Two years ago this week, Marius and I would depart for India, our Spring worldschool Asian destination.  We would first stay in Delhi, proceed next by air to Aurangabad and Mumbai, then progressively make our way around South India’s historical sites and cities by train and by hired car, all the way to Mamallapuram and Chennai, all the while doing schoolwork and while taking in as much as we could the diverse cultures, sights and landscapes that we crossed.  As we stood in line to board our San Francisco-Delhi flight (via Beijing), I still clearly recall dear Marius turning to me to say, “I’m so excited, Maman!”

Six weeks later, from Chennai, we’d fly on to Barcelona to meet Jeff, where together we’d share a time zone more favourable for his work.  Little did we all expect that in less than a year, we’d find this mode of travel and exploration—easygoing, peripatetic, maskless, free—suddenly foreign to us, and so many of us unable to stray very far out of even our own neighbourhoods.  No wonder Marius has lately been expressing a desire to be in India again!

A fine reason, therefore, to organize scattered old notes taken at the time aboard trains and during rare breaks, to put some of the photos we took into context, in order to transport ourselves and all who would join us, there now.  (Alas yes, Marius, only on digital paper for the time being!  And Jeff, here’s a taste of what you didn’t know you missed!)

We’ll begin our wanderings by literally transporting ourselves, if it may be said, via a most mundane, yet uniquely memorable mode of transport in India (which happened to be the first set of notes one took at the time)—

Aboard the Mandovi Express

Monday, 8 April, 10:30 am, somewhere near Margaon

Twelve days into our visit to India and only now time to write, while seated comfortably aboard the Mandovi Express Konkan Railway train with Marius in the berth over my head.  (He has already diligently done his math and history and some reading for the morning.)  Our days have definitely not been idly spent since we can already claim to have visited nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, with this very railway, as well as the station at which we embarked, counting as two among them!

We boarded this morning at 7:10 am at Mumbai’s palatial Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (formerly, Victoria) Terminus.  Fortunately we had already admired the station’s famous Victorian Gothic exterior two days ago, as the main passenger entrance is in the rear extension of the station building.  This morning consisted of efficiently making our way before daylight from our modest nearby hotel: We quietly unlocked the front door ourselves, as arranged the evening prior, while stepping over one of the two doorkeepers-desk agents sleeping on the floor of the tiny reception room, then emerged to cross the wakening streets to the station, each of us wearing a backpack and wheeling a small suitcase.

The Konkan Railway is known to be one of the most scenic train rides in the world.  It connects Mumbai and Mangalore, travelling north-south over 700 km along the western coast of India past fields, forests, hills and rivers, farmland and villages.  We are a bit too far inland to see the Arabian Sea here; the sea is closer farther south of Goa where we will disembark.  The vegetation will be much greener and lusher in the monsoon season two months hence.

In this First AC carriage of ours, there is air conditioning and food service.  Different food- and drink-wallahs circulate past our cabin door and call out their offerings—garam-garam chaaaaaiiiii, coffee (grains of instant combined for you on the spot with hot sweetened milk … delicious! but the chai is even more irresistible; either of these costs a mere 10 rupees), bhaji, samosas, pakoras, mixed fruit, pani-water-cold-drinks.  Two older ladies in their sixties, sisters, in bright salwar kameez (Punjabi suits) sit cross-legged across from us chatting away and poking at their mobile phones while the scenery rolls past outside.  The ladies are returning to Goa from their nephew’s engagement party in Mumbai.

We originally sat in a different carriage to await our seating assignment.  Immediately facing us sat a chatty older gentleman who had just been seen off by two servants.  He had between his knees an enormous Chinese vase, which he said he was transporting himself from his Mumbai home to his Goan home, something he was regularly doing with furniture and pieces of his collection as part of his 3-year move.  He wished to place the vase in safety right in the middle of the carriage, occupying the narrow aisle space separating our berths: Perhaps he could close the shared fold-down table as well, so as to make room for it?  Mercifully, the steward then appeared, informing us that our final seat assignments for the twelve-hour journey would be next door.

Marius has now rejoined me on the lower berth to view the scenery.  Still a pleasant 8h to go!

Goa

Goa, on the Arabian Sea, has a history that dates back to the reign of Mauryan emperor Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BC.  The importance of the region for trade and exchange was known through the centuries even beyond the Indian subcontinent; there is evidence of trade relations with the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Ancient Greeks, and with Arab traders in the Middle Ages.  Goa was known as “Kowa” to Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD) and as “Kouba” to Claudius Ptolemy (150 AD), according to some sources.  Ibn Battuta wrote about his travels through the area in 1342.  In 1510, following the landing of Vasco da Gama at Calicut to the south, Goa was established as a trading station of Portugal’s spreading seaborne empire; it was only ceded by force to India in 1961.

Today, Goa’s culture, churches, and beaches are the primary draw for Indian and foreigner visitors alike.  Goa’s long history as a Portuguese colony is still very evident.  Heavily-spiced Goan fish curries (a bit too heavy, admittedly, even for me) and other meat dishes of Portuguese Catholic influence are served everywhere.  In Panaji, Goa’s capital at the mouth of the Mandovi River, colourful Portuguese colonial villas and buildings line many streets.  It was in Panaji Old Town that Marius and I stayed, at one of many tastefully renovated villas-turned-homestays, while we explored all of the above and did our schoolwork as well.

[Slideshow] Days (and evenings) around Panaji.

Old Goa

Old Goa is 10 km upriver along the Mandovi River from Panaji.  Although the cultural history of this UNESCO World Heritage site can be traced back to 11th century Brahmans, the churches and convent buildings extant today date to the beginning of the 17th century, built by different (Roman Catholic) religious orders at a time when the heavy ornamentation and gildwork of the Baroque style were popular in Europe.  But while the architects and inspiration were European, the artisans were local Indians, therefore a hybrid of European and Indian styles may be seen in the interior decorations.  European architectural designs also needed adjustment to stand up to Goa’s severe monsoon climate.  Arcades were dispensed with, and portals were reduced in size.  Moreover, because locally-available reddish laterite rock was used in most constructions, the buildings needed to be frequently recoated with lime-plaster for protection from ruin.  

We hired a car in the transit centre that would take us the 25 minutes’ drive to Old Goa from Panaji.  To my surprise, the driver said that we’d probably be done seeing it all within two hours at most.  I expected we’d need more time, but in the end he was right—the blazing heat, and some church fatigue, did us in.

[Slideshow] Walking around select monuments of Old Goa

With(out dis)respect to St. Francis Xavier …

St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit founder from Spain who helped spread Christianity to the East, arrived in Goa in 1542 and remains a venerated figure here and in Asia.  After his death in China in 1552, his body was returned via the Portuguese Malaccas and has been kept in a dedicated chapel in the Basilica of Bom Jesus since 1613.  It is with this background that one reads with little surprise the (morbidly comical) detailed description provided in my Old Goa guidebook (2004, Archaeological Survey of India):

“The body of St. Francis Xavier has undergone several mutilations commencing from 1553.  The first mutilation was almost immediately after his death, when the person who opened the grave for transporting the body to Malacca, had a small portion of the flesh removed from near the knee to show his captain the unusually fresh condition of the body.  At Malacca the body suffered further damages when it was kept in a grave too short in size that the neck broke.  One of the toes was bitten off in 1554 by a Portuguese lady who took it away as a relic of the Saint.  

“In 1890, the other toe fell off, which is kept in a crystal case in the sacristy of the Basilica of Bom Jesus.  The portion up to the arm was severed and sent to Rome in 1614 where it is venerated in the Church of Gesu, while the remaining part of the right hand was cut off in 1916 and sent to the Jesuit province of Japan.”

North of Panaji

Finally, a day at one of Goa’s spectacular beaches!—on the exotic Arabian Sea, at that!  Our homestay host (as well as my guidebook) recommended Candolim and Calangute as the best beaches in the area.  They were, moreover, on the way to Anjuna’s not-to-be-missed (also according to my guidebook) flea market held every Wednesday.  And it was Wednesday!

