Day 73 ~ Nafplion, Greece or Did Agamemnon have it coming?

March 23, 2002

 47 degrees, threatening rain, biting wind

''This is the word the Achaians have spoken often against me and found fault with me in it, yet I am not responsible, but Zeus is...'' ~ Agamemnon from Homer's The Iliad. (People have been blaming the gods for their failings since the Garden. Remember how Adam said to God, "The woman YOU put here with me--she gave me some fruit and I ate it.")

Last night, the Med suddenly realized it had been too kind to the Viking Star of late and decided to show us why underwater archaeology is such big business around here. There are amphora aplenty to be found on the bottom of this sea from when ancient sailors tried to lighten their load in storms. Around 2 AM, the sea began to buck and our verandah door must have come slightly open because we were wakened by a banshee-like wailing wind! The DH climbed out of bed and secured it, shutting out the squall, but I rolled over and mentally crossed today off our list. However, the day dawned fair and we set off to visit Mycenae, a Bronze Age capital.

The Bourtzi, a Venetian era stronghold built to control the Nafplion harbor. I snapped this photo from the tender on our way back to the Star after our excursion. The weather had deteriorated rapidly and we were glad to climb back aboard our lovely cruise ship.

 

Mykinis (the old name for the city) means "mushrooms."

Today we stepped into the Bronze age with a trip to the countryside and the ruins of an acropolis where Agamemnon ruled. The Odyssey is chalked up to Homer's vivid imagination, but the Iliad is peopled by actual historical characters, so you have to wonder if some bits of it are true. 

Agamemnon was the King of Mycenae, who wanted war with Troy for reasons other than his brother Menelaus' wayward wife, Helen. It wasn't her beautiful face that launched a thousand ships. That was just the false flag Agamemnon used to justify attacking Troy. He went to war for the usual reason one nation invades another--they had something Agamemnon wanted. In this case, it was mostly arable land. Greece is the most mountainous country in Europe with 80% of the land mass mostly vertical. 

Entrance to Agamemnon's tomb. 

View from inside Agamemnon's tomb

Thanks to the Trojan Horse treachery, Agamemnon was successful. However, he didn't live long enough to enjoy his victory much. While he was gone to war, his wife Clytemnestra took a lover and when her husband returned, they conspired to kill Agamemnon. 

I almost couldn't blame Clytemnestra because before he left to attack Troy, Agamemnon sacrificed their daughter Iphigeneia to insure the war went his way. 

But the illicit lovers didn't last long either. Clytemnestra's son and daughter, Orestes and Electra, killed her and her lover. And the whole sordid tale provided grist for the drama mills of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, all intent on proving their main thesis--We all carry the seeds of our own destruction within ourselves. 

The interior bee-hive structure of the tomb. The dome rises 39 ft from the floor, but the use of smaller stones farther up fools the eye and makes it seem even taller. The space has perfect acoustics and when our guide asked if someone would like to sing a bit, I couldn't help myself! I launched into the first 16 bars or so of Quando m'en vo from La Boheme. My high notes never soared so effortlessly!

There is a fascinating museum at the site of Agamemnon's acropolis, filled with grave goods and other treasures from the Bronze Age.  Highly defensive, the stronghold was designed to withstand a long siege. The walled city had store houses for grain and a secret cistern. On the other side of the hill from the settlement, a spring was discovered. Those Bronze age mathematicians and builders figured out a way to dig a tunnel through the hill to the spring which they enclosed, so the city would always have a source of fresh water. 

Technology may change, but people have always loved and figured out how to make beautiful things.

We hiked up to the Lion's Gate, so called because of the twin lion's carved above the opening (the DH will share that photo in his montage), but we didn't get much farther into the city. This little tabby was the only feline haunting the ruin. 

In the South Pacific, dogs run feral all over the islands, and I'm sad to say they are often on the menu there. In the Med, we've seen more than one port where cats run wild everywhere we visited. But no one eats cats. Instead, they're welcomed by all and credited with keeping the vermin and the illnesses they carry down.

Kristy & Dave on the outer wall of Mycenae, looking down into the city's graveyard.

The rain that has been threatening to catch up with us at the last three or four stops finally found us and the heavens opened as we quick-marched back to the tour bus. 

I'm not sweet enough to melt, but my Portable Oxygen Concentrators have the potential to short out if they get too wet. My DH is so good to me. Not only does he carry my POC on his back, he took his jacket off and covered Herkimer (or Percy, whichever one he was carrying) with his coat to protect my O2 from the rain. Bless the man.  

That little green tube on his right is my canula. When we go on excursions, we have a 7 ft. tether that keeps us together!  

Tomorrow we're in Crete, one of the hundred plus islands Greece claims in its archipelago! 

More soon...

PS. The DH is having trouble getting his photos to upload to YouTube. So as soon as we get into port long enough, I'll do a post of just his images so you can catch up with all our doings and the wonderful things we're seeing!