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| From 2022 11 03 Athens |
This photo-of-the-day is from Athens, Greece. It shows the Arch of Hadrian. Hadrian was a Roman emperor and this arch is in Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis. What's with that? Ancient history is long...and messy.
A bonus photo, then and now, is after the jump.
Modern cities don't respect the past as much as some might want (and by some, I mean, of course, me). That's modern traffic passing right by the ancient Arch. And power lines. But there's another detail in this photo that makes my point about respect. It's not something in the photo. It's what isn't in the photo. The Arch makes for a grand frame for...what? It's hidden behind a tree.
I don't usually diss trees. But this modern one was planted in the wrong location. To see why, look below at the bonus photo of Hadrian's Arch, a photo I took on a trip to Athens in 1977. The composition of the photo was deliberately chosen for its view through Hadrian's Arch of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. That view today is blocked because someone thought to plant a tree there instead. There were trees around the temple ruins in 1977, but at least the temple was clearly visible through the Arch.
Note that the power lines in today's photo were not there in 1977. Even if they thought they couldn't move the street, did they have to string power lines right in front of the Arch? Maybe if I return to Athens in another 45 years, they'll have gotten it right.
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| From 1977 04 21 Greece |
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