From Athens to Corinth

It is Sunday the 28 April and I am resuming the writing of my blog based on notes made on my I-phone.  As the notes were made on the hop and in varying styles, they are somewhat erratic and incomplete, simply recording in some cases thoughts or phrases captured from time to time.

As we crossed the Corinth Canal across the Isthmus we were told that many great men from Alexander to Nero had the  idea of digging the canal but were thwarted by superstition, cost and absence of technology. Nero, an enthusiast for the Canal, died when it was a scratch on the surface.

We saw the Fountain House of Klufge wife of Jason and added more names based on myth.  The fountain was hewn from local limestone.

“Whoops - there goes Denis”. This was a remark made by our guide when she was explaining why there was a ban, at the museum at Ancient Corinth, on posing with statues for photographs. The ban arose from the tendency of some visitors to strip off their clothes to pose naked next to the naked statues of ancient heroes. I pretended that I was about to remove my shirt causing the remark. It added to my legend.

The large number of missing heads on many of the statues,  was put down to earthquakes as they were fashioned from detachable heads instituted as a cost saving measure at times of fiscal constraint. The heads rolled away and were picked randomly by 18th and 19th century travelers.

Photo of minors showing Jewish presence in ancient Corinth.

We also saw at the Asklepion of Corinth clay or marble representations body parts, including many breasts and genitals, indicating to the doctors the location of illnesses. The  huge number suggests presence of STDs in the region and the explosive mix of sacred prostitutes and sailors and drinking symposia.

Many photos of vases. Dark on light of local yellow clay, geometric. No human figures apart from on an imported vase.

We saw the largest forum of Ancient Corinth, now a ruin where camomile grows wild.  In forum we can imagine St Paul, who stayed in the city for some time, working as a tent maker with leather shops nearby. (the are several references to Corinth in Paul’s letters and in the Acts of the Apostles. In due course, i shall include relevant extracts.

In 146 BC, Ancient Corinth was ruined by Romans but about 100 years later, restored somewhat by Julius Caesar who settled veterans here.  This intervention enabled the city to regain its position in the reported rivalry between the Corinthians and Athens

But it was finally destroyed by barbarians and earthquakes. The city was rediscovered in 19th century.

Here are some more notes which I have yet to decipher properly:

Winged horse or Pegasus

Upper Pyrenee is spring now polluted by bats so only used for gardens.

When did the bats come?

Early Christian church from 5th century AD. Built on top of synagogue. Photo.

Erastus pa ing - photo of carved inscription so this was probably the Erastus mentioned in Acts.

The Historical Jesus

I have tried in these last few days to imagine how I might have reported on the events of 2000 years ago - or  more precisely in the period between 29 and 50 AD the accepted period during which Paul wandered around in these parts - if I had been a foreign diplomat posted in say Jerusalem or Antioch. Remember, I would have been reporting to a skeptical head office disinclined to believe anything it's junior diplomats reported.  I would, no doubt, have had to hedge my account of the reported miracles and especially stories of the resurrection with heavy qualification, sophistry and question. I might have said that I had received first or second hand reports from a large number of people of the astounding events. I would have described the reliability and consistency of the reports, noting the only minor variation between them. If I were eloquent enough in my despatch - blessed with the articulation of the Apostles - my report might have been passed up the ranks.

I also wondered what might others have been reporting at the time, especially the spies and informers of neighbouring powers? The Roman historian, reporting a hundred years later, perhaps would have been my model.

There follows here a gap in my notes which resume after the completion of the tour.   What follows is an account of a trip we made to Naphlion with Hugh and Lynne after the tour to meet with our old friends Evangelos and Judy who have settled for the moment in Greece.

Naphlion

In Naphlion we stayed sf the Grand Sarai, a hotel built with care and studied perfection down to the selection of furniture, the design of a spiral stairwell, and the shuttered windows. Everything worked from the fast Internet connection to the toaster. It is quiet in a back pathway of the town with marbled steps and footpaths. We were told later that the marbled steps can be dangerous and slippery after the rain, a point confirmed by our own experience in climbing up to the Pantheon in Athens, the hard way as reported earlier. 

A garden and walls, some unfortunately daubed with graffiti the ubiquitous expression of frustration of a people puzzled by their country's sudden fall from economic grace. A sort of public Facebook page.

We could glimpse the Aegean  from our window and breathe the fresh country air.

Civilized is probably the word to describe the town with its history of Ancient Greece, Venetian and Genoese DNA, a relatively brief 100 year exposure to Ottoman colonization, to its neat taxi queue and transparent price signage; a round trip to Mycaenae and Widaurus for 39 Euros,

Only one horrible block building in town that we could see but a goodly number of older ones ready for renovation: we saw one for 200,000 Euros (and the same again for renovation).

On the road back from Naphlion we saw: Tyrens, a strong limestone wall; and smelt the perfume of the orange blossoms through the opened skylight on the coach; another citadel on top of a commanding mountain top; was this near Argos?; reached within half an hour.

At midday we turned right to join the motorway (the A7)  to Athens shown as 107 kilometres away . Hugh told me that in his day the road was "pretty ordinary" thus making the journey to Naphlion much longer. We pass through a toll booth with its familiar beep to signal the toll had been paid.

At some 95 kilometres before Athens, we pass by a massive fort that stretches across true entire flat top of a  huge mountain. We will check later on its origins.

We cross the Corinth Canal and call in briefly at a roadhouse on the edge of modern Corinth where a grandfather on board makes use of the toilets and comes back on the coach looking smug. We can see the Aegean to the right and the Adriatic to the left as we push north.

Last night in Athens

We went with Hugh and Lynne to dinner at a restaurant with a view of the Pantheon for our last night in Athens. We sat on the top floor garden in the clear night air with an excellent view of the timeless Pantheon and one last glimpse of this Ancient Greek citadel first as the sun set and then by moon and floodlight.

Service was first class, the meal (our first baked lamb, baked that is in the Greek style in water), was passable, the wine very good.

Next day, out to the airport by taxi and a long but orderly queue for boarding passes and emigration. Then coffee in the public lounge, airside.