Athens, 2011-04-07
Peak manners
On the first day in Athens, after a 24-hours
journey by coach and a first walk through the
city, I was so tired, that, on the street, I gave
priority to my own image, reflected on the mirror
of a newsstand on the pavement. Good luck that I
recognised myself pretty quickly; otherwise,
maybe I would have tried a short conversation.
3
The streets of Athens are not crowded, but
extremely crowded. The first recommendation
that is made to those coming here with their
cars is to leave them in parking. It is why the
proportion of taxis in traffic is about fifty
percent. And among the cars, the motorcycles
strain with speed, so that crossing streets on
other places than intersections with traffic
lights is impossible. Only there, all vehicles stop;
not the pedestrians, who do not wait for green
colour, but immediately rush to cross in any tiny
break.
* *
*
A remark of a black man in New York is coming in
my mind. He spoke it after a scene involuntarily
generated by myself: while I was trying to get
information from the dispatcher in a taxi station,
a driver were pretty aggressively protesting,
with the absurd claim that he should not give
customer relationships. Later, I leave even with
that taxi driver. On the way I asked him what
the dispatcher’s nationality is, because his
English was very approximate: what is his native
4
language? The black man's reply stunned me:
"Which language? That guy does not know any
language; he is Greek." For him, there is not a
Greek language; only his English - I don't know if
his accept the literary one - perhaps Spanish and
Chinese have the right to exist. I don't think he
has an idea about the role of the Greek language
and culture in the European civilization and the
American now. I reported this happening also in
the book "America after America ".
With ten lessons from “Τα νέα ελλινικά”, the
practical course of Greek language, which I
managed to read from, I do not know Greek but I
hope to learn more and – especially – to get an
idea about what the ancient Greek culture meant
at its native place.
* *
*
There is a receptionist at the hotel whose name
is Christos, with accent on “i” for not
confounding with Jesus Christ, in Greek also
Christos, but with accent on “o”. The name is
extremely frequent in Greece, and this need an
explanation. Even my name, Cristache, has a
5
Greek origin, (they call me Christakis) although I
am not Greek.
Jesus Christ was mentioned in the Greek text of
the Gospel as Hristos Iisus (Χριστός Ιησούς); in
Latin transliteration: Iesus Christus. On the
other hand, the Greek form for Hristós
(Χριστός), is a translation from the Hebrew
"mașiach" (Messiah), meaning "anointed", gold-
plated. As a mater of fact, in modern Greek
language, “hrisós” means gold.
Now, we can explain why there are in Greece so
many first names of Christos. They come from a
common noun, which existed before Jesus Christ:
Χρυσός (hrisos), meaning gold, polished with gold.
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Athens, 2011-04-08
Acropolis cannot miss from the smallest trip in
Athens, at least because it is on the hill, but not
only for that. Down, Zeus’s Temple is maybe
equally famous, but much less spectacular.
In a small square, just near the Roman Agora, at
the base of the hill, someone was playing a
Cimbalom Italian music. I must say that he was
very good, and the instrument sounds fabulous in
his hands. The last time when I saw a Cimbalom
was in 1959 or 1960, in a tavern in Bucharest,
singing – obviously – music suitable with that
place. This time, I had to revise my opinion on
7
the instrument. The truth is that, technically, he
is not even a little a rudimentary one. On the
contrary, it is even very pretentious and perhaps
just this seems to be the reason because of
which people abandoned it.
(In another day, in the same square, somebody
sang a guitar, also Italian music. I would be sat
there the whole day, but I still had to visit a lot
of other places.)
Roman Agora is remarkable for Hadrian’s Library
and the Tower of Winds. It is comforting to
loiter there, but I have to climb the hill. Toward
Acropolis, I avoided the roads and climbed a
8
path, meandering among the rocks. The way up
was pleasant.
After hours of riding on highways or walking
narrow and very crowded streets, a mountain
path is something from another world.
* *
*
Here, on the hill, I found that almost all Greece
is on the marble, or almost. I said almost,
because the difference between limestone and
marble is only of the quality, both being based on
the calcite. The one from here has much iron,
visible by some insertions, which changes the
9
reddish defect in a particularly aesthetic effect.
