Hi all!
You know
how it’s summer and people go on vacation and usually take a break from things,
right?
That was
our case too, for the most part. You see, both Eirini and I had plans for this
summer (because everyone needs to rest at some point), but, the thing is, we didn’t really want to take a break from blogging,
so we had planned a few entries ahead in order to still have something new to
upload while on vacation.
So today’s
entry was actually all planned out and sorted, until I decided to “hijack” the
blog and do a spontaneous entry about my visit to Acrocorinth, the Acropolis of
Ancient Corinth. On that note, Eirini, I am sorry (not really, because I know you'll enjoy it :-D) for uploading an entry without consulting with you first.
Acrocorinth is one of
the most impressive of the Acropoleis of Greece, both because of its’
position and geomorphology, but also because of its’ history. It was
continuously occupied from archaic times to the early 19th century. Because of
that continuity, one can see remains from various time periods, which makes it
really exciting. Not to mention that it has three sets of walls: the Archaic
one, the Byzantine one and the Frankish one.
How’s that
relevant to the project you ask? Well, I was reading a book about the lowlifes
of the ancient world (yeah, I read things like that for fun!) and I read that
at some point there was a temple dedicated to Aphrodite there.
Naturally,
I did some more research and found out that that temple was one of Aphrodite’s
most famous ones. There was a statue of her and one of a winged Eros too; of
course I wanted to go. So I got my dad and my sister to join me and off we
went!
Since
Acrocorinth was continuously occupied, over the course of the years the temple
changed uses; first it was turned into a church and then into a mosque and,
sadly, today one can only see the foundations of the temple.
The remains of Aphrodite's temple... |
...the highest point with the gorgeous view (it's said that on a very clear day one can see the Acropolis in Athens)... |
...and the replica of the statue. |
According
to mythology, Helios owned Acrocorinth and the entire area surrounding it; his
son, Aeëtes , inherited everything but Acrocorinth,
which Helios offered to Aphrodite as a gift.
She much
preferred Mount Olympus though, so she gifted Acrocorinth to Medea, Aeëtes’s daughter. Medea built a temple dedicated to
Aphrodite to the highest point of Acrocorinth. It was nothing fancy, and didn’t
have many visitors until they managed to get running water up that hill (there’s
a very interesting myth about it, which you can read here),
and it sort of became an “in” place.
Sacred prostitution
was practiced here, which, simply put, meant that Aphrodite’s priestesses were
paid to introduce men to the mysteries of love. Also, in antiquity, Corinthians
prostitutes were famous. People travelled from all over the world and paid
insane amounts of money for a single night of pleasure, so it makes perfect
sense that Aphrodite was worshipped here.
Until next
time!