Today was our first major driving day as we left Kalambaka and headed toward Delphi. On the way, per some participants requests, we stopped at Thermopiles to visit the famous site of the Spartan historic stand against the Perisans and King Xerxes in 480 BC. Leonidas, the King of Sparta, with 300 Spartans (and 700 Thespians) stood their ground against several thousands. (Yes...this is the story from the movie 300 that I don't want to know that my fifth graders have watched!) The Spartans philosphy of war was either come home from the battle with your shield or on your shield. The 300 Spartans who came to fight knew ahead of time that they were going to be outnumbered and might not last too long, so the 300 who came were all the fathers of a male heir that would carry on their family line following their death. The Spartans held their ground for quite some time, but in the end, they all died, because they knew they were protecting their land and their freedom. There fight allowed other groups in the area to organize and prepare to battle the Persians and gave rise to the ideals of Greek independence.
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| Thermopiles - The site of the Spartans Historic Fight |
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| The Spartan Monument |
We then made our way to our hotel in the modern city of Delphi. Because it was Sunday, the archeological finds of anicent Delphi at the museum closed early and it was way to hot to actually visit archeological site, it was decided to give us a few hours of free time. Melissa (a teacher from Texas) and I went for a walk into downtown Delphi to do some site-seeing and window shopping. It was hot, but nice just to visit with the local shop owners.
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| Downtown Delphi (Del-Fee) |
Around 5:30 Sunday afternoon we headed toward the anicent ruins of Delphi's Sanctuary of Apollo. Here is a little about the background of Delphi from Rick Steves' Greece: Athens and the Peloponnese bookon page 351.
The ancients believed that Delphi was the center of the world. Its position was determined by Zeus himself, who released two eagles from opposite ends of the world and noted where they met.
It was here that a priestess (the sibyl) worshipped Gaia, the mother of gods. A serpant called the Python, guarded the ravine Kastalian Spring. Apollo, the god of sun and music, arrived in the guise of a dolphin (delfini, hence Delphi) and killed the Python snake. The sibyl became known as the oracle, and she and the place now served Apollo.
The worship of Apollo grew and the place gainded fame for its the oracle and its religous festivals. The sanctuary of Apollo reached the height of its prestige between the sixth and fourth centures B.C. by which time Delphi so dominated Greek life that no leader would make any major decisions without sending emissaries to consult the oracle first.
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| Me with the anicent ruins of Delphi in the background |
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| The Sactuary of Apollo from below |
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| The Treasury of Apollo |
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| The Sactuary of Apollo from the top |
After our visit to the anicent ruins, we headed toward a rural villlage (a popular ski destination in the winter) called Arahova for a stroll around town and then a traditional Greek dinner.
Tomorrow we head for Nafpolio and making several stops along the way.
PS - Please forgive all the typos. I cannot get my spell check to work on my Word program or on Blogger.com - it keeps spelling check in Greek. This is all first draft and honestly I have been way, way too tired to reread or even attempt to edit them after I am done. Maybe I'll have my fifth graders use them as editing pieces for next year of what NOT to publish!
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