Date:  June 2, 2007

Partners for the day: Elizabeth Stamoulis (text) Kyle Jazwa (pictures)

Sites:  Thorikos, Lavrion Mining District, Sounion

Museums: Lavrion Museum

Principle Buildings/Monuments:  Theater, retaining wall, mine, reconstruction of a washer, and a watch tower at Thorikos; Mine at Soureza; Sanctuary of Athena Sounias; Temple of Poseidon at Sounion

Time Spent on Sites: from ca. 8:00 AM to ca. 5:00 PM [9 hours]

Weather: Sunny and warm

EPISODE 74 

            Thank you for purchasing the DVD collection of the First Season of Survivor Extreme:  Classics FSP in Greece.  You are currently watching Episode 74, “Season Finale.”  In the previous episode, our competitors spent the night mentally preparing for their last day in Greece.  The competition was getting fierce, and each contestant could already feel the prize in their hands:  a one-way ticket to New York City.  Let’s check in with our host, Seth Pevnick.

            “Today is the final day of our competition, and everyone is getting anxious.  For the first round, we’ve divided the competitors into four tribes.  Each will be taken to a remote location in the area of Lavrion, located about an hour outside of Athens.  They will be assigned an archaeological site, at which thy will have to locate and identify several important landmarks.  The two tribes that score the most points will move on to the final round.  Let’s see what they came up with.”

            Tribe 1 (Josh, Mike, Kelsey, Chris—Thorikos):  Thorikos is one of the best excavated rural demes of ancient Athens.  The harbor of Thorikos was fortified during the late part of the Peloponnesian War when the Spartans attacked the fort at Dekelia.  We found a theater dating to the Archaic Period.  It is unusual because, unlike most later Hellenistic theaters, it is not circular, but rather square.  Near it are rectangular cuttings into the stone, which may have been for a storage building for the theater equipment.  A retaining wall forms the back of theater, built around the 4^th century BCE.  We found a modern reconstruction of a washer that would have been used in conjunction with the mine, which dates to the 3^rd century BCE.  Water would have been circulated through the tanks with the finds from the mine, so that the ore would be separated from the unwanted rocks.  Our tribe also found remains of a watch tower from the fortification walls.

             Tribe 2 (Johann, Kyle, Pete— Lavrion Museum and Soureza):  The Lavrion Museum was not supposed to be open to the public, but the curators let us go in for a few minutes to look around.  They had a display explaining how the mines in the area worked, and exhibited the artifacts found there during the excavations.  Early Christian mosaics found in the area were placed in the center of the museum in the floor.  The most interesting pieces in the museum were the blocks from the frieze that went around the pronaos of the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion.  They depict scenes of a centauromachy made out of Parian marble.  When we went to Soureza we found the mines and we could see cisterns from the top of a mountain, but we could not find a way to the washer complexes, which are very well preserved at the site.

            Tribe 3 (Kristina, Ray, Nick, Liz—Sanctuary of Athena Sounias):  We could tell that the plan of this temple was unusual, because, instead of being rectangular, the temple looks more like a square.  The East and South sides had an Ionic colonnade, and since the cella was not perfectly centered, the door was also not in the center.  To the north is another, smaller temple.  There is an altar in front of this smaller temple, which is off-axis and therefore may indicate that there was an earlier temple on the site that would have been on the same axis as the altar.  Although we looked all over the site for more remains of the temple, it was hard to find.  One of the locals said that he had heard that the entire temple had been moved to the Athenian Agora as one of the wandering temples.

            Tribe 4 (Kinsey, Mike, Kelsey, Chris— Temple of Poseidon at Sounion):  The fortifications around the site were built around the same time as those at Thorikos, about 413/412 BCE.  Near the temple are a Propylaion and a stoa.  The temple is built out of Agrileza marble, and it is almost identical in plan to three other temples, the Hephaisteion in Athens, the Temple to Ares in the Agora, and the temple to Nemesis from Rhamnous.  They were all Doric peristyle temples with six columns on the short sides and thirteen on the long, and each column had only 16 flutes instead of 20.  They also had continuous Ionic friezes lining the interior of the pronaos.  This has led some scholars to suggest that the four temples were the work of a single architect.  We were also able to find the inscription of Lord Byron’s name on one of the columns.

            Seth Pevnick:  Well, that was an exciting first round of our finale!  Unfortunately, Tribe 2 had to be disqualified because they did not find the washer complexes.  Tribe 3 was also disqualified because they could not find the wandering temple.  This means that Tribes 1 and 4 will automatically make it to the final round.  This will be a culmination of the entire trip, where they will have to present their Independent Study Projects to the rest of their competitors.  Of the tribe that wins this round, only one member will be able to call themselves the FSP Champion.  Let’s see how it turns out!”

            Tribe 1 wowed the crowd with their presentations.  Josh presented on the spread of Christianity in the Aegean, and Mike followed this with his study on the fortifications of the Copaic region.  Kelsey went third, describing the relationship between Mycenaen art and similes in the Iliad.  The team closed with Chris, who talked about changes in cavalry in the Classical period.  Tribe 2 came back with a presentation on gorgons as the manifestation of earth goddesses by Kinsey.  Brooks spoke about Minoan roadways, and Lizz came next with depictions in Geometric pottery of horses.  They closed with a speech by Ben on Byzantine basilicas.

            Seth considered carefully.  He decided, “All of these presentations were truly exceptional.  Since I cannot prove that one of your Independent Study Projects was better than the next, I will leave it for the group to decide who should win.”

            The contestants looked around, carefully surveying each other.  “Kelsey should win,” they decided, “for without the winning ticket she will never make it to her journalism internship for the summer in New York.”  Kelsey thanked the group with her eyes tearing up, and the competitors looked around, realizing that this would be the last time they would all be together in Greece.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES Cast Interviews              We asked a few of our contestants to reminisce about their favorite moments from the entire competition.  Here is a recap of some of the most popular choices: Riding donkeys in the rain up the mountain on SantoriniCelebrating May Day with the generous Spartans who gave us the delicious food from their barbequeVisiting the Turkish bath

Hiking Karphi on Crete

Visiting the cistern at Mycenae with the group of loud Greek children 

Director’s Notes What If…? 

Pete had never gotten the original mohawk?

None of the hotels in Greece or
Turkey had internet?

The twelve year-old Turkish boy had been able to buy Kelsey?

Kyle had sold Liz for Turkish tiles?

The Herakleion Museum had been open?

Kyle had found the Lost Tholos Tomb of Mykonos?

Kristina hadn’t been around to look after Johann and Gahl?

We hadn’t watched Eurovision 2007?

There weren’t any free days?

DVD Special Feature: Alternate Ending

Seth Pevnick addresses the tribes from behind the theater of Thorikos, “This is an individual challenge, for the title of Ultimate Survivor.  There is a Mycenaean tholos tomb somewhere close by in Southern Attica.  Find it and victory will be yours.”  With the challenge set, everyone immediately broke off and went on his or her own way.

“A Mycenaean tholos tomb!” Kyle exclaims.  “But, Professor Rutter told us we wouldn’t see any more of these.  Gee willickers!  I will immediately depart from the Archaic theater at Thorikos in search of this veritable architectural treasure.”  The theater, by the way, is unlike Classical and Hellenistic theaters because the seats are not arranged in a semicircle around the orchestra.

Sly Seth Pevnick leads the alliance of Kristina Guild, Chris Blankenship and Johann Maradey to a circular stone building in the domestic quarter of Thorikos.  Don’t be fooled, children.  This is not a tholos tomb; these circular buildings have been found all over the countryside of Attica and were originally thought to be towers.  The discovery of similar buildings in the middle of cities seems to disprove this belief.  What were they?  We only know that they aren’t tholos tombs.

The obligatory ‘natural’ pose in front of a museum case (Laurion Museum).  No, Chris Blankenship and Kinsey Stewart, the tholos tomb is not in that display case.

When Kinsey Stewart realizes that the tomb isn’t in the museum, she returns to Thorikos to find it.  “Ahhhhhh!” Kinsey yells, as she gets washed away down the channel.  That isn’t a tholos tomb Kinsey; that’s an Attic washhouse.  The Athenians constructed these buildings near the silver and iron mines in Southern Attica and used water to separate ore from other solids.

Back at Thorikos, Mike Holmes says, “I think the tholos tomb is nearby.  I will unnecessarily climb this one meter tall retaining wall at Thorikos.  Look at that ladder-work masonry in the lower left hand corner.  That must point to the tholos.”  However, Mike doesn’t realize that the wall is from the Classical period and was constructed nearly 800 years after the tholos tomb.

Benjamin O’Donnell searches the silver and lead mines of Laurion.  No tholos tomb in here buddy, but that is some mighty fine ore.  Just the type of ore that the Athenians would have used as a major revenue source during the fifth century BC.

At the Laurion Museum, Kelsey Blodget and Kristina Guild discover that the frieze from the Doric temple of Poseidon at Sounion is carved in Parian marble, much like the marble they (and by they, I mean Kyle) discovered at Paros.  “Maybe we should go there, to Cape Sounion!” Kristina suggests.  Kelsey agrees.

Others follow their lead to Sounion.  Josh Drake takes a moment to look at the foundation of the Temple of Athena Sounias.  But he doesn’t find much of the temple or any trace of the tholos tomb.

Benjamin O’Donnell and Peter Kitlas realize what happened to the once visible temple that Pausanias describes as having been seen by sailors as they rounded Cape Sounion.  “I recognize what happened here,” Peter Kitlas says.  “The Temple of Athena Sounias is a ‘wandering temple’ and was torn down and re-erected in the Athenian agora.”  After this discovery, the boys forget the reason they came to Sounion– the tholos tomb – and they gallivant around, reenacting the ‘wandering temple.’

Frustrated by the search, Christopher Blankenship resorts to violence and throws Peter Kitlas’s body in the harbor of Thorikos.  This harbor would have received shipments of grain for Athens, but today it receives Peter Kitlas.

“Maybe if I stand on the foundation of the cult statue of this little Doric temple next to the Temple of Athena Sounias, the Homeric hero Phrontis, to whom this temple was probably dedicated, would tell me where to search for the tholos tomb.”  Lizz Sigler says.  No dice; she gets lost and does not win.

Kelsey Blodget, Ray DiCiaccio, and Liz Stamoulis travel to the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion to search for the tomb and stop for a quick photo-op.  Clearly, they are not committed to the search.  The Doric, hexastyle temple was constructed in the middle of the fifth century.

Apparently, even the English poet Lord Byron thought that the tholos tomb was at theTemple of Poseidon at Sounion.  He carved his name into the antis of the temple.  It seems doubtful that Lord Byron ever found the tholos tomb.

Kristina Guild storms the fortification walls at Sounion to try to take the rest of the group by surprise.  However, she gets tired from her hike through the thorny brush and never makes it to the temple or the tomb.

Kristina Guild joins Johann Maradey, Kinsey Stewart and Kelsey Blodget for lunch at the beach and quickly gives up on the search.

They carry the R-and-R to the beach.  Do they seem dedicated to finding hidden Mycenaean tholos tombs?  Definitely not.

Ray DiCiaccio returns to Thorikos to find the tomb.  He learns that the tomb is on the mountain at Thorikos, but gets sad when he sees a fence blocking his way.

Nick Ortiz waited at Thorikos for everyone to come back.  The most unlikely of winners, Nick discovers the tholos tomb.  Nick says, “Tholos tombs are in the hearts and minds of all Greek FSPers.”  He poses in the tomb and rejoices his victory.

Johann Maradey comforts Ray DiCiaccio because of Ray’s near victory.  Ray DiCiaccio is convinced that Nick Ortiz’s cheesy discovery wasn’t the real tholos tomb.  Readers: Ray was right.  The real tholos tomb was on the mountain.  However, no one except Kyle Jazwa wanted to hike and find it.  Bad form, FSP.  Bad form.

