The Temple of Poseidon



On the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, monitoring the sea since ages past, stands the Temple of Poseidon. As I understand it, the Athenians had originally deliberated between choosing Athena or Poseidon as their iconic god. When they finally chose Athena, and built the Parthenon in her honor, the Temple of Poseidon was built here to appease this watery deity.



Legend holds, too, that this is the spot where the father of Theseus had stood and waited for Theseus to return from his encounter with the Minotaur. The father had requested his son, if he should return from the encounter successfully adn alive, to fly a white flag on his ship upon his return. However, Theseus - axcited from his victory over the Minotaur - forgot his father's instructions. Upon seeing his son's ship returning with no white flag waving, Theseus' father committed suicide on this spot.



The site of the temple of Poseidon, then, is rich with Ancient Hellenic history, and is a beautiful and secluded spot of raw natural beauty as well. Thus, the Temple of Poseidon provides one with all that the Acropolis lacks: the opportunity to immerse oneself in the history of Ancient Greece and feel oneself transported back into the classical world. Hence, I truly enjoyed my trip to the Temple of Poseidon.



I was also lucky to meet an Uzbek woman who turned out to be a famous theater actress in her home country. We enjoyed a very nice dinner of Greek salads and appetizers back in Athens and discussed the finer points of acting. (It has always interested me how actors can infuse their own, real emotions into a part in order to bring a higher level of reality into the role.) As Ancient Greece was the birthplace of modern theater, I found this encounter to be quite serendipitous. All in all, a very welcome break from the modern hustle of Athens.