Searching for Ancient Greece - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 182

Figure 12.6. The Peloponnesus
WHAT ARE THE GLORIES OF THE PELOPONNESUS?
The traveler can journey from Naphlio to sites that embody many of the glories of ancient
Greece. Tyrins, for example, is home to the great Hercules, whose travels and twelve labors
are deeply embedded in the myths of the western world. Even today, Arcadia, in the center
of the Peloponnese, stands as symbol of rustic peace and beauty. Its deep valleys and high
mountains lead the traveler to villages where monasteries and taverna are the centers of vil-
lage life. Delphi was home to the oracles and the priestess who could divine the future. My-
cenea was the kingdom of the mighty Agamemnon, who sent one hundred ships to the siege
of Troy out of duty to his brother Menelaus. It was Helen, his unfaithful wife—perhaps
kidnapped or perhaps a willing companion of Prince Paris of Troy—who set in motion the
Trojan War. And it was in Mycenea that the great tragedy of Agamemnon's dynasty unfol-
ded. His unfaithful wife Clytemnestra welcomed him home from the Trojan War by mur-
dering him and his children, bequeathing to us a timeless story of infidelity and revenge.