Poor Iphigeneia

The next day we found the Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron unoccupied except for a weed-whacking Greek man (whom Roula offered to yell at) and a cute little kitten. It was the first time that we were able to get up close & personal with the ruins we were learning about, which I thought was pretty sweet.

We also performed another play here, about the mythology of the temple (or one version of it).

Joe lining up the cast

ACT I: When King Agamemnon was preparing his fleet to sail to Troy (to get that Helen person back), he sacrificed a deer to the goddess Artemis. Now, this was good enough for the deity, who caused some bad winds to blow their way, and eventually the king was forced to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigeneia, so they could have some favorable winds backing them up. Aggie had to fool his wife, Clytemnestra, into bringing Iffy to him to be sacrificed, so he told her that she would be married to Achilles. After he tells them this, he regrets it and tries to send a letter telling them not to come, but Menelaus (Aggie's brother), intercepts the letter and they end up coming anyway. When they find out, Clytemnestra isn't happy and Achilles (yes, I picture Brad Pitt every time I hear his name), being the great guy that he is, vows to stop the sacrifice. But eventually Iphigenia willingly allows herself to be sacrificed.


ACT III: (which takes place after the sacrifice.. and after Act II which I can't really remember but involved Orestes killing his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus) Orestes is ordered by Apollo to go to Tauris, and his BFF Pylades tags along. While there, they get captured by the Tauri, who like to sacrifice their prisoners to Artemis. But lo and behold, the priestess of Artemis is dear old Iphigenia (which is his sister), but they don't recognize each other. Eventually they figure it all out, and the three of them escape together, and Iffy remains a priestess of Artemis Brauronia. THE END.

After Brauron we went to Marathon and its museum there. We also got a chance to see the burial ground just outside of the museum, that they had placed a roof over (which was kind of cool/weird). Nobody but Kristine did any actual running (she even brought running shorts! Whatanerd :)

Those Greeks are just so helpful!

From there we had to rush to get to the tomb before it shut down, but it was only about a five minute bus ride from the museum. It didn't look like much, but it was still pretty impressive. Yes, that great, giant mound of dirt is indeed the archaeological site of the Marathon Tomb. 

The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece, during an Athens vs Persia death battle. Even though the Persians had the numerical advantage, the Athenians were the victors. This tomb, though, is the final resting place of 192 Greeks who lost their lives in this battle. 

The Marathon Run comes from the story of an Athenian runner named Pheidippides, who was sent from Athens to Sparta to ask for help, covering a distance of 140 miles in just two days. Goddamn lil' mama!