Ruins of the Temple of Apollo

Dear Commons Community,

Elaine and I traveled by bus through incredibly beautiful hills and mountains yesterday to the site of the Oracle of Delphi (Μαντείο των Δελφών), located about 110 miles northwest of Athens.  The Oracle  was established maybe as early as 1400 B.C. and became a religious center of the ancient Greek world. Kings, generals, and people of influence came to Delphi to seek the advice of the Pythia or high priestesses of the Temple of Apollo who provided prophesies to those able to make substantial gifts. The Oracle sits on the slopes of Mount Parnassos with magnificent views of the surrounding valleys and mountains.

Tony

Ruins of the  Delphi Treasury Building

Delphi Market Place

Temple of Apollo with the Peak of Mt. Parnassus in the Background

The Omphalos of Delphi is an ancient marble monument sent by Zeus to identify Delphi as the “navel” or center of the Earth.

Vista from Delphi

Vista from Delphi

Female Figure – 2800 BC.

Dear Commons Community,

Today Elaine and I visited the Museum of Cycladic Art that houses one of the most extensive collections of Cycladic art in the world. The most attractive creations of this culture are marble sculptures. The collection includes 3000 Cycladic, ancient Greek, and ancient Cypriot artefacts, testimonies to the civilizations that flourished in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean from the 4th millennium B.C. to approximately the 4th century A.D.

On the walk to the Museum, we came across busts of the dramatists, Euripides, Sophocles, and Aeschylus, on one of the major avenues in Athens.

Tony

PS: Cycladic culture was a Bronze Age culture found throughout the islands of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea.

Female Figurine.  7000-3000 B.C.

Funerary Figure. 2300 B.C.

Folded Hands Depicting Farewell Scene. 470 B.C.

Child Holding a Hare. 320 B.C.

Large Pyxis (Vase with Cover.)  760 B.C.

Euripides

Sophocles

Aeschylus

Nafplio (Old and New)

Dear Commons Community,

Elaine and I spent Saturday evening and Sunday in the city of Nafplio or Nauplio (Ναύπλιο), which is strategically located in the Peloponnese on the Argolic Gulf that leads to the Aegean Sea. It was founded in antiquity and can be found referenced on ancient Egyptian scrolls.  Over the millennia, it has been ruled or governed by Egyptians, Byzantines, Franks, Venetians (twice) and Ottoman Turks.  It is quite beautiful with old and new sections surrounded by mountains and the sea. We stayed at the Rigas Nafplio, a quaint bed and breakfast in the old part of the city.

Lots of history here!

Tony

Nafplio.  View from on top of one its hills.

NaflioNafplio Land Gate.  At one time the only entrance to the city.

We stayed at the Rigas Nafplio Bed and Breakfast in the old part of the city.

Palamidi Fortress

Castle of Bourtzi

The Tomb of Agamemnon

Dear Commons Community,

Elaine and I visited Mycenae on our way to Nafplio.  Mycenae was one of the major centers of Greek civilization that dominated much of southern Greece, the Cyclades, and parts of southwest Anatolia.  It reached its peak around 1250 B.C.  It is well-known for the part that Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων), a king of Mycenae,  played in the Trojan War in  Homer’s epic, The Iliad.  Most historians view Agamemnon and the Trojan War as told by Homer as a myth. Regardless, a major monument, the Tomb of Agamemnon, also known as the Treasury of Atreus can be seen in present-day Mycenae.  It is a large tholos or beehive tomb constructed between 1300 and 1250 B.C. No one knows who was really buried here.

Near the Tomb of Agamemnon are the ruins of the Citadel of Mycenae.

Tony

A long view of the Tomb of Agamemnon

The above are photos of the Citadel at Mycenae from three different distances.

The Acropolis. I took this photo from the balcony of my hotel room just after a thunderstorm.

Dear Commons Community,

Elaine and I spent a good part of the day in and around the Acropolis and climbed to its top to see the Parthenon, built in 432 B.C..  A stay in Athens would not be complete without such a visit.  The Parthenon itself as well as several other landmarks are undergoing extensive repairs with lots of construction equipment on the premises.

