Rampant Destruction of Priceless Cultural Artifacts!

Actually, there were no priceless cultural artifacts- only cheap, mass produced ceramics from Plaka. There was, however, a great amount of destruction.

So, I'm taking a conservation seminar here. Conservators are the people who work behind the scenes at digs and museums, making sure the artifacts are doing ok, preserving them, and in many cases, gluing things (like pottery) back together. For my class, we just got to smash pots.

Here is my pot, before we went after it with a hammer and a plastic bag. Note the beautiful painting, which appears to portray Artemis and and guy being eaten by a lion. Note the twisted handles. Note the general beauty and symmetry of the compostion, the charming wholeness of the piece. You aren't going to be seeing it again.
Molly had a particularly beautiful pot- it had a lovely pink, sparkly glaze and a picture of unicorns or something. She too found it in Plaka.
The pot in pieces! Actually, I wish that I had found a flimsier pot- mine was actually quite difficult to break in a satisfactory manner. It would have been nice to have a lot more small pieces, instead of just a few big ones.
And the pot afterwards! Note the whole. This is a multiple part class, and next time we're learning how to patch holes with plaster- we were told to leave out small pieces on purpose. Or, in my case, leave holes where bits had been utterly pulverised by the hammer.

It was fun, and informative, and not generally the sort of thing I do on a Tuesday night in Claremont.

Κανείς δεν μπορεί να φάει μόνο ένα!

Dear Lay's Potato Chip Manufacturers,
Why aren't oregano flavored chips sold within the United States? Why have I had to wait my entire life to discover the amazingness of this flavor? Do you just love people in Greece more than you love me? Please explain.
Love, Caroline

The Corinthian Capital of Polished Society

Acrocorinth is the part of ancient Corinth that was built way up on a very tall hill. I did not have my guidebook by this point- we could only convince half the group to leave us because we volunteered to part with the guidebook- so I did not have it for informational purposes. So in this case we were again forced to rely on our own observations, and what I observed is that acrocorinth is both pretty and high up.
Isn't it really nifty? The stones were like glass, so many people have walked on them.
Chris has found a hole in a rock. We were all flagging by now- we left Athens at 6 in the morning, and pretty much walked around in the sun the entire day.
Looking out over the walls and down into the valley- that's modern Corinth you can see in the distance.
And off into the Peloponnese- this was my first venture on to the penninsula, though I will be back there next weekend when we go to the Argolid.

And that is the end of our Corinthian adventure! Please be proud of me that I have refrained from making any jokes about Ancient Corinth's reputation as a city of ill repute- many were made on the trip.

I Have Brought You From A Barbarous Land to Greece...

Inside the archaeological museum! This was actually a very interesting place, and they had a lot of interesting items there. I particularly liked the inscriptions, as usual. Did you know that all of the different cities in Greece had different alphabets? In fact, the alphabet that we think of as the Greek alphabet is the Ionic alphabet, and was not used in Attica until into the classical period. (This, by the way, is the solution to my earlier epigraphy project. Yay for research!) Corinth had some interesting letters in use until pretty late- qoppa, for example. In fact, the name "Corinthos" was spelled qoppa-omicron-rho-iota-nu-theta-omicron-sigma.
The ancient Roman theater.
Looking out towards Attica. Corinth, we have decided, is an extremely photogenic place.
The ancient theater! As is necessary, we had to act out some scenes from the Medea- unfortunately, they were not photographed with my camera. Also unfortunately, nobody had the presence of mind to bring along a copy of Medea, so we were mostly performing from memory. Looking up to acrocorinth! More in the next post.

Non Licet Omnibus Adire Corinthum

Since we were trapped in the city for Friday morning to get out tb tests, and we weren't sure when we would need to be back to have them read, instead of ranging far afield this weekend we went to Corinth, a place where pretty much everyone can go, due to the fact that it is a short hour and a half bus ride from Athens.

