Nemea and Epidauros

Greetings,

Today we visited Nemea and Epidauros.

Nemea was home to the Nemean games one of the four Panhellenic Games. It has a large temple to Zeus see picture above, which is being restored. About 7 Doric columns now stand at the site. It also has a large Greek/Hellenistic bath complex with ancient sinks still standing in situ. The museum is a good with with several artifacts from the site and the surrounding area. They have a good video on the way the ancient footraces were conducted at the stadium. The starting line is well preserved as well as an earliest known arched vault which served as entranceway for the athletes. This site has been excavated by the University of California, Berkeley for many years. http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~clscs275/

We had lunch at large roadside cafe which is designed for bus groups I had grilled chicken kebab with rice and a nice Greek salad.

Then we went to Epidauros which has the best preserved Greek theater. It is amazing with wonderful acoustics. It dates to the 4th century BC. It has a circular orchesta it would seat about 10,000 people and it was enlarged in the Roman period.

The site also has a ancient healing center called an Asklepieon which was dedicated to Asklepios the son of Apollo. He is connected with snakes esp large yellow Python. It is his symbol of the snake wrap around the staff that the American Medical Association still uses. The Ancient Greeks believed that the Python taught Asklepios the secrets of healing and medicine. People would come to the shrine for healing and later for surgery.

The site has a tholos or round building which might have housed snakes which were used in ceremonies.

Later we returned to the beautiful town of Nafplion. I walked a long ways in search of a new digital camera which I found. Then I had a chicken gyro at a small cafe before returning to learn more about my camera and post to the blogs.

The airline website reports that my bag has arrived at the airport but it does not say which airport and exactlu when it arrived. But I am now more optimistic that I will see my bag again. I hope tomorrow but if not perhaps the next day. We change hotels tomorrow and we will ancient Corinth on our way to Olympia, home of the ancient Olympic games. I hope my luggage catches up with me there.

John Wineland, Nafplion, Greece