Since the exciting
and also disturbing evening with the ultra-right nationalistic party supporters
last night I have been trying to make sense of it. When I got back to my hotel
room, it was all over Greek TV. With my baby-phase Greek, I couldn’t understand
what significance this demonstration had on Greek political discourse.
Apparently, the crowd that I saw was part of many groups that joined the big
crowd in the Parliament Square. Later on I will learn from Golden Dawn’s blog
that people from many countries in Europe joined in this demonstration. Is it
Greeks from other countries supporting Golden Dawn or is it supporters of
nationalistic movements from all over Europe? Not clear. The latter would be an
oxymoron, but who knows didn’t the German Nazis collaborate with Italian
fascists and Japanese invaders in World War 2? Yet, once I get to Crete, my
friend’s son Manoli will tell me “Everything on their website is lies!” He is a
trustworthy young intellectual.
I am pleasantly surprised that they have gluten free bread. Orea! It is frozen of course, but better than nothing. Although I brought a loaf of my own gluten free bread that I make every weekend in the US, I am pleased that I will have options. I add a few slices of salmon and sprinkle them with fresh chopped dill. Last touch on my plate is chopped Greek strawberries, which are small in size and much sweeter than the large ones out of California or Mexico. I can't pass the very sweet Greek peaches. The several breakfasts I will have at Electra Palace on Plaka will prove that I can count on their taste every single morning. Mmmm, I am ecstatic with my platter complete with herbal tea.
Roman Agora in Athens Old Town
Roman Agora in Athens
One of many larger than life size statues leading the way to the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios
Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios
Akropolis is visible from almost every rooftop in Athens!
Repair of some of the largest Parthenon blocks, which exceed ten tons, by the contemporary masons may take more than three months, I learn. The ancient workers were no less painstaking; in many cases, the joints between the blocks are all but invisible, even under a magnifying glass. Once in the first half of 5th century BC, Athenians decisively defeated the Persians and some 150 to 200 cities across the Aegean began paying Athens huge sums of what amounted to protection money, the Athenians under the leadership of Pericles, planned their new temple complex on a lavish, unprecedented scale—with the Parthenon as the centerpiece, which began around 450 b.c.
This is the homophobic image from the Golden dawn demonstration that will stay with me from May 30, 2016
Anyway, I was so
exhausted last night, didn’t have the strength to follow “my” little crowd to
the square, a few blocks away to see what bigger picture would have shown
there. Instead, I returned to my hotel room and had an unexpected but
unbelievably peaceful and uninterrupted sleep. This is a new good start since I
usually have severe jet lag after each time I cross the Atlantic. I wake up
refreshed and had to the courtyard breakfast. I love the breakfast layout.
Olives, various types of cheeses from sweet (not too sweet), refreshing fresh
cheese (in Turkish called tatli lor, in Greek mizithra) to savory including feta
and harder and sharper cheeses. Various kinds of jam and marmalade in elegant,
homey looking jars, fresh, crisp unsalted nuts including hazelnuts, almonds,
pistachios, walnuts, all shelled, ready to mix with yogurt or mizithra and jams
or honey.
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| Cheese and olives are a must for Aegean breakfast |
I am pleasantly surprised that they have gluten free bread. Orea! It is frozen of course, but better than nothing. Although I brought a loaf of my own gluten free bread that I make every weekend in the US, I am pleased that I will have options. I add a few slices of salmon and sprinkle them with fresh chopped dill. Last touch on my plate is chopped Greek strawberries, which are small in size and much sweeter than the large ones out of California or Mexico. I can't pass the very sweet Greek peaches. The several breakfasts I will have at Electra Palace on Plaka will prove that I can count on their taste every single morning. Mmmm, I am ecstatic with my platter complete with herbal tea.
My colleague, who will join me this afternoon will tease me every morning with the amount of food I have for breakfast compared to his little bowl of yogurt with a few nuts! Once my tummy is
happy, I have two things in my mind to occupy my day with. Find an ATM to
withdraw euros to survive here, then head to a ticket booth to enjoy my day in
Athens in the old town. National Bank proves to be the place to go again and I
manage to withdraw cash that I need. A gentleman recommends me to start my tour
at the Roman Agora and gives me pretty good directions. Partly with hand gestures
and body language, but I am thrilled that I understand his "turn
right"s, "go all the way straight"s, "then turn left"s
in Greek! It is nice to hear that I can buy a 5-day ticket for multiple places
to visit for only 30 euros.