Final Comments:

Everyone has enjoyed our eleven weeks in Greece, but we are also eager to return to America.  Many of us will be spending the summer working at internships or on-campus for Sophomore Summer.  Although we will all go our separate ways for the next three months, all but one of us will be back on campus for our Junior and Senior years.  Kristina is graduating with the rest of the Class of 2007 in less than a week, but we hope that she will come back to Dartmouth to visit her old FSP friends.

Kyle wishes we could blog every day of our lives.  He says, “I’m sure Caleb would love that.  We could all blitz a blog entry to him each day during the summer and he could post it on the web.  Sound good?  Alright…”

Unless the rest of the FSP takes Kyle up on his offer, this will be the last blog entry of the trip.  And so we say to you, dear readers, in case we don’t see you…“Good afternoon, good evening, and good night.”

            “Sit in the square in the fashionable Kolonaki district of Athens for an hour and count the number of V-8 Jeep Grand Cherokees that drive by.  Do you know what the base sticker price for one of those is here?  $125,000.  Ridiculously expensive and completely useless, especially with gas prices at $5 a gallon.  So why do so many Greeks buy them? [Silence from FSP group.]  Because they’re cool.”  With this explanation, today’s guest lecturer Prof. Steve Diamant of the American School right here in Athens illuminated a simple phenomenon we often lose sight of in our high-flown bloviation about this type of archaeological artifact or that historical occurrence: plenty of what the Greeks said, did, and made have little more reason behind them than that they were pretty darn cool.  Put another way, there were many complicated cultural factors that determined why, say, the Greeks built the Parthenon or wrote so many tragedies, but you can be sure these things wouldn’t have been done if it had been considered uncool to do them. 

            Prof. Diamant’s Jeep-counting experiment was used specifically to shed light on why we have excavated Cycladic-style pottery in the Marathon area.  The finds, in the Marathon Museum, are ever-so-slightly different than the pottery of actual Cycladic provenance and seem to have exemplified what Prof. Diamant told us is called the “Louis XIV Effect”: just as Europeans monarchs everywhere in the 17^th and 18^th centuries couldn’t get enough Louis XIV-style interior furnishing for their own palaces, Bronze Age Greeks, for a short while, were just crazy about Cycladic pottery.  The imitation Cycladic ware here at Marathon affirms it: Cycladic was the new black.

            So travel back into antiquity with me as I journey around Rhamnous and Marathon, armed with only a Blue Guide, the expertise of Prof. Diamant, and a devastatingly snarky wit, to determine who and what were “in,” “out,” and “sooo five minutes ago” in their own times.

Simple funerary stelae: five minutes ago. 

You think that having a grave marker that measures less than three meters across is cool?  What century are you living in, the 6^th BC?  Please.  As the high society ladies and gents of Rhamnous will tell you, when it comes to funerary monuments, bigger is better.  Take a walk along the road leading to the sacred enclosure where the temples of Nemesis and Themis are and you’ll see what’s hip nowadays: large-scale monuments to the (fashionable) deceased, with architectural flourishes, sophisticated sculpture, and inscriptions to let the world know that these certainly was not just the tombs of some nobodies.

Nemesis/Themis: in.

Who says the goddesses of righteous anger and of law and custom are minor?  You wouldn’t know it from visiting Rhamnous, where there is a magnificent temple district honoring both of them.  The 5^th c. BC Doric temples in marble and limestone are fitting for two of the more unsung goddesses in the Greek pantheon, and it’s about time they’ve had their due.  Nemesis especially, who brings down mortals who get a little too full of themselves, is an especially handy goddess to have around in the 5^th c. BC, when egos are running amok during and after the Persian War.

Persians: out!

Ugh.  Who would want to be seen hanging around with these Babylonian buzzkills?  After the Attic support of the Ionian Greek rebellion against Persian rule in the late 6^th c. BC and the Greek destruction of Persian temples at Sardis, the Persians sailed across the Aegean to try take revenge on the puny but scrappy Athenians in 492 BC.  The first time they tried, those losers lost all their ships at sea.  Two years later, they sailed over to Attica again and arrayed something like 24,000 men against 8 or 9,000 Athenians and Plataeans on the Marathon plain.  After a few days of hesitancy on both sides, the Athenians charged and reached the Persian lines before their effete archers could even get arrows into their bows.  The Persians then fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book of military strategy: they were lured into the weak center of the Athenian battle line, allowing the Athenian wings to descend on them from both sides and wreck their forces.  Running away into the marshes, the Persians were made to look like complete pansies in front of the forces from two little Greek city-states.  Final score?  6,400 Persian dead to 192 Greek.  So much for the mightiest empire in the world!  Hey Persia, maybe you should send even more armies to Greece and see how that works out!  Time to rethink your cocky attitude, because as anyone who is anyone knows…

Hubris: five minutes ago.

…it isn’t even cool anymore to have unwarranted pride in your so-called abilities!  The Persians were so confident of impending victory at Marathon that they actually quarried an enormous chunk of marble at
Paros on the way over, from which to make a victory monument.  Oops!  It made for a very convenient Athenian statue of Nemesis though.  Perhaps the Persians would have benefited from a visit to the Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnous themselves.  However, while we’ve all seen the folly of foolish pride here, you never know when hubris will be in again.  The Athenians have been acting like pretty hot stuff in the wake of the battle.

Miltiades: so in!

Here’s a general whose star is really on the rise.  Women want him, men want to be him (and probably want him as well—this is ancient Greece after all!).  One of the ten generals of the Athenians, Miltiades succeeded in persuading Callimachos the polemarch to attack the Persians and then led the Greeks to victory.  And the Ionic columnar monument in honor of the man’s victory?  In the words of Prof. Diamant, “Themistocles, eat your heart out!”

            So there you have it: the men and immortals to see and be seen with, the “what to do” and the “what not to do” of Classical Attica.  Join us next time, when we give the scoop on Grecian gadfly Herodes Atticus and the tough guys of the Spartan army—where were they on the plains of Marathon?

Napping is today’s theme. After a long ISP week and little sleep, everyone is exhausted. Here Kelsey takes advantage of a 10 minute break at the site of Rhamnous, our first stop of the day, to nap on the steps of what is thought to be the ancient temple to the goddess Nemesis.

The site of Rhamnous offers breathtaking views, especially looking out across the water Of Aghia Marina to the island of Euboea nearby. Kinsey takes photographs of the water. Meanwhile, Chris studies the layout of the cut marble blocks that make up the 45m platform on which the remains of the temples of Nemesis and Themis stand.  

Ben, Chris and Johann sit on an ancient cistern, which supplied the whole sanctuary with water.

Kyle is all smiles as he helps our visiting lecturer Professor Diamond by holding up a map of the area for us all to see.

After our visit to the sanctuary we make our way to the site of the ancient town of Rhamnous. It is a ten minute walk down a rocky road from the sanctuary to the town.

As always I am fascinated by the plants and critters on-site. These white flowers are common at many of the sites we visited on the FSP. They remind me of giant snow flakes and host many different kinds of bugs. This silver and black bug is one I have not seen before.

The group walks back toward the bus after visiting the acropolis of Rhamnous.  

Johann lingers behind the group to take in the stunning views from the acropolis. He is looking toward Euboea. The Blue Guide describes Rhamnous as “one of the least spoilt sites in Attica.” We are all impressed by the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, the whole site is not accessible to the general public, because there is a shortage of site guards.

On our way back to the bus, Professor Diamond calls our attention to the meticulous construction of retaining walls at Rhamnous. The great care taken in building these walls gives us an indication of how important and wealthy the ancient town must have been. Kinsey, Liz and Kelsey pose in front of one the retaining walls of the sanctuary.

Our next stop of the day is the Marathon Museum. Several people need a quick bathroom break before our tour of the museum. Everyone else waits on the front steps. 

Inside, Professor Diamond points out the important topographical features of the area on a map, in preparation for our visit to the site of the Battle of Marathon.

As we pass by an exhibit devoted to the site of Marathon, Kyle pretends to be the god Pan. According to ancient sources Pan played a decisive role in the battle, which favored the Athenians. Nick steps into the frame to give us his signature wave.

Professor Diamond presents key aspects of the pottery assemblages in the museum’s collection.

Here, Professor Diamond explains the significance of a large ionic column fragment. This column would have held up the victory monument of the Athenians after the Battle of Marathon. It is likely that the victory monument was made up of the arms of fallen Persian soldiers.

Nick tells Kinsey what he knows about the Egyptian god Horace as they examine a representation of the god from the Egyptian sanctuary at Brexiza. The sanctuary was founded in Roman times on a small island at the centre of the Little Marsh, south of the plain of Marathon.

While we were in the museum, our bus driver went to repair the bus’ hydraulics. These repairs took a bit longer than expected. Several people took advantage of the down time to nap. Nick, Kyle and Ben nap on the stone wall of the museum compound.

Kinsey, Liz and Kelsey have the same idea as the men. But, they choose instead to nap in the shade.

 
Marathon! Our final site for the day is the location of the giant tumulus in which the fallen Athenians were buried after the battle. First, we sit in the shade while Professor Diamond shares his insight on the battle and the ancient sources who recorded it.

Respectful as ever, Kyle uses his treasured chunk of Parian marble to erect a victory monument to the Athenians. He also marks a moment of silence…

Stimulated by Professor Diamond’s talk about the Battle of Marathon, Nick, Josh, Chris and Mike continue the discussion of how the battle unfolded.

Final Comments:

Everyone is exhausted. Finally, the ISP has been completed and handed in to Professor Rutter for his evaluation. Throughout the day many people had difficulty staying focused, but Professor Diamond was very patient with us as our neurons crept along. Tomorrow is our last field trip of the term. Hopefully, after a full night’s rest we will all be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Date: May 31, 2007

Partners for the day: Johann Maradey (text) Gahl Rinat (pictures)

Sites: American and British School of Classical Studies

Museums: none

Principle Buildings/Monuments: none

Time Spent on Sites: 2 hours (4-6 PM)

Weather: Hot and Sunny

A really tired man once said, “I’m exhausted.” Eighteen Dartmouth FSP participants once said, “Dude, we’re exhausted.” Right after they said, “Dudes, where are there printers?”

I’m sure the preceding paragraph makes no sense to our avid blog readers, but let me inform you all that the preceding expressions have become familiar to us all. Why, you ask? We’ll, 2:00 PM this very day was the deadline for our so called Independent Study Projects. Independent they were, we had no friends while we were writing them. For the sake of privacy and efficiency everyone went their own way. Some stuck together, but for the most part everyone departed from Mykonos on the morning of May 24^th for different parts of Greece (except Athens, no body wanted to go back to Athens, except Prof. Rutter).

A group of six, Kyle Jazwa, Gahl Rinat, Johann Maradey, Kristina Guild, Kinsey Stewart, and Kelsey Blodget, stayed on Mykonos for the 6 days. Despite Mykonos’ reputation as the prime party spot in Europe, the members of this 6 person party had their own festival to attend. It consisted mainly of homemade dinners, occasional visits to the beach, and early wake ups. As with any good festival, the end was the most exciting. Five of the six stayed up all night, worked through a boat ride, a bus ride, and short train ride in order to finish the paper just in time. Similar stories abound from other corners of Greece. Since these stories are too complicated to tell here, below are some brief quotes from others in the group:

“It was wicked fun”

-Ray DiCiaccio

“My feelings are very mixed. It was cool, seeing the pyramids and all, but parts of it were also the low points of the trip.”

-Josh “I spent my ISP break in EGYPT” Drake

“I’m not ready to talk about it.  It’s been hard for me.”

-Chris Blankenship

“My ISP break consisted of my hotel room and the only two restaurants open in Aghios Kyrikos on Ikaria.”

