 |
| The Parthenon in Athens - Photo: Cat Bauer |
It has taken me some time to process the huge amount of knowledge that I acquired during my short trip. My birthday was on July 27, which also happened to be the evening of the Blood Moon Total Eclipse, the longest lunar eclipse of the century, and I wanted to witness the event in a spectacular venue.
 |
| Apollo & Hera in Athens with Blood Moon - Photo by Aris Messinis-AFP-Getty Images via The Guardian |
The Acropolis is an ancient citadel built on top of a steep, rocky hill. On the way to the top you walk past lessons from history books come to life. The walk inspires deep contemplation about how we have arrived at the chaotic state the world is in today. Walking through antiquity makes living in Venice seem like living in an adolescent city; it makes growing up in the United States feel like crawling out of the cradle.
 |
| World's first theatre - The Theatre of Dionysus - site used as a theatre since 6th century BC |
Athena, the goddess of wisdom, warfare and handicrafts, won a contest against Poseidon to have the city named after her. She was the protector of the city and of heroes. Athena was born straight from Zeus's forehead, complete with armor, and is associated with divine intelligence.
 |
Varvakeion Athena (200-250AD)
Roman replica of Athena Parthenos by Phidias
National Archeological Museum of Athens |
Venice sits atop a forest of millions of petrified trees that were driven into the clay underneath the islands. During acqua alta, or high water, the lagoon floods the calli and the campi, and turns Piazza San Marco into a shallow lake. The lagoon, the subconscious, seeps into the walls of the buildings. It is in the mist. The water molecules float through the air and mingle with the elements. The lagoon is in the food, in the fish and vegetables. Unlike a city like, say, Manhattan, which is built on solid bedrock, Venice is built on trees trapped in mud that have turned to stone.
The Roman goddess Venus is a magical version of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, who was born from sea foam produced by the testicles of Uranus after his son, Cronus, severed them and threw them into the sea. Venus was the goddess of love, sex, desire, beauty, fertility, victory and prosperity. If Venice had a goddess, it would be Venus -- though that is not official. The difference between Athens and Venice feels like the difference between Athena and Venus. Maybe tourists come to Venice because her beauty seeps into the system whether you are conscious of it or not.
When you arrive at the top of the Acropolis and look onto the city of Athens, you can see other ancient structures down below. One structure is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Before Athens created democracy, it was ruled by the Athenian tyrants, who started building the enormous temple in 520 BC to create the greatest temple in the world. However, the work was abandoned when the tyrants were overthrown, and Athenian democracy wobbled to its feet. It would not be completed until 638 years later, when the Roman emperor Hadrian, a big fan of Greece, finished the job, complete with Hadrian's Arch.
With Mycaneans, Archaic Greeks, Classic Greeks, Hellenic Greeks, Romans from Rome, Romans from Byzantium, Orthodox Christians, Latin Christians and more all traipsing around Athens over the centuries, together with their labyrinth of cults and different ways of worship, along with Persian invaders, Spartan invaders, Alexander the Great, Ottoman Turks, etc., destroying and rebuilding temples, stealing artifacts, changing pagans into Christians and Christians into Muslims, etc., it is difficult to sort everything out, and scholars are still attempting to make sense of it to this very day.
The Acropolis contains the ruins of ancient structures, so majestic that
it is difficult to comprehend how humanity could accomplish such feats
so long ago. The four most important structures erected during Athen's golden age (mid-late 5th century BC) when it was the cultural center of the world are:
The first fortification wall around the Acropolis was built about 3,300 years ago, in the 13th century BC during the Mycenaean civilization and the late Bronze Age.
The Athenians started building the Parthenon in 447 BC as a temple to the goddess Athena to replace a previous temple to Athena, destroyed by the Persian invasion in 480 BC. In 454 BC, it became the treasury for the Delian League, an association of 150-330 Greek city-states led by Athens, which morphed into the Athenian Empire under the leadership of the statesman and general Pericles, "the first citizen of Athens." A colossus of gold and ivory ordered up by Pericles and created by the great sculptor Phidias called Athena Parthenos, or "Athena the Virgin," once stood center stage.
During all this new construction, prominent thinkers were centered in Athens. Socrates was a young man of around 23-years-old when the building of the Parthenon began; he grew up under the new democracy, led by Pericles. Socrates watched the Delian League morph into the Athenian Empire when the treasury was moved from the Delos to Athens in 454 BC and placed inside the magnificent Parthenon. Pericles would use the funds of the alliance to enhance the Acropolis. After he died of the plague in 429 BC, the Delian league, led by Athens, would be defeated by the Peloponnese League, led by Sparta, during the Peloponnese War (431-404BC).