The bus ride from Athens actually brought us in to modern Corinth, which is a few kilometers downhill from Ancient Corinth. From the modern city we caught another bus to the ancient city, directed by my guidebook, which was supremely unhelpful in this case. We also had to split up-as happens to me all the time, I planned the trip and, next thing I knew, 10 people were getting on the bus.
The Fountain of Glauke, with the archaeological museum and Acrocorinth in the background. We thought it was vaguely (or more than vaguely?) ironic for a fountain to be named after someone who was burned to death.
Temple! This is the temple of Apollo, and if you will kindly direct your eyes to the top of the columns, you will see that this is a Doric temple, not a Corinthian one.
The temple of Apollo from the other side. The site itself was very pretty- lovely views of Attica off in the distance and the Peloponnese, as well as the gulf of Corinth.
The site was very nice. Explanations were extremely sparse, but since there were a decent number of inscriptions and pretty intact ruins, the classics and archaeology students among us could identify what was what.

Oh, wait. We were all classics and archaeology students. Finally, some Corinthian columns!

Hospital Adventures!

Don't worry, nobody was badly injured during this trip. Yet. We were there to get chest x-rays and tb tests for our visa extensions. Maddie got her tb test!
And Catharine and I got ours too. We have to go back on Monday to get them read- since I got a test done in June, I'm going to assume that I still don't have tb.
But the best part of the trip- kitten! There was a kitten there who was very friendly and cute. This happens at most places we visit, I think.
And I officially learned the word for kitten today- gataki. (It's the word for cat, gata, with a diminutive ending. So, "little cat.")

Fragment of a Greek Tragedy

by A. E. Housman

CHORUS: O suitably-attired-in-leather-boots
Head of a traveller, wherefore seeking whom
Whence by what way how purposed art thou come
To this well-nightingaled vicinity?
My object in inquiring is to know.
But if you happen to be deaf and dumb
And do not understand a word I say,
Then wave your hand, to signify as much.
ALCMAEON: I journeyed hither a Boetian road.
CHORUS: Sailing on horseback, or with feet for oars?
ALCMAEON: Plying with speed my partnership of legs.
CHORUS: Beneath a shining or a rainy Zeus?
ALCMAEON: Mud's sister, not himself, adorns my shoes.
CHORUS: To learn your name would not displease me much.
ALCMAEON: Not all that men desire do they obtain.
CHORUS: Might I then hear at what thy presence shoots.
ALCMAEON: A shepherd's questioned mouth informed me that--
CHORUS: What? for I know not yet what you will say.
ALCMAEON: Nor will you ever, if you interrupt.
CHORUS: Proceed, and I will hold my speechless tongue.
ALCMAEON: This house was Eriphyle's, no one else's.
CHORUS: Nor did he shame his throat with shameful lies.
ALCMAEON: May I then enter, passing through the door?
CHORUS: Go chase into the house a lucky foot.
And, O my son, be, on the one hand, good,
And do not, on the other hand, be bad;
For that is much the safest plan.
ALCMAEON: I go into the house with heels and speed.
CHORUS
Strophe
In speculation
I would not willingly acquire a name
For ill-digested thought;
But after pondering much
To this conclusion I at last have come:
LIFE IS UNCERTAIN.
This truth I have written deep
In my reflective midriff
On tablets not of wax,
Nor with a pen did I inscribe it there,
For many reasons: LIFE, I say, IS NOT
A STRANGER TO UNCERTAINTY.
Not from the flight of omen-yelling fowls
This fact did I discover,
Nor did the Delphine tripod bark it out,
Nor yet Dodona.
Its native ingunuity sufficed
My self-taught diaphragm.
Antistrophe
Why should I mention
The Inachean daughter, loved of Zeus?
Her whom of old the gods,
More provident than kind,
Provided with four hoofs, two horns, one tail,
A gift not asked for,
And sent her forth to learn
The unfamiliar science
Of how to chew the cud.
She therefore, all about the Argive fields,
Went cropping pale green grass and nettle-tops,
Nor did they disagree with her.
But yet, howe'er nutritious, such repasts
I do not hanker after:
Never may Cypris for her seat select
My dappled liver!
Why should I mention Io? Why indeed?
I have no notion why.
Epode
But now does my boding heart,
Unhired, unaccompanied, sing
A strain not meet for the dance.
Yes even the palace appears
To my yoke of circular eyes
(The right, nor omit I the left)
Like a slaughterhouse, so to speak,
Garnished with woolly deaths
And many sphipwrecks of cows.
I therefore in a Cissian strain lament:
And to the rapid
Loud, linen-tattering thumps upon my chest
Resounds in concert
The battering of my unlucky head.
ERIPHYLE (within): O, I am smitten with a hatchet's jaw;
And that in deed and not in word alone.
CHORUS: I thought I heard a sound within the house
Unlike the voice of one that jumps for joy.
ERIPHYLE: He splits my skull, not in a friendly way,
Once more: he purposes to kill me dead.
CHORUS: I would not be reputed rash, but yet
I doubt if all be gay within the house.
ERIPHYLE: O! O! another stroke! that makes the third.
He stabs me to the heart against my wish.
CHORUS: If that be so, thy state of health is poor;
But thine arithmetic is quite correct.