The free government-operated passenger ferry took us directly across the Mandovi River to Betim, where we hopped on a local bus which very conveniently took us on a scenic ride to its terminus at Calangute.  A taxicab served to cover the remaining distance to Anjuna along narrow, rural roads.  After sharing a delicious fresh-fried fish platter at a market stand, we made our way back to the dazzlingly sunlit beach at Candolim where the sparkling water bubbled on our skin and felt as gloriously hot as bathwater.

One could leave off with the above in order to influence your future memories, Marius, of lovely days planned and fulfilled with clockwork precision.  But you’ll probably still remember that our ways tend to be more … serendipitous.  Our walk to finally find the ferry in the late morning was a somewhat circuitous one through and around Panaji town because the ferry was actually closer than I had thought it (no Google Maps/anything, of course, and I did get my sandal repaired along the way).  It wasn’t clear where the busses were going from Betim but everyone ran to crowd onto one leaving so we did, too.  At Calangute we thought we’d rent a moped-scooter to ride ourselves to Anjuna—you thought that would be great fun!—but I did not have an international driver’s license this time (they are more careful in these tourist areas); we went from one rental shop to the next, to find one that would accept just my passport and US driver’s license.  And in the end, since I had never really driven a moped before and had to ask him to “remind me” of the controls before I tottered forward a few metres, the shopkeeper said, “I’m sorry, madam, but you cannot drive.”  And so we hired the cab to Anjuna.  (A fine thing, as even the cab driver found the dusty, pothole-ridden route challenging to navigate.)  Back in Candolim, we learned that our bus ride to Hampi had been cancelled, so we suddenly found ourselves rushing to find an agent to book the last seats of an 8h train ride (Third Class, AC) that would depart very early the next morning, shortening our stay in Goa by one day.  It was only then the longish, hot trek under the sun from the main road in town to the beach.

But don’t we ever wish we were there again now!

Onwards to Hampi before sunrise!

Note: Marius has already written extensively about the start of our trip—Delhi, Agra, and around Aurangabad—in a much more timely (May 2019) post, The First Nine Days. Meanwhile, a map of our journeys may be found here.

Menorca is a small island off the coast of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, a short 40-minute flight from Barcelona.  One of the three more significant islands in Spain’s Balearic archipelago, it is the quietest and thus the preferred escape for Barcelonans, with the larger Mallorca and especially Ibiza often overrun with rowdy foreign tourists.  For us, its attraction was the opportunity to study and perform archaeological fieldwork on an ancient Roman settlement.  After studying ancient civilizations this year and visiting so many sites historical and archaeological (and at least one paleontological) around Eurasia over the last nine months of worldschool, Marius and I had an utterly fantastic experience in the last two weeks, participating in an archaeological dig ourselves.  (Yes, a more timely post for a change!)

“Maman, when do we get to dig?!”

Menorca’s coastline is characterized by sheer, treacherous cliffs alternating with deep inlets suitable for harbouring boats and ships.  The Carthaginians and various pirates are known to have landed here in the 2nd century BC.  After the Second Punic War, the Balearic Islands became part of the important sea route of the Roman Empire linking Rome and Hispania.  In 123 BC, the Romans proceeded to annex both Mallorca and Menorca into the empire, with a most strategic inlet on Menorca’s northern shore chosen to establish a Roman military camp: Sanisera.

Sanisera then grew from military settlement to Roman town over the next six centuries, engaging in agriculture, fishing, and trade while providing safe harbour for ships criss-crossing the empire to reach Hispania, Gaul, and North Africa.  It is here at Sanisera, around the Port of Sanitja near the Cape of Cavalleria, that research has taken place since the 1990s by the Sanisera Archaeology Institute (and field school) led by Fernando Contreras. Marine archaeology also takes place here, as there are scores of shipwrecks–and a huge number of ancient amphorae–from centuries of ships seeking harbour but perhaps blown in too fast by the powerful tramontane (north wind) and broken up on the rocks.

The site of our present fieldwork at Sanisera is on the port’s west side and dates from Late Antiquity, around the 5th century AD.  Around this site, numerous Roman buildings (including the Roman military camp), dwellings and necropolises, as well as a small mosque dating sometime after 1000 AD, have already been excavated.  The objective is to continue learning about the extent and phases of occupation of the area.

Delectably Didactical (and Dusty) Digging

We stayed in a narrow, two-storey flat (really 4 half-storeys) in the charming old port town of Ciutadella, another Roman settlement on the far west of the island, near where the Sanisera field school keeps its student residence.  Our archaeological day generally consisted of rising early to catch the 7-am school bus with about 20 other, mostly college students for the 45-minute ride to the Sanisera dig site north of the island, working in the field until around 11 am, then riding back to attend archaeological lectures until late afternoon at the school site on the outskirts of Ciutadella.  As expected, Marius was the only student under age 20.  And he performed marvelously, contributing and taking part in the instructional activities, being a most helpful and energetic worker, and paying attention to the lectures and even taking notes.

The port at Ciutadella looking east.

The port of Ciutadella.

Waiting for the morning school bus just before 7 am. (The first school bus arrived to pick up the divers for underwater archaeology.)

Fernando explaining aspects of the existing excavations around the Roman town. This is part of an older basilica.

Around the excavation of the town. The darker stones are heat-retention stones outlining a baking or heating chamber..

Other students working on a grave excavation. The bones crumble easily, so progress is slow.

A view of the grave excavation in progress.

Around the necropolis area. Some stone slabs, or tegulae, are exposed above ground and indicate the position cist graves.

In front of our narrow Ciutadella flat on Carrer del Dormidor de les Monges.

Carrer de Sant Sebastia!

The tiny beach that Jeff found, a semi-secret inlet near the port of Ciutadella. The water was VERY cold to swim in, but they did.

After an initial instructional session, Marius and I were assigned adjacent sectors in the northern aisle of the 5th century Roman basilica currently under excavation by Sanisera. We were required to keep a daily excavation diary with daily status photo to help collectively chronicle dig progress. This is conveniently reproduced below, with a few additional notes and photos.

Marius sweeping away loosened earth with a special brush–a long-handled broom with the handle removed.

Marius learning from Julia, our instructor, on how to identify pottery and other pieces. Julia is an archaeologist working on her doctoral research pertaining specifically to medieval pottery.

Marius standing before our completed work at the end of Day 2. I received the greatest praise when Fernando asked if I’d performed such digging before, as he liked my work!

Working in a new set of old digging clothes.

Learning to sort found pottery. Jennifer, at centre, worked alongside us in the basilica.

Marius labelling pottery pieces with pen and ink for identification.

The Sanisera school building, a converted farmstead on the outskirts of Ciutadella, where we spent our field school afternoons.

Seated in the school courtyard eating our modest daily sandwich lunch. The school cat, Sin Nombre, eyes Marius’s tuna fish sandwich.

Fernando, Marius, and Julia on our last (very windy) day.

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Prehistory

Like its two Balearic siblings, Menorca was formed by slow sediment accumulation rather than violent volcanic eruption. It is therefore relatively flat.  It was settled 4,000 years ago by people from the Catalonian and other Mediterranean coasts who brought along their own goats and sheep, and developed a culture of building stone structures for ritualistic or funerary purposes, including megalithic monuments, using limestone and other rock found throughout the land.  Prehistoric villages that dotted the island were centred around one or more talayots–circular, tower-like structures built of dry stone, the true purpose of which is unclear.

Menorca’s Talayotic prehistory came officially to an end with the 123 BC Roman annexation.  Many of the talayots, monuments, and a few megaliths still stand today and have been added to and used throughout the centuries by local farmers to shelter their cattle and store goods.  Tourist ads and pamphlets proclaim they are on the World Heritage nomination list.  (Roman and later history receive comparatively little attention.)

A “taula”, or large stone T, from the late Talaiotic period (500-100 BC) used in religious ceremony. It is one of 7 left standing on the island.

A talayot ruin within the settlement of Torretrencada, from the early Talaiotic period of 1200-500 BC.

Explanation panel depicting a talayot and its construction.

The Naveta des Tudons, from 1000-800 BC, is a “naveta” or mass tomb found only in Menorca. It has two floors accessible from the hole at the bottom and from a chimney opening at the top (one cannot enter now). This is probably the most important of Menorca’s Talayotic sites, and the only site one must pay entry for.

