The Attic plain, [Greek: to pedion], slopes gently towards the coast of
the Saronic Gulf on the south-west; on the east it is overlooked by
Mount Hymettus (3369 ft.); on the north-east by Pentelicus or Brilessus
(3635 ft.) from which, in ancient and modern times, an immense quantity
of the finest marble has been quarried; on the north-west by Parnes
(4636 ft.), a continuation of the Boeotian Cithaeron, and on the west by
Aegaleus (1532 ft.), which descends abruptly to the bay of Salamis. In
the centre of the plain extends from north-east to south-west a series
of low heights, now known as Turcovuni, culminating towards the south in
the sharply pointed Lycabettus (1112 ft.), now called Hagios Georgios
from the monastery which crowns its summit. Lycabettus, the most
prominent feature in the Athenian landscape, directly overhung the
ancient city, but was not included in its walls; its peculiar shape
rendered it unsuitable for fortification. The Turcovuni ridge, probably
the ancient Anchesmus, separates the valley of the Cephisus on the
north-west from that of its confluent, the Ilissus, which skirted the
ancient city on the south-west. The Cephisus, rising in Pentelicus,
enters the sea at New Phalerum; in summer it dwindles to an
insignificant stream, while the Ilissus, descending from Hymettus, is
totally dry, probably owing to the destruction of the ancient forests on
both mountains, and the consequent denudation of the soil. Separated
from Lycabettus by a depression to the south-west, through which flows a
brook, now a covered drain (probably to be identified with the
Eridanus), stands the remarkable oblong rocky mass of the Acropolis (512
ft.), rising precipitously on all sides except the western; its summit
was partially levelled in prehistoric times, and the flat area was
subsequently enlarged by further cutting and by means of retaining
walls. Close to the Acropolis on the west is the lower rocky eminence of
the Areopagus, [Greek: Areios pagos] (377 ft.), the seat of the famous
council; the name (see also AREOPAGUS) has been connected with Ares,
whose temple stood on the northern side of the hill, but is more
probably derived from the [Greek: Apai] or Eumenides, whose sanctuary
was formed by a cleft in its north-eastern declivity. Farther west of
the Acropolis are three elevations; to the north-west the so-called
"Hill of the Nymphs" (341 ft.), on which the modern Observatory stands;
to the west the Pnyx, the meeting-place of the Athenian democracy (351
ft.), and to the south-west the loftier Museum Hill (482 ft.), still
crowned with the remains of the monument of Philopappus. A cavity, a
little to the west of the Observatory Hill, is generally supposed to be
the ancient Barathron or place of execution. To the south-east of the
Acropolis, beyond the narrow valley of the Ilissus, is the hill Ardettus
(436 ft.). The distance from the Acropolis to the nearest point of the
sea coast at Phalerum is a little over 3 m.
Influence of the geographical position.
The natural situation of Athens was such as to favour the growth of a
powerful community. For the first requisites of a primitive
settlement--food supply and defence--it afforded every advantage. The
Attic plain, notwithstanding the lightness of the soil, furnished an
adequate supply of cereals; olive and fig groves and vineyards were
cultivated from the earliest times in the valley of the Cephisus, and
pasturage for sheep and goats was abundant. The surrounding rampart of
mountains was broken towards the north-east by an open tract stretching
between Hymettus and Pentelicus towards Marathon, and was traversed by
the passes of Decelea, Phyle and Daphne on the north and north-west, but
the distance between these natural passages and the city was sufficient
to obviate the danger of surprise by an invading land force. On the
other hand Athens, like Corinth, Megara and Argos, was sufficiently far
from the sea to enjoy security against the sudden descent of a hostile
fleet. At the same time the relative proximity of three natural
harbours, Peiraeus, Zea and Munychia, favoured the development of
maritime commerce and of the sea power which formed the basis of
Athenian hegemony. The climate is temperate, but liable to sudden
changes; the mean temperature is 63 deg. .1 F., the maximum (in July) 99
deg. .01, the minimum (in January) 31 deg. .55. The summer heat is
moderated by the sea-breeze or by cool northerly winds from the
mountains (especially in July and August). The clear, bracing air,
according to ancient writers, fostered the intellectual and aesthetic
character of the people and endowed them with mental and physical
energy. For the architectural embellishment of the city the finest
building material was procurable without difficulty and in abundance;
Pentelicus forms a mass of white, transparent, blue-veined marble;
another variety, somewhat similar in appearance, but generally of a
bluer hue, was obtained from Hymettus. For ordinary purposes grey
limestone was furnished by Lycabettus and the adjoining hills; limestone
from the promontory of Acte (the so-called "poros" stone), and
conglomerate, were also largely employed. For the ceramic art admirable
material was at hand in the district north-west of the Acropolis. For
sculpture and various architectural purposes white, fine-grained marble
was brought from Paros and Naxos. The main drawback to the situation of
the city lay in the insufficiency of its water-supply, which was
supplemented by an aqueduct constructed in the time of the Peisistratids
and by later water-courses dating from the Roman period. A great number
of wells were also sunk and rain-water was stored in cisterns.
Sources for Athenian topography.
For the purposes of scientific topography observation of the natural
features and outlines is followed by exact investigation of the
architectural structures or remnants, a process demanding high
technical competence, acute judgment and practical experience, as well
as wide and accurate scholarship. The building material and the manner
of its employment furnish evidence no less important than the
character of the masonry, the design and the modes of ornamentation.
The testimony afforded by inscriptions is often of decisive
importance, especially that of commemorative or votive tablets or of
boundary-stones found _in situ_; the value of this evidence is, on the
other hand, sometimes neutralized owing to the former removal of
building material already used and its incorporation in later
structures. Thus sepulchral inscriptions have been found on the
Acropolis, though no burials took place there in ancient times. In the
next place comes the evidence derived from the whole range of ancient
literature and specially from descriptions of the city or its
different localities. The earliest known description of Athens was
that of Diodorus, [Greek: ho periaegtes], who lived in the second half
of the 4th century B.C. Among his successors were Polemon of Ilium
(beginning of 2nd century B.C.), whose great [Greek: kosmikae
periaegaesis] gave a minute account of the votive offerings on the
Acropolis and the tombs on the Sacred Way; and Heliodorus (second half
of the 2nd century) who wrote fifteen volumes on the monuments of
Athens. Of these and other works of the earliest topographers only
some fragments remain. In the period between A.D. 143 and 159
Pausanias visited Athens at a time when the monuments of the great age
were still in their perfection and the principal embellishments of the
Roman period had already been completed. The first thirty chapters of
his invaluable _Description of Greece_ ([Greek: periaegaesis taes
Hellados]) are devoted to Athens, its ports and environs. Pausanias
makes no claim to exhaustiveness; he selected what was best worth
noticing ([Greek: ta axiologotata]). His account, drawn up from notes
taken in the main from personal observation, possesses an especial
importance for topographical research, owing to his method of
describing each object in the order in which he saw it during the
course of his walks. His accuracy, which has been called in question
by some scholars, has been remarkably vindicated by recent excavations
at Athens and elsewhere. The list of ancient topographers closes with
Pausanias. The literature of succeeding centuries furnishes only
isolated references; the more important are found in the scholia on
Aristophanes, the lexicons of Hesychius, Photius and others, and the
_Etymologicum Magnum_. The notices of Athens during the earlier middle
ages are scanty in the extreme. In 1395 Niccola da Martoni, a pilgrim
from the Holy Land, visited Athens and wrote a description of a
portion of the city. Of the work of Cyriac of Ancona, written about
1450, only some fragments remain, which are well supplemented by the
contemporaneous description of the capable observer known as the
"Anonymous of Milan." Two treatises in Greek by unknown writers belong
to the same period. The Dutchman Joannes Meursius (1579-1639) wrote
three disquisitions on Athenian topography. The conquest by Venice in
1687 led to the publication of several works in that city, including
the descriptions of De la Rue and Fanelli and the maps of Coronelli
and others. The systematic study of Athenian topography was begun in
the 17th century by French residents at Athens, the consuls Giraud and
Chataignier and the Capuchin monks. The visit of the French physician
Jacques Spon and the Englishman, Sir George Wheler or Wheeler
(1650-1723), fortunately took place before the catastrophe of the
Parthenon in 1687; Spon's _Voyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grece et
du Levant_, which contained the first scientific description of the
ruins of Athens, appeared in 1678; Wheler's _Journey into Greece_, in
1682. A period of British activity in research followed in the 18th
century. The monumental work of James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, who
spent three years at Athens (1751-1754), marked an epoch in the
progress of Athenian topography and is still indispensable to its
study, owing to the demolition of ancient buildings which began about
the middle of the 18th century. To this period also belong the labours
of Richard Pococke and Richard Dalton, Richard Chandler, E.D. Clarke
and Edward Dodwell. The great work of W.M. Leake (_Topography of
Athens and the Demi_, 2nd ed., 1841) brought the descriptive
literature to an end and inaugurated the period of modern scientific
research, in which German archaeologists have played a distinguished
part.
