Date: April 11
Partners for the day: Jackie (text) Caleb (images)
Site(s): Gla, Mitrou, Thebes
Principal Buildings/Monuments:
Time Spent on Each Site:
Gla from ca. 10:45 am to ca. 11:45 am [ _1_hour]
Mitrou from ca. 12:15 pm to ca. 1:15 am [_1_ hour] Walking tour of Thebes from ca. 5 pm to ca. 7pm [_2_ hours]
Weather: overcast, breezy, with some sounds of thunder in the distance
After our one day of rest in Athens, we departed this morning for Thebes. Along the way, we stopped at the ancient Mycenaean citadel at Gla and commented on the need for such a huge military fortification to protect the drainage system of the Copaic Basin. Then we traveled to the small islet of Mitrou to site that Prof. Rutter is currently helping to excavate. Between his lectures on the range of finds recovered thus far at the site (some going as far back as the Neolithic Age), he also shared with us some of his personal experiences of working on the “virgin site” and some of the common difficulties associated with commencing an excavation. At around 2 pm, we arrived at our hotel in Thiva (as it is known in Modern Greek) and broke for lunch before reconvening for our walking tour of the visible remains of the ancient city of Thebes. We began on the Kadmeia, and though much has been built over, we were able to make out the remains of a few Mycenaean buildings, such as the “House of Cadmus”, as well as numerous medieval remains. We also visited the Ampheion, the Mycenaean chamber tombs, and the Ismenion, all located of which are below the Kadmeia.
Thebes is unique from most of the other sites we have visited in that its architectural antiquities are scattered throughout a city and, in most cases, are neglected. While walking down a street lined with multi-story apartments and buildings currently under construction, we found chunks of exposed ruins that were surrounded by fences and usually marked with simple brown signs that said “Archaeological Site”. If it weren’t for Prof. Rutter’s plans, we wouldn’t have known if we were gazing upon a corner of a palace or a prison. Also, the states of preservation of the sites themselves were sometimes pitiful. Shrubbery and wild flowers grow rampant in many of these small holes, but what are most harmful to the sites are the trees which show signs of sprouting and will one day damage the precious remains with their roots and branches. Perhaps the most disappointing is the treatment of these sites by the inhabitants. Perhaps asking an average citizen to personally trim back the growth is unrealistic, but at the very least, we should be able to request respect for the remains of their own history. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Trash can be found all over, from what used be medieval cisterns to the dromos of the Mycenaean chamber tombs. Archaeologists have even caught people using these sites as lavatories.
Thiva takes great pride in its history and mythology, and it is to be expected when one considers the great names of its past: Heracles, Oedipus, Epaminondas, and Pindar to name a few. Even the street names, such as Pindarou and Pelopida, reflect this pride. So one may ask, why do the modern Thebans not take better care of the physical remains of their past? The richness of the remains of Thebes, representing at least three major periods of its dominance (Mycenaean, Classical and Hellenistic, and Byzantine times) makes Thebes a very important “portal” to various periods of history. Also, all of these finds are evidence for the great power that Thebes once commanded; they are the sources of the Theban pride. But as Thiva undergoes modernization, more and more of the archaeological remains are being wiped away by concrete basements and the simple neglect for what has long become a part of history. If this continues, in twenty years, nothing will remain of the ancient glory of Thebes but the street signs.