If you are an Illinois College student (returning or incoming), and you have stumbled upon this website, you may want to consider this.
While there is still much planning and editing of the itinerary, here is a preliminary peek at our (unedited) description:
Description:
Greece: the birthplace of democracy, history, philosophy,
theater, and the Olympics. It is
the land of Socrates, Plato, and Pericles. St. Paul traveled here. Its history is etched into the ruins and archaeological
sites that dot the landscape. It
is also the strongly tied to the modern developments, inspiring modern forms of
democratic governance, participating in rapid urbanization and nationalization,
and playing major role in the Euro Crisis. How does its past relate to its present? What does ancient Athens have to do
with the modern nation? How does
its ancient democracy compare to its modern politics?
In this BreakAway, we will
explore several important ancient and modern Greek locations for their impact
on religion and society, always keeping in mind how representations of the
(ancient) past relate to contemporary circumstances. We will explore the ancient ruins and ideas of Athens
including a daytrip to the ancient religious center of Delphi to consider how
its antiquity has been used to craft a modern nationalist Greek identity, and
how Greek nationalism relates to the EU and austerity. From there, we will turn to the island
of Spetsis, a site of modern Greek feminist action centered around Laskarina
Bouboulina who fought for Greek independence. Next we turn to Corinth, Nafplio, Epidauros, and Mycenae,
exploring sites associated with St. Paul, the first modern Greek government,
ancient healing and theater, and the Iliad, respectively. Finally, we will visit Greece’s second
major city, Thessaloniki, which has an unbroken history from Alexander the
Great to the present day as a thriving metropolis. It is a place brimming with ancient, medieval, and modern
significance, a place where Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived side-by-side
under Byzantine and Ottoman rule.
It is an intersection between Greece, the Balkans, and Turkey with
multiple cross-cultural influences from religion to cuisine.
