Day Eight: Athens

We woke up today in the beautiful Delphi scenery. We can’t believe we only had one day here! But today we head to Athens- so off we went after breakfast! On the bus, Ruth led us in a devotional using stones, which was fitting for the amount of walking over stones that we were about to do. Then we stopped for a bit at an overlook and (finally) got some group photos!

When we arrived in Athens, we were greeted by many, many cars. We thus far have only been in one large city- Istanbul- so this was an awakening from the small towns we have been in the previous nights. Athens is huge, and the Acropolis takes up a massive section of the city. Just taking in the modern city is enough, without trying to think about how much of the ancient city is buried under the modern city.

Athens was hot, and we first had a break to get coffee, water, or a snack before walking up to the gate of the Acropolis. After waiting in line for about twenty minutes, we began our ascent. In the ancient Acropolis, what was most important to know is the three rules of democracy: the right to speak, the right to vote, and that these rights are equal for everyone. (Would that democracies today knew the value of these rules from ancient times…) I thought a lot about the beauty and grandeur of this place, but also what it stood for in terms of a democratic way of life.

Also, the ground all over the Acropolis is very slippery from billions of feet sliding over the stones and marble. Rock on to those members of our group who are septua and octogenarians using their walking sticks!!

Our first stop was at point 1 on the map above, the Propylaia. This is the monumental gateway. It traditionally serves as a partition, separating the secular and religious parts of a city. In the Acropolis, this was the gate to the main portion of the city. On our way to the Propylaea, we could see the amphitheater, the theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus. They perform music here– you can see stage lights! The views all around the Acropolis were stunning with the city– imagine this as plains and water! And, notice the olive trees? Greek mythology says that the Goddess Athena planted these olive trees. Olive oil was a prize for many men (yes, men!) competing in beauty pageants.

After passing the gate, we stopped first at the famous Parthenon. This is what everyone thinks of when they think of Acropolis. It was dedicated to the Goddess Athena, and today stands tall, even with scaffolding up as they work on excavation and renovation. Here, instead of leaving buildings as they were, they continue to find pieces of the monuments and buildings and piece them together carefully using materials that match and size fragments that were lost. The temple has been destroyed three times in history that we know. This is the third iteration. Basically, it is a big optical illusion. You think that it is straight, but the columns are curved toward the top. The Greeks created a monument that is pleasant to our eyes. Everywhere in Acropolis, we have the philosophical idea of perfection, AKA “the golden ratio.” This means that the long side is twice, plus one, of the narrow side. This usually forms a rectangular shape.

The Parthenon was fully decorated in color and sculpture, which is fairly unusual as other temples of the same time were either not decorated at all or only partly decorated. So the restoration of this temple is complicated– it’s like a huge puzzle piece with 7,000 pieces and no guide. It only took the ancient Athenians nine years to build and six years to decorate. This restoration has been going on since the 70s and there is no end in sight.

There are other buildings in the Acropolis, including the old temple to Athena, the temple for Athena Nike, and the Erechtheum.

After climbing up and back down the Acropolis, we visited Mars hill, which is traditionally believed to be the place discussed in Acts 17, where Paul in AD 55 preached to the people, and some were converted, including Dionysius the Areopagite (an Athenian judge), and a woman named Damaris.

Finally, we headed down to the museum to check out how these temples and monuments are being preserved and restored.

The museum is built over the ruins of the city, and you can see below the excavators working! At the museum, we learned how they restore the monuments and artifacts. I often think that it is dangerous and somehow contradictory to restore a found artifact, but here, they do so to be able to add a piece to the puzzle of Greek history. (And, they know it must be done carefully. Stavros shared with us that the British Museum, which owns many pieces of Acropolis, went through a scandal when a donor said they would only pay if the columns were white! But the color of the marble is not naturally white. You can imagine the damage done to these already delicate columns and sculptures.)

Recall how I said that the Parthenon was all in color? Here is a picture of the pigments that were used to paint the sculptures in the time of the Athenians. There were two ways to mix pigments to adorn the temple: beeswax or egg yolk. Ancient Athenians considered a sculpture to be incomplete without the use of the pigment, so it makes me wonder– are we viewing incomplete art?

After all of that, as if it wasn’t a treat enough, we sat down together for an amazing dinner overlooking the Acropolis. After a long day in the heat, it was nice to sit in the cool breeze. I am feeling extra grateful for the opportunity to be on this trip tonight. Tomorrow is a new day. I am excited!

-Liza