Blue

In 1876, a former American Civil War General by the name Augustus James Pleasonton wrote a treatise entitled The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Color of the Sky. The work described the positive effects of blue light in everything thing from plants to animals to people. It was written on blue paper with blue ink and lead to a blue glass craze in which farmers bought blue glass panes for their greenhouses, or rather blue houses, to increase their crop yields. He claimed that the effects of the isolated blue color of light could help eradicate disease and promote general wellbeing in people. After visiting Greece, he might have been on to something.  

There is blue everywhere in Greece: from the roofs of Santorini to the doors of Hydra to the very flag itself. And since beauty is truth, honestly, it is hard to have a care in the world regarding anything amongst the impossibly navy colored waters of the Aegean, the azure wrapped mountains of the Peloponnese all spread under the cerulean Grecian sky; where the only clouds visible are in your chilled glass of  Ouzo.  

But maybe, on deeper introspection, that is what caused this center, this ompholaus of Western Civilization to eventually succumb to the Fates. Walking in the Acropolis, if one can filter out the din of tourists conversing in a myriad of languages, in a quiet corner, you can faintly hear the warnings of the past from beneath the sands of time. 

This is a land of sediments. The classical Greeks came to the area and built upon the former lands of the Mycenaean, including their temples, most notably Delphi.  As their naval power grew, riches from around the Mediterranean came flowing into the city-state of Athens. With those riches, protection became very important.  While the Athenians were an unmatched navy, it was the Spartans that had the unmatched army. They both would be put to the test when the Persians came for conquest. After the war from without, there was one from within as both Sparta and Athens had designs on each otherʼs territory and those of the allies. This became known as the  Peloponnesian War. It lasted for 30 years. Due to the expense of this Civil War, even after the Spartan victory, they could not defend against a well-trained, well-read, and well-educated young man named Alexander. By the time of his death at  33, Athens was the jewel in his crown. It was during this time Socrates was put to death, poetically sealing the fate of Greece.  

New invasions came, as did new wars, and most importantly new religions. They say the Romans conquered Greece, but it was the Greek culture that conquered Rome. As time marched on, with the new single God that once carried a hammer instead of a lightning bolt, the Eastern Kingdom of Byzantium would end up preserving Western civilization when Rome was sacked. Constantine was so enamored with Athens that he took the giant pallid statue of Pallas with him to the city that would bear his name. This bronze sculpture, once standing atop the Acropolis whose spear was used as an ancient beacon to ships at sea, was melted down by the Ottoman Turks when they sacked the city in 1453. They continued their expanse westward and eventually sacked Athens too, using the Parthenon as an armory. One direct hit from the opposing Venetian army in 1687 blew it into the cobalt heavens. 

The Turks came and occupied Greece, as well as most of this part of the world for 400 years. There were Revolutions, more invaders, more wars, and more uprisings even with the British coming and stripping the Acropolis for parts. But again, the 20th century would prove that the old world order was through. By the early 21st, the pride of these once cherished philosophers got the best of them when flush with cash from risky derivatives, they spent, spent, spent nearly collapsing the Union of which they were apart.

And that is the dichotomized Greece I saw: still showing the ancient Greek tragedy of Oedipus Rex in theatres while the outside walls were strewn with cyanic graffiti with the biggest scrawl saying γιατί meaning “Why?”