Greek ruins tell stories, from Acropolis to Jesus

By Glenn Adams

updated 10:19 a.m. ET March 26, 2009

DELPHI, Greece - I saw the news on a sunny spring day, traipsing through ruins where the Oracle held court, in a place once deemed the center of the Earth.

The report was dated by a couple of thousand years, carved in ancient Greek letters on a marble slab, filled with passages of the era’s noteworthy events. It was also an example of how the abundant remnants of the ancients still have relevance here in Greece, where vibrant modern life coexists casually with the past. Our journey included stops in the Bronze Age, the Golden Age, the eras of the Roman occupation and Byzantine influence, with side steps to the paths of the disciples of Jesus, and some of the wonders of the ancient world.

Traveling with my family on an organized tour, we started in Athens, where a third of the Greek population lives and works. The city spreads out below the Acropolis, which glows under lights by night for an awe-inspiring view from virtually anywhere in the city. (Building-height restrictions of 24 stories ensure its view will not be obstructed.)

We joined a crowd on the same stone pathway once traversed by throngs as part of an annual rite, known as the Panathenaic procession, to the site of the grandest of temples around 500 B.C.

We clambered past the ruins of the formal entrance, the Propylaia, and stood before the remains of the Parthenon, where a huge statue of the goddess Athena once stood. I was struck by how much of the edifice is still intact, although restoration is ongoing.

Nearby and also remarkably intact is the Erechtheion, famous for massive statues of women used as supporting pillars. Below the walls is Theatre of Herod Atticus, dating to A.D. 161 but now restored and in use.

From here, we followed the footsteps of Socrates through what was once the political center of Athens — the Agora. Notable is the fully restored, colonnaded Stoa of Attalos, which features a fine museum. While only 15 of the original columns remain, their sheer size shows that the Zeus temple at one time was larger than the Parthenon, and the largest in Greece.

Petros Giannakouris / AP file Tourists walk on Filopapos hill, in front of the ancient Parthenon on the ancient site of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

Athens offers enough history to consume months or years of sightseeing, so these highlights are just a sample. But there’s so much more outside the city, not only in terms of history but also natural beauty. Marathon Plain, northeast of Athens, was the scene of the Athenians’ battle victory in 490 B.C. over the Persians. Beyond there, the traffic thins out as the road meanders past olive plantations, along the shimmering Gulf of Corinth and gradually into the highlands.

In Delphi, we were again following the footsteps of the ancients on the Sacred Way on the slopes of Mount Parnassos. The upward path brought us past the ruins of the temple of Apollo, dating back several hundred years B.C., and the excavated site of the Oracle, whose ambiguous incantations came at a price in sacrifices and donations. Still intact is the conical stone marking the mythological center of the Earth.

We passed the slab that served as a supporting wall and also a newspaper of the day, and on to a 2,500-year-old theater carved into the hillside. Above was a newer stadium, built by the Romans during their occupation and still remarkably intact. Like many excavated sites, this was cordoned off. But our next stop, Olympia, was not.

The route to the site of the first Olympics presented a constant contrast between the old and modern: A space-age cable-stay bridge carried us to Peloponnese, a peninsula on the other side of the canal at Corinth. At the foot of the bridge was a well-preserved fort dating to the days of the Crusades. Homes along the way, featuring traditional orange tiled roofs, also had rooftop hot-water heaters energized by the abundant sunshine.

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And mountaintops once considered the realm of the gods are now the domain of a newer power — energy. Numerous wind farms have sprouted along high ridges that streak across the island.

Walking past the site of the Palestra in Olympia, a visitor can imagine contestants from the early games — they started here in 776 B.C. — practicing boxing and wrestling. In the center of what was essentially an Olympic village are the remains of yet another Temple of Zeus, its once-grand columns now scattered about the base. This is also the site of another ancient wonder, where the statue of Zeus once stood. We stood at the site of the ritual lighting of the Olympic flame, which even today is lit in the ancient way, using the sun’s rays and a mirror, and then under the vaulted arch leading to the stadium, which even by the ancients’ standards is quite simple.

A bowl carved into the earth and nearby hillsides provided room for thousands of spectators. And the field where the early races were held is open. We were among the visitors who could not help but try a quick dash across the hard-packed dirt.

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