Recent research.
Recent investigation has thrown a new and unexpected light on the art,
the monuments and the topography of the ancient city. Numerous and
costly excavations have been carried out by the Greek government and
by native and foreign scientific societies, while accidental
discoveries have been frequently made during the building of the
modern town. The museums, enriched by a constant inflow of works of
art and inscriptions, have been carefully and scientifically arranged,
and afford opportunities for systematic study denied to scholars of
the past generation. Improved means of communication have enabled many
acute observers to apply the test of scrutiny on the spot to theories
and conclusions mainly based on literary evidence; five foreign
schools of archaeology, directed by eminent scholars, lend valuable
aid to students of all nationalities, and lectures are frequently
delivered in the museums and on the more interesting and important
sites. The native archaeologists of the present day hold a recognized
position in the scientific work; the patriotic sentiment of former
times, which prompted their zeal but occasionally warped their
judgment, has been merged in devotion to science for its own sake, and
the supervision of excavations, as well as the control of the
art-collections, is now in highly competent hands. Athens has thus
become a centre of learning, a meeting-place for scholars and a basis
for research in every part of the Greek world. The attention of many
students has naturally been concentrated on the ancient city, the
birthplace of European art and literature, and a great development of
investigation and discussion in the special domain of Athenian
archaeology has given birth to a voluminous literature. Many theories
hitherto universally accepted have been called in question or proved
to be unsound: the views of Leake, for instance, have been challenged
on various points, though many of his conclusions have been justified
and confirmed. The supreme importance of a study of Greek antiquities
on the spot, long understood by scholars in Europe and in America, has
gradually come to be recognized in England, where a close attention to
ancient texts, not always adequately supplemented by a course of local
study and observation, formerly fostered a peculiarly conservative
attitude in regard to the problems of Greek archaeology. Since the
foundation of the German Institute in 1874, Athenian topography has to
a large extent become a speciality of German scholars, among whom
Wilhelm Dorpfeld occupies a pre-eminent position owing to his great
architectural attainments and unrivalled local knowledge. Many of his
bold and novel theories have provoked strenuous opposition, while
others have met with general acceptance, except among scholars of the
more conservative type.
[Illustration: Map of Athens.]
The early citadel.
_Prehistoric Athens._--Numerous traces of the "Mycenaean" epoch have
recently been brought to light in Athens and its neighbourhood. Among
the monuments of this age discovered in the surrounding districts are
the rock-hewn tombs of Spata, accidentally revealed by a landslip in
1877, and domed sepulchre at Menidi, near the ancient Acharnae,
excavated by Lolling in 1879. Other "Mycenaean" landmarks have been laid
bare at Eleusis, Thoricus, Halae and Aphidna. These structures, however,
are of comparatively minor importance in point of dimensions and
decoration; they were apparently designed as places of sepulture for
local chieftains, whose domains were afterwards incorporated in the
Athenian realm by the [Greek: synoikismos] (synoecism) attributed to
Theseus. The situation of the Acropolis, dominating the surrounding
plain and possessing easy communication with the sea, favoured the
formation of a relatively powerful state--inferior, however, to Tiryns
and Mycenae; the myths of Cecrops, Erechtheus and Theseus bear witness
to the might of the princes who ruled in the Athenian citadel, and here
we may naturally expect to find traces of massive fortifications
resembling in some degree those of the great Argolid cities. Such in
fact have been brought to light by the modern excavations on the
Acropolis (1885-1889). Remains of primitive polygonal walls which
undoubtedly surrounded the entire area have been found at various points
a little within the circuit of the existing parapet. The best-preserved
portions are at the eastern extremity, at the northern side near the
ancient "royal" exit, and at the south-western angle. The course of the
walls can be traced with a few interruptions along the southern side. On
the northern side are the foundations of a primitive tower and other
remains, apparently of dwelling-houses, one of which may have been the
[Greek: pukinos domos Erthaeos] mentioned by Homer (_Od_. vii. 81).
Among the foundations were discovered fragments of "Mycenaean" pottery.
The various approaches to the citadel on the northern side--the rock-cut
flight of steps north-east of the Erechtheum (q.v.), the stairs leading
to the well Clepsydra, and the intermediate passage supposed to have
furnished access to the Persians--are all to be attributed to the
primitive epoch. Two pieces of polygonal wall, one beneath the bastion
of Nike Apteros, the other in a direct line between the Roman gateway
and the door of the Propylaea, are all that remain of the primitive
defences of the main entrance.
The Pelasgicum.
These early fortifications of the Acropolis, ascribed to the primitive
non-hellenic Pelasgi, must be distinguished from the Pelasgicum Or
Pelargicum, which was in all probability an encircling wall, built round
the base of the citadel and furnished with nine gates from which it
derived the name of Enneapylon. Such a wall would be required to protect
the clusters of dwellings around the Acropolis as well as the springs
issuing from the rock, while the gates opening in various directions
would give access to the surrounding pastures and gardens. This view,
which is that of E. Curtius, alone harmonizes with the statement of
Herodotus (vi. 137) that the wall was "around" ([Greek: peri]) the
Acropolis, and that of Thucydides (ii. 17) that it was "beneath"
([Greek: hypo]) the fortress. Thus it would appear that the citadel had
an outer and an inner line of defence in prehistoric times. The space
enclosed by the outer wall was left unoccupied after the Persian wars in
deference to an oracular response apparently dictated by military
considerations, the maintenance of an open zone being desirable for the
defence of the citadel. A portion of the outer wall has been recognized
in a piece of primitive masonry discovered near the Odeum of Herodes
Atticus; other traces will probably come to light when the northern and
eastern slopes of the Acropolis have been completely explored. Leake,
whom Frazer follows, assumed the Pelasgicum to be a fortified space at
the western end of the Acropolis; this view necessitates the assumption
that the nine gates were built one within the other, but early antiquity
furnishes no instance of such a construction; Dorpfeld believes it to
have extended from the grotto of Pan to the sacred precinct of
Asclepius. The well-known passage of Lucian (_Piscator_, 47) cannot be
regarded as decisive for any of the theories advanced, as any portion of
the old _enceinte_ dismantled by the Persians may have retained the name
in later times. The Pelasgic wall enclosed the spring Clepsydra, beneath
the north-western corner of the Acropolis, which furnished a
water-supply to the defenders of the fortress. The spring, to which a
staircase leads down, was once more included in a bastion during the War
of Independence by the Greek chief Odysseus.
The Pnyx.
To the "Pelasgic" era may perhaps be referred (with Curtius and
Milchhofer) the immense double terrace on the north-eastern slope of the
Pnyx (395 ft. by 212), the upper portion of which is cut out of the
rock, while the lower is enclosed by a semicircular wall of massive
masonry; the theory of these scholars, however, that the whole precinct
was a sanctuary of the Pelasgian Zeus cannot be regarded as proved, nor
is it easy to abandon the generally received view that this was the
scene of the popular assemblies of later times, notwithstanding the
apparent unsuitability of the ground and the insufficiency of room for a
large multitude. These difficulties are met by the assumption that the
semicircular masonry formed the base of a retaining-wall which rose to a
considerable height, supporting a theatre-like structure capable of
seating many thousand persons. The masonry may be attributed to the 5th
century; the chiselling of the immense blocks is not "Cyclopean."