-Liz. Stamoulis

“Lots of writing and sitting. But the eating was delicious and so were the breaks at the beach (the nude beach!).”

-Kelsey Blodget

“Let me talk to you later, I need to sleep.”

-Johann Maradey

“Let me put it this way, I was so stressed that one day I ate 4 bags of chips for lunch.”

-Lizz. Sigler

The past week was the culmination of 3 months of intense research, and about a year of anticipation. Some people hammered (this means typed maddeningly fast in Dart-speak) out 10,000 or so words in several days, others did so in a more healthy manner. Whatever the case, everyone handed in (or are planning on doing so) specific reports on a topic of their interest, and which should have proved to be exciting. This of course varied—some people had exactly 38 or so pages, while others had up to 129. Either way, once the project was done the second challenge was to find a place to print it out. Most fulfilled that challenge, but some are still working on it. I’m sure there will be several people still trying to print their ISP tomorrow.

Upon arriving in Athens several of us went with Prof. Rutter to the Weiner Laboratory at the American School of Classical Studies and the Fitch Laboratory at the British School of Classical Studies. When we entered the American school, the atmosphere was immediately laid back and friendly. Dr. Sherry Fox began the discussion immediately as if she were speaking with fellow classicists. At the British school, we were greeted with handshakes by the director and offered snacks (almost like tea time). Despite being funded by specific countries, each school employs a large number of Greek and Turkish archeologists of varying specialties.

If you feel as if this blog has in some sense been incoherhent, then I have been successful in expressing to you all the general feeling of the group. Live long and pray that no ISP’s come your way.

May 31. 2007. Greek Standard Time: 11 00. Time ISP Paper Due: 14 00. Private Maradey puts the finishing touches on his paper. Go Johann, go!

May 31. 2007. Greek Standard Time: 12 30. Time ISP Paper Due: 14 00. ISP paper due date approaching. Kristina gets lost in a sea of trees at the subway station. “Where am I?” I don’t know Kristina, but with the paper coming up, my only advice is “RUNNNNNNNNN”.

May 31. 2007. Greek Standard Time: 13 50. Time ISP Paper Due: 14 00. A familiar scene by now. Prof. Rutter and Caleb arrange the rooming assignments at the Pan Hotel. Our favorite receptionist assists them in this miserable task.

May 31. 2007. Greek Standard Time: 15 00. Time ISP Paper Due: 14 00. The paper has been turned in! Prof. Rutter, Kinsey ’08, Kristina ’07, and a few others hit the streets in search of labs. Others stay in the room and sleep. Some begin partying at 14 01. Most importantly, as we say in Hebrew, “what was, was was, was was”.

May 31. 2007. Greek Standard Time: 15 45. Time ISP Paper Due: 14 00. The site of today: labs. Our group visited both the labs at the American School and the British School. Although this photographer did not participate due to sleep deprivation, those that went commented on the “cool” techniques, interesting explanations, and good-looking employees.  

Not much happened today. Only five photos are needed to really capture a day that involved transportation and recuperation. But having turned in our last academic assignment in Greece, some began to reflect on the trip. I would like to name this next series of photos “the times of Greece”. This photo: The Good Times – Kristina ’07 drives me down windy mountain road on a moped in Paros.

  The Bad Times – Ray ’09 tries to wakeup after a not so delicious breakfast in Istanbul. Early wake ups presented a serious obstacle to most members of the trip at various points.  The Pretty Times – Assos. Arguably the most beautiful site we visited in terms of the surrounding scenery. As a Brit would say “simply spectacular”. As Prof. Rutter would say “notice the topography”.  

The Ugly Times – Johann ’08 gets dominated in arm-wrestling by our Turkish tour guide Yildirim. Life sucks sometimes Johann. Deal with it

 The Funny Times – Kyle ’08 shows his “sexy pose” off in front of Hagia Sophia. Kyle, please show more respect in the future when visiting Islamic countries.  

The Sad Times – Kitlas ’09 sadly signs a piece of paper trying to protect some Roman Bath complex in Turkey that might be flooded by a new dam project.  The Crazy Times – How many Greek people can you fit into a VW bug? How many Greek people can you fit into the Museum at Mycenea. Apparently, a lot! 

The Mellow Times – Prof. Rutter eats a cookie while Mike ’08, Chris ’09, and Josh ’08 eat there own munchies. Relaxing in a field near Nemea, the group takes time too cool off before a race later that day.

The Healthy Times – Johann ’08 explains to Kinsey ’08 the merits of eating yogurt. Johann, yogurt may be better than some foods, but eating any dairy product with your finger is bound to get you into trouble one day. Who raised you?

  The Sick Times – “Kristina, ya dead man?” “Ya man!” Kristina does not feel well after a day in bed in Thessaloniki. I am glad to say that she made it out just fine, but at the time she wasn’t looking so hot.  The Short Times – Johann ’08 hops on for a quick train ride. His evil grin shows that Johann was meant to be a train robber from an early age.  

The Long Times – Caleb smokes in frustration when he finds out that we must wait three hours for the boat from Santorini to Paros. What he forgot, is that Greeks work on Greek time. The Non-Academic Times – They say that the French men and Blond Americans of Athens know how to live life. Here yours truly and Lizz ’08 successfully show the rest of the group how “gangsters role”. 

The Academic Times – Another site in the Argolid. Ben ’08 may take notes but Kinsey ’08, Liz ’08, and Brooks ’08 know what academics is really all about.

 Oh the Times… – Prof. Rutter and yours truly take a photograph together in Turkey. Any trip for three months has its ups and has it downs. But man, was this a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  

 

Date: May 23, 2007

Partners for the day: Brooks Smith (text)  Pete Kitlas (pictures)

Sites: Delos

Museums: Delos Museum

Principle Buildings/Monuments: Delphian Temple, Athenian Temple, Naxian Colossus, etc.

Time Spent on Sites: from ca. 8:30 to ca. 13:30 [5 hours]

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Back home at Dartmouth, they just had Green Key Weekend. For those of you who don’t know, this is basically the spring term party weekend, when all the fraternities and sororities throw large parties with dancing, concerts, games, and general raucous. Interestingly, the students of the Classics FSP thought, this falls very close to the time that we are on the party island of Mykinos. Needless to say, we took advantage, and discovered that we are indeed in a small world. Yesterday afternoon, Chris Blankenship, Mike Holmes, Pete Kitlas, Ben O’Donnell, and Brooks Smith started off this partying atmosphere by taking the bus out to the well-known Paradise Beach. While there, we ran into a Canadian group that we had just seen on the island of Santorini a few days ago, who just happened to take a similar route to us through the islands. After enjoying the music from the beach club for a couple hours, we returned to our hotel.

Soon afterwards, most of us on the FSP, including Professor Rutter, headed out to what turned out to be a delicious Italian restaurant. There, a man walked up to our table and greeted our professor, who was quite surprised to see an old friend: a Ph.D. student he knows. After paying our nicely group-discounted bill, some returned to the hotel to do work, but most headed out to the famous club scene in the city.

The largest group, which included the writer of this blog entry, started out at the Bar Down Under (yes, it was indeed quite Australian), and then later moved on to the Scandinavian Club and Disco, where we danced the night away. While dancing, however, we had an interesting surprise; Ben O’Donnell had his Dartmouth class shirt on, and was spotted by a young woman … who turned out to be a Dartmouth alum from the class of 2002, on vacation with her sister. Just as surprised as we were to randomly see fellow Dartmouthians in a small club halfway around the world from out Alma Mater, we formed a Dartmouth dance circle and partied away. We finally returned to the hotel in staggered groups between 1:30am and 2:15am.

On a slightly more academic note, today we visited Delos, an entire island of nothing but archaeological remains. Two months ago, the island would have absolutely captivated us, but now it is merely an interesting place with a lot of the same things that we’ve seen before, though several quite new things. It was the heart of the Delian League, the grand “alliance” of the Athenians. The site was all-inclusive, with everything from a museum to a cafe all on-site on the island. It even had recently-added signs to explain various parts of the site to visitors, a rarity on French-excavated sites.

This is the last blog entry for the next seven days, as we now turn to some time for us to (hopefully) finish our independent study projects and/or go on vacation. While a large group is going together to the island of Paros in order to work on a quiet beach, most people are going out on their own to various parts of the Aegean. Below is a list of those places:

-Kelsey Blodget, Kristina Guild, Kyle Jazwa, Johann Maradey, Nick Ortiz, Gahl Rinat, & Kinsey Stewart: The crazy group here will be renting an apartment on the island of Paros together, eating cheap food cooked by themselves, and enjoying the beaches of that beautiful Cycladic island. Oh yeah, and finishing those 10,000-word papers.

-Chris Blankenship: Another ISP break, why not stay in the same place you stayed in before – especially when it’s free! Chris found a friend in a Christian lady located just outside of Athens who apparently makes delicious home-made food. There, he shall complete his military-themed paper.

-Josh Drake: This insane young man finished his ISP during the first ISP break, so this break is a true vacation for him. Sick of looking at ancient Greek ruins, he shall be flying over to Cairo, Egypt, and looking at all the ancient Egyptian ruins there.

-Mike Holmes & Ray DiCaccio: Remember all those climbing urges that we’ve been telling you about Mike holding back? Well, he’s not holding back any longer! He’s bringing Ray along to the island of Kalymnos in the Dodecanese, where they shall be scaling as many rock walls as they can find … and have time for in-between finishing up their papers.

-Pete Kitlas: One of the people who will be traveling with an academic purpose, Pete shall head off to the islands of Syros and Tinos in the northernCyclades. There, he will hunt down churches which he will observe. I hear there are also nice beaches here.

-Ben O’Donnell: “Wherever’s cheap,” he says. Ben shall be traveling to some yet to be determined island in the area where he can plant down and finish up that ISP. Later on, he may meet up with other people who are still in the area.

-Lizz Sigler: Still a bit unsure as to how her ISP break will shape out, Lizz will probably be going to the beautiful Cycladic party island of Ios, and then later possibly meeting up with Pete Kitlas on Syros or Tinos.

-Brooks Smith: The writer of this blog entry will be heading to Sitia, in eastern Crete, where he will base himself in the company of beautiful landscapes and beaches, as well as much better Greek food, on this southern island. Nearby, there are also the palaces of Palaikastro and Zakros, where he can observe more Minoan roadways.

-Liz Stamoulis: The only real Greek on this FSP, Liz will be traveling to her family’s home island of Ikaria, just southwest of Samos in the Dodecanese, and having a working vacation there.

-Caleb Chaplain: Ah, our dear Teaching Assistant. He has nothing to do for the next week! Or does he? Caleb will be living vicariously, going wherever the winds, and the beautiful men, wisp him away.

-Professor Rutter: How could we forget our dear professor? He will spending four or five days back at our home base in the Pan Hotel in Athens, and then moving out for a couple of days to meet with colleagues at Messenia, before returning to Athens and being greeted by the smiling faces of his students one more time.

As we are all separated during this independent study project period, blogs will go on hiatus. Blog entries will resume for their last three days on Thursday, May 31^st, when we reconvene in Athens, hand in our final ISPs, and wait as Professor Rutter and Caleb Chaplain grade our papers … all 600 pages of them.

The last day before our ISP break could not be complete without a little adventure.  The island of Delos, which was the only site on our itinerary for today is a perfect place for this.  It is an archaeological island which means that there is only archaeological remains on the island; nothing else.  It is basically an ancient ghost town.  On our way to the boat Josh Drake and Lizz Sigler ran into what they thought was a Pelican statue.  However, when it started to move they became a little scared.  

Before boarding the boat, Professor Rutter hands out the tickets to the group.  Here Liz Stamoulis cautiously takes a ticket with a distinct feeling that something fishy is in the air today.

