June 26th - Day 16

Eleusis

Today we ventured outside of Athens on our second day trip to see Eleusis, Eleutherai, and Aigosthaina. It was quite a hot day, as Athens appears to be going through a heat wave just in time for our return! Most of the day was spent out in the sun with very little shade. My skin is starting to protest all of the sunscreen I’ve had to put on. The constant sun exposure is also resulting in some interesting “tan” lines. I have an awesome “farmer’s tan” t-shirt line forming as well as a sock line and flip flop line. Not to mention my raccoon eyes from my sunglasses. It’s not an attractive look! :(

On the way to Eleusis we stopped and saw the Temple of Aphrodite and a bridge built by Hadrian. The temple was not all that impressive as it was largely overgrown and we couldn’t see much of the foundations. It was interesting that a temple of Aphrodite was built on the way to Eleusis because of its connection with Demeter. Demeter is connected with fertility and Aphrodite is also linked to marriage and the transition from youth to an adult, sexual being. The bridge was built by Hadrian to aide in the procession to Eleusis. Next to the bridge was a cistern and what was cool is that you could still see grove makes in the stone from the ropes used to pull up the buckets of water. 

Caryatid

After our quick stops is was back onto the bus and on to Eleusis, which is a very interesting site. It was the place where the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Kore took place. The Mysteries revolved around the idea that there was hope for life after death for those who were initiated. What is intriguing about the site is that we have a lot of archaeological evidence and a lot of testimonials from ancient sources, but because it was illegal to reveal the Mysteries and what went on there, there is still a lot that we do not understand about the site. After touring the site we headed up the hill (where most things are located in Greece!) to the Archaeological Museum to look at some of the finds from the site. The coolest thing in the museum was the remains of a Caryatid from the Lesser Propylaia. There were originally two of them, but one is currently in Cambridge. While touring the site was extremely interesting, I was glad to get back on the bus and not only escape the baking sun, but a tour group of middle school aged students that were touring the site.

Eleutherai

Next it was on to Eleutherai, a fortress dating to 370-360 BC that was part of the Athenian defense system. Unfortunately we don’t know much about the fortress. The hike up to the fortress was not fun – the path was made of dirt and very loose stones which made it difficult to walk up the steep incline. Needless to say we were all dirty, tired, and sweaty by the time we reached the top. The hike was worth it because of the views from the top of the surrounding landscape. The fortress itself was really cool and we got to climb around on it, which made all of us excited. It’s always fun when we get to climb on ancient ruins :) We also came across a huge snake skin while exploring the site and while I thought it was cool, I was glad that it was only the skin and not the actual snake. I would not have been excited by that!

Aigosthaina

Aigosthaina is another fortress and like Eleutherai we know very little about it. Getting to the fortress required yet another dirty, tiring, and sweaty hike. We have now come to affectionately refer to these climbs as “forced death marches.” Again the views at the top made it worth it. We couldn’t explore this site as much as Eleutherai because a lot of it was fenced off because it is falling into disrepair and is unstable.

After arriving back in Athens and taking a much needed shower, it was off to dinner in Loring Hall – Greek style pizza! So good! I would take Takki, our cook, home with me if I could. His food is so delicious! I can’t use enough adjatives and exclamation points to describe the wonderful food he prepares for all of us! After dinner it was off to the (air conditioned) library to finish researching my site reports, both of which I will give on our upcoming trip to the Peloponnese. Tomorrow we head back to the Athenian Agora and we will also be going to the Epigraphical Museum.