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Mycenea, Peloponesia, Greece: the palace of Agamemnon in Mycenea From myths we know that the Kings of this period were blood related, and didn’t fight each other, but all their towns were heavily fortified, perhaps just to show their strength. Mycenaeans traded all over the world and were expert architects. One entrance to Mycenae is the Lions Gate. Facing the door, we have a long wall on the left and a square tower. Mycenaeans were the first to make post and lintel formations to spread the weight of the wall across the doorway. Schleimann attributed this tomb to Atreus, the father of Agamemnon, and dated it as around 1250 BC. It had a beehive shape of huge stones, and when finished, was buried with earth to make it look like a hill. Because of the heavy weight, they used a triangle design to hold up the lintel. The triange was covered with red stone, with half-pillars in green stone on either side. The red and green stones are now in the British Museum. When Schleimann came, in 1875 AD, shepherds were using the tomb, and travelers would live there, and left smoke from their fires. Nafplio has fortresses in the upper hill and lower hill, connected by a stair in a tunnel. It was also protected by the fort in the harbor. We had a super lunch on board our ship. Wonderful Greek salads and a super spinach and rice dish. After lunch we drove east from Nafplios to Epidouros, which is drier and full of olive trees. There isn’t enough water for orange trees. There is a fortress from the 3rd c BC which guarded the route to the tomb of Aesclepius, so of Apollo, who is credited starting the first hospitals. The story is that Apollo performed a Caesarian on a woman who was dying, and raised her son as his own, and had him trained by Chiron, a surgeon in his own right, from whom he learned all about herbs and surgical techniques. He set up a series of residences where knowledge of medicine could accumulate and where the sick could come to be cured. Those residences were called Aesclepius, after their founder. Hippocrates worked in the Aesclepius of Knossos. Æsclepius (also spelt: Asclepios, Æsclepius, Æsculapius, Æsclepius) was a healer, his mythical roots going back in to the second millennium BC, he became a demi-god. Over time he evolved into a temple god in his own right. The temples in his honor were temples of healing dreams. His daughters were Hygea (on the preventive side of medicine) and Panacea (on the drug side of medicine). A Klínè was a sacred place or a sacred skin set out around the temple, where the sick person reclined to enter the dream state. From these names we have derived the words, Panacea, Hygiene and Clinic. At the height of the cults power, there were 420 temples, spread across the ancient Greek empire. The Aesclepiae were devoted to diet, exercise, study, and spa bathing. In the days of Hippocrates the Aesclepiae performed no operations except childbirth and simple orthopedics. They might also remove little surface tumors or thrombosis relief. After the death of Alexander the Great, the Aesclepiae could dissect bodies and perform operations. The then found out how body muscles and bones worked. They did not learn about the blood circulation. In Western Europe medical care stops with the fall of the Roman Empire, and doesn’t revive until the 8th c AD when the Arabs attack Spain. The Knights of St. John took up the practice of medicine. In Greece the practice of medicine continued throughout because there was still a central authority. In the 3rd c AD, Goths completely destroyed the sanctuary at Nafplion. The only building remaining was the theatre of. Epidauros. Every 3-4 years the theatre of Epidauros would have a festival with athletic, singing, and poetry contests. In the 6th c BC a priest named Thespis detached one person from the chorus to be an actor. Aeschallus detached a second actor from the chorus. Long ago, the chorus and actors would perform on a threshing floor with the hillside rising around them where the viewers would sit. This developed into the theatre. The Theatre of Epidauros was well-known for its acoustics. The curve of the seats helps the echo effect. Wooden masks helped amplify the sound. All theatres face the sea, so they get the breeze which also helps the acoustics. The theatre of Epidaurus has 3 acoustic centers where the actors would stand so they could be heard throughout. The theatre holds 14,000 people.