Corinth, Peloponnese, epidarus, mycenae, and olympia

Hey everybody!! Once again, I'm really sorry that it's taken me this long to write about my trip, but it is really long, and I haven't really had time until now to actually think about doing it. But anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it. On Monday, May 26th, we went to Corinth first. Our guides name was Dionysus (god of excess) which I thought was pretty funny. We saw the Ancient Theatre which is from the Roman period. We also saw a stone with Erastus' name carved in it, and I thought it was really cool because he is mentioned in Acts 19:22 and Romans 16:23 and even in 2 Tim. 4:20..So, this could have been where he was at that time, but there is not really any proof of it. We also saw the Roman Odeum. It was smaller than the theater. It was used for musical concerts. We also went in to the museum and saw many different things. We walked in and the first thing we saw were statues who were all beheaded. I thought it was pretty interesting. We also saw many of the pots had a meander pattern which goes up and down, and it was supposed to symbolize life because life has ups and downs. Many of the sculptors had the Archaic smile and almond eyes. Some believe the smile symbolized the dead were resting in peace, so I thought that was pretty interesting to find out. Corinthians also invented the helmets with the covers over the cheeks and above the nose and between the eyes. We saw many of those, and I thought they were really cool. Then we saw the Temple of Octavian. It was in Corinthian Style. I thought it was a pretty neat temple, but after seeing all the ones at the Acropolis, it wasn't that amazing..hahaha. We then went into the Agora. Paul visited here where there were many prostitutes and foreign nationality. He preached here and was accused by the Jews and stayed for a year and a half and then 3 months. Next, we saw the Temple of Apollo. It was destroyed by the Romans. This is where the people met with their friends to talk and it had many shops and a marketplace. Then, we saw the Corinthian Canal. It was so breathtaking because it was just this bridge and then a humongous drop off to the bottom of a creek that's only about 7 m deep. They said you can bungee jump off here, but I definitely would pass on that trip. hahaha..
Okay, the next part is probably my favorite spot in all of Corinth except maybe the Acrocorinth. We saw the Bema which is exactly where Paul stood and spoke to people and where he was tried. It's recorded in Acts 18:1. This is the court from vs. 12 that he stood in front of and I found it very moving that it Captain said we can be sure that Paul stood right where we were standing. I just thought that was the neatest thing, that we know for sure he stood there. We also sung songs here and many of the people stopped what they were doing and listened to us. I always feel really weird when we do that, but in the end, it makes me feel good if someone says something to us about how good it was or thanking us for doing it.
Next, we went to the Acrocorinth. This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. It was so gorgeous. I do not even think my words can describe it. It was definitely a battle getting up there, but it was completely worth it. We ate a sack lunch on top of the Acrocorinth and then headed back down and went to Epidarus.
In Epidarus, we saw the Sanctuary of Asclepios. In Asclepios' statues, he is always shown witha snake. The Sanctuary of Asclepios was also a healing station (hospital). Then we saw the Temple of Artemis which was from the 5th century B.C. I thought it was pretty neat, but still after seeing Acropolis, it is going to be really hard to beat those in my mind. The theater in Epidarus was definitely one of the top places on this trip and probably in any trip we will take this semester. The theater was plain amazing. You could stand in the middle, and the people at the very top, if they were quiet, could hear you when you spoke in a normal voice. It was pretty awesome. All the choir members(Jack, Andrew, Jen, Kim, Lacie, Leah, and I) all sang The Lord Bless You and Keep You on the stage and pretty much everyone in the audience listened to us. It was so amazing, and then our whole group sang a couple songs for everybody. The theater was definitely one of the best things about this trip. The hotel that we stayed at Monday night was really nice. My roommates were Jarod and Sterling. We definitely had a crazy time. There was a beach, and I went to it twice. Once before supper and then after. I only swam afterwards though. It was so pretty.