The Oracle of Delphi had proclaimed that Socrates was the wisest man who lived in Athens. When Socrates heard this, he set out to prove that it was false. He was known as a gadfly who would go around asking questions that annoyed just about everybody -- especially those in authority -- until he arrived at the conclusion that he was, indeed, the wisest man in Athens because he was the only one who admitted that he didn't know anything.
Socrates had a huge fan club of Athenian youth, one of whom was Plato, one of the greatest philosophers the world has ever known. Plato recorded the method that Socrates used to impart knowledge, which has come down to us as the Socratic Method. Instead of lecturing his students, Socrates would ask questions, sparking critical dialogue, and encouraging students to use independent thought to arrive at conclusions. Socrates was eventually put on trial for refusing to recognize the gods of the state and for corrupting the youth. The majority ruled 280 to 220 that he was guilty, and in one of the most famous death sentences of all history, he drank a cup of hemlock and became a martyr for free speech.
I was reminded of how critical the big three philosophers -- Socrates, Plato and Aristotle -- were of democracy, Athen's new form of government. Something we seem to forget is that the Founders of the United States of America never intended to create a direct democracy, but a republic, with checks and balances. The word "democracy" never appears in the Declaration of Independence, nor in the Constitution. For Aristotle, democracy was a perverted form of a polity.
Some of the most important people on the planet lived in Athens around the same time: Hippocrates (c.460-c.370BC), the "Father of Medicine;" the dramatists Aeschylus (c.525-c.456BC), Aristophanes (c.446-c.386BC), Euripides (c.480-c.406BC), and Sophocles (c.496-406BC); and the philosophers Socrates (c.470-399BC), Plato (c.428-348BC), and Aristotle (384-322BC), as well as other individuals who would impact history for centuries after their deaths.
Aristophanes wrote a comedic play called, "The Clouds," featuring a character named Socrates who ran a school called "The Thinkery," which lampooned the current intellectual fashions. "The Clouds" was first performed in 423BC in the Theatre of Dionysus (have another look at the photo, above). This, we must remember, was just about 2,500 years ago. It really puts into perspective how audacious we are to think we have arrived at anything new under the sun.
Plato was the student of Socrates, the teacher of Aristotle and the creator of the original Academy, from which all subsequent academies get their name. Aristotle was the student of Plato, the teacher of Alexander the Great and the creator of The Lyceum. Alexander the Great would go on to conquer the Persian Empire and much of the rest of the world, such as Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Bactria, as well as extending the boundaries of his own empire as far as Punjab, India. Even though he was a conqueror, because of the influence of Aristotle, Alexander the Great spread the Athenian culture throughout his empire.
The Parthenon would remain a temple to Athena for more than 800 years, even after the Roman conquest in 88BC.
It is important to remember that Jesus Christ came on the scene in about 4 BC - 30/33 AD, and flipped the world on its head.
After the Roman Empire moved to Constantinople, and then after the pagan Romans astonishingly made Christianity the state religion (February 27, 380 AD) and converted en mass to Christianity (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em), the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I outlawed all forms of pagan worship, and the Parthenon was consecrated as the Orthodox Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, or Holy Wisdom. In 662 it was rededicated as Panagia Atheniotissa, the Church of the Virgin Mary of Athens.
From 1204-1311, during the Fourth Crusade and the Frankish occupation of the De la Roche dukes, the Parthenon became a Catholic Church, St. Mary's of Athens, then Church of Notre Dame (Our Mother). In 1460, the Ottoman Turks turned the Parthenon Church into a mosque, and the Erechtheion -- the holiest temple -- into a residence for the Turkish commander's harem. And then, along came the Venetians in 1687, and blew it up. (That is a very simplified version; the reality was much more complex and extensive.)
However, none of these traumas had the impact that the British would have on the Parthenon. Today, on a informational sign explaining the ongoing restoration of the Parthenon, it says:
The Greeks have been asking for the marbles to be returned since 1832, after they won their independence from the Ottomans. The controversy over the Elgin Marbles continues to this day. In June, the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, on his first state visit to the United Kingdom again asked the British prime minister, Theresa May, to return the treasures of the Acropolis.
That is just a snippet of the things I learned and the treasures I saw in the short time I was in Athens. I also visited more ruins, Greek and Roman, and the National Archaeological Museum -- learning about the Mycanean civilization was astonishing; the sheer beauty and volume of artifacts was overwhelming. The temporary exhibitions The Countless Aspects of Beauty until spring 2019 and Hadrian and Athens: Conversing with an Ideal World until the end of the year were first-rate and thought-provoking.
