Water Clocks, Ballots and a Tunnel: An Archaeologist's Greek Notes

Field Notes of Dr. Rafael Mendes, Archaeologist

1June 2, Athens, the Agora. Our team studies finds from the Agora, the city's old marketplace. Today I held a klepsydra, a clay water clock from the 400s BCE. When its plug is pulled, the water runs out through a small spout in about six minutes. In Athenian courts, the accuser and the accused each spoke while the water ran.

2June 4, the Agora. We cleaned bronze juror ballots from the 300s BCE. Each is a disk with a short rod through its center. A hollow rod meant a vote for the accuser, and a solid rod meant a vote for the accused. Each juror got one of each, held it with his thumb and finger covering the ends of the rod, and dropped the one he chose into the urn that was counted. Juries were large, often 501 citizen men over age 30. Before these ballots were made, in 399 BCE, a jury of 501 found the philosopher Socrates guilty of disrespecting the city's gods and misleading young people, and he was sentenced to death.

3June 6, the Agora. On the north side we traced the foundations of the Stoa Poikile, the "Painted Porch," a long roofed walkway once lined with paintings. About 300 BCE a teacher named Zeno met his students here, and his followers became known as Stoics, after the stoa. They taught that people should live by reason and calmly accept what they cannot control.

4June 12, Sparta. Sparta had two kings who led its armies, a council of elders and an assembly of citizen men. For centuries the city had no wall at all. At the sanctuary of the goddess Artemis Orthia, earlier digs uncovered tens of thousands of small lead figures left as offerings, starting in the 600s BCE. Some show soldiers with round shields. Spartan boys left home at about age 7 to train in groups, and citizen men served as soldiers for much of their lives.

5June 18, Samos. Today I walked into the Tunnel of Eupalinos, dug through a mountain on this island about 530 BCE to carry spring water to the city. It runs about 1,036 meters. Two teams dug toward each other from opposite sides of the mountain and could not see each other. They met near the middle, missing by only a few meters, and joined the two halves with a short bend.

6June 24, Epidaurus. This town in the Peloponnese has a stone theater built in the late 300s BCE, with seats for more than 12,000 people. Greeks watched tragedies and comedies at festivals honoring their gods. Even today, an actor speaking at the center can be heard in the top rows.