The last stop on my northern trip was the site of Aiani, which has an impressive set of Classical-Hellenistic tombs and a series of excavated houses on an striking acropolis. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take pictures of it...
But, on the way there I stopped off the impressive Early Christian basilica at Ay. Paraskevi (near Aiani outside of Kozani). When there a local villager told me the story of how the basilica was found. He said that a man in the village had had a dream and in that dream Ay. Paraskevi appeared to him and told him to go and dig at a particular spot (near the town's Byzantine church). After his first attempt, he found nothing and gave up. Ay. Paraskevi promptly appear to him in another dream and urged him to dig again. When he did so, he uncovered the Early Christian basilica shown below (of course, the Archaeological Service helped once he discovered architecture). The design with apsidal ends on the transept is more common in the central Balkans than in Southern Greece.
The remarkable thing about this story is that the same story (more or less) has appeared in a Christian context for close to 1500 years! Saints regularly remind people of their churches and seem to take a very serious interest in their state. This may well account for the persistence of certain sacred places in the Mediterranean landscape.
From Kozani I made the long drive back to Athens and my air conditioned office and apartment...
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