Date: Saturday May 14th at 11am
Meeting point: “Vrissaki,Living Space of Art and Action”
17 Vrysakiou, Plaka
www.vryssaki.gr
Our walk will start from Pazaroporta, namely the Gate of Athena Archegetis on the west side of the Athens Roman Agora. We will visit important monuments, such as the sundial – Tower of the Winds with the relief representations. This monument gave its name to the well known neighbourhood of Plaka, «Aerides».
Moving on, we will cross the ancient road of Hadrian and marching through the shrines constructed in the era of this emperor, friend of Athens and the Greeks we will move towards Olympeion place of worship, which was completed by Hadrian. In front of the impressive sanctuary of Olympian Zeus we will admire Hadrian’s Wall, constructed by the Athenians in honour of their emperor, whom they worshipped as God, in an effort to please him and honor him for all his benefactions to the city.
The great Belgian born-French writer Marguerite Yourcenar, in her novel «Mémoires d’Hadrien», describes the glorious ceremony for the inauguration of Zeus sanctuary, in the presence of the emperor himself, at the idyllic environment of Ilissos site, the beauty of which has been praised by Plato in his dialogue « Phaedrus».
We will read excerpts of this book here, next to the ancient riverbed of Ilissos, where the church of Agia Fotini is located erected on the remains of shrine of Hecate, goddess of darkness (!!!).
This route was designed by Chryssa Kontogeorgopoulou (Archeologist, Phd – Tour Guide) for Attica Terra Walks in the context of pilot cultural events organised in cooperation with Emmie Grammenou (Curator- Creator, Coordinator & Animator of Attica Terra Walks).
Participation in the pilot programme is free
Registration is required
End of walk: anctuary of Olympian Zeus
Duration: about 3 hours
(The cost of tickets to Archaeological sites or Museums, as well as the cost of refreshments will have to be borne by the participants).
Contact
www.atticaterrawalks.com
email: [email protected]
cell: +30 6932 74 44 90