Projecting from the upper platform at the centre of the chord of the
semicircular area is a cube of rock, 11 ft. square and 5 ft. high,
approached on either side by a flight of steps leading to the top; this
block, which Curtius supposes to have been the primitive altar of Zeus
[Greek: Hupsistos], may be safely identified with the orators' bema,
[Greek: ho lithos en tae Pykni] (Aristoph. _Pax_, 680). Plutarch's
statement that the Thirty Tyrants removed the bema so as to face the
land instead of the sea is probably due to a misunderstanding. Other
cubes of rock, apparently altars, exist in the neighbourhood. There can
be little doubt that the Pnyx was the seat of an ancient cult; the
meetings of the Ecclesia were of a religious character and were preceded
by a sacrifice to Zeus [Greek: Agoraios]; nor is it conceivable that,
but for its sacred associations, a site would have been chosen so
unsuitable for the purposes of a popular assembly as to need the
addition of a costly artificial auditorium.
Rock-dwellings and tombs.
The Pnyx, the Hill of the Nymphs and the Museum Hill are covered with
vestiges of early settlements which extend to a considerable distance
towards the south-east in the direction of Phalerum. They consist of
chambers of various sizes, some of which were evidently human
habitations, together with cisterns, channels, seats, steps, terraces
and quadrangular tombs, all cut in the rock. This neighbourhood was held
by Curtius to have been the site of the primeval rock city, [Greek:
kranaa polis] (Aristoph. _Ach_. 75), anterior to the occupation of the
Acropolis and afterwards abandoned for the later settlement. It seems
inconceivable, however, that any other site should have been preferred
by the primitive settlers to the Acropolis, which offered the greatest
advantages for defence; the Pnyx, owing to its proximity to the centres
of civic life, can never have been deserted, and that portion which lay
within the city walls must have been fully occupied when Athens was
crowded during the Peloponnesian War. Some of the rock chambers
originally intended for tombs were afterwards converted, perhaps under
pressure of necessity, into habitations, as in the case of the so-called
"Prison of Socrates," which consists of three chambers horizontally
excavated and a small round apartment of the "beehive" type. The remains
on the Pnyx and its neighbourhood cannot all be assigned to one epoch,
the prehistoric age. The dwellings do not correspond in size or details
with the undoubtedly prehistoric abodes on the Acropolis. In view of the
ancient law which forbade burial within the city, the tombs within the
circuit of the city walls must either be earlier than the time of
Themistocles or several centuries later; in the similar rock-tombs on
the neighbouring slopes of the Acropolis and Areopagus both Mycenaean
and Dipylon pottery have been found. But the numerous vertically
excavated tombs outside the walls are of late date and belong for the
most part to the Roman period.
The Areopagus.
The Areopagus is now a bare rock possessing few architectural traces.
The legend of its occupation by the Amazons (Aeschylus, _Eum_. 681 seq.)
may be taken as indicating its military importance for an attack on the
Acropolis; the Persians used it as a _point d'appui_ for their assault.
The seat of the old oligarchical council and court for homicide was
probably on its eastern height. Here were the altar of Athena Areia and
two stones, the [Greek: lithos Ybreos], on which the accuser, and the
[Greek: lithos Anaideias], on which the accused, took their stand.
Beneath, at the north-eastern corner, is the cleft which formed the
sanctuary of the [Greek: Semnai], or Erinyes. There is no reason for
disturbing the associations connected with this spot as the scene of St
Paul's address to the Athenians (E. Gardner, _Anc. Athens_, p. 505).
_Hellenic Period._--While modern research has added considerably to our
knowledge of prehistoric Athens, a still greater light has been thrown
on the architecture and topography of the city in the earlier historic
or "archaic" era, the subsequent age of Athenian greatness, and the
period of decadence which set in with the Macedonian conquest; the first
extends from the dawn of history to 480-479 B.C., when the city was
destroyed by the Persians; the second, or classical, age closes in 322
B.C., when Athens lost its political independence after the Lamian War;
the third, or Hellenistic, in 146 B.C., when the state fell under Roman
protection. We must here group these important epochs together, as
distinguished from the later period of Roman rule, and confine ourselves
to a brief notice of their principal monuments and a record of the
discoveries by which they have been illustrated in recent years.
The city in the "archaic" era.
The earliest settlement on the Acropolis was doubtless soon increased by
groups of dwellings at its base, inhabited by the dependents of the
princes who ruled in the stronghold. These habitations would naturally
in the first instance lie in close proximity to the western approach;
after the building of the Pelasgicum they seem to have extended beyond
its walls towards the south and south-west--towards the sea and the
waters of the Ilissus. The district thus occupied sloped towards the sun
and was sheltered by the Acropolis from the prevailing northerly winds.
The Thesean synoecism led to the introduction of new cults and the
foundation of new shrines partly on the Acropolis, partly in the
inhabited district at its base both within and without the wall of the
Pelasgicum. Some of the shrines in this region are mentioned by
Thucydides in a passage which is of capital importance for the
topography of the city at this period (ii. 15). By degrees the inhabited
area began to comprise the open ground to the north-west, the nearer
portion of the later Ceramicus, or "potters' field" (afterwards divided
by the walls of Themistocles into the Inner and Outer Ceramicus), and
eventually extended to the north and east of the citadel, which, by the
beginning of the 5th century B.C., had become the centre of a circular
or wheel-shaped city, [Greek: polios trochoeideos akra karaena] (Oracle
_apud_ Herod, vii. 140). To this enlarged city was applied, probably
about the second half of the 6th century, the special designation
[Greek: to aste], which afterwards distinguished Athens from its port,
the Peiracus; the Acropolis was already [Greek: e polis] (Thucyd. ii.
15). The city is supposed to have been surrounded by a wall before the
time of Solon, the existence of which may be deduced from Thucydides'
account of the assassination of Hipparchus (vi. 57), but no certain
traces of such a wall have been discovered; the materials may have been
removed to build the walls of Themistocles.
The Agora.
The centre of commercial and civic life of the older group of
communities, as of the greater city of the classical age, was the Agora
or market. Here were the various public buildings, which, when the power
of the princes on the citadel was transferred to the archons, formed the
offices of the administrative magistracy. The site of the primitive
Agora ([Greek: archaia agora]) was probably in the hollow between the
Acropolis and the Pnyx, which formed a convenient meeting-place for the
dwellers on the north and south sides of the fortress as well as for its
inhabitants. In the time of the Peisistratids the Agora was enlarged so
as to extend over the Inner Ceramicus on the north-west, apparently
reaching the northern declivities of the Areopagus and the Acropolis on
the south. After the Persian Wars the northern portion was used for
commercial, the southern for political and ceremonial purposes. In the
southern were the Orchestra, where the Dionysiac dances took place, and
the famous statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton by Antenor which were
carried away by Xerxes; also the Metroum, or temple of the Mother of the
Gods, the Bouleuterium, or council-chamber of the Five Hundred, the
Prytaneum, the hearth of the combined communities, where the guests of
the state dined, the temple of the Dioscuri, and the Tholus, or Skias, a
circular stone-domed building in which the Prytaneis were maintained at
the public expense; in the northern were the Leocorium, where Hipparchus
was slain, the [Greek: stoa basilikae], the famous [Greek: stoa
poikilae], where Zeno taught, and other structures. The Agora was
commonly described as the "Ceramicus," and Pausanias gives it this name;
of the numerous buildings which he saw here scarcely a trace remains;
their position, for the most part, is largely conjectural, and the exact
boundaries of the Agora itself are uncertain. What are perhaps the
remains of the [Greek: stoa basilikae], in which the Archon Basileus
held his court and the Areopagus Council sat in later times, were
brought to light in the winter of 1897-1898, when excavations were
carried out on the eastern slope of the "Theseum" hill. Here was found a
rectangular structure resembling a temple, but with a side door to the
north; it possessed a portico of six columns. The north slope of the
Areopagus, where a number of early tombs were found, was also explored,
and the limits of the Agora on the south and north-west were
approximately ascertained. A portion of the main road leading from the
Dipylon to the Agora was discovered.
The Enneacrunus.
