Just a short drive north from Nafplio and I’m in another ancient and famous Greek city, Corinth. It struck me recently that when I was young and learning about the history of this region, the true stuff and the mythology, the stories are so epic, the cities are epic, the characters are epic, but it all took place in such a teeny tiny little patch of earth. The cities are pretty small, Greece is pretty small. It’s really messing with my perspective.

Anyway, time for some more of ancient Greece. Modern Corinth is right on the shore of the Gulf of Corinth, but ancient Corinth is just a couple of miles up the hill. The archeology museums in these cities are hit or miss. Some are awesome and some are, well, not. The Corinth archeology museum was one of the awesome ones. There was way too much to cover here. Here’s a really cool mostly intact statue of Asclepius, the god of medicine as a consolation.

The site of ancient Corinth was small, but very impressive. Below is a fountain that was carved solid right out of the bedrock. Water was pumped in through pipes from nearby springs. That’s the Temple of Apollo behind it, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

There were lots of other temples too, but it wasn’t known what most of them were dedicated to until recently, so they’re still called by letters. Temple E is the only one that’s more than just some foundations.

The Temple of Apollo was the focal point of the city, then and now. It was built in the 6th century BC and was surrounded by busy market streets. Interestingly, the majority of the information about all the sites I’ve seen on this trip comes from just one man, Pausanias the traveler. He traveled all over Asia Minor in the 2nd century AD and wrote extensively about everyplace he visited. He wrote ten books about Greece alone. If not for him, we probably wouldn’t know half of what we know about these places. One dude!

The columns that are standing at the Temple of Apollo are actually the rear of the temple. The front is gone now, but you can make out how big it once was in the pic below. High up on that peak to the left is Acrocorinth, Corinth’s castle, where I’m headed next.

Before leaving ancient Corinth I took a look at the remains of the odeon and the theatre which are both across the street. The odeon is a little more intact than the theatre, but it’s not hard to imagine what either of them must have been like then.

Next, I drove up that hill to Acrocorinth. In Greek, ‘acro’ means ‘top’ or ‘peak’, so it’s the top of Corinth. Makes sense to me. Anyway, I drove up here but this visit involves a lot of hiking around. The castle has three entrances to pass through and they’re all up. Below is the first entrance, or outer wall, from the parking lot. Below that is the second entrance.

This place closed at 330pm like everything in this country this time of year and I was slightly pressed for time so I hiked super fast up and all the way out to the far end first. The things I want to see the most are always the furthest out. Why is that? Below is the main tower, which I saw on the way back down. I’m going a little out of order here.

Finally, at the far eastern end and highest part of the castle I made it to the Upper Peirene Fountain. This castle was built to protect all of Pelepponese since it faces the only land route into the peninsula, and the primary reason it was never really conquered is because of the Peirene Fountain. It goes down to a natural spring in ancient Corinth that supplied the castle with endless fresh water and it’s said that it was formed when Pegasus, the winged horse, kicked a rock exposing the water below. Doubtful! This is the upper part of that fountain though.

Up a little bit higher at the absolute highest point of Acrocorinth are the remains of the Temple of Aphrodite. The temple is just rocks in the shape of a square now, but the views. Wow!

In the pic below on the left is the Gulf of Corinth and that little thin strip of land is the only land route between Pelepponese and the rest of Greece and where Corinth is situated. This is why this castle was so important. The body of water to the right is the Saronic Gulf. What a fantastic sight!

The views looking the other way back into Pelepponese were pretty awesome as well. And, oh look, there’s the castle way down there.

There’s really not much in modern Corinth to see, but at the other end of town is the Corinth Canal. It’s just a canal for ships to get across the isthmus without having to go around the whole big peninsula, but this canal was created by ancient Corinthians in the 6th century BC. It’s unchanged since that time and it’s still in use. Ancient cargo ships and ancient navys passed through here. Mycenean warships, Macedonian warships, Roman warships, medieval warships, all sailed through this canal. I think that’s just mind blowing!

On the map there was a spot marked for looking at the canal called “Ametralladoras Alemanas”. The name didn’t really click because I was focused on the canal and the view sucked because of alot of construction, but then I saw them and suddenly the name made sense. It means “German machine guns”. The Nazis built bunkers along the canal. I’m not sure what the hell the construction guys are up to, but I bet if I threw a rock at that pile of dirt the whole thing would come down. Ha!

Thanks to the legend of Pegasus creating the Peirene Fountain, they have a big fountain with a statue of him right in the middle of downtown.

Backtracking a little bit, on my daytrip from Corinth I went to the small site of ancient Mycenae. This was the capital of the Mycenean culture from the 14th to around the 12th century BC.

Mycenae is pretty much a fortress rather than a city, but they had a palace and a couple of temples. The south and north gates are both still standing incredibly, or as I refer to them, the front and back door. That lion relief at the top of the front door is the oldest surviving relief monument in all of Europe, even if the heads are missing. It’s been here welcoming visitors for roughly 3400 years!

There wasn’t a whole lot left here. The majority of the ruins were tombs. The one below is the tomb that was within the walls. It used to have a huge domed roof which is now collapsed. Below that is all that’s left of the palace.

The museum had some interesting stuff in it. Like some of the earliest anthropomorphic statues ever created. No mention if they represent gods, votive offerings, toys, it’s a mystery.

Also, some of the best examples of Mycenean paintings were found. The one below is the largest and most intact example ever found. The upper part is two women facing each other, one with a sword and one with a staff. The lower part is a woman holding some wheat in one hand and a griffin in the other. Amazing!

There were several tombs around the area, even a couple with the roofs still intact. The best one is definitely the Tomb of Agamemnon. They don’t actually know who was buried in here because the tombs were all looted in ancient times, they just call it that because of the size. But it could be Agamemnon’s tomb. It’s possible.

After exploring the inside of the tomb I decided to climb to the top because, well why not? I was gifted with this really unexpected view of Mycenae with the mountain behind it. It pays to always follow through with your ‘why nots’.

Holy Crap… I’m in Delphi!!!

Since Delphi is just an ultra quick stop I’m gonna make this post a twofer. From Corinth I drove up here all morning to Delphi in the mountains north of Athens and then spent the afternoon visiting this VERY famous ancient Greek site. It’s the home of the famous oracle of Delphi.

The origins of the oracle go all the way back to the 8th century BC. People from all over came to seek advice from the oracle and many cities had their own buildings, called Treasurys, on site where they left their offerings. Below is the Athenian Treasury. Next to it is an omphalos stone. It’s said that Zeus put the stone there to mark the location of the center of the universe. Delphi shares the same root as the Greek word for womb. That’s not the original stone, though. The original is in Athens.

The story goes like this… Apollo killed Python, a male serpent being who was guarding the ‘womb’ of the universe, here. The Temple of Apollo was built over a chasm in the earth where Apollo put Pythons body. The oracle would sit over the chasm, breath the toxic fumes emanating from the chasm, and go into an insane delirious screaming raving trance. The priests of the temple would then interpret her (probably drug induced) ravings to answer whatever question was asked. Historians can’t agree on what she was breathing in, but the consensus is that it was probably oleander.

Delphi is up in the mountains and the whole site is on a forty five degree angle. Right above the Temple of Apollo is Delphi’s Theatre. The views get better and better the higher up you go.

As amazing as it is that they built all of this on this steep slope, they also had a stadium above that. Delphi wasn’t just famous for the oracle, this was also the home of the Pythian Games, started in the 6th century BC to commemorate Apollo’s victory over Python. I think the Delphi athletes campaigned to have the stadium built way up here on purpose. That way, all the athletes from other towns would be too tired to compete after hiking all the way up here. Smart!

There’s a Temple of Athena at Delphi too. It’s called a Tholos, which is just a circular building with a domed roof. This part of the site was closed, though. Super zoom lens to the rescue!

The museum had what was left of the decor from the buildings. Most of it was just fragments, but there were some fairly intact pieces. I can’t remember which god is which, but the guy on the right without a head is Zeus.

The sphinx below is one of two that used to be out in front of the Temple of Apollo. And the most complete statue at the site was of a temple priest. This is one of the guys who would have observed this raving delirious woman and said, “Yes, now is a great time to start that war”, or “She thinks your city will be most prosperous if you dedicate that temple to Hermes”.

Since I drove all the way up here I’m staying the night in modern Delphi right next to the site. Modern Delphi is very tiny, just a couple of streets, but it’s on a forty five degree angle too. After checking into my hotel I still had a couple of hours of daylight left, so I hiked up the hill for some really epic views. I couldn’t really see the site from here because of the trees, but I got a great view of the stadium (far left) and the entire valley.

And when I turned around I could see over modern Delphi all the way to the Gulf of Itea, which is in the Gulf of Corinth, just the other side of it from where I was yesterday. It’s a gulf in a gulf. What a great way to end the day!

I’m only in Delphi for one night. Tomorrow, I’m off to explore another one of Greece’s many islands. More to come…