Ruby (David’s Mum) and Luke (David’s 17-year-old son) flew out from chilly Swansea to Athens to join us for a few days. As expected, the Acropolis was top of our to-do list, and we had a sunny day with clear blue skies in which to explore the site, in contrast to last time when we lost sight of the ancient site behind a curtain of torrential rain.

The Rock of Areopagos

On our way up to the Acropolis, we climbed onto the Rock of Areopagos, which is apparently where civil and criminal cases were heard in Athens in Classical (ancient Greek) times, and where Saint Paul stood to address the people of Athens in AD 51.

Bryn, Beth, Luke and me on the Rock of Areopagos.

From the Rock of Areopagos we looked down onto the site of the ancient Agora (the marketplace), a selection of Greek Orthodox churches and the Thission.

The site of the ancient Agora of Athens.

One of the Greek Orthodox churches.

The Thission.

The Thission is considered to be one of the best preserved Classical temples in Greece. It was built in 449 BC and devoted to Hephaestus and Athena. Its frieze depicts the exploits of Theseus.

The story goes that King Minos (of the Minoans who lived on Crete) used to send out his navy to plunder cities such as Athens. King Aegeus of Athens came to an agreement with King Minos that Athens would be left alone if the city sent 7 boys and 7 girls to Crete every 9 years to be sacrificed to the Minotaur – a flesh-eating man with a bull’s head. The Minotaur was held in a maze (the Labyrinth) that had been specifically designed and built for this purpose by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus.

Theseus, who was the son of King Aegeus, announced that he was going to go with the Athenian children destined for sacrifice and would try to kill the Minotaur. The boat carrying Theseus and the children had a black sail and King Aegeus made Theseus promise to fly a white sail on his way home – if he lived.

When they got to Crete, King Minos and his daughter, Ariadne, came out to see the sacrifices and Ariadne fell in love with Theseus. Desperate to save Theseus, Ariadne asked Daedalus how Theseus might find his way in to kill the Minotaur and then find his way back out. Taking Daedalus’ advice, Ariadne gave Theseus a sword with which to kill the Minotaur, and a ball of string to unroll as he went into the Labyrinth so that he could find his way back. Theseus promised to marry her if he escaped without being eaten.

The next day, everything went according to plan; Theseus found his way to the centre of the Labyrinth, killed the Minotaur, followed the string back to the entrance, Ariadne opened the door for them, and they all escaped to the ship and sailed away. On the way home, the ship stopped at the island of Delos for everyone to rest. Theseus left Ariadne asleep on the island and carried on to Athens without her (such a gentleman...).

When the ship got to Cape Sounion it was spotted by King Aegeus who was looking out for its return. Unfortunately, Theseus had forgotten to change the sail from black to white, and when King Aegeus saw the black sail he thought that Theseus was dead, and he threw himself off the cliff.

Meanwhile, back in Crete, King Minos found out what Daedalus had done and imprisoned Daedalus and Icarus in the Labyrinth. It was while trying to escape from the Labyrinth that Icarus flew too close to the sun and melted the wax holding the feathers in his wings – he fell into the sea and drowned. Daedalus made it safely to Sicily while Icarus' body was carried ashore by the current to a small island near Samos, which was then named after him – Ikaria.

Bryn and Luke in cool mode; Bryn resting his hand on Lycabettus Hill.

The Acropolis

Acropolis means ‘upper city’ and apparently many of the city states of ancient Greece were built around an acropolis where the people could go as a place of refuge when they were being attacked. In Athens, the Parthenon and other main buildings on the Acropolis were built by Pericles in the 5^th century BC in honour of the cultural and political achievements of the people of the city.

The Propylaea

On climbing the steps up to the Acropolis, the first building that you come to is the entrance or Propylaea. Apparently somewhere here among the scaffolding there is a tiny temple to Nike Athena (‘nike’ meaning ‘victory’), which commemorates the Athenians victory over the Persians.

The Propylaea.

The Parthenon

The Parthenon is probably one of the most recognizable structures in the world. It was designed by the architects Kallikrates and Iktinos to house a giant statue of Athena, and was completed in 438 BC. First used as a temple, it then became a church, a mosque, and finally a store for Turkish gunpowder. It was blown up by the Venetians in 1687 AD, when a cannonball hit the gunpowder. Apparently, each piece of the Parthenon is unique and the pieces fit together like a big, heavy, 3D jigsaw puzzle.

Bored child in front of the Parthenon (1).

Bored child in front of Parthenon (2).

Despite the fact that it bristles with scaffolding and is destined to be a never-ending restoration project, there is no doubt that the Parthenon is a very impressive building; the size of the people next to it give an idea of its huge scale.

Apparently there used to be a marble frieze around the top outside edges on all sides, and 3D statues in the east and west pediments (the triangular bits at the front and back). The external marble frieze (made of metre-high slabs or ‘metopes’) depicts scenes from Greek mythology in deep relief.

·         At the front (east) of the temple there are scenes from a battle between the gods and the giants (known as the Gigantomachy).

·         The back (west) of the temple shows fights between the Greeks and the Amazons (the Persians).

·         The north has scenes from the Trojan War.

·         The south illustrates the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapiths (known as the Centauromachy).

