Time out of mind

I have it on some kind of authority (i.e., a Greek person told me) that the land where Ancient Olympia exists today used to be below sea level. Or perhaps sea level used to be higher than the ground at Ancient Olympia? All I can say for sure is that the structures you see in the picture below definitely have bits of shells in the stones. I’m not telling you that I found a tiny shell on the ground and tucked it into my pocket for safekeeping, and if someone told you that they can’t possibly prove it.

The site called Ancient Olympia has buildings and a museum full of artifacts to prove that the early Olympic games took place here. UNESCO tells us the games took place every four years starting in 776 B.C. A few hundred years before that, UNESCO tells us, “Olympia became a centre for the worship of Zeus.” Now we’re getting into the murky space where archeological evidence and historical record and mythology all get a bit mixed up with each other.

June is my two-year Substack birthday! This month, I’m dusting off a few pieces from the archive and removing the paywall. Here’s one from July 2023.

A healthy poverty