Lake Forest College: Program in Greece and Turkey/Itinerary1

Lake Forest College
Program in Greece and Turkey
2001

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2001: A Greece & Turkey Odyssey
Students and Itinerary (very roughly!)
Minoan & Mycenaean

Mycenaean & Minoan

The Classical World

Byzantium & Beyond

an intrepid world traveler is on her way: off to a great start!

first night in Athens, rooftop at the Hotel Carolina

Bronze Age scholar Jörgen Ernstson and wife Brenda hosted the group several times at their apartment, which is just below the Athens Acropolis in the background. We all felt so welcome in their home

Yes! Kevin Costner was part of our group for one precious sunset moment in Nafplion . . .

NAFPLION

MYCENAE

the gods were smiling on us as we enjoyed beautiful spring weather in March
for a walk through the Argive hills to Agamemnon's citadel Mycenae, fronted by the Lion's Gate; close by, the Treasury of Atreus. Who will ever forget 'corbelling'?

strange, Klytemnestra didn't think it was funny

it was a wild and stormy night: our first ferry boat trip, overnight from Piraeus to Crete, spent mostly on deck serenading the stars

CRETE

beautiful ochre columns of the temple at Knossos: Lindsay Bigelow's photo rivals even professional images

always a Minoan--as opposed to a Mycenaean--at heart, Michael Seelig contemplates a tapered column and capital at Knossos

after quarreling over light wells vs. lustral basins, we were fascinated by the large jugs or amphorae scattered about the site

the cultures around the Mediterranean lend themselves so readily
to comparison because over the course of two millennia reciprocal
influence and cross-fertilization were primary means of the maintenance and
dissemination of all cultures, which came into contact with each other through
imperialism and war, trade and adventure, economic pressures and intellectual curiosity
about the larger world

the Boxing Children from Knossos and
the Danching Girls from Luxor, Egypt

athletes? fighters? priests? perform the Bull Leap at palace centers
of the Minoan culture on Crete

'La Parisienne' of Knossos and Queen Nefertiti of Eyypt are contemporaries

priestesses or princesses at Knossos also suggest
Egyptian or Mesopotamian-Asian influences, particularly
in hair, dress, ornamentation and body features (eyes, nose, finger tips)

while blue is one of the dominant colors of Knossos, appearing in
the frescoes of the Blue Monkeys, Spring, the Dolphins and the
Bull Rider, in addition to providing a favored background tint for
portraits (note above), the color is also essential to the large-scale artwork of
many other cultures, as seen in this Mayan fresco (lower right). At approximately
3,500 years of age the Minoan frescoes are almost double the age of the Mayan wall
paintings, but the latter have better preserved their vibrant and rich shadings,
apparently impervious to extremes of temperature, humidity, exposure to air and
sunlight as well as other potentially damaging factors; only this year was the
precise chemical composition of this hardy blue pigment determined and
replicated in the laboratory

bull's head rhyton (libation-offering vessel) from Knossos (ca. 1550 BCE) and the Sumerian gold-and-lapis-lazuli bull's head ornament (on a lyre) from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, Babylonia (ca. 2500 BCE); mythology: a Roman mosaic (from Sparta) of a bull (Zeus) conveying Europa to Crete

in addition to comparative culture, there is comparative cuisine: here a Pizza Hut in Iraklion, Crete

Greek Civilization 202: A Brief Rundown
(not exactly dactylic hexameters, but inspired by the 10th Muse, Caffeine)

	Keesey Kristi grew all misty when she cast her eye on/Argive Heraion on our early morning walk to Mycenae; The stern Snake Goddess With her billowing bodice And that domineering stare: We saw her a priestess / or even a goddess But what's with that cat in her hair?
	Jordan Johnson / sang us a swan song On the midnight deck of a luxury wreck Of a ferry going to Iraklion. He would strum his guitar Seelig harmonizing from afar Together they sang quite a medley-- Oasis and Beatles / Tom Petty and Dylan-- But their minds were always on Pedley
	Flitcroft Grayson gave the first talk on the end of Mycenaean civilization A swift foot Achill / Flit raced up the hill He tore into Tiryns He swam in the sea He sampled the nightlife And made it on time to the station
	From mountain top To minaret She puffed away at her cigarette, Lindsay Bigelow's fortitude was all the rave; Though she felt ill that day She had so much to say In illum'nating The Dictyian cave
	By the gods we're inspired No one ever gets tired Always eager to follow Don't incur the wrath of silver Apollo; With Angie Woodard our guide Explaining Knossos frescoes with pride, She identified the Minoan's bird As the swallow
	Restrained toward Bacchus He sought the grave of Kazantzakis. This man's quite a mime, As an andra he's so fine Andros suffers from no parakalosis; He's friends with the gods Quite divine--'gainst all odds-- And exudes divinity by osmosis
	We reached a consensus That Danielle looked swell When she put her face in / A lustral basin With make-up or without it; At Akrotiri a report she gave Theory of Thira, Knossos drowned in a wave, All the facts fit, the report was a hit, And nary a reason to doubt it.
	Mike Seelig by name Mr Linear A by fame He's adventurous, and always ready to risk. He looks down his nose At archaeology's woes Yet explicates with finesse the Phaistos disk

SANTORINI

the Blues Brothers were last sighted in this Santorini café, having stolen clothing from the impeccably bearded Grayson Flitcroft and Tony Andros

Gallery: our first group program lunch, Santorini (April)

at Cesare's, clockwise from front left: Kristi, Angela, Brenda, Danielle, Jörgen,
Lindsay, Michael, Jordan, Tony, Grayson

just ignore those green and dark brown bottles in the middle-
Jörgen Ernstson, our archaeologist of the Bronze Age, ordered them

try some of this? Tony offers, while Grayson grins and Brenda + Jörgen look on

guess it wasn't as good as it looked! but all is well, Kristi and Angie are smiling a
moment later. Now why did Angela put that squishy tomato down Kristi's back?

just one of the many permutations of Tony Andros' beard. Believe it or not,
he shaved the other side off. The irrepressible Danielle Sorensen smiled alot,
which helped keep us all in a good mood

Jordan Johnson enjoyed particularly good digestion during the trip. This eupeptic quartet, frankly, ate like horses the entire time