The common theme for all of the marble work was the triumph of civilization over barbarism, as the Athenians believed that they were superior to other cultures of their time.

Fragments of a horse’s head showing where the decoration used to be on the east and west pediments of the Parthenon.

Inside the Parthenon, a low-relief marble frieze ran around the outside of the ‘cella’ – the building that contained the statue of Athena. This frieze shows the people of Athens (musicians, soldiers on horseback, elders, animals for sacrifice) in procession, with the Olympian gods seated. This frieze would (so our guide book said) have been decorated in vivid colours, with metal spears and swords for the soldiers, and metal bits for the horses.

When the early Christians came along they systematically defaced most of the sculptures (chipped off all of the nipples and penises) when they converted the Parthenon into a church. We saw fragments (the bits that survived, not the penises and nipples) and copies of these marble statues in the Acropolis Museum – with gaps left for the missing bits (e.g. the Elgin Marbles).

Bored child in front of Greek flag on the Acropolis.

Seeing the Greek flag flying above a gun emplacement was a stark reminder that the Acropolis was as much a fortress as a religious site. When the Germans occupied Athens in WWII, the Evzone who guarded the flag was ordered by the Nazis to remove it. He is reputed to have taken it down calmly, wrapped himself in it and jumped to his death.

It’s that ancient LEGO again...

The Erecthion

The Erecthion marks the most sacred site of the Acropolis where the gods Poseidon and Athena had a contest to see who would be the Patron of the city. Poseidon poked his trident into the rock and a spring erupted, while Athena touched the ground with a spear and an olive tree grew. Athena was declared the victor and the city of Athens was named for her. It is this building that contains the porch with (copies of) the famous maidens or Caryatids. We saw four of the Caryatids in the Acropolis museum – they are amazing and each one is different. Lord Elgin acquired the fifth for the British Museum.

The Erecthion.

The Caryatids.

The Temple to Poseidon at Sounion

All 6 of us squished into our hire car and we drove SE to Cape Sounion to see the Temple to Poseidon. This site was first mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey as the place where Menelaus stopped on his way back from Troy to bury his helmsman, Phrontes Onetorides (remember that one for the test). There is also a Temple to Athena nearby.

The Temple to Poseidon at Sounion.

The current temple was built in 444 BC and consisted of 34 Doric columns, of which 15 have survived. The columns (according to www.sacred-destinations.com) were cut with only 16 flutings instead of the usual 20, to reduce the surface area exposed to the erosive effects of wind and water.

The temple frieze – now badly eroded – supposedly shows scenes from the battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths, and Theseus’ exploits (Theseus was Poseidon’s son in some versions of Greek mythology). Lord Byron was an early visitor to the temple, and left his mark – carved into the marble of one of the columns in 1810. Unfortunately this gave other visitors the same idea and the temple is now covered in graffiti from down the ages. You aren’t allowed to clamber on the actual temple any longer, so we couldn’t go hunting for Byron’s signature.

The setting for the temple – on top of the cliffs at Cape Sounion and overlooking the Aegean – is rugged and isolated.

Looking out over the Aegean from Cape Sounion.

It could have been from these cliffs that King Aegeus (Theseus’ Dad) chucked himself when he saw the ship with black sails on its way back from Crete.

It was very windy the day we were there – so windy that we could hardly stand up.

Beth and Luke being blown away.

Ruby getting windswept.

We made a toast to Poseidon (we sailors are a superstious bunch) with wine/peach juice in plastic cups before moving on to find a deserted beach nearby (well it was going to be deserted on a cold, windy day in February) to have our picnic.

Bryn making sandwiches using a Swiss Army knife on a bench near the beach.

The Evzones

On Sunday morning we hung around the Greek Parliament Building in Athens to catch the changing of the guard. At the allotted time (most unlike Greece), the traffic was stopped and the police took great delight in shouting at all of the tourists and making them move back to stand behind a specific set of paving stones.

The Evzones.

The Evzones are an elite ceremonial unit that guards the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Parliament Building and the Presidential Mansion. Drawn from the among the tallest of the Greek soldiers, they dress in a unique traditional uniform based on that worn by guerrilla fighters during the Ottoman occupation – basically white tights, a white kilt (with 400 pleats to mark the 400 years of Ottoman occupation), a white shirt with bell-shaped sleeves, an embroidered waistcoat, a red, fez-like hat with long black tassel, and red clogs with black pompoms. (I bet those tights are made of wool and itch like crazy in the summer.) Apparently the Evzones only have to wear this little lot on specific occasions and can slob around in standard khaki uniforms the rest of the time.

An Evzone on guard.

The Evzones have a distinctive high-kicking, slow-motion march (reminiscent of John Cleese doing a funny walk) that has to be perfectly co-ordinated with their fellow soldiers – it must take a huge amount of strength and control.

An Evzone in action.

Gyros

When we weren’t doing temples, museums or Evzones, we got to grips with the Athens metro, found some interesting places to eat (Arabic and Romanian as well as Greek) and introduced Luke and Ruby to gyros.

Ruby going Romanian.

Beth and Luke tackling pork steak and Romanian schnitzel.

Still more to come on Ancient Olympia and Kalavryta.