Cave Necropolis of Cala Morell, from the Late Talaiotic period (500-100 BC), fifteen hypogea (rock caves) for burial.

Marius at the entrance of one of the Cala Morell caves (now all empty).

The view from Cala Morell on the north side of the island.

Torrelllafuda Altar Sanctuary. “This sanctuary was partly excavated during the 1960s, when indigenous handmade ceramics were found together with orthes originating in Megara and Italy.”

Climbing the talayot of the Torrellafuda Settlement.

View from the top of the talayot which is in partial ruin.

To the Cap de Cavalleria lighthouse!

Looking west across the Port of Sanitja. Our dig site can be seen on the opposite shore.

The Cap de Cavalleria lighthouse at the northernmost point of the island.

Around Mahon town, where mayonnaise was invented, on a cold and blustery day.

A view west from the foot of the lighthouse.

The port of Mahon. Mahon is on the far east of Menorca, about 45 mins.’ drive from Ciutadella on the island’s western extremity.

The beautiful Museum of Menorca, a converted Franciscan monastery in Mahon.

The Museum of Menorca: History of Menorca.

We were pleased to find mentions of Sanisera at the Museum of Menorca in Mahon!

A display on Sanisera findings.

An aerial view drawing of the Port of Sanitja as shown in the museum display.

This amphora was found at Sanisera!

Our explorations of the island in our spare time (and a nice break for Jeff awaiting us daily at the flat!) brought us to a number of these Talayotic sites, the town of Mahon and the Museum of Menorca.

We had our last day of archaeology class in a slightly mad rush on the afternoon of Day 8, changing out of our dusty clothes at school for our flight, and then having Fernando drive us a small part of the way to meet Jeff’s rental car due to unexpected road construction outside the school. Marius and I would love the be back one day, to perform some marine archaeology and check on progress of our basilica.  For the time being, however, it was … off to Madrid!

From Wednesday, 3rd April, 110 km NE of Aurangabad.

It is not known who initiated the first of the Ajanta Caves, the earliest of which dates to 200 BC.  After being abandoned sometime after the 9^th century AD, what is now known as Cave 10 was apparently (re)discovered exactly 200 years ago, in 1819, by British cavalryman John Smith on a tiger hunt.  The caves were carved by pickaxe out of the rock cliffs bordering a meandering curve in the Waghora River near the village of Ajanta, and provided sanctuary for Buddhist monks, artists, and craftsmen during the rainy monsoon season.  During the monsoons, the forest and jungle take over; the Waghora courses through at its highest, fed by the rains and waterfalls pouring down from the clifftops, while the caves themselves mystically emerge from the lush vegetation between vertical ribbons of cascading water as if out of an old Tomb Raider game.  (As I have seen from tantalizing guidebook photos.)  I have finally found a place that I would like to be for once, out in the rain.

For us, however, the Waghora River was no more than a creek.  We were visiting during India’s dry summer (which runs from April to June, and is followed by the monsoon in July).  And while the state of Maharashtra has been improving the roads to the world-famous Ajanta Caves, it unfortunately was not in time for our visit. It took 3.5 hours for our hired car to cover the bumpy, 110 km gravel-and-dirt road from Aurangabad, and another bumpy 3.5 hours to return.  (We were also treated to a small but spectacular mini-tornado that blew across the road on our way back, appearing as a solid column of dark sand.)  It was 41°C in the sun, with dry rock, dusty earth and brush all around, and little shade except in the cave interiors.  Marius endured it all marvelously.

A Tour of the Caves

There are 30 caves in total.  They are not numbered chronologically, but simply counterclockwise from east to west.  A number of these are unfinished or inaccessible.  Six are from the early, austere phase of Buddhism (Hinayana, 2^nd-1^st C. BC) when Buddha was not represented in bodily form but only symbolically as with a Bodhi Tree and worshipped by a stupa.  After a pause in excavation of four centuries, additional caves were dug in the 5^th-6^th centuries (AD), coinciding with the Buddhist Mahanaya period expressed by prolific and exuberant depictions of the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and scenes from Buddha’s lives in tempera painting and sculpture on cave walls and ceilings.  There are two types of cave layout, (1) chaitya-griha or prayer sanctuary, characterized by a high vaulted ceiling and an altar with object of worship (a stupa), and (2) vihara or monastery, which has an antechamber prayer sanctum, and side chambers habitable by the monks.

The Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar Hiuen Tsang visited and reported on these caves in the early 7^th century.  Dad, it so thrills me to report that Hiuen Tsang, as he is known in India, alternatively in Pinyin as (Tang) Xuanzang, is your 唐三藏 whose adventures you used to tell us stories about!

Here is our tour of the Ajanta Caves in the dry heat of summer.  Our excellent guidebook World Heritage Series: Ajanta published by the Archaeological Survey of India (which cost Rs 60 = USD $1) notes that “The visitor with limited time at his disposal should at least visit Caves 1, 2, 9, 10, 16, 17, 19 and 26,” therefore I shall try to be accordingly selective.

Caves 1 and 2

Caves 1 and 2, both monasteries, are similar in interior layout and date from the 4th-5th centuries.  Cave 1 slightly predates Cave 2 and is considered to be one of the finest monasteries at Ajanta for its columned façade. Both caves have a pillared interior hall with Buddha in a teaching pose in the antechamber, and profuse interior painting (some of which has peeled away).

Caves 9 and 10

Caves 9 and 10 are both prayer sanctuaries from the pre-Christian Hinayana period, each with a massive stupa hewn from the same solid rock as its surrounding cave.  Both have a high vaulted ceiling lit by a large chaitya-window over the doorway, and apparently the holes in the ceiling originally anchored false wooden rafters.  Cave 10 is the oldest of all, from 200 BC.

Cave 11

This unfinished cave is notable only for the commentary in the ASI guidebook (p. 55), “The clumsiness of the pillars and the irregularity of the cells stamp the monastery as the initial product of the structural revival, dating from the beginning of the fifth century AD or even earlier.”

Caves 16 and 17

The passage to the largest Cave 16 is the only one flanked by elephants.  A seated naga (snake) king appears further up the steps.  There is an inscription in the verandah wall indicating that this monastery cave was a gift by the minister of a king of the Vakataka dynasty (c. 475-500).  Cave 17, as revealed in an analogous verandah inscription, was a gift from a Vakataka feudatory prince from the same period.  The paintings in Cave 16 are mostly worn away whereas they are remarkably preserved in Cave 17.  (There is less evidence of the latter from our photos, however, as by this time Marius and I were suffering a little from cave fatigue.)

Cave 19 (also, briefly, 21 & 24)

According to the ISA guidebook, “this small but singularly well-proportioned chaitya-griha is one of the most perfect specimens of Buddhist rock-cut architecture.”  It was produced at the end of the 5th century, but adheres to the plan of Caves 9 and 10 while adding elaborate decoration and an image of Buddha on the stupa.

Cave 26

Cave 26 is described in the guide as being somewhat overdone and lacking the graceful proportions of Cave 19, while its stupa, with the carved Buddha figure dominant, has been reduced to mere ornament.  The cave is nevertheless marvelous and is especially notable for the colossal reclining Buddha carved behind the pillars along the south (left) side.

Back to Aurangabad!

(Where it is still 39°C!)

Evening temperature in Aurangabad

The alleyway outside our Aurangabad hotel

Walking to track down dinner

“Pompeii remained buried to a depth of 19-23 feet [6-7 metres] beneath a layer of lava and ashes that either descended directly from [Vesuvius’s] immense volcanic cone or were carried there by the wind.  The inhabitants, most of whom fled before the ruin of the houses, found their death upon the roads leading to Stabiae or Nuceria.  The few who remained behind from terror or in the vain hope of finding a secure refuge in the cellars of the houses likewise perished, from the poisonous exhalations that infected the air.  The eruption of 79 AD was a terrible event in the not brief series of human misfortunes, but one which has preserved for us the most precious and admirable document of antiquity: the complete vision of an entire city whose life was arrested in an instant–interrupted violently but not destroyed.  By means of excavations we have been able to penetrate into the intimacy of house and family and of a whole urban society.  We have been able to gather, from the structures, decoration, furniture, inscriptions and graffiti, all the aspects and expressions of ancient public and private life.”

