Taylorian

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TR I PS

Classics Trip to Greece

A fter landing safely in Athens on Easter Sunday, we took a coach through the Attica countryside to the stunning ruined temple of Sounion, perched on a clifftop. The sight of this ancient site of worship, bathed in the evening sunshine like a ruined crown, set the tone for the beauty and interest of the trip. Seeing ‘the cape of Athens’ in person made Homer’s Odyssey seem fresh and vivid. Beautiful though Sounion is, it is mired by tales of tragedy. It is said to be the place where Aegeus, anxiously awaiting the return of his beloved son Theseus from his Minotaur encounters, saw the black sails of his son’s ship and mistakenly thought he had been killed, after which he is described by Plutarch to have ‘[thrown] himself down from the rock of Sounion and [been] dashed in pieces.’ Byron had written in Don Juan : ‘Place me on Suniom’s [sic] marbled steep, / Where nothing, save the waves and I, / May hear our mutual murmurs sweep; / There swan-like, let me sing and die’. The MTS contingent was neither swan-like (we’d started a bit too early in the morning for that) nor singing, but was in excellent spirits and agreed that Sounion would have made a rather more spectacular final resting place for Byron than his grubbier, leech-assisted end at Missolonghi. The following day we embarked upon a walking tour of Classical Athens. We walked up the ancient processional route to the Propylaea – the gateway to the sacred precinct of the Acropolis. This site perhaps best symbolizes Classical Greek Civilisation. Originally a neolithic fort and then a sanctuary, it was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC, before being rebuilt under the leadership of Pericles from 447 BC. The Parthenon, the ancient Doric style temple designed by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates with stunning decorative work by the sculptor Phidias, was arguably its crowning glory. We were privileged to see lots of these sculptures in the Parthenon Gallery in the Acropolis Museum. However, as a frequent visitor to the classical galleries of the British Museum, it was uncomfortable to reflect on the damage done to the Parthenon by the removal of the marbles by Lord Elgin; the Acropolis Museum combines some original marble sculptures with plaster copies of those retained in the British Museum. The feats of Pericles of Athens – statesman, leader, and orator – were brought to life by our very own Pericles Cross, who delivered part of his namesake’s famous funeral oration on the same spot at the Dipylon

The theatre at Epidauros

The Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi

a rather more spectacular final resting place gate in the Kerameikos (cemetery). The original speech, recorded by Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War , praised the dead and then turned to the greatness of Athens and its laws which ‘afford equal justice to all in their private differences’. It lauded the military might of Athens and provided a rousing exhortation to the living to match the standards set by the deceased. It was fitting to hear such a speech at the end of a day spent marvelling at the remains of monuments built to glorify Athenian military prowess and democracy.

stunning. We also visited Olympia, where we raced 200m on its track, and briefly imagined ourselves as Ancient Olympians. The theatre at Epidaurus was stunning; to see first-hand how the Greeks utilised natural acoustics was incredible. We listened in awe as, standing at the back of the tiered seating, we heard a singular penny drop on the stage. The Palace of Mycenae, home to the ill-fated Agamemnon, murdered by his wife Clytemnestra upon his return from the Trojan War (well, he did sacrifice their daughter Iphigenia in return for fair winds for the Trojan fleet), was also beautiful. This trip really helped cement my understanding of Athens as the foundation of Western Civilisation. We were lucky to have had brilliant weather, excellent company, competitive evening quizzes, some very fine food (including my first taste of octopus) and some unexpected discoveries of tortoises and snakes. I can see why visiting the antiquities on the ‘Grand Tour’ of the Eighteenth Century was considered a vital part of completing a gentleman’s education. We are indebted to the staff: Mr and Mrs Hale, Miss Gurmail-Kauffman and above all Mr Husbands for their supervision, support and superb organization. Oscar Williams (L6th)

My favourite site of the trip was Delphi, a temple whose priestess, the Pythia or Delphic Oracle, was imbued with the gift of foresight. Its location, between the two towering rocks of Mount Parnassus, is

Crossing the finish-line at the stadium in Olympia