Greece tidbits

Sometimes you find things in the world that seem to make sense, but turn out to be more or less useless (but still way cool). I give you the Corinth Canal.

4 miles long, 26' deep.

The Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea (huh?)

The idea of building the canal was conceived way back in the 7th century BC by this guy:

Periander - Considered a tyrant, but managed to build Corinth into one of the major trading centers in Ancient Greece.

Technically, Periander's Greece was out of the Bronze age and into the Iron age, but seriously - digging this by hand with a pick and shovel? The walls are at an 80 degree angle.

In 67 AD emperor Nero was the first to actually get started on building the canal.

He started the project by swinging a pickaxe and carrying away a basket of dirt.  After he died the project was abandoned.

"Let us cavort like the Greeks of old. You know the ones I mean."
Hedonismbot (Futurama, Cartoon Network)

Following the success of the Suez Canal by the French in 1869 the Greek Prime Minister authorized building the Corinth Canal. They tried to get the same French engineers to build the canal but the French were in the process of going bankrupt trying to build the Panama Canal.  Formal construction began in 1882 by a Greek company.  Things didn't go well and more bankruptcies plagued the project for years. That should have been their first clue that the project really didn't have merit, but they pushed on and after 11 years of sweat and backaches the canal finally opened in 1893.

 And promptly went bankrupt again. The shipping companies had no interest in using it.

The canal has some very basic problems. The tides in the two gulfs come at different times. This can make for some chaotic currents. The canal also has 300' high, steep walls - all sailing vessels become becalmed as soon as they enter.

Sails are down, motor is on.

Another problem with the canal is that the limestone walls have a nasty habit of falling into the canal and plugging it up. In 1923  41,000 cubic meters fell in and it took two years to reopen the canal. The Panama Canal has the same problem, but as the Panama Canal is so much wider it can be dredged while still remaining open.

If you look closely at the shoreline you can see some indentations:

My first thought was that those were "passing lanes". Turns out those are bomb craters. Some claim they're from the Germans bombing the British defenders during the early stages of WWII. Others claim it was the British trying to dislodge the Germans later in the war. As the Germans retreated from Greece they had a scorched earth policy. They blew up all the bridges and dumped everything they could move into the canal including bridge wreckage, locomotives, trash, and Kolsch beer bottles (empty of course). It took the US Army Corps of Engineers over a year and a half to clear all the junk out and reopen the canal for business (such as it was). The Corinth canal will save you 131 miles of trudging around the Peloponnese, but it's simply too narrow for any modern freighter. Today around 11,000 boats/small (brave) ships make the trip.

Today it's mainly just a tourist attraction (but a good one!)

For the young (and stupid) you can bungee jump off one of the bridges.

Yeah right. I wouldn't do that even at gunpoint.

If you want to see a jumper - click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wceopVFNYC8
(skip to the 3:30 part for the jump). The bungy jump was closed when I visited (so I had to settle for just spitting off the bridge).

Ancient Corinth

Not far from Corinth canal you will find ancient Corinth - an archaeological site with an iconic structure - the Temple of Apollo. Ancient Corinth lies almost in the shadow of this mountain:

This is the Acrocorinth mountain.

The Acrocorinth mountain is a big monolithic rock overlooking Corinth. Strategically it was quite important in ancient times as whoever occupied the top had an easy time defending it from attack. Given the steep, smooth terrain trying to attack the fort at the top using a spear or arrows would be impossible. Any clown with just a rock could easily stop you. Equally difficult would be a siege of the rock. The fort at the top has one incredible feature - a fresh water spring. While the soldiers had plenty of water, they didn't have a Safeway or Publix, so somebody had hike down to the town and come back with supplies. Hard as they tried to blend into the town's population the soldiers' legs always gave them away.