–Amedeo Maiuri, chief archaeologist of Pompeii excavations from 1924-1961, in Pompeii, No. 3 of the series of Guide-Books to the Museums, Galleries and Monuments of Italy (Libreria dell Stato, 15th ed., 1978).

[Much information and all quotes are from Maiuri’s delightfully detailed guidebook above. Additional sources include the popular works on archaeology Gods, Graves, and Scholars by C. W. Ceram (Knopf, 1967) and Three Stones Make a Wall by Eric H. Cline (Princeton, 2017)–both our usual preparatory reading; followed by books from our growing collection of tourist-oriented, spiral-bound, cut-away flip books in this case Pompeii Reconstructed (Archeolibri, 2016).]

Saturday afternoon, after a rain

Pompeii was initially rediscovered in the 16th century during the construction of an underground canal to the river Sarno, but actual explorations took place only under Charles of Bourbon in 1748, when treasure-hunters already enjoying success at Herculaneum recalled of the existence and potential of this other ancient town.  Excavation in the interest of archaeology began in 1860 by Giuseppe Fiorelli, who started to systematically traverse Pompeii “quarter by quarter, house by house.”  (It was Fiorelli who conceived of filling select hollow cavities in the hardened volcanic rock with plaster of Paris and thus recreated likenesses of some of the victims who perished, including the famous chained dog.)  At least 60% of the city has since been excavated, with some restoration and reconstruction as well.

The area within Pompeii’s ancient city walls accommodated perhaps 20,000 inhabitants, covering 161 acres.  But the ruins still surprised me with their extensiveness upon our arrival.  The Plan of the Excavations leaflet accompanying the entrance ticket presents a few different walking routes, the longest of which takes an estimated 7 hours and doesn’t explore every street. We had just under 3 hours to spend before the 5 p.m. closing time.

What impresses me most about walking the ruins of Pompeii is how much it is like walking the streets of a modern city, albeit one paved with large, worn-out stone slabs instead of asphalt, and shorter city blocks. The grand east-west avenues (decumani) dividing Pompeii into neighbourhoods are of such length that pedestrians at either end, if they can be seen, are minute.  We walk on sidewalks that are bordered with smaller stone slabs as in Rome today, and at street intersections we step across crosswalks not painted in reflective white or yellow but in the form nevertheless of uniform large rectangles. These rectangles are smooth, raised stepping stones with regular spacing to allow standard Roman cart wheels to pass between them, and to keep mud and debris off pedestrian feet.

Buildings completely line the streets; mostly these are in ruins of reddish brick and gray stone not more than a half-storey high. One can look through open doorways or low or missing front walls, to see the layout or the suggestion of additional rooms within. The private houses share a similar plan to be seen in many of the photos and as shown below, with entry into a covered court (atrium) bordered by small rooms and centered around a rectangular rainwater basin; one passes from the atrium into an open-air garden surrounded by columns and more rooms.

We in fact followed a self-guided audio tour from a third-party tour company encountered on the street that was not always easy to comprehend, and with content that needed some updating. Most useful was the guidance indicating must-see buildings or areas within the city.  Unfortunately some areas of Pompeii were not accessible that day, and others began closing by 4:30 pm, so we didn’t see even all these.  Here are some highlights from our walk, some buildings we found of particular interest, or indeed had access to.  (The audioguides were handheld little phones, so everyone is holding one to the ear in many of the photos.)

First, some lunch across the street from the ruins. 2 Euros each for a little tomato-sauce pizza from Pizzeria da Carmine.

Across the street from the ruins of Pompeii.

Before Pompeii’s south wall, listening to historical background before entering grounds.

Region VIII: Around the Grand Theatre

We started at the southernmost entrance to Pompeii, via a green piazza surrounded by gladiator’s barracks, progressing through the Great Theatre, north on Via dei Teatri, then turning west onto rue d’Abbondanza.  The theatre and piazza date to 200-150 BC.  They were among the first to be excavated at Pompeii, in the latter half of the 18th century.

Piazza surrounded by gladiator’s barracks.

Piazza surrounded by gladiator’s barracks (2). Wooden doors presumably in the style of the period are mounted in the doorways.

From Great Theatre seats looking south over gladiator barracks and piazza.

The Great Theatre built in a curve in the slope of the hillside, with seating for 5,000. Some of the original walls still remain.

The Great Theatre, looking north.

The Great Theatre looking west.

Looking east from the top of the Great Theatre wall. The green below is the Covered Theatre (which we did not visit).

Looking northeast from the top of the Great Theatre wall, essentially over the rear of Via dell’Abbondanza. We never did figure out what that house is, in the distance, but I believe it’s the Casina dell’Aquina built over of the ruins of Region IX.

The Temple of Isis (looking north over the theatre wall). It is the best preserved temple in all of Pompeii, and its frescoed walls were all moved to Naples in the 19th century.

The Great Theatre upper passage emerges at ground level. The tunnel is original.

Leaving the Theatre onto Via del Tempio d’Iside. (We probably should have turned right to see the Temple of Isis firsthand.)

Looking north on Via dei Teatri, Mount Vesuvius in the distance.

Ruins, Via dei Teatri east side. This is actually a view into one of the rear rooms of a private house that opens onto Via dell’Abbondanza.

Ruins, Via dei Teatri west side. This is also one of the rear rooms of a private house that opens onto Via dell’Abbondanza.

Inside the side room on the west of Via dei Teatri.

We follow Marius through the side entrance into the interior garden at the back of the house.

Left (west) on Via dell’Abbondanza.

Main entrance on Via dell’Abbondanza, to the private house whose garden we visited earlier.

Via dell’Abbondanza, detail. These fountains are equipped with spigots that supply running, potable water, but I am not sure what the plumbing is.

Via dell’Abbondanza, detail. Frescoes on walls remain everywhere.

A less-preserved private house shows remains of the rainwater basin in the foreground, the surrounding rooms, and the pillars of the garden at the back of the house. (I stitched this photo manually myself; the white line shows the splicing seam.)

Via dell’Abbondanza, looking west.

Ruins of a staircase. The second storey, typically made of wood, does not remain.

Looking into the House of the Wild Boar, so-named because of the preserved mosaic motif at the entrance. Many of these houses have unfinished walls as they were undergoing renovations following the serious earthquake of 62 AD.

Region VII: The Forum and Surroundings

At the west end of Via dell’Abbondanza we reached the Forum, the administrative and political centre of all Roman cities. Maiuri speaks most highly of its layout–“the most perfect and most grandiose architecturally”–with Mount Vesuvius rising up behind the Temple of Zeus at the north end flanked by two triumphal arches on either side, and Monti Lattari in the southern background over three large curia or municipal buildings.  To the east and west are other public buildings and temples, including the Temple of Apollo.  The entrance to the imposing Basilica is to the southwest.

Forum, looking north at the Temple of Zeus and two triumphal arches on either side. The Temple of Zeus remained in ruins after the earthquake of 62 AD. A colossal head of Zeus found there is in Naples.

Looking southwest from the centre of the Forum. I believe the centerpiece centaur statue was added later, but confess I don’t recall who it is. The columns belong to the vestibule of the Basilica.

West triumphal arch, next to the Temple of the Zeus.

Warehouses on the west side of the forum once used to store special agricultural produce such as cereals, long since used to store archaeological materials.

Archaeological materials, as well as the plaster cast of the dog found in the debris towards the ceiling, still chained.

Archaeological materials including one of Fiorelli’s plaster casts of a victim made by filling a hollow cavity in the hardened volcanic rock. (I unintentionally captured this in the photo.)

Approaching the Temple of Apollo west of the forum.

Temple of Apollo quadroportico remains, and replica of bronze statue “Apollo Shooting Arrows” found here and moved to the Naples Archaeological Museum.

The Temple of Apollo cella (inner chamber) on a podium at the top of the steps would have been surrounded by columns. An altar is at the foot of the steps.

Entering the Basilica from the northwest corner, alas, and not through the grand columns as we should have. It is certain that the Basilica was roofed, given the sturdy columns around the central nave, though not precisely how.

Northern wall of Basilica with preserved frescoes. Somewhere on the walls there is graffiti that helps date the Basilica to sometime earlier than 78 BC, possibly pre-Roman 120 BC.

