During May Term 2008, Dr. Janice Siegel, Assistant Professor of Classics, and Dr. Michael Utzinger, Elliott Associate Professor of Religion, took a group of eight Hampden-Sydney students to Greece and Turkey. Alex Brengle, Tyler Bowman, James Brooks, Ben Harris, McLean Bean, Wes Julian, J. C. Miller, and Evan Weinzierl received six credits for their work, taking both Greek Literature in Translation (CLAS 203) and the Elements of Monotheistic Religion: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (REL 185).
The scope of the journey was epic! In only 18 days, we visited sites familiar from Greek mythology and literature such as Thebes, Mycenae, Troy, Knossos, Gortyna, and the Athenian Agora and Acropolis; world-famous battlefields (Thermopylae, Marathon, Chaironea, and Salamis); pagan religious centers of international renown (Eleusis, Delphi); the remains of monumental temples (in Athens, Olympia, Sounion, and Delphi); ancient theaters (in Athens, Epidavros, Thorikos); historically significant Christian sites (the Areopagus in Athens, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the Istanbul Gate and Hagia Sophia in Iznik/Nicaea, Turkey); numerous eastern Orthodox churches (in Athens, on Crete, in the foothills of Mt. Olympos) and a working monastery (Meteora); and numerous mosques in Istanbul (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and others). We also visited 13 museums (including the British Museum in a layover in London). Indeed, the students had lots of fun: they ran a race in the stadium in Olympia, saw a performance of the Whirling Dervishes in Istanbul, raced go-carts in Iraklion, and explored an underground cistern in Mycenae and a Venetian fortress in Crete. But let’s talk about the educational merits of this trip.
There is simply no substitute for reading Greek Literature in its poetic landscape. Many of the cities and sites we visited are the actual settings of the texts on the Greek Literature in Translation syllabus. For example, we followed in the footsteps of Aeschylus’ Orestes, for he killed his mother in Mycenae, sought purification from blood-guilt at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, and was acquitted in the (apocryphal) first trial by jury on the Areopagus in Athens. For class one evening in Delphi, we discussed the Hymn to Apollo while sitting on a terrace overlooking the Bay of Krisa, where the god is said to have made landfall in search of a location for his new shrine. And from the same vantage point once enjoyed by Priam himself, we overlooked the plains of Troy as we wrestled with the relative merits of war as presented in Homer’s Iliad. Indeed, the topography and terrain of Greece was an eye-opening experience. Visiting Thermopylae is really the only way to understand why the battle had to have taken place the way it did (even though the sea has moved some since 480 BC). The mountain ranges that divide city from city (and which deny easy access to many places even today) explain why archaic and classical age Greece was divided into so many sub-cultures, and testifies to the remarkable unifying feat of the archaic panhellenic Games such as the Olympics.
Teaching religion abroad made many ideas in textbooks and lecture come to life as well. Because religion is practiced as much as believed and involves spaces as much as ideas, the students found themselves embracing their studies as a means to understand experiences that seemed strange. One student wrote: “The Metropolis Church in Athens was beautiful in its own way, but in a way eerily different from any other church I had been in. … At the first religion lecture I remember talk of an icon and being at a total loss for what that was and feeling too embarrassed to ask. However, the churches we visited were baptisms by fire, and I quickly learned all I ever wanted to know about icons.” Another student remarked: “Of all the memories from Turkey the one I will always remember occurred within thirty minutes of arriving: the evening call to prayer. … And yet, despite the eeriness, the surreal moment was beautiful and captivating. Thankfully, the next day we would visit the Blue Mosque and my transformation to better understanding Islam would begin.” These same students continued their observations, citing Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky’s explanations of Orthodox iconography or Abdulkader Tayob’s argument that the call to prayer from the minaret is fundamental to understanding Islam. However, what is striking about these students’ observations is that experience formed the foundation of their educational process. Further, these “collisions” between experience and study often raised as many questions as they answered. Why, if icons are meant to be windows to heaven, are they kissed as if they were divine? Why, if prayer is the key to Muslim life, did almost everyone ignore the public call to prayer in Istanbul? In other words, they began to ask the right kinds of questions and became better thinkers in the process.
In the foothills of Mt. Olympos (Northern Greece)
Click for a larger view Finally, students registered surprise at the frequency of intersection between these two seemingly unrelated courses. The students also discovered how easily and profitably our syllabi interconnected. Visitors to Greece are wont to expect the Greece they have studied and marveled at from afar, whether that Greece is mythical or historical, classical or Christian. But Paul visited the same Areopagus (Acts 17) so integral to both the mythical plot of Aeschylus’ Eumenides and the historical democracy of Periclean Athens. Early Christians transformed Greek sanctuaries into shrines, sometimes engaging in sacred vandalism of pagan art, but just as often reusing architectural elements such as friezes, columns, and iconic images, thereby preserving the older culture by absorbing it. The general consensus was that these intersections were helpful in understanding how one culture affected the next and “how long these places have been around.” “If we had not taken these two courses at the same time, we probably would not have picked up on some of these subtle details.” This, of course, is at the heart of a liberal arts education: the ability to synthesize what has been absorbed with the reward of becoming a life-long learner.
And in response to a course evaluation question concerning personal growth due to this experience, one student hit on perhaps the single most important reason to participate in study abroad programs: “[I] realized how similar people are all over the world; any racial separation I may have had is now gone.”
August 2008 |
