Cefalu seen from the Temple of Diana on The Rock.

I needed to find a serious pothead during my two-hour visit to the Mandralisca Museum in Cefalu before I climbed the Rock towering over the city to drop in on the 5^th century BC Temple of Diana.

Although I had no problem recognizing a tuna salesman on one 4^th century BC crater (a crater is a classic pot of wine), I had a number of questions about various details and inscriptions on other bowls, coins, craters, cups, oil lamps and vases unearthed in Lipari and other parts of Sicily inhabited by the ancient Greeks.

What to do? I just sent a “wish you were here” email to self-described pothead (this is what some academics studying Greek vases actually call themselves) Aaron Paul at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C.

Art historian Paul, whom I met when he was lecturing on a Stanford/Harvard alumni cruise to lesser-known Greek islands last September, is a specialist in Greek vase painting and the go-to guy when it comes to Greek and Etruscan art. Aaron considers vases “windows into antiquity and a visual language that depicts many of the fascinating aspects of Greek life.” In fact, he took an extensive trip throughout Sicily (though not by foot) a few years ago to select pieces for a major exhibit in the US.

“Vases were designed for social conversation and vase painting mirrors the psyche of the times,” Aaron told me during breakfast as our ship floated by the island of Ikaria.

Of course, Aaron’s not here now when I desperately need him to describe the themes, myths, inscriptions, gods, muses, satyrs, centaurs and ordinary people depicted on these rich remnants of the past. But, as I surveyed the museum’s remarkable collection, I did recall one statement he made about how people used to drink wine out of some of these strange saucer-shaped containers.

“Very carefully,” Aaron said, noting that “vases have detailed depictions of intoxication in antiquity.”

NB: Aaron Paul’s thoughts on everything from Greek vases to Brad Pitt, whom he loved in “Troy,” will be included in my sequel to “The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean.”

Remains of the Temple of Diana.

Text and Photos by Joel Stratte-McClure

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."