Date: 30 April 2007
Partners for the day: Brooks Smith (text) Ben O’Donnell (pictures)
Sites: Free day
Museums: n/a
Principle Buildings/Monuments: n/a
Time Spent on Sites: n/a
Weather: Partly cloudy
Sparta. The ancient city of Laconia, renowned for its lifestyle of forced hard work, and successful military leadership. Today, we had a free day in which we got to see the modern side of Sparta on our own time. While some indeed saw the “Spartan” side of the city, others saw the beautiful outdoors of the city.
Among us, those who slept late got to experience the restrictions of the Spartan lifestyle, as we woke up to the hotel having no water. We had experienced some hotels which had not managed to exceed ’slightly warm’ for the water temperature, but this was the first hotel which had completely lost all water. Those of us who woke up late were hardened by the experience, though, just as the soldiers of ancient Laconia were hardened by their leaders into one of the most feared military machines of the Greek world.
Others woke up early and found a taxi ride into the mountains of the area, where a long hike could be used to strengthen the legs of the amateur archaeologists. The Spartans required their soldiers to be strong and perpetually ready for battle, and several students of this FSP oblige with a hike up a 2,500 meter mountain. Though the cameras of everyone on the hike had broken or been left behind, the views were apparently fantastic, providing a view of nearly the entirety of Laconia. The brave adventurers had to fend off wild mountain lions, prepare themselves for attacks by the Thebans, and run through the valleys at full speed in formation to scare off the people of other city-states.
This evening, just as the young Spartans became part of the society through symposia, all in this FSP will be united in the symposium of a group dinner. We shall all be forced into one conversation together, to become acquainted with the archaeological society of Laconia in a traditional cafe of the city. Perhaps later, we shall all reach the ultimate goal – to become a member of the archaeological society of Greece and follow in the footsteps of those before us. We shall know how to associate with colleagues in the field, as we excavate new sites throughout the Aegean world, incorporated into the society of the true leaders of the Greek world.
It is one thing to read about Sparta in the textbooks and articles about the Laconian society, but it is indeed another to experience the society first-hand. Though this is the modern society, it is the direct descendant of the Homeric culture, and the closest anthropologically to the ancient society. We arrived in the society seeing our hotel, and not much else. The city is built in a plain between several mountains, isolating it from much of the area. Looking at a map, the city is well-organized, with main streets running approximately through the center of the town and providing the primary locations for the stores of the town. Sparta used to be strictly organized by its militaristic government, but it continues to show signs of the intense organization of the ancient city.
We expected Sparta to have become, in a sense, more like Athens as the democracy of a unified Greece eventually took increasing hold of the city, but Sparta does continue to show remnants of its ancient history and culture. An ancient city, an ancient culture, a culture which will never die. A Spartan culture. Perhaps one day, the hotel will even have running water.
A free day with a paper due right after: where better to see the FSP at work and the FSP at play come together? The night before the free day, we all convened for an FSP game of cards (and not just any cards—these racy numbers display sex acts on classical red figure pottery!) in the Apollon Hotel. Kinsey and Mike start it off.
Pete declaims at length on the vicissitudes of classical Aegean hegemony, while Chris and Kyle pay as much attention as can be expected of them.
Ben makes his tourist face from the hotel balcony, while Mount Parnon looms in the background.
Pete and Lizz look enthusiastic about their free day with modern Sparti and Mount Taygetos behind them. Kyle and Mike tried to scale the mountain, but, irresponsibly,failed to bring their cameras…
Our first order of business on the free day was work-related: to get errands out of the way. Pete was all set to do laundry, but then disaster struck—the entire town’s water supply shut off for a few hours.
Gahl avoided the work/play dichotomy entirely by skipping out of town for the day. Here, he prepares to go.
Searching for blog inspiration, Ben ventured into the surprisingly attractive city to find the FSPer’s sustenance: gyros and internet access. Here, a shot of the palm-lined central boulevard.
Sparta’s plateia, which comes alive at night when the town’s youth court and cavort during the traditional volta (promenade).
Gyros—what we’ll miss most about Greece.
Meanwhile, back at the Apollon, Kelsey and Nick pose as good students, working on their papers in the lobby.
Burning more time while procrastinating the impending paper, Ben takes a detour to the local bar. The olive oil bar at the Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil, that is.
A centuries-old olive press sits unused. The FSPers back at the hotel, surely, are similarly unproductive.
A relatively new museum, the MOGOO’s outdoor press exhibits are still under construction by industrious Spartans.
The folks at Sparta’s Mitropolis (seat of the Orthodox Church here) also take a free day, as today is Monday.
Johann spends the day just completely freaking out.
Caleb, Lizz, Pete, and Brooks pose as European sophisticates. Despite our rigorous schedules, we ultimately try our best to capitalize on our few free moments.
Final Comments:
Despite the FSP’s much-decried “culture of rampant procrastination,” we all tried to beat the clock and motivate each other to get our work done before our communal dinner at 8 PM. Brooks, Pete, Lizz, Caleb, Kinsey, Chris, and Ben spent the late afternoon in Room 314 throwing a Sparti Party. Some worked on the blog, some worked on papers, and some, well, just added to the overall disarray.
