Eumenides Field Trip

After studying the Eumenides all week we finally were able to experience the space within the text. Our trip began with public transportation, a stark contrast to the magical warping powers that the Gods use to get to Athens in the text. Travis and Sam were wishing for that luxury all the way to the Syntagma stop...

We were finally free from the confines of the hot and stuffy subway station as we emerged near a group of expensive cafes. The group continued down the street toward the Theater of Dionysus, past the Acropolis Museum.

The Acropolis Museum...and Analia's head

A side street on our way to the Theater

After a short walk we reached the Theater and a ridiculously long line of tourists that blocked the gate. A brief deliberation ensued before we readjusted our target destination to the Rock of Aries. But first, we couldn't resist passing by the Roman Theater and documenting it.

Like the Theater of Dionysus, the Roman Theater was central, right below the Acropolis (pictured above). We didn't stay long enough to dwell on it though considering we had more important (aka more Greek) things to see. We continued onward and meandered past the swarming hordes of tourists that buzzed around the entrance to the Acropolis before reaching the big, slippery rock that we desired. The supposed site of the trial in the Eumenides, we soaked in the space, and the sun.

Central location was a pretty obvious theme to this trip from the beginning. All of these spaces that we studied were in the heart of ancient Athens. From the rock we could see the Acropolis, the Agora, the Stoa of Attalus, Temple of Hephaestus, etc. The entire city was laid out before us, stretching into the distance until it met the mountains or the sea. It wasn't the first time I'd been on the rock, but it was still a unique experience to imagine Orestes' trial taking place on the precarious and jagged surface that I was balancing on.

With the Hill of the Nymphs within sight, we decided to make our way back down and across the way. Our path took us past the supposed prison of Socrates, what I assume to be another questionable guess by archaeologists designed to attract more tourists to a plain hole in the wall.

Up the hill we went, on our merry way to see the dry and blazing hot rocks that used to be draped in running water and flitting nymphs. We even saw where the nine muses lived.

Without delay we were driven in a pack onward across the blazing landscape until we reached a relatively shady street. We passed a church, walked past the ancient road to Piraeus, and up on a ridge overlooking Athens which was presumably important to the Eumenides but the meaning now escapes me.

So ended our trip on the Hill of the Nymphs. The rest of our field trip included another walk toward a destination that didn't materialize before settling in Gazi for drinks. Our experience with the spaces of the Eumenides did not disappoint. Even though the landscape has dramatically changed, it doesn't take too much of a stretch of the imagination to view it as it was and act as a witness to the events described by Aeschylus. It was obvious that the setting was intentionally central in the heart of the most dominant Greek polis of the time. Athens served as an example to the other city states and the rest of the world. It was supposed to be seen as the center for justice and law, and what better place to showcase those traits than the center of the city, within view of all its wonderful and impressive buildings?