Land Ahoy!  Kinsey Stewart, Lizz Sigler, and Chris Blankenship sight the island of Delos from the bow of our boat. 

Professor Rutter briefs the crew before we begin our tour around the island.  The dark clouds were gathering, the wind was picking up, and there was a slight mist coming down.  Professor Rutter told us that today we should not merely look at the remains, but visualize what the sanctuary would have looked like.  He suggested human models as a good way to do this. 

Gahl Rinat inspects a sign at the Stoa of Phillip V of Macedon.  This type of signage is new to the site as it was not here two years ago.  This is helpful because before visitors would need to pay for a guide or read a French Guidebook to have any understanding of the site.  It seems that now they are trying to lure individual tourists and couples to the island without guides.  

Heeding Professor Rutter’s advice, Mike Holmes stands in the statue base of the Naxian Colossus and recreates the monument.  While Mike Holmes gives it his best effort he cannot stand up to the grandeur of the actual statue which stood nine meters high. 

In an equally playful manner, Ben O’Donnell recreates a giant bronze palm tree dedicated by Nikias.  This giant palm tree eventually fell down and hit part of the Naxian Colossus.  Watch out Mike Holmes!

Ray DiCiaccio acts frightened after encountering the Monument of the Bulls.  After all of the weathering it is almost impossible to make out the actual bulls.  Little did we know, but all this mockery was going to get us into trouble.

As we exited the sanctuary and made our way to the high end housing, we passed the row of lions.  This is a very picturesque place, but something seemed a little fishy today.  The lions had some sort of life in them that we had never seen in statues before.

Chris Blankenship and Josh Drake confirm our suspicion of the lions.  While in the museum we were able to get a closer look at them.  We could see there veins pumping and then they began to move!

SUPER RUNAWAY!  The lions are after us.  After the constant mockery and attempts to recreate statues, the statues have become humans.  They have decided to gain revenge by chasing us down.  Brooks Smith leaps over blocks in an attempt to escape the wrath of the lions.

Kinsey Stewart tries to camouflage herself so that the lions do not recognize her as human.  Here she is pretending to be the head of the Naxian Colossus.

Professor Rutter tries a similar tactic.  However, he attempts to blend into the pelvic area of the Naxian Colossus.  Unfortunately for Professor Rutter, his pelvis is not quite as large as the Naxian Colossus and the lions have caught on.  

The group starts climbing up the hill to find shelter in an abandoned house.  The walls are fairly strong as they have been preserved three and a half stories high.  I think an attack from stone lions might make them crumble though.  Here we stopped only briefly to think of our next step.

Luckily we had Kyle Jazwa and his rope.  Johann Maradey, Gahl Rinat, and Ben O’Donnell watch in anticipation as Kyle measures the water depth in a basin at the house.  Unfortunately, it was almost ten feet deep.  We realized this would not make an ideal hiding place from the lions because we would be forced to tread water. 

The group decides to make our way to the highest part of the island: Mount Cynthus, which rises 350 feet above the island.  Hopefully, the higher ground will give us some advantage in fighting off the ravage beasts. 

At the top of the mountain Kelsey Blodgett stands in confusion.  “What are all of these rock piles doing here?” she exclaims. 

Josh Drake, Kyle Jazwa, and Ben O’Donnell decide to build a stone tower as a last attempt at warding off the attacking lions.  Fortunately, this was the key to the mystery.  As soon as the tower was complete, the lions froze and became lifeless stone. 

The group that made it up to the mountain raises their hands in the same style as a Minoan Goddess with upraised arms.  Unfortunately, the group did not seem to learn the lesson today and still decide to mimic ancient artwork.  Hopefully none of us will step foot on Crete anytime soon!

“GO TEAM VENTURE”.  I’m not quite sure why they do that, but after a mystery is solved Kinsey Stewart and Lizz Sigler always like to have a short victory celebration. 

Final Comments:

As we approach the end of our time together on this FSP, we look back and see an amazing time that we’ve shared together, filled with hundreds of archaeological sites, great parties and movies together, and huge amounts of Greek cuisine – especially those fast-food gyros. As we prepare to go our separate ways over this ISP break, it’s like a preview of what’s to come; we shall see each other occasionally on campus, but we will likely never again spend so much time together as a group. We all look forward to getting home to our other friends, families, and places where we will no longer need to live out of suitcases, but yet there is still a sense of sadness as we prepare to end our FSP together. One thing is for sure, though, despite the love that all of us share for antiquity, none of us will be able to look at many more archaeological remains for a while without losing our Parian marbles.

 

Date: May 22

Partners for the day: Kinsey Stewart (text) Lizz Sigler (images)

Site(s):

Museum(s): Paros Museum, Mykonos Museum

Principal Buildings/Monuments:

Time Spent on Each Site:  from ca. 9 a.m. to ca. 3 p.m. [6 hours]

Weather:  Overcast, humid, light drizzle

Another grey day in the supposedly-sunny Cyclades has passed, and our parkas continue to get more exercise than our sunglasses (practical or ridiculously European).  Our FSP seems to be cursed with poor weather these past few days, no doubt a direct result of our continued failure to offer the proper sacrifices at the plethora of temples we visit.  Should any of the blog readers feel so inclined as to offer up a hecatomb to the gods asking for sunny days and cool breezes on our behalf we would be most appreciative, as we foolishly forgot to pack a spare hundred oxen or so with our luggage.   

As we continue our island hopping, our schedule has been dictated in equal parts by the weather and by oft-unreliable boat schedules.  Witnessing the great hubbub involved in getting from one island to another with the modern ferry system Greece is so reliant upon makes one wonder at how things would have worked in antiquity.  As radically different as the two would have been, on certain basic levels very little has changed.  In the tightly-clustered Cyclades, ferry routes tend to hug shore as they move from island to island rather than boldly striking out into open ocean, and while the “speedjet” we boarded for our 40-minute cruise from Paros to Mykonos was full of modern conveniences, something in the galley-like arrangement of the passenger seating made it apparent that should the engines come to an unexpected halt, oars would be handed out and we would be rowing into port trireme-style.  It is doubtful, however, that ancient Greek marauders would have played tinny, ice-cream van versions of “The Blue Danube” over terracotta loudspeakers to warn passengers that the boat was pulling away from the dock. 

The question of exactly how and when the Greek islands were settled and populated is one that is still heavily and enthusiastically debated, as the answer may prove key to understanding early human movement by boat in other parts of the world.  On display in the museum at the port city of Paros are finds from the earliest Neolithic settlement in the Cyclades.  What is most striking about these artifacts, however, is not their date of origin, but what their forms can tell us about the people who made them, as many of the pottery shapes find their closest contemporary analogs not in the Greek mainland but in south-western Turkey. 

Standing on the shore and looking out over the water to the low mountain ridge that marks the next island over, it is easy to understand how the human need to push on, to explore, could have been cultivated in a place like this.  Standing on the deck of a ship, feeling the wind, the spray of water, and the sudden, intimate knowledge of the immense nature of the sea and one’s own relative smallness and insignificance in the face of its unfeeling power, it is hard not to marvel at the guts of the first homo sapiens who hollowed out a tree trunk and intentionally pushed forward on such a voyage.

Despite Poseidon’s rumblings and the worrisome grey cast to the sea and sky, we made it to our final port of call in one piece.  We will need all of our human sense of exploration if we are to safely navigate the streets of our latest destination, however.  Mykonos is a mad maze of white-washed buildings, blue shutters, and faux-cobblestone streets.  Trees covered with blooming pink and white blossoms stand guard over this labyrinth, haunted more by tourists than by Minotaurs.  Making our way back from the museum on the shore up the hill to our hotel was a tentatively-partaken adventure full of wrong turns and desperate glances to the side for landmarks.  Most of us have made it back, but the organizing of search parties is not yet out of the question.  Further sacrifices may be required to ensure the safe return of those addled by the liquid entertainment of Mykonos’s famed beach and club scene. 

Leaving the Hotel Francisco, Kinsey is attracted to the rental ATVs and reminisces about riding them back in Arkansas.  In the background a cruise liner to Mykonos pulls out of the harbor.

The Paros harbor is filled with fishing boats.  Watching the local fishermen making nets and taking care of there equipment is an everyday sight for local Greeks, but pretty intriguing to us.

At the Paros museum, Chris takes a picture of a geometric pot discovered in the main cemetery of ancient Paros.  This pot, along with the one behind it, is from the 8^th century BCE and contained the ashes of dead warriors.  The unique scenes of mounted fighters are of particular interest because they may be evidence that warfare on Paros, and perhaps on other Cycladic islands, was different than we originally perceived.

Battle of the acroterial sculpture!  In the middle of the 6^th century BCE, experimentation in the iconography used for acroterial sculpture was taken.  The Gorgon and the Nike faced off, with Kyle and Nick each picking a side.  In the end, the Nike won and became one of the common acroterial decorations along with the tripod, disc, and floral ornamentation.  Sorry, Kyle, there is no way you could defeat that angelic face.  Nice try though.

Yowzers!  Caleb gives quite the stare as he fans out the money he’s collected from the group.  We each had to pay for our hotel rooms individually.  When we first arrived on Paros we hotel hunted and found the place ourselves.  Let me tell you, collecting money from 16 students and 1 professor is not an easy task.

Since the Cyclades has decided to be nonconformist this year, giving us inclement weather instead of the usual bright, sunny skies, Kitlas soaks up the only rays he can find by the pool.  The beautiful sunset is almost an adequate substitute for the real thing.

A storms a brewing.  Nick gives his usual hokey wave in front of the windmill at the Paros harbor as we board the ferry.  Behind him clouds gather and we all pray to Zeus that the rain will avoid us so we can go to the beach.

On the boat we are all forced to sit in our assigned seats, despite the fact that we seem to be the only ones on board.  Caleb, Ray, and Ben get saucy as I try and take a picture.

Beautiful Mykonos!  The glorious island we’ve been hearing about since the trip began, yields nothing but clouds and a light rain shower.  Here groups of people huddle together under umbrellas in the harbor.

Gahl and Kyle play volleyball with their rainbow bouncy ball while we wait for our ride to the hotel.  Oh, you zany kids, quit making a scene.

What’s that strange creature!  A pelican lands on a nearby truck and our T.A. freaks out a little.  Lucky we snapped a picture before it flew off.

Aw, Mike, you look so happy to be here.  The beautiful Mykonos landscape stretches behind Mike as he sits on the wall in front of our hotel.

At the Mykonos Museum, Ben, Kyle, Kinsey, and Kelsey look at the famous Mykonos pithos portraying the Trojan War.  The neck of the amphora contains a scene of the Greeks within the Trojan horse and the body contains scenes of Greeks doing terrible things to Trojan women and children.  Nothing brightens your day like pictures of people being impaled.

Oh my God!  Guys, get out of the Trojan horse.  Who do you think you are?

Usually I comment on the on-site signage, but today we found bizarre signs on the boat, the streets, and in the hotels instead.  Starting from the center and moving clockwise we see a “Removal of Signs” sign; a shackling “Passengers Stay Seated” sign from the ferry; a “I Don’t Know What the Heck This Ferry Sign is About” sign; a “Hard Guy” sign from the hotel lobby; a “Pretty Unsubtle” sign from a local Mykonos club, a “B-side Hotel” sign from our hotel; an “Drink and Sail” sign from the ferry; and, finally, an “Embarkation Station” sign.

On a more serious note, Kristina had to go to the hospital today and was diagnosed with a respiratory infection.  Thankfully she came back to us safe and sound with a cool party favor, an x-ray of her lungs.  Here, she gives us a look at her innards.  Ew!

It’s the end of the day and time for the beach.  Several people need to stay behind at the hotel to give oral presentations, but roughly a third of the FSPers make it to Paradise Beach.  As you can see, the name aptly describes the location.

