Computer status: I called the computer depot and they said it should be done next week...when I’m in Northern Greece. Welp. Status quo remains then.
Abi and I hiked up Lykabettos this morning! It was a wonderful morning and the top was quite nice. We saw a very full moon low and bright in the sky and watched the sun come up over the tops of the mountains in the east. Very picturesque.
After breakfast the first order of business was to catch a cab to the Ancient Academy, where Plato is reported to have taught his students. The site is in a park that seemed pretty sleepy while we were there. It’s also out on the fringe of Athens, which made getting there a little bit interesting. The cab driver didn’t know where the intersection of streets was, so we had to walk for a bit to actually get to the site. Fortunately our driver didn’t get lost like one of the other cabs, making them about ten minutes late for the talk. Our lecturer was Dr. Claudia Zatta, who primarily writes about ancient philosophy. However, her discussion of the archaeological site was well informed and very thorough with regards to recent literature.
The site operated during the 4th century BCE and maybe before that until Sulla besieged the city and burnt the sacred grove of olives that was on this site in 87/86 BCE. Over 100 tablets have been found in the excavation, some blank and some with what is evidently handwriting practice on them. This indicates that the Academy was probably a place for younger children as well as the more mature students of Plato. There is also a gymnasium for exercise somewhere on the site. However, the site of the gymnasium is currently disputed. The most recent study by Dr. Ada Caruso argues that the gymnasium is not the currently accepted foundation and is instead located elsewhere. One indication of this is the anathyrosis on the blocks of the previously postulated gymnasium. They have been reused from somewhere else and were set down later than the gymnasium was known to be operating. There are other pieces of evidence as well, which can be found in the full study.
At the end of the talk, we headed to a small coffee shop for a quick break before heading onwards to the National Museum. This was our fifth visit, and our last one listed on the schedule. This time, we looked specifically at large bronze sculptures, guided by Dr. Olga Palagia, one of the foremost experts on Greek sculpture. Dr. Palagia was very straightforward during her lecture. She described several sculptures as “second-rate” based on their craftsmanship and wasn’t afraid to call out opinions about the identification of several sculptures as “impossible,” among other descriptions.
There are two things from the lecture and about bronze sculptures generally that I found interesting. The first is that the reason so few of them survive is that bronze is eminently fungible. That is, it can be melted down back into its constituent metal with relative ease. Most of the surviving bronze we have is from shipwrecks or other underwater recoveries. The second is that Greek museums forbid completely metallurgical analysis of bronze sculptures. It’s unclear why this is policy, but it’s been in place, according to Dr. Palagia, since the 1830s. Which means that the only way to really study the bronze is stylistically and tells us a whole lot less than if archaeologists could actually do proper analyses.
After the talk concluded, I went back to the school for relaxation and lunch. Glenn Bugh graced our table with his presence and we had an interesting discussion about the school and its trajectory going forward. After lunch, it was library time! I got my handout done for my Thermopylae presentation, so now I just need to analyze some articles.
We have a day trip tomorrow to Piraeus and there’s a rumor we get to board a reconstructed trireme. HYPE!
Thanks for reading.
Abi and I hiked up Lykabettos this morning! It was a wonderful morning and the top was quite nice. We saw a very full moon low and bright in the sky and watched the sun come up over the tops of the mountains in the east. Very picturesque.
After breakfast the first order of business was to catch a cab to the Ancient Academy, where Plato is reported to have taught his students. The site is in a park that seemed pretty sleepy while we were there. It’s also out on the fringe of Athens, which made getting there a little bit interesting. The cab driver didn’t know where the intersection of streets was, so we had to walk for a bit to actually get to the site. Fortunately our driver didn’t get lost like one of the other cabs, making them about ten minutes late for the talk. Our lecturer was Dr. Claudia Zatta, who primarily writes about ancient philosophy. However, her discussion of the archaeological site was well informed and very thorough with regards to recent literature.
The site operated during the 4th century BCE and maybe before that until Sulla besieged the city and burnt the sacred grove of olives that was on this site in 87/86 BCE. Over 100 tablets have been found in the excavation, some blank and some with what is evidently handwriting practice on them. This indicates that the Academy was probably a place for younger children as well as the more mature students of Plato. There is also a gymnasium for exercise somewhere on the site. However, the site of the gymnasium is currently disputed. The most recent study by Dr. Ada Caruso argues that the gymnasium is not the currently accepted foundation and is instead located elsewhere. One indication of this is the anathyrosis on the blocks of the previously postulated gymnasium. They have been reused from somewhere else and were set down later than the gymnasium was known to be operating. There are other pieces of evidence as well, which can be found in the full study.
The reused block in question. The working of the surface indicates that It would have been in a higher
course in its previous installation
At the end of the talk, we headed to a small coffee shop for a quick break before heading onwards to the National Museum. This was our fifth visit, and our last one listed on the schedule. This time, we looked specifically at large bronze sculptures, guided by Dr. Olga Palagia, one of the foremost experts on Greek sculpture. Dr. Palagia was very straightforward during her lecture. She described several sculptures as “second-rate” based on their craftsmanship and wasn’t afraid to call out opinions about the identification of several sculptures as “impossible,” among other descriptions.
The Jockey sculpture from the Artemision shipwreck.
A sculpture of Hermes, or a slave, or Hermes as a slave. This is a very confusing sculpture, to say the least.
We have a day trip tomorrow to Piraeus and there’s a rumor we get to board a reconstructed trireme. HYPE!
Thanks for reading.
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