Roman Agora is from
19-11 B.C., a donation of Roman emperors Julius Caesar and Augustus to Athenian
people. It includes an Odeion (concert hall), a fountain, a temple for Ares,
the god of war in Greek mythology, the son of Hera and Zeus. It is not fully excavated, but the gate to the
temple and the standing columns are impressive. After the invasion of Athens by
the Herulae in A.D. 267 the city of Athens was restricted to the area within
the Late Roman fortification wall, and the administrative and commercial center
of the city was transferred from the Ancient Agora to the Roman Agora and the adjacent
Library of Hadrian complex.
The next stop is Hadrian's Library, who apparently during his reign contributed
a lot to Athen's intellectual, architectural, and economical life.
Hadrian's Library
Hadrian's Library was built
in
AD 132 with a typical Roman Forum architectural style. The actual library on the
eastern side of the complex was, where a few thousand rolls of papyrus "books" and official state archives were kept.
Adjoining halls were used as reading rooms, and the
corners served as lecture halls. Several important
schools of learning and philosophy also occupied the
building. Thus, the Library of Hadrian provided the people of
Athens with a new, multi-purpose, public square and cultural center that
contained a garden, works of art, a library, and lecture halls. The library was damaged by the Herulian invasion of 267 but repaired by
Herculius in AD 407-412. The remains of the three churches built during Byzantine times are on the
periphery of the complex.
The Agora Museum from the outside of the Archaic Agora
Third stop is the
Archaic Agora. The Agora was the heart of ancient Athens, the focus of
political, commercial, administrative and social activity, the religious and
cultural center and the seat of justice. The site was occupied without
interruption in all periods of the city's history. It was used as a residential
and burial area as early as the Late Neolithic period (3000 B.C.). Early in the
6th century, it became a public area. The most visible structure from this best-known example of the ancient Greek agora,
is the reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos (aka Painted Stoa), which now houses the museum of ancient Agora.
Agora Museum from the inside of the building
The museum
displays exhibits that are
connected with the Athenian
democracy and clay,
bronze and glass objects, sculptures, coins and inscriptions from the 7th to
the 5th century BC, as well as pottery of the Byzantine period and the Ottoman
occupation. I had passed
by it multiple times last time I visited Athens, in November 2015. However, it
was such a work week then, I hadn't had time to visit the entire old town other
than the Parthenon museum. I am glad to explore it inside and out now as I
discover, the Archaic Agora is much bigger than the Roman counterpart.
The Panathenian
Road cuts through the Agora all the way to Acropolis up on the hill right
behind the Agora. As I head to the right, I see multiple larger than life size
statues along a subtle, natural path leading us to the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios
(Freedom). This is the most well excavated/preserved structure on the site. I
had seen it from the outside not knowing what it was in November. Now I do. Apparently,
Plato mentions this place as a place to sit, relax and have conversations with
friends! It is exciting to think of Plato having sat on these very steps I put
foot on… I also discover that this Stoa is much bigger and impressive than what
it looks like from a distance. A pleasant surprise about the entire Agora is
that they identified all the native plants this place grew at the time the Agora
was a bustling place in archaic times. The archeologists cleared away all the
non-native plants and replaced them with the natives of 500-300 BC. Olive tree
being one!
Now it is time to head to Keramikus, the ancient cemetery, which was also
the potters' quarter in archaic time, when the cemetery surrounded the quarter.
English word "ceramic" was apparently derived from this very place
and their activity. After the Persian attacks when Athenians built a new city
wall for protection in 478
BC, the area changed fundamentally:
All of the funerary
sculptures were built into the city wall after
the new wall was built and two large city
gates facing north-west were erected
in the Keramikus. The
Sacred Way ran through the Sacred Gate, on the southern
side, to Eleusis. On the northern side,
the Dromos ran through the double-arched Dipylon Gate to
the Platonic Academy
a few miles away. I have to see what
is remaining from his academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum
during my next visit.
Native plants reigning the land of Agora for 2500 years!
I observe that numerous
funerary sculptures are erected along the road that meanders through the site,
some small, some very impressive; the latter being the statues of the rich and
powerful. It is refreshing to find out that there was a time (317
BC) Athenian democracy banned
by decree the construction
of such lavish mausolea, following which
only small columns or inscribed square marble blocks were permitted as grave
stones. I learn later on that state
graves were built on either side of the Dipylon Gate, for notable warriors and
statesmen, including Cleisthenes,
who led the establishment of democracy in Athens and Pericles,
who carried Athens to its glory as well as to its final downhill demise with
his greed to take over Spartans for good. As I head toward
Acropolis, a hill 150 m (490 ft) above sea level, the final site to
visit before I meet with my hosts for a newspaper interview later in the
afternoon, I bump into a young woman, who asks me where Acropolis is.