Brooks, Mike, Kitlas, and Blankenship arrive and stake their claim in a couple of lounge chairs. 

Although the beach is hopping, the boys decide it’s a good idea to work on their journals before they go swimming or fall asleep in the sun.  With plenty of 20-something girls around, this is a difficult task indeed.

A beautiful end to a beautiful day.  The sun sets over Mykonos as the FSPers prepare to go out to dinner.  A feast of plenty awaits them, for Mexican, Chinese, and Italian restaurants are abundant here.  We are all pretty sick of the monotonous menus we’ve been finding elsewhere.

FINAL COMMENTS:

Along with our plague of bad weather, The Plague and a barrage of other illnesses and minor injuries have caught up with our FSP.   Shy now of the finish line by just under two weeks and with our second ISP week looming before us, Murphy and his accursed law seem to be having his way with us.  Scalps have been burned, feet have been bitten by spiders, fluids have been booted, and blood has been coughed.  The last one resulted in a chest x-ray for Kristina, who has fortunately been given the all-clear by the Mykonos public health system, who did the exam and x-ray for free.  Thumbs up to them from Kristina.  The rest of the afflicted continue to eschew island cuisine in favor of soup in order to facilitate the healing process.  On the plus side, as the day faded (and after much of this blog was written) the sun came out again, promising glorious days on the beach to come.

Murphy’s Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

While sitting on the beach at Kolimvythres today, it occurred to me how relevant Murphy’s Law has been to the past few days of the program. I was in a state of rather chilly relaxation, waiting for a single cloud to pass and give our stretch of sand the little bit of sun it needed to become a perfect paradise of the Cyclades. Two hours later, the cove was still shrouded in shadow and my patience was wearing thin. Some group reasoning followed, and with the same power of collective intelligence which both Athenian democracy and desperate Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestants relied upon, we determined that the cloud was forming directly over the northern section of Paros, being carried by wind currents towards the north, and immediately dissipating no more than a kilometer or two out to see. The end result was a frustrating little umbrella of water vapor, locked into the perfect position to shield the best beaches of Paros from glorious sunlight and allow the rest of the island to bask in warmth and happiness. Of course, the cloud dissipated as soon as we made our departure for the small town of Naoussa, which I might add, was delayed an hour due to a little boat stranding us by leaving ten minutes earlier than scheduled. Since when is public transit ever early? I guess it all just goes along with the trend of getting poured on in Santorini, having a delayed ferry due to a mysterious “accident,” ATMs which don’t dispense cash, and the plague which has been constantly ravaging the group and today took Liz, Kyle, and Johann out of action.
Bad luck aside, Paros is certainly a nice island with a number of interesting sites and an illustrious history. For millennia it had been famed for its esteemed white marble, out of which were fashioned such great works as the sculpture on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and Napoleon’s tomb. It was the export of this excellent stone which ensured Paros’ prosperity from the Early Cycladic period onwards. Although we did not have the time to visit the ancient quarries, evidence of the material’s abundance is everywhere. One perfect example is provided by the kastro of Parikia, which was built by the Venetians in 1260 A.D. Its wall of gleaming marble blocks, many of which were robbed from the nearby Temple of Demeter, makes a striking appearance. Even if much of the wall is composed of spolia, the use of marble as a fortification building material is evidence that there is no shortage of it on the island.
The two other sites we visited in our walk around Parikia were also rather impressive. The first was an ancient cemetery, which has been monumentalized by its excavator with high walls and a rather elaborate fence. Sadly, that fence is getting a bit rusty and the once notable signage is rapidly becoming unreadable. However, this does not detract from the great finds discovered within, which we will see tomorrow in the archaeological museum. Originally excavated due to threatened development, the site was found to yield remains ranging from the 7th century B.C. to late Roman times.
What the cemetery lacked in terms of visual stimulus was completely made up for by Panagia Ekatontapyliani, a magnificent cathedral dating to 326 A.D. The name literally translates as Our Lady of the Hundred Gates. Although such a number may be a bit exaggerated, the multiple-building complex and its surrounding portico certainly do not fail to impress. Once again local Parian marble showed up in construction, most notably in the columns of Agios Nikolaos, the central church. Unfortunately, our bad luck continued to follow us, and we choose to visit on what may very well be the only Monday of the month with mid-morning services. We were thus unable to get a close look at the interior of Agios Nikolaos, and had to content ourselves with the imposing Baptistery and courtyard instead.
The final and most dramatic academic site of the day was to be found at Koukounaries, a rocky acropolis near the town of Naoussa. Getting there was rather an adventure, involving a very crowded bus ride across the island, a short hop on a boat across Plastira Bay, and a fun scramble up a boulder field to the beautiful viewpoint at the top of the hill. Koukounaries is notable for its continuity in settlement from Mycenaean to Geometric times, the transition between which would have been a very bad period indeed to be alive. The combination of a massive systemic collapse and Dorian invaders brought about population declines of up to 90 percent in some places. The settlement is thus identified as a refuge, a place where people could have lived without fear of being suddenly overrun by wandering bands of warriors. Although the hill is low enough to make a practical location for a town, it would certainly be easy enough for a relatively small number of defenders to dispatch with a group of thugs struggling up the slope under the heavy weight of armor and weaponry. Perhaps its inhabitant managed to avoid the bad luck which has lately failed to release its icy grasp on the heels of the FSP. Let us hope that Mr. Murphy chooses to relax with the rest of the group on the warm, enticing, and oh so liberal sands of infamous Mykonos tomorrow. Until than…

The group welcomed the sunny weather early this morning – a nice change from the weather we experienced on Santorini. Krisitina came well-prepared for either sun or rain today.

After several days of “vacation” on Santorini, the group is struck by a wave of exhaustion early in the day. Now is this due to the sun, the time or the return to an archaeological site?

On our way through the city of Parikia, we saw a worker cutting some marble for the curb. Something tells me the ancient Greeks didn’t do it this way.

Gahl does his best impression of Mike as he scales a spolia-filled Frankish defense wall.

I think this must be where they got the colors for the Greek flag: the whitewashed city and the blue sea. Liz tells me that I’m wrong, but I don’t believe her.

Even our resident “guy who always knows where he’s going and never ever gets lost” (Josh) can become confused in the labyrinthine streets of the Cycladic cities.

One of the largest churches in the Cycladic Islands is here in Parikia. It is known as the Ekatondapyliani or “The One Hundred Gated.” There is an interesting legend associated with the building: the church was designed by Isidore of Miletus but was built by his student Ignatius. It was such a beautiful building that Isidore became extremely jealous and fought with Ignatius on the roof, from which both of them fell to their deaths.

Liz and Kelsey stand in the upper balcony of the Ekatondapyliani looking down on the service taking place below. Today was the Feast Day of Constantine and Helen, so there were services being held in both churches that we visited today.

After our tour through Parikia, the group headed off to the city of Naoussa by means of a very crowded bus. The trip was justified by a visit to a Mycenaean site but the real destination was the beach.

All around Paros we noticed that many of the stray dogs were exceptionally fat. As you can see from Kelsey’s expression, this dog was not only fat but also incredibly ugly.

From Naoussa we took a boat to get to the Mycenaean site (and beach!). Caleb was very excited about this trip to say the least.

I was also pretty excited to be heading off to the Mycenaean acropolis of Koukounaries. It had been a while since we saw a Mycenaean site; some of us were experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

Kristina, Gahl, Kelsey and Kinsey hike, climb, and scramble up the rocks to the Mycenaean acropolis. It was probably the most climbing we’ve done yet – as opposed to simply hiking up a hillside. We almost lost Chris on several occasions.

Sadly the clouds rolled in soon after we arrived at Koukounaries. (Murphy’s Law of the FSP #1: If there’s a day at the beach, it will be cold and cloudy.) “If you stare at the clouds, your eyes will shoot photons at them, and they’ll move.” Or so claimed Pete.

Here the group (or what remained of it by this point) stands at the Mycenaean acropolis with our next destination (the beach) far below in the background.

The group lounged around for much of our time at the beach because of the clouds – Pete wasn’t doing a very good job of moving the clouds around. A few people still attempted to catch some sun, though.

Apparently Gahl didn’t do so well in high school physics – and he must not have spent much time around see-saws either. Getting off the chair while Kristina sat on the end was (according to Kristina) “the dumbest thing Gahl’s done… today.”

The sun peaked out for a minute or two every once in a while – a few members of the group dared the water (and it actually wasn’t too bad).

Murphy’s Law of the FSP #2: Once we leave the beach, the sun will come out. Nick, Ben and Pete hang out on some medieval fortifications, taking in the sun.

Kyle and Ben show off a piece of Parian marble that Kyle and Johann picked up when they visited the quarry.

FINAL COMMENTS:

Today was a day of fragmentation. We lost Lizz at the start of the day – she was feeling sick and stayed behind at the hotel. As the group headed off to Koukounaries and the beach, we lost Kyle and Johann because Kyle was also feeling sick. Kyle ended up making a speedy recovery, and they rented an ATV. While the group relaxed at the beach, they cruised around the area visiting a Hellenistic tower, the Parian marble quarry, a prison, a landfill, a shanty town and a monastery. Gahl and Kristina splintered off from the group after we left the beach. They rented a moped and rode around for about four hours. We also lost Caleb at the beach somehow… We began the day with 18 FSPers, and we finished with 12 on the bus ride back to our hotel. Now we’re all back safely and the ATVers and moped-ers are taking a group of us to dinner on the outskirts of Parikia.

This morning we were greeted with a rather pleasant surprise—sunlight. We have all be repeatedly lectured in Hanover on how dry this country is, and our experience over the past month and a half has confirmed our esteemed professors, so naturally we all were looking forward to a sun-filled week of frolicking in the Cyclades before committing ourselves to finishing our beloved ISPs. With our first two days thwarted, the sun creeping through the blinds on our windows was a welcome gift.

As our bus to the dock did not leave until noon, we took advantage of a morning off to relax and have a leisurely meal. Most of our number went to Mamma’s, a place known for delicious pancakes, eggs, hash browns, bacon (real bacon, a treat we have not had since we left the States), Heinz ketchup, American maple syrup, and an old lady called Momma who says “Momma loves you, babies” and promised to cut her hair into a mohawk like our esteemed Pete Kitlas before she dies.

While the buses on Santorini have thus far been timely and have managed to avoid being stuck in the middle of the road like those we took on Aigina, we nonetheless managed to have another incident with our travel. Our boat was scheduled to leave at 1:00, but at 11:00 the dock received word that there were problems with the boat and it would not be able to make it to Santorini and take us to Paros until 5:00. However, things being the way they are, the powers that be neglected to inform anyone until Professor Rutter went to the desk at 1:15 and asked how late the boat would be. As a 5:00 departure would put us on Paros at 10:00 or later and we have to find hotels upon our arrival, this was widely considered unacceptable. Fortunately, Professor Rutter was able to secure passage on a faster boat that would get us to Paros at roughly the same time as our original transport. Unfortunately, we were left with a few hours to kill in the very small port. Some of us played soccer, others napped on the concrete, others worked on papers and presentations, some chose to take advantage of the sun to dry yesterday’s wet clothes, but we all managed to find something to do.

Our boat finally arrived at the time it when it had been scheduled to depart, and after a swarming horde of tourists disembarked, the horde of tourists to which our group found itself amalgamated swarmed aboard the ferry. Unlike the voyages of the ancients who we have chosen to study, our trip was uneventful; sadly, we neither were boarded by pirates nor were our nautical skills tested by a character-revealing storm. Instead, we gave presentations on the art and architecture that we saw a week ago at Delphi, read, napped, and worked once more on our beloved ISPs.

Upon disembarking in Paros, a swarm of hotel proprietors flocked to us, all seeking to lure us into their fine establishments. Breaking off into groups of four, we investigated our potential lodgings for the evening. Remarkably, we were able to find beachfront housing for fourteen euros a person, and we happily piled into the hotel’s van and settled into our lodging for the next few days.