Tony

The Parthenon.  Photo taken from the bottom of the Acropolis.

The Propylaea is an impressive columned staircase leading to the top of the Acropolis.

One of the few remaining sculptures on the pediment of the Parthenon.  Many of them were removed by Thomas Bruce, the Earl of Elgin and are now housed in the British Museum.

The Erechtheion dedicated to the mythical king Erechtheus.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus built for music festivals.

Temple of Poseidon

Dear Commons Community,

This afternoon, Elaine and I took a four hour tour to see the Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion (Aκρωτήριο Σούνιο Akrotírio Soúnio). Built in 440 BC, it is dedicated to Poseidon, the god of the sea.  Situated on the top of Cape Sounion, it overlooks and provides impressive views of the Aegean Sea.

On the way to catch our bus to Cape Sounion, we passed a memorial to Melina Mercouri (Μαρία Αμαλία “Μελίνα” Μερκούρη) and Hadrian’s Arch or Gateway. 

Mercouri was a Greek stage and film actress who became active in politics especially later in her career as the Minister of Culture.  She initiated and participated in a number of projects that promoted the Greek arts as well as social causes.

Hadrian’s Arch is situated in a busy intersection of Athens.  It was erected in honor of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in 130 A.D. in order to separate the old and new districts of Athens.

Tony

Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion

The Aegean Sea as viewed from Cape Souni0n

Melina Mercouri Memorial

Hadrian’s Arch

The Acropolis Museum

Dear Commons Community,

Elaine and I spent this afternoon at the Acropolis Museum  (Μουσείο Ακρόπολης), a museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built to house artifacts found on the Acropolis and on the surrounding slopes, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. The Acropolis Museum also lies over the ruins of part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens.  The present new museum opened in 2009 and replaced the earlier Acropolis Museum. More than 4,250 objects are exhibited over an area of 46,000 square feet.  In a very informative video, the Museum makes the point that the United Kingdom and Greece are still in heated discussions over  more than fifty segments of the Parthenon frieze carted off in 1801 to 1804 by Thomas Bruce, the Earl of Elgin.

Below are examples of the Museum’s collection.

Tony

Nikai Terracotta Statues

Athena (Reproduction) – See Next Photo for Actual Sculpture

Actual Sculpture of Athena as Displayed in the Acropolis Museum

Caryatids

Alexander the Great

Plutarch

On the way to the Acropolis Museum, there was a memorial to Lysikrates, the only surviving monument to a theatrical producer. It was erected in 334 B.C., to show off the trophy he was awarded in the Dionysian Festival.

Dear Commons Community

Elaine and I went out last evening on the Plaka Steps where there are a half-dozen restaurants and cafes one after another literally on the steps themselves.  We had dinner (see images below) at The Old Tavern of Psarras (Η Παλιά Ταβέρνα του Ψαρρά) at the very top of the steps where there was a magnificent view of Mt. Lycabettus, the highest point in Central Athens. (see photo above) Kalamata olives, dry wine, eggplant, and roasted lamb for dinner.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

After an overnight flight from Newark Airport, Elaine and I arrived in Greece.  We are staying at the Palladian Hotel in Plaka, one of the older parts of Athens.  Above is a photo taken from our balcony of the Acropolis which we plan to visit in the next day or two.  Below are two photos from our balcony of the city.

The overnight was a bit exhausting and we are getting ready for a nap.

Tony

Glenn Youngkin.  Fox News.

Dear Commons Community,

Columnist Michelle Cotter had a piece in yesterday’s New York Times profiling Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.  She sees him as an up-and-coming leader of the GOP who might play an influential role in the GOP especially if after tomorrow’s election, his state moves decidedly to the Republicans.  She speculates that he could have a major influence on the GOP presidential primaries.

Here is an excerpt.

