pothos.org

I am planning a trip to Greece in the summer for further research on my novel. Besides the obvious places, does anyone have any comments, suggestions on places that might be worth seeing re Alexander? Obviously, I cannot visit every little plot of land Alexander and his pals might have walked on, but want to try and make sure to take in the areas that would give me the best "feel" for atmosphere for an historical novel. If anyone has been to such places I'd love to hear of them, etc.

Thank you,

Lysis

lysis56 wrote:Besides the obvious places, does anyone have any comments, suggestions on places that might be worth seeing re Alexander?

Well, for a start: what's on your list of the "obvious" places?

I would assume Pella, Vergina ... Athens? Delphi? I don't know if there's anything left of Thebes; Corinth?

ATB

Off the point, but if you want to research the topography of Alexander's world, Google Earth is very interesting, especially the flight simulator. For example, at Pella you can see which mountains would have been visible, and you can clearly see the low-lying ground which would have been marsh/open water in Alexander's day, together with the promontory/island for the treasury on which Pella stood, whereas today it perhaps looks like a fairly arbitrarily chosen site.

There is not much to see at Thebes but a small archaeological museum with half a dozen early fourth century tombstones and a good selection of geometric vases, Corinth has a well preserved acropolis which you can see on Terry's dark chocolate called 'Spartan'. Dion is good as is the tomb of Lyson and Kallikes, sadly the Kinch tomb has flooded and is closed.

agesilaos wrote:There is not much to see at Thebes but a small archaeological museum with half a dozen early fourth century tombstones and a good selection of geometric vases, Corinth has a well preserved acropolis which you can see on Terry's dark chocolate called 'Spartan'. Dion is good as is the tomb of Lyson and Kallikes, sadly the Kinch tomb has flooded and is closed.

I didn't think there was much to see at Thebes - thanks for the heads up! I've seen lots of pictures of the acropolis at Corinth, but never been. It's on my own list for a future trip to Greece (although I don't know when that might be - too many other places to go to, first).

Ah ... so many places, so little time!

ATB

lysis56 wrote:I am planning a trip to Greece in the summer for further research on my novel.

Interesting project.

I suppose it depends on what you want to get out of it. Do you want to get a feel for landscapes and a way of life? Understand how walking / horse riding affected logistics? See museums & artefacts? Walk around ancient ruins? Travel all over Greece or research a geographical area?

Frankly, beyond the ruins, little of what I've seen of Greece evoked "atmosphere".
Chris.

chris_taylor wrote:Frankly, beyond the ruins, little of what I've seen of Greece evoked "atmosphere".

LOL!

Or, rather, little evoked the atmosphere of Ancient Greece. It certainly has "atmosphere"!

Lysis56 - a good person to answer this would be Ruth Kozak, who pops into Pothos from time to time. You could always PM her to alert her to your question.
(That is not to ignore the contributions of the Greek members of this august body; but Ruth would be a good person to talk to as a visitor/tourist.)

ATB

Well I think that the Thessaloniki Museum is an absolute must. It is a metropolitan museum with archaeological finds from all Macedonia some of which are truly astonishing (the Dervenis krater for example). It also has a large number of golden wreathes and jewelry dating back to ages that pre date Alexander.

The island of Samothraki is really captures the "atmosphere". An almost totally virgin land (ideal for vacation especially for young people) with green forests and natural waterfalls and archaeological sites as well. It is ideal for people to fall in love in.... (just Alexander's parents did)

It goes without saing that Pella, Aegae, Mieza are also musts. I also believe that the city of Aiani that it is within the region of the ancient Kingdom of Elimeia which together with the rest of the Greek Kingdoms (Tymphaia, Orestis, Lycestis, Eordaia, Pelagonia) constituted the ancient Upper (i.e. mountainous) Macedonia- a city that was visited by Alexander for certain. Its archaeological museum has very interesting findings which along with the actual arcaheological sites give quite nice an inspirarion.

The modern Kozani region is almost the exact region as of that of ancient Eordaia where Python's, Aristononou's and Ptolemy of Lagos's homeland has 2 great Macedonian tombs.

For more information we can always talke here in the forums. You are always welcome here in Greece as well as all the other members of the forum!

Hi,

To everyone who was good enough to reply to this topic thank you so much! I have plenty of ideas of my own, yes, Pella and Vergina are a must as are Athens, Delphi, etc., but some of you came up with other ideas I hadn't thought of. Horseback riding in the Berminos Mountains for one. I"ve been doing some research as pertains to that area and besides being stunningly beautiful, from what I've seen on the "Net, there is a lot of history in the area.

Anyway, sorry I've taken so long to respond back to all of you, to quote the late and great John Lennon "LIfe is what happens while you're busy making plans."

Thanks much,

Lysis