Our hotel was extremely happy to have our company; a half hour after our arrival they called us all down into the hotel bar and gave us a free round of ouzo, an alcohol made from the fourteenth pressing of grapes and flavored with black licorice.

After our free drinks, we wandered forth to find dinner and the evening’s entertainment. Our intentions were to enjoy a leisurely meal before finding a place to dance and relax.

It is remarkable how much finding a fellow native English speaker can excite us. After two months together, most of us are desperate for conversations with people a little different than the average Classics student. Fortunately, tourist season has begun, and we have begun to encounter more and more American and British travelers. It is a breath of fresh air. As Johann said, “It’s interesting to see what sort of travelers you meet, to hear their perspective on the culture we’ve been living in.” We’re all feeling a bit disconnected from home, from being able to interact with anyone we meet on the street.

Today was one of those “transportation days”. Basically, we did very little. My aim in taking these photos is not to recap the day but rather to reveal the idiosyncrasies of each character in our group. In addition, some photo captions will begin with a saying representative of that character. All comments are meant in humor and should be taken with a grain of salt. Let the games begin… “Professor Rutter, look at this bug. Species of beetle number 48759423. It’s quite peculiar, wouldn’t you say?” – Kristina Guild ’07 loves nature, bugs, and photos. But in this photo she lays peacefully in bed not yet ready to begin with today’s activities

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10 – Josh ’08, our resident Christian, has a puritan sense of time. Despite his visible frustration the rest of the group lags behind. Ms. Drake, you raised a son who always knows how to get to the front.

“Dude, like dude, dude, dude, dude, uhhhh, why are girls even in this blog entry? It’s HARD GUY HOUR!” – Nick ’08, our resident “man”, has no shame in revealing his identity. No shirt, no visible hands, and no shame are his code of conduct.

“I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE GREEK FOOD. Guys, seriously, we need to spend every single second, minute, hour, day in Athens at the Noodle Bar” – Kelsey ’08 has a certain sense of style. Witty comments alongside with girly cravings, she knows how to sip her smoothie with true posh.

“I’d like that. That’s nice. I’m doing fine” – Ray ’09, our resident “nice guy”, never has any “beef” with anyone. A little kitten, he must also have a secret sharp nail.

“Notice the ashlar masonry, differential treatment, and topography. I submit…” – Professor Rutter ‘1900, our resident “old papa”, always takes a peak into holes, even if they aren’t archeological.

“This stuff is EXPENSIVE” – Mike Holmes ’08 manages to save money by not falling into tourist traps. He also enjoys climbing onto everything. “Monkey-ing around”, Mike jumps onto Chris ’09 to satisfy his needs for the day.

Lizz ’08 chills with a Mythos beer while waiting for the boat to Paros. Rolled up jeans, a good drink, and sunglasses remain her perennial trademarks. Keep up the good work Lizz, you sure know what carpe diem means.

“Oh my god, like, that’s SOOOO crazy” – Liz ’08 throws a funky look after some obnoxious comments made by males sitting around her. Liz already has a reputation for being strong, throwing looks, and fluctuating her pitch.

“ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz” – Ben ’08 demonstrates his capability to sleep in almost any location. Ben knows that work-hard play-hard also means sleep-hard. But how hard is a slab of concrete to sleep on?

“Clown who is not a clown but on second thought really is a clown” – Kyle ’08 sustains this grin while expelling his comedic satire onto members of the trip. Lesbian polygonal masonry, Prof. Rutter’s neck, and nipples are among his favorite topics.

“Oh, that reminds me of a story. Once…” – Kinsey ’08 LOVES to tell stories. In fact, she tells the same stories multiple times. But with her enthusiasm they provide free entertainment every time. Notice Santorini in the background.

“Olive groves are where it is at!” – Caleb ’08 smokes a “cig” on the boat. Famous for getting grouchy at late arrivals, late blog entries, and even late soap operas, Caleb gives the impression that he lives life like a Swiss watch. I will let others be the judge of that.

“Uhhhh…… ummmmmmmmmm” – Brooks ’08 likes to say things in his quirky sort of way. He also disassembles laptops for fun, always carries around a thirty pound backpack, and has taken more photos than the rest of this trip combined. Basically, don’t mess.

“Did you finish your paper yet?” – Chris ’09 stresses while working on his journal entries. This may be because he cannot find words to describe those war heroes that he knows so well. But hey, we all have difficultly finding words to describe certain people.

“How should I prank my next victim?” – Pete ’09 masterminds many of the small pranks that have been pulled on this trip. Fidgeting his fingers he plots the next few. Hopefully I will not be a victim again.

“Dude, this is phenomenal. It’s amazing. Like, Leonidas was here.” – Johann ’08 always uses powerful language. In this photo, he points with his finger towards the “incredible” apple pie he just had.

Ray ’09 and Kyle ’08 throw the “make-out” eyes at one another while eating the same noodle strand. “Friends, friends, friends, we will always be. Whether in heather or dark stormy weather its Greek FSP to keep us together.”

XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXo – translated into English: 16 kisses. This photo is for all the mothers, girlfriends, and potential girlfriends out there.

Final Comments

Our hotel was filled with some interesting individuals. There was the standard assortment of tourists, but in addition there were the two young women from California, one of whom was traveling about Europe after a year in college and the other was on vacation before spending the summer working in Naxos. The most interesting individual was a worker at the hotel who had a voice so raspy even Caleb and Professor Rutter had issues understanding his Greek. Unfortunately for those of us who are easily startled, he had a tendency to appear from nowhere and send tremors down our spines.

Since the release of the first itinerary, many on the Classics FSP had circled “Santorini” and the subsequent Cyclades in anticipation that they would represent the highlight of the trip. And while the excitement of Santorini has probably met expectations for some, it has probably been in a much different context than originally envisioned. To be sure, however, our time here has been quite an experience; almost wholly unique from our stints in Crete, Samos, Turkey, or mainland Greece.

Immediately after stepping off of the plane yesterday, a chilling wind and a spray of rain whipped students in the face and put many in a state of discomfort that derived as much from the disorienting shock of even a light rain as from the physical unpleasantness of the rain and wind itself. Hitherto now, the FSP had been free of precipitation except for morning drizzles in Sparta and our first day in Athens. Yesterday and this morning, however, opaque clouds, brisk winds, and a light sprinkle slightly dampened spirits and our experience in Santorini. This morning’s visit to Ancient Thera and trip to the beach were all canceled because of the weather; an unprecedented occurrence on this FSP.

In lieu of seeing most of the original works of the famous frescoes of Ancient Thera, students went on their own to the Petros M. Nomikos Conference Center to see a collection of 1:1 scale reproductions of the paintings. The Theran frescoes are unique for their remarkable state of preservation and the styles of the compositions themselves. Paradoxically, their preservation – and also of the entire sites of Ancient Thera and Akrotiri for that matter – is vitally attributable to the colossal volcanic eruption that obliterated Santorini c. 1500, the ashes from which were said to have blanketed the sky as far as China “turning the days into night.” Women and active animals – including an abundance of sheep and goats, which Kristina Guild ‘07 can confirm are highly rare in the vast majority of ancient Greek art – play a prominent role in the majority of the frescoes; motifs that are not as prevalent in the later Archaic and Classical art that the students have most frequently encountered on the FSP. Also unlike the Archaic and Classical artwork, the styles of the paintings are highly varied and do not seem to conform to any distinct rules or canons as their successors of a millennium later did. Accordingly, the individuality of Theran art has made our visit to Santorini quite academically unique.

Students were free to explore Santorini the remainder of the morning and early afternoon, and many were most immediately struck by the island’s distinctive geography and architecture. An idyllic sea of white and blue edifices carpets the dark brown terrain of the island, which would perhaps not be nearly as spectacular were the earthen color not clearly a product of the ubiquitous volcanic rock. But it is, and, as such, there is an excitingly mysterious quality attached to a landscape that would otherwise be perhaps bland and depressing. It has also been exciting to finally see the abundance of white arches and blue-domed churches advertised as “Greece” by every travel agent and manufacturer of Greek postcards (They’re coming. Just be patient. The post office usually closes before we return home from class.) Although these postcards are sold everywhere in Greece, we have only actually encountered this architecture here in Santorini. The stone roads are also peculiar to Santorini. The wide spacing of the small, uneven paving stones renders small wheels, such as those on suitcases, frustratingly useless, as many of us discovered yesterday.

Other students perused Santorini’s shopping area, which, like the rest of Greece, features souvenir shops, gyro stands, internet cafés, and restaurants. The souvenir shops were not particularly abnormal for Greece. However, experiences elsewhere were unique for many on the trip. Most who had gyros for lunch reported back with high marks on their tastiness, portion size, and cost. It has been a while since many of us have found any gyros that differ in character other than in cost, so this was a welcome change for many. Others chose Mexican food for lunch – as for dinner last night. Prior to yesterday, we had not encountered a single Mexican restaurant in Greece. Three have already been spotted just during our limited travels around a small section of Santorini, which excited many on the program.

Deceived by the reasonable prices at the gyro stands (a rough estimate of the cost of consumer goods in a given area of Greece), several students tried their luck at the internet cafes. Today’s ‘blog author was blindsided with staggering fees of 2.00€ per 15 minutes for use of one cafe’s internet. Regrettably, a tolerable 15-minute need-purchase quickly became a 45-minute slap in the face. Santorini’s 8.00€-per-hour Lava Café wins the prize for most unreasonable internet prices encountered in Greece, and it is painfully far from the roughly 0.50€ per hour Turkish prices.

Copious tourists have been a staple of virtually every major site we have been to, particularly in recent weeks, but on Santorini, the tourist population seems to dwarf the entire citizen population. Presumably, our perception is skewed by our proximity to what seems to be the central, or at least a major, tourist area. However, the quantity here is staggering, and the concentration of affluent Americans seems to be considerably higher than elsewhere. Reports of American foolishness have inclined many on the trip to prefer to be seen as scholars of Greece rather than tourists of it, much more so than previously. At the Lava Café, today’s ‘blog author overheard one college-aged individual ask a friend how to spell “Greece”. There were similarly silly reports of other poor representations of America, but that one takes the cake.

After our long morning of relative freedom, we embarked on our afternoon’s adventure to the volcano on the neighboring island of Nea Kameni, and it would be difficult to convince today’s weblog author that the experience this afternoon was not the most memorable one of the entire FSP. On account of the conditions, Professor Rutter mandated that we put away our flip-flops this afternoon in favor of hiking boots, questionably alleging that our safety would be at risk walking around the slippery slopes of Nea Kameni with tractionless footwear. The mutiny that had been brewing among the discontented students was quelled, however, when students realized how much more preferable boots were to sandals during their descent to the harbor down nearly 900 wet steps lined with the dung of donkeys.

Perhaps the weather was a blessing in disguise during the early afternoon, as, in its dissuasion of other tourists from bearing the outdoors, it allowed us to be the sole visitors to the volcanic island. For the vast majority of students, the visit to Nea Kameni was their first experience with a live volcano. (Note: The parents reading today’s ‘blog can strike the image from their minds of students dangerously walking around the slippery rim of the volcano’s mouth and leaning over the volcano’s lip to get a better glimpse of its molten, reddish-orange interior. There was unfortunately no such open pit of lava on this volcano; rather, its surface was completely covered with cool, solid volcanic rock – and white, fluffy bunnies.) Even climbing Karphi could not come close to matching the exhilarating uniqueness of traversing the interior of a volcano whose résumé boasts one of the most devastating eruptions in human history.

