#eckerd greece2020

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This is a picture of the remains of one of the pediments from the temple of Zeus at Olympia. It is one of the best-preserved pediments of a temple from ancient Greece. One of the seven wonders of the ancient Greek world was this temple of Zeus, so these pieces of art that decorated the temple were seen as excellent works. The scene depicted here is that of the battle between the centaurs and the Lapiths. The Lapiths, a group of people from Thessaly, invited the centaurs to the wedding of their king. While at the wedding the centaurs drank too much wine and started attacking the women. The Lapiths fought back and with the help of Theseus were able to defeat the centaurs. The center figure in this pediment is Apollo. A centaur can be seen battling with a man on the right while on the left a centaur is seen trying to take a woman. This mythological scene of the centauromachy, the battle between the humans and centaurs, is also depicted on some of the metopes of the Parthenon. Interesting to see the same myth used on two very prominent temples in ancient Greece. Quite amazing to me, is how the artist was able to render a scene full of so much action and interaction between the various characters in marble. Each character looks quite dynamic, it really looks like a snapshot from a battle. Ancient Greek sculptors were very skilled craftsman and it is astounding that we are still able to see their works of art thousands of years later.

Posted by Thomas Haines, computer science major, class of ‘20’

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The Tomb of King Philip The Second was probably the best way to end a trip because of how unexpectedly cool it was. I think this was in large part due to the previous temples because small and while cool just not too impressive with the story behind them. Fortunately, this all changed at King Philip’s Tomb. To start the other 3 Tombs in the area were extremely cool on their own because of the detail and size that was involved with each one of them. Then when it comes to Philips tomb I was absolutely shocked with how big and impressive it was. The door from the front looked like it hadn't been opened since it was sealed thousands of years ago. The whole time I could not imagine what it would have been like to be the first people to enter it to see those items for the first time in 2500 years must have been chilling to say the least. To make the site even cooler the items found inside straight blew my mind. By far the most impressive was his Suit of armor simply because of HOW AWESOME it was words cannot describe it. The fact that Alexander the great wore something similar just makes it even more badass. To conclude on the site just all the gold and other items can make you see just how influential a person he was and to think he was the person responsible for the success of Alexander the great just allows you to appreciate the sheer importance of the site.

(Jack Boyle, History Major, Class of 2022)

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This winter term to Greece was an incredible trip. I got to know lots of great new people over these last few weeks and I learned a lot. I got to know which styles of art characterize the various ages in ancient Greek history. Through touring the various museums and getting to walk through the different eras of artwork multiple times I was able to see how the styles were developed and refined over time. I loved seeing the Greek countryside as we drove around the country and as we went to different archaeological sites and monasteries. The temple of Poseidon was one of my favorite sites that we went to. The setting of the temple on top of the cliff was so perfect for this temple. The scenery was beautiful with islands in the background and beautiful cliff to look out from. I also really enjoyed visiting the Hosios Loukas monastery. Most of the churches of the monasteries we had been to previously had frescos on the inside, but the church in this monastery was adorned with detailed mosaics on the interior. The gold parts of the mosaics that were the background for the scenes shined beautifully when the sunlight came in from the doorway and windows. Some of my favorite pieces of artwork were the pots from the Minoans and Mycenaeans that employed the octopus motif or marine motif in general. There was one pot in particular that had Nautilus painted on it that was very impressive. I was surprised to see these sea creature motifs so widely used over three thousand years ago, and I really liked how the sea creatures were depicted on the pots.

Trying new foods was another great part of the trip. From fried cheese with honey to liver I tried a lot of new things, most of which I really liked. The fried cheese with honey was at the top of my list of new foods that I like, but I would have to say pork gyros were my favorite for the trip. There were so many restaurants to choose from in most of the places we stayed, so there was always a lot of options which was nice. The opportunities for new and interesting food were never ending. Traveling around Greece I learned so much about both ancient and modern Greece and it was an amazing experience. For future students going on winter term trips I would say be prepared to make some great new friends and explore and learn about a new country.

Posted by Thomas Haines, computer science major, class of ‘20’

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I have really enjoyed listening to and conversing with our tour guide Stefania. She has so much knowledge to share about ancient and modern Greece. It was so interesting to hear about all of the incredible places we were at from her. She always knew the places and artworks very well would tell us the great stories behind everything. She was great at telling all the mythological stories and traditions that inspired so much of the art we were seeing. Discussing the modern Greek culture and atmosphere with her was also interesting. The University system in Greece and the way it is entered into is very different from that of America. Stefania was so good at communicating things, so they were interesting and entertaining. I got to hear about her experience giving tours for the past several years and what that has been like interacting with a wide variety of people form America and other parts of Europe. She had great stories to tell and was always fun to talk to. Having Stefania as our amazing tour guide made the entire trip so interesting and fun.

