The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens

The Temple of Olympian Zeus - click to enlarge

The Temple of Zeus, a/k/a The Olympieion, is a massive ruins in the heart of Athens, a couple of blocks from our hotel in The Plaka. The temple was once dedicated to Zeus, king of the gods. Construction began in the 6th century BC but was not completed until the reign of Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD (650 years later!). It was famous as the largest temple in Greece and its Zeus sculpture was one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world.

The temple was pillaged in a barbarian invasion in the 3rd century AD and was probably never restored or repaired. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the temple, like so many acient monuments, was used as a makeshift quarry for marble and stone for other projects. However it still stands, more or less, and is one of the more impressive ruins in Athens, aside from the buildings on The Acropolis.



The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Ναός του Ολυμπίου Διός) with the fallen 16th column - click to enlarge

The temple is maybe half a mile or less from the Acropolis, and was built on the site of another building or monument. After the death of Pisistratus, his sons, Hippias and Hipparchos began building the temple. They hoped to outdo two famous contemporary temples, the Heraion of Samos and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (which we visited in June, in Turkey/Asia Minor), which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (the second of the seven wonders we have seen on this trip).



Fifteen columns are still standing today. A sixteenth column lies on the ground where it fell during a wind storm in 1852. A wind storm! That column (you can clearly see it in one of my photos) has been on the ground for 156 years now. 156 years ago, the neighborhood I live in was an old growth forest.
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The Beach Boys Perform All This Is That With The Monster Saxaphonist Charles Lloyd

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Blue Monday

"Blue Monday" is a song by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew from 1955. It was popularized in a recording by Domino in 1956, on Imperial Records. It was one of the earliest R&B tunes to hit the Billboard magazine pop music charts.

This Monday feels like Blue Monday.




Blue Monday
by Fats Domino

Blue Monday how I hate Blue Monday
Got to work like a slave all day
Here come Tuesday, oh hard Tuesday
I'm so tired got no time to play

Here come Wednesday, I'm beat to my socks
My gal calls, got to tell her that I'm out
'Cause Thursday is a hard workin' day
And Friday I get my pay

Saturday mornin', oh Saturday mornin'
All my tiredness has gone away
Got my money and my honey
And I'm out on the stand to play

Sunday mornin' my head is bad
But it's worth it for the time that I had
But I've got to get my rest
'Cause Monday is a mess
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Nine Jack Brummet poems from Greece and Turkey June-July, 2008

Click on a poem title to go to that poem elsewhere on All This Is That.

Poem In Gorene

The listing freighter in the harbor at Kato Zakris

Rocks, flowers, and walls

Prayers In Istanbul

Sailng To Athens

That Cold Island Across The Sea

Moslems vs. Nazarenes vs. Pagans

Just Beneath The Topsoil

Sailing To Naxos, or, The Vortex

Aristophanes' Plutus at the Odeon Theatre on the Acropolis

As I mentioned once or twice before, on our last night in Athens, we attended a performance of Aristophanes' last play, Plutus, at the Odeon Theatre. This restored ancient theatre also hosts music and dance performances, including Yanni's famous Live At The Acropolis (all I remember about Yanni is that he was famous about 20 years ago).


click to enlarge

All we knew going in about the play were the bare bones of its plot: Chremylus, a poor but just man, accompanied by his body-servant Cario consults the Delphic Oracle concerning his son, and whether he should be instructed in injustice and knavery and the other arts whereby worldly men acquire riches. The god tells him to follow whoever he first meets upon leaving the temple. This proves to be a blind and ragged old man, actually Plutus himself, the god of riches, whom Zeus has robbed of his eyesight, so that he may be unable henceforth to distinguish between the just and the unjust. Helped by Chremylus and brought to the Temple of Æsculapius, Plutus regains the use of his eyes, and then, all just men, including the god's benefactor, are made rich and prosperous, and the unjust are reduced to indigence.

It was surreal watching a play in Greek. And the theatre group from Cypress performed an over the top version. The Greek chorus often broke into song, dance, and acrobatics. The show opened with a chase scene that was a strange combination of Greek theatre and something from Waiting for Godot, with a touch of Laurel and Hardy thrown in for good measure. The performance was so over the top it barely made any difference whether we understood the language or not. It was great fun.

