For those who are reading the blog for the first time, welcome! Due to technical problems I don't have photos right now, but I will resolve those problems by filling in the previous photos on return to Athens. Anyways, on to today.
It was a slightly later morning as we had returned from the theater close to 1 am. Abi and ran back to the same beach as yesterday at 7:45 and enjoyed the amazing water again. The path to the beach is smooth stone that wraps around the bastion of a fort opposite of Palamidi and bordered by these cacti with broad flat...leaves, I guess. Anyways, couples have carved their names into these leaves and on the way back, we noticed at least 10 cacti in a 50 yard span carved with some variation of “Jim love Kathy” or “Jim Kathy,” which was deeply confusing. Why all of those trees? Why were the verbs consistently wrong or omitted? It's a puzzling mystery that will probably never be solved, but I guess I'm used to those, looking at Bronze Age sites and all.
Then we ate breakfast and headed to the Archaeological Museum. The centerpiece of the museum is the Dendra Panoply, the only known full set of its type and a hotly debated example of Mycenaean armor. It was found in a grave too, next to but not on a skeleton. The warrior it was buried with had to be exceptionally wealthy too, as bronze can be melted down and reforged. The question of ceremonial vs. functional has divided academics since the set came out of the ground, and there hasn't yet been a satisfactory resolution of the debate. When we first visited the National Museum, Dr. Jim Wright, Director of the ASCSA, had an opinion on ceremonial vs. functional that synthesized the two ideas in an interesting way. He was talking about swords at the time, but something similar can be applied to the panoply. Essentially, the item is by nature ceremonial because it's an impressive feat of engineering and a huge show of wealth. But it doesn't mean that the user wouldn't just use the item kill you in battl if it came to it. I think that people arguing pure ceremony vs. pure function would do well to consider it in a similar light. Our expert for the set was my trip roommate Luke, who brought some awesome Iliadic references to the table that helped attest that parts of the armor were at least similar to the poets’ (yes plural poets, I'm not trying to start a Homer fight here, move along) imagination.
Luke giving us the low-down on the panoply.
After the presentation, Amy decided to switch things up and released us to find our favorite object in the museum. We regathered ourselves and each person talked about the item they found most compelling as we passed it. I chose two nails from the 6th century CE because they got me thinking about logistical supply chains for construction and how interconnected economic systems would have functioned in the time period. There were also gorgeous ancient amethyst beads that came a close second.
These beads are huge and gorgeous
We had done the museum early and planned to leave at noon so that Panayiotis (I still have no idea what the correct transliteration is) could get the hours of rest legally required for bus drivers. Surprisingly, we were on the road basically on time, which is no mean feat for this group. Our first stop was Tiryns, a Mycenaean fortified citadel on the plain. We met Martina Riedl, a PhD candidate who does research in the area and did us a huge favor by taking time out of the last weeks of her dissertation to go over the site. There are three phases of Mycenaean fortification at the site, creating the Upper, Middle, and Lower citadel. The site had advanced plumbing which Martina briefly described and I will be eternally greatful to the angel who sends me scholarship on the plumbing there, preferably in English (mcartier@uchicago.edu). The site was extremely hot, as we were there just past noon and I could barely find any shade. Then we almost left Eva there and I had to go back and look for her, but fortunately we met up and got back on the bus.
Outside the walls of Tiryns.
The final site was Lerna, known for The House of the Tiles, which is one of the first instances we have, perhaps unsurprisingly, of tiled roofs. Even better, the majority of the site is enclosed by a roof, so shade abounded. Amy gave a brief talk and then turned us loose to poke around. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend too much time at the site because it was closing shortly after we arrived.
The enclosure of the House of the Tiles.
Then it was beach time! We took a short hop down the road to Myloi and grabbed lunch and then some spots on the beach. The water was gorgeous as usual and again, swimming proved to be a great morale boost and end to the day. It's also the first time I've swam twice in a day in as long as I can remember. A+ stop.
Now we're back at the hotel. Probably gonna grab gyros and then gelato in that order. It's a peaceful end to a lovely day.
Thanks for reading.
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