More on our wonderful cruise from Rome. After stopping at Crete and Mykonos (with a side trip to Delos), we arrived at Athens, where we spent a few days before heading back to the U.S. It had been a long time since either of us had been to Athens. We loved it – the delicious food (our favorite meal of 2024!), the fabulous sights, and the friendly people. We already look forward to returning, it was that good.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the agora. While exploring the magnificent archeological sites of Athens, every place we looked, we saw… Rome. I guess you could say we are Rome-centric.

Some of this is obvious. When the Roman Emperor Hadrian built a gigantic library in Athens in 132 C.E., it was based on Roman architecture, and it looks like something you would find in Rome.

 

 

 

 

There’s a statue of Hadrian in the Athenian Agora. He is wearing Roman armor — minus a head, arms, and legs.  But, it’s still impressive and very, very Roman.

There is also an arch named for him that looks distinctly Roman (if one ignores the inscription written in Greek). It would look even more Roman if someone hadn’t pilfered the two columns from the lower level.

Even up on the Acropolis, the epicenter of ancient Athenian monuments, there is something of Rome: a small round temple. Built by the people of Athens, it is a tribute to Rome’s first Emperor, Augustus. This small temple is now called the Temple of Rome and Augustus. Augustus did visit Athens — a city that had supported Mark Antony when the two Romans were rivals. Perhaps to smooth things over with Augustus, the Athenians built this small temple just a few meters from the Parthenon, clearly a place of great honor and prestige — even if the temple itself was on the small side.

 

 

And, talk about the view from the Acropolis:

Augustus’ best friend/favorite military commander/son-in-law Marcus Agrippa (my favorite Roman, after all), also left his mark in Athens. Agrippa built an odeon in the Athenian Agora.

Then there is the “Roman Agora,” which contains the most fascinating example of “Rome in Athens.”  More on that in my next post.