The stage was made from wood rolled out in various heights, creating hills and valleys along the length of the stage. The only prop on stage (at the beginning) was a gigantic Carpusi(aka watermelon). Early on, the chorus divided up the watermelon and ate it...for no reason we could discern (this harkens back to Eric Cartman's declaration on South Park that "all independent films are about cowboys eating pudding").


click stage to enlarge

Although we were in the dark, I think some of the Greek-speaking audience were as well, having come to see an ancient play and seeing it given something like the Mabou Mines treatment. In that sense, I was probably as up to speed, or better, than they were on post-modern theatre production. Anyhow, as strange as it all was, I wouldn't have missed it. Here are a few photos. Unfortunately I followed the rules and did not shoot any photos during the play itself.

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Last day in Athens: The National Archaeological Museum and ruminations of the renaissance of Athens

You may have noticed already, but one of my favorite modes of ancient art is the relief frieze. This is an excellent example of one, and yet they still lose their extremities...fingertips, nipples, noses, and penises seem to suffer the most from those tumbles to the ground, and from being battered by other marbles. Click to enlarge.

On our last day in Athens (July 17th), we went, via bus, to the National Archaeological Museum. This massive and comprehensive museum would take three days to go through wth any real scrutiny. We did it in a few hours, by focusing on the artifacts and antiquities we were really interested in, and especially those from the many ruins and excavations we had visited the previous month in both Asia Minor and in Greece.

The best part of the museum, by far, is the massive collection of statuary from Cycladic and earlier periods, up to a huge collection of Roman and Greek sculpture. You see a lot of the statuary you've seen in books, in art history class, and on book covers (of Penguin books and literary anthologies). After three hours, you are completely weary and there are still whole collections and periods of antiquity you've missed. I am posting photos of some of my favorites...but hundreds of my favorites aren't here. You'll just have to go to the museum if you get the chance. If you ever do get to Athens (and I highly recommend it), and you only have a day, split it between the Acropolis and the Museum.

Before I go onto the handful of photos, I wanted to say one thing about Athens. When I was there 25 years ago, it was a congested, hot, smelly, polluted town. Over the years, and especially before the Olympics, they have fixed a lot of that. The pollution was not all that much more than any city. They have implemented restrictions on cars, and they have created many pedestrian streets with no cars at all. And on top of that, for the first time in a month, we could actually drink tapwater! And it was great. It was such a great surprise to see the progress Athens had made. When Keelin originally scheduled us for three days there, I was very skeptical. As it turns out, I could have stayed there a week. The subways and buses are good, and if you stay in the Plaka, you can walk almost anywhere you need to go. Highly recommended!



Cycladic statuary (from the Cycladic Islands, like a couple we visited, Santorini and Rhodes). One of my favorite schools of sculpture. I love the abstracted, gestural figuration. Click to enlarge.


A bronze Zeus. You've seen this one on the cover of Penguin Books and literary anthologies. Click to enlarge.


Jack Brummet on the rooftop of our hotel, with a close view of the Acroplis' less-flashy backside.


A bust of Caligula (or head from a statue), from the 1st Century. Click to enlarge. This is one of my favorites, probably because I've read a few books about this mad emperor.


This is allegedly (although highly unlikely) Agamemnon's pure gold death mask, recovered from Grave Circle V, from the 15th Century BC. Note: the two holes were used with string to hold the mask to the deceased's face. Click to enlarge.


I loved this fantastically sculpted bronze of a horse and jockey recovered from a shipwreck. This was sculpted sometime in the second century BC. Click to enlarge.

I'll post some more favorites when I get out photos sorted out... /jack, in Seattle
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Bush to Schwarzenegger in latest 'hot mike' incident: "I ought to whip your ass, Arnold"

a snapshot during the exchange - click to enlarge

By Pablo Fanque

All This Is That National Affairs Editor

San Clemente, California, June 18, 2008

President Bush offered federal aid and words of encouragement on Thursday to the 25,000 firefighters battling wildfires in California. "I always come to make sure the federal government is coordinating closely with the state government," Bush said. "I know Gov. Schwarzenegger well enough to say that if we weren't, he'd let me know."

President Bush shakes hands with a firefighter glad to know the President is looking out for his best interest. Click to enlarge.

Since a lightning storm on June 21, over 2,000 fires have ignited in the tinderboxes of California, wiping out at least a million acres. Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in 12 counties affected by wildfires and called in the National Guard to help. President Bush also appeared, offering additional help and encouragement.

