[Illustration: MONUMENT OF PHILOPAPPUS, ATHENS.]
Although so much has been written about Athens, there is one striking
feature which has been little noticed. This is the beautiful colors of
the Parthenon and Erectheum, the soft mellow yellow which is due to
age, and which gives these buildings when lighted by the setting sun,
and framed by the purple hills beyond, the appearance of temples of
gold.
[Illustration: TOMB FROM THE CERAMICUS, ATHENS.]
Until A.D. 1687 the Parthenon remained almost perfect, and then not
age but a shell from the Venetians falling upon Turkish powder, made a
rent which, when seen from below, makes it look like two temples.
[Illustration: TOWER OF THE WINDS, ATHENS.]
The Temple of Theseus is the best preserved and one of the oldest of
the buildings of ancient Athens. It was founded in B.C. 469, and is a
small, graceful, and perfect Doric temple. Having served as a
Christian church, dedicated to St. George, it escaped injury. It
contains the beautiful and celebrated tombstone of Aristion, the
warrior of Marathon.
[Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS, ATHENS.]
All that remains of Hadrian's great Temple to Zeus (A.D. 132) are a
few standing columns in an open space, which are imposing from their
isolated position.
[Illustration: OLD CORINTH AND THE ACROCORINTHUS.]
The monument of Philopappus is thought to have been begun A.D. 110,
and for a king in Asia Minor.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF JUPITER, ATHENS.]
The Tower of the Winds, erected by Andronicus Cyrrhestes about B.C.
100, contained a weathercock, a sun dial, and a water clock. It is an
octagonal building, with reliefs on the frieze, representing by
appropriate figures the eight winds into which the Athenian compass
was divided.
[Illustration: THE PANTHENON, ATHENS.]
In the Street of Tombs the monuments are lying or standing as they
were found; each year shows many changes in Athens, a tomb last year
in the Ceramicus may be this year in a museum. There is a great
similarity in all these tombstones; no doubt they were made
beforehand, as they seldom suggest the idea of a portrait. They
generally represent an almost heroic leave-taking. The friends
standing in the act of saying farewell are receiving presents from the
dead; often in the corner is a crouching slave, and frequently a dog.
[Illustration: ERECTEUM, ATHENS.]
Beyond the river Kephiesus, the hill of Colonus, and the groves of the
Academy, is the Pass of Daphne, which was the road to Eleusis, and
along which passed the annual sacred processions in the days of the
Mysteries. Cut there in the rock are the niches for the votive
offerings. This dark Daphne Pass seems still to possess an air of
mystery which is truly in keeping with the rites which were once
observed there.
[Illustration: NICHES FOR VOTIVE OFFERINGS ON THE SACRED WAY TO
ELEUSIS.]
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF CORINTH, FROM THE MONUMENT OF PHILOPAPPUS.]
From several points in Athens, on very clear days, may be seen the
great rock fort Acrocorinthus, which is directly above the site of
ancient Corinth. It is now a deserted fort; the Turkish drawbridge and
gate stand open and unused. There are on it remains of a Turkish town;
at one time it was one of the strongest and most important citadels in
Greece. In the middle of the almost deserted, wretched, straggling
village of Old Corinth stand seven enormous massive columns. These are
all that remain of the Temple, and indeed of ancient Corinth. The
pillars, of the Doric order, are of a brown limestone, not of the
country. The Turks and earthquakes have destroyed Old Corinth, and
driven the inhabitants to New Corinth, about one hour and a half's
drive from the Gulf.--_London Graphic_.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THESEUS, ATHENS.]
[Illustration: TOMBSTONE IN THE CERAMICUS, ATHENS.]
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