No Regrets.

What do you do on your last day in Athens?

The one thing that I didn't do when I was there the first two times...

take pictures of the beautiful statues that graced the Erechtheion, 

the Caryatids that now reside in the Acropolis Museum.

Aren't they amazing? There were six of then originally, and all individual. 

The Ancient Athens Cemetery

Right off our favorite taverna row, is a wonderful place to wander through. Most of the artifacts of this ancient cemetery are housed in the National Archaeological Museum, but there are some here, as well. It was a peaceful oasis in the midst of the noisy city and touristy Flea Market. The actual artifacts you see above and below were replicated and placed just as they would have been in antiquity, but the real statues are featured in a small museum adjacent to the cemetery.

You can also walk through more of the Roman Agora, as you will see in the slideshow below. I just loved this sunny walk-about as we near our time in Athens.

The Byzantine Art Museum

This museum features a grand collection of unusual and fantastic Byzantine art

this is an incredible iconostasis - gilded, carved wood, amazing iconography

and real gold thread in those antique vestments - not unlike today

and our class! 

At the Cycladic

OK, I think I have seen enough museums now. Perhaps it has been too many partial statues, rocks, marble, pottery, and ancient jewelry...after a while it all looks the same! Haha!

Today we checked out the Cycladic Musuem. They were featuring a wonderful exhibit on Asklepius (the healing god) and his daughter Hygeia (health goddess). They didn't allow photos for that part, but it was fascinating. Next we moved onto the Ancient Everyday Life, which I found to be a nice walk-through. I was especially drawn to the depiction of marriage. They had some artifacts, but truly the artist illustrations were most informative.

After the bride's father has betrothed her to the man of his choosing,
she is bathed and readied for the ceremony...

she is dressed with the help of other women (I'm assuming friends and family),
aren't these drawings great?

In the ceremony, which is nothing like what we would expect, the groom takes his
bride by the wrist denoting his possession, and leads her away...

to a waiting chariot or cart where the wedding procession heads
to his family home...

where his mother is waiting for them...

the groom then leads his bride to a private room to consummate
the marriage, while his best friend keeps guard. That's it.
Then she is expected to fulfill the role of wife for him -
bear citizen sons, weave cloth and make clothing,
provide meals, and take care of the children.
She is also mandated to only leave their home at certain times
when the city is less populated and only for specific errands or
special occasions.

The next day (I am hoping) women friends and family give gifts to the
bride which include household and toiletry items for her. All women
were restricted to the women's quarters of ancient homes.

Below are a few of the artifacts I snapped of the exhibit of Cycladic art - fascinating stuff!

The Islamic Art Museum in Athens

The Ottoman Empire (/ˈɒtəmən/; Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه, Devlet-i Aliyye-i Osmâniyye, Modern Turkish: Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti), also historically referred to as the Turkish Empire or Turkey, was a Sunni Islamic state founded in 1299 by Oghuz Turks under Osman I in northwestern Anatolia. With conquests in the Balkans by Murad I between 1362 and 1389, the Ottoman sultanate was transformed into a transcontinental empire and claimant to caliphate. The Ottomans overthrew the Byzantine Empire in 1453 with Mehmed II's conquest of Constantinople.

With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries. Following a long period of military setbacks against European powers and gradual decline, the empire collapsed and was dissolved in the aftermath of World War I, leading to the emergence of the new state of Turkey in the Ottoman Anatolian heartland, as well as the creation of modern Balkan and Middle Eastern states.~wiki

Here are some maps from the museum to illustrate the Islamic World and Empire from 1000 CE and forward. The white shows their conquest and domination.

Chuck is pointing to Rome (Italy) - Greece to the right

Islamic World c. 1300 CE

Islamic World c. 1700 CE

Islamic World c. 1900 CE

The word "Ottoman" is a historical anglicisation of the name of Osman I, the founder of the Empire and of the ruling House of Osman (also known as the Ottoman dynasty). ~wiki

Below are the footprints of the Prophet Mohammed immediately prior to his ascension.

The Archaeological Site of Amphipolis

This was a special trip to a current find that has a lot of people theorizing about who, what, and why.
Read more about it HERE

Archaeology has uncovered remains at the site dating to approximately 3000 BC. Due to the strategic location of the site it was fortified from very early. In the 8th and 7th century BC the site of Amphipolis was raided by Illyrian tribes as the Bryges, the Balkan Phrygians, migrated after being there since the Late Bronze Age. Xerxes I of Persia passed during his invasion of Greece of 480 BC and buried alive nine young men and nine maidens as a sacrifice to the river god. Near the later site of Amphipolis Alexander I of Macedon defeated the remains of Xerxes' army in 479 BC. ~wiki

you may like this LINK which has more information about what they are finding in this tomb

the actual site is now closed to visitors or tourists

we then were able to visit an archaeological site of ancient olive oil processing

pressing olives for oil

ancient plaster - a great example!

we are on Yannis' bus today!

the Macedonian Lion

The Lion of Amphipolis is a 4th-century BC tomb sculpture in Amphipolis, northern Greece...Although in sited position, the lion is larger and bulkier than the one erected at Chaeronea, has a height of more than 4 meters in its main body and taking into account the base it is taller than 8 meters. The head has a width of 2 meters. Its craftsmanship shows a work of the 5th or first half of 4th century B.C.. As to when it was erected there is no agreement between experts as no mentioning of it in ancient sources. ~wiki