when i was a kid, learning about the greeks and the Peloponnesian War etc, i was so bored about it. i read some updated version of the odyssey and liked that, but was checked out on the actual history. it’s only after having traveled a little bit (still never even been anywhere near there, unless you count central turkey) and worked in agrarian contexts, visited small, remote islands where the dominant economic activities are still fishing/agriculture that the many greek islands, complex topographic peninsulas and their histories excite my imagination. to be some small fisherman on a little island or a seasonal shepherd or a market gardener on some island of limited strategic importance. maybe i learn to read a little, maybe i just know the calendar, the stars and watch sunrises and sunsets, the storms and the skies.

now that i’m older and more easily fascinated, if i was loaded and didn’t have to work, i would love to spend a few years on some sort of curated lengthy living tour of the islands to see sites, live in small villages for a season and learn their regional histories and their vistas. i mean, look at all of that. it’s like an entire universe unto itself.