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Our small group talks and personal guided tours, for groups of not
normally more than six in number, are a perfect way to acquire a focussed introduction to
whatever aspect of Greek life interests our clients. We meet in the
congenial surroundings of a pavement cafe, within easy reach of our clients'
hotel. Each talk lasts between one and two hours, and is followed by a
visit to an archaeological site dealt with in the talk. Each talk is also
accompanied by handout material that offers follow-up for the clients to pursue
at their leisure during the rest of their stay and after. During the tour
of the site, visitors enjoy the expert services of a personal guide.
We have talks and personal tours centred on the following topics, but we
are ready to design a talk and tour on whatever subject interests our clients.
Tour Topics
Behind Closed Doors: The Private Life of the Ancient Athenians:
What was daily life like in an ancient Greek city of Classical times? What
jobs did people do? What was family life like? What sort of houses
did the Greeks live in? How long could you expect to live? These are
some of the questions that we will deal with, before taking a walk to the Agora,
the market place of ancient Athens.
Keeping on the Right Side of the Gods: The Ancient Greeks and Their
Gods: Esconced
on Mt Olympus, the gods of the Greeks were a supercharged, capricious and amoral
version of mankind itself, fit representatives of a capricious and amoral
natural world. We look at how the Greeks attempted to handle, celebrate
and keep on the right side of their dangerous and touchy gods, before taking a
walk to the Acropolis, the religious centre of ancient Athens and in the Agora,
the ancient market place.
Mass Idiocy?: Greek Democracy: The Greek version of democracy was profoundly
different from modern, representative democracy. Most ancient Greek cities
ran themselves on some form of democracy, but democracy was almost universally
disliked by ancient Greek writers and philosophers. We examine how and why
the Athenian democracy worked, how effective it was and why it got such a bad
name, before we walk up to the Pnyx, the ancient meeting place of the Athenian
democracy.
Death in the Stadium: The Sporting Life of the Ancient Greeks:
Athletics
were a fundamental of the ancient Greek way of life. Throughout the
ancient Greek world there were thousands of sporting festivals, of which the
most famous were the Olympic Games. In the shadow of the ancient stadium
of Athens, we look at the sporting events themselves, how sporting festivals
worked and why so frequently games for the Greeks were a matter of life and
death. In an afterword, we look at the rebirth of the Olympic Games,
before looking at the restored ancient stadium in which the Olympic Games of
1896 were held.
Building the Wonders of the World: Greek City Planning and Architecture:
In addition to being notable town planners, the Greeks were industrious
architects and builders and left behind them countless buildings. Starting
from the ground up, we deal with how the Greeks designed cities, what sort of
buildings they erected, and why, and, finally, how they built them. We
then walk to the Kerameikos, a tranquil oasis just outside the ancient walls of
the ancient city, to examine Greek architecture in practice.
European Premieres:
The Ancient Greek Theatre: The theatrical masterpieces produced in Classical
Athens of 5c B.C., the birthplace of European theatre, still resonate with power
in theatres the world over today. Yet the production and mode of
performance of these works was very different from anything today. We
examine the origin, the circumstances of performance and the physical trappings
of the plays, before we walk to the Theatre of Dionysus, where the ancient
Athenian audience saw these tragedies and comedies performed for the first time.
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