Today was the first part of a three day excursion to the Argolid. We left early in the morning, in order to get to the Isthmia site by 9:30. This site was a sanctuary to Posideon in antiquity, but during the 5th century C.E., the temple was completely disassembled, including the foundations, to incorporate into a fortification wall. Very little is left, but what is there is quite interesting. We were privileged to be shown around the museum and site by Dr. Elizabeth Gebhard, one of the lead researchers. Because this site is in such poor shape, and archaeology is a destructive process, it was really interesting to have her explain the site to us, because she had information about the excavation, such as where artifacts were found in relation to structures. For instance, there were several sacrificial pits, in which ash and scorched animal bones, along with pottery, were found. However, looking at them now, fully excavated, they look like simple pits.
After doing a team assignment at Isthmia, we got back on the bus and traveled to Nemea. According to Greek legend, this was the site where Herakles (known more commonly today by his Roman name, Hercules) completed his first task, slaying the Nemean lion. Like Isthmia, this was the site of both a sanctuary (this time to Zeus) and a Panhellenic games. Around the sanctuary were hotels, for visitors, structures for the small staff of the sanctuary to live in, and several treasuries, for votive offerings of wealthy families or towns. It was also, however, the site of a later Christian basilica, a type of church, several centuries later. This is pretty common: if a site is considered holy at one time by one culture, more often than not that site will remain holy, even as the culture and religion change.
We didn't spend long at Nemea, before heading off to Asine. Unlike most of the sites we'd been to previously, this isn't a sanctuary to a god, or at least not primarily. Supposedly, this was the site of a tribe of non-Greeks, who were pirates on the population of the Argolid. This is based mainly on literary sources; the material culture of the area, in general, is consistent with the surrounding area. There are only a few nit-picky things, such as differences in burial practices and slight differences in the pottery, to suggest that this site was home to a different culture. There's very little physical evidence to be seen on the site, and so we didn't spend too long talking here; instead, we climbed to the top of the hill.
After Asine, we still had one last site to visit. This one wasn't an Archaic site, however; it was the Palamidi Fortress, a Turkish fortification from when Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire. It's a really neat structure, build on top of the highest hill near Nafplio. The fortress consists of 9 separate buildings, connected by fortification walls. It looks like an impervious fortress. However, if you can't go over the walls, you can go under. That's exactly what happened here, when enemy forces tunneled under the walls, filled the tunnel with explosives, and broke the defenses that way.
Finally, after exploring these four sites, we checked into the hotel at Nafplio, had a lovely dinner paid for by the program, and prepared for the tomorrow, when we'll be exploring some really cool sites around the Argolid.
