As part of the department’s regular offerings in international experience for our students, we once again offered a Study Abroad course (CLAS 390/695) to visit the sites and museums of Greece. This time, we decided to focus on a specific time period – the Bronze Age. This time period (ca. 3000-1000 BCE) was seminal in the development of the Greek lands and cultures and, for later Greeks, was the great age of its heroes – Herakles, Theseus, Achilles, Odysseus and all who participated in the Trojan War. While this was our focus, we always want to make sure that the students experience the most that they can on these trips, from antiquity to modern day. The course was co-offered with the department of Anthropology in conjunction with their archaeology program, and a total of nineteen students and four faculty members departed from Toronto to explore the mythical landscapes of Greece.
After a long flight, the group landed in Herkleion in Crete. Home to the great civilization of the Minoans, the students explored many sites associated with this culture, the highlight being a trip to Knossos, the palace of the mythical King Minos and home to the Minotaur and his labyrinth! Luckily no one got lost or eaten ... from there we took a boat to the island of Santorini. Duly famous for its gorgeous landscapes of Greek houses on a cliff overlooking the azure waters of the Mediterranean, the students studied the effects of the great volcanic eruption on the island that led to massive destruction throughout the area and may be the basis for the myth of Atlantis. In modern times, Santorini is also famous for its wine production and so we visited a winery and its museums to explore this important agricultural crop. We then got a lesson in how rough the Mediterranean can get. A boat trip from Santorini to Mykonos was, as one student put it “like being caged in hell” and accurately reflected the stomach turning, roller-coaster ride that this adventure turned out to be. We were all happy to get on to land and enjoy the museum and shops of Mykonos, as well as the nearby island of Delos. Something of an archaeological park, Delos offered the opportunity to study much undisturbed material from the Bronze Age through to Roman period in an area that had been largely untouched for almost 1500 years.
From Mykonos we finally made it to the mainland and stopped in Nauplio, The original capital of the Hellenic Republic, Nauplio is a beautiful old town (with great gelato!) that serves as a base to visit the important centres of Mycenae, home of the legendary King Agamemnon, Tiryns, home of massive walls, and Epidauros, home to the great theatre that still holds plays today. A drive to Delphi and the students experienced the great sanctuary of Apollo. Nestled high in the mountains, this sanctuary encapsulates all of ancient Greece in one site and was one of the highlights of the trip. We finished in Athens and took in all the sights and sounds of this bustling modern metropolis that provides over 5000 years of history in one spot.
You can see the slide show of our wonderful trip and how much the students got out of the occasion. Not only was this a great learning experience about the Bronze Age and antiquity, but the students got to explore many aspects of modern Greece. So life changing was it that we have had about a third of the students make second and third trips back, with one student moving to Greece! These trips are such a great way to gain first-hand knowledge of both the past and present – let’s see where the next one will take us ...