Posted by Thomas Haines, computer science major, class of ‘20’

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I have enjoyed going through all the museums and getting a better understanding of the different art styles that define each era as well as how art developed through the ages. I especially enjoyed seeing the examples of glasswork from long ago. They were rare to see which made them more unique and special when we did find them in a museum. With all the pottery and sculpture that we see and that I had learned about in other various history classes, glass was not brought up so I did not realize that it was so widely employed. There were some very beautiful pieces like these perfume vases from the fourth century BC, which had a nice design on them with various colors. There were also some intricate bird shaped glass containers also used for perfume. Larger glass vases and other objects were made for serving containers and other purposes. One particular vase we saw even had a small figurine attached on the bottom of the interior of the vase. The craftsmanship of all of these glass pieces was impressive. Although the glass was one of my favorite things to see when we did find it, it was always interesting going through the different time periods in these museums and seeing the styles of the pottery and sculpture develop over time into more refined and realistic pieces as well.

Posted by Thomas Haines, computer science major, class of ‘20’

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Visiting the various monasteries in Greece has been very interesting. This particular monastery is one of the six functioning monasteries on the Meteora rock formation in Kalabaka, Greece. I particularly liked the setting for these monasteries. The artistic work done on the inside of the churches in these monastery complexes is quite amazing. Most of the churches contained frescos. The church at the Hosias Loukas monastery had incredible mosaics. These are rare because most were not preserved well if at all and were redone with frescos. The Narthex, where people enter the church, usually contains depictions of martyrs and the stories of their martyrdom. This was done to show the dedication that these people had to the faith and the strength of their convictions that they died for their faith. When many of these churches were built, much of the population could not read so these depictions were part of making the stories in the Bible and of the churches history accessible to everyone. There is also a stratification of the figures depicted on the walls within the narthex and the nave, the main area of the church. At the lowest level there are just decorative elements. Slightly above the floor there would be depictions of saints. Above the saints there would be holy figures depicted. These depictions were not done for the purpose of decoration, but to educate and provide reminders of the important figures in the Christian church. It is interesting to see how they depicted the stories in these mosaics and frescos so people could have understandings of Christianity.

Posted by Thomas Haines, computer science major, class of ‘20’

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Along the left side of the pathway that athletes would take on their way into the Olympic stadium are a series of pedestals. In the ancient times when this stadium was in use, there were bronze statues of Zeus on these pedestals which were called Zanes. Creation of these statues was funded by fines collected from athletes, or those supporting specific athletes, who had cheated in the games. In the modern context I usually think of cheating in athletic events involving steroids, so I was surprised to hear that it was also prevalent in ancient times because they would not have had all the chemical capabilities we have today of enhancing peoples natural abilities. Usually it involved bribing of the opponent to lose the competition when cheating was involved in the ancient Olympic games. If the corruption was discovered, whoever was responsible was, at the very least, fined. Going into the Olympic stadium for the competition, the athletes had to walk by these reminders of what would happen if they were caught cheating. A fitting place and daunting reminder with 16 statues of Zeus lined up before the arch leading into the Olympic stadium.

Posted by Thomas Haines, computer science major, class of ‘20’

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While driving through Greece I have enjoyed watching the countryside go by as it is a beautiful country. As we have been going I have taken notice of the large production of various things here. I did not know much about what Greece produces apart from olive oil or how much olive oil they produce. I have been surprised seeing just how vast the olive tree farms are, they occupy a significant amount of the landscape. I was also interested to learn that Greece produces a fair amount of citrus fruits like oranges. Although most of what I see is olive trees, there are also many orange groves. There are also a fair number of vineyards, and from what Stephany has said it sounds like Greece has become more competitive in the global wine market in recent years. I have also enjoyed seeing remnants of ancient production and learning how far back some of these plants were being cultivated. For example, at Nestor’s palace today we saw remains of large pots making up an olive oil magazine. Olive oil has been produced here for thousands of years, and the ancients also made perfumes with it which is one of the reasons the palace had such extensive stores of olive oil. Learning some about the ancient and modern production in Greece as well as seeing all the farms and stores of products that there are here is another cool aspect of this trip.

Posted by Thomas Haines, computer science major, class of ‘20’