This is exactly what it sounds like when I try to translate Greek tragedies. Thanks to Chris for introducing me to this.

Thalatta! Thalatta!

Dear Fellow Ancient Greek scholars,
Yes, the title "Thalatta! Thalatta!" is somewhat misleading, since in fact when the event being alluded to occurred the soldiers were at the Black Sea, not the Mediterranean. However, since Chris and I could not think of any quotes in Greek related to the Mediterranean, this is what we shouted. Sorry, classicists and fans of Xenophon everywhere. So, we hiked to the end of the Agia Irini (Agia means "Saint," by the way- it's a word you run into a whole lot over here) and after we caught a bus ended up in Sougia, a small village on the Mediterranean sea. Most of the students went swimming. Chris and realized that we did not have bathing suits.
But this did not deter us! Into the sea we went, fully clothed. It was very wet. Jeans get very heavy when you are swimming in them. Whether or not it was cold is debatable- I thought that the water temperature was actually rather pleasant.
And that is, my friends, more or less the end of my trip to Crete. After this, we caught a bus back to Chania and from there a ferry to Peireias and from there a bus back to Pangrati. And then I walked home. It was very exciting.

This Gorge is Gorgeous!

Actually, I don't think there's too much to say about our trip down the Agia Irini gorge that we took on our last day. Crete, being a very mountainous place, has a lot of gorges that run from north to south, and they're all rather nice to hike down, I guess. The trip was about 5 miles long, which after the crazy delta force week felt like nothing, and it was pretty, though the light and the placement of trees made it hard to get good pictures.

Goodbye to the Delta Force

I would like to put in a good word for Nigel and Stefanie, the leaders of Delta Force CYA. I do believe, from the words of others and from my own observations, that the Delta Force ("bus D") was by far the best of the five buses on the trip, and that we had by far the best time. I mean, who else broke into an ancient cemetary? Who else were let loose on unsuspecting mountain villages? I know for fact that my people were the only ones who got dragged behind a small restaurant in the mountains and were forced to drink shots of warm, freshly made raki. (This is difficult. Very difficult.)
Unfortunately, it was after our night in Chania that the Delta force was officially disbanded, and we were mixed in again with the rest of the student body. Tear.

Chania- I Should Stop Wandering Around By Myself In Big Cities Without a Map

Finally we made it to Chania (that's pronounced Han-YA, by the way- would it be helpful for people if I made a pronuciation guide? I know I hate reading things when I can't pronounce the words, and that Greek pronunciation is not aways intuitive for some people. Especially since I'm never sure how to transliterate things.) Since I knew I was going to be wandering around the city by myself without a map, I took a picture of my hotel so I could remember that I was staying at the Nefeli, not the Samaria or the Arkadi or any of the other hotels in the city. As hotels go, it was ok- they didn't have enough triples, so I shared a room with only Emma instead of Emma and Christine.
The sea shore! This is Souda bay, which is a place of great historical significance, especially if you are reading about the German invasion of Crete in WWII. (Actually, this was rather fascinating- we talked about the mililtary tactics involved, and it was very interesting. Did you know that Crete was the first territory ever taken entirely by air?)
The bay, this time facing the other way. The water was very clear, and a very beautiful color.
To the lighthouse! Actually, later in the night we talked about going out to the lighthouse, but it was late and we were all a bit tired and not exactly in the proper condition to be taking long walks on an uneven sidewalk next to some deepish water.
The waterfront, which as you can see looks very little like Greece and looks more like Italy. (Hmm. I wonder why? Let me give you a hint- it's a two word phrase that begins with 'Venetian' and ends with 'occupation')

Crete: It's A Little Bit Like the American West, But With More Ruins

So, before we ever went to Crete, the administrators of CYA gathered us all together and explained to us in very simple terms, with pictures, that Crete is just not like the rest of Greece. It's partly because of the geographical distance, partly because of different histories, and partly cultural- but Crete is just different. Sort of like Texas.