I strolled through the National Gardens, and visited the Benaki Museum, where a violent afternoon lightning storm crackled across the heavens, and made me understand why Zeus was a god. I spent hours inside the Byzantine & Christian Museum, wandered through Aristotle's Lyceum, and witnessed the Changing of the Guard at Parliament. I went shopping in the Plaka district, the oldest section of Athens, teeming with shops and eateries, and chatted with shop owners, comparing tourism between Venice and Athens. I ate a Greek breakfast each morning with a view of the the Acropolis in the background, and had fresh chicken sticks and a real Greek salad out in the country. I even managed to squeeze in the Greek version of a hammam, and indulged in bubble massage.
The Greek people were warm and welcoming, and the city felt full of life. It was easy to get around on foot or by Metro -- in short, despite the constant calamities we hear about Greece, Athens seemed to be functioning very well from a tourist point of view, although I did run into a bit of bureaucracy when I asked permission to take photos inside the museums. That dilemma was eventually resolved.
Athens blew my mind, simply because everything I thought was new and American, or new and Venetian, had already been understood thousands of years before, from systems of government, to architecture, to art and culture. Sure, humankind has made new discoveries, but basic human nature seems not to have changed one iota. The challenges that confront societies today are the same challenges that humanity has encountered for millennia.
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
 |
Aphrodite, Pan and Eros (c. 100BC)
Aphrodite tries to fend off the goat-footed Pan, aided by Eros
Athens Archeological Museum - Photo: Cat Bauer |
 |
| Temple of Olympian Zeus seen from the Acropolis |
 |
| Temple of Olympian Zeus with Acropolis in the background |
 |
| The Acroplis hovers over Athens - Photo: Cat Bauer |
1. The Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena
2. The Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis
3. The Temple of Athena Nike or "Athena Victory"
4. The Erechtheion, the most sacred temple, dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon
The first fortification wall around the Acropolis was built about 3,300 years ago, in the 13th century BC during the Mycenaean civilization and the late Bronze Age.
 |
| The Parthenon - Photo: Cat Bauer |
During all this new construction, prominent thinkers were centered in Athens. Socrates was a young man of around 23-years-old when the building of the Parthenon began; he grew up under the new democracy, led by Pericles. Socrates watched the Delian League morph into the Athenian Empire when the treasury was moved from the Delos to Athens in 454 BC and placed inside the magnificent Parthenon. Pericles would use the funds of the alliance to enhance the Acropolis. After he died of the plague in 429 BC, the Delian league, led by Athens, would be defeated by the Peloponnese League, led by Sparta, during the Peloponnese War (431-404BC).
 |
| Temple of Athena Nike - Photo: Cat Bauer |
Socrates had a huge fan club of Athenian youth, one of whom was Plato, one of the greatest philosophers the world has ever known. Plato recorded the method that Socrates used to impart knowledge, which has come down to us as the Socratic Method. Instead of lecturing his students, Socrates would ask questions, sparking critical dialogue, and encouraging students to use independent thought to arrive at conclusions. Socrates was eventually put on trial for refusing to recognize the gods of the state and for corrupting the youth. The majority ruled 280 to 220 that he was guilty, and in one of the most famous death sentences of all history, he drank a cup of hemlock and became a martyr for free speech.
I was reminded of how critical the big three philosophers -- Socrates, Plato and Aristotle -- were of democracy, Athen's new form of government. Something we seem to forget is that the Founders of the United States of America never intended to create a direct democracy, but a republic, with checks and balances. The word "democracy" never appears in the Declaration of Independence, nor in the Constitution. For Aristotle, democracy was a perverted form of a polity.
 |
| The Propylaea - Photo: Cat Bauer |
Aristophanes wrote a comedic play called, "The Clouds," featuring a character named Socrates who ran a school called "The Thinkery," which lampooned the current intellectual fashions. "The Clouds" was first performed in 423BC in the Theatre of Dionysus (have another look at the photo, above). This, we must remember, was just about 2,500 years ago. It really puts into perspective how audacious we are to think we have arrived at anything new under the sun.
Plato was the student of Socrates, the teacher of Aristotle and the creator of the original Academy, from which all subsequent academies get their name. Aristotle was the student of Plato, the teacher of Alexander the Great and the creator of The Lyceum. Alexander the Great would go on to conquer the Persian Empire and much of the rest of the world, such as Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Bactria, as well as extending the boundaries of his own empire as far as Punjab, India. Even though he was a conqueror, because of the influence of Aristotle, Alexander the Great spread the Athenian culture throughout his empire.
 |
| The Erechtheion - Photo: Cat Bauer |
The Parthenon would remain a temple to Athena for more than 800 years, even after the Roman conquest in 88BC.
