Greece 2013: “Art and Empire”
Many basic and important notions about how we live and thrive as humans — law, citizenship, democracy, freedom — have come to us from the ancient Greeks, in particular the Greeks of the Classical Age, that age which has also given to us some of the most iconic images of antiquity—the Parthenon, the Theatre of Epidauros, the Tholos of Delphi... The aim of our travel study program in Greece 2013 is to provide an opportunity for students to see first-hand the setting and the remains of the monuments and artistry of ancient Greece, and to place these objects in the context of the Greek experience of the rise of democracy in Athens and the wars which it fought.
To achieve this end, we will be travelling widely in southern Greece. After becoming acclimatized by our 5-day stay in Athens — a sprawling urban population surrounding the ancient remains at the centre of the modern city — we will leave the large urban setting for a 9-day tour of ancient sites in the smaller cities and friendly towns of the Peloponnese. Then crossing the Gulf of Corinth we move up into the high country for two days, first ascending the slope of Mount Parnassos to visit Delphi and then travelling across the highlands of northern Attica to find little-visited frontier forts. Our final stay will be a three-day visit on the Island of Aegina, and from there we return to Athens to prepare for our departure for Canada.
This trip combines a rigorous study of central aspects of Greek antiquity with the chance to experience the ambiance of modern Hellenic society. On site, it combines a supervised introduction and explanation of the remains with unstructured free-time for individual exploration and examination. Off-site, it combines reading and writing with visits to restaurants, beaches, town-squares and markets. UNB’s Travel Study in Greece 2013 seeks to understand “Art and Empire.”