"I'd like to let the people out here know that we're paying attention in Washington, D.C.," Bush said. "We care about you and we'll respond as best as we possibly can."

Following the press photo opportunity The President leaned over and said "I ought to whip your ass, Arnold," to the startled Governor. "I might actually give a s**t about your pleas except every other time I pick up a f***in' newspaper, I read about you tearing me a new one. . .how the President is ignoring the climate, 'the people' and all this other horses**t."

As Schwarenegger protested, the President hushed him, "How do you f***in' think it makes me feel having a man in my own party toss garbage in my face?! I don't give a rat's ass what you say to me privately. But you better put a lid on it out here. That would be just great Arnold. It may even speed up that federal aid..."

Governor Schwarzenegger snapped back at the President, "If it's anything like New Orleans, I'd be better off asking Hugo Chavez for help."

At that moment in the tense conversation, an aide pointed out a small ground of reporters near a media truck laughing and jotting notes on the exchange. A Press Office functionary hurriedly tried to convince the handful of reporters to not write about the incident in return for exclusive interviews and entree to limited access White House events. All This Is That, however, has nothing to lose, since our White House press credentials were pulled months ago.
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Kara Güneş - great street music from Istanbul, Turkey

One of my favorite musical experiences in Turkey were the times I watched Kara Güneş play on the Istikal Cad (a block or two from our apartment in Istanbul). I bought a great CD of music from them (it home-made, burned), with 13 tunes. You can hear four or five of their songs on their myspace site.



They play on the street a lot, as well as other venues, and are very good, and pretty young. I don't know a lot about them, other than they attract large crowds on Istikal (a very musical neighborhood) and most of what is written about them is in Turkish. They play native instruments and drums, but listening to their music, they I hear hints of musics from the west like rock and blues and folk/country accents of string band music. At times, their music reminds me of the jazz band Oregon, when they were really soaring...

Among the little I've been able to discover about them is that the late Kemal Kan, a Turkish director and writer, directed a movie of the same title once. I don't even know the titles of their songs, since the CD I bought from them didn't have functioning ID3 tags...so they're song 1, song 2, etc.
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Jack Brummet painting: Map of the inside of my head

Click to enlarge

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The Brummets & One Curran return to America

We departed Athens this morning at 6:00 AM via two extremely fast cabs to the airport (10 PM Pacifc Time) and arrived at our house in Seattle at around 6:00 PM (4 AM Athens time), after flying on two large transatlantic jets (747s) and one turb-prop from Vancouver to Seattle, for a total of 22 hours on the road. The three flights, Athens-->London-->Vancouver included a four hour layover in London and a mad scramble through customs and immigration in Vancouver before we caught a blessedly uncrowded and peaceful project to Seattle (a 25 minute flight over the San Juan and other Islands).

It's nice to be home...it's sweatshirt weather tonight. We haven't felt anything in the 60s since we left. And it's great to be in a town where you can actually drink the tap-water. Other than Athens, we have bought every drop of water we drank. For some reason, Athens has great tapwater. Everywhere else we went, even the natives purchased their water.

I will write some more about the trip in the next few days, and share more photos...
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Jack Brummet and Colum Brummet video clips from Greece

Here are two video clips: One is Jack showing how to order food in Turkish, and the other is of Colum singing.



Colum sings

Jack shows how to order in Turkish

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Aristophenes' Play Plutus at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Odeon of Herodes Atticus, shot from up the hill, on The Acropolis - click to enlarge

Tonight, we will go see Aristophane's last play, Plutus at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, just a few blocks from our hotel. The play is being put on, oddly enough by the Cyprus Theatre Organisation. It is part of a drama, music and arts Athens Festival that takes place most of the summer in Athens.

When Pausanias visited Athens during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, he described the Herodeon as "the finest building of its type". I was not longer after destroyed by fire, and later, rebuilt in 161 AD by Herodes Atticus in memory of his wife. It was originally a steep-sloped amphitheater with a three-story stone front wall and a wooden roof, and was used as a venue for music concerts with a capacity of 5,000. It was later buried, plundered for its stone, and restored in the middle 20th century. It is probably best known (is this pathetic or what) as the venue for Yanni's Live At The Acropolis in the early 1990's.

Here are the opening lines of Aristophenes' play, Plutus [1]. We will be watching it in Greek, but I do have an English text. We suspect it will somehow be captioned (like they do in opera).

