Mikes Blog

Nauplia to Mycenae, Corinth Canal and Athens
Friday 10th May

We drive out of the seaport of Nafplio and within half an hour we reach te hilltop Acropolis (high city) of Mycenae. Much could be said about this place.

We first visited the beehive tomb outside the city wall. This had been built into a hilly hummock and we enter by walking down a roofless tunnel. The mantel stone over the doorway weighed in at 36 tonnes. The roof above this was constructed in such a way as to avoid the unsupported mantel from collapsing. An open triangle was put into the roof above meaning that the roof weight was transfered to the corners of the doors and thus to the stone sides of the entrance that reached to the floor. Very clever.

The iner space of this sanctuary dome was a beehive in shape, 13 metres high by 14 diagonal. It was a burial chamber for the kings and family from the Acropolis - Agamemnon - in the 14th Century BC. As people of that time believed in an after life it would have been filled with things to take to the hereafter including clothes, jewellery etc. When the dead had been installed the whole structure would have been sealed and buried under earth to be hidden from grave robbers and and to be made to look like a small hill. When rediscovered in the 20th Century, it was already empty, access likely gained through the keystone in the top of the dome. Were those grave robbers ever asailed by later guilt or unease - at having robbed the dead?

We then went on to the museum and the Acropolis of Mycenae. Situated on a steep sided knob of land with a deep gorge on one side and a steep rocky hillside on the other. Defense was a major consideration in thebuilding of such a complex. Hidden underground channels were created from springs further up ther hill to bring water into the enclosure in case of seige. On the side facing towards the sea, 15 kms distant, was a higher hill and surrounding planes. Any danger or potentail invaders would have been easily spotted from here.

It was here that the famous golden mask of Agememnon was doscovered by the renown german archeologist - Heinrich Schliemann. Whether there ever was such a character as character as Agememnon is an open question. The famous mask however is reliably dated as coming from a knig in the 16th century BC.

after leaving Mycenae, we drive to a shop on the way to Corinth which sold a variety of Greek pottery and jewellery. We were given a demonstration in potmaking as it has been done for 1000's of years. We heard about the the types of pot decoration from different periods. It appears that there is a clear idea of the variuos techniques used in ancient times. They still use these techniques today today to recreate pottery in these old styles. The more closely the techniques used match those of the past, the more time and skill is required to create, and thus the more expensive the resulting pot.

For lunch we stop at a Tabanera beside the Corinth Canal, 25 metres wide, 8 metres deep, 6 kms long, which allows shipping to pass between the Aegean and Ionian Seas avoiding a trip that would otherwise be 100's of kms by sea.

We drive the final 2 hours back to Athens a now seemingly familiar city. Tonite it is farewell drinks with our group and tomorrow while many of them head off on their cruise to Turkey, we take a one day cruise in the Greek Islands.