One of the artifacts at Keramikus
I tell
her I am heading there, she is very happy to hear that. Now I have a travel
friend out of the blue! Her name is Elisa and is studying to become a paralegal
as I understand with her little English and my almost non-existent French. She
is pleasant, staying with the parents of a friend to where she needs to take
the metro. When you have your accommodation covered, it is relatively easy to
travel in Europe. Chatting about ourselves, we head up toward the entrance of
Acropolis. Acropolis and its
structures were impressive from afar, but didn’t imagine they would be this
“glorious”. As it always happens to me before structures of this stature, I
wonder again, who worked on making these structures of Acropolis possible. How
many men, how many hours a day, with what provisions in the context of the new
democracy in Athens? How did they manage
to incorporate subtle visual elements into the
Parthenon’s layout and achieve such faultless proportions and balance? And how
were the Parthenon’s builders able to work at a level of precision, in some cases accurate to within a fraction of a
millimeter, without the benefit
of modern tools?
The Propylaia, entrance gate to Acropolis
I am awed with the fact that the ancient Athenians
built the Parthenon in just eight or nine years. The Parthenon was being used for gunpowder storage during the 1687 siege of
Athens by the Venetians and the Acropolis buildings were
seriously damaged when the Parthenon was hit by a cannonball! After it’s gone through 2500 years of earthquakes, fires,
luting, and war destruction among other things, its repair
with all our tools has been into its 4th decade, and we are not anywhere near done, yet!
Akropolis is visible from almost every rooftop in Athens!
Repair of some of the largest Parthenon blocks, which exceed ten tons, by the contemporary masons may take more than three months, I learn. The ancient workers were no less painstaking; in many cases, the joints between the blocks are all but invisible, even under a magnifying glass. Once in the first half of 5th century BC, Athenians decisively defeated the Persians and some 150 to 200 cities across the Aegean began paying Athens huge sums of what amounted to protection money, the Athenians under the leadership of Pericles, planned their new temple complex on a lavish, unprecedented scale—with the Parthenon as the centerpiece, which began around 450 b.c.
Akropolis behind me from another rooftop restaurant!
Apparently, the citizens of Athens had voted to fund this exceptional monument
as reflected according to some scholars, by the
frieze that shows a procession related to the quadrennial Great Panathenaia, or
the festival “of all the Athenians”.
The hill was inhabited since fourth
millennium BC, but it was Pericles who coordinated the construction of the Parthenon,
the Propylaia,
the Erechtheion
and the Temple of Athena Nike during the Golden
Age of Athens (460–430 BC). First, the Propylaea, a
monumental gate at the western end of the Acropolis with Doric
columns was built between 437-432 BC. Along with and to the south of the
Propylaea, Temple of Athena Nike was built between 421-409 BC. The elegant temple of Erechtheion
was built between 421–406 BC with six Ionic columns to the east and a porch
with female figures or Caryatids, to the southwest.
Certainly, the most prominent structure, which is still
being restored, is the Parthenon. After entering the Acropolis through the monumental
gateway Propylaea,
to the south of the entrance is the tiny Temple of Athena Nike. At the center, the Parthenon or
Temple of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin) rises monumentously.
East of the
entrance and north of the Parthenon is the Erechtheum
presiding over the archaic Agora. As we stroll through the west side, to the south
of the plateau of the Acropolis on the hillside is the partially reconstructed Odeon of Herodes Atticus. As we move
further down, we can also view the outdoor Theatre of Dionysus. I am glad that I can now
connect the dots between all the valuable ancient artifacts of this “polis”
that I saw in the Acropolis Museum last November and the actual
Acropolis itself. What if Pericles had sufficed
with all his accomplishments and instead of dragging Athenians into a hopeless
war with Spartans had led his people to more artistic and intellectual
productivity? Could mankind have been better off? Just food for thought…I am
still thinking about “why did none of the historical leaders of empires consider
taking a break from wars and allowing their people breath and enjoy what they
had” despite history showing them all time and time again that injustice always
leads to demise of empires…
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| Theatre of Dionysus |
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