Athens
I went on a daytrip to Athens one of my last weekends in Greece. I drove up to the train station in Levadia and paid 11 euros for a round trip ticket to Athens. Once on the train, I camped out in the dining car and watched the scenery go by for the two-hour trip to the capital city. A kind fellow at the train station in Athens told me where I could catch the Metro and recommended buying a new return ticket to Levadia, considering that my original one had already been punched by some mistake on the train.
After trying vainly to convince the man in the ticket booth that there was a 2245 train to Levadia, I surrendered to the inevitable and bought a ticket for 1655 and dodged traffic to get to the Metro station. Selecting a tourist trap nearly at random, I bought a ticket for the Acropolis and was on my way. 12 euros later, I was hiking up a hill toward several interesting ruins. I've taken pictures, for those of you playing along on the home version.
After trying vainly to convince the man in the ticket booth that there was a 2245 train to Levadia, I surrendered to the inevitable and bought a ticket for 1655 and dodged traffic to get to the Metro station. Selecting a tourist trap nearly at random, I bought a ticket for the Acropolis and was on my way. 12 euros later, I was hiking up a hill toward several interesting ruins. I've taken pictures, for those of you playing along on the home version.
A very dear friend of mine and father-figure in my life, when he found out I was going to Greece, asked me to track down Mars Hill. It was mentioned in the Bible as a place where the learned of Greece would gather to pay homage to the gods and to discuss and debate philosophy. Paul went to this place and delivered a now-famous message to the Greeks regarding an unknown god that they had a marker for. Here are the words of the placard that I found there atop Areopagus Hill:
"The Areopagus, a rocky outcrop approximately 115 m. high, is situated between three other hills, the Acropolis, the Pnyx, and the Kolonos Agoraios. Its name probably derives from Ares, the god of war, and the Ares-Erinyes or Semnes (also called the Eumenides), underground goddesses of punishment and revenge. A judicial body, the Areopagus Council, met on this hill to preside over cases of murder, sacrilege, and arson. The Areopagus was also a place of religious worship. Among the several sanctuaries located here was that of the Semnes or Eumenides, probably located in a cavity at the northeast side of the hill.
In the Mycenaean and Geometric periods (1600-700 BC) the northern slope of the hill served as a cemetary which contained both vaulted tombs and simple cist graves.
From the 6th century BC onwards the hillside as a whole became a residential quarter belonging to the fashionable district of Melite. Cuttings still evident in the bedrock attest to the district's many roads, wells, drains, reservoirs, floors, and irregular buildings. Access to this neighbourhood was provided by stairways cut right into the living rock.
By the Late Roman period (4th-6th centuries AC) four luxury houses, which probably served as philosophical schools - located at the north slope of the hill - had supplanted the houses of the Classical era.
The Areopagus is also associated with the spread of Christianity into Greece. Some time near the middle of the 1st century AC the Apostle Paul is said to have converted a number (of) Athenians by teaching the tenets of the new religion from the summit of the hill. Among the converts was Dionysios the Areopagite, the patron aint of the city of Athens, who, according to tradition, was the city's first Bishop. Remains of a church named in his honor are preserved on the northern slope of the hill.
The church of St. Dionysios the Areopagite was a three-aisled basilica with the narthex at west, central apse, diakonikon (the apse terminating the southern aisle) and prothesis (the apse terminating the northern aisle). Built in the middle of the 16th century, it was probably destroyed by an earthquake in 1601. The church and grounds were completely enclosed to the north and west by the monumental Archbishop's Palace. This two-storey Palace was built between the middle of the 16th and the end of the 17th century and consisted of a complex of rooms which included warehouses, a kitchen, a dining hall, and two winepresses."
"The Areopagus, a rocky outcrop approximately 115 m. high, is situated between three other hills, the Acropolis, the Pnyx, and the Kolonos Agoraios. Its name probably derives from Ares, the god of war, and the Ares-Erinyes or Semnes (also called the Eumenides), underground goddesses of punishment and revenge. A judicial body, the Areopagus Council, met on this hill to preside over cases of murder, sacrilege, and arson. The Areopagus was also a place of religious worship. Among the several sanctuaries located here was that of the Semnes or Eumenides, probably located in a cavity at the northeast side of the hill.
In the Mycenaean and Geometric periods (1600-700 BC) the northern slope of the hill served as a cemetary which contained both vaulted tombs and simple cist graves.
From the 6th century BC onwards the hillside as a whole became a residential quarter belonging to the fashionable district of Melite. Cuttings still evident in the bedrock attest to the district's many roads, wells, drains, reservoirs, floors, and irregular buildings. Access to this neighbourhood was provided by stairways cut right into the living rock.
By the Late Roman period (4th-6th centuries AC) four luxury houses, which probably served as philosophical schools - located at the north slope of the hill - had supplanted the houses of the Classical era.
The Areopagus is also associated with the spread of Christianity into Greece. Some time near the middle of the 1st century AC the Apostle Paul is said to have converted a number (of) Athenians by teaching the tenets of the new religion from the summit of the hill. Among the converts was Dionysios the Areopagite, the patron aint of the city of Athens, who, according to tradition, was the city's first Bishop. Remains of a church named in his honor are preserved on the northern slope of the hill.
The church of St. Dionysios the Areopagite was a three-aisled basilica with the narthex at west, central apse, diakonikon (the apse terminating the southern aisle) and prothesis (the apse terminating the northern aisle). Built in the middle of the 16th century, it was probably destroyed by an earthquake in 1601. The church and grounds were completely enclosed to the north and west by the monumental Archbishop's Palace. This two-storey Palace was built between the middle of the 16th and the end of the 17th century and consisted of a complex of rooms which included warehouses, a kitchen, a dining hall, and two winepresses."
Fun Facts
According to Greek mythology, Athena and Poseidon agreed that whoever gave the city the best gift would become guardian over the city. Though Poseidon gave the gift of water, Athena’s gift of an olive tree was deemed by the other gods to be more valuable