June 27th - Day 17

Panathenaic Way

Today we headed back to the Athenian Agora for our second tour of the area. We met back up with John Camp, an archaeologist with the American School who has been excavating and studying the Agora for many years and who took us on our first tour when we say the Hephaisteion. For this visit we started with some of the sites around the Panathenaic Way. This area has been somewhat difficult to study because the modern train system runs right through it. John had to stop his presentation about every 3 minutes to wait for the trains to pass. This area appears to be home to several administrative buildings and may also have been the area where the Athenian cavalry trained.

Alter of the 12 Gods

We then moved on to the Alter of the 12 Gods which is cut in half by the train tracks that run right through it. It is still an important site because it was used by Pausanius, the Greek traveler who wrote the travel guide for Greece, as the central point to measure distances to other structures from. Next we moved on the Stoa of Zeus, which was a Doric style structure where archaeologists have found armor dedicated in honor of people who died fighting for Athens. We briefly passed the Temples of Apollo Patroos and Zeus Phratrios and Athena Phratria. Next we saw the Metroon, which was an archive building where records were kept.

Eponymous Heroes

Then John brought us to the Eponymous Heroes monument that used to house bronze statues representing the 10 hero tribes chosen by the oracles. It served as a public notice board and announcements were often posted under the various statues for citizens to read. Across from the Eponymous Heroes monument was the Tholos, a round building that served as the headquarters for the 50 prytaneis who served as administrators for 35-36 days at a time before being replaced by representatives from another tribe. When on duty, the prytaneis would dine and be housed in the Tholos so they were available to deal with any issues that arose.

Down a ways from the Tholos was the Strategeion, which was an interesting structure as we are not sure what it is and whether or not it was a residential site, a religious site, or a commercial site. Archaeologists have found shallow pits which contain pots, burnt animal bones, small plates, and cooking pots. Fifty one such pits have been found in the area, which suggests that there might have been some ritualistic feasting going on in and around the structure. There was also a large horde of silver coins found in one of the rooms, which could mean that it was used as offices for generals or was used by a successful businessman or as a leasing office for the mines. The truth is no one knows! This is something that we have come across several times when looking at ancient ruins and makes archaeology an interesting field. The reality is that for most things we are just making educated guesses as to what something is and what it was used for. It often takes a long time to definitely identify something and even then there is a chance that it could change down the line when new evidence is found. It’s definitely not a field to go into if you have issues with being proven wrong.

We ended our tour at a boundary stone for the Agora located next to the remains of what was once a house. The stone has an inscription warning those who were not supposed to enter the Agora to stay out. I was not aware that not everyone was allowed in the Agora. Those who were underage, women, and those convicted of certain crimes were not allowed to enter the Agora.

Because our tour of the Agora ended sooner than our leader, Bella, anticipated and our tour guide for the Epigraphical Museum couldn’t meet us sooner, we were given a few hours of free time. I decided to head down to the Roman Agora to see the Library of Hadrian with a few others. You know how I LOVE libraries!! You could tell that at one point this was an amazing place. Outside of the storage room for the books/scrolls, there was an open portico where one could have sat and read. It was later converted into a church, but I could just imagine what it would have been like. After that we decided to go over to the National Archaeological Museum to see the exhibit of finds from the Antikythera shipwreck.

A little before 1 pm we head over to the Epigraphical Museum, which is right around the corner from the National Archaeological Museum. The Epigraphical Museum was built to protect, preserve, study, and exhibit ancient inscriptions on stone. Many of the inscriptions come from Athens and Attica and it is the largest museum of its kind in the world. It currently houses about 13,485 inscriptions. I was a little out of my element in this museum as I have never studied ancient Greek and therefore cannot read it like my follow travelers and as such I got a little bored…I can’t lie! I just couldn’t work up the level of enthusiasm as some of those around me.

After the museum we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. I walked back to Loring Hall and headed to the library to put the finishing touches on and print my handouts for my site presentations. After another delicious dinner I headed back to my room to pack for our 10 day trip to the Peloponnese. I had to make sure to clean up my room as we all have “phantom roommates,” who are part of the second summer session who stay in our rooms when we are not there. It is an interesting feeling knowing I have a roommate that I will never see or meet. We leave each other notes and my phantom roommate is not a slob, so it’s been a pleasant experience so far.

I’m really looking forward to our trip through the Peloponnese where we will get to travel to Corinth, Sparta, and Olympia. Judging by my experience on Crete, internet access will probably be limited and when I do have access it will be slow. I’m hoping that I will still be able to update my blog, but I might have to wait until I return to Athens on July 7th.