Today we visited Epidavros and Mycenae.
We went to Epidavros first and were greeted by our tour guide Sofia. Sofia gave us a rich background of the history of the area and the healing center that once stood there. The main attraction in Epidavros is the theater though, which is still standing in near perfect condition after being unearthed in the 1880s.
Before going to explore the theater, we toured the museum which held artifacts discovered in the ruins. There were many medical tools and statues discovered, as well as detailed records of the construction of the buildings, and the methods used to treat patients.
After the museum, we headed to the theater, there were no detailed records of how it was built but it has perfect acoustics that modern architects can't figure out how to recreate. There was a "test" where one of the tour guides would clap all along every corner of the stage and we could hear each clap as clearly as the last. Then we all scattered about climbing as far up as possible (the seats were extremely high there were about 15000 seats available) and we could hear coins dropping from down in the tiny center of the stage where we could barley even see the person dropping the coin. The theater was discovered in the 1880s before the healing center and because it was up on a hill when the earthquakes hit, there were no heavy rocks to fall, just dirt and so it was buried but able to be recovered. We found out that they use to it today and stars like Kevin Spacey and Ethan Hawke come and do theater there which says a lot about their own prestige to make it to such a famous theater.
After Epidavros, we headed to Mycenae where Sofia explained the significance of the site to our group. The area we were at was the acropolis of an ancient civilization governed by Agamemnon and his family. Eventually this palace was lost to the people of Mycenae and was buried over time. After reading the Homer epics, a few scholars became convinced of the location of the lost palace of Mycenae. In 1874 an excavation began on the site and the fortified walls of the acropolis and the beautiful Lion Gate were discovered under the soil. From then until now, excavations still take place, with more and more of the site discovered each year.
After the tour we had some free time to walk up to the top of the Acropolis but it began to rain and thunder, this caused all of the other tourists to flee but our group decided to press on despite the weather and it paid off because it was beautiful.
After heading on the bus we stopped at Agamemnon's tomb stone and we were shocked but how huge and glorious it was. We were expecting a tiny hole in the ground tomb and what we discovered was a huge temple like fortress.
Even despite the rain it was a very amazing and informative day!
-Caroline Hudson and Sandra Conlon
We went to Epidavros first and were greeted by our tour guide Sofia. Sofia gave us a rich background of the history of the area and the healing center that once stood there. The main attraction in Epidavros is the theater though, which is still standing in near perfect condition after being unearthed in the 1880s.
Before going to explore the theater, we toured the museum which held artifacts discovered in the ruins. There were many medical tools and statues discovered, as well as detailed records of the construction of the buildings, and the methods used to treat patients.
After the museum, we headed to the theater, there were no detailed records of how it was built but it has perfect acoustics that modern architects can't figure out how to recreate. There was a "test" where one of the tour guides would clap all along every corner of the stage and we could hear each clap as clearly as the last. Then we all scattered about climbing as far up as possible (the seats were extremely high there were about 15000 seats available) and we could hear coins dropping from down in the tiny center of the stage where we could barley even see the person dropping the coin. The theater was discovered in the 1880s before the healing center and because it was up on a hill when the earthquakes hit, there were no heavy rocks to fall, just dirt and so it was buried but able to be recovered. We found out that they use to it today and stars like Kevin Spacey and Ethan Hawke come and do theater there which says a lot about their own prestige to make it to such a famous theater.
After Epidavros, we headed to Mycenae where Sofia explained the significance of the site to our group. The area we were at was the acropolis of an ancient civilization governed by Agamemnon and his family. Eventually this palace was lost to the people of Mycenae and was buried over time. After reading the Homer epics, a few scholars became convinced of the location of the lost palace of Mycenae. In 1874 an excavation began on the site and the fortified walls of the acropolis and the beautiful Lion Gate were discovered under the soil. From then until now, excavations still take place, with more and more of the site discovered each year.
After the tour we had some free time to walk up to the top of the Acropolis but it began to rain and thunder, this caused all of the other tourists to flee but our group decided to press on despite the weather and it paid off because it was beautiful.
After heading on the bus we stopped at Agamemnon's tomb stone and we were shocked but how huge and glorious it was. We were expecting a tiny hole in the ground tomb and what we discovered was a huge temple like fortress.
Even despite the rain it was a very amazing and informative day!
-Caroline Hudson and Sandra Conlon
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