Meg Winebrenner - Blog Post #1

            Over the past semester I was fortunate enough to learn a lot about ancient Greek civilizations in Professor Seaman’s class, and whenever I heard him saying the phrase “Those of you going on my may term will get to go here,” I found myself overwhelmed with excitement about what these cites would be like in person. While I’ve been fascinated by the ancient ruins and temples we’ve seen so far, two stick out in particular: The Temple of Poseidon and Palamidi.

            Poseidon has always been one of my favorite Greek gods, and his temple has easily become my favorite of the ones we’ve visited. While I was expecting the Pantheon to be extremely extravagant based on what I’ve learned about ancient Athens and their love for Athena, I hadn’t heard as much about Poseidon in the lives of ancient Greeks unless it had to do with people traveling by sea. So, when I saw his temple high on the hill and next to a breathtakingly blue sea, I was taken aback. I was ready for how beautiful the Pantheon was going to be, but I wasn’t prepared to see the Temple of Poseidon. I was amazed by the path that led up to the temple from the water, and I loved how his temple was actually by the sea, and he wasn’t just worshipped in random towns. For some reason I had never put together that maybe people only prayed to Poseidon when they needed him, or when they were by the sea. He wasn’t a god that invaded the lives of those on the mainland, he was one that delt with those on his territory, and seeing the temple there really helped my understand more about the gods, and that the usually only dealt with issues within their own boundaries, and they didn’t always discuss manners as a whole like I had envisioned previously.

            I was also overwhelmed by Palamidi. While we have encountered a couple ancient fortresses so far on this trip, I find Palamidi to be the most fascinating. When I saw it in town I thought it was such a cool structure, and I have continuously speculated on how they built all these structures on mountains and on the sides of cliffs, but when I went to the beach and saw the fortress from the water I couldn’t imagine anyone trying to mess with this polis because the walls seemed almost impenetrable from the water, and I was confused as to how anyone attacking them with ships could even get to this fortress without loosing their entire army.

            All in all this week has been incredible, and I’m so excited to see what next week brings.