In April, 2024, 38 students and four members of staff from the department of Classics, Ancient History, and Archaeology (CAHA) embarked on a nine-day journey to Greece for the annual CAHA Study Tour. Having the opportunity to take part in a fully funded trip to Greece to deepen our learning was incredible and proved hugely valuable to our understanding of life in Ancient Greece.

 

Our journey started bright and early at 4:00am at Heathrow Airport, where we groggily boarded our flight at 7:00am and four hours later, we landed in Athens. After settling in, we had the evening to ourselves and decided to explore the Pnyx, a rocky hill with a flat platform at the top which was the location of the meeting point for the Ancient Athenian Assembly. In modern times, it is often used as a viewing point, as it provides a clear view of the Athenian Acropolis, as well as the rest of the city.

 

On our first full day, we visited the Acropolis and its slopes, as well as the Acropolis Museum. We had the privilege of going inside the Parthenon, which is usually off limits to the public, and saw the rest of the archaeological structures on the Acropolis hill. The temple that was most notable to me was the Erechtheion; it is built across multiple levels, making it structurally unique, and the impressive caryatids form part of the exterior of this temple. The new Acropolis Museum has been designed to display the friezes and metopes in the same way as if they were on the temple itself which creates an immersive experience. The museum also highlights the contentious issue of repatriation with their display of the Erechtheion caryatids, and the gap left for the singular caryatid which is kept in the British Museum.

 

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We had the privilege of going inside the Parthenon, which is usually off limits to the public, and saw the rest of the archaeological structures on the Acropolis hill

 

The following day, we visited the National Archaeological Museum. The museum houses notable archaeological finds such as the mask of Agamemnon and the Artemision Zeus, however the focus of our day was visiting Mycenae. The site has mostly been well preserved and was a key highlight for many of us on the trip. Mycenae was once a thriving Bronze Age settlement, a major hub of civilisation, and is home to the Linear B tablets which present the earliest examples of the Greek language being used. The cause of its sudden decline and destruction is unknown. Set amongst rolling hills, the site was perfectly placed for military defence, however modern day visitors just admire the beautiful views. We then had some time to explore the town of Nafplio and even go for a swim in the sea.

 

On the next day we visited Epidaurus, which was home to a thriving healing sanctuary to Apollo. Asklepios once healed visitors who suffered from problems ranging from blindness to a supposed three-year pregnancy. Of course, in the modern day, we understand that there were scientific explanations to his so-called miraculous healing projects, however this site was important to Ancient Greeks and therefore visiting its ruins was extremely interesting. After leaving Epidaurus, we travelled to Olympia and spent the night there before visiting the Sanctuary to Zeus the next day. Home to the founding of the Olympic Games, this site was hugely important to Greek sport and religion. The site contained many structures including temples, the altar to Zeus, training arenas, and the Olympic running track which we raced each other down. The archaeological museum attached to it contained a range of artefacts, notably the remains of the pediments of the Temple to Zeus which displayed myths important to the founding of the Olympic games.

 

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The site contained many structures including temples, the altar to Zeus, training arenas, and the Olympic running track which we raced each other down

 

After the busy schedule of our trip up until this point, we were rewarded with a day of rest in Galixidi, where we swam in the sea and sunbathed on the beach. The following morning, we set off to Delphi where we visited the Sanctuary to Apollo. This was the main highlight of the trip for me. Set high up in the mountains of the Pleistos River Valley, this sanctuary was very serene and peaceful. The archaeological remains were stunning in the backdrop of the hills, and despite the hundreds of tourists at the site, a sense of calm was felt throughout the group. Known as the omphalos (directly translating to bellybutton, otherwise known as the centre of the world), this site was important to the worship of Apollo, and its peaceful nature was a key point of attraction for Ancient Greeks, as well as modern tourists.

 

On our final full day, we returned to Athens and toured around the Greek and Roman Agoras, the Kerameikos cemetery and its museum, and Hadrian’s Library. The Greek Agora museum housed the Aphrodite of the Agora statue, a firm favourite of mine as her swirling drapery and clear contrapposto creates an impressive image. A key non-archaeological highlight of this day was seeing the tortoises that inhabit the Kerameikos. 

 

On our last day, we visited Brauron and the Thorikos theatre. The sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron housed an important female only festival, which allowed women to express themselves away from the eyes of the typical patriarchal norms of Ancient Greek society, and therefore it is a hugely significant site to Greek women. The Thorikos theatre is unique in the sense that it is rectangular, unlike most performance spaces which were amphitheatres.

 

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The sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron housed an important female only festival, which allowed women to express themselves away from the eyes of the typical patriarchal norms of Ancient Greek society, and therefore it is a hugely significant site to Greek women

 

After this, we headed to the airport and made our way back to the UK. This trip truly provided us with an incredible experience and allowed us to fully immerse ourselves in Ancient Greek culture. Thank you to Dr Maeve McHugh for organising the trip, and Dr Andrew Bayliss, Dr Elena Theadorakopoulos, and Prof Henry Chapman for all their insightful information when touring us around the sites. As a cohort, we are very excited to hear about the current second year’s experiences on The Study Tour when they depart in April 2025, and hope that they have as great a time as we did.

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