In 1892 Dorpfeld began a series of excavations in the district between
the Acropolis and the Pnyx with the object of determining the situation
of the buildings described by Pausanias as existing in the neighbourhood
of the Agora, and more especially the position of the Enneacrunus
fountain. The Enneacrunus has hitherto been generally identified with
the spring Callirrhoe in the bed of the Ilissus, a little to the
south-east of the Olympieum; it is apparently, though not explicitly,
placed by Thucydides (ii. 15) in proximity to that building, as well as
the temple of Dionysus [Greek: en limnais] and other shrines, the
temples of Zeus Olympius and of Ge and the Pythium, which he mentions as
situated mainly to the south of the Acropolis. On the other hand,
Pausanias (i. 14. 1), who never deviates without reason from the
topographical order of his narrative, mentions the Enneacrunus in the
midst of his description of certain buildings which were undoubtedly in
the region of the Agora, and unless he is guilty of an unaccountable
digression the Enneacrunus which he saw must have lain west of the
Acropolis. It is now generally agreed that the Agora of classical times
covered the low ground between the hill of the "Theseum," the Areopagus
and the Pnyx; and Pausanias, in the course of his description, appears
to have reached its southern end. The excavations revealed a main road
of surprisingly narrow dimensions winding up from the Agora to the
Acropolis. A little to the south-west of the point where the road turns
towards the Propylaca was found a large rock-cut cistern or reservoir
which Dorpfeld identifies with the Enneacrunus. The reservoir is
supplied by a conduit of 6th-century tiles connected with an early stone
aqueduct, the course of which is traceable beneath the Dionysiac theatre
and the royal garden in the direction of the Upper Ilissus. These
elaborate waterworks were, according to Dorpfeld, constructed by the
Peisistratids in order to increase the supply from the ancient spring
Callirrhoe; the fountain was furnished with nine jets and henceforth
known as Enneacrunus. This identification has been hotly contested by
many scholars, and the question must still be regarded as undecided. An
interesting confirmation of Dorpfeld's view is furnished by the map of
Guillet and Coronelli, published in 1672, in which the Enneacrunus is
depicted as a well with a stream of running water in the neighbourhood
of the Pnyx. The fact that spring water is not now found in this
locality is by no means fatal to the theory; recent engineering
investigations have shown that much of the surface water of the Attic
plain has sunk to a lower level. In front of the reservoir is a small
open space towards which several roads converge; close by is a
triangular enclosure of polygonal masonry, in which were found various
relics relating to the worship of Dionysus, a very ancient wine-press
([Greek: laenos]) and the remains of a small temple. Built over this
early precinct, which Dorpfeld identifies with the Dionysium [Greek: en
limnais], or Lenaeum, is a basilica-shaped building of the Roman period,
apparently sacred to Bacchus; in this was found an inscription
containing the rules of the society of the Iobacchi. There is an
obvious difficulty in assuming that [Greek: limnai], in the sense of
"marshes," existed in this confined area, but stagnant pools may still
be seen here in winter. Dorpfeld's identification of the Dionysium,
[Greek: en limnais] cannot be regarded as proved; his view that another
Pythium and another Olympieum existed in this neighbourhood is still
less probable; but the inconclusiveness of these theories does not
necessarily invalidate his identification of the Enneacrunus, with
regard to the position of which the language of Thucydides is far from
clear. Another enclosure, a little to the south, is proved by an
inscription to have been a sanctuary of the hitherto unknown hero
Amynos, with whose cult those of Asclepius and the hero Dexion were here
associated; under the name Dexion, the poet Sophocles is said to have
been worshipped after his death. The whole district adjoining the
Areopagus was found to have been thickly built over; the small, mean
dwelling-houses intersected by narrow, crooked lanes convey a vivid idea
of the contrast between the modest private residences and the great
public structures of the ancient city.
The Academy and Lyceum.
The age of the Peisistratids (560-511 B.C.) marked an era in the history
of Athenian topography. The greatest of their foundations, the temple of
Olympian Zeus, will be referred to later. Among the monuments of their
rule, in addition to the enlarged Agora and the Enneacrunus, were the
Academy and perhaps the Lyceum. The original name of the Academy may
have been Hecademia, from Hecademus, an early proprietor (but see
ACADEMY, GREEK). The famous seat of the Platonic philosophy was a
gymnasium enlarged as a public park by Cimon; it lay about a mile to the
north-west of the Dipylon Gate, with which it was connected by a street
bordered with tombs. The Lyceum, where Aristotle taught, was originally
a sanctuary of Apollo Lyceius. Like the Academy, it was an enclosure
with a gymnasium and garden; it lay to the east of the city beyond the
Diocharean Gate.
The Acropolis before the Persian wars.
Little was known of the buildings on the Acropolis in the pre-Persian
period before the great excavations of 1885-1888, which rank among the
most surprising achievements of modern research. The results of these
operations, which were conducted by the Archaeological Society under the
direction of Kavvadias and Kawerau, must be summarized with the utmost
brevity. The great deposits of sculpture and pottery now unearthed,
representing all that escaped from the the ravages of the Persians and
the burning of the ancient shrines, afford a startling revelation of the
development of Greek art in the 7th and 6th centuries. Numbers of
statues--among them a series of draped and richly-coloured female
figures--masterpieces of painted pottery, only equalled by the Attic
vases found in Magna Grecia and Etruria, and numerous bronzes, were
among the treasures of art now brought to light. All belong to the
"archaic" epoch; only a few remains of the greater age were found,
including some fragments of sculptures from the Parthenon and
Erechtheum. We are principally concerned, however, with the results
which add to our knowledge of the topography and architecture of the
Acropolis. The entire area of the summit was now thoroughly explored,
the excavations being carried down to the surface of the rock, which on
the southern side was found to slope outwards to a depth of about 45 ft.
In the lower strata were discovered the remnants of Cyclopean or
prehistoric architecture already mentioned. Of later date, perhaps, are
the limestone polygonal retaining walls on the west front, which
extended on either side of the early entrance. Of these a portion may
probably be attributed to the Peisistratids, in whose time the Acropolis
once more became the stronghold of a despotism. Its fortifications,
though not increased, were apparently strengthened by the Tyrants. To
its embellishment they probably contributed the older ornamental
entrance, facing south-west, the precursor of the greater structure of
Mnesicles (see PROPYLAEA) and the colonnade of the "Hecatompedon," or
earlier temple of Athena, at this time the only large sacred edifice on
the citadel. The name was subsequently applied to the cella, or eastern
chamber, of the Parthenon, which is exactly 100 ft. long, and also
became a popular designation of the temple itself.
The old temple of Athena.
The ancient Hecatompedon may in all probability be identified with an
early temple, also 100 ft. long, the foundations of which were pointed
out in 1885 by Dorpfeld on the ground immediately adjoining the south
side of the Erechtheum. On this spot was apparently the primitive
sanctuary of Athena, the rich temple [Greek: pion naeos] of Homer (_Il._
ii. 549), in which the cult of the goddess was associated with that of
Erechtheus; the Homeric temple is identified by Furtwangler with the
"compact house of Erechtheus" (_Od_. vii. 81), which, he holds, was not
a royal palace, but a place of worship, and traces of it may perhaps be
recognized in the fragments of prehistoric masonry enclosed by the
existing foundations. The foundations seem to belong to the 7th century,
except those of the colonnade, which was possibly added by Peisistratus.
According to Dorpfeld, this was the "old temple" of Athena Polias,
frequently mentioned in literature and inscriptions, in which was housed
the most holy image [Greek: xoanon] of the goddess which fell from
heaven; it was burnt, but not completely destroyed, during the Persian
War, and some of its external decorations were afterwards built into the
north wall of the Acropolis; it was subsequently restored, he thinks,
with or without its colonnade--in the former case a portion of the
peristyle must have been removed when the Erechtheum was built so as to
make room for the porch of the maidens; the building was set on fire in
406 B.C. (Xen. _Hell._ i. 6. 1), and the conflagration is identical with
that mentioned by Demosthenes (_In Timocr._ xxiv. 155); its
"opisthodomos" served as the Athenian treasury in the 5th and 4th
centuries; the temple is the [Greek: archaios neos taes Poliados]
mentioned by Strabo (ix. 16), and it was still standing in the time of
Pausanias, who applies to it the same name (i. 27. 3). The conclusion
that the foundations are those of an old temple burnt by the Persians
has been generally accepted, but other portions of Dorpfeld's
theory--more especially his assumption that the temple was restored
after the Persian War--have provoked much controversy. Thus J.G. Frazer
maintains the hitherto current theory that the earlier temple of Athena
and Erechtheus was on the site of the Erechtheum; that the Erechtheum
inherited the name [Greek: archaios neos] from its predecessor, and that
the "opisthodomos" in which the treasures were kept was the west chamber
of the Parthenon; Furtwangler and Milchhofer hold the strange view that
the "opisthodomos" was a separate building at the east end of the
Acropolis, while Penrose thinks the building discovered by Dorpfeld was
possibly the Cecropeum. E. Curtius and J.W. White, on the other hand,
accept Dorpfeld's identification, but believe that only the western
portion of the temple or opisthodomos was rebuilt after the Persian War.