(Tour de france thighs)

Ancient Corinth has been extensively excavated. It should be - they've been digging on it for 122 years. In a bizarre twist, the "they" I refer to isn't the Greeks.  It's the Americans. Since 1896, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens has been patiently digging out all the cool stuff at the site. The history of man at Corinth goes back all the way to the Early Neolithic period (6500-5750 B.C.) 
"With water, an imposing acropolis, a large fertile coastal and a position between two seas, Corinth thus commanded the principal nodal point in the land and sea communications of southern Greece."
In other words, if you wanted to get from one side of Greece to the other you had to go through the choke point of Corinth - thus it's importance. I  heard a great lecture about the history of Corinth but it gets confusing quickly.  The gist of it goes like this - settled, sacked, rebuilt, earthquake, rebuilt, sacked, rebuilt, sacked, rebuilt, sacked, rebuilt..... In 44 BC Julius Caesar himself got in the act.

Temple of Apollo, built in 550 BC

Stupid woodpeckers

New Cornith in the background (population 24,000)

Nicolas's Used Column Emporium 

Local theater

 All villages need a strip mall:

You would think that a collection of stones would be deathly quiet. In fact it's not. You can hear the remnants of the vaunted Roman water engineers work still burbling away. The water supply was so well designed that they had plenty left over for the communal baths. 

The trick to hearing the trickle of the water is to lean way over (without falling in).

The local on-site guides didn't know anything about history but were absolutely charming.

Each group of tourists were "adopted" by a single "ambassador" dog (I had a great time talking with this group of tourists from Korea).

My group's ambassador

I have no idea if these dogs were trained but they would each pick out a group of visitors - then follow them around with great dignity. When the group stopped they'd catch a quick 40 winks. They weren't beggars and were obviously well fed and taken care of (head patting optional but appreciated).

Most of the artifacts dug up are examined and displayed at the on-site museum (but not all of them anymore).

Creepy headless courtyard 

"Off with their heads"
(Queen of Hearts )

It has been postulated that during one of the unending sacks of Corinth one of the conquering armies knocked the heads off. 

Masterfully done

This mosaic isn't quite what you think.  It's actually a depiction of Kirshna as a lad. Kirshna, as in Hindu.  He is the god of compassion, tenderness, and love in Hinduism. This was thought to have been originally salvaged from a local Krishna temple.

Kirshna in his formative college years

Ancient Corinth was thought to be a center of medicine. The museum has some interesting teaching models:

Good ole Pasta-Head
(probably not a good idea to use this model for planning surgery)

Frank Netter was much more accurate

"Who's up for some Frisbee golf?"

Chariot road-rage sculpture

How do you cut off your own head?

Corinth has always had a Jewish population, but little is known about them. 

Lady Liberty? Medusa?

3,2,1 splash.  The chopstick polka never caught on at sea.

When I said that the museum doesn't display all of the artifacts earlier, it's because they're still a little paranoid.

"On the night of 12 April 1990, thieves broke into the museum of the Corinth excavations in Greece. After assaulting the guard, the thieves forced open display cases and made off with more than 270 ancient Greek and Roman artifacts, recovered during 90 years of work by the American School of Classical Studies in Athens".

The burglary was the work of the so-called Karahalios gang, comprising Anastasios Karahalios, his father and brother, together with Loannis Loris.

In 1999, FBI agents in collaboration with Greek police recovered  265 of the stolen objects in twelve plastic boxes hidden in crates of fresh fish in a Miami warehouse. 

One of the gang was arrested in Miami in 2000 and pled guilty to interstate (shouldn't that have been inter-country?) transport of stolen property . Also in 2000, Greek police arrested Anastasios Karahalios, discovering in his home guns, drugs and other antiquities . Loris was also arrested, but Tryfonas (sr) and Tryfonas (jr) were believed to be hiding in Venezuela  In 2001, Anastasios Karahalios was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Loris was acquitted. Later in 2001, Tryfonas Karahalios (jr) was arrested in Greece for importing 25 kilos of cocaine from Venezuela. He was later also convicted of the Corinth thefts.

