Hump Day Zentangle® Challenge #16 – It’s Greek to Me Edition

I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist the cheesy title of this week’s Hump Day Zentangle Challenge. We have been on the move and are now in the second country of our five week trip around the world. I am writing this from Bulgaria, and it looks like I need to admit that I missed a week of posting the challenge.

What is said to be the best preserved ancient Greek temple is located on the Agora in Athens. The temple was dedicated to Hephaestus, the ancient god of fire, and Athena, goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. First constructed from 449-415 B.C., this temple’s survival is attributable to the fact that over the centuries, it was adapted for other uses, including as a Greek Orthodox church from the 7th century until 1834.

When I started the Hump Day Challenge, my husband (a/k/a/ Mr. Excitement) predicted I would  become obsessed with publishing the challenge every Wednesday. He knows me pretty well. We first met sorting silverware in the Williams College fresh”men” cafeteria some 48 (gulp!) years ago.

He attempted to convince me that the Earth would not stop spinning on its axis were I to miss a week of publishing the Hump Day Zentangle Challenge. I missed last week! I feel I let people down, but as far as I can tell, gravity still exists. I’ll find out next week when we head for Australia from Slovenia. If I don’t fall off “down under”, then I guess he’s right. 😉

Maybe I would have gotten the challenge published on time had I not been bewitched by this nighttime view of the Parthenon on the Ancient Athens Acropolis from our hotel roof—or was it the Aperol Spritz?

For this (and last week’s) Hump Day Zentangle Challenge, I’m returning to Greece, where we spent 6 days on Crete, the southernmost of the major Greek islands, followed by four days in Athens, the Greek capital. (We were supposed to spend 8 days on Crete, but that’s a whole other story.)

It seems that most people, especially Scandinavians and Brits, head to Crete for better weather, outdoor swimming (even when the Greeks think it’s too cold), and some beach time. We were there because Dr. Excitement was invited to speak at a medical research conference. I was a happy trailing spouse because I’m an unashamed history geek. Of course, Greece is all layered up in history.

We visited history and archaeological museums in the towns of Chania and Heraklion on Crete, and two such museums in Athens, Greece, not to mention the ruins of prior civilizations that are omnipresent in that city. I found the visits uplifting as the talents and accomplishments of human beings for some eight millennia were displayed in context. However, at the same time, the museums were also depressing as they told the histories of sophisticated civilizations being ruthlessly conquered, occupied, and supplanted. In Greece, archaeologists must sort out literal layers of material objects used by humans, dating from as early as 6,000 B.C. to the present.

The depressing part is that the human race seems incapable of learning the lessons of history. Tribal hubris tends not to turn out well. Remember the Minoans?, the Mycenaeans?, the first Greek republic?, the Roman Empire?, the Incas?, the Spanish Empire?, the British Empire?, the 1,000 year (NOT –  thank God) Third Reich? The Soviet Union? —to name just a few. But, I DIGRESS—- (all caps on purpose). If you’re interested in a deeper dive into the Nihilism travel sometimes paradoxically causes me, you can read this essay I published after another trip.

Hump Day Zentangle® Challenge #16 – It’s Greek to Me Edition

This week’s challenge is inspired by the 6,000 years of art I saw in Greece. We are clearly not the first tanglers. Human beings have been attracted to and intrigued by patterns for millennia. Here are a few examples from the ancient world:

This Minoan civilization pottery in the Heraklion Archaeology Museum on Crete dates from 1,800 to 1,700 B.C. It inspired my composition for this week’s challenge and drove me more than a little crazy.

This week’s challenge is to deconstruct for yourself a pattern you see around you. Even if it looks like a named tangle you think you’ve seen before, try to do your own step outs/deconstruction, so you can replicate it in your style. The pattern inspiration can come from anywhere: nature, a shadow, a building, a fabric detail, etc. The possibilities are endless. I wish I could show you my step outs, but I mostly ended up with scribbles and jottings done in hotel rooms and airports, none of which I feel are worthy of sharing.

The ancients were clearly more successful in executing this tangle than I was, but this is where I ended up. The word in Greek in my composition is “Peace”. I so hope we can figure out a way to find/create more of it.

I hope you can discern some relationship between my tangle and the one on the tall black and white pot in the photo above from the museum. I still haven’t quite nailed even my version of it. Does anyone recognize it as an already published tangle “official” or otherwise.

I’m looking forward to seeing what you choose to deconstruct. Again, don’t worry about whether it may or may not have been deconstructed before. This challenge is for you to look at a pattern and come up with your own version of it. If you can, please also post a photo of the object that inspired you.

Please Share Your Hump Day Zentangle® Challenge Creations!

Please share your responses to this week’s challenge with us in the Hump Day Challenge Facebook Group and/or on your Instagram, Twitter  or Flickr feeds. Use the hashtag #hdchallenge15. If you’re not a member of the FB group, ask to join and I’ll add you.

There are other ways to share your work: We also have a Pinterest group board to share our Hump Day Challenge responses. Email me at suzanne@boomeresque.com if you’d like me to add you as a contributor to the Pinterest board or you can mention that in a comment with your Pinterest name below.

If you have your own blog and are posting your challenge responses there, leave the URL to your blog in a comment below so people can paste it into their browser and find your post. (PS: The first 2 times you comment, I will have to moderate the comment. After your first two comments on Boomeresque, your comments will appear without moderation.)

Feel free to share your work for this or any challenge at any time—even next week, next month, next year, ad infinitum. Participation in the challenges need not be linear! Last week’s post is so late it’s this week already!

Once you started tangling, did you find that you saw patterns everywhere? Like I have been accused of doing, are you always asking your companions to wait up so you can take a photo of random things?

Tagged as: Greece, hump day zentangle challenge