SAVE THE DATES!
THE GREEKS IN SICILY with CHRIS DOWNING
April 28 – May 12, 2018
Siracusa – Ortygia – Enna – Agrigento – Selinunte
Segesta – Palermo – Monreale – Mt. Etna – Taormina
Like Turkey, and much of Italy, Sicily was part of Magna Graecia , Greater Greece. Between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE the Greeks established colonies there, bringing with them their language, and religious and cultural traditions. The temples and theaters are more ancient and often in much better repair than those in Greece itself. Made of golden tinted limestone, not marble, they are stunningly beautiful, especially at sunset. The museums are full of amazing sculptures, reliefs, mosaics, and gorgeous vases! Sicily also plays an important role in Greek mythology and history. The most venerated deities were Demeter and Persephone and there are evidences of that everywhere! Typhon, the most monstrous of the giants was imprisoned under Mt. Etna, and it was there that Hephaestus (assisted by the Cyclops) had his forge. Polyphemus lived in a nearby cave. Heracles came to Sicily during the course of his battle with Geryon. Daedalus came to Sicily after the death of Icarus. Aeneas stopped in Sicily on his way to Italy after abandoning Dido and many of his company decided to stay. In historical times Empedocles, one of the most important pre-Socratic philosophers, who was born in Agrigento, in 433 jumped into the crater of Mt. Etna to prove he was a god. Aeschylus came to Siracusa to supervise the performance of several of his plays and supposedly died in Gela when an eagle dropped a tortoise that fell on his head and shattered his skull. Plato came to Siracusa in the illusory hope of bringing his vision of a city ruled by a philosopher king into actuality.
During our tour Chris will have an opportunity to elaborate on these stories and also to retell the myths associated with the temples dedicated to Athena, Apollo, Hera, Olympian Zeus, and the Dioscuri, as well as the myths about Heracles, Actaeon, Perseus, and other Greek heroes represented on the friezes that once decorated those temples.
THE TOUR IS FULL BUT WE ARE TAKING NAMES FOR THE WAITLIST.
CONTACT [email protected]
