David Rosene - Week 1 Reflection

I knew generally some facts (or myths) about various temples and statues from Ancient Greece, but the one I knew nothing about was the Erechtheion. I didn’t even know there was a building on top of the Acropolis with the Parthenon. Besides the excessive amounts of tourists—which would be expected of a world renowned monument—and the slippery rocks, I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the top and even liked the Erechtheion more than the famous Parthenon. The six daughter Caryatid statues were so stunning to me and looked perfect standing side by side by side. Even though they were replicas, I honestly couldn’t tell. Then seeing them in the Parthenon museum was impressive and I especially liked the act of defiance against the British by leaving an empty space open for the missing one. Besides just the architecture, I enjoyed what the Erechtheion stood for to the Greeks. 

The myth of the birth of Erechthonius always interested me because it has so many conflicting points to it. The myth is used to explain how Athena is the mother of Athens, yet she is a virgin goddess. Erechthonius is seen as an abomination—that may or may not be a snake—who was born through semi-rape, yet he is deemed a Greek hero and gets a temple named after him. Athena didn’t even seem to like her own child as she stowed him away in a box. There are so many contradictory parts to this myth that don’t seem to add up, yet it is used to connect Athena to the lineage of Athens.

I think the most fascinating parts of the Acropolis were the features of the outskirts of the Erechtheion. The gods were have believed to interacted in that area, bringing explanation to what is found atop the Acropolis. The springs were have been gifted by Poisoden, and the olive tree from Athena was still there today. The hole in the Erechtheion roof allowed me to visualize the gods standing there—Posideon with his trident and Athena in her armor with the aegis—where I was. To hear stories about these heroes and gods from half a world away and then go to the spots the myths were actually said to have occurred is amazing to me. It was like traveling back to a time when the Ancient Greeks would tell there children or visitors these stories as well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deja West - First Week Reflection

Image
Deja West May 30, 2018 May Term The Temple of Poseidon             So first, mama we made it! I am incredibly happy to be in Greece, and have loved every bit of it (except for the bugs). I never would have imagined that I could have been in a place with such amazing views and sights. Athens the first few days was an amazing experience. As far as ancient sites we got the chance to view, the Temple of Poseidon was my favorite. The architecture of the structure was amazing. I particularly liked the pillars and how they were a Doric style, with 6 columns on two sides and 13 on the other two. I liked it because it was exactly how I imagined it would be. It reinforced the thoughts that I already had about Greece in general. That everything is beautiful and looks like it’s straight off of the cover of a magazine.              Most of all I found it interesting that even a...
Read more

Meg Winebrenner - Blog Post #1

Image
            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 hi...
Read more

Blog Reflection 2

Liz Culp Blog Reflection 2 The most memorable place of my second week in Greece was the island of Rhodes. The hike up was half the fun and when I reached the top it was suddenly all worth it. I knew very little about Rhodes but I was soon very intrigued by all the history on the small island. First, I had no idea the Persians tried to take over but then was defeated by the Athenians. Throughout the Pelopennesian War, Rhodes did not favor one side. I was very surprised but overall, Rhodes always stayed mostly independent. It is hard to pick one island I loved the most but Rhodes was the most memorable.
Read more