Mycenae and Olympia

Heinrich Schliemann loved the stories of Homer and decided in the 1800s to excavate and try to locate artifacts from this time period. Though an amateur, he was successful and played a pivotal role in what we got to see on this day. We first looked in the beehive tombs. They aren't 100% sure who these belonged to, but they are tall structures with some stones weighing up to 60 standard tons! I got a picture of me in the doorway and I literally look like an ant. Want to drop 20 pounds? Stand by a beehive tomb-- it's a very flattering photograph. :-)

We also got to see the famous "Lions Gate" which was an entryway specifically designed to protect from enemy invasion. Lions represented royalty and power and stood as the emblem of Mycenae. Surrounding the area are grave sites, creatively named Grave Circle A, Grave Circle B and so on. They found 19 bodies in these tombs, with lots of gold inside-- Homer actually wrote about Mycenae being rich with gold. The Mask of Agamemmon (from the movie "Troy"-- the leader of the Greeks) was found and it was made of gold. I've only seen pictures, but I think we get to see it later on in a museum. On the way to our hotel in Olympia, we saw a lot of the damage that the August forest fires did to Greece. Not being very culturally aware this summer (because I was at camp), I didn't know much about this-- but for 4-6 weeks, forest fires raged and destroyed much of the lush greenlife that makes Greece beautiful. Luckily, they stopped it before it destroyed the museum we visited today in Olympia. There was damage surrounding it, but everything inside was still in tact.

I'm not usually a huge museum fan, but I really enjoyed the one in Olympia. The statue depictions of different gods towered above me and their detail was amazing. Their facial expressions were so realistic, you could almost feel what they were going through. I thought these structures were impressive on the ground, but Catharina informed us that these would have been up high in the temple, leaning slightly forward for a 3-D effect.

We went outside of the museum to see the training grounds for the Olympics. We saw where the wrestlers would have trained and where the torch would be lit. We also saw the workshop of Phidias, who is the man that created the statue of Zeus (which is one of the wonders of the ancient world.) I would have LOVED to see this statue, but no one knows what happened to it. We saw a model of what it would have looked like in comparison to the building and a person in the building and it was a jaw-dropper. Even seated, his head touched the roof of the temple! The remains of the Temple of Zeus were some of the most impressive ruins we've seen. After a while, all the stones start looking the same and whining wants to escape, but the fallen pillars of this temple blew me away. I tried to reassemble them in my head and form them into a column-- wow. I was almost as tall as one segment of the column-- imagine about 6 or 7 more of them piled on top of each other! We also saw the oldest preserved temple, Hera's temple-- and we saw her altar-- where the Olympic torch is now lit every 4 years.

The COOLEST part of this was seeing where they held the Olympic games. You walk through this archway like they would have-- I personally chose to victoriously walk through with my hands in the air-- and you see this long track in the distance with a marble strip as a starting line. A huge hill goes up on both sides and Catharina tells us that everyone would have just sat on the ground, except for the 10 judges who had marble seating. Before some of us chose to run (or jog) to the other side, Catharina explained that false starters back then were flogged in front of everyone. The runners used to run with just loin cloths on, but the winner one year accidentally lost his loin cloth before finishing. Because of his victory, they took it as a sign from the gods that they wanted them to run nude. So...for the rest of time, all the competitors competed naked. Glad they've changed the rules presently. Also, coaches had to coach in the nude because a woman once dressed up like a man so she could see her sons compete (women weren't allowed to watch the games). To keep this from happening again, coaches shed their clothes as well. What do you think about that, Coach Reely? Haha. Just food for thought: Gymnasium literally means "training in the nude."

More than just the exciting places and new information, this trip was a blessing because of friendships I've formed. We had a girl's devo on Wednesday night in the hotel and it, of course, turned into an emotional sharing time. We each had to talk about our fears, our passions, anything that was on our heart. I felt like I got to know more about the girls and what they were going through-- and we all found common themes of insecurity and fear that rang true for almost everyone. I have truly been blessed to have a group to laugh with, but also cry with. Though I am good-naturedly teased about my constant waterworks, I know that they are there whether I'm crying over "Father of the Bride" (It gets me every time!) or a real struggle in my life. I feel like I have had more brain-stimulating conversation since I've been here than I have in quite some time-- I stay up late with these girls and we talk about our faith rather than the latest gossip; we share books that have lifted us up rather than talk about the latest episode of a drama. It has been a breath of fresh air.

I am also celebrating the fact that my teeth cooperated and allowed me to enjoy my trip to the fullest. God has really come through for me again! Every time I feel beat down, something pulls me back up again. Hopefully this therapeutic filling will hold out for me!

The past few days went by in a flash, but it was a journey I was proud to take. Paul is one of my favorite Bible characters and I got a small glance into his life. I have always admired him, but now added to that list is his ability to trek through the mountaneous terrain that is Corinth. I have walked in the footsteps of Paul-- and I am sore. Haha.

We are back at the Artemis, fixing to start another grueling academic frenzy of a week. Our "holiday" is coming up though-- and we still haven't decided where we're going! We were going to go to Florence, but it is too expensive! Any ideas? It's for 3 days. Anyway-- I am looking forward to that little excursion.

Lots of love, Ashton