This was my journal entry for an assignment in which I had to talk about the significance of two of the archaeological sites we visited, and the next was a description of something we had seen.
The museums at Brauron and Marathon held some very interesting and unique artifacts. At Brauron was the sanctuary of Artemis, which unfortunately was closed to tourists for archaeological excavations, and was the location of a temple, stoa with dining rooms, altar and a unique stone bridge over top of a small stream. The museum held a large arrangement of carved marbles, pottery, small children’s toys, as well as parts of the pediments with depictions of sacrifices to Artemis. One of my favourite pieces was a statuette of a small girl holding a rabbit. The pottery was extremely intricate from a variety of different periods. Some of the children’s toys struck me as odd because despite the materials to make them, they looked exactly like something out of the present. Brauron showed a lot of just every day life and contained a strong spiritual element. Marathon however was different, as it was the location of the war between the Persians and the Greeks. Some say that it shaped the western culture, for if the Persians had been victorious then our Greek influence would have been Persian. The museum held many statues and there was even a room with some Egyptian like statues and other items that we were unable to take photos of. One room contained a display case, which held some pottery and other items. The similarities lie within the pottery and statues. The pottery is always very intricate and each thing held a specific purpose. The differences however are within the purposes of each site. Brauron was a sanctuary that was devoted to Artemis while Marathon was useful for its military purposes as it is surrounded by large hills and is perfect for funneling an army inside.
I particularly enjoyed visiting Rhamnous. After not being able to visit the actual sanctuary at Brauron due to it being closed to tourists, and not being able to visit the fields of Marathon for the same reason, I was beginning to feel like I was missing out. We had gone through our day believing we had no time to visit Rhamnous and I am extremely impressed that we were able to do so. The site was absolutely stunning. A short hike down a steep, rocky hillside led us to the fortress. There were so many walls and the ground was littered with broken pieces of pottery. I found some very neat things, like some half broken pots, and some large chunks of marble with strange lines carved all over them. Another marble had a wreath in low relief. The view from the fortress itself was breathtaking. It sat on top of a hill overlooking the Aegean Sea. It is very easy to see how they would have chosen this place for their fortress as it would be very difficult for anyone to get near without them knowing about it. I ended up exploring quite a ways and off to myself which was wonderful. I went down so far that when I turned to get back up, I could not figure out how I made it down there in the first place! By the time I was back at the fortress, the group had left and I ran up the mountainside back to where the road was located. It was a hard run in the hot sun but I do not regret allowing myself to wander so far.
Unfortunately, my camera died and I was unable to use it for Rhamnous. Luckily, I had my iPhone with me and used that instead. I am not sure my regular has very good quality anyways and my iPhone did pretty well.
Walking up to the remains of the fortress at Rhamnous:
After I walked away and far this was a gate I had found apparently leading to the ocean:
Some random marble table I found while hiking off by myself outside the gate, my instructor said it may have been a game board of some type:
The view from the top of the fortress looking towards the bay:
A view of some of the remains of the fortress:
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