L

ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA.

THENS (*AĢžval, ATHENÆ) was the name of as many | tain of Callirrhoe, afterwards ornamented by the Pisistra

parts of the Grecian was

Among which Athena Diades, in the N.W. of Euboea, a town belonging to the Athenian confederation, is worthy of mention. But it was the capital of Attica which invested the name of Athens with an undying charm for the poet, the artist, the philosopher, the historian, for all time. It is situated in long. 23° 44′ E., lat. 37° 58′ N., towards the south of the central plain (redíov) of Attica, about 44 miles from the harbor of Piraeus, and nearly 4 from the Bay of Phalerum. The survey of Pausanias (i. 2-30), when compared with existing remains, and supplemented by the numerous incidental notices of ancient authors, enables us to form a more perfect conception of the topography of ancient Athens than of any other Greek city. Recent excavations have added greatly to our knowledge of it, and the literature of the subject is very extensive (see p. 12, infra). Our object in this article will be to treat of the topography of Athens from an historical point of view, and to show how the rise, the greatness, the decline of the city may be read in the history of its buildings.

Earliest Bettlement on the

for sacred purposes long after the city had outgrown these early limits (Thucyd., ii. 15). The region we have been describing formed the nucleus of the later city, and therefore, at the subdivision of all Attica into demes, this quarter was distinguished by the name Kvdabývaιov.

To the west of the Acropolis there extends from N. to S. a range of hills, the three most prominent heights of which are commonly known respectively as the Hill of the Nymphs, the Pnyx, and the Museium,-the Nymphs' Hill being separated from the Acropolis by the Areopagus, which intervenes between. Everywhere upon Early rockthe slopes of the hills just mentioned traces have dwellings. lately been discovered of ancient dwellings hewn out of the solid rock. But while all these rock-dwellings are extremely ancient, yet some appear less primitive than others; it is remarked that those which exist on the Areopagus and on the hill-sides nearest to the Acropolis are of a smaller and ruder type, those more distant from the citadel being somewhat more convenient in plan and exThere seems little reason to doubt that the tent. Legend declares the Athenians to have originally earliest settlement on Athenian soil was upon the dwelt in rock-hewn caves (Dyer's Athens, ch. i.), and it cliff afterward famous as the Acropolis. Such would seem that primitive Athens gradually extended itself Acropolis. is the express statement of Thucydides (ii. 15), from the Acropolis in this W. and S. W. direction. This who observes that the Acropolis was commonly quarter was afterwards known as the intramural deme of termed at Athens πós, much as the oldest part of Lon-Melite, a name derived, perhaps, from the balm which then don is styled "The City." The earliest inhabitants appear grew there (the evwong uchireia of Theocr., iv. 25). The to have been Pelasgians; and though it was the boast of historian E. Curtius (Attische Studien, pt. i.) has, indeed, the Athenians that they alone of all Greek states were in- gone so far as to regard these rock-dwellings as earlier than digenous (avróxoves), yet their town would from the first the occupation of the Acropolis itself. But the contrary have received accessions from various parts of the conti- opinion of Thucydides is worth something, and the natural nent, the peaceful poverty of Attica affording a welcome strength of the Acropolis would make it the most obvious refuge in those early and unsettled times (Thucyd., i. 2). spot for primitive occupation. Accordingly, we shall not The most accessible portion of the Acropolis is the western be giving too free a license to our imagination if we conside, where it is joined by a neck of hill to the Areopagus. ceive of primitive Athens as a twofold settlement, partly on On this side there existed down to later times the remains the Acropolis and the low ground at its southern foot, and of fortifications built by the earliest inhabitants, with nine partly upon the eastern slopes of the hills on the west. It doorways, one within the other, called rò Пɛλaσyikóv, or rò may even have been the consolidation of these two villages 'Evveáruhov. This fort protected the only entrance to the into one township that gave rise to the legend ascribing to citadel, which was surrounded by a wall, and artificially Theseus the ovvokioμoç or consolidation of Atlevelled for the reception of buildings. Within this forti- tica. It would be natural for legend to assign fied enclosure stood the shrine of Athena Polias (Homer, to one definite time, and connect with one great Iliad, ii. 449; Odyssey, vii. 81),—afterwards known as the mythical name, that process of unification which Erechtheium, and an altar of Zeus Polieus, where the probably was as gradual as it was spontaneous. As the strange sacrifices of the Dipolