Have Some Wine!
The mosaics at the Roman villa at Piazza Armerina in Sicily are the most impressive mosaics from the ancient world. The vast complex has thousands of square feet of mosaic floor surface, and many of the decorations are figural rather than just geometric. This one shows a detail of the hero Odysseus offering a bowl of wine to the cyclops Polyphemus, who has trapped Odysseus and his men in his cave, aiming to eat them all. Here we see the sly Odysseus lifting the bowl of wine to the monster. Polyphemus’s hand reaches towards it, and one can almost discern a smile on Odysseus’s face as he sees his plan working.
Sicilian Puppets
The Sicilian puppet theater is one of the great vernacular art traditions in Sicily and it’s being kept alive by a few talented and devoted practitioners of this medieval dramatic art form. There’s a Sicilian puppetry museum in Palermo, where you can see performances and a wonderful collection of puppets from Sicily and around the world, but in some souvenir stands, such as this one in Catania, little marionettes are sold. They depict the medieval knights called the ‘Paladins’, the mythical Christian, chivalric army of the Emperor Charlemagne, immortalized in the medieval epic ‘The Song of Roland’. They dangle from their strings, ready for someone to lift them into action.
Adelphi Sarcophagus
The archaeological museum in Syracusa, Sicily, is chock-full of riches, most of them from the city’s greatest period in the 4th century BCE. But one of the true masterpieces in the collection comes from the 4th century CE, the early Christian period. It’s the Adelphi sarcophagus, decorated not only with the husband and wife who were interred in it (such ‘family’ tombs and sarcophagi were common in the Roman period) but with an eclectic and unconventional collection of Christian stories. They’re ‘unconventional’ because the sarcophagus was made so early in the Christian period that the traditions for the depiction of New Testament stories had not been established yet. So the sculptures show scenes from the life of Christ in ways that one rarely sees anywhere else. Everything is also out of order. Below the portraits of the deceased in the middle roundel you see the three kings bringing gifts to the infant Christ; just to the right we find Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and to the right of that Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem. The Nativity of Christ is found, inexplicably, in the upper right section. Above Adam and Eve is Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, and to the right of that Christ healing the blind man. One can imagine the list of scenes given to the sculptor, but the sculptor not knowing that there was any sequence to them.
Sleeping Lady
The island of Malta is one of the most fascinating places in the Mediterranean and one of the most beautiful as well. The cultural history goes back millennia, with spectacular neolithic temple complexes dating back to around 3500 BCE; older, and more sophisticated than Stonehenge. Though these temples are impressive in scale, one of my favorite archaeological finds is a tiny statuette of a full-figured woman sleeping. She’s only about six inches long, but some artist over five-thousand years ago managed to eloquently capture her peaceful slumber and the sensuousness of her curves.
Temple of Zeus, Nemea
These Doric columns are from the Temple of Zeus at Nemea, the site of the Nemean Games, one of the four Panhellenic Games of antiquity (see posts below). If you have a connection with the University of California at Berkeley you can be proud of the fact that some of these pillars stand because of the work done here by Berkeley students and faculty. In fact, Berkeley has given much support over the years for the excavations at Nemea. It’s a beautiful spot, as most temple sites in Greece are. I didn’t think I was going to make it here, but I made it. Lucky again.
Stadium 1, Olympia
Since it’s an Olympic year, maybe people would like to see where it all started. In the ancient world there were four games: the Olympic, the Pythian (at Delphi), the Isthmian games and, finally, Nemean games at Nemea (see entry below). This is the stadium at the legendary Olympia. When I was here in 1981 I ran it. I was fast then, and fit! The path on the right was a long tunnel through which the athletes passed into the stadium, which only partially survives.
Stadium 2, Nemea
This is the beautifully located stadium at Nemea, where the Nemean games were held. Winners at these games, sacred to Zeus, were given wild celery wreathes for their heads. Mostly, there weren’t seats; people just sat on the slopes, except for one section for dignitaries. However, the Nemean stadium (NB, a stade was a unit of measure; a distance) had a very well preserved entry tunnel for the athletes. At Olympia, which had a similar tunnel, only one arch section survives. The starting lines, to the left, are still visible at Nemean, as well as their toe holds of the ‘starting blocks’.
More Monemvasia
This is a picture of the Old Town of Monemvasia (see previous posts) from the sea walls of the town up towards the cliffs of the citadel. The town is getting a facelift; it seems people are investing in restoring the old stone homes and turning them into guesthouses and hotels. There’s room for development; one small quadrant in the east is still empty. Not a bad investment. I’m not sure I’d like to feel the winter winds, but for most of the year it must be fantastic.
Monemvasia, Old Town
The old town of Monemvasia sits below the entrance to the citadel, from where this picture was taken. The old town is touristic but nice. I’m glad I was here in the early spring, before cruise ships started to arrive. There were few people. The vistas are beautiful and the winding streets of the old town charming. I went on a wonderful hike around the entire rock. It wasn’t an easy hike, all on very uneven ground, but the spring flowers were out and the sea, always beside me, brilliant hues of blue. The only other hiker was a big turtle, warming himself in the spring sun.
Marvelous Monemvasia
One of the places I’d never been to, and one of the places that was high on my list of things to see in the Peloponnese was Monemvasia. In Victoria, B.C., when I visit my mother there, we always go to a Greek restaurant near where she lives. On the wall are pictures of Monemvasia and its impressive rock. Finally, I made it. Although I was disappointed that the castle part at the top was closed, I still enjoyed the old town at the citadel’s foot and also went hiking in the mountains around. This picture was taken on one of those hikes, a cloudy day, back towards the town and the monumental island, tethered to the mainland by a slender umbilicus.
Mysterious Mistra
Mistra (or Mystras) was a Byzantine hill town which had a thriving community in the Middle Ages. Situated on the slopes of a foothill of the dramatic Taygetus mountains of the Peloponnese, the ruins of the town today look out over the town of ancient Sparti, home of the legendary Spartans, and the fertile Spartan Plain. Several lovely Byzantine churches survive here, as well as the thin and winding ancient streets. It’s a wonderful and magical spot. Getting to the top, the castle, isn’t easy, and I was caught in a sleet storm when I got up there. But it was spectacular and worth it to get shots down like this one.
The Great Theater, Epidauros
Epidauros was a site dedicated to the god of medicine and healing, Asclepius. The site lies in a beautiful valley, once rich in springs. Even today one can see why a god would live here. It’s most impressive remnant is its terrific theater. I caught this athletic young woman sprinting to the top seats.
Lion’s Gate, Mycenae
The monumental entry to the citadel of Mycenae, the ancient Bronze Age capital, was decorated with a large triangular relief usually called ‘The Lion Gate’. Two rampant lions place their fore-paws on a pedestal that holds a tapering, Minoan-style column. The architectural details provide evidence for the Minoan culture’s influence upon the Mycenaean. The lions’ heads were thought to be in bronze or, very likely, gilded bronze (holes for them can still be seen). It must have been a remarkable and impressive portal.
