Morning mist cools your brisk walk to the Ancient Agora, located at the intersection of Athens past and present:

Below the 4^th-century BC Acropolis. Next to the 18^th-century Monastiraki neighborhood. With the 20^th-century Athens Metro rumbling past.

Paying the entrance fee, you enter the archaeological site with a lineage and legacy as important as the Acropolis above.

Here, commerce and cultures flourished. Democracy and philosophy were born. Laws and coins were minted. Religion and rituals unfolded.

You gaze up at the Temple of Hephaistos which dominates the Agora like the Parthenon commands the Acropolis.

Built in the 5^th century BC, the virtually intact Doric temple honors Hephaistos, god of fire and metalwork, and Athena in her role as goddess of craftsmanship.

You appreciate the shade of laurel, poplar, and olive trees. Notice the hues of vines, pomegranates and oleanders. Stroll the paths lined with tidy hedges.

The Agora landscape overall seems somewhat like a modern garden, yet somehow different.

That’s because this area was once a sacred garden of ancient gods.

Thanks to one extraordinary woman, the divine garden blooms again in the modern era.

In 1932, a generation after trail-blazer Harriet Boyd Hawes discovered Gournia on Crete, Dorothy Burr Thompson, PhD, became the first-ever female Director of Agora Excavations.

While leading the dig, Dorothy uncovered row upon row of pot shards, potting holes, tool fragments, and carbonized roots.

Working with her excavations team, horticultural historians, and original sources, she then meticulously researched, reconstructed, and replanted the garden over the years.

Through every season of her long life (1900-2001), through struggle and success, Dorothy bloomed where she was planted – USA, Canada, Greece, and elsewhere.

Not only a pioneering archaeologist and pre-eminent authority, she was also a wife, mother, author, photographer, and world traveler.

In life’s winter season, 87-year-old Dorothy received the highest honor: the Gold Medal Award for Archaeological Achievement from the American Institute of Archaeology.

Today, her illustrious contributions continue to inspire archaeologists, art historians, and classicists.

Not to mention, generations of visitors to the Agora and its modern garden of ancient gods.

Reader, here’s to blooming where you’re planted in every season.

Until next time,

Travel on, sparkle on, meaningfully✨

Marilee + Paul Kostadimas
Spotlight Sojourns | Slow Travel
​with the Hidden Gemologists

​​​​

​

PS: Dorothy Burr Thompson taught, supported, and encouraged distinguished peers, emerging scholars, and promising students alike in their work.

Indeed, as I discovered later in her papers held by the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, she corresponded for two decades with Paul’s and my professor, the Director of Paros Excavations. Small world, isn’t it?

Reader, if you’d like to read more about the Ancient Agora, click HERE to read “Famous Landmarks in Greece.”

PPS: Do you know friends or family who’d like a little inspo in their box? Please forward this email. They can subscribe by clicking the button below:

When you book or make purchases through some links, Spotlight Sojourns may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

All opinions are always our own. We recommend these companies because we actually use them, like them, and believe in them. And we think you’ll like them, too.

Thank you for using our affiliate links which support original writing and original photography for you.​

​