My Pictures of Greece

The Acropolis glows softly on the evening of Orthodox Easter. Bells ring in all the cathedrals, and the faithful gather carrying candles. On the silent, ancient bastion above the modern city, the Parthenon gleams over the lip of the hill.

The Propylaia, Athens, Greece by allgreek2me
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While the Parthenon has suffered many alterations and a devastating explosion since antiquity, the nearby Propylaia ("fore-gates") built at the same time has survived mostly unscathed. This image shows the left wing of the Propylaia, where in ancient times was an art gallery of Greece's finest painters.

The Athenian Agora was the marketplace and also the place of assembly for the first democracy. This was once a cobblestone street along one side of the open area.

Wherever I went in Greece, I was struck by the blood-red poppies and grains of wild oats sprouting up through ruined marble blocks, reminding me of the goddess Demeter. Those flowers are the most vivid memory of my trip!

Tip: From here on, all the images are linked to Google Maps showing you the approximate location in Greece.

The Parthenon is justly famous, dominating the Athenian skyline. However, the smaller Temple of Hephaistos down below, at the edge of the Agora, is the only Greek temple I know which still has its roof.

Hephaistos the lame blacksmith-god was highly revered in Athens, second only to Athena.

Most Greek bronzes were melted down long ago and only survive in Roman marble copies of famous originals. The Artemesion Zeus (or Poseidon) of about 460 BCE is a rare exception, saved by being lost in a shipwreck. Its identity is uncertain. I'm guessing he is Zeus the Thunderer, since a trident would pass through his head; Greek representations of thunderbolts are shorter than spears.

Painted at about the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae or, more probably, in the decade after the Persians were defeated by the Greeks, this white-ground Greek vase is justly famous. It was dedicated at Delphi, site of Apollo's famous oracle. The vase shows the Greek god of prophecy sitting upon his ivory throne, pouring an offering to himself. Apollo rests his lyre against his shoulder, for he was the patron of music and the arts. His wise companion, crow, tells him what's happening in the world.

The Sanctuary of Apollo, site of the god's famous oracle, was visited by travellers from all over the Mediterranean. Partly out of piety, partly as a status symbol, all the Greek city-states and principalities erected stone "treasuries" around Apollo's temple, full of rich offerings and spoils of war dedicated to the gods.

The Treasury of the Siphnians (c. 530-525 BCE) is especially well known for its early Greek sculpture around the outside of the building. This marble frieze depicts the Gigantomachy, a mythical battle between gods over giants which symbolized the triumph of (Greek) civilization over barbarism. The twin figures at left are Apollo and Artemis; the rest are giants.

The temple of Apollo at Delphi was carved of local limestone, softer than marble, from the bones of Mount Parnassos. Earthquakes, repeated plunderings, and the ultimate destruction of the temple in the fifth century by zealous Christians left the site in ruins; a few stone columns have been reassembled by archaeologists.

The sanctuary of Apollo climbs the knees of the great mountain. Uphill, in the foreground, is an outdoor theater with a stunning backdrop. Dramas, even athletic games like those at Olympia, were held in the god Apollo's honor. In the middle ground lie the foundations of the temple. Below the temple, on either side of the switchback Sacred Way, are treasuries and monuments erected by all the cities of ancient Greece.

Crossing the isthmus to southern Greece, we reached the medieval city of Nauplion. Looking northeast from the Nafplia Palace Hotel, the Bronze Age citadel of Tiryns is the low outcropping to the left of the larger hills in the background.

Nearly a thousand years before the classical Greece we know, a Bronze Age civilization flourished. We call it Mycenaean after one of its chief citadels, Mycenae, remembered in Greek legends like Camelot and King Arthur. Greek epics tell many myths about its royal family: King Atreus and his famous sons Menelaus and Agamemnon, whom legends said waged war for ten years against Troy. This tomb outside the walls of the citadel is probably a few hundred years older than the Trojan War, but by the second century AD, ancient tour guides were calling it the Treasury of Atreus.

The Theater of Epidaurus was part of a health spa and resort where ancient Greeks came to rest and be treated for sickness and wounds. Priests of the kindly god Asclepius would tend them with medicine and put them on a regimen of fasting, exercise, hot baths, and enjoying sports, music, good food, and plays in this wonderful theater. Plays and operas are still performed there all summer!

I fell in love with this little Greek Orthodox church while wandering around the twisty streets of Mykonos Island. Someone had just parked a garlic cart outside -- it wasn't posed; it was moved when I came by later. It was such a perfect scene of the Greek islands -- everything freshly white-washed for Easter and shining under that vivid blue sky!

The original Petros (Peter) the Pelican came to Mykonos Island in 1954 and was adopted as a mascot. When the original Peter died, three different replacement pelicans were introduced to the island, including an "Irene" whose travel arrangements were funded by Jackie Kennedy-Onassis. No, the bird in this photo isn't a statue, see my Mykonos Island tour for another photo of him/her.

Greece looks towards the sea, and most of the dining consists of little outdoor cafes lining every overlook or harbor. Here's late afternoon on Mykonos Island.

In the old days, "Cycladic" windmills like this were the hallmark of the Greek islands. Now, alas, electricity has made them obsolete, but some still stand as tourist attractions.

This sprawling ancient city was a thriving Greek port in the third to first century BCE, established on a barren, unpromising island revered as the birthplace of Apollo (and perhaps Artemis). In classical times it had been a religious site, but by the time of Alexander the Great it had become a crossroads of the Mediterranean. The ruins you see are the foundations of middle-class houses, much like Pompeii.

"Hellenistic" means the period from Alexander the Great onward, when classical Greece had given way to a more international, cosmopolitan Greek culture spread across the Mediterranean, mixing with the other cultures around the rim.

This was a typical Hellenistic house, complete with mosaic floors. Not bad for a living room, eh? The central rectangular area had a shallow pool; that short cylindrical pipe in the background leads down to a large cistern below the floor holding more water. A roof would have covered over all but the pool, the walls would have been plastered, and smaller, warmer bedrooms and storerooms surrounded the atrium.

Here's a preview of the next stop on Ancient Greece Odyssey: the Delos Museum. Before it became a wealthy port, as I mentioned, Delos Island was a religious site. The artifacts in the museum reflect Delos' double life. In the foreground at left is a statue of the goddess Artemis, a huntress; in the background is a rich floor mosaic from a noble house that seems to show masked actors dressed for a play.

So little is left of the ancient Portara Temple on the island of Naxos that we're not 100% sure which god it was dedicated to. I like to think it was Dionysos, the god who rescued Ariadne after she was abandoned on Naxos by her faithless lover, King Theseus.

A windy day, a Greek gown I bought on Mykonos Island -- I was trying to play the part!

The hills of Greece were deforested in antiquity, and now show the ancient lines of sheep, vinyards, old walls, some of which have been built and rebuilt for hundreds of years. Apart from a few telltales, this could be a scene from hundreds of years ago. Donkeys and mules are still used in many places, since so much of Greece is mountainous.

Thera Island, aka Santorini, is a magical place for me, not just because of the modern city clinging to its cliffs. Long ago it was a much larger, cone-shaped island. Like Krakatoa, but four or five times larger, it exploded. That curving cliff-wall dwindling into the far distance is actually the inner wall of what was once an enormous magma chamber many miles across. Archaeologists have found the ruins of a Bronze Age city around the outskirts of what's left of the island. If it is not the Atlantis, the memories of this incredible cataclysm must have contributed to the legend.

There is almost no flat land left since the island was torn to pieces; towns hang upon the stair-step layers of prehistoric lava flows.

Ancient Greece Odyssey Table of Contents: