A Walk on the Acropolis

Still standing after all these years….

Arriving from rainy England, Athens was a pleasure. Sunny and mid 80s.

I have not been in Athens in 20 years, and the city has improved enormously, no doubt due to the infusion of vast amounts of money because of the Olympics.

Like all tourists since the time of Herodotus, we ditched our stuff at the hotel and headed straight for the Acropolis.

Two observations:  The first is that despite it being the middle of the tourist season in Greece, the city and the Acropolis were pretty much empty.  One tour bus of Japanese, a few Americans and the odd French family and that was pretty much it.

I had been anticipating long lines in the heat of Athens in July, but instead, we were the only ones at the ticket desk, save a few American kids with backpacks lounging on the marble steps.  Inside, we were free to wander the ruins pretty much at will. The recession is biting a lot deeper than it might seem.

There is also almost no security here (at least in the sense that you might expect) and you are free to wander where you like.

From the Acropolis we headed over to the new Acropolis Museum, a short walk from the ruins.  Many years in the making, the museum was only opened in June, and it is fantastic.  Much of the floor is glass (as are the walls), and it is built directly above an archaeological excavation, so you can walk above, and see down to Hellenistic walls and streets from 2500 years ago, and look straight ahead at the Parthenon.  Fantastic.

What strikes one here (and here is the second observation) is the power and the beauty of the sculpture and the artwork on display (as well as the genius of the architecture). 

It is often difficult to remember that this work was done more than 2500 years ago.  

The precision of the sculpture; the faces, the horses flaring nostrils, the rippling muscle, the delicacy of the hands and feet. It is astonishing.

Athens, this small city-state in the Aegean was the birthplace of democracy, of science, of philosophy, of art and learning and literature. So much of the warp and weft of western civilization all began here in a kind of intellectual big-bang.

What was the chemical combination that gave birth to this vast richness in so small a place?

And, looking at the art and artistry, once Rome fell, it would be nearly 1,000 years before its like was recreated.

Its a remind of how the arts and sciences have to be protected and preserved. Nothing is guaranteed.

Looking at the wear and ruin that the Parthenon and the Acropolis have suffered, from war and from pollution, it is clear that the British seizure of the Elgin Marbles was in the best interests of humanity.

Looking at the new museum, it is equally clear that perhaps the time has come to return them.