Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
oldest recognizable temple (800 B.C. ). Tiryns, legendary birthplace of Hercules, is
also in the area. These last two sights are not on the rail line and are best visited
by taxi from Argos.
Argos is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Greece. Many archaeologists
suspect that it may be the oldest in all of Europe. Legends, many of them the basic
stuff from which most of Greek mythology sprang, have their origins in Argos and
the area surrounding it. In the legendary time of Danaus, storytellers relate how his
50 daughters slew their husbands on their wedding night and then tried to make
amends with the devil by trying to fill a bottomless cask with water carried in sieves
from the Lake of Lerna.
The legend does, however, have a happy ending. One of Danaus's daughters,
realizing that it could ruin her honeymoon, let her spouse escape the murderous
nuptial-night activities. For this she was rewarded by becoming the ancestral mat-
riarch of a long line of mythological heroes.
The modern town of Argos was built up over ancient ruins from previous cen-
turies of conflict. The last ethnic group to participate in that form of urban renewal
was the Turks, who ravaged the town in 1397. As a result, Argos has scant visible
remains of its ancient origins except the theater and the Roman baths.
Day Excursion to
Corinth (Korinthos)
And the Isthmian Canal
Depart from Athens Larissa Station
Distance by Train: 57 miles (91 km)
Average Train Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
City Dialing Code: 741
www.ancientcorinth.net
This day excursion runs from modern Greece back through the millennia to the
Bronze Age. You have the opportunity to see modern Corinth (Korinthos), a typical
“new” Greek city, and its port on the Peloponnese. You may delve as well into the
hillside of ancient Corinth, where Saint Paul established a church, Nero fiddled
around with a canal, and Julius Caesar implemented an earlier version of the Mar-
shall Plan.
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