After an hour of exploration and rock-throwing, we returned to the mainland of Santorini. The day’s adventures were seemingly over until we were inundated with a torrential rainstorm midway through our ferryboat ride. Despite the whipping rain, all of the students except for two chose to ride via donkey-back back up the steep hillside; Ben O’Donnell ‘08 and Peter Kitlas ‘09 chose to ride in the warm, dry luxury of the nearby cable cars. During our ride up the steep incline, the wind and rainfall intensified to the point that Brooks Smith ‘08 believed that it was hailing. A river of fecal matter punitively rushed over the ankles of the donkeys that had produced it in the first place. Kristina, Professor Rutter, Johann Maradey ‘08, Kyle Jazwa ‘08 – the least fortunate of the FSP’s donkey-riders – were forced to dismount their steeds and ascend the hillside trudging through the vile stream because their donkeys were too unstable to support them. Despite being certainly one of the most physically unpleasant experiences of the trip so far, the donkey ride became surprisingly enjoyable once students stopped fighting the rain and simply found humor in the absurdity of the situation. For most, it might very possibly be the experience of the FSP that we most vividly remember years from now.

Months ago, most of us probably could have guessed Santorini might be the most memorable site on the trip, and the peculiarity of the experiences on the island has made it a likely candidate for such an honor – albeit in a considerably different context than originally imagined. For all of its uniqueness, however, Santorini could not differentiate itself from the rest of the stops on this FSP by making any of the students any less homesick than we had been in Crete, Turkey, and mainland Greece. Not even a river of fecal matter or an expensive internet café could change how much we miss you, loyal reader.

Γειά σας!

Με αγάπι,
Νίκος

Apparently you cannot park your donkey outside of the Nomikos Conference Center. Kinsey is mindful of the warning, although no one in the group has yet seen a donkey. The sign proves to eerily foreshadow later events of the day.

The group was disappointed to miss the amazing frescoes from Akrotiri in the Heraklion museum, and was glad to get a look at the Nomikos museum’s incredible reproductions. Kyle, sporting a somewhat recently shaved faux hawk, looks at a fresco from the series depicting an initiation ritual involving shaving heads. It looks familiar to him. The naked boy in the fresco holds a bowl to catch the clippings, however—a step that members of the group forgot until the angry management at the Parnassos Hotel in Delphi reminded them.

The morning’s inclement weather meant the itinerary had to be slightly altered, and members of the group were free to visit the Nomikos museum at their leisure. Since no photography was allowed inside (with the exception of the illicitly taken picture above), Ray, Josh, Kyle, Kinsey and Liz decided to reenact them in the corridor leading to the museum for your viewing pleasure. On the left, Ray imitates a monkey, Josh and Kyle imitate the boxing boys, and Kinsey and Liz imitate the saffron pickers.

With free time to wander about town, Gahl pauses to kiss a blowfish.

Donkeys! While climbing hundreds of steps down a cliff to the Old Port to board The Princess ferry, Nick and Johan encounter a few furry brown friends.

At the port, Nick discovers he is famous, apparently for making Authentic Greek Jewelry. At least he’s not in Turkey making Genuine Fake Watches.

Just like The Titanic, The Princess has never before carried passengers. Gahl celebrates her maiden voyage by pretending to fly at its helm. “Do you trust me, Gahl?” Johan asks. “I trust you,” Gahl says, and Johan holds him steady.

An optimistic Nick brought only a knapsack full of his most treasured possessions for the voyage to a new land. The ominous clouds make one hope he remembered his umbrella.

Oh, no! Captain Hook has commandeered The Princess and captured Tinkerbell!

Phew. Gahl takes hold of the wheel and saves the day. But where will he steer the ferry?

Gahl lands at a small, seemingly uninhabited volcanic island. A terrifying creature—either a Martian or Mohawk-sporting veloci raptor—leaps from behind a rock and proves this is not the case.

The island’s veloci raptor population keeps the population of fast-breeding rabbits at bay.

Kristina breathes deep from the sulfuric gases of the Nea Kameni volcano in an effort to cure her pesky Bronchitis.

Not everyone found the gases quite so soothing. The strange fumes emerging from fissures in the earth made Liz Stamoulis start prophesizing again. Kyle, Johan, and Ray act as her tripod.

The gases certainly did seem to make people act strangely. Before long, members of the group turned against one another. Josh and Mike fight to destroy each other with volcanic rocks.

Is that Josh’s infamous orange hat on Brooks’ head? No, it’s fire! Brooks is on fire! The volcano is erupting!

Ray and Gahl pee onto the volcano, dousing the fire and saving everyone’s lives.

Once arriving back on Santorini the group decides to ride donkeys up the cliff in lieu of taking the cable car.

No one expected the downpour that ensued, and everyone arrived at the top of the cliff wet through. This photographer learns that it is surprisingly difficult to take pictures riding a donkey uphill in the rain. Most of those attempted did not come out well. Fortunately, the photographer’s fleece protected the camera and the rest of the day’s pictures.

Brooks and Liz say goodbye to their mules and head back to the hotel. The group will have to literally wade through the streets before finally reaching their hot showers and dry towels.

Final Comments: If I were a betting man, which I’m not, I might be inclined to guess that it was in fact the sorcery of Professor Rutter – not random chance – that caused today’s weather. You see, this past fall, I, the author of today’s ‘blog text, had proposed an Independent Study Project in which I would analyze the historical evidence supporting Santorini as the site of Plato’s Atlantis. Professor Rutter scoffed and disapproved of my fancy, and I graciously accepted his opinion. Today, however, on our one day to explore Santorini – my one day to uncover evidence for the lost city of Atlantis – the weather was curiously inclement after months of dry, pleasant conditions. Then, around 8 PM, precisely when most ferryboats begin shutting down operations, the weather even more curiously cleared. This seems to me to be clear evidence for Professor Rutter’s tampering with nature in order to save himself from me and what would have been ground-breaking discoveries. It is a sad day when anyone is willing to put protecting his own reputation over the advancement of the field to which his life has been dedicated. A sad, sad day, indeed.

To cap off our eight hour bus ride south from Thessaloniki to Athens yesterday, our group marched on this morning to the scenic Cycladic island of Santorini. Benefiting from not leaving Athens until 12:30 aboard out Olympic Airlines flight, much of the trip took the extra time this morning to sleep in. Our departure from the Pan Hotel and transit to the Athens International Airport went quite smoothly. Having taken the subway multiple times as a large group, much of the moving around Athens has become routine.
The events of the morning were highlighted mostly by airport security taking water bottles, and various forbidden items. For most of the trip the week here on the islands was pictured as a great highlight filled with sandy beaches, loads of free time, and sunny skies to match. What greeted us however, was literally an average spring day. A few drops of rain here and there, a cool breeze, and cloudy skies—what they don’t show in travel brochures or the postcards being sent home.
Enroute to our new hotel, we visited the Museum of Prehistoric Thera in order to see several of the artifacts discovered from the digs at Akrotiri and the surrounding areas. Pottery, wall paintings, seal rings, and gold figurines filled out most of the collection. Almost as if doing penance to the academic gods, our short trip to the museum brought with it a few rays of sun and blue sky.
The momentary uplift provided by the weather, though, couldn’t keep conversation to the immediate days ahead, but rather what we all were missing about American was on our minds and tongues. In the spirit of sharing what we are looking forward to enjoying upon our return to the States in less than three weeks, we compiled a list of what we miss most about America.

Warning: The following list is in no particular order and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the author, Prof. Rutter, Dartmouth College, or each and every member of the FSP. In specific instances the identity of the individual has been released in order to appeal to the feelings of people at home, or to indicate strong individual longings. Any reproduction, distribution, or discussion of this list could result in our deportation from Greece for not loving all its cultural features. Read on at your own risk.

What do we miss most about America?
1. 2% milk
2. Not living in hotels
3. Chicken noodle soup
4. Mac ‘n cheese
5. Daytime TV
6. Using a kitchen
7. Available reliable wireless internet
8. Noticeable traffic laws
9. Ranch dressing
10. High school graduation (Kinsey)
11. Fraternities and Sororities
12. Peeps candy
13. Pancakes with real maple syrup
14. Tropicana orange juice
15. Trees taller than Blankenship
16. Driving a car
17. Riding bikes
18. Climbing (Mike)
19. Mexican food
20. Asian food
21. Barbeques (BBQ sauce, BBQ ribs, and backyard BBQs)
22. A restaurant menu with variety
23. Real blondes (Gahl)
24. Toilets with seats
25. Toilet paper that can be flushed
26. Hummers and SUVs
27. Peace and Quiet
28. Family!!!
29. Wife (Prof. Rutter)
30. Southern Fried Chicken
31. Ice cubes in drinks
32. Free refills
33. Cheesecake
34. Good hamburgers
35. English speaking news
36. A language we all understand
37. The U$ Dollar Bill
38. Johann’s mom (Johann)
39. Girlfriends
40. NBA
41. Sports
42. Moe’s Southwestern Grill (Nick)
43. Being at Dartmouth College
44. Eggs, any way but hard boiled
45. Beer Pong
46. Video games
47. US prices
48. Wal-Mart
49. Reality TV
50. Things being convenient
51. Trashy magazines
52. The movies
53. Pets
54. Amber waves of Grain
55. Lower middle class suburban chain restaurants
56. Baseball caps
57. Snack food
58. Rock music
59. McDonald’s playpens
60. Buying in bulk
61. Info-mercials
62. Derrick Jeter (Kyle)
63. Normal haircuts
64. Other people wearing shorts and flip-flops
65. Patriotism
66. Spanish speakers
67. Smoothies
68. Boyfriends
69. Good pizza
70. Reliable hot water
71. Washing machines
72. Ketchup
73. Clean clothes
74. Root beer
75. Dr. Pepper
76. Guitar Hero
77. Red Soxs (Ray)
78. Sirloin steaks
79. Weekends for sleeping in, or just weekends in general
80. Air-conditioning everywhere
81. All you can eat buffets
82. Baseball games
83. Friends
84. Real customer service
85. The Green
86. A limited class schedule
87. The American flag
88. The Colbert Report (Pete)
89. Herbs and Spices
90. Mom’s stuffed peppers (Kyle)
91. Showers you can stand in
92. Showers that don’t leak everywhere
93. Widescreen TVs
94. No cover charge at restaurants
95. Traveling without a passport
96. Bacon
97. The greatest country under God’s green earth, The United States of America

The Syntagma metro station is a familiar spot to us all by now. We are waiting to catch the train to the airport for our flight to Santorini. It should be here in two minutes. Pete, Josh and Mike are ready as always. Everyone is excited to be heading to the islands.

Heavyweight champs Kyle and Gahl plant their feet firmly on the platform as the train rolls in. In the background, Johann smiles and Nick…

Liz, Kinsey and Kelsey find comfortable seats for the long ride to the airport. As we get further away from the center of Athens the train empties, and we all find a place to sit.

Chris writes postcards to friends and family while we wait in the departure lounge for the boarding announcement for Olympic Airlines flight 0552.

The plane lands in Santorini, and we disembark. Wait a minute! It’s raining! Shock! Awe! Disappointment… What about our beach time tomorrow?

It is almost 2pm. Our bus from the airport leaves at 2:15, which means there is time for a quick trip to a café for some lunch. Caleb, Ray, Pete, Professor Rutter and Josh wait with the bags.

Chris, Professor Rutter and Johann catch their first glimpses of Santorini. It is a long slow climb to reach downtown Phira.

The bus drops us off close to the Prehistory Museum of Phira. We take advantage of the opportunity to visit the museum. What about our bags?

Caleb! While we walk through the museum Caleb watches our many bags, and guitar.

Nick points out our approximate location on a map in the museum. A museum guard scolds me for taking this picture. No posing is allowed! No flash either.

Kelsey photographs two terracotta bull rhyta dating from the Late Cycladic I Period. These may be useful for her independent study project.