The Basilica Tribunal itself, looking west. The building served as a civil or commercial tribunal for hearing cases and was the centre of financial life, analogous to a stock exchange.

Basilica viewed from outside its southern wall.

South of the Forum looking east, with the curia (municipal) buildings on the right. And a mysterious stone … toppled from one of the columns, maybe?

Along the east of the Forum, the portico of Concordia Augusta.

Forum, northeast side, walking past the Macellum or markets on right, and the side of the Temple of Zeus on the left. We probably should’ve taken the left side to see the Forum baths.

A view east down Via della Fortuna just north of the Forum.

[TO BE CONTINUED … Alas, we must depart for the airport again …]

The streets surrounding the Forum are irregular and were the most densely populated of the city (I regret having seen very little of them), being the oldest, earliest section of Pompeii built around its centre. This region was first excavated during the 19th century.

Aristocratic Residences (Region VI)

We proceeded north through the Arch of Caligula to the wealthy, residential area of the city, with beautiful houses some of which occupy an entire neighbourhood block (insula).  The House of the Faun is the grandest and most famous of these, named for the bronze statue in the middle of its rainwater basin. There is archaeological evidence that P. Sulla, the nephew of the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla who captured Pompeii in 89 BC (and would conquer Athens three years later), resided at the House of the Faun, having been installed by his uncle to run the-Roman colony that Pompeii subsequently became.

The House of the Vettii, home of the Vettius merchants (though it is unclear what their business was), is another luxurious house in the area with wonderfully-preserved frescoes that were not removed from Pompeii to Naples by the Bourbons.  The walls were repainted after the 62 AD earthquake.  Unfortunately the house was undergoing significant restoration at the time of our visit, so we could see only the atrium and immediately surrounding rooms.

Mount Vesuvius as seen through the Arch of Caligula.

A demonstration of the use of crosswalks on Via di Mercurio.

House of the Faun: Inside the entrance, a front room with an altar.

House of the Faun: The bronze statue of the dancing faun in the rainwater basin (within a much larger atrium) which gave the house its nickname.

House of the Faun: Winter triclinium or dining room, based floor mosaic motif. This house has a triclinium for each season. Most houses have just one.

House of the Faun: Mosaic floor of the tablinum, or sitting room-office adjoining the atrium.

House of the Faun: First garden (peristyle). Archaeological (paleobotanical?) studies of the root systems of plants in some gardens of Pompeii allowed the replanting and re-creation of a number of such gardens in the present day (though I am unsure if this is one of them). This one is laid out in a simple hedge maze.

House of the Faun: The famous mosaic depicting Alexander the Great fighting Darius of Persia originates from the floor of this room adjoining the garden.

House of the Faun: A better view of the mosaic floor. The original is in the Naples Archaeological Museum; this is a replica.

House of the Faun: There is a second, larger garden (large peristyle) surrounded by columns is deeper inside the house.

House of the Faun: The eastern wall of the large garden.

House of the Faun: One of the summer dining rooms looking out onto the large second garden.

House of the Faun: The east side of this very large house (significantly larger than 855!) has a kitchen and baths, both behind the wall to immediate left. Jeff is looking at additional rooms which surround the second atrium (to the east of the first with the dancing faun) of this house.

House of the Faun: East atrium and room detail.

Layout of House of the Faun, from Maiuri (1978).

House of the Vettii: Front rooms and upper walls. The roof of the house was restored to help preserve the wall paintings, and further provides a sense of the light quality in the interior of the house.

House of the Vettii front rooms looking north. There was a strong-box of sorts in the cordoned-area at the foot.

House of the Vettii: Inside the southern front room.

House of the Vettii: Atrium. The significant restoration-work underway did not allow exploration further into the house.

House of the Vettii northeast room, to the right of the atrium.

House of the Vettii northeast room. (2)

Commercial Quarters (Regions I and II)

We then walked south along the well-travelled Via Stabiana back to Via dell’Abbondanza and turned east.

One of numerous working fountains throughout Pompeii, this one on Via della Fortuna. (Wondering if this is fed by from ancient canal to the river Sarno.)

Ancient wheel ruts on Via Stabiana (Marius noticed these, first).

We came across a bakery along Via Stabiana, one of at least thirty-five in Pompeii. The gray cylinders in front of the oven are parts of millstones for grinding wheat.

Inside the bakery (looking south), the well-like structure supports the cylindrical mills seen in the previous photos. These mills are turned by donkeys.

Looking around the bakery (SE); another cylindrical millstone.

Multi-archway corner across from the bakery. (Not sure the role of this building.)

Ancient plumbing.

Crossing Via Stabiana.

Amusingly to readers of Maiuri’s guidebook today, the excavations which began in 1911-1912 are referred to as “the new excavations.”  Fiorelli’s quarter-by-quarter approach was abandoned from that time.  “The principal aim of the new excavations was to resuscitate as completely as possible the aspect of one of the main arteries of the city … Attentino was concentrated upon the disinterment of the fronts of the houses along the ‘Via dell’Abbondanza’, the exploration being extended inwards only in the case of more important buildings.”  Newer excavation and restoration techniques were applied as well.

Most of the houses along the Via were gated shut with interiors that could be viewed from an open wall or doorway only.  (The only exception was the Fullonica, or Laundry, of Stephanus.)  One therefore imagines that we saw little more than could have been viewed of the street circa 1923, with perhaps less digging dust and rubble.  (By this time we were hurrying, anyway!)

Outside the Fullonica (Laundry) of Stephanus.

A view of the atrium of the Fullonica of Stephanus. Jeff stands before the rainwater basin of the house which was converted into a wash-trough. Marius reads a panel as follows–“The fullonica of Stephanus was discovered between 1912 and 1914, during excavations along Via dell’Abbondanza. It’s one of the most important and complete laundries found in Pompeii, with large masonry tanks to rinse fabrics, fed by a continuous flow of water, stone basins for washing and cleaning with special types of clay or urine, upstairs terraces for drying and brushing clothes after washing, and finally, as sign of top service, a pressing machine (torcular) to stretch and [brighten] garments and fabrics.”

Fullonica of Stephanus: wash-trough.

Fullonica of Stephanus: The garden and surrounding rooms dedicated to wash-works.

Fullonica of Stephanus, garden. (2)

Fullonica of Stephanus, wash-works. A series of connected troughs for steeping the cloth and where workers stamped, with their feet, cloth soaked in a cleaning liquid.

Fullonica of Stephanus, garden. (3)

Across the street (looking north from the fullonica of Stephanus) is a public shrine dedicated to the twelve divinities of Olympus … and another mysteriously captivating stone.

House of Paquius Proculus, “the politically most influential citizen of the quarter, attributed to him on the evidence of various electoral programmes and an amphora inscription.” The exterior shows the support holes for an upper-floor balcony.

Through the doorway of the house of Paquius Proculus.

The well-known floor mosaic of the watchdog in the doorway.

Looking south across the street to the house of Fabius Armando, can be seen the restored floor of the upper-floor balcony.

Further along Via dell’Abbondanza, looking north to Region IX. We puzzled over why the crosswalk against a wall, not realizing at the time that this part of Region IX has not yet been excavated. (The bracing wall itself is probably a century old.)

The Amphitheatre

At the southeastern extremity of the town is the oldest known Roman amphitheatre built around 80 BC.  Elements that distinguish its older design from newer amphitheatres, such as the Colosseum in Rome built almost a century later, include the use of external staircases to access upper tiers, rather than internal staircases distributed around a perimeter corridor, and the lack of subterranean chambers beneath the arena surface.

Looking east on Via dell’Abbondanza.

Thermopollium of Lucius Vetutius Placidus, with altar (lararium) for protecting commerce and wine. Circular cavities hold hot or cold pots.

Another thermopollium a few doors away, with more elaborate stone work.

Electoral campaign messages on street walls.

Electoral campaign messages on street walls. (2)

Taberna di Sotenicus. Ancient advertising claims this was the largest bakery around (according to Maiuri, therefore I don’t know why this indicates a “taberna”).

Unidentified doorway along Via dell’Abbondanza (S).

