June 13 (with improved photos)

So, today was pretty fun.

> June 13, 2006

Well, the first day of real “school” was pretty informative. During the morning we toured the extensive library resources that the school has. It’s pretty amazing that they let us come and go as we please. It’s a non-circulating library, but within the walls it’s pretty much hands-off. It's open 24 hours a day; you check out the books yourself, leave a little card saying which desk it’s on, and re-shelve it when you’re through. We looked through a stack of archival letters that belonged to one of the school’s presidents – including one where Michael Ventris wrote to inform him that he had deciphered Linear B as being Greek (fascinating for all of you, I’m sure. It really is a pretty significant moment in modern Greek studies). We leafed through a 1488 1st edition of Homer (1st printed edition, that is) and looked at a bunch of ancient inscriptions that the school has managed to “acquire” during the heyday of artifact liberation in the late 19th century.

This afternoon we went to the Areopagus – you probably know it better as “Mars Hill” as told in Acts 17. This was where the ‘council’ of Athens met: a bunch of ex-political officers who decided murder cases and religious issues. [Actually, it's the name of the council. It's debatable whether or not they really met on the hill. It's not the most comfortable place to hold a meeting and there's no evidence of any type of building having been there. Nevertheless, it's as close as it gets to Paul). Then we walked to the Pnyx, where the Athenian Assembly met. From there, we followed the 4th century BC walls (or what’s left of them) up another hill to the monument of Philopappos.


So, this big bare spot is the Pnyx, where democracy was born. I couldn't help but feel the irony when I took this picture on Sunday with absolutely nobody around. Wasn't this the site of the "Assembly?" Where was everybody? How can it be democracy with me by myself?









The acropolis with the parthenon in the foreground, and Lykabettos is the name of the tall hill in the background. My school [the American School for Classical Studies at Athens] is at the foot of Lykabettos. I ran to the top this morning for a workout. We'll see if I can do it two days in a row.








I'll get some pictures of the school and library for everyone to see. It's pretty cool.