Agora and Anti-Austerity

Today

The Agora was open so we went there this morning. The Agora is the ancient marketplace that served as both a political and commercial center. We explored different democratic buildings including the Tholos (circular temple) and both the old and new Bouleuterion (building that housed the council of citizens): the old one had square bench seating while the new one was more rounded, like a theater. We also saw various living quarters, the supposed jail where Socrates drank his poison, and the Stoa of Attalos. The Stoa has been entirely and almost precisely reconstructed and while it used to hold various shops, now houses many sculptures as well as a museum. This is the site of the Hephaisteion Temple which we visited on one of our first trips, but there are lots of other remains located throughout the Agora. One of my favorites was a roof panel. Boring, right? The reason I liked it so much was because it was an example of standardization. The panel on display showed that the Greeks had transitioned from having a various shapes and arrangements of tiles for roofing to one specific design so that it was easier to replace missing tiles. Pretty cool that standardization existed in the 5th century B.C...or pretty sad that we're still perfecting it today?

Bouleuterion, Hephaisteion in the background

Statue of Emporer Hadrian

Standardized Roof Tile

Luckily it was pretty overcast today so it wasn't too hot and sticky of a morning. Unfortunately, I spent a majority of the afternoon inside because of the strike and protests going on around Athens. Up until today, they've been relatively peaceful, but this afternoon they got violent. I am safe and was safe all day but there was a bit of excitement as protestors marched down my street and near the school. Policemen were blocking the end of our street for awhile but I felt safe the entire time. I was sitting on my balcony watching for a bit, but the distant tear gas started to bother my eyes so I decided it was best to lay low inside for the afternoon. Even though everything was happening just 4 stories below, it still felt very surreal and distant. Looking at photos and reading about the protests online, it didn't seem like that was happening right down the street from me. I'm not sure what that says about me or the situation, just an observation.

Things have calmed down since this afternoon and apparently the protests have become peaceful once again. I decided not to go to the Greek dance performance tonight, though, and will try again either tomorrow or over the weekend.

My street

Photo(s) of the Day
At one point, a police officer walked up with a big box and I was trying to figure out what it was, thinking he was bringing weapons of some sort...turns out it was just water bottles and sandwiches. Even in the middle of a riot, ya gotta eat!

Lunch Break

Lesson of the Day
Photoshop trials take a long time to download

The Count

Glasses of wine drinken: 97
Archaeological sites visited: 10
Archaeological museums visited: 7 in Greece, 1 in Italy
Photos taken: 3158

Tomorrow

• Day trip to Corinth and Perachora
• maybe going to the Greek dance performance if I have any energy left
• should probably start thinking about paper #2 for class