Reflections on Greece Day 3, Sunday, April 13

th
, 2014 - Palm Sunday

The true feeling of Freedom, the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus
Just after breakfast in our hotel, we boarded a coach tour bus that departed directly from the hotel and
were immediately in route back to the city of Athens. We stopped in and collected Giota, pronounced
Yota, our fabulous personal tour guide. Today my love of the sounds in the Greek language began. As
we rode through the city with Giota pointing out landmarks, both ancient and new, I became enthralled
with the collection of syllables that rolled off her tongue. Ko Lo-Ko-Tro-Niss. Kal-Lee-Mare-Ra (Good
Morning) and Ef-Kal-Lee-Stow (Thank you). Every note held to the front of the mouth. Ev-Zo-Ness -
(Presidential guards). O-Dee (song). O-Dee-Um (Music Hall).
Our first stop was the new Olympic Stadium of Athens. It is named in honor of the first Modern Olympics
marathon winner, in 1896, Spiros Louis. This massive modern stadium hosted its first athletic
competition in 1982. It was impressive and pristine. The stop also provided us with a vendor who sold
me much appreciated postcards to send home to my parents, who do not communicate by any means
other than direct conversation, postal service and telephone land line or basic cell. That stop also
launched a number of our traveling companions into the world of Greek refrigerator magnet collecting -
a major bonding experience that spanned the entirety of our trip.
As we continued on our tour, we learned of the heroes and sights key to the 400 year occupation of
Greece, of those who fought mightily for freedom and the conditions in modern day Greece. In 1844,
the King gave the first Constitution in Palace Square, which has been referred as Constitution Square
since that day.
I was extremely humbled to learn that the beautifully, thickly pleated skirts of the presidential guards
actually contain 400 pleats each one for each year of occupation. The enormous pompoms atop their
shoes purportedly hid daggers which could be easily retrieved in a time of need. 400 hundred years
under Ottoman rule, from the mid- 1400s to the mid-1800s. 400 hundred years more than the entirety
of our nations existence. As it turns out, Kolokotronis is far more than a wondrous cascade of sound.
He was a pivotal person in the Greek freedom movement and one of Greeces most revered leaders. I
read later that he was given his first command of fighters at the age of 15!
On Sundays, the guards wear white. No matter what day of the week, whether dressed in white or navy
blue, it takes each guard 1 hours to properly dress for the elite duty that is granted to very few. Giota
shared with us that the Greeks live their history - especially since the fall of Constantinople -a concept so
far removed from our daily U.S. lives.
I was saddened to hear that in 2014, 40% of Athens shops were closed due to bankruptcy; the national
unemployment rate is 28%, with the youth employment rate at 60%. Greece is losing its youth.

