Eye of Greece

Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts / And eloquence.
- John Milton

The Ancient Agora: Marketplace and center for Athenian government since the 6th century BC. Socrates dialogued here. The apostle Paul did, too. I loved how green everything was - our reward for coming in the winter! There was tons of fresh citrus on trees all throughout the city, and wildflowers everywhere.

We had the playground - I mean, the ancient ruins - to ourselves.

We are posing with a view of the Areopagus (aka Mars Hill), the rock that you can see tiny people on. It used to have big buildings on it. Paul delivered his "To an Unknown God" sermon here (Acts 17), and there's now a large plaque commemorating the speech.

The Acropolis: There is evidence of habitation here since the early neolithic era (6,000 BC). Most of the buildings remaining were constructed under Pericles' reign during Athens' "Golden Age," 460-430 BC. The Erechtheion, Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, and Propylaia still adorn the top of the rock of the acropolis.

The famous "Porch of the Caryatids" at the Erechtheion, a temple worshipping both Athena and Poseidon. This location was, according to myth, "the site on which Athena and Poseidon held a contest, judged by their fellow Olympian gods, to determine who would possess Athens At the touch of Athena's spear, the first ever olive tree sprang from the ground, while Poseidon summoned forth a fountain of sea water Athena won, and became patron of the city." I have actually always loved Greek/Roman mythology, and I'm inspired to read up on it again. (As an aside, one of these Caryatid-women was taken by Lord Elgin and is one of the controversial "Elgin Marbles" in the British Museum.)

A Daddy column with an Ionic Daisy capital:

The Parthenon: famous and architecturally interesting, as I'll try to show by quoting my guidebook: "To achieve the Parthenon's extraordinary and unequaled harmony of design, its architect, Iktinos, used every trick known to the Doric order of architecture. The building's proportions maintain a universal 9:4 ratio, not only in the calculations of length to width, or width to height, but in such relationships as the distances between the columns and their diameter; many other proportions apparently follow the so-called "Golden Ratio" of 1:1.618. Additionally, any possible appearance of disproportion is corrected - all seemingly straight lines are in fact slightly curved, an optical illusion known as "entasis" (intensification). For example, the columns (their profile bowed slightly to avoid seeming concave) are slanted inwards by 6cm..."

The Theatre of Dionysus: This was likely the most exciting place for me to visit. When it was rebuilt in the 4th century BC, it could hold 17,000 spectators. One third of its original 64 tiers of seats survive. Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Sophocles, and Euripides all premiered their masterpieces here, on the hillside of the acropolis. The important people (magistrates, priests) had designated seats with names engraved. There was an especially prominent throne for the representative of the Delphic oracle, who would come for the festivals. I also learned that the citizens (men) of Athens would take turns being members of the chorus. An interesting part of one's civic duty!

The National Archaeological Museum: They transported this entire (beautiful springtime blossomed-frescoed) room-with-shelf from Akrotiri on Santorini Island (where we had just been) to the national museum in Athens. Some propose that Akrotiri was the legendary lost city of Atlantis, devastated by the enormous volcanic explosion in around 1600 BC. Layered in ash for centuries, this is exceptionally preserved (akin to Pompeii/Vesuvius) and I thought it was beautiful.

We also had time to visit the museum of ancient Greek folk instruments, an attractive display in a converted mansion. They had headphones with great listenings and we had the place to ourselves.

I bound over generations as I trace my heritage and land in Athens. It seems like most aspects of my life can be traced to the ancient Greeks - with their political, architectural, artistic, philosophical, and scientific mode of life. This trip was like visiting a newborn Western world who was marveling at its hands, cooing in its bassinet.