It is important to remember that Jesus Christ came on the scene in about 4 BC - 30/33 AD, and flipped the world on its head.
After the Roman Empire moved to Constantinople, and then after the pagan Romans astonishingly made Christianity the state religion (February 27, 380 AD) and converted en mass to Christianity (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em), the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I outlawed all forms of pagan worship, and the Parthenon was consecrated as the Orthodox Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, or Holy Wisdom. In 662 it was rededicated as Panagia Atheniotissa, the Church of the Virgin Mary of Athens.
From 1204-1311, during the Fourth Crusade and the Frankish occupation of the De la Roche dukes, the Parthenon became a Catholic Church, St. Mary's of Athens, then Church of Notre Dame (Our Mother). In 1460, the Ottoman Turks turned the Parthenon Church into a mosque, and the Erechtheion -- the holiest temple -- into a residence for the Turkish commander's harem. And then, along came the Venetians in 1687, and blew it up. (That is a very simplified version; the reality was much more complex and extensive.)
However, none of these traumas had the impact that the British would have on the Parthenon. Today, on a informational sign explaining the ongoing restoration of the Parthenon, it says:
 |
"The most severe damage was caused in 1801-1802, when the Scotch ambassador of England to Constantinople Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, removed the greatest part of the sculptures that also comprised structural members of the temple. By bribing the Turkish garrison of the Acropolis and employing teams of the Italian artist G.B Lusieri, Elgin removed and transported to England 19 pedimental sculptures, 15 metopes and the reliefs of 56 sawn blocks of the frieze, today exhibited in the British Museum in London."Of all the Greeks I spoke to, this theft by the Earl of Elgin haunts them the most, and they want the artifacts back -- especially because the sparkling new internationally renowned Acropolis Museum, at the foot of the Acropolis itself, was designed to hold all the treasures of the Acropolis -- in fact, I went to the museum before I hiked up to the Acropolis. After looking at the British Museum website, it seems they feel justified to keep them: The Parthenon Sculptures.
The Greeks have been asking for the marbles to be returned since 1832, after they won their independence from the Ottomans. The controversy over the Elgin Marbles continues to this day. In June, the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, on his first state visit to the United Kingdom again asked the British prime minister, Theresa May, to return the treasures of the Acropolis.
 |
Bronze statue of Zeus or Poseidon (c.460BC)
National Archaeological Museum of Athens
Photo: Cat Bauer |
That is just a snippet of the things I learned and the treasures I saw in the short time I was in Athens. I also visited more ruins, Greek and Roman, and the National Archaeological Museum -- learning about the Mycanean civilization was astonishing; the sheer beauty and volume of artifacts was overwhelming. The temporary exhibitions The Countless Aspects of Beauty until spring 2019 and Hadrian and Athens: Conversing with an Ideal World until the end of the year were first-rate and thought-provoking.
I strolled through the National Gardens, and visited the Benaki Museum, where a violent afternoon lightning storm crackled across the heavens, and made me understand why Zeus was a god. I spent hours inside the Byzantine & Christian Museum, wandered through Aristotle's Lyceum, and witnessed the Changing of the Guard at Parliament. I went shopping in the Plaka district, the oldest section of Athens, teeming with shops and eateries, and chatted with shop owners, comparing tourism between Venice and Athens. I ate a Greek breakfast each morning with a view of the the Acropolis in the background, and had fresh chicken sticks and a real Greek salad out in the country. I even managed to squeeze in the Greek version of a hammam, and indulged in bubble massage.
The Greek people were warm and welcoming, and the city felt full of life. It was easy to get around on foot or by Metro -- in short, despite the constant calamities we hear about Greece, Athens seemed to be functioning very well from a tourist point of view, although I did run into a bit of bureaucracy when I asked permission to take photos inside the museums. That dilemma was eventually resolved.
 |
| Aristotle's Lyceum - Photo: Cat Bauer |
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
Venice blew the roof off the Parthenon on September 26, 1687 when it was a mosque, complete with minaret, and under the rule of the Ottoman Turks. A cannonball hit the Parthenon during the Morean War in what the Venetian general Francesco Morosoni called a "fortunate shot," which ignited the gunpowder that the Ottomans had stored there. But that is only one chapter in the long history of the Parthenon, a staggering structure that I recently had the opportunity to see with my own eyes when I visited Athens, the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy.
ReplyDelete