Unidentified doorway along Via dell’Abbondanza (S). (2)

Outside the Amphitheatre, showing the outdated, external staircase for upper-level access. Newer amphitheatre designs had internal stairs all around the building for faster access.

Entering the Amphitheatre.

The Amphitheatre arena was also different from later designs in not having underground chambers built below its surface.

Amphitheatre exit.

Amphitheatre seats and exit.

Outside the Amphitheatre.

Carbonized objects found in Pompeiian houses, including (at right) a round loaf of bread from the bakery.

Night had fallen by the time we left.  It was a rather long but fascinating afternoon (and yes a long, drawn, blog over at least a week)!

[The objects and furnishings found during excavation inside the buildings are on display at the Naples Archaeological Museum.  In the XVIIIth century, numerous frescoes were even removed from the walls of many buildings such as the Temple of Isis and the House of the Faun, all of which are also now displayed at the museum.  More on that another time!]

Brief Trajectory Update:  Arrived in Naples Friday evening for the last leg of our itinerancy for now, before the Christmas holidays.  We have a view of Mount Vesuvius on clear days from our 8th-floor, older flat–where one must pay €1/10 to use the elevator during business hours–by Garibaldi Square and the Napoli-Garibaldi train station.

Old Chania Harbour threatened again on the day we left.

Boy attempting to film a squall before leaving.

Chania to Naples via Athens.

Trajectory Update: Chania to Naples (actually via Athens)

Mount Vesuvius this morning as viewed from 8th-floor flat.

There is a small matter of a traffic circle almost directly below the flat: Neapolitan drivers love to lean on their horns. Though, pleasantly nearby also, the church bells chime out Ave Maria at 7:30 am, noon, and 6 pm, presumably for the Marian month of December. There are churches and shrines to Mary every other neighbourhood block.

It is very nice to be back in Italy again; we have been in lands of historical and archaeological wonders almost continuously (and briefly paleontological, too) throughout our travels, but on a practical note, the supermarkets and restaurants have consistently offered the greatest value and variety in Italy and, as expected in terms of value, Naples more so than Rome.  The days have been warmer and drier in Naples more than either Athens or Chania despite the higher latitude, so perhaps the currents of the Tyrrhenian sea act differently than those of the Aegean in ways I am unaware.  [From Wikipedia–]

• Naples 40°50′N elevation 17 m
• Athens 37°59′N, elevation 70.1 m to 338 m
• Chania 35°31′N elevation 20 m

We have already diligently visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum on each of two weekend days, and both were fascinating and marvelous to see even in light rain.  And Naples itself, settled centuries before Rome, has apparently the largest historic city centre in Europe.  So much more to share with you!

On two consecutive Sundays, we took to the road to visit two grand archaeological sites of ancient Greece.  The one we visited Sunday before last, took a 3-hour drive to reach outside of Athens.

Delphi is situated on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, with dramatic views across the Gulf of Corinth far below, to the highlands of the Peloponnese. To get there, we joined a day-coach tour from Athens which wound through mountain curves and tunnels and finally the narrow streets of the beautiful ski village of Arachova before arriving.  (Yes, a couple of us were nearly conquered by the motion sickness of travelling those roads; I endured by sleeping through almost all of the ride, Jeff fared slightly less well, while Marius remained his usual, blissfully immune self.)

The land at this elevation is covered with greenery still–grass and shrubbery and evergreens–but rising up higher it is mostly jagged rock and cliff faces, like an enormous, speckled gray battlement to the north; Parnassus is actually series of several peaks.  Here, the majesty of nature is clearly seen: the Gulf basin, together with the steep slopes which surround it, was formed by a geological rift between the Peloponnesian peninsula and mainland Greece into which the Ionian and Mediterranean Seas then expanded to fill during the Pleistocene period, over a million years ago.  The Gulf of Corinth continues to widen today.  Geology aside, one naturally imagines the sense of awe that not only drew the Mycenaean people here to settle and set up their sanctuary over 3000 years ago, but also inspired the pilgrims who continued to visit in the thousand years that followed.

By the 8th century BC the site had become a sanctuary for the worship of Apollo and an important religious centre where many came to seek advice from the famed Oracle at Delphi.  Recalling a few stories from the Greek mythology that Eugene first inspired me to read over the years–

It was here from the Oracle that King Acrisius of Argos learned he would be killed by the son (the as-yet unborn Perseus) of his daughter, Danae, and King Laius of Thebes learned he would be killed by his own son (Oedipus, who would then marry his own mother).  It was also here where, to atone for killing his children, Heracles was instructed to serve King Eurytheus of Tiryns in what are known as the Twelve Labours of Heracles.

There is also well-known Delphic lore associated with historical events.  At the time of the Persian Wars (which Marius has already enthusiastically written about), the Athenians were told mysteriously by the oracle that only a wooden wall would save them against the Persians.  Puzzling over this and skeptical that any wall of wood could provide adequate protection, some set to constructing a wooden fortress anyway.  It was Themistocles, an Athenian official, who interpreted that the wooden walls were those of ships, and urged Athens to commence building a naval fleet.  This fleet, with Themistocles as commander and strategist, would famously defeat the Persians at the Battle of Salamis in 490 BC.

[12-Dec.: Marius has just pointed out that in Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale, which we saw at the Globe Theatre in September, King Antigonus of Bohemia sends his two lords to the Oracle to decide the innocence or guilt of Queen Hermione.]

The frequent ambiguity of the messages did not always work in one’s favour.  A century earlier, King Croesus of Lydia, planning to battle against the Persian King Cyrus, was told by the oracle that he would destroy a great country if he crossed the river into Persia.  The country that he destroyed was his own; he was soundly defeated by the Persians.

This ancient site at Delphi, the Sanctuary of Apollo, was excavated out of the hillside by the French starting in the late 19th century.  As it often happens, there was a modern town which covered the area and had to be bought and relocated before digging could properly begin in 1892.

Following the Sacred Way to the Temple of Apollo.

A path, the Sacred Way, starts with a usual Roman agora of shops and administrative buildings, then zig-zags its way up the slope to the Temple of Apollo where the oracle was delivered.

Marius leads you up this portion of the Sacred Way all the way to the Temple of Apollo.  (We stuck to the guide so that we could best hear her explanations.  Jeff was farther behind for much of this part.)  There are a surprising number of fine statues and artifacts to accompany the building ruins discovered in the Sanctuary, all of which are now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Delphi.

A view north of the wall surrounding the Sanctuary of Apollo at the start of the Sacred Way, with the wall of Mount Parnassus rising above. It is cold and sunny (before the rain started).

Marius follows our guide to enter the Roman Agora at the start of the Sacred Way heading westwards. On either side are the ruins of the administrative buildings and shops.

A view NE of the Roman Agora, where there were shops selling offerings for the temple.

A view NW of the Roman Agora.

The First Segment

Many of the monuments and small temple-like buildings along the Sacred Way were erected by different Greek cities in thanks or in offering to the Oracle at Delphi for good fortunes or victories in wars. Of these small buildings, known as “treasuries” for housing the victor’s spoils, only the Athenian Treasury was reconstructed by archaeologists.  The Siphnian Treasury’s relatively modest ruins today tend to belie that it was the most luxuriously decorated in the sanctuary.

Proceeding west along the Sacred Way. On either side are ruins of treasuries from different city-states (Sikyonian and Siphnian treasuries to left, Megarian on upper right).

(Archaeological Museum of Delphi) The east pediment of the Siphnian Treasury, showing Apollo intervening with Hercules trying to steal Pythia’s tripod after being denied an oracle (for his having committed filicide). [The guide explained, in answer to Marius’s question, that wise Athena resolved matters by pointing out that the tripod was useless to anyone except Pythia, so Hercules may as well leave it there.]

(Archaeological Museum of Delphi) One of two Caryatids of the Siphnian Treasury which served as its front columns, which predate the Caryatids of the Erechtheion at the Acropolis in Athens.

(Archaeological Museum of Delphi) Siphnian Treasury frieze depicting scene from the Judgement of Paris.

The Boeotian Treasury.

Next to the Boeotian Treasury, at the first bend in the Sacred Way.

Side view of the restored Athenian Treasury, looking north from the first bend.

The Athenian Treasury (front).

