Kalimera! Good Morning as the Greeks say! I have had a wonderful past few weeks and have quite a lot to share. The Voula Dig I embarked on last time went successfully - the dig was a 9 day intensive dig focused on the Roman era of occupation with lectures, one on osteoarchaeology or bioarchaeology where we looked at human bone remains from the site found beneath the entrance to the Christian Basilica. The excavation was challenging in that there was less finding special and easily identified objects like glass vessels - though we did find one of those - and more wall collapse destruction that we had to learn to identify and differentiate from the building foundations and other layers of occupation so that we could remove the collapse and see what foundations were going on underneath. We found large coarse ware pottery, the stem of a roman glass cup, glass slag from production, a stele reused in a floor, and a well that would have provided water to the pottery kilns known on site. We shifted a lot of dirt, and I very much value how much I learned about building identification. It was great!
After the dig and a short orientation with some catching up on sleep, I started classes and am happy to say that I love them all. I am taking Archaeology of Athens (the Professor introduced it as Welcome to Topography Club!) which is an onsite class that will greatly enhance my understanding of the city I am so fortunately to be living in; Ancient Greek Comedy in which I am reading Aristophanes' Clouds and will get the chance to put the play on; Ancient Greek Philosophy where I am learning how to understand Plato and Aristotle in their very own city (yesterday I walked around the ancient agora and saw buildings it is known that they and Socrates stood in, how cool!); History of Ancient Macedonia, which I enjoy immensely and am taking at a higher level for a more in depth study of Macedonian military tactics in the time of Phillip and Alexander; and Byzantine Art and Architecture which is an art history class focused on iconography and symbolic representation (it is very cool, yesterday we went to the Benaki museum to look at Byzantine manuscripts). For my archaeology, art history, and history classes I am getting to see the places we talk about and that just means the world to me.
One of those places was Constantinople! Last weekend I was fortunate enough to get the chance to take a three day trip to Istanbul with CYA, and I was so excited and entranced by the things I saw that I took over a thousand pictures (thank goodness for digital memory cards). We get a sense of the city lay out in a trip up Pierre Loti hill, where you can see much of the city from, and had Turkish tea to wake up from our early flight. The real fun of the day was going to the legendary Walls of Constantinople, where my military Archaeologist and Byzantinologist side felt like a kid in a candy shop.
The walls were massive and absolutely took my breath away. My awe was amplified next when we went directly from the wall to the Chora Museum, the most beautiful Byzantine Church around. The mosaics have stunning detail and gold leaf tesserae, and the Church was originally used by the Emperors and Empresses themselves.
It was an amazing first day and the second day was no less incredible. We went to the Blue Mosque, which has overwhelming floral decorations, and Hagia Sophia, which was stunningly large. At Hagia Sophia I saw the coronation spot of Byzantine Emperor's and Empresses, and walked the upper floor Empresses' Hall shown here before we went through the Byzantine Cistern (also shown here) and the Hippodrome to see the obelisks and Delphic column.
I have never seen an Egyptian Obelisk before, and seeing one integrated into the Byzantine city I love was quite a jump back in history. We also went to the Sultan's palace of Topkapi where there is a relics room containing the staff of Moses, and the famous Istanbul Bazaar, and like the night before some of us explored the area we had found a tower in and found a traditional Turkish Bath - it was quite a day! My highlight I would have to say though was Hagia Sophia.
For day three we heard part of an Orthodox service, which was very interesting and beautiful, and toured the Sultan palace of Dolma Bahce, which has staircase railings made of Swarovski crystals and a ballroom that has enormous sets of four pillars on either side. We drove to Asia from there (believe it or not when you cross the bridge from one side of the city to the other there is a sign that says Welcome to Asia) and had lunch before hopping on a boat to tour the Bosporus and get a very good sense of the waterway that partially defines Constantinople and Istanbul, before a stop at the Egyptian Market for Turkish tea and the best Baklava on the planet, and heading home to Athens.
It was an exhausting weekend completely full of wonderful things, some of which I am lucky to have seen in person and be studying in my Byzantine class. I hope to travel back to the city before too long!
After the dig and a short orientation with some catching up on sleep, I started classes and am happy to say that I love them all. I am taking Archaeology of Athens (the Professor introduced it as Welcome to Topography Club!) which is an onsite class that will greatly enhance my understanding of the city I am so fortunately to be living in; Ancient Greek Comedy in which I am reading Aristophanes' Clouds and will get the chance to put the play on; Ancient Greek Philosophy where I am learning how to understand Plato and Aristotle in their very own city (yesterday I walked around the ancient agora and saw buildings it is known that they and Socrates stood in, how cool!); History of Ancient Macedonia, which I enjoy immensely and am taking at a higher level for a more in depth study of Macedonian military tactics in the time of Phillip and Alexander; and Byzantine Art and Architecture which is an art history class focused on iconography and symbolic representation (it is very cool, yesterday we went to the Benaki museum to look at Byzantine manuscripts). For my archaeology, art history, and history classes I am getting to see the places we talk about and that just means the world to me.
One of those places was Constantinople! Last weekend I was fortunate enough to get the chance to take a three day trip to Istanbul with CYA, and I was so excited and entranced by the things I saw that I took over a thousand pictures (thank goodness for digital memory cards). We get a sense of the city lay out in a trip up Pierre Loti hill, where you can see much of the city from, and had Turkish tea to wake up from our early flight. The real fun of the day was going to the legendary Walls of Constantinople, where my military Archaeologist and Byzantinologist side felt like a kid in a candy shop.
It was an amazing first day and the second day was no less incredible. We went to the Blue Mosque, which has overwhelming floral decorations, and Hagia Sophia, which was stunningly large. At Hagia Sophia I saw the coronation spot of Byzantine Emperor's and Empresses, and walked the upper floor Empresses' Hall shown here before we went through the Byzantine Cistern (also shown here) and the Hippodrome to see the obelisks and Delphic column.
I have never seen an Egyptian Obelisk before, and seeing one integrated into the Byzantine city I love was quite a jump back in history. We also went to the Sultan's palace of Topkapi where there is a relics room containing the staff of Moses, and the famous Istanbul Bazaar, and like the night before some of us explored the area we had found a tower in and found a traditional Turkish Bath - it was quite a day! My highlight I would have to say though was Hagia Sophia.
For day three we heard part of an Orthodox service, which was very interesting and beautiful, and toured the Sultan palace of Dolma Bahce, which has staircase railings made of Swarovski crystals and a ballroom that has enormous sets of four pillars on either side. We drove to Asia from there (believe it or not when you cross the bridge from one side of the city to the other there is a sign that says Welcome to Asia) and had lunch before hopping on a boat to tour the Bosporus and get a very good sense of the waterway that partially defines Constantinople and Istanbul, before a stop at the Egyptian Market for Turkish tea and the best Baklava on the planet, and heading home to Athens.
It was an exhausting weekend completely full of wonderful things, some of which I am lucky to have seen in person and be studying in my Byzantine class. I hope to travel back to the city before too long!
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