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Welcome to Part Two of Ancient Greece Odyssey: A Traveller's Journal, a travel blog by a student of classics and comparative mythology.
This section covers my third day in Athens, including my visit to the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the National Museum, and the Theater of Dionysos.
If this is your first visit to my travel journal, please click the link above to begin your journey. Or read on to take a photo tour of Athens' famous ancient monuments and art!
(All photographs, text and artwork © Ellen Brundige 2005-2008. All rights reserved.)

The Parthenon was massive, powerful, yet as familiar as my hand. There it stood high over Athens in the blue sky, sun, and open air. The wind was gentle, yet its soft breath added a sense of timeless presence and the natural world. Birds added a lively presence to silent stone: pigeons, doves, magpies, sparrows and swallows.Click on the thumbnails for full-sized photos and descriptions.


Left: Moschophoros, the Calf-bearer. People set up portraits of themselves near temples as pious offerings and, of course, as a form of self-promotion in a public place. Here a nobleman, Rhonbos, brings a calf as a sacrificial offering. Acropolis 624, c. 560 BCE.Price: 18.99
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Next is an Athena I can't identify -- I wish she hadn't lost her head! -- who looks Roman to me. Holes were for bronze (or gold?) snakes, and she probably held a spear. A stylized head of Medusa adorns her breastplate. This symbol, called a "Gorgonian", is supposed to scare off enemies just as a jack-o-lantern scares off evil spirits.


Mourning Athena (click thumbnails to enlarge)
Acropolis 695, c. 460 BCE
Early Classical marble relief

Theater of Dionysos

Erechtheion's North Porch
The Parthenon on one side, the Mourning Athena on the other.
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My photo of the Propylaia seen at the top of this page, with the caption "Greece" in Greek and English. Perfect art for classrooms!
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Blank journal with this famous portrait of the goddess Athena on the cover.
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Here are a small ivory portrait of a warrior (Athens NM 2468), an ivory boar's tusk helmet (left, Athens NM 6568), and a charming vase showing warriors trooping off to battle with a wife waving farewell (Athens NM 1426). Art like this helps us see how the ancient Greeks saw their own world.
Click on the thumbnails for full-sized photos and more detailed information about each piece.



So-called "Cycladic art" is another famous style of art from the earliest days of the Mediterranean, predating even the Minoans. The style is named after the Cyclades Islands where many such figures were found.
Cycladic sculptures tend to look small in photos because their stubby shapes resemble clay figures despite being carved of marble. In fact, some sare several feet tall. Replicas stand starkly in the shop windows of Athens and many other cities. It seems that they have become fashionable again about 4000 years after they were last in vogue.I got a little carried away taking pictures. There were just so many wonderful pieces, some well-known, others I'd not yet run across in my studies!


Bronze Zeus of Artemesion
(Taking aim with a thunderbolt)
Classical Period, c. 460 BCE
Many sculptures are actually later copies, often by Roman artists. Added treestumps and supports are a clue that a sculpture is probably a marble copy of an earlier metal statue.
At left is a typical Athenian grave stele, common marble monuments from the late 5th century BCE. They portray a deceased person bidding farewell to family members (sometimes including household slaves). These are touching snapshots of ordinary people, in contrast to imposing statues of gods and goddesses. There's no realistic wrinkles or flab in classical sculpture, however: figures are beautiful and ideally proportioned, as opposed to the greater variety of the Hellenistic Age.
To the right, an exquisite marble monumental head of the goddess Athena. It's definitely classical, but I haven't yet found any information on it. She would have worn a helmet. Perhaps a copy of the massive cult statue of the Parthenon?
Click on thumbnails for full-sized image and detailed information on each picture.

Swallows danced above. Poppies and yellow flowers sprouted through cracks in stone. I gazed out at the remains of the stage and backdrop, and imagined the ancient dramas played out in the space before me.
Backstage wall of music hall,
Odeion of Herodes Atticus,
funded in memory of his wife Regilla 162 CE





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totalhealth
5 starts for nice lens about fascinating greece. Posted May 15, 2008 |
This website is cool...
Posted February 29, 2008
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thomasz
Cool lens. Interesting info. Posted February 12, 2008 |
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Karendelac
5 stars for such a complete and well organiPlease visit me soon. Posted July 14, 2007 |
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DiscountHolidayResorts
Another great site - just like the first:) Posted June 18, 2007 |
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August
Great prose writing and story telling. Like you, my Posted May 24, 2007 |