Everywhere, you step on marble. Around
Acropolis, stone is so polished by the feet of
millions of visitors, that the pavement is very
slippery. In wet whether, the climb maybe
problematical.
* *
*
Now, I am in a place called Ários Págos (Άρειος
Πάγος) and I try to put down a few impressions,
even the bustle of tourists is intense and loud.
They come around, take photos and depart.
10
The name of the place causes to me a slight
confusion (if it was not just its goal). The
translation, accredited by a tourist guide, is "The
Stone of Ares", Ares being the god of war in
Greek mythology. It is not specified whether it
was his stone tomb – although the gods, being
immortals, didn't need graves and the less
tombstones – or a stone that someone would have
hung at his foot, in order of diminishing his
warlike soar. I admit, this interpretation is a
personal one and comes from my affinity for the
moral sense of Greeks’ mythology. The
translation is obviously wrong. In another
dictionary, I found a different interpretation for
págos. It is ice, which has no connection with
11
Ares and even less with the clime of the place.
This time, the error comes from the wrong using
of modern language dictionary and not of the old
one, in which págos means a piece of rock. Yes,
the "The Rock of Ares" makes sense. Here,
probably, the god used to come to take upsurge,
or for silence.
A second interpretation, probably closer to the
truth, comes from areopag. The toponymy is the
same, but the meaning is different. The term
defined The Supreme Court in Athens of 7-5 BC
centuries: a forum, consisting of philosophers
and artists of great skill, who used to judge the
most serious problems of the city and its
citizens. It is said that there were the place of
the meetings of the Tribunal, although it seems
unlikely, because of the difficulty of climbing,
too tedious for some old people, because the
members of that tribunal, nine in number, were
elected among the elders people, who
demonstrated their high qualities of model
citizens. O tempora, o mores! (Poor Cicero ...)
Anyway, using the hill for two activities so
different it is not beneficial either for the
supporters of the war and for those of the
12
justice, granted by a court. But, let’s suppose
that the elder members of the Tribunal were
taken up there with a lectic or something similar.
Instead, those who were seeking justice had to
climb the path on foot: an excellent opportunity
to observe the difficulty of obtaining it.
This was occurring then, many centuries ago.
Now, out of urban bustle, the climb – albeit
equally tedious – is an opportunity of relaxing,
especially since on the top there is nobody to
judge us. Judges of nowadays are down,
sometimes very down. (To forgive me those from
Greece, as I do not know them. My thought is
13
heading towards what I know, although I like not
to think of them.
I am still wondering why the modern justice is
based on the idea that an ensemble of laws must
be perfect (if it is not yet, it can be improved),
and trials must be conducted according to the
rules and not following judges’ reason and
judgement, even if they may be wrong. The idea
of an ideal law code would be great, if not
utopian. We know very well the effect of a
similar concept: the ideal communist society. Any
idea of perfection in real life already denotes an
unacceptable level of ignorance. Where we are
moving with conceptions?
Going through Propylaea? I had the feeling that
I was fulfilling a ritual of initiation, a passage
through a gate - it just is a gate - mostly because
the advancing through the crowd of tourists was
quite difficult; you should work for it, to be
active. Of course, the imposing columns impress,
but once you overcome the gates, you feel to
pass at a higher level, after successful
completion of that ritual. On the top, you are in
the area of high spheres, as above only the sky
is. Even the sea, visible in the days with clear
14
atmosphere, is somewhere underneath. Maybe
Athens is not a city of the top, but Acropolis is
"the city from the top". You are there after you
went through Propylaea.
The same day, evening
I don't know how I would have reacted today at
the happening of yesterday, when, passing
through a narrow place, I gave priority to myself,
actually to my image reflected in a mirror. After
a sunny day, during which I walked from morning
till night, my face is so red that I had a shock
15
when I saw myself in the mirror. The speed of
the reaction would have been much different and
who knows what other gestures would have done.
* *
*
An idle thought: one of the capital punishments
in the past was the killing with stones, in Greek
language “lapidare”. I could speculate and say
that dilapidation is an act that would be punished
in this way: by stoning. If it had to be applied
today, I guess that in Romania there are not
enough stones.
16
Athens, 2011-04-09
It seems that what was inevitable has occurred.