We didn't believe them. How wrong we were.
Ok, this is a Roman bath at Aptera, and this is mainly how Crete is not like Montana, in my opinion. Also the olive trees. And the speaking Greek. And the totally different cultures.
But is the culture really so different? People in the west like guns. People on Crete like guns. People in the west like shooting holes in road signs. People on Crete like shooting holes in road signs. People who live on remote mountains in the US are strange. People who live in the remote mountains of Crete are strange.
If you didn't know that this was a trip to Crete, could I convince you that this was Colorado?
Probably not if you saw this picture. It's from a heroon (hero shrine) at Aptera, and it's really cool because as you can see you can still read the inscription. Nifty!

Essentially, Crete is like Texas, but different.

"Bizarre Power Struggles" In Rethymno

The quote comes from my marvelous guidebook, "Let's Go Greece On a Budget," which is a wonderful book that I would recommend to anyone who is going to Greece and likes a guidebook which is budget oriented, informative, and generally snarktastic. They describe Rethymnon as a place known for its "bizarre power struggles" by which I think that they are referring to the warfare that is going on between the drug growers/dealers and the police that is more or less constantly happening there.

Oh, Crete. It is a fabulous place.

Rethymno the city is on the northern coast of Crete, and it is a picturesue little place, with a large touristy waterfront and some back streets that are winding and pleasant. This is the view to the west from outside Fortezza, the Venetian fortress which more or less dominates the city skyline.
My friend Emma and I went for a walk during our free evening, and is usual here, though I'm not sure why, ran into our professors at a random street corner nearish the waterfront. They were trying to take pictures of the ridiculous number of small birds perched on some lines, so I tried to take the picture- without much success.

Otherwise, it was a fun city to walk around in. Emma and I got quite lost, and it was alarming when we realized that we did not know where we were, what street our hotel was on, or even what our hotel was called. Thankfully between the two of us we could remember enough of the landmarks to find our way around. We had a nice dinner at a little taverna on a side street, where we spoke to the proprietor in Greek as a courtesy, only to later find out that it was actually necessary, since she didn't speak any English at all. I think this may have been the only place we ate at where we were not given free raki, but since I was tired at the time and a bit dehydrated, I was just as glad.

This is inside Fortezza, the Venetian fortress, and that building you are looking at is actually a mosque. All of Cretan architecture is a weird amalgamation of Greek, Venetian, and Turkish styles- a testimony to the many takeovers and occupations.
Red Sox Pride!

The sad/funny part is that everyone who has seen this picture yet assumes that I was crouching behind this wall, looking sneaky like a sneaky thing. Or a fox. In fact, I was actually on tip-toe- this place had some major fortifications. And I'm short.
Another picture from Fortezza- the water actually did look that blue. It was a beautiful day.

Kittens at Arkadi!

The moastery of Arkadi is probably one of the most famous sites in modern Cretan history, though since I am pretty sure very few people know much about modern Cretan history, I'm not sure how much this means. It is a very interesting place, and the history of Crete, like the history of Greece, is very interesting.

So, for those of you not in the know: in the late 1800s (1866, to be precise) the Cretans were involved in yet another struggle against their occupiers, who at this point in time were the Turks. A group of about a thousand monks and villagers (including women and children) were holed up in this monastery, fighting against a much larger Turkish force. When the Turks broke through the outer door, the defenders hid themselves in the powder magazine and, when the Turks gathered round to see what was going on, blew the whole thing up. The defenders are very famous on Crete and very well loved- their names are all over the place as street names and you see statues of them in major cities, like Rethymno. It's called the Holocaust of 1866, and the event forms part of the basis for Nikos Kazantzakis' book Freedom or Death.

The monastery is I think of Venetian design, but a common thought is that it looks like a mission from the American southwest. The comparison with the Alamo is, of course, a very common one, especially since Crete is often being compared with Texas. (More on that later.) It's very pretty, and since there aren't very many people there, quite peaceful.
This is a bullet that is loged in a dead tree. It is very famous, and I am about 90% certain that it is a Turkish bullet from the Holocaust, but since there weren't any signs there, I'm not certain.
The dead tree from a distance- it's a very neat looking tree.

But, of course, the best part of this trip was not the history or the site, but the baby animals who were there- in this case, kittens. In a box.
Awwww...

Isn't the cuteness almost too much?