Well, I survived another Friday the 13^th.  Today I took off in a clockwise direction around the base of the Acropolis. This took me to the area of the Temple of Hephaestus. Hephaestus was the god of blacksmiths, volcanoes, craftsmen and artisans – the Roman equivalent is Vulcan. Because ancient Athens was home to a large number of craftsmen and artisans he was an important Athenian god; his temple reflects that importance. It is also one the better preserved Greek temples. The exterior columns are still in place as well as the walls of the interior cella.

The temple overlooks the ancient Greek agora of Athens. When I say, ‘over looks,’ I mean over looks. The ticket entrance and exit to the temple also serves as the entrance and exit to the agora. I would estimate that the agora is some 300 feet lower than the temple. Going down into the agora probably would not be a problem for me – however, climbing out of it would. Athens, I am finding, is a very hilly place – much more so than Rome. Incidentally, the top of the Acropolis is yet another 600 feet or so above the level of the temple.

I continued my clockwise walk, but actually drifted far from the loop that encircles the Acropolis. My drift was partly intentional because I figured that I would end up in the Roman agora. An agora is a central market and meeting place rather like the Forum in Rome was. In the Greek agora, democracy was born (and fell to demagogues). This was where Pericles, Themistocles, Demosthenes and others made their speeches. It was where Socrates was tried. It is where elections were held. Of course, the Roman agora was a different political world ruled by Roman emperors from Augustus onward. There are some pillars remaining of this forum, but most of it is the remains of building foundations.

Nearby is another interesting structure – the octagonal Tower of the Winds. Each side represents one of the eight winds. On the top there was a weather vane, now gone. This was important to a city engaged in sea going trade and even, for a time, empire. On the sides of the building there were rods extending out that served as a sundial, so Athenians could tell what time of day it was. Inside the tower there was a water clock to tell time when the sun was not shining. The water clock is gone, the faces of the sundials are obscured or gone, but at least one of the rods still extends from the tower.

I tried circling back but ended up in Monastiraki area. This is maybe the world’s largest flea market and garage sale. If you are in need of junk, you can buy junk here. I saw several ancient Singer sewing machines, a washer/dryer, thousands of CDs, thousands of wall warts, arts, crafts, tools, and just plain junk.

I also encountered the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral. It is tiny, tiny. I doubt you could get 100 people in there; maybe not even 50. And it is insufferably hot even when not packed.

About that time I encountered a faux train that runs around the area and took it back to the entrance to the Acropolis. That is a few hundred meters from my hotel. On the way I stopped at a store to buy some souvenirs. One of the items — the most expensive – was the obligatory replica of Phidias’ Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin), the enormous statue of Athena that was in the Parthenon. The original is long gone, but we know what it looked like because ancient tourists also bought these replicas. Mine is, of course, much smaller than the original – as were those replicas purchased by tourists over 2,000 years ago. I also acquired a Greek vase – another museum reproduction. And, of course, a few owls. Athena (and Athens) are associated with an owl. Homer calls her ‘owl eyed Athena.’ And in the Perseus story, Zeus tells Athena to send her owl to help Perseus on his quest to find a way to slay the Kraken. She fudges. She has Hephaestus (remember Hephaestus? If not go back to the beginning of this blog and read it again) make a mechanical owl to give Perseus.

The owl was also featured on ancient Greek coins one of which I have in my coin collection. It is a fine example. I bought it for $25 when I was in college. It is worth around $1,500 today.

I am running a bit late getting photos up on the website. I finally broke the National Archeological Museum pictures into two separate slide shows. You can access them from canicusmodius.com. Look for the Journals on the left, click on the first week. That will bring up a table of links that have been posted so far. I am not posting much in the way of pictures to Facebook because the upload process is so slow.

Oh, I forgot to mention. Coming back from dinner I encountered a long procession along the base of the Acropolis. I tried to get video, but the camera wasn’t cooperating.

Canicus Modius.