ATHENS! ATHENA!!

PILLARS! MORE PILLARS!!

Athens! Ancient, amazing, alluring, has been my dream destination of all times. I had this great desire to visit Greece. I have always been fascinated with History, development of human kind, development of civilization, Greek Philosophers, their thoughts, wisdom, democracy and freedom.

I had always identified Greece only with  Athens! Never ever thought about the Greek islands!

ANTIQUES?

Athens did not disappoint me. Our place of stay was very near Plaka, close to the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Aghora, and what have you!

I was in the country which gave us the Pythogoras theorem and Eureka! It gave us our Alphabets, the mathematical symbols, the Hippocratic Oath, the sign of Epicaurus, Theatre!  Athens is the city where breathed immortals like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Sophocles, a tragic poet, Thucydides, the Historian, Pericles, the statesman.

All this was ancient, it belonged to the BC era. Those were the days when some countries did not even know what civilisation was all about. The recorded History of Athens is around 3400 years old. Imagine almost 900 years before Buddha!  The Acropolis with the Parthenon was built around 429 BC.  Athens was the home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum.

THE ROCK WHERE MEETINGS WERE HELD 

Athens is the place where started Democracy. On a rock close to the Acropolis is the venue where they say people got the right to vote. People over 30 years of age assembled and took decisions on civic issues. Just looking at those rocks from the Parthenon gave me goose pimples. I do have magical powers, and with those powers I could actually see all those men standing there in their robes, discussing, debating and then voting! I Could hear their voices, only it was all Greek to me!!

THEATRE OF DIONYSUS

As one approaches the Acropolis one sees the theatre of Dionysus. Theatre, comedy, tragedy, faces, nuances, expressions. I cannot stop marveling at their performances. The seating arrangement, the seats made of stone, the layout are all so well defined and seem perfect. When I think that all this was made about 2500 years ago, I am amazed.

THE TEMPLE OF ATHENA & NIKE.

As I go further up the Acropolis, I come across the Odeon or the theatre for Music. Then there is the  temple of Athena - Nike. Athena stands with a pomegranate in her hand and a helmet in the other. Sadly most of the sculptures and panels on the external walls have been destroyed or removed. What could be saved is housed in the Acropolis Museum.

THE MAGNIFICENT PARTHENON

The Parthenon is a magnificent building which was the Temple of Goddess Athena. The old temple was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. What stands now was built later in 438 BC. Yet the Persians again destroyed this temple. The temple is quite massive and housed the gigantic Gold and Ivory statue of Athena. All the panels on the walls of the Parthenon are now housed in the British Museum in London and are called the "Elgin Marbles" as Lord Elgin had taken away all these extremely beautiful marble panels from the Parthenon to London sometime in the late 18th century. Replicas are now placed in the Acropolis Museum at Athens. Having seen the original panels at London the replicas actually look like what they are - replicas!

THE STONE CHAIRS IN  THE THEATER OF DIONYSUS.

Art, music, craft, theatre were so developed in Athens. The theatres had fantastic acoustics, the seating was majestic, stone seating was arranged in such a manner that voice travelled all the way up without mikes. The background of the performers was usually the distant hills. Nature was a part of the sets.

From the Parthenon one looks down on the Aghora which was the market place, further up one sees the Temple of Zeus now in ruins, all that remains of the temple are massive pillars. These pillars are in a beautiful well maintained garden. Close by is the Arch of Hadrian's library.

Athens is beautiful, ancient, glorious. Here modernity co exists with antiquity. 

TEMPLE OF ZEUS & HADRIAN'S GATE

Walking down the modern part of Athens too one cannot be far removed from the ancient Athens. Everywhere, there are ruins and  buildings, diggings and demarcated areas which make the entire city reverberate with an ancient energy.

Plaka is the area where tourists from all over the world assemble to shop, walk and be mesmerized by the glory, history and beauty of Athens. Plaka remains as it was since more than two thousand years. This is at the foothills of Acropolis, close to the Aghora, near the Arch of Hadrian, near the Tower of winds,   close to the Temple of Zeus. In the 20th century the Onassis Foundation too is located near the Plaka.

THE ONASSIS FOUNDATION

Plaka is the place where one can taste delicious authentic Greek food at very reasonable prices. Greek food like everything else Greek is absolutely divine!
Why were their arts, crafts, theatre, theories, philosophy so advanced? Was it because there was peace, the olive trees, ambrosia, the Mediterranean climate, the exotic fruits, figs, pistachio ? Their Gods?
Athena, who was the deity of Athens was beautiful, magnificent, benevolent, she was the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law, justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, arts, craft and skill! Athens therefore lacked in nothing. Perhaps Athens was the personification of Goddess Athena.....Or should it have been vice versa? To err is divine??

Were the intellectually superior Athenians responsible for creating Athena and bestowing her with all these powers, with which they themselves were so well equipped?