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Travel in Greece
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"Places I'll remember all of my life" (Lennon/McCartney)
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You never forget the first time - summer 1971
- On the 40th anniversary (2011), I decided to write the account of the Bedford Modern School trip (the first ever) to Greece. Apologies to the Eagle for not submitting it 40 years ago - and, if anyone who was with me then remembers it differently, let me know! (Too late for Philip and Patrick).
Nemea
The beautiful and peaceful site of Nemea in the Peloponnese - where Heracles killed his lion, and the home of other interesting myths. Also the site where the Nemean Games were held, every two years between Olympics.
Sparta
Ancient and modern Sparta: too often ignored and unvisited by Classicists who take Thucydides too literally. True, many of the sites are hard to find and are in themselves - as Thucydides warned - unimpressive. But I defy any visitor to be unmoved by the snow-capped wall of Taygetus, the Temple of Artemis Orthia (where such horrors took place), the view from the Menelaion (and surely it was Menelaus' palace?) - or further afield: Gytheion - raided by Brasidas - and Mount Ithome.
The Athenian Agora
An evolving fascination for me since my first vist in 1986, under the auspices of a DES sponsored tour of Greece, guided by Simon Hornblower and John Camp himself. On my return, and with a great deot to John Camp's book (The Athenian Agora by John M Camp T&H 1986), I devised an interactive exploration - trust me, the state of the art at the time (Using hyperlinks and scripting with the amazing Genesis program for the venerable Acorn Archimedes computer, before being adapted for the www. It now looks as antique as the agora itself! As I originally wrote: "Tour the market as it was in the time of Socrates, the shops, the courts, the stoas ... You will load up a plan (25k) on which you can click to explore anything that looks interesting. As you wander, you will begin to build up a complete picture of the political, social and cultural life of the Athenians of the
5th century BC ." [Note that massive 25k might have been a serious problem in those days!]-
Oracles
The ancient sites like Delphi, Dodona, Lebadeia and Epidaurus where men tried to get answers to the questions that worried them - anything from health to politics.
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And a couple of links:
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Dr J's Home Page
Dr Janice Siegel's marvellous pages are the place to find pictures of nearly everything in Classical Greece, plus illustrated texts, illustrated lectures and much more. Superb! You'll particularly appreciate the picture of Hotel Clytmnestra in Mycenae, offering rooms with baths.
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Classical Backpacking in Greece
David A Webb's superb scholarly guide to Greek sites - including some of the more off-beat ones. The bibliographies are excellent. Specific Sites:
Attica & Megarid: Aigosthena, Brauron, Daphni, Eleusis, Eleutherai, Megara, Piraeus/Phaleron, Rhamnous, Sounion, Thorikos; Peloponnese: Agamemnoneion, Megalopolis, Menelaion, Nauplio, Nemea, Perachora, Sparta, Tegea; Argo-Saronic Isles: Aegina, Poros/Kalauria. Alas - gone missing when I last checked (April 2011). If anyone finds it, let me know.