Tower of the Winds and Roman Agora of Athens

Bob is giving a presentation on the Tower of the Winds next week, so he asked if I wanted to accompany him there for a visit today. The Roman Agora of Athens was built in the 2nd half of the 1st century BC. It has a large rectangular open courtyard surrounded by stoas, shops, and storerooms.

Rex was chilling here today.

The Gate of Athena Archegetis.

The Tower of the Winds.

The East Propylon.

The Tower of the Winds is so called because a bronze weather vane (no longer preserved) on the roof indicated the direction of the winds. Personifications of the these winds are carved around the top of the tower. Here I zoomed in on two. Rays of sun-dials are carved on each side beneath these scenes.

Inside the tower was a waterclock.

The waterclock was operated by water running down from the Acropolis.

More pictures from inside the tower, which was only within the last year opened to the public.

In other news, I found my new favorite ice cream spot in Athens. It is called Carnaval, and it has the second cheapest ice cream I've found - only 1.50 for a scoop in a cone. They have recognizable flavors, and the lady who works there gives me a free sweet sample each time I come in.

Snickers flavor

Also, remember that beach we had lunch at just over a week ago?

Nothing special to say about it. I just really enjoyed it, so I wanted to remind everyone of its beauty.

Dikili Tash Monument and Excavations

I opened up my pamphlet from the Dikili Tash site only to remember that it was all in French, so I can't read the information.

This is the monument at Dikili Tash, which people will come to and scrape part of it away to consume because they believe it has medicinal purposes - something about fertility or breast milk.

Bob pulled out his notebook of notes for me and told me that the excavations we looked at there were neolithic houses. We were led through them by a lady who worked the excavations.

Bob went in here and saw the houses, but it was really dusty, so I didn't go in. That is not Bob pictured there.

Aliki Quarries (One of my top favorite sites)

The marble of Thasos is popular for its pure white color and brightness; it has been famous since the seventh century BC when a colony was established there. The marble from Aliki (south side of the island) has been exported to Asia and all over the Mediterranean Sea to construct temples and monuments.
I thought this was the most beautiful place and also was a great hike around.

There were some bad fires on the island. Here is a picture of some wilderness damage.

 There were some ancient remains at the site as well.

Notice the white marble.

A nice warning.

You can see the dig marks.

We decided to dip our toes in. It was really slippery.

The marble of Thassos is popular around the world for its pure white color and brightness. Since the ancient times, Thassos has been famous for its marble quarries since the ancient times. The marble of Thassos became famous in the seventh century BC, when a colony from Paros was established there. Since then, its marble, produced mostly in the quarries of Alyki, on the southern side of the island, was exported to far away places in Asia and all over the Mediterranean Seas, to construct temples and monuments. The Romans used much this marble for their monuments. Source: www.greeka.com

The marble of Thassos is popular around the world for its pure white color and brightness. Since the ancient times, Thassos has been famous for its marble quarries since the ancient times. The marble of Thassos became famous in the seventh century BC, when a colony from Paros was established there. Since then, its marble, produced mostly in the quarries of Alyki, on the southern side of the island, was exported to far away places in Asia and all over the Mediterranean Seas, to construct temples and monuments. The Romans used much this marble for their monuments. Source: www.greeka.com

Thasos Walking Tour

We walked around the island of Thasos for slightly over four hours making 19 stops for sites.

Sanctuary of Dionysus

Gate of the Goddess on Chariot

Same gate as above.

Shrine of Posidon

beautiful view

 

Thesmophorian? footprint of a basilica

The following are walls.

Graves outside of a theater.

The theater.

Somewhere in the next pictures are chapels, a sanctuary to Apollo, and a sanctuary to Athena.

 

Rock cut shrine to Pan.

Can you see Pan in there?

The gate of Silene.

Carving on the gate.

I think this was the gate of Heracles and Dionysus? or Zeus and Hera?

Sanctuary of Heracles. Lots of eating, drinking, and killing animals occurred here.

Odeion (theater)

Shrine to Artemis

The last stop was back to the Agora, which I had made a post about before I forgot that we did the Agora on our walking tour.

This is the Theogenes monument located in the Agora. It once held the statue of Theogenes. There is a story that a man was beating the statue, and it fell on him. The statue was tried for murder and was sent out of the city. However some men found it fishing and brought it back.

This is the original metal hook on the above monument from when it was built. Everyone was so amazed it had survived from the ancient world. This is where animals would be tied up for sacrifice.