So, just to brief what I've been up since arriving - before my program began, I got to relax at the beach, which is LITERALLY a 2 minute walk from my hotel. I woke up my first day here, read a book and had breakfast at the little restaurant in our hotel (which btw is incredibly hospitable and authentic, the family that owns this place is DARLING.) I then spent the entirety of the day reading, sleeping, and eating fresh doughnuts (sold by one of the locals on the beach) at the shoreline. I could go on and on about the beach, but I actually have to get to the scholarly academic part of this post, so I'm just gonna leave this picture here and let it speak for itself.
Today, we traveled with one of Maria's friends, a certified tour guide for Crete, and we visited the Minoan Palace of Knossos, the Archaeological Museum of Crete, and the Nikos Kazantzakis Tomb. Each were within about a 20 minute radius from where we are staying, so the bus ride wasn't too long.
Our first stop was the Minoan Palace of Knossos. This was the palace where King Minos, his wife, and few of this workers lived at the center of the Minoan civilization. The earliest traces of inhabitation of the palace dates all the way back to Neolithic Period; which was around 7000-3000 BC. So needless to say, this is one of the oldest traces of the oldest known civilization ever lol. Originally, this palace was destroyed in an earthquake, which archaeologists assume was around 1700 BC. The palace was then rebuilt and destroyed a couple of times after that, so obviously this site has been through some craziness!
On our tour, we were allowed to walk through the remains of the palace. We were even able to see the throne room; in which King Minos's throne still stands. This was one of my favorite parts of the tour!
Later in the day, we got to see many of the actual pots, paintings, and other historical items that once resided in this palace. Which brings me to our next stop; the Archaeological Museum of Crete!
There were so many things in the Archaeological Museum that I could show on here, but I only have so much time to write this before it's due, so I'm gonna narrow it down to one piece that might relate to some of the stuff we've been reading for this class.
One of the chapters that we've read this far was about the change from Homeric Poetry to Cretan Balladry in Greece. Originally, Cretan heroic poems were written in rhyming couplets, in distiches of two 15 iambic syllable lines.These historical narratives were typically sung by men and performed during special occasions or celebrations. Heroic Poetry was rooted deep in Greek culture, and these poems originally would be transcribed on to rocks or plates to be preserved. This leads me to one of the items I found in the Archaeological Museum.
This piece is the Phaistos Disc, which stands as the first and oldest piece of Greek writing in history. Researchers are still trying to figure out what exactly it says, but judging by the heavy influence of poetry and religious text during the Minoans time, my personal belief is that is is a piece of poetry or a song etched onto this plate. This disk would definitely not be big enough to fit a whole heroic poem like a talked about before, but I definitely think that it is some kind of creative or religious literature.
Our last stop on our itinerary was definitely my favorite for many reasons. This was the tomb of Nikos Kazantzakis. Nikos Kazantzakis was a Cretan writer and philosopher, famously known for his novels like Zobra the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ. He was widely popular and highly celebrated on the island of Crete, but the Orthodox church did not support Kazantzakis because he commonly proved what he believed in through science and did not support religion. So when he passed, the church refused to bury him in their cemetery. However, because the people of Crete loved him so much, they decided to take matters into their own hands and bury him atop a hill in Martinengo Bastion, Heraklion. On his grave was inscribed "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free." (Δεν ελπίζω τίποτα. Δε φοβούμαι τίποτα. Είμαι λέφτερος.)
Our first stop was the Minoan Palace of Knossos. This was the palace where King Minos, his wife, and few of this workers lived at the center of the Minoan civilization. The earliest traces of inhabitation of the palace dates all the way back to Neolithic Period; which was around 7000-3000 BC. So needless to say, this is one of the oldest traces of the oldest known civilization ever lol. Originally, this palace was destroyed in an earthquake, which archaeologists assume was around 1700 BC. The palace was then rebuilt and destroyed a couple of times after that, so obviously this site has been through some craziness!
On our tour, we were allowed to walk through the remains of the palace. We were even able to see the throne room; in which King Minos's throne still stands. This was one of my favorite parts of the tour!
Later in the day, we got to see many of the actual pots, paintings, and other historical items that once resided in this palace. Which brings me to our next stop; the Archaeological Museum of Crete!
There were so many things in the Archaeological Museum that I could show on here, but I only have so much time to write this before it's due, so I'm gonna narrow it down to one piece that might relate to some of the stuff we've been reading for this class.
One of the chapters that we've read this far was about the change from Homeric Poetry to Cretan Balladry in Greece. Originally, Cretan heroic poems were written in rhyming couplets, in distiches of two 15 iambic syllable lines.These historical narratives were typically sung by men and performed during special occasions or celebrations. Heroic Poetry was rooted deep in Greek culture, and these poems originally would be transcribed on to rocks or plates to be preserved. This leads me to one of the items I found in the Archaeological Museum.
Our last stop on our itinerary was definitely my favorite for many reasons. This was the tomb of Nikos Kazantzakis. Nikos Kazantzakis was a Cretan writer and philosopher, famously known for his novels like Zobra the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ. He was widely popular and highly celebrated on the island of Crete, but the Orthodox church did not support Kazantzakis because he commonly proved what he believed in through science and did not support religion. So when he passed, the church refused to bury him in their cemetery. However, because the people of Crete loved him so much, they decided to take matters into their own hands and bury him atop a hill in Martinengo Bastion, Heraklion. On his grave was inscribed "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free." (Δεν ελπίζω τίποτα. Δε φοβούμαι τίποτα. Είμαι λέφτερος.)
This burial site speaks for itself, with a 360 view of North Crete and the Aegean sea in plain sight.
And it's an incredible photo-op, OBVIOUSLY
So that experience was incredible, and it's only the first day! I'm also picking up some Greek words along the way (it's required for the class to log them, lol). So in the morning, to greet someone you say "kaliméra"(kαλημέρα) which means "good morning!"
Also, when thanking someone you say "efcharistó" (ευχαριστώ) which means thank you and they will respond with "parakaló" (Παρακαλώ) which means "you're welcome".
I also learned the word for and ate one of my FAVORITE foods in the world tonight for dinner: Grape Leaves.
It's rice flavored with spices, herbs, and olive oil wrapped in grape leaves and they are INCREDIBLE. Here, they are called "dolmathes" (ντολμαδες). And let me tell you, they are yummy in the United States, but I've never tasted them like I tasted them here. Authentic Greek food is out of this world. I am eatin' GUD here.
So those were my adventures for today. I know this was really long but I had to explain a lot. I hope y'all enjoyed this and stay tuned for my day to day updates!
Καλό βράδυ!
Andrea Rose
No comments:
Post a Comment