Among the many of my defects – known and
unknown – the tendency of generalizing
excessively is often invoked by friends. I admit,
I like to do that, but here, in Greece, where I am
for several days, any attempt of identification
some general characteristics of people hits by its
opposite. To say about Greeks that are friendly,
for example, is very true. They are particularly
helpful as possible. When I asked an aged
gentleman for a piece of information, he
immediate requested the help of a young man,
which – in his turn - landed another guy who was
just walking around, so that, finally, my question
becomes subject of a public debate in full street.
I say 'finally' because I left, but their discussion
went on. It happened in Lavrio, near the southern
extremity of the Attic peninsula, where I was
looking for a host.
Yes, Greek people are very communicative. In
tram, bases, stations everywhere, they started
discussions with anyone happens to be there,
without knowing someone. Usually do it persons
17
over 40 years old. Obviously, not all of them and
never young people!
In addition, I must
obvious their appetite
for
conversation;
they talk much, loud
and very fast. So
quickly that you have
the impression that
they have in their
mouths a device that
rotates sounds with
over 1,000 spins per
minute. Contrary to expectations, not the women
but men are those who do it mainly. (Do not make
illusions; the women talk less but scream
terrible.) Returning to their kindness, if a
personal interest appears, any interlocutor may
be a potential victim for a Greek, no matter of
the sex.
As for women, if two young Greek ladies meet
each other by chance, after the using kissing, a
dialogue follows, tolerable only if you have
earplugs in your ears. If there are not two but
three or four, then you think about the gees
18
from Capitol - which have woken the Romans with
their cries, rescuing them by invaders in the year
390 BC – and, by comparison, you imagine them as
some peaceable nuns, making prayers in soto
voce. More than four young Greek ladies cannot
be covered even by another similar group, with
which they may done a coral, I would say of
Wagnerian style, if you replace the brass
instruments with female voices and musical
harmony with non-musical cacophonous. By the
way, as expecting, cacophonous is a Greek word;
you can easily decode it (bad sound). Kaka exists
in Romanian language too with the meaning faeces
in the conversation of parents with the kids. As a
witness to such a true spectacle, for
preservation your health, the only alternative is
to go away as much, because even the medicine is
overcome in such cases. After 25 years, there
are little chances to meet each other; as a rule,
they are single and smoke. Later, they sob and
sigh. The exceptions are those who scream
hysterically.
* *
*
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Another finding refers to the label of Greece as
"tourist country”. It is true, but only for those
objectives specially dedicated for this purpose:
Acropolis, Athos and the monasteries in the
North, some portions of the coastline and several
islands, entered in the registers of tourist
agencies. In the rest of the territory there is no
concern for tourism. With all those 15,000
kilometres of coastline, due to its sinuous
territory, the Greeks don't go to the beach. I
remember that, in the University, I had several
colleagues from North Korea, a country with
pretty enough seaside for its area. They were
very surprised to learn that, in Romania, the
coastline enjoys of demand just due to its
beaches. In one of their holidays, they did a trip
throughout the country, during which they have
visited the Romanian seaside resorts as well. The
boys had thrown only a look from the distance to
the beach. Not because they would not be
interested, but because they must report to
superiors what they had saw. The girls did not
approached at all; public exposure of nude bodies
was more than immoral, in their conception.
The Greeks are, however, Europeans and do not
have such conceptions, but the beach does not
20
interest them. It is no wonder, if I think that, in
Romania, the inhabitants at the foot of the
mountain do not practice climbing or skiing. Most
Romanians climbers are from Bucharest. As to
the inhabitants of the seacoast or from the
localities near some riverfront, many of them do
not know to swim. It seems that people don't
appreciate what they have; they want what lacks
them, if they learn that it exists. There is,
however, an explanation: people from the foot of
the mountains and those from the banks of the
rivers are marked by the tribute in victims
during the ages. They have learned to give them
respect. For such people, the water and the
mountains are places of job and not for fun.
In Lavrio, all those that I asked were surprised
by my questions, and were amazed that I wanted
to rent an apartment in their locality, only for its
climate and the vicinity of the sea. The Aegean
Sea! It is said that Theseus, the son of King
Aegeus told to his father that – if he will kill the
Minotaur – when he will return, on the way home,
he will replace the black canvas of the ship with
some white one but – happy after the victory –