Rhodes  

 Rhodes is a very chic little city (55,000) on the island of Crete (50 miles long) that attracts lots of European summer vacationers. It's most famous for something that hasn't been there for 2,244 years (now that's some excellent marketing).

Colossus of Rhodes

 

Another artist version

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" robot (my favorite) could fit the bill

Take your pick

Colossus of Nothing

 The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios. It was the project of Chares of Lindos in 280 BC. "One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was constructed to celebrate Rhodes' victory over the ruler of Cyprus, Antigonus I Monophthalmus, whose son unsuccessfully besieged Rhodes in 305 BC."  I always wondered how and why they built the statue. Legend has it that the besieging army, facing sure destruction by a relief force sent by Ptolemy, left behind all their equipment and fled. The celebrating Rhodians sold off the equipment for 300 talents.  A talent was 26 kg of silver (worth $4,042,584 as of July 9th, 2018). Supposedly the statue was around 70 cubits tall (108 feet, about the same size as the Statue of Liberty). Myth has it that it fell over in a big earthquake in 226 BC and lay in place for 800 years until finally broken up for scrap. No one can reliably say for sure exactly what the full story is on the Colossus.  The only thing people seem to be able to agree upon are the dates.

This is the supposed site of the Colossus (or at least one foot)

Odd choice for a statue.  Looks more like a redneck lawn ornament. 

Ubu was totally unimpressed

The expression "location, location, location" isn't a modern concept. Rhodes is simply a stunningly beautiful place. The first settlements date way back to the Neolithic period some 11,000 years ago. To give a history of Rhodes would extend this blog out to 50 pages, so I'll just hit the highlights of names I recognize:

Minoan Era

1,600 BC the Minoans showed up. They were really into cosplay.

OK, technically this is a Minotaur, not a Minoan. Close enough.

  

Mycenaean Era

 1,500 BC Homer mentions that the Rhodians played a role in the Trojan Wars. 

This Homer
By Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here.. Original uploader was JW1805 at en.wikipedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2171360

Not this idiot

Archaic Era

800 BC
no clue

Classical Era

 431 BC
no clue

Hellenistic age

332 BC

Rhodes gets conquered by someone I've heard of

Alexander the Great
By Unknown - The Guardian (DEA/G Nimatallah/De Agostini/Getty Images), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35067658

Jason Alexander the Funny

Byzantine period

395 AD

In 600 AD the Rhodians had become quite proficient in maritime issues. One night in a bar, on the back of a napkin, they came up with a collection of maritime laws called the Rhodian Sea Laws. Don't laugh - today's Admiralty Laws are heavily based on them.

Crusader and Islamic rule

During this era the fortifications you still see today were built.

ironic photo

 The fact that this medieval fort is around today is testament to how well it was built from a structural standpoint. Just looking at the fortifications doesn't begin tell you just how  incredibly successful this fort actually was. In 1522 this guy

Suleiman the Magnificent
(anyone who can wear dim sum on their head and call himself the Magnificent is a pretty tough guy)
By Anonymous after Titian - Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2646041

 decided he was going to take Crete no matter what it took to do it.  He showed up with 400 ships and 150,000 soldiers. There were only 7,000 defenders. Still, it took Sulieman's army over 6 months to rout them out. The survivors were so respected that instead of killing them, Suleiman let them emigrate to Sicily.

Modern history

The usual mess......WW1, WW2, yada yada yada 

It's worth noting:

"The name of the US state of Rhode Island is based on a reference to Rhodes by Italian explorer (and bridge builder) Giovanni Verrazano . In a 1524 letter detailing his excursion into the waters around either Block Island or Aquidneck Island Verrazano wrote that he "discovered an Ilande in the form of a triangle, distant from the maine lande 3 leagues, about the bignesse of the Ilande of the Rodes".