After a long walk through windy streets we find our home on Santorini, the King Thiras Hotel. Johann and Gahl take a breather after the last steep hill.

At last! Kelsey and Kinsey are relieved to be able to drop their bags and lie down. The rooms of the King Thiras Hotel are all done up in lovely pink floral patterns.

Mike is a brave soul! He is the first to step up to the plate and give his oral presentation on material we studied at Delphi a week ago. Caleb and Professor Rutter listen attentively.

What a pretty picture! Pete sits next to a brightly painted pythos with a very unusual looking plant growing out of it. Does anyone know what kind of plant this is?

Seahorses! Lots of seahorses! On a walk through town I found a shop with a bucket full of dried seahorses…Gahl says you can eat these, but my feeling is that these ones are meant for decoration. They were on display next to colorful seashells.

As we pass by a fun clothing store Brooks cannot resist the urge to pose in this large and very green armchair chair. Gahl comes to the funky godfather for advice.

The sun will come out! Tomorrow! Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow! There’ll be sun!!! Kristina sings the song from “Annie” in the hopes that it will bring the sun out for our beach time tomorrow.

Always Coca-Cola! Gahl takes a swig of his favorite drink as Brooks and I look out at the Caldera.

A view of Phira overshadowed by dramatic clouds. My “Annie” song has not worked yet.

Final Comments:

We have all been very excited about this final trip of the FSP. However, with our second ISP break coming up in a few days there is some tension in the air. Hopefully, the sun will come out soon and wash away some of our anxiety. In the meantime, several students are looking forward to trying Santorini’s seafood restaurants. The squid should be much fresher here than it is in Athens.

Date: May 17, 2007

Partners for the day: Kyle (text) Johann (pictures)

Sites: Thessaloniki Museum, Thermopylae, Bus

Museums: Thessaloniki Museum of Archeology

Principle Buildings/Monuments: none

Time Spent on Sites: from ca. 8am to ca. 6pm [10]

Weather: Sunny and warm

Last night, Caleb informed the Greece FSP that we were required to read an excerpt from Herodotus.  This six page account describes the Battle of Thermopylae and the events leading up to the fighting.  In honor of our reading of this historic document, I chose to write this blog in the form of America’s most important historical documents and speeches.

Our morning began with a trip to the Thessaloniki Museum.  Because the display of the museum is unique, Professor Rutter asked us to take note of the different techniques that the museum uses to display its artifacts.  After we saw the museum, we had a long, long, long bus ride back to Athens, interrupted only by a few bathroom breaks and a stop at Thermopylae.  At Thermopylae, the group climbed the hill of the last stand of the Spartans and Professor Rutter drilled us with an oral quiz about the battle.  Fewer than 1500 Greeks fought the Persians and almost every Greek was slaughtered during this three day battle.  The Battle of Thermopylae and the prowess and resolve of the Spartans have been immortalized in the film 300 and numerous other books and stories.

Declaration of the Thessaloniki Museum

We hold these truths to be self evident:

That all museums are not created equal.

That some museums are arranged chronologically or by other designs, but this museum is arranged thematically.  Among the themes are Prehistory, The Birth of Cities, Macedonia, Thessaloniki and the Gold of Macedon.

That because many of the oldest finds on display are not extremely impressive pieces, the museum relies upon extensive information boards, copious photographs, plans, sketches and other pictorial devices, touch screen computer tours through sites and museums, music, plaster casts, videos and interactive displays to effectively increase the visitors’ understanding of early Greek and Macedonian culture without leaving the visitor to feel bogged down by excessive written and easily misunderstood information.

That among these truths is the display of artifacts from ancient life, liberty, and the pursuit of archaeological truth.

Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance, to the Derveni Crater

In the “Gold of Macedon” room at the Thessaloniki Museum

And to this bronze volute crater of the fourth century BC

For which it stands

The one bronze vessel that has been found from that era with relief decoration

Under Dionysus

Intact

With scenes of the marriage of Dionysus and Ariadne and depictions of revelry, for all

Star Spangled Thessaloniki Museum

Oh, say can you see

By the Thessaloniki Museum’s creative use of light

What so proudly is hailed

As the second largest museum in Greece.

With broad arrows guiding the visitor

Through the perilous exhibit space

O’er the hologram maps and movie displays

And the Attic pottery red glare

With Archaic Temple fragments in the air

Gave proof to the visitor

That the temple had been re-erected in Thessaloniki on a Roman foundation

Oh, say does the Thessaloniki Museum

Display its objects very well *dramatic pause*

For the edification of the visitor *take the last note up an octave*

And the home of the artifacts!

Constitution of the United States of the Thessaloniki Museum

We the people of Thessaloniki, in order to form a more perfect museum give these rights:

            To display pottery and other artifacts from Macedon’s prehistory.

            To use vibrant colors, selective lighting and interactive displays to create a more visually appealing and engaging museum space.

            To display artifacts from Macedon’s early cities and to try to show the context of the artifacts within their respective archaeological sites.

            To show finds from Macedon, Rome and Late Antiquity, including mosaics, sculpture, architecture and other artifacts.

            To use computers, models, three-dimensional reconstructions, pictures, maps and sketches to properly put in context and “bring to life” the finds.

            To devote much room and resources to the gold that has been excavated in Macedonian tombs.

            To talk about filigree, granulation and other gold-working techniques.

            To display items such as gold victory wreaths, cinerary urns, and other precious metal objects

Thermopylae-burg Address

One hundred and twenty four score and seven years ago, our Spartan forefathers (along with the Thebans and Thespians) brought forth upon this narrow pass a battle the likes of which has never been seen.  To delay Xerxes’s Persian army from penetrating further into Greece, Leonidas, the Spartan general, led fewer than two thousand Greeks against thousands of Persians.  The Greek Ephialtes revealed a pass to the Persians that enabled the Persians to outflank the Greeks.  Three hundred Spartans, except for one, Aristodemus who was sick and returned to Sparta, fought to their deaths.  This land can not be hallowed by these words, but by the blood of those who died defending it.

Leonidas Gehrig Speech

Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth: *dramatic pause for effect and a completely respectable and manly tear* to fight to my death, to preserve the Greek forces so that they may fight and win at the Battle of Salamis and to enable my name to go down in history as the leader of the Spartan army at the Battle of Thermopylae.

J.F. Leonidas Speech

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.  The oracle says that either I, the king of Sparta, die or Sparta dies.  I say we stand and fight.

Demaratus, an exiled Spartan, to Xerxes

Ich bin ein Persian.

Spartan Bush-ism

Don’t mess with Sparta.

Teddy Roose-Spartan

Speak softly and carry a big spear

Aristodemus Clinton, the only Spartan not to die at Thermopylae

I did not have military relations with those Persians

Patrick Leonidas

Give me Thermopylae or give me death!

Bus Ride Bill of Rights

Amendment 1: Freedom to have an entire row of seats to oneself

Amendment 2: Right to bear arms: just ask Nick, he takes his shirt off all the time

Amendment 3: Right to quarter students: we spend a lot of time sleeping on the bus

Amendment 4: Right to the search and seizure of our journals (ahem . . . Caleb)

Amendment 5: Right to a speedy bus ride (Thanks bus driver, Costas)

Amendment 6: Right to a trial by one’s peers (I don’t have a bus ride parallel to this one.  Comment if you can think of a clever one)

Amendment 7: Right to stop for bathroom breaks

Amendment 8: Right to stop at any brown sign that indicates an archaeological site

Amendment 9: Right to sit in the same seat on every single bus ride

Amendment 10: Right to write the blog on the bus

Professor Rutter sets the mood as we begin our tour of the Archaeological Museum in Thessaloniki. The first display was intended to give everyone a sense of what to expect within the museum.

Kristina looks at an interactive video that explains the plans and buildings within certain Macedonian cities of Antiquity. The drawing of the Macedonian fellow at the top displays him performing a complex Macedonian ritual, entitled “Checking Blitz.”

Gahl skeptically examines a Hellenistic naval siege tower. Such siege engines made the Macedonians master besiegers and feared throughout the Hellenistic world.

This is one is for you, Professor Christensen (blitzname: PCC)! Ex-CLST 14 students pose by a display on “Home Economics” in ancient Greece. The display brings back memories of short papers and lengthy amounts of reading. The quote summarizes the answer to this paper. It took some of us 1000 pages of reading and several “all-nighters” to figure it out.

Kyle imagines himself tooting on his favorite instrument, the flute! Ancient flutes were generally were played two at time, and for Kyle that just means double the fun. The figure in the background is one of Kyle’s ancestors, Kylix (in modern English: The CUP).

This skeleton with a full set of hair is considered to be one of the rarest finds. The state of preservation is so outstanding that salient feature of the female skeleton have survived. For some reason this one looks like Kinsey.

The Emperor Augustus RutRut tries to make a point. Unfortunately he made so many point that he froze in time with his index finger for all to see. Notice the differential treatment of the neck muscles.

The above grave stele is of a couple. The inscription says that it belonged to “Peterius Mohawkius Caesarius” and his beloved wife “Lizius Stamius Caesarius.” This stele is of prime importance in allowing present historians to determine the attitude of men and women towards death through their facial expressions. Their features are somewhat hard to make out, but I am sure you all can figure out how these two felt about each other.

Of fine workmanship is the Derveni Krater (4^th cent. BC). Made of bronze, only a single close-up is needed to reveal its beauty. The two seated figures were made individually and then attached. These are of two males, one named Mikoteles and Joshualysses.

The depiction of shield blazons in black figure vases is an interesting topic. This is the topic that Gahl has chosen to research. Talk about getting into your ISP topic: not only is Gahl really into shield blazons, he is a blazon.

The museum has numerous statues of Roman Imperial figures. It was common knowledge in Imperial Rome that the first in line always wins. Josh and Chris obviously knew this, now they are immortalized in the Archaeological Museum.

This sarcophagus is the basis for all other sarcophagi of its type. It reads:

Qualifications for Macedonian Burial:

-Sexy pout

-Studly body

-A long… legacy

-Unrelenting charm

-Pure, incomparable, undeniable, unbeatable, un-everything Genius

Johann (THE Albert) Maradong

Ben calmly admires a Dionysiac composition from the floor of a wealthy Roman household (200-250 AD). Caleb and Pete sit by, observing the fancy collections of the museum.

This is a mosaic of Macedonian Liz Sigler. Tired, really tired, or tired of being tired?

Professor Rutter has been a little low on dinner dates this week. In order to cheer him up, Kyle romantically invites him to dinner. Professor Rutter is delighted at the prospect.

The group stopped at a fast food restaurant a little south of Lamia. Some look eager, some look tired, and some look at the camera. Nevertheless, everyone is uber excited to get some munchies.

Our bus, the blue stud on the right, enjoys his lunch as well. Full on diesel, Big Blue enjoys the view of the pink babe on his right. The little lady doesn’t seem too excited, though.

Greece is a very peculiar place. Amongst the many things we have already pointed out as weird and Greek (see Gahl’s May 12^th text entry), we add this G-string dispensing machine. Strenuous hiking and walking have taken a toll on everyone’s underwear, thus Ray and Kinsey take a moment to do a little shopping.

The last stop of the day is at the hillock of Kolonos at the pass of Thermopylae. The famous last stand of 300 Spartans took place on this very hill. In honor of this victory, General Rutnidas speaks to his band of 14 Spartiates, all fierce archeologists in search of Lesbian polygonal masonry.

Final Comments:

We spent a lot of time on the bus today as we traveled from Thessaloniki to Athens. Despite some minor set backs at the beginning, like Johann forgetting his notebook at the hotel, we were able to make it to Athens safely. Our bus driver, Kostas, drives like a maniac, but gets us to where we have to go in record time. As we prepare now to pack for our trip to the islands, we leave behind the land of Alexander and Philip and look out to a different world on the islands.