Admitting the identification, we may perhaps conclude that the temple
was repaired in order to provide a temporary home for the venerated
image and other sacred objects; no traces of a restoration exist, but
the walls probably remained standing after the Persian conflagration.
The removal of the ancient temple was undoubtedly intended when the
Erechtheum was built, but superstition and popular feeling may have
prevented its demolition and the removal of the [Greek: xoanon] to the
new edifice. The temple consisted of an eastern cella with pronaos;
behind this was the opisthodomos, divided into three chambers--possibly
treasuries--with a portico at the western end. The peristyle, if we
compare the measurements of the stylobate with those of the drums built
into the wall of the Acropolis, may be concluded to have consisted of
six Doric columns at the ends and twelve at the sides. In one of the
pediments was a gigantomachy, of which some fragments have been
recovered.
The grottoes of Pan and Apollo.
In 1896 excavations with the object of exploring the whole northern and
eastern slopes of the Acropolis were begun by Kavvadias. The pathway
between the citadel and the Areopagus was found to be so narrow that it
is certain the Panathenaic procession cannot have taken this route to
the Acropolis. On the north-west rock the caves known as the grottoes of
Pan and Apollo were cleared out; these consist of a slight high-arched
indentation immediately to the east of the Clepsydra and a double and
somewhat deeper cavern a little farther to the east. In the first
mentioned are a number of niches in which [Greek: pinakes] (votive
tablets) were placed: some of these, inscribed with dedications to
Apollo, have been discovered. The whole locality was the seat of the
ancient cult of this deity, afterwards styled "Hypacraeus," with which
was associated the legend of Creusa and the birth of Ion. The worship of
Pan was introduced after the Persian wars, in consequence of an
apparition seen by Pheidippides, the Athenian courier, in the mountains
of Arcadia. Another cave more to the west was revealed by the demolition
of the bastion of Odysseus. To the east a much deeper and hitherto
unknown cavern has been revealed, which Kavvadias identifies with the
grotto of Pan. Close to it are a series of steps hewn in the rock which
connect with those discovered in 1886 within the Acropolis wall. Farther
east is an underground passage leading eastward to a cave supposed to be
the sanctuary of Aglaurus where the ephebi took the oath; with this
passage is connected a secret staircase leading up through a cleft in
the rock to the precinct of the Errephori on the Acropolis. It is
conceivable that the priestesses employed this exit when descending on
their mysterious errand.
The classical period: the walls of Themistocles.
In the fifty years between the Persian and the Peloponnesian wars
architecture and plastic art attained their highest perfection in
Athens. The almost complete destruction of the buildings on the
Acropolis and in the lower city, among them many temples and shrines
which religious sentiment might otherwise have preserved, facilitated
the realization of the magnificent architectural designs of
Themistocles, Cimon and Pericles, while the rapid growth of the Athenian
empire provided the state with the necessary means for the execution of
these sumptuous projects. Of the great monuments of this epoch few
traces remain except on the Acropolis. After the departure of the
Persians the first necessity was the reconstruction of the defences of
the city and the citadel. The walls of the city, now built under the
direction of Themistocles, embraced a larger area than the previous
circuit, with which they seem to have coincided at the Dipylon Gate on
the north-west where the Sacred Way to Eleusis was joined by the
principal carriage route to the Peiraeus and the roads to the Academy
and Colonus. The other more important gates were the Peiraic and Melitan
on the west; the Itonian on the south leading to Phalerum, the Diomean
and Diocharean on the east, and the Acharnian on the north. The wall,
which was strengthened with numerous towers, enclosed the quarters of
Collytus on the north, Melite on the west, Limnae on the south-west and
south, and Diomea on the east. The scanty traces which remain have not
been systematically excavated except in the neighbourhood of the
Dipylon; the discovery of sepulchral tablets built into the masonry
illustrates the statement of Thucydides with regard to the employment of
such material in the hasty construction of the walls. The circuit has
been practically ascertained in its general lines, though not in
details; it is given by Thucydides (ii. 13. 7) as 43 stades (about 5-1/2
m.) exclusive of the portion between the points of junction with the
long walls extending to the Peiraeus, but the whole circumference cannot
have exceeded 37 stades. Possibly Thucydides, who in the passage
referred to is dealing with the question of defence, included a portion
of the contiguous long walls in his measurement; this explanation
derives probability from his underestimate of the length of the long
walls.
The "Long Walls".
The design of connecting Athens with the Peiraeus by long parallel walls
is ascribed by Plutarch to Themistocles. The "Long Walls" ([Greek: ta
makra teichae, ta skelae]) consisted of (1) the "North Wall" ([Greek: to
boreion teichos]), (2) the "Middle" or "South Wall" ([Greek: to dia
mesou teichos], Plato, _Gorg._ 555 [Epsilon]; [Greek: to notion
teichos]); and (3) the "Phaleric Wall" ([Greek: to Phalaerikon teichos];
The north and Phaleric walls were perhaps founded by Cimon, and were
completed about 457 B.C. in the early administration of Pericles; the
middle wall was built about 445 B.C. The lines of the north and middle
walls have been ascertained from the remnants still existing in the 18th
century and the scantier traces now visible. The north wall, leaving the
city circuit at a point near the modern Observatory, ran from north-east
to south-west near the present road to the Peiraeus, until it reached
the Peiraeus walls a little to the east of their northernmost bend. The
middle wall, beginning south of the Pnyx near the Melitan Gate,
gradually approached the northern wall and, following a parallel course
at an interval of 550 ft., diverged to the east near the modern New
Phalerum and joined the Peiraeus walls on the height of Munychia where
they turn inland from the sea. The course of the Phaleric wall has been
much disputed. The widely-received view of Curtius that it ran to Cape
Kolias (now Old Phalerum) on the east of the Phaleric bay is not
accepted by recent topographers. The exigencies of the defensive system
planned by Themistocles could only have been satisfied by a juncture of
the Phaleric wall with that of the Peiraeus. The existence of any third
wall was denied by Leake, according to whose theory the southern
parallel wall would be identical with the Phaleric. The language of
Thucydides, however, seems decisive with regard to the existence of
three walls. The Phaleric wall, branching from the city circuit at some
point farther east than the middle or south wall, may have followed the
ridge of the Sikelia heights, where some traces of fortifications
remain, and then traversed the Phalerum plain till it reached the
Peiraeus defences at a point a little to the north-west of their
junction with the middle wall. The Phaleric wall, proving indefensible,
was abandoned towards the close of the Peloponnesian war; with the other
two walls it was completely destroyed after the surrender of the city,
and was not rebuilt when they were restored by Conon in 393 B.C. The
parallel walls fell into decay, during the Hellenistic period, and
according to Strabo (ix. 396) were once more demolished by Sulla.
The Peiraeus.
The great advantages which the Peiraic promontory with its three natural
harbours offered for purposes of defence and commerce were first
recognized by Themistocles, in whose archonship (493 B.C.) the
fortifications of the Peiraeus were begun. Before his time the Athenians
used as a port the roadstead of Phalerum at the north-eastern corner of
Phalerum bay partly sheltered by Cape Kolias. As soon as the building of
the city walls had been completed, Themistocles resumed the construction
of the Peiraeus defences, which protected the larger harbour of
Cantharus on the west and the smaller ports of Zea and Munychia
(respectively south-west and south-east of the Munychia heights),
terminating in moles at their entrances and enclosing the entire
promontory on the land and sea sides except a portion of the south-west
shore of the peninsula of Acte. The walls, built of finely compacted
blocks, were about 10 ft. in thickness and upwards of 60 ft. in height,
and were strengthened by towers. The town was laid out at great expense
in straight, broad streets, intersecting each other at right angles, by
the architect Hippodamus of Miletus in the time of Pericles. In the
centre was the Agora of Hippodamus; on the western margin of the
Cantharus harbour extended the emporium, or Digma, the centre of
commercial activity, flanked by a series of porticoes; at its northern
end, near the entrance to the inner harbour, was another Agora, on the
site of the modern market-place, and near it the [Greek: makra stoa],
the corn depot of the state. This inner and shallower harbour, perhaps
the [Greek: kophos limaen], was afterwards excluded from the town
precinct by the walls of Conon, which traversing its opening on an
embankment ([Greek: to dia meson choma]) ran round the outer shore of
the western promontory of Eetionea, previously enclosed, with some space
to the north-west, by the wider circuit of Themistocles. In the harbours
of Zea and Munychia traces may be seen of the remarkable series of
galley-slips in which the Athenian fleet was built and repaired. The
galley-slips around Zea were roofed by a row of gables supported by
stone columns, each gable sheltering two triremes. Among the other
noteworthy buildings of the Peiraeus were the arsenal ([Greek:
skeuothaekae]) of Philo and the temples of Zeus Soter, the patron god of
the sailors, of the Cnidian Artemis, built by Cimon, and of Artemis
Munychia, situated near the fort on the Munychia height; traces of a
temple of Asclepius, of two theatres and of a hippodrome remain. The
fine marble lion of the classical period which stood at the mouth of the
Cantharus harbour gave the Peiraeus its medieval and modern names of
Porto Leone and Porto Draco; it was carried away to Venice by Morosini.
