughts that have shaped the Western world, particularly the founding documents of the United States, were taught. This Academy was open for several hundred years after Plato’s death, finally shut down by the Roman Emperor Justinian, for reason of its being a secular institution. We, of course, read more Plato here; this time, Socrates’ defense of himself. For one of the first times during the trip, we were the only group in a location, and the ten or so of us enjoyed being able to hear the wind in the trees and the birds. Also, we had an opportunity to say goodbye to Costas and James in a peaceful location. They taught us so many things over these ten days, it is hard to know how to thank someone adequately for such a gift.

Though we were exhausted from such an exciting day, Fritz and I decided to attempt a shopping trip, as we had not had much opportunity to do so. We headed out to the Plaka, known for its bargains and crowds of people. We saw many Greek olive products (soaps, oils, lotions, etc.), beautifully embroidered traditional costumes, purses, rugs, tacky t-shirts with slogans having nothing to do with Greece on them, and stumbled upon an antiquities shop with beautiful coins in the windows. We walked in and had the rare treat of holding a mint condition Athenian tetradrachma in our hands. This was the main form of currency and would have been used during the classical period (500-400 B.C.), so we were holding 2,500 years of history in our hands. This coin had a well-defined picture of Athena’s head on one side and a clear portrait of the Athenian owl of wisdom on the other. For a mere 8,000 euros, this coin could be ours! We decided that we would rather make our mortgage payments. The owner of the shop told us that if people discover coins in their backyards, they have no right to them, but must turn them over the government, so people often keep coins in the family and do not tell the authorities.

Back at the Hotel Mirabello, we shared our last dinner as a group. It did not appear to me that the ten days of constant movement had slowed down the social abilities of any of our students, as the din in the room was just as loud as at our first meal together. If anything, it was louder, as they had formed deeper friendships and had more to share with each other.

Mars Hill

Cannon ball damage