On Tuesday, we started off going to Naphlion where the Palamidi Fortress is. The Palamidi Fortress was really cool. It was huge and was built in 4 years. There were also small fortresses inside. We saw the Gate of Andrew here. It had the Lion of Venice above the gate. There was also a hole so they could drop things on enemies and also the turns made it hard for enemies to see them before they got caught. On free time, Jack, Andrew, and I crawled into the Kolokotrone's Prison. It was really really cool in there. Add me a couch and some cable and internet and I'm good for a couple years. Very homey. lol..Next on Tuesday, we went to Mycenae where we saw the Tomb of Agamemnon. They thought it was the King's Tomb because it was so huge. There was s dromos, passage to the tomb. The stone above the doorway weighs 120 tons. That is amazing to me how they even got that up there. I really have no clue how in the world they do most of the things they did. They thought the side chamber in the Tomb was for the queen or just more of the King's belongings. The doorway was 13.5 m high. Inside the tomb, it was 40 feet tall and had a side chamber. It was built with the cabelling system. Captain also asked me to lead a couple songs in the Beehive Tomb. It was really neat and the acoustics were amazing in there too. Then, we went to the Archeological site. This is where we saw the Tomb of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife. We also saw the Lion Gate here. I thought the Lion Gate was astonishing. It had Cyclopean walls, they were called this because the stones were so huge, they thought the Cyclops had to have built it. The lantel weighs 18 tons. The lions were supposed to symbolize the power of the royal family. We also saw Grave Circle A which was founded by Heinrich Schliemann. I thought it was very interesting. It had 18 skeletons and the Mask of Agamemenon. There were 5 masks altogether. Schliemann thought Grave Circle A was the burial site for Agamemnon and his family. Then we saw the remains of the Megaron. This is where the king lived and where he would meet people who had to ask him questions or if he needed to meet with foreign leaders. The last thing we did in Mycenae was go to the Cistern. It was the last extension of the citadel. I thought it was really cool. It was 18 meters deep, and very very dark. There was pretty much a wall of bugs in the air at the beginning and a couple definitely got in my mouth, but it was still worth it to go down there, and see it.
The last place we went on this trip was Olympia. We saw the Sanctuary dedicated to Zeus. It is where the first Olympic games were held in 776 A.D. The games were dedicated to Zeus and held in honor of him. I also thought it was interesting that they used the Olympic games as their dating system. The games lasted 5 days. On the first day, they would get ready, the second day, they had teenage games. The third day was horse races and pentathlon in the afternoon. On the fourth day, they would sacrifice cows for Zeus and did individual games like running and wrestling. And the last day was the closing ceremony in front of the Temple of Zeus. I thought that the penalty for cheating was really interesting. They had to pay for a bronze statue and the statue would have the name of the person who cheated, and their father's name on it, and it would be placed out front for everyone to see forever. I also thought that the Bronze Helmet of Miltiades was really really neat. It carried an inscription on it (Miltiades). It was dedicated to Zeus after his victory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 B.C. We also saw the Statue of Nike. It was really amazing I thought. She was supposedly coming from the sky to bring victory to the athletes. After Nike, we went and saw Hermes of Praxiteles. This statue was completely astonishing. I could not really believe my eyes. In the state, Hermes is carrying baby, Dionysus to the Nymphs to be taken care of. This is one of the few works of Praxiteles. It is made with the best quality of marble. We also saw some statues from the Temple of Zeus. They used to be colored back in ancient times. The East Pediment was a depiction fo Olympic games, and the West Pediment was of severe style, and it was a depiction of war.
In the Archeological site of Olympia, we saw the Philippion which was started by Philip the Great. It was built after the battle to show the Greeks that he was a Greek as well, and did not want to hurt them. Alexander the great finished it because Philip was assassinated. We also saw the Palestra, which was the place where they wrestled. It was a courtyard where they'd train for wrestling, and all the other rooms were used to spread olive oil, and dust on their body. The next room held one of teh first Roman baths discovered. We also saw Zeus' Temple. There was a hole in the middle of the columns to protect against earthquakes, which obviously didn't work too well because, an earthquake tore them down. (I love irony). There was an olive tree on the back side of the temple. This is also the temple where the closing ceremonies of the Olympics were held in front of.
We also saw the Temple of Hera. The altar in front is where they would light the Olympic flame. They would use a mirror to start the flame, then they would pass the torch to the athletes, then the athletes took it to Athens where it would stay the night in the Parthenon. Then, they would take it to the city where the Olympics was being held. They do this even today which I found very interesting. The last thing we saw was also definitely one of the coolest things of this trip. We went into the Stadium of Olympia. Some of the guys ran through chanting, I guess to act like they were Olympic athletes..haha..idk..but anyway, it was 192 meters long..thats like longer than 2 football fields. I was amazed. Some of the guys and girls raced down it, and Frank Bolling won, who is on Harding's track team..Big surprise, I know..lol..Anyway, this trip was definitely a whole lot of fun, and I can not wait to get to go to on the other trips. Hope you all are having a great time. Talk to ya'll later..Love and miss you all..In Him, Ryan