Having spent a lot of time in a mental Greece, now I am going to see something of the real thing.
I have been teaching Greek political theory, yes Plato and Aristotle with some Socrates, Xenophon and Thucydides off and on, mostly off I admit, since the 1960s. I have also read the dramatists and poets, as well as Herodotus and Homer, since high school. More recently I have read any number of novels set in ancient Greece from the works of the redoubtable Mary Renault to those of the doubtable Margaret Doody. In short, I have paid many dues to Ancient Greece, and of course a very great of what is Ancient Greece is in fact Ancient Athens. Now I am going to visit Greece and Athens in particular. I cannot really explain why I have not done so until now, but now I am, leaving next week.
I expect to stand where Pericles stood, to walk where Aristotle walked, to ponder where Plato pondered, to see where Thucydides is buried, to see where Sophocles was performed, to breath the air on Melos where what was done was done in the name of the demos, to see the plain at Marathon where the Persians offered peace, to gaze at the marble lion Alexander Great had erected as a monument to the nobility of his enemies at Chaeronea, and more. I also expect to trawl through a good dozen museums collecting impressions, artefacts, and connections to use in teaching and research.
The slide camera, the digital camera, and perhaps the video camera will all get a work out and this blog entry will be adored with some account of the trip. Stay tuned!