There are many wonderful things about the Bucknell/Penn State in Athens Program, but among the top must be the fantastic weekend trips that take us out of Athens several times throughout the term. The first of these was this past weekend when a bus took us first to Delphi and then on to the monastery at Hosios Loukas and finally on to Thebes before our return.
As I remind myself and you repeatedly, I am not a classicist, but I have read a smattering of ancient texts throughout my life and education. I have certainly heard of the Oracle of Delphi. But for whatever reason, be it my own inclination to dramatize or some cinematic influence, I have always imagined the oracle to reside in a cave rather than a classical temple structure. And I certainly never imagined her surrounded by an extensive complex of structures. And yet, that is so clearly the situation at Delphi. Perhaps long before the appearance of the temple complex, there was an oracle at a site of pilgrimage in the foothills of Mount Parnassus, and maybe it was in a cave at one time. But that’s not the oracle in the ancient texts I read. No, this is the site as we have found it, and there is nothing about it that is disappointing, for all that it is different from my imagination. Instead, the reality of the site and its dramatic natural setting instill their own sense of awe and wonder while raising questions of their own. As a scholar, these are the kinds of questions that drive me rather than frustrate me. I am not upset or uncomfortable with these questions; I am fascinated.
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Did I know that the site at Delphi included an enormous amphitheater just above and behind the Temple of Apollo? No, I did not. Did I know that well above that amphitheater there is also a full-size stadium, because Delphi was one of the four sites for the pan-hellenic games (of which Olympia was only one)? No, I did not.
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And maybe it’s because I either never saw Albert Tournaire’s famous rendering of the site in its heyday, or I didn’t appreciate what I was looking at when I did. A print of this painting is on display just inside the entrance to the museum at the Delphi site, and it helped to cement the conception of the place that our climb through it had formed in me.
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Inside the museum collections, I came face-to-face with the reconstruction of the Naxos Sphinx that once sat high above the Delphi site. A replica of this sphinx almost figured prominently in the film that Christina and I made with Daniel Nienhuis over the summer, so I felt this meeting was special in more ways than the obvious. And for the record, we made the right choice not to use the Naxos Sphinx in our film.
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After a long day of trekking up and down the marble stairs of Delphi, Christina and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our colleagues David (who teaches the archaeology course that is part of the program) and Dimitra (who is one of the fantastic staff members at the Athens Center, which manages various logistics for our program).
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Delphi is also quite close to the ski resort town of Arachova in the foothills of Mt. Parnassus. Since Christina and I spent seven years living above the Adirondacks, we immediately reacted to Arachova as Greece’s Lake Placid. It has a tremendous amount of natural beauty, a dizzying variety of ski shops, boutiques, restaurants and bars, as well as A LOT of rich people. It was a nice place to visit, but it is the kind of place that raises more questions than it answers, and maybe in that way it’s not unlike Delphi.
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As we left Delphi and Arachova, we stopped at a still working Byzantine-era monastery, Hosios Loukas. It was a rainy day, which somehow seemed to fit, and we arrived during a service, so that the sound of the liturgy filled the courtyards as we quietly made our way through the galleries and museum exhibits as well as into the church where the service was underway.
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From the monastery, we continued on to the town of Thebes. Yes, for those of you who still remember your Sophocles, Thebes is the kingdom ruled by Laius and later by his son, Oedipus. In fact, on our way into the foothills of Mt. Parnassus on Friday, David had directed our bus driver to stop at the side of a quiet and lonely road just after sunset. In the faltering light, we walked a few yards to a stone monument with a bronze plaque in ancient Greek, which identifies it as the very crossroads where Oedipus unknowingly killed his father. It was uncanny to stand in that place, yielding to the encroaching darkness, despite knowing very well the meaning of the spot, wondering if knowing thyself is sufficient and not merely necessary.
But on our way out of the Copaic Basin, our goal was to visit the Thebes Museum and learn more about its collections and the importance of the site. Thebes is particularly special to our Bucknell Program, because David and our very own colleagues Dr. Stephanie Larson and Dr. Kevin Daly have done important work on the digs at the site, and some of their finds are in the collection (again with the sphinxes!). The students have seen a lot of museum collections already, and they will certainly see many more, yet they remained eager and attentive as David led us through the museum and its intriguing displays.
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Though the students had just returned from this exciting weekend trip, Monday found all of us at the National Archaeological Museum with the intent of focusing on the prehistoric collections. I have my own interest in the so-called “frying pans” of the Cycladic culture as part of a film project about which I will be sharing more with you in the weeks ahead.
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Whew! That was quite a weekend. I’m so grateful for this experience, and not the least because it is so obviously of the sort that can’t be easily or quickly processed. I am learning and seeing and feeling so much, that it feels like I am recharging as a person. Writing in my journal every morning and keeping this blog are key parts of making the most of this experience, but I also know that I will continue to learn from it for years and years to come.