“It’s a perfect fall weekend in Virginia horse country, about two weeks before Election Day, and the American Legion hall in Middleburg is decked out for a rally featuring Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is not on the ballot but is stumping hard for his fellow Republicans. His name is everywhere: on a bright blue backdrop behind the stage, on the swag in the front room, on the side of a bus out front with the slogan “Strengthening the Spirit of Virginia Together.” The bus is a high-end prop for Mr. Youngkin’s “Secure Your Vote” tour, which has him crisscrossing the state to promote early voting. His attempt to reverse Republican mistrust of early and absentee voting is one way the governor stands apart from the leader of his party, Donald Trump. But it is not the only way.

Looking over the crowd, you can’t help but notice a dearth of Trump paraphernalia. One woman has on a blue “Nikki Haley for president” vest, and another one is rocking a “Moms for Liberty” T-shirt. Virginia’s Republican base has plenty of Trump love, yet it’s not a visibly MAGA-rific gathering. This makes a certain political sense: Joe Biden won this county in 2020, as did Mr. Youngkin’s Democratic rival in 2021. But the fact that Mr. Youngkin is aggressively campaigning in blue areas is not only a sign of his popularity, it differentiates him from Mr. Trump, who largely sticks to safe conservative spaces.

As Mr. Youngkin bounds into the hall in his signature red vest — smile beaming, cheeks ruddy from the wind — he radiates the upbeat, hunky-P.T.A.-dad vibe that helped carry him to victory in 2021. His voice ranges from an urgent whisper to a gargly rasp as he raves not about his personal grievances or some vision of American carnage, but about the “common sense” plans he and his party have for Virginia. He spotlights a handful of policy areas — jobs, tax relief, crime, mental health care, education — and contends that Republicans, and Virginians, “win” when sensible people come together. Mr. Youngkin’s sales pitch casts the G.O.P. as a party filled with practical folks who want to get stuff done — as opposed to the Democrats, he charges, who “just want to sell fear.”

Remember that “fear” line. It’s revealing about Mr. Youngkin’s brand of politics, but it’s also about as edgy as the guy gets. His performance is a far cry from MAGA.

American politics is pretty bleak these days, with the House hobbling out of a month of historic dysfunction, with everyone exhausted by polarization and inflation and now the turmoil over the war in Gaza. The race for the presidency looks like the same old, same old; the country feels a bit beaten down. But the flip side of disillusionment is this: Americans are hungry for winners. And no cohort is hungrier than the Republican Party, which looks increasingly out of control as it contends with multiple epicenters of chaos. (See: House hard-liners. See: government shutdown threats and foreign-aid fights. See: Ken Paxton, Clarence Thomas, Ron DeSantis, George Santos and the once-and-possibly-future president himself.) Such are the fruits of Trumpism, with its glorification of disruption and middle-finger truculence.

In Tuesday’s elections, Mr. Youngkin has a shot — albeit a long one — at emerging a big winner. If he manages to help turn the Virginia General Assembly solid red, it will be considered a victory not only for the state party but also for his style of leadership, so different from the Trump version. Mr. Trump may be leading the G.O.P. presidential field, but Republicans haven’t entirely forgotten that he dragged them to defeat in 2018 (the House), 2020 (the presidency and the Senate) and 2022 (those winnable Senate and governor’s races with Trump-backed losers).

For all his trademark swagger, the MAGA king hasn’t been a winner in a while. His presumed successor, Mr. DeSantis, despite his Florida triumphs, is looking more like a big meatball, and the rest of the G.O.P. pack has yet to energize voters. This leaves an opening for someone like Mr. Youngkin, if he can offer a winning playbook — and if enough Republicans decide they want an affable version of conservatism without all the crazy Trump trimmings.

This is no easy feat: The governor is selling something softer than a MAGA vision, but he’s not exactly moderate. His agenda contains plenty of harsh conservative elements, including anti-trans measures and his call for a 15-week ban on most abortions. Will enough people in the center actually want that, even if he swaddles those hard edges in feel-good vibes? And will enough people on the right want someone genial-verging-on-boring when they remain in thrall to the fire and fury of Mr. Trump?”

The entire column is a good analysis and worth a read!

Tony