The Dipylon and Ceramicus.
In 1870 the Greek Archaeological Society undertook a series of
excavations in the Outer Ceramicus, which had already been partially
explored by various scholars. The operations, which were carried on at
intervals till 1890, resulted in the discovery of the Dipylon Gate, the
principal entrance of ancient Athens. The Dipylon consists of an outer
and an inner gate separated by an oblong courtyard and flanked on either
side by towers; the gates were themselves double, being each composed of
two apertures intended for the incoming and outgoing traffic. An opening
in the city wall a little to the south-west, supposed to have been the
Sacred Gate ([Greek: iera pylae]), was in all probability an outlet for
the waters of the Eridanus. This stream, which has hitherto been
regarded as the eastern branch of the Ilissus rising at Kaesariane, has
been identified by Dorpfeld with a brook descending from the south slope
of Lycabettus and conducted in an artificial channel to the
north-western end of the city, where it made its exit through the walls,
eventually joining the Ilissus. The channel was open in Greek times, but
was afterwards covered by Roman arches; it appears to have served as the
main drain of the city. Between this outlet and the Dipylon were found a
boundary-stone, inscribed [Greek: oros Kerameikou], which remains in its
place, and the foundations of a large rectangular building, possibly the
Pompeium, which may have been a robing-room for the processions which
passed this way. On either side of the Dipylon the walls of
Themistocles, faced on the outside by a later wall, have been traced for
a considerable distance. The excavation of the outlying cemetery
revealed the unique "Street of the Tombs" and brought to light a great
number of sepulchral monuments, many of which remain _in situ_.
Especially noteworthy are the _stelae_ (reliefs) representing scenes of
leave-taking, which, though often of simple workmanship, are
characterized by a touching dignity and restraint of feeling. In this
neighbourhood were found a great number of tombs containing vases of all
periods, which furnish a marvellous record of the development of Attic
ceramic art. A considerable portion of the district remains unexplored.
The Acropolis of the classical period: its fortifications and area.
The Acropolis had been dismantled as a fortress after the expulsion of
Hippias; its defenders against the Persians found it necessary to erect
a wooden barricade at its entrance. The fortifications were again
demolished by the Persians, after whose departure the existing north
wall was erected in the time of Themistocles; many columns, metopes and
other fragments from the buildings destroyed by the Persians were built
into it, possibly owing to haste, as in the case of the city walls, but
more probably with the design of commemorating the great historic
catastrophe, as the wall was visible from the Agora. The fine walls of
the south and east sides were built by Cimon after the victory of the
Eurymedon, 468 B.C.; they extend considerably beyond the old Pelasgic
circuit, the intervening space being filled up with earth and the debris
of the ruined buildings so as to increase the level space of the summit.
On the northern side Cimon completed the wall of Themistocles at both
ends and added to its height; the ground behind was levelled up on this
side also, the platform of the Acropolis thus receiving its present
shape and dimensions. The staircase leading down to the sanctuary of
Aglaurus was enclosed in masonry. At the south-western corner, on the
right of the approach to the old entrance, a bastion of early masonry
was encased in a rectangular projection which formed a base for the
temple of Nike. The great engineering works of Cimon provided a suitable
area for the magnificent structures of the age of Pericles.
The monuments on the Acropolis.
The greater monuments of the classical epoch on the Acropolis are
described in separate articles (see PARTHENON, ERECHTHEUM, PROPYLAEA).
Next in interest to these noble structures is the beautiful little
temple of Athena Nike, wrongly designated Nike Apteros (Wingless
Victory), standing on the bastion already mentioned; it was begun after
450 B.C. and was probably finished after the outbreak of the
Peloponnesian War. The temple, which is entirely of Pentelic marble, is
amphiprostyle tetrastyle, with fluted Ionic columns, on a stylobate of
three steps; its length is 27 ft., its breadth 18-1/2 ft., and its total
height, from the apex of the pediment to the bottom of the steps, 23 ft.
The frieze, running round the entire building, represents on its eastern
side a number of deities, on its northern and southern sides Greeks
fighting with Persians, and on its western side Greeks fighting with
Greeks. Before the east front was the altar of Athena Nike. The
irregularly shaped precinct around the temple was enclosed by a
balustrade about 3 ft. 2 in. in height, decorated on the outside with
beautiful reliefs representing a number of winged Victories engaged in
the worship of Athena. The elaborate treatment of the drapery enveloping
these female figures suggests an approach to the mannerism of later
times; this and other indications point to the probability that the
balustrade was added in the latter years of the Peloponnesian War. The
temple was still standing in 1676; some eight years later it was
demolished by the Turks, and its stones built into a bastion; on the
removal of the bastion in 1835 the temple was successfully reconstructed
by Ross with the employment of little new material. At either corner of
the Propylaea entrance were equestrian statues dedicated by the Athenian
knights; the bases with inscriptions have lately been recovered. From
the inner exit of the Propylaea a passage led towards the east along the
north side of the Parthenon; almost directly facing the entrance was the
colossal bronze statue of Athena (afterwards called Athena Promachos) by
Pheidias, probably set up by Cimon in commemoration of the Persian
defeat. The statue, which was 30 ft. high, represented the goddess as
fully armed; the gleam of her helmet and spear could be seen by the
mariners approaching from Cape Sunium (Pausanias i. 28). On both sides
of the passage were numerous statues, among them that of Athena Hygeia,
set up by Pericles to commemorate the recovery of a favourite slave who
was injured during the building of the Parthenon, a colossal bronze
image of the wooden horse of Troy, and Myron's group of Marsyas with
Athena throwing away her flute. Another statue by Myron, the famous
Perseus, stood near the precinct of Artemis Brauronia. In this sacred
enclosure, which lay between the south-eastern corner of the Propylaea
and the wall of Cimon, no traces of a temple have been found. Adjoining
it to the east are the remains of a large rectangular building, which
was apparently fronted by a colonnade; this has been identified with the
[Greek: Chalkothaekae], a storehouse of bronze implements and arms,
which was formerly supposed to lie against the north wall near the
Propylaea. Beyond the Parthenon, a little to the north-east, was the
great altar of Athena, and near it the statue and altar of Zeus Polieus.
With regard to the buildings on the east end of the Acropolis, where the
present museums stand, no certainty exists; among the many statues here
were those of Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, and of Anacreon.
Immediately west of the Erechtheum is the Pandroseum or temenos of
Pandrosos, the daughter of Cecrops, the excavation of which has revealed
no traces of the temple ([Greek: naos]) seen here by Pausanias (i. 27).
The site of this precinct, in which the sacred olive tree of Athena
grew, has been almost certainly fixed by an inscription found in the
bastion of Odysseus. At its north-western extremity is a platform of
levelled rock which may have supported the altar of Zeus Hypsistus.
Farther west, along the north wall of the Acropolis, is the space
probably occupied by the abode and playground of the Errephori. Between
this precinct and the Propylaea were a number of statues, among them the
celebrated heifer of Myron, and perhaps his Erechtheus; the Lemnian
Athena of Pheidias, and his effigy of his friend Pericles.
The city in the classical period.
