Corinth and Mycenae

Today we woke up early in order to visit the city of Corinth. We first stopped at Acrocorinth, and saw the entire city below us. The view was quite fantastic, and I would have enjoyed the whole experience a lot more if I hadn't almost stepped on a snake. I really hate snakes.

When we arrived we were met by an archeologist who has been excavating the Corinth site since the 70s. Dr. Rhodes happens to be one of Ben's professors at Notre Dame, so he took us around the site and taught us a few things about working as an archeologist. We spent a lot of time looking at the main temple in Corinth, which is supposedly the temple of Apollo. Through Socratic dialogue and examining the ruins, Dr. Rhodes explained why he thinks this temple actually was the temple of Zeus and Hera. I won't attempt to reconstruct the Socratic dialogue here, but one simple reason for his belief is that the temple had spots for two statues, not just one.

We spent a lot of time at the Corinth site, but we didn't talk about Paul's visit to Corinth. We spent time looking at the various places and what they were used for. We saw the stone starting blocks where runners would place their feet for races. We saw the Roman toilets, which were placed rather close together. Apparently they were not afraid of sitting awkwardly close to one another.

Dr. Rhodes told us a lot about being an archeologist. Being an archeologist requires analytical and deductive reasoning skills. An archeologist has to take ruins and find information on how people lived, literally reconstructing the past in order to get information in the present. A lot of time is spent in the heat, meticulously working in rubble. It sounds like quite the job, perhaps not as action filled as the Indiana Jones movies would have us believe. I was really impressed with the amount of thought Dr. Rhodes put into even the smallest details, I am led to conclude that archeology work requires a lot of patience.

After lunch we visited the tomb of Agamemnon. We are not actually sure if this tomb was Agamemnon's, but it was the largest tomb excavated in the area and Agamemnon is considered Mycenae's greatest king. The tomb itself is a very large dome, with a triangle support over the tomb's door. Inside the tomb we did not discover buried treasure, but we did find a little owl hovering in a corners. I love owls, so this excited me to no end. It was the closest I've ever been to an owl in the wild.

Next we journeyed to Mycenae itself. Our goal? To discover the bathtub where Clytemnestra had her revenge upon Agamemnon. I'm sorry to report that the bathtub is no longer in existence. I'm not even sure if the site we visited was actually where the deed occurred. We did, however, walk through the lion's gate and climb to the top of the hill where the palace was. We descended into the dark cistern with only our cameras as flashlights. There is a small puddle where the cistern would have been.

There is something really special about visiting sites like Corinth and Mycenae. I love the thrill of putting images to the places I've imagined. When I read Paul's letter to the Corinthians I am better able to understand what Corinth was actually like. When I read about Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, I know what the landscape of Mycenae is really like. It's the same excitement I feel after completing a difficult puzzle; now I know how all the pieces fit together.