Daily Updates
Week Nine: May 14
14 May: Melissa and Ani Reporting: Starting relatively late in day, at 8:30 am, we spent the day in the Athenian agora with our guest lecturer, David Scahill. We started the morning with a brief tour of the buildings on the boundary of the agora, including the Hephaesteion, the temple of Apollo Patroos, and the monument to the ten eponymous heroes. David pointed out the foundations of what is believed to have been Simon’s house, the cobbler’s place where Socrates often visited before his death. We then were taken to go across the Panathenaic Way to a section of the agora that is still being excavated. Here is where the Painted Stoa is believed to have been built (the Painted Stoa was a large stoa with massive murals painted on its back wall). David also gave us a general rundown on the difficulties involved in procuring land to excavate in the middle of downtown Athens. After a short lunch break (in which PCC, Elizabeth and David were the only ones who were late), David explained the different types of cuttings found on marble blocks and statue bases and the purposes, pros, and cons of each. Afterwards, he used his status as a leading excavator to convince the guards to let us into the upper storey of the Stoa of Attalos, which is used as office and conservation space. He brought out a tin of pottery fragments as well as excavation notebooks to show us the more technical, detail-oriented part of the job. So we got to sift through fragments of pottery (tiny bits of terracotta, basically, most no bigger than a square inch, that excavators are able to date the vessel the fragment was from) and look through notes made by excavators up to 70 years ago. David then took us downstairs to the storage area where there were literally thousands of tins of pottery sherds all lined up. Fortunately, there were also pieces of sculpture and tons of inscriptions so those of us who are less pottery-oriented could have something to look at too. We were also shown the remains of the law courts of ancient Athens. Our time at the agora ended on this note and the majority of the group headed back to the hotel to finish the Odyssey reading for the quiz/discussion that night.
14 May: Ani and Melissa in the Athenian Agora.
14 May: Panoramic View of the Agora.
14 May: The place where the boundary stone of the Agora was found.
14 May: David Scahill begins his lecture at the tholos, beneath the Hephaisteion.
14 May: Looking at the Christian barrel vault inside the cella of the Hephaisteion.
14 May: Looking at the Christian barrel vault inside the cella of the Hephaisteion.
14 May: The Ionic frieze from the back porch of the Hephaisteion.
14 May: Between the cella wall and the colonade.
14 May: David Scahill addresses the many theories about the Ionic frieze and the back porch.
14 May: Inside the agora's newest excavation area: the modern ground level can be seen in the building behind us: the concrete wall was where the basement was.
14 May: Learing about clamps, holes and cuttings in ancient blocks.
14 May: Inside the Stoa of Attalus.
14 May: Inside the Stoa of Attalus.
14 May: A double Ionian column and capitol.
14 May: A model of the agora.
14 May: Another view of the model.
14 May: The view from the second story of the Stoa of Attalus.
14 May: David explains the cataloguing system for pottery in the agora excavations.
14 May: Digging for pottery sherds.
14 May: More sherds.
14 May: In the basement of the Stoa of Attalus: some fragments.
14 May: Pottery as far as the eye can see...
14 May: Tins of broken pottery also extend the length of the basement.
14 May: An old feta cheese tin now houses ancient pieces of pottery.
14 May: The epigraphy section: home to all inscribed blocks.
14 May: A broom, some rods, and a Dionysos torso.