7/3 - National Museum for Vases and Sculpture, Post Antique Athens

Alarm went off early again this morning, but I was undeterred from heading out to the courtyard/porch area for some calisthenics. I took a lot of time off of working out after frisbee ended this year and getting back into it somewhat feels good. After that it was time for breakfast, but I had to hunt it down because Loring Hall is closed on Sundays. I walked 4 or 5 blocks to Kolonaki square, where I bought two ham and cheese rolls and a roll with part of a sausage in it at a local bakery. Then I headed back towards the school and picked up a delicious fruit tart from a bakery just around the corner. Its ingredients list was essentially pastry, whipped cream, and fruit. I devoured the food and we headed out as a group to the National Archaeological Museum.

Amy was our lecturer for the first half of the morning, taking us through galleries dotted with sculpture but focusing on the evolution of pottery from Geometric to the more Classical. We saw some incredible pieces of pottery, including the two massive Diplyon Vases. These massive vases depict scenes of mourning and were probably used for funereal purposes.

The massive Dipylon Vase.

We also saw tons and tons of lekythoi, which are small vases with a funerary purpose. Although some appear to be large, we saw one cut away that revealed how much of the pot was actually fillable by liquid. Which makes sense if you’re trying to be economical with your offerings to the dead.

After a brief break, we jumped back into another lecture moving through the same galleries with Dr. Anne Stewart, who is one of the few lecturers who actually teaches class in the museum. Each semester, she said, she goes through the rooms, one per class period. While we certainly didn’t have that kind of time, she gave us a brief tour. We started with the oldest sculpture available and worked our way to the more recent. While the details of the talk are interesting, there is really one major thrust that Dr. Stewart pressed. Sculptors are figuring out what the human body looks like. From more stylized creations to the extremely realistic, Greek sculptors show a gradual progress from stylized to naturalistic. Look for example, at the Sounion Kouros and then the bronze of Zeus from a shipwreck off of Artemision. While the Zeus is not perfectly lifelike, mostly due to the proportion of the arms, it’s still an impressive transformation from old style to new in the space of a few galleries.

The Sounion Kouros.

The Artemision Zeus.

When the lecture concluded, we were released to rustle up lunch and generally have time to ourselves before our 4 pm seminar. I walked home with a bunch of people from the group, stopping along the way to buy a sandwich. I ate quickly and went to the Blegen, where I had the first half of this post to write and report to create for our Peloponnese trip. Then it was time for our seminar on post antique Athens.

Bob Bridges was our lecturer about the more recent history of the city. He is a former secretary of the ASCSA before the position was renamed to Assistant Director. He gave us an overview of the development starting when the Greek state became independent in the 1830s. The area outside of the former site of Old Athens was planned and replanned endlessly in the 1830s due to lack of funds before the final plan was decided upon. The city went from a dot on the map of at most 10,000 people to around 160k by 1902 to 500k by 1950 to 4.5 million today. Athens was really chosen by the western powers as a Capitol and barely was known before it was decreed to be the new center of administration.

After the talk, we walked. And we walked. We saw loads of architecturally significant buildings that represented different evolutions of architectural periods in Athens. We ended up over near the Agora. And even though I managed to take a wrong turn on the way back, Luke , Clinton, and I still ate delicious gyros. I also grabbed gelato closer to home (raspberry and chocolate make a good combo) and hung out until Game of Thrones. I've now finished S6. HYPE!

Thanks for reading. Tomorrow morning I'm out in the Agora early but I have the rest of the 4th off. There's even a party tomorrow evening in the garden behind the Blegen.

Thanks for reading. Only 3 days in Athens until we're off on our 10 day Peloponnese trip.