Hi All!

I'm now in Athens, which I'll use as a base for about 5 days as I tour Athens and the environs. My first impression of Athens is that the landscape is really stunning! The pictures I've posted show some of this, but the sky is even bluer and the scenes in real life are spectacular. Hopefully, the great weather will contine as well!

Today I toured three parts of the ancient city of Athens -- the Agora, the Aeropagus and the Acropolis. Bascially, the Agora is the center of the city. It was here that most of the temples, houses, and official buildings were located. Up the hill is the Aeorpagus. The Aeropagus is dominated by a rock hill called the "hill of the Aeroapagus" which in ancient times was used as a gathering place for hearing disputes. By the first century, it was mainly used as a common area to gather together for all kinds of discussions. It was here that St. Paul was brought and asked to tell the people of Athens about Jesus. He preached his sermon (Acts 17:22-31) at the Aeropagus, probably at the base of the hill.

The Acropolis is the highest point and contains the most recognizable feature of ancient Athens -- the Parthenon. The Parthenon was a temple to Athena, the patron goddess of ancient Athens. The whole Acropolis complex was a temple precinct, but orginially, because of it's nearly impregnable landscape, it was a place for defending the city. In fact, it remained a place of defence for centuries after Paul visited. The Parthenon is in such bad shape today primarily because it blew up in 1687. The Turks and the Venetians were fighting over the city. The Turks were postioned up on the Acropolis and the Venetians laid seige to the city. The Venetians were firing canon balls up onto the Acropolis and at some point hit the Parthenon, which was being used by the Turks as a powder magazine.

I'll be checking out some other sights in Athens later in the week, but tomorrow I'm driving out to Corinth. I'll try to post those tomorrow.