The reconstruction of the city after its demolition by the Persians was
not carried out on the lines of a definite plan like that of the
Peiraeus. The houses were hastily repaired, and the narrow, crooked
streets remained; the influence of Themistocles, who aimed at
transferring the capital to the Peiraeus, was probably directed against
any costly scheme of restoration, except on the Acropolis. The period of
Cimon's administration, however, especially the interval between his
victory on the Eurymedon and his ostracism (468-461 B.C.), was marked by
great architectural activity in the lower city as well as on the
citadel. To his time may be referred many of the buildings around the
Agora (probably rebuilt on the former sites) and elsewhere, and the
passage, or [Greek: dromos], from the Agora to the Dipylon flanked by
long porticos. The Theseum or temple of Theseus, which lay to the east
of the Agora near the Acropolis, was built by Cimon: here he deposited
the bones of the national hero which he brought from Scyros about 470
B.C. The only building in the city which can with certainty be assigned
to the administration of Pericles is the Odeum, beneath the southern
declivity of the Acropolis, a structure mainly of wood, said to have
been built in imitation of the tent of Xerxes: it was used for musical
contests and the rehearsal of plays. Of the various temples in which
statues by Pheidias, Alcamenes and other great sculptors are known to
have been placed, no traces have yet been discovered; excavation has not
been possible in a large portion of the lower city, which has always
been inhabited. The only extant structures of the classical period are
the Hephaesteum, the Dionysiac theatre, and the choragic monument of
Lysicrates. The remains of a small Ionic temple which were standing by
the Ilissus in the time of Stuart have disappeared.
[Illustration: The Acropolis.]
The Hephaesteum or Theseum.
The Hephaesteum, the so-called Theseum, is situated on a slight
eminence, probably the Colonus Agoraeus, to the west of the Agora. The
best preserved Greek temple in the world, it possesses no record of its
origin; the style of its sculptures and architecture leads to the
conclusion that it was built about the same time as the Parthenon; it
seems to have been finished by 421 B.C. It has been known as the Theseum
since the middle ages, apparently because some of its sculptures
represent the exploits of Theseus, but the Theseum was an earlier
sanctuary on the east of the Agora (see above). The building has been
supposed by Curtius, Wachsmuth and others to be the Heracleum in Melite,
but its identification with the temple of Hephaestus and Athena seen in
this neighbourhood by Pausanias (i. 14. 6), though not established, may
be regarded as practically certain, notwithstanding the difficulty
presented by the subjects of the sculptures, which bear no relation to
Hephaestus. The temple is a Doric peripteral hexastyle _in antis_, with
13 columns at the sides; its length is 104 ft., its breadth 45-1/2 ft.,
its height, to the top of the pediment, 33 ft. The sculptures of the
pediments have been completely lost, but their design has been
ingeniously reconstructed by Sauer. The frieze of the entablature
contains sculptures only in the metopes of the east front and in those
of the sides immediately adjoining it; the frontal metopes represent the
labours of Heracles, the lateral the exploits of Theseus. As in the
Parthenon, there is a sculptured zophoros above the exterior of the
cella walls; this, however, extends over the east and west fronts only
and the east ends of the sides; the eastern zophoros represents a
battle-scene with seated deities on either hand, the western a
centauromachia. The temple is entirely of Pentelic marble, except the
foundations and lowest step of the stylobate, which are of Peiraic
stone, and the zophoros of the cella, which is in Parian marble. The
preservation of the temple is due to its conversion into a church in the
middle ages.
The Dionysiac theatre and Asclepieum.
The Dionysiac theatre, situated beneath the south side of the Acropolis,
was partly hollowed out from its declivity. The representation of plays
was perhaps transferred to this spot from the early Orchestra in the
Agora at the beginning of the 5th century B.C.; it afterwards superseded
the Pnyx as the meeting-place of the Ecclesia. The site, which had been
accurately determined by Leake, was explored by Strack in 1862, and the
researches subsequently undertaken by the Greek Archaeological Society
were concluded in 1879. It was not, however, till 1886 that traces of
the original circular Greek orchestra were pointed out by Dorpfeld. The
arrangements of the stage and orchestra as we now see them belong to
Roman times; the _cavea_ or auditorium dates from the administration of
the orator Lycurgus (337-323 B.C.), and nothing is left of the theatre
in which the plays of Sophocles were acted save a few small remnants of
polygonal masonry. These, however, are sufficient to mark out the
circuit of the ancient orchestra, on which the subsequently built
proscenia encroached. The oldest stage-building was erected in the time
of Lycurgus; it consisted of a rectangular hall with square projections
([Greek: paraskenia]) on either side; in front of this was built in
late Greek or early Roman times a stage with a row of columns which
intruded upon the orchestra space; a later and larger stage, dating from
the time of Nero, advanced still farther into the orchestra, and this
was finally faced (probably in the 3rd century A.D.) by the "bema" of
Phaedrus, a platform-wall decorated with earlier reliefs, the slabs of
which were cut down to suit their new position. The remains of two
temples of Dionysus have been found adjoining the stoa of the theatre,
and an altar of the same god adorned with masks and festoons; the
smaller and earlier temple probably dates from the 6th century B.C., the
larger from the end of the 5th or the beginning of the 4th century.
Immediately west of the theatre of Dionysus is the sacred precinct of
Asclepius, which was excavated by the Archaeological Society in
1876-1878. Here were discovered the foundations of the celebrated
Asclepieum, together with several inscriptions and a great number of
votive reliefs offered by grateful invalids and valetudinarians to the
god of healing. Many of the reliefs belong to the best period of Greek
art. A Doric colonnade with a double row of columns was found to have
extended along the base of the Acropolis for a distance of 54 yds.;
behind it in a chamber hewn in the rock is the sacred well mentioned by
Pausanias. The colonnade was a place of resort for the patients; a large
building close beneath the rock was probably the abode of the priests.
The choragic monument of Lysicrates.
The beautiful choragic monument of Lysicrates, dedicated in the
archonship of Euaenetus (335-334 B.C.), is the only survivor of a number
of such structures which stood in the "Street of the Tripods" to the
east of the Dionysiac theatre, bearing the tripods given to the
successful choragi at the Dionysiac festival. It owes its preservation
to its former inclusion in a Capuchin convent. The monument consists of
a small circular temple of Pentelic marble, 21-1/2 ft. in height and 9
ft. in diameter, with six engaged Corinthian columns and a sculptured
frieze, standing on a rectangular base of Peiraic stone. The delicately
carved convex roof, composed of a single block, was surmounted by the
tripod. The spirited reliefs of the frieze represent the punishment of
the Tyrrhenian pirates by Dionysus and their transformation into
dolphins. Another choragic monument was that of Thrasyllus, which faced
a cave in the Acropolis rock above the Dionysiac theatre. A portion of
another, that of Nicias, was used to make the late Roman gate of the
Acropolis. In one of these monuments was the famous Satyr of Praxiteles.
The Cynosarges.
The Cynosarges, from earliest times a sanctuary of Heracles, later a
celebrated gymnasium and the school of Antisthenes the Cynic, has
hitherto been generally supposed to have occupied the site of the
Monastery of the Asomati on the eastern slope of Lycabettus; its
situation, however, has been fixed by Dorpfeld at a point a little to
the south of the Olympieum, on the left bank of the Ilissus. Here a
series of excavations, carried out by the British School in 1896-1897
under the direction of Cecil Smith, revealed the foundations of an
extensive Greek building, the outlines of which correspond with those of
a gymnasium; it possessed a large bath or cistern, and was flanked on
two sides by water-courses. An Ionic capital found here possibly
belonged to the palaestra. The identification, however, cannot be
regarded as certain in the absence of inscriptions.
The Hellenistic period: the Stoa of Attalus.
With the loss of political liberty the age of creative genius in
Athenian architecture came to a close. The era of decadence, of honorary
statues and fulsome inscriptions, began. The embellishments which the
city received during the Hellenistic and Roman periods were no longer
the artistic expression of the religious and political life of a great
commonwealth; they were the tribute paid to the intellectual renown of
Athens by foreign potentates or dilettanti, who desired to add their
names to the list of its illustrious citizens and patrons. Among the
first of these benefactions was the great gymnasium of Ptolemy, built in
the neighbourhood of the Agora about 250 B.C. Successive princes of the
dynasty of Pergamum interested themselves in the adornment of the city:
Attalus I. set up a number of bronze statues on the Acropolis; Eumenes
II. built the long portico west of the Dionysiac theatre, which was
excavated and identified in 1877; Attalus II. erected the magnificent
Stoa near the Agora, the remains of which were completely laid bare in
1898-1902 and have been identified by an inscription. The Stoa consisted
of a series of 21 chambers, probably shops, faced by a double colonnade,
the outer columns being of the Doric order, the inner unfluted, with
lotus-leaf capitals; it possessed an upper storey fronted with Ionic
columns.
The Olympieum.
The greatest monument, however, of the Hellenistic period is the
colossal Olympieum or temple of Olympian Zeus, "unum in terris inchoatum
pro magnitudine dei" (Livy xli. 20), the remains of which stand by the
Ilissus to the south-east of the Acropolis. The foundations of a temple
were laid on the site--probably that of an ancient sanctuary-by
Peisistratus, but the building in its ultimate form was for the greater
part constructed under the auspices of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes, king of
Syria, by the Roman architect Cossutius in the interval between 174 B.C.
and 164 B.C., the date of the death of Antiochus. The work was then
suspended and its proposed resumption in the time of Augustus seems not
to have been realized; finally, in A.D. 129, the temple was completed
and dedicated by Hadrian, who set up a chryselephantine statue of Zeus
in the cella. The substructure was excavated in 1883 by F.C. Penrose,
who proved the correctness of Dorpfeld's theory that the building was
octostyle; its length was 318 ft., its breadth 132 ft. With the
exception of the foundations and two lower steps of the stylobate, it
was entirely of Pentelic marble, and possessed 104 Corinthian columns,
56 ft. 7 in. in height, of which 48 stood in triple rows under the
pediments and 56 in double rows at the sides; of these, 16 remained
standing in 1852, when one was blown down by a storm. Fragments of Doric
columns and foundations were discovered, probably intended for the
temple begun by Peisistratus, the orientation of which differed slightly
from that of the later structure. The peribolos, a large artificial
platform supported by a retaining wall of squared Peiraic blocks with
buttresses, was excavated in 1898 without important results; it is to be
hoped that the stability of the columns has not been affected by the
operations.
The Horologium of Andronicus.
_The Roman Period._--After 146 B.C. Athens and its territory were
included in the Roman province of Achaea. Among the earlier buildings of
this period is the Horologium of Andronicus of Cyrrhus (the "Tower of
the Winds"), still standing near the eastern end of the Roman Agora. The
building may belong to the 2nd or 1st century B.C.; it is mentioned by
Varro (_De re rust_. iii. 5. 17), and therefore cannot be of later date
than 35 B.C. It is an octagonal marble structure, 42 ft. in height and
26 ft. in diameter; the eight sides, which face the points of the
compass, are furnished with a frieze containing inartistic figures in
relief representing the winds; below it, on the sides facing the sun,
are the lines of a sun-dial. The building was surmounted by a
weathercock in the form of a bronze Triton; it contained a water-clock
to record the time when the sun was not shining.
Monuments of the Roman period.
The capture and sack of Athens by Sulla (March 1, 86 B.C.) seems to have
involved no great injury to its architectural monuments beyond the
burning of the Odeum of Pericles; a portion of the city wall was razed,
the groves of the Academy and Lyceum were cut down, and the Peiraeus,
with its magnificent arsenal and other great buildings, burnt to the
ground. After this catastrophe the benefactors of Athens were for the
most part Romans; the influence of Greek literature and art had begun to
affect the conquering race. The New, or Roman, Agora to the north of the
Acropolis, perhaps mainly an oil market, was constructed after the year
27 B.C. Its dimensions were practically determined by excavation in
1890-1891. It consisted of a large open rectangular space surrounded by
an Ionic colonnade into which opened a number of shops or storehouses.
The eastern gate was adorned with four Ionic columns on the outside and
two on the inside, the western entrance being the well-known Doric
portico of Athena Archegetis with an inscription recording its erection
from donations of Julius Caesar and Augustus. The whole conclave may be
compared with the enclosed bazaars or khans of Oriental cities which are
usually locked at night. The Agrippeum, a covered theatre, derived its
name from Vipsanius Agrippa, whose statue was set up, about 27 B.C.,
beneath the north wing of the Acropolis propylaea, on the high
rectangular base still remaining. At the eastern end of the Acropolis a
little circular temple of white marble with a peristyle of 9 Ionic
columns was dedicated to Rome and Augustus; its foundations were
discovered during the excavations of 1885-1888. The conspicuous monument
which crowns the Museum Hill was erected as the mausoleum of Antiochus
Philopappus of Commagene, grandson of Antiochus Epiphanes, in A.D.
114-116. Excavations carried out in 1898-1899 showed that the structure
was nearly square; the only portion remaining is the slightly curved
front, with three niches between Corinthian pilasters; in the central
niche is the statue of Philopappus.
Novae Athenae: the buildings of Hadrian.
The emperor Hadrian was the most lavish of all the benefactors of
Athens. Besides completing the gigantic Olympieum he enlarged the
circuit of the city walls to the east, enclosing the area now covered by
the royal public gardens and the Constitution Square. This was the City
of Hadrian (Hadrianapolis) or New Athens (Novae Athenae); a handsome
suburb with numerous villas, baths and gardens; some traces remain of
its walls, which, like those of Themistocles, were fortified with
rectangular towers. An ornamental entrance near the Olympieum, the
existing Arch of Hadrian, marked the boundary between the new and the
old cities. The arch is surmounted by a triple attic with Corinthian
columns; the frieze above the keystone bears, on the north-western side,
the inscription [Greek: aid eis Athaenai Thaeseos hae prin polis] and on
the south-eastern, [Greek: aid eis Hadrianou kai onchi Thaeseos polis].
One of the principal monuments of Hadrian's munificence was the
sumptuous library, in all probability a vast rectangular enclosure,
immediately north of the New Agora, the eastern side of which was
explored in 1885-1886. A portion of its western front, adorned with
monolith unfluted Corinthian columns, is still standing--the familiar
"Stoa of Hadrian"; another well-preserved portion, with six pilasters,
runs parallel to the west side of Aeolus Street. The interior consisted
of a spacious court surrounded by a colonnade of 100 columns, into which
five chambers opened at the eastern end. A portico of four fluted
Corinthian columns on the western side formed the entrance to the
quadrangle. This cloistered edifice may be identified with the library
of Hadrian mentioned by Pausanias; the books were, perhaps, stored in a
square building which occupied a portion of the central area. Strikingly
similar in design and construction is a large quadrangular building, the
foundations of which were discovered by the British School near the
presumed Cynosarges; this may perhaps be the Gymnasium of Hadrian, which
Pausanias tells us also possessed 100 columns. A Pantheon and temples of
Hera and Zeus Panhellenius were likewise built by Hadrian; the aqueduct,
which he began, was completed by Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161); it was
repaired in 1861-1869 and is still in use.
The Stadium and Odeum of Herodes Atticus.
The Stadium, in which the Panathenaic Games were held, was first laid
out by the orator Lycurgus about 330 B.C. It was an oblong structure
filling a natural depression near the left bank of the Ilissus beneath
the eastern declivity of the Ardettus hill, the parallel sides and
semicircular end, or [Greek: sphendonae] around the arena being
partially excavated from the adjoining slopes. The immense building,
however, which was restored in 1896 and the following years, was that
constructed in Pentelic marble about A.D. 143 by Tiberius Claudius
Herodes Atticus, a wealthy Roman resident, whose benefactions to the
city rivalled those of Hadrian. The seats, rising in tiers, as in a
theatre, accommodated about 44,000 spectators; the arena was 670 ft. in
length and 109 ft. in breadth. The Odeum, built beneath the south-west
slope of the Acropolis after A.D. 161 by Herodes Atticus in memory of
his wife Regilla, is comparatively well preserved; it was excavated in
1848 and in 1857-1858. The plan is that of the conventional Roman
theatre; the semicircular auditorium, which seated some 5000 persons,
is, like that of the Dionysiac theatre, partly hollowed from the rock.
The orchestra is paved with marble squares. The facade, in Peiraic
stone, displays three storeys of arched windows. The whole building was
covered with a cedar roof. The Stadium had been already completed and
the Odeum had not yet been built when Pausanias visited Athens; these
buildings were the last important additions to the architectural
monuments of the ancient city. (J. D. B.)