Nemea and Corinth: the crossroads of paganism and Christianity

A temple to Zeus in Nemea.

Yesterday, on the way back to our home base in Athens, we stopped off at Nemea and Corinth. Nemea is the site of Herakles' supposed first deed: the slaying of the lion that was terrorizing the countryside. After completing his task, he wore the big cat's pelt for the rest of his career as a hero. Also here at this site is the Nemean stadium where the Nemean games were held for a time.

Another view of the temple.

A great example of Doric architecture.

A picture of a photograph in teh museum showing how competitors would use the footholds at the start of races.

The skeleton of a horse that was sacrificed in a dedication ceremony.

A middle aged female skeleton. According to the plaque, she was the bearer of at least two children, though I am unaware how they would know that.

The funky toilet tank in the museum bathroom.

Pillars to a building where athletes could warm-up and wrestle.

The tunnel leading to the stadium. In it, as they were waiting for their event to start, competitors would scratch graffiti into the walls. There were some good examples of it preserved in the museum.

Not much, but it sufficed as the site of the Nemean Games for a time.

 After exhausting the sites at Nemean, we continued on to Corinth: a city that holds some special meaning for those acquainted with the books of Acts and Corinthians. Here we were met by a friend of Professor Hutton's, a British archeologist by the name of Guy Sanders who took us behind the scenes at many of the dig sites and gave us the VIP tour. Perhaps my favorite thing that he shared were some of the stories that the site's bone experts were able to piece together from the skeletons found on site. One body they found buried was that of a young boy who died at the age of fourteen; he was found with a hole in his skull from a primitive brain operation to relieve some inter-cranial swelling. Guy also talked of one body that he had develops an a affection for (as you can tell, Mr. Sanders is quite a character). This one such body was the body of what seemed to be a Turkish archer, who was most likely hired as a mercenary. This man was born with a neck deformity that caused his head to slump to one side, a situation he remedied by honing powerful and large neck muscles to compensate. He was bow-legged probably from riding a horse quite often, and the places for shoulder muscle attachments alluded to the fact that his arm muscles were quite large from doing some form of repetitive, arduous pulling labor (pulling a bow string perhaps). Our poor Turk died from an infection in the lower jaw that spread to his upper jaw and ultimately spelled his demise when he acquired blood poisoning in his brain. Another case of interesting remains involves that of a man with two chopped off fingers and a chunk of his skull missing. Most likely, this was due to a surprise attack in which the perpetrator swung at our victim, and he threw his hands up to protect himself, catching the blade with his hands (and losing his fingers) and landing a glancing blow to the head (the missing piece of skull). Call me morbid, put I found all the information from these autopsy-like investigations absolutely thrilling!

Although called the Children's Temple, no one really knows what this one was for.

Roman shops.

A view of the Corinthian ruins.

A lame komast dancer. An interesting find in a culture that so praised the ideal figure,

A statuette of the nature god: Pan.

A statue of Athen in the museum. She is holding her owl--a symbol of her wisdom.

Beautiful sculpture of the god of revelry: Dionysius.

A lovely Roman mosaic.

The face of Aphrodite.

The head of the goddess Tyche: goddess of luck and good fortune.  A fine specimen! You can clearly make out what are city gates as her crown (this is how she is pictured in art).

The battle between the Greeks and the Amazons.

 More Asclepius dedications. I love this picture because we have the foot dedications with the reflection of my own feet in the picture.

A staute of a Sphinx.

The Bema. Look up Acts 18, right now!:) For those of you unaccustomed to searching through the Bible--go to the New Testament and it will be the fifth book you see. This is where the governor refused to get involved with the Jews accusations against the Apostle Paul. Paul especially preached on being humble, something very foreign to the Greeks at that time (and Americans of today's time) as they sought to make a name for themselves in any way, shape, or form.

Another picture of the Bema.

A lovely nyphaeum that has an underground cistern that we could hear the water flowing from . Sadly, we were not allowed to enter. I was really hoping to because all of the other ancient ones we have been to have been try due to shifting water tables.

A temple to Apollo at Corinth.

An image of the Venetian walls at Acro-Corinth. Vastly impressive, this city is perched precipitously on the side of a mountain.

A view from the walls at the surrounding countryside and the Isthmus of Corinth in the background,.

Another magnificent view!!!:D

The gang!