“Earth proudly wears the Parthenon as the best gem upon her zone” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fotis suggested we start our day early to beat the crowd at the Parthenon, 
the temple on the Athenian Acropolis.

As we were walking up the path we fell behind a group of school children...

 on a field trip.
Let that sink in.
A field trip to the Parthenon...

 whose construction began in 447 BC.

Somehow, my childhood field trips to the zoo and the Battleship of Texas 
pale in contrast and I now blame my lack of historical knowledge on this fact.

Other ancient structures surround the Parthenon to make up the area of the Acropolis citadel.
Andrea Bocelli and other famous singers have performed in The Odeon of Herodes Atticus which seats 5,000, built in 161 AD and reconstructed in the 1950's. 
This photo of the Old Temple of Athena is for reference.
Ren Man has agreed to build something like this for our screened porch back home.
Actually, we overheard another tourist mention that this building 
was not there the last time she was in Athens.
My double take to make note of her age was a knee jerk reaction not to be stopped...
before common sense kicked into gear, hehehe,
 although our research later 
explained that the current building taking place 
is a reconstruction of the original...
 dated somewhere between 510/500 BC.

Listening, attentively this time around, 
to the video explaining the history of the Parthenon, 
it has been repurposed (oversimplification... I know) 
many times over the years.
From Greek Temple, to Christian Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, 
to an Islamic Mosque...
all involving changes (destruction) to the building to fit their needs.
Our next stop was in plain view from our vantage point.
The ruined temple of the king of Olympian gods was completed under the direction of Hadrian in 124-125 AD and dedicated to him in 132. 
One of his other building projects, Hadrian's Wall marks the northern boundary for Roman Britain, completely in England, just south of the border with Scotland.
We were on a tight schedule but had time for one more stop on the Fotis tour before catching our ferry.


Happy Thursday.





No comments:

Post a Comment

Nice comments are welcome here!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...