Here are other facts that we learned from Giota, all before reaching the walls of the Acropolis:
Greece is currently having problems w/Cypress
Muslims, trying to emigrate from Turkey, are being lost at sea. For them, Greece is The first
foot in Europe.
A grave marker atop a hill in Amphipolis, north of Athens, is said to mark the recently discovered
remains of Alexander the Great. Upon his death, Greece was divided into four; one parcel for
each of his sons. After that, Roman allied forces were larger and started conquering Greece.
Orchestra = Greek word derived from dance
106 ancient Greek cities minted their own coins
Dionysus was first Greek to become a Christian
In 1836 University of Greece was founded. Initially the university had 50 students. It now has
8,000 students and now there are 4.5 million people living in Greece.
When Greek war of independence started, Greeks of that time went back to ancient Greece for
inspiration for architecture and fashion.
Hadrians Gate was built by the Athenians as a gift for Hadrian for all he did for the city and its
people. He expanded the city, built an aqueduct and a library. The environs on one side of
Hadrians Gate represent Ancient Greece with the New Athens of Hadrian on the other.
Hadrians Temple, Temple of Zeus (of Jupiter) Zeus is the God of weather. Ironically, a column
of the Temple of Zeus fell in 1852 when a huge wind pushed it down.
Zeus is a god, but some people believe he was a real person.
Currently 97% of Greeks are Greek Orthodox. There are approximately 5,000 Greek Jews and
about 5,000 Greeks who still worship Earth Mother, Ge, and follow pagan religious practices.
The Proplyaea
Hill of Pynka
Athens was a democracy - Demo = people; Akros = Power. Every nine days (on the green field
she pointed out in the distance below the Acropolis) an assembly would gather. 6,000 was the
minimum needed in order to conduct official business out of the 30,000 voting members. At
that time, 250,000 people were living in Athens. Metics were citizens of Greece who paid taxes
and went to war, but had no voting power because they were originally foreigners.
The Parthenon was built to show off Athens wealth and power.
Giota points out a church on the ancient agora lying below the Acropolis. That church became
known as the Church of the Lazy. Athena was one of two Gods of the church and the protector
of women and protector of bronze workers. The church houses a bronze making workshop.
The church we could see on that day, April 13, 2014, was all original except for the roof.
Socrates often spent his days in the agora. His best friend was a shoemaker named Simon and
Socrates could often be found hanging out with Simon.
Next Giota pointed out a rock, the Areopagus, where St. Paul invited Greeks to hear about
Christ but he spoke of his in the frame of the unknown God. To worship the unknown God =
to worship every one. This way no god would be left out. St. Paul knew he would need to speak
in terms of the unknown god in order to introduce Jesus and Christianity to the Greeks. He
baptized Dionysus.
Greeks had used the Parthenon to store gun powder. In 1840 it was struck by lightning. There
was a big kaboom and the roof was blown away.
The Parthenon and the Temple of Athena
Once through the Gate to Parthenon, much of the ancient history of Greece about which wed been
reading appeared before our eyes. To describe the moment, I first saw the Parthenon would be
impossible. It was almost unfathomable that such antiquity could be a reality standing directly before
me; it was a place I never really imagined that I would actually be able to see in person. I was lost in the
wonder of all of it. I moved from spot to spot, inch by inch, making sure that I missed nothing: the
friezes, the triglyphs and metopes, the fluted columns that stood in every corner. The Caryatids took my
breath away as they so gracefully, yet magnificently held the roof of the Temple of Athena and
Poseidon. I was surprised later by how many photographs I had taken of them.
I doubt that I will ever return to Athens, with so many places yet to explore, but I know that I have been
forever transformed by my presence there. There is an ethereal quality of beauty which emerges from
almost everywhere you turn, ethereal because it all comes from stone. That a material so unyielding as
marble can be the essence of such a beautiful, timeless portrayals of the human and animal form is
surreal.
I have shared all of this with you and have not touched upon our visits to Dionysus Theater, Hadrians
Gate, the market district, lunch in the Plaka, the agora, St. Pauls Church which is the only Anglican
building in Athens, our tram ride back to our Hotel, our dinner and our joyous after dinner evening in
the Palymira Hotel patio. There is only one more experience I know that I must share with you, as it is
one that will never leave me -my visitors at The Temple of Zeus.
As Adam, Diane and I were rounding the back side of the Temple, an eerie, yet not frightening energy
engulfed most. It was an energy with the force to move all other energy inside of me. At times, I can still
feel its presence. It was almost ghost-like, yet it was beckoning me to spend a few solitary moments
with it. It was coming from inside the temple, but again, I was not afraid. My husband Adam was in tune
with what was happening and graciously offered to give me those moments and to make sure that
others would as well. I am very lucky to have him as my partner. The feeling persisted and had we not
been at the end of our time in Athens, I would have remained connected there for much longer. As I
was leaving, I inquired about a bird that had also been a constant, yet distant companion on the lawns
surrounding the Temple. Lyle let me know that it was a magpie.
Later that evening, I was browsing through a book about Athens that I had bought while shopping in the
market. When I came to the section about The Temple of the Olympian Zeus, I was slightly chilled by
reading these words, During the Middle Ages, they believed that ghosts haunted the columns, three
that jumped from column to column! Such was the sense of awe these enormous columns created in
people. But even today, if you see this place from up close you feel enchanted.
One final note: I have known for a very long time now that my calling is to help teenagers find their way,
to help them be what many others, only including themselves, do not always have the trust they can
become. The feeling that I had at the Temple of Zeus was immensely strong, and I knew that it was also
tied to that magpie. When I began to research the symbolic meaning of magpies, I came across this
poem.
The Magpie
by Robert S. Warshow
I walked one day
In the Garden of Wasted Things,
And there I found
The bitter ghosts of all that had been spent unwisely,
Or lost through brutal circumstance.
I found the childhood
That some labourer's child had never known;
I found the youth that some young man had squandered;
There I found some poet's genius
That had gone unrecognised.
I saw the ghosts of idle words,
And small talk,
That men had used to waste away the hours.
I saw the hopes that had been smothered,
And all the dreams
That never had come true,
And Laughter that had died for lack of bread.
I met with all the lives that had been misdirected,
And spoke with dreary shades
Of loves that might have been,
And songs that never had been sung.
I met with all these ghosts,
And many more;
And each of them
Sat silently in the shadows,
Brooding over quirks of mad Creation,
And puppets' dreams.