7/6 - Lysikrates Monument, Theater of Dionysus, Propylaia and Nike Bastion on the Acropolis

Woke up early this morning for some light calisthenics with Asia. Then it was shower and breakfast before heading out to the Lysikrates Monument. This tall cylinder, mounted on a square podium, would have been on of many on "Odos Tripodou," "Street of the Tripods," where victors in Athenian dramatic festivals set up monuments to commemorate their victories in theatrical contests. The monument would have been topped with a bronze tripod given to the prize winner. The monument survived largely because it was attached to a French monastery, which led to its use for book storage. There's also a sign nearby commemorating Lord Byron's stay at the monastery in 1810 and a legend that he wrote Childe Harold's Pilgrimage crouched inside the book storage. Melissa gave the site report and did an amazing job. The subtle details of the monument, like the frieze depicting Dionysus, the god associated with the theater in Athens and the inscription detailing exactly who won the prize for best chorus, are completely lost on people just walking by, but Melissa thoroughly explained all the subtleties.

Inscription commemorating Byron's visit.

Then we were on to the actual Theater of Dionysus itself, to hear the site report given by Steve. One thing that Steve really drew out well in his report was that Dionysus had to be "introduced" into Athens because his cult did not originate there. It's a popular misconception that even I had before I started looking into this stuff that the Greeks had all their gods and just worshiped them all sort of equally. Certain gods had more prominence in different cities and not all gods' cults were present simultaneously in the city states. Steve also took us through a detailed explanation of the history of the theater, which like many buildings in Athens saw significant expansion after construction into the Roman period.

Steve presenting in the theater.

For our last lecture of the morning, we walked up to the top of the Acropolis. There we met Dr. Tasos Tanoulos, member of the Greek archaeological service and restoration all-star. We spoke at length about the Propylaia, the building on the west end of the Acropolis which serves as a sort of gate onto the top of the hill. The Propylaia has way more going on than I initially realized. Dr. Tanoulos described the architect as "crazy" and "unique" more than once while pointing out the feats of engineering that make the building like no other on the Acropolis. The techniques and little things that the architect did to put the building on the hill and make sure it functioned properly seem irrelevant, but were the first time some of the techniques have ever been recorded in the ancient world. I was extremely impressed not only by the architecture, but also by Dr. Tanoulos's encyclopedic knowledge of the building and the Acropolis in general.

On the steps of the Nike Temple

The icing on the cake came at the Nike temple which sits on the southwest corner of the Acropolis. Dr. Tanoulos lectured on the steps there, which brought to mind images of students gathered around Socrates to learn. The envious looks of the other tourists were fierce. Then we went into a hatch and down some steps to the old Nike temple, under the current one. The altar of the old temple, in place since close to 500 BCE, is still preserved in situ. Being in the dark, cramped space next to this ancient altar was a powerful experience and the rest of the group was also a bit awestruck.

The ancient altar under the Nike Temple.

Then it was back to the school for lunch. We had the entire afternoon off, which meant that I did laundry and ran errands in preparation for the trip to the Peloponnese. We have an early kickoff tomorrow, with wheels up at 0715 bound for Isthmia.

Thanks for reading. As always, mcartier@uchicago.edu if you want to talk classics.