The Athenian Treasury (front).

This Omphalos, or navel, at the first bend, marks the centre of the world. According to legend, Zeus released two eagles from opposite ends of the earth, to finally meet here. There are several Navels of the World with such a legend, I think. If I understood the guide correctly, this is just a marker in place of the embellished one in the museum.

(Archaeological Museum of Delphi) The omphalos, or navel, which may or may not have covered the marker by the first bend in the Sacred Way.

The Second Segment

Up past the treasuries and built into the hillside is a segment of smooth wall formed by irregularly-shaped stones closely fit together, the “Polygonal Wall,” fronted by a row of columns–the remains of the Athenian Stoa, another building for winnings from the Persians.  The Polygonal Wall is inscribed with hundreds of messages of thanks and of manumission (slave emancipation) with reference to Delphi.  This helped archaeologists confirm without a doubt the identity of the site of the oracle.

A view SE over the “Halos”, before the second bend in the Sacred Way.

The Athenian Stoa in foreground with remaining white pillars backed by inscribed polygonal stone wall. Above it are the pillars of the Temple of Apollo.

Looking back along the Sacred Way, past the Athenian Stoa. Somewhere here would be the column at the top of which the Naxian Sphinx was installed.

Polygonal stone wall behind Athenian Stoa.

Polygonal stone detail. These inscriptions, messages of thanks and of manumission (slave emancipation), helped archaeologists confirm the identity of this site as the Oracle of Delphi.

(Archaeological Museum of Delphi) The Naxian Sphinx stood high on an Ionic column immediately below the Temple of Apollo.

The Temple of Apollo

Up the steps above the Athenian Stoa is the heart of the sanctuary, the Temple of Apollo, where the Oracle of Delphi is delivered.  Very little remains of the temple except for a few columns.  In ancient times on the walls were inscribed with wise maxims such as, “Know Thyself.”  The setting here is breathtaking.

The secret of the oracle itself is rather mundane, however. Deep inside the Temple of Apollo, the priestess who channeled the wisdom of the oracle, always known as Pythia, first chewed laurel leaves, then sat on a high tripod stool positioned over a fissure in the earth that emitted volcanic or some other kind of hallucinogenic vapours. It is unsurprising that the toxicity of the laurel leaves in conjunction with the vaporous fumes would send one into trance. The unintelligible words thus uttered by Pythia, were interpreted by a special oracle priest of the temple and the interpreted message conveyed back to the … client.

Rounding the second bend to reach the Temple of Apollo. We are standing where pilgrims of antiquity would stand in lengthy lines for their oracle. There were even “skip-ahead” privileges for some, rather like at Disneyland today.

Alongside the Temple of Apollo, the Tripod of the Plataeans in the form of three twisted serpents (top broken in antiquity) was erected following victory over the Persians at Plataea in 479 BC. This is a replica of the original taken by Constantine the Great at the founding of Constantinople in 330 AD (and still stands there today–let’s go to see it for ourselves!).

The remaining columns at the east end of the Temple of Apollo.

(Archaeological Museum of Delphi) Pediment statues from the Temple of Apollo.

The Temple of Apollo from higher above along the Sacred Way. At lower right is the Athenian Treasury.

The Sacred Way above the Temple of Apollo.

Higher up along the Sacred Way is a well-preserved theatre.  At the very top of the sloped site remains a stadium where the Pythian Games, precursors to the Olympic Games, were hosted every 8 years.

(Jeff slipped ahead to reach the stadium first in the short time we had left.  We of course caught up.)

The Theatre.

The long road to the stadium.

Trying to slip ahead up to the stadium.

Stadium (panoramic, by Marius).

Stadium from western end.

The Theatre and Temple of Apollo from above.

Further up the Sacred Way.

The Way Back.

Back down the Sacred Way, we hurried to see highlights of the archaeological finds of Delphi at the museum (some already introduced above), take lunch, and get back to Athens.

Back down the Sacred Way.

Back down the Sacred Way at a run.

Back down the Sacred Way just past the Athenian Treasury, above the Omphalos and the Boeotian Treasury.

(Archaeological Museum of Delphi) A scale model of the Sanctuary of Apollo. The Temple of Apollo is the large stoa in the centre. The Roman Agora is at bottom right.

(At the Archaeological Museum of Delphi.) The Kourai Twins, two pious brothers and “perfect symbols of virtue” who yoked themselves to an oxcart in order to bring their mother to a religious ceremony she urgently needed to attend.

(Archaeological Museum of Delphi) The Charioteer, part of a bronze suite of a condition rare to find with inlaid enamel eyes still intact.

A memorable schnitzel at the Delphi village restaurant with a view, for the reason that it took approximately 53 minutes to arrive thus allowing only 7 minutes to eat.

A quick view of the Arachova clock tower on the way back to Athens.

Delphi is truly worth experiencing firsthand, even for those not seeking an oracle two thousand years later. Standing on the Sacred Way, gazing at the columns of what remains of the Temple of Apollo framed against the rock walls of Parnassus, the highlands in the distance and the vast sky above, one can easily believe that there is a divine presence here.

[Apologies for the longish delay!]  On two consecutive Sundays, we took to the road to visit two grand historical and archaeological sites of ancient Greece.  The one we visited this Sunday is 2.5 hours’ drive away from the town of Chania where we are now based.

Crete is said to be where the earliest European civilization began.  So we of course had to come here.  Knossos, to be exact.

Topographical imagery clearly suggests how the Aegean Sea could have formerly been a lakeland and Crete connected to the land mass of Asia Minor before geological convulsions of the Pleistocene period–around 1 million years ago–flooded the seas and submerged the land bridge.  The Neolithic settlers of Crete arrived at Knossos around 7000 BC by dugout canoe after the land bridge had already disappeared, but based on the archaeological evidence, it was still the Anatolian coast from which they came, via Karpathos and Kasos and other islands of the Dodecanese–a path that provided the greatest number of land links.  [All this, courtesy of an old Pelican paperback, Prehistoric Crete, that Marius and I happened to pick up in Rome while trading in other books.  The pre-Pleistocene physical link to Asia Minor rather than to Greece is based on studies of the ancient fauna of all three lands.]

The largest and most celebrated of the palace complexes of ancient Crete is at Knossos.  It was an administrative and religious centre, built with multiple storeys, running water supply and a sewage system.  All was destroyed by earthquake in 1700 BC but rebuilt in even greater splendor, to finally collapse after 1450 BC under Myceneaen rule.  Arthur Evans, the great excavator of Knossos, began to dig in 1899.  He christened this ancient civilization, the Minoans, after the legendary King Minos who ruled Knossos, although little is actually known about Minoan society or political structure.  Notwithstanding, the origin of the legend of the Minotaur has strong ties here, given the numerous references to bulls and labyrinths in discoveries by Evans and other archaeologists in the ensuing decades.

A fine day to head out to Heraklion from our flat …

… the Venetian fountain wasn’t streaming sideways onto the pavement from gale winds and rain …

… the sea wasn’t sweeping over the wall and into the restaurants and storefronts …

… and there was even a battleship in the distance to greet us on our way.

(Aside:) I keep trying to visit this excellent bookstore on the harbourfront, but they keep such unpredictable hours I managed to get in only one time. At the time of this photo, the storefront was open but I was informed that the store was still closed.

We were surprised to observe a complete range of snow-capped mountains enroute to Heraklion.

We set out Saturday morning by car from Chania to Heraklion and on to Knossos, but minor misscheduling resulted in two trips to the palace of Knossos and two separate visits to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. (It was to be in our favour, as the second day turned out to be on the free museum Sunday of the month.)

The Heraklion Archaeological Museum

Our timing was such that we visited the excellent museum, first.  The museum had been built in 1930 to house all the Minoan archaeological finds, and modern renovations to the galleries and exhibits were completed in 2014.  The treasures of Minoan civilization and the history of ancient Crete within the context of the Mediterranean, are beautifully presented.  Some examples:

A wooden model of the palace of Knossos (as viewed from the north). At Heraklion Archaeological Museum.

Golden Bee Pendant, palace of Malia

Clay vessels and figurines from the various palaces. The bull references appear frequently.

Bull-headed libation vessel.

Draughtboard, from Knossos.

Draughtboard, from Knossos (detail).

A fascinating display showing Minoan trade and foreign exchange by sea. The oxhide-shaped copper ingots (corroded) are units of exchange as well as for production of bronze.

Detail from the fascinating previous display showing an image of an ancient Egyptian frieze that depicts figures in Minoan dress as part of a procession offering goods such as copper ingots and vessels in the form of a bull’s head … (The original is in Metropolitan Museum NY–we will have to go see it ourselves of course.)

Bull-headed libation vessel. This is one of the museum’s cover pieces.

Bull-headed libation vessel, detail.

Famous Snake Goddess and Snake Priestess (may be used interchangeably) figurines, part of snake cult at Knossos.

Linear-B script sample decoded as city names. (Linear-A and Minoan hieroglyphs have not yet been decoded.)

More script samples.

The colourful frescoes of the Knossos palace walls were replaced by copies, and the original fragments reconstructed by Evans and his team and displayed at the museum.  Some of the reconstructions seem tenuous, however, based as they are on few, relatively small fragments.

Off to the museum again!

Off to the museum again! The Heraklion Museum exterior.

The Prince of the Lilies fresco at right. Newer studies have shown that this is an incorrect amalgamation of 3 different figures, as the parts were originally found in 3 different rooms with different skin-tones.

Charging Bull. This is reproduced in the North Entrance at the palace of Knossos.

Three Ladies in Blue.

Dolphin Fresco from “Queen’s Megaron”.

“La Parisienne”.

Bull-leaping fresco.

Bull-leaping fresco (detail).

Cretan Coinage (5th – 2nd c. BC).

Cretan Coinage, detail: Kydonia, or modern-day Chania, was the first to mint coins in Greece, following the example of Aegina (the island near Athens).

Cretan Coinage, detail: the labyrinth as an icon for Knossos in 5th – 2nd c. BC.

Foreign Coin-Finds in Crete (6th – 1st c. BC) shows the extensiveness of Crete’s trade network.

The Enigmatic Phaistos Disc

[The display caption reads–]  “The enigmatic inscribed clay Phaistos Disc takes pride of place in the history of Cretan scripts.  It bears forty-five pictorial signs, arranged in different combinations into sixty-one groups, separated by incised lines, presumably representing words.  The signs were stamped in a spiral configuration on both sides of the disc by seals on soft clay.

The enigmatic Phaistos Disc (front).

The enigmatic Phaistos Disc (back).

“Experts have not yet come to any definitive conclusions regarding the contents of the inscription and its relationship to Cretan scripts.  The repetition of certain combinations of signs provides the most persuasive evidence that the inscription is a hymn or a text of magic character.  Early 17th century BC.”

Jeff says we should have a hand at trying to decode it ourselves.  Naturally I found a handy book on the topic.

The Palace at Knossos

It was thrilling, then, to finally find ourselves at Knossos.  In comparison to the quality of the Heraklion museum displays and to other archaeological sites we have visited, however, the palace and its ruins were a little less enthralling than anticipated.

I believe my mild distaste was due to (a) the reconstructions irreparably performed in concrete by Evans after 1925–now in decay in many places–based on limited information and his own impressions, that render it quite difficult to distinguish between the ruined Minoan original and Evans’ fancy; and (b) the restricted access to a number of the interior chambers that, Evans’ fancy aside, do form a significant part of the lore of palace at Knossos and the archaeological discoveries there.  (None of this was aided by the fact that I had purchased a brief guide to the site which, confusingly, had photos no newer than 1978!)

All the explanatory panels and descriptions continue to use the names assigned by Evans to each area.  Careful scholar and archaeologist though Evans may have been in his time, it is fully acknowledged today that the concrete reconstructions are sometimes questionable in basis but themselves add to the history of the palace.

Looking over the less-reconstructed walls that remain of the palace one can see the many networks of rooms that may have contributed to the fame of the labyrinth.  We also sought examples of the palace’s sophisticated plumbing and waste chutes, but did not have access to see the “Queen’s Megaron” and bath.

West and South of the Palace Grounds

Palace of Knossos Main Visitors’ Route. (Ah, it appears now that there are some entries in my brief archaeological guidebook that are mislabelled!)

Sir Arthur Evans

Looking into one of the “Kouloures”, possibly granaries, toward the rear of the “West Magazines”.

Towards the South House.

The multi-storey reconstructed South House.

The multi-storey reconstructed South House. (2)

Looking towards the South Propylaeum.

The South Propylaeum with fresco copies of originals in the Heraklion museum.

Demonstrating the unnaturalness of the “Prince of Lilies” pose, at the South Entrance, the unnaturalness explained by the erroneous reconstruction from the fragments of this fresco.

The “First Floor”, mostly Evans’ creation, which covers over the “Tripartite Shrine” (looking NE).

Looking north on the Piano Nobile to the upper floor of the West Wing, with “West Magazines” to below left.

The West Magazines below protective covering.

West Wing explanatory panel.

Inside the West Wing first floor (NE side), where the fragments associated with these fresco images on display were found.

Inside the West Wing first floor, looking down over a light well.

Marius’s panoramic view to the north, showing the “North Lustral Basin” and the North Entrance.

Outside the West Wing first floor for Marius’s panoramic view.

East and North of the Palace Grounds

The East Wing and Grand Staircase. The staircase is mostly original Minoan construction.

East Wing, “Grand Staircase”. Unfortunately there was no access to the interior of this interesting wing.

The lower East Wing (no access).

Rooms adjacent to the East Grand Staircase.

Rooms adjacent to the East Grand Staircase. (2)

The “Throne Room”.

The “Throne Room”. (2)

Marius’s creative panoramic (hence the low exposure) shot of the whole “Throne Room”, showing the large sunken basin beyond the low wall, as one cannot enter the room and the viewing point is actually very narrow.

A view below the East Wing at what should be the “Queen’s Megaron”. (No access.)

The “Hall of the Double-Axes” on the left, with the East Wing in background.

Outside the “Queen’s Megaron”. (No access.)

Outside the “Queen’s Megaron”.

Network of rooms below the Hall of the Double Axes (looking SSW).

Part of the drainage passage has been identified!

The drainage passage continues along here.

Drainage conduit, upper level.

Drainage conduit, upper level. (2)

The “Corridor of the Draughtboard”, at the NE extremity of the site. From the panel: “The Royal Gaming Board was found here, a kind of board game made of ivory, rock crystal, Egyptian blue, silver and gold, now in Herakleion Museum. To the right of the corridor are the ‘Royal Pottery Stores’, where Kamares pottery of the Old Palace period (1900-1700 BC) was uncovered, and to the left, storage and workshop areas.”

The North Entrance (looking west) with replica of the charging bull fresco. Beyond to the left is the upper West Wing, to the right the “North Lustral Basin”.

Evans’ “North Lustral Basin” so named as it is a sunken cavity with no drainage which must surely have contained water for ritual bathing.

Departing via the “Theatral Area” towards the “Royal Road” which passages beneath the modern road to Herakleion. Some say it is the oldest road in Europe.

Forgive me we must run now to the airport!  But I should add that there is such a wealth to see and explore here on Crete, archaeologically speaking and otherwise, that we’ll be back one day soon.  And Kydonia certainly deserves its own entry (unrelated to the weather) …

Gale conditions, 35°31′N 24°1′E (Chania, Crete).

Arrived yesterday afternoon on the island of Crete, to the town of Chania, known to Homer as Kydonia, with picturesque harbour and lighthouse built during the grand era of Venetian maritime rule. The locals and seafaring Venetians may have detected a squall forthcoming, but imagine our own great surprise today to see a gale lashing Chania harbor and the Mediterranean sea aboil.  We did not venture out far, but watched the seawater wash violently over the pavement to the shops and restaurants.  And this was behind a substantial sea wall.

(Jeff points out that the photos still don’t sufficiently illustrate the enormity of the lashings we saw …)

Last evening, Chania harbour.

The placid conditions from yesterday evening presented the following sharp contrast:

Tonight, the local weather forecast continues to announce “Disruptions due to thunderstorms.” Hoping that does not imply power disruptions. Perhaps the Archaeological Museum of Chania for us tomorrow, hoorah!