Sorry for the long silence, I've spent the past week running around the Peloponnese (and Delphi). Literally running--on the tracks of various ancient stadiums--for my "Sports, Games & Spectacles in the Greco-Roman World" class. It was the second of our program-organized, program-wide trips (the first being Crete), and was awesome in all ways.
Things didn't seem very promising at the start, as we drove out of Athens and into torrential rain. We stopped at the Isthmus canal, which I'm afraid I could not appreciate fully due to the weather (though it is quite an impressive feat, I can say that much). We had to cancel our first scheduled stop at ancient Isthmia (site of one of the four "Panhellenic Games," which also includes the more well-known Olympic games) because of flooding. Nemea (another of the Panhellenic Game sites), we were told, was also flooded and inaccessible. But as one of the professors cheerily said, "If you don't like the weather in Greece, wait a minute." And indeed, as we drove on the weather cleared off and it became a bright sunny day. We stopped at Nemea anyway for a visit with the head excavator on the site and a presentation about the re-creations of the Nemean Games (which are held every four years and look quite fun). Once we were there, with a little string-pulling we were allowed onto the sanctuary, dedicated to Zeus:
With a little more string-pulling, the track was opened specially for us (there were hardly signs of flooding there anyway...)
Then we drove up to the top of the hill and walked around the Venetian castle overlooking the original capital of Greece, Nafplion.
In the evening, we had a brief tour of the town, ending at a gelato shop where our professor bought us all gelato (insisting it was the best in the world). Then we went to a wine tasting where I finally got to experience some real Greek wine (not just the cheap house wine we usually order at tavernas or the oversized plastic bottles we usually buy from the grocery store).
Things didn't seem very promising at the start, as we drove out of Athens and into torrential rain. We stopped at the Isthmus canal, which I'm afraid I could not appreciate fully due to the weather (though it is quite an impressive feat, I can say that much). We had to cancel our first scheduled stop at ancient Isthmia (site of one of the four "Panhellenic Games," which also includes the more well-known Olympic games) because of flooding. Nemea (another of the Panhellenic Game sites), we were told, was also flooded and inaccessible. But as one of the professors cheerily said, "If you don't like the weather in Greece, wait a minute." And indeed, as we drove on the weather cleared off and it became a bright sunny day. We stopped at Nemea anyway for a visit with the head excavator on the site and a presentation about the re-creations of the Nemean Games (which are held every four years and look quite fun). Once we were there, with a little string-pulling we were allowed onto the sanctuary, dedicated to Zeus:
With a little more string-pulling, the track was opened specially for us (there were hardly signs of flooding there anyway...)
The vault (it was originally though that Romans were the first to master the barrel vault. This clearly proves that to be false...this is arguably the first vault in history! Well, a reconstructed version) that lead from the "locker room" to the stadium.
The stadium
The original starting line! ("valvides"); runner placed the ball of one foot in one groove, other foot in other.
In the evening, we had a brief tour of the town, ending at a gelato shop where our professor bought us all gelato (insisting it was the best in the world). Then we went to a wine tasting where I finally got to experience some real Greek wine (not just the cheap house wine we usually order at tavernas or the oversized plastic bottles we usually buy from the grocery store).
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