[The Orchestra represents a public square in Athens. In the background is the house of CHREMYLUS. A ragged old blind man enters, followed by CHREMYLUS and his slave CARIO.]

CARIO What an unhappy fate, great gods, to be the slave of a fool!
A servant may give the best of advice, but if his master does not
follow it, the pool slave must inevitably have his share in the disaster;
for fortune does not allow him to dispose of his own body, it belongs
to his master who has bought it. Alas! 'tis the way of the world.
But the god, Apollo, (in tragic style) whose oracles the Pythian
priestess on her golden tripod makes known to us, deserves my censure,
for surely he is a physician and a cunning diviner; and yet my master
is leaving his temple infected with mere madness and insists on following
a blind man. Is this not opposed to all good sense? It is for us,
who see clearly, to guide those who don't; whereas he clings to the
trail of a blind fellow and compels me to do the same without answering
my questions with ever a word. (To CHREMYLUS) Aye, master, unless
you tell me why we are following this unknown fellow, I will not be
silent, but I will worry and torment you, for you cannot beat me because
of my sacred chaplet of laurel.

CHREMYLUS No, but if you worry me I will take off your chaplets,
and then you will only get a sounder thrashing.

CARIO That's an old song! I am going to leave you no peace till you
have told me who this man is; and if I ask it, it's entirely because
of my interest in you.

CHREMYLUS Well, be it so. I will reveal it to you as being the most
faithful and the most rascally of all my servants. I honoured the
gods and did what was right, and yet I was none the less poor and
unfortunate.

CARIO I know it but too well.

CHREMYLUS Others amassed wealth-the sacrilegious, the demagogues,
the informers, indeed every sort of rascal.

CARIO I believe you.

CHREMYLUS Therefore I came to consult the oracle of the god, not
on my own account, for my unfortunate life is nearing its end, but
for my only son; I wanted to ask Apollo if it was necessary for him
to become a thorough knave and renounce his virtuous principles, since
that seemed to me to be the only way to succeed in life.

CARIO (with ironic gravity) And with what responding tones did the
sacred tripod resound?

CHREMYLUS You shall know. The god ordered me in plain terms to follow
the first man I should meet upon leaving the temple and to persuade
him to accompany me home.

CARIO And who was the first one you met?

CHREMYLUS This blind man.

CARIO And you are stupid enough not to understand the meaning of
such an answer! Why, the god was advising you thereby, and that in
the clearest possible way, to bring up your son according to the fashion
of your country.

CHREMYLUS What makes you think that?

CARIO Is it not evident to the blind, that nowadays to do nothing
that is right is the best way to get on?

CHREMYLUS No, that is not the meaning of the oracle; there must be
another that is nobler. If this blind man would tell us who he is
and why and with what object he has led us here, we should no doubt
understand what our oracle really does mean.

CARIO (to PLUTUS) Come, tell us at once who you are, or I shall
give effect to my threat. (He menaces him.) And quick too, be quick,
I say.

PLUTUS I'll thrash you.

CARIO (to CHREMYLUS) Do you understand who he says he is?

CHREMYLUS It's to you and not to me that he replies thus: your mode
of questioning him was ill-advised. (To PLUTUS) Come, friend, if
you care to oblige an honest man, answer me.

PLUTUS I'll knock you down.

CARIO (sarcastically) Ah! what a pleasant fellow and what a delightful
prophecy the god has given you!

CHREMYLUS (to PLUTUS) By Demeter, you'll have no reason to laugh
presently. . .

[1] The plot: The plot is of the simplest. Chremylus, a poor but just man, accompanied by his body-servant Cario--the redeeming feature, by the by, of an otherwise dull play, the original type of the comic valet of the stage of all subsequent periods--consults the Delphic Oracle concerning his son, whether he ought not to be instructed in injustice and knavery and the other arts whereby worldly men acquire riches. By way of answer the god only tells him that he is to follow whomsoever he first meets upon leaving the temple, who proves to be a blind and
ragged old man. But this turns out to be no other than Plutus himself, the god of riches, whom Zeus has robbed of his eyesight, so that he may be unable henceforth to distinguish between the just and the unjust. However, succoured by Chremylus and conducted by him to the
Temple of Æsculapius, Plutus regains the use of his eyes. Whereupon all just men, including the god's benefactor, are made rich and prosperous, and the unjust reduced to indigence.
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