Day 10 - June 27 - Athens

Today was a busy day. Finally, the heat breaks and the sites open back up. I never thought that 95 degrees would feel cool, but boy what a difference. We are at last going into Athens to the area around the Parthenon. First we visit the Hadrian’s Arch. Once spanning an ancient road from the center of Athens to the complex of structures on the eastern side of the city that included the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This monumental gateway is located about 1000 feet southeast of the Acropolis. There are two inscriptions on the arch, facing in opposite directions, naming both Theseus and Hadrian as founders of Athens. While it is clear that the inscriptions honor Hadrian, it is uncertain whether they refer to the city as a whole or to the city in two parts: one old and one new. One inscription is located on the northwest side of the arch (towards the Acropolis), reads “this is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus” and the inscription on the southeast side (facing the Temple of Olympeion Zeus) reads: “this is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus”.

We head on over the ruins of the Temple of Olympeion Zeus. The temple is located south-east of the Acropolis. Its foundations were laid on the site of an ancient outdoor sanctuary dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. Badly damaged during the Herulian sack of Athens in 267 and over the following centuries, the temple was systematically quarried to provide building material for the houses and churches of medieval Athens, not much remains of this great temple except for fifteen of the original 105 columns. A sixteenth column lies on the ground where it fell during a storm in 1852. Standing there looking up at the last few remaining columns, you get a true sense of massive size of the temple and a fine appreciation of the craftsmanship of the fluted Corinthian columns (Corinthian columns have an ornate capital decorated with what looks like pealing leaves).

Near the temple are the excavated remains of a Roman bath complex.







We walk towards the southern cliff face of the Acropolis to visit the Theatre of Dionysus. It was the first stone theatre ever built and the birthplace of Greek tragedy. Dedicated to Dionysus, the god of plays and wine (among other things), the theatre could seat as many as 17,000 people, making it an ideal location for ancient Athens' biggest theatrical celebration, the Dionysia. It became the prototype for all theatres of ancient Greece. The theater seating is cut into the side of the hill and down in front there may ornately carved chairs, obviously “reserved” seats for the well to do.

I love the statuary of the comic satyr, Silenus holding up the alter like area behind the stage. Creepy little guy, huh?

Climbing up to the top of the hill above the theatre, we decided to take the not so beaten path through the neighborhood at the northern base of the Acropolis to get to the Tower of the Winds. We weave our way through some streets that surprisingly show up on our map but are no more then narrow walkways – one street is actually steps leading down to what looks like someone’s front

The Tower of the Winds, a fascinating octagonal marble tower. It was supposedly built around 50 BC, but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2nd century BC. The 40 feet tall structure has a diameter of about 26 feet and was topped in antiquity by a weathervane-like Triton that indicated the wind direction. Etched into the sides of the tower are nine sundials that use metal rods to cast the shadows. In its interior, there was a water clock, driven by water coming down from the Acropolis. At the top of the tower and on each of the eight sides are friezes depicting the eight wind deities.

We walk over to the ruins of the Roman Forum (or Roman Agora), located on the north side of the Acropolis and just past the Tower of the Winds. The forum was once a large, open-air courtyard surrounded by colonnades on all four sides. On the eastern side, there was a series of shops; on the southern side was a fountain. The main entrance, the Gate of Athena Archegetis was on the west, and there was a second entrance on the east, where we enter. An inscription on the architrave of the monumental Gate of Athena Archegetis ("Athena the Leader") tells us that Julius Caesar and Augustus provided the funds for its construction in the 1st century B.C. The first thing that catches my eye is the foundation of a structure on my right. I see the tiles of the floor and around the edge are seats with holes cut out of the bottom, and even without reading the tour book, I know this must have been a public toilet.

Again we have to leave Nick who waits for us in a café on Adhrianou Street, and Ann and I head over to the area know as the Ancient Agora (Agora means market in Greek) and the Stoa of Attalos. The Agora, the marketplace and civic center, was one of the most important parts of an ancient city of Athens. In addition to being a place where people gathered to buy and sell all kinds of commodities, it was also a place where people assembled to discuss all kinds of topics: business, politics, current events, or the nature of the universe and the divine. The Agora of Athens is also where ancient Greek democracy first came to life. Beginning in the period of the radical democracy (after 509 BC), the Boule, or city council, the Prytaneis, or presidents of the council, and the Archons, or magistrates, all met in the agora. The law courts were located there, and any citizen who happened to be in the agora when a case was being heard, could be forced to serve as a juror; the Scythian archers, a kind of mercenary police force, often wandered the agora specifically looking for jurors. To really give the Stoa that ancient feel, a subway train emerges from a tunnel and cuts through the area directly in front of the building and behind the foundation ruins of ancient market stalls.

The Stoa of Attalos is a two-story building that has been rebuilt and currently holds the Museum of Agora Excavations. In the 2nd century BC it was designed as a retail complex and erected by Attalos, a king of Pergamum. The reconstruction in 1953-56 used Pendelic marble and creamy limestone from the original structure. The colonnade, designed for promenades, is protected from the blistering sun and cooled by breezes. The most notable sculptures, of historical and mythological figures from the 3rd and 4th centuries BC, are at ground level outside the museum.

In the exhibition hall, chronological displays of pottery and objects from everyday life, like a child's terra-cotta potty, pottery shards used in secret ballots to recommend banishment, and a reconstructed statue that was found in shattered pieces at the bottom of a well.

The Monument of the Eponymous Heroes - The statues of the ten heroes after whom the 10 tribes of Attica were named (4th century BC) were placed here. It was a highly frequented place. All public announcements were posted on the pedestals of those statues.

On the low hill called Kolonos Agoraios in the Agora's northwest corner stands the best-preserved Doric temple, the Hephaistion, sometimes called the Thission because of its friezes showing the exploits of Theseus.

It is also the only temple that has its roof.