Hollins Goes To Greece

     Today’s journey began at the local museum in Sparta, housing local Byzantine and Roman artifacts. We were able to catch a glimpse of the amazing mosaics, which depicted scenes of mythology, animals, and significant people. We learned the mosaics were made of small semi precious stones and not of painted tile. We also were able to see pieces of marble statues, grave steles, small lead figurines, pottery, and clay masks. The masks are replicas of wooden masks the Spartans used durring cult ritual. 
       After the museum we drove through Sparta to the archeaological site of Artemis Othia where Lindsay Little gave a fantasticaly fun and informational presentation. From her presentation we learned the layout of the site which included a theater, temple of Artemis, and an alter. The site was used for cult ritual to send boys into adulthood. The ritual began possibly as human sacrafice; it later evolved into the boys being flogged, sometimes to their death to determine the strongest. The ritual evolved over centuries and ended as almost a game with the older boys flogging the younger boys as they raced to the alter attempting to steal cheese. Later it was used as a tourist attraction for the Romans. To really get a taste of this ritual we enacted it, minus the flogging, right there on site, with professor Richtor as our priestess.
      After Sparta we hopped back on the bus and drove to an island rock called Monemvasia. The town has remained almost unchanged since the medieval ages, c.1600. The town was filled with Byzantine architecture mostly of churches, a really big castle and the local town village full of culture and personality. When we arrived the professors let us loose to explore on our own. We explored the village, then (wipped by our professors) we ventured to the top of the castle where we dutifully explored through the giant flora. We finished our day  watching the sun set over the Mediterranean.