7/25 - Vergina, Mieza, Pella

Necessary terminology: GAS/MoC = Greek Archaeological Service/Ministry of Culture = blanket term for site and museum administrators in Greece even though it's not 100% accurate.

And if you remember where those were used before, that might tell you something about what happened today.

We had to get out of town early this morning and so left at 0715. This precluded a run, but I'm sure I'll be able to get something in while we're in Thessaloniki. The bus ride in the morning was long and let people supplement their sleep with those dozy not-quite-real sleep bus naps. We rolled up to the base of the hill at Vergina while the sun was still low in the sky. After a walk up that yielded a great picture of the plain below the hill, we reached the gates of the site where the palace is being restored.

They do have a great view. The whole plain just sprawls before you.

We walked through the gates and were greeted by some confused restoration workers. They apparently hadn't heard from the Archaeological Service that we would be allowed in, nor did they have an archaeologist anywhere on site. And we had spoken with the Archaeological service earlier too, according to Amy. That level of communication between two services seems...suboptimal.

GAS/MoC: 5
Summer Session II: 0

Anyways, they rebuffed us and we walked back down the hill to the bus. Panayiotis dropped us off in the big parking lot near the tumulus and we walked towards the site, hoping to get an early jump on the museum. The hours of said museum are 0800-2000 every day...except Monday. The Monday hours are 1200-2000. We had no idea that this deviation from the normal hours existed. Undeterred, we made alternate plans. Still, the shutout getting pitched right now is quite impressive.

GAS/MoC: 6
Summer Session II: 0

Our fearless leader quickly adjusts to the circumstances. 

We moved off to a cafe and grabbed a quick coffee while Amy talked about Vergina. The site has pretty strong evidence for being the palace of Phillip II of Macedonia and his son Alexander the Great. He's a little famous. Anyways, the palace is currently under restoration and the museum is over the tombs of the royal burials there. After waiting and a brief trip to snag food for lunch, we got in line for the museum. It moved at a snail’s pace, but we finally got tickets and got inside.

Outside the tumulus. The site is beautifully landscaped. 

Hands down, one of the coolest museums I have ever been to. The gallery is dark, with lights illuminating the fantastic pieces found therein. There's no photography allowed and description will hardly do the treasures justice. For example, there are multiple wreaths of gold, shaped delicately to look like plants. The detailing is so fine you wonder if somehow there is an actual plant inside. The silver alone is priceless. And then you get to go down some stairs to see the Hunting Mosaic, on the front of the tomb where it was found. It's a little surreal. The low light and exposed dirt really set the mood well. If you are ever in the area, go go go to Vergina and the museum there. You won't regret it one bit.

We departed, pushing our schedule further back to compensate for the delays, and set out for Mieza and Talia’s presentation. Along the way, we stopped at the Tomb of the Judge meant and the Tomb of the Palmettes. These tombs, which were unfortunately robbed of their goods, are preserved in situ in these huge she'd like structures. The painting that remains on the facades is striking. In the Tomb of the Judgement, Hermes leads the dead man before two of the legendary judges of the Underworld. On the Tomb of the Palmttes, a couple is shown in a portrait above the lintel. The colors still visible after all this time are incredible. The Reds and blues really stand out among the rest.

Tomb of the Palmettes. Look at those colors!

Facade of the Tomb of the Judges

Then we pushed on to Talia’s site, where we walked up the short path to Aristotle’s Academy. The site was used by the legendary philosopher to educate the legendary leader who went on to do legendary deeds. Alexander spent no more than two and a bit years at the site with his close companions, learning from Aristotle. There's not much left of the site, just the foundations of a stoa and the caves where the pupils at the school supposedly slept. Talia gave an excellent presentation and we wrapped it up with watermelon, which we ritually disemboweled and passed around.

It was hard not to start spouting Homeric simile about the wounds of the watermelon

Our next stop was the Pella museum, where Sally presented on the Pella mosaics. She had us draw one of the mosaics as she talked and our results were predictably comical. There were some gems though, showing the hidden drawing talent of people in the group. The mosaics proper are really quite remarkable pieces of art. The artists accomplished shading with stones, a technique I haven't really seen before. The museum was one of the better museums we've been at thus far. There's an entire row of eleven warrior burial panoplies all in a row. And not poor burials either. Virtually all of them contained gold of some sort. The artistry was exquisite. There was also a very Etruscan-esque reclining figure, which is interesting because the burial was dated to the 6th century BCE.

Just a few of the panoplies. I appreciate the comparative approach taken by the curators. 

Our last stop was the site proper of Pella. The mosaics, were again, super cool. The well planned streets and square blocks showed some superb Hippodamian city planning. We wandered around a bit and made friends with many of the site dogs. Unfortunately there's not a lot of standing architecture at Pella. Once the site was done, we headed for Thessaloniki and the hotel. We have two nights there, then we are back on the road.

Pella. Very excavated. And very flat. 

Thanks for reading.