Friday: Katakolon and Olympia
Jun. 1st, 2007 05:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreIn the past four days, I've seen some of the biggest historic sites in all of Greece: Tuesday we drove to Delphi and back, Wednesday we visited the Acropolis (and Rick visited many of the surrounding sites), and today we went to visit Olympia.
I was surprised by a couple of things about Olympia:
One of the points I found fascinating was that the altar to Hera, where the Olympic torch is lit every four years, is outside the temple of Hera. Our guide made the point that the Greeks, unlike the Semetic peoples, never sacrificed animals inside their temples.
Like it or not, animal sacrifice was a common feature between many religions (basically, all the non-vegetarian ones). We think it's backwards and indefensible because we're so far removed from our food. In cultures practicing animal sacrifice, generally the blood is spilled as the offering, and the remainder is eaten by the faithful. These days, we spill the blood for no purpose whatsoever (especially given that we don't tend to drink blood or use blood products of the animals we kill), and we consider that more enlightened. I don't agree. I certainly don't think one should go around sacrificing animals, granted, but I just think it's weird to eat meat and object to the concept of animal sacrifice.
Anyhow, as I was looking down at the remains of the altar, I saw a small garter snake flit out of one crevice, across a couple feet of grass, and slither back into another before I could snap a picture. I'm not especially a snake person, but I've always liked garter snakes.
The most impressive feature of the site isn't its size, but its extensive trees (planted after excavation) and bird life. I also caught a glimpse of a nice lizard -- and this time I got a photo of him. The day was mild, with a nice breeze, and lots of birds twittering and bugs squawking.
After seeing a small part of the site, we went over to the archeaological museum. As much as I wanted to go, I was hot, my feet hurt, and there were nice benches in the shade with a lovely breeze. So I sat down until the tour re-joined us, and then walked with everyone to the bus.
We arrived back into Katakolon early enough that we were able to do a tiny bit of shopping before heading back to the ship.
Waiting to board on hot, hard pavement in the sun, though, that was pure pain.
Acupuncture session later tonight. I hope it helps, because I'm at max pain relievers and still in a lot of pain.
Right now, I'm going to go out on the balcony and peer at the west end of the Pelopponesian peninsula, then I'm going to take a nap.
I was surprised by a couple of things about Olympia:
- How far Olympia is from Mount Olympus (650 km)
- How large the site is (huge!), yet historically, there was no village of Olympia. The current village consists of about 200 people, as does Katakolon.
- That despite being primarily Zeus's thing (the Olympics being tied to Zeus), Hera's temple is about 100 years older.
One of the points I found fascinating was that the altar to Hera, where the Olympic torch is lit every four years, is outside the temple of Hera. Our guide made the point that the Greeks, unlike the Semetic peoples, never sacrificed animals inside their temples.
Like it or not, animal sacrifice was a common feature between many religions (basically, all the non-vegetarian ones). We think it's backwards and indefensible because we're so far removed from our food. In cultures practicing animal sacrifice, generally the blood is spilled as the offering, and the remainder is eaten by the faithful. These days, we spill the blood for no purpose whatsoever (especially given that we don't tend to drink blood or use blood products of the animals we kill), and we consider that more enlightened. I don't agree. I certainly don't think one should go around sacrificing animals, granted, but I just think it's weird to eat meat and object to the concept of animal sacrifice.
Anyhow, as I was looking down at the remains of the altar, I saw a small garter snake flit out of one crevice, across a couple feet of grass, and slither back into another before I could snap a picture. I'm not especially a snake person, but I've always liked garter snakes.
The most impressive feature of the site isn't its size, but its extensive trees (planted after excavation) and bird life. I also caught a glimpse of a nice lizard -- and this time I got a photo of him. The day was mild, with a nice breeze, and lots of birds twittering and bugs squawking.
After seeing a small part of the site, we went over to the archeaological museum. As much as I wanted to go, I was hot, my feet hurt, and there were nice benches in the shade with a lovely breeze. So I sat down until the tour re-joined us, and then walked with everyone to the bus.
We arrived back into Katakolon early enough that we were able to do a tiny bit of shopping before heading back to the ship.
Waiting to board on hot, hard pavement in the sun, though, that was pure pain.
Acupuncture session later tonight. I hope it helps, because I'm at max pain relievers and still in a lot of pain.
Right now, I'm going to go out on the balcony and peer at the west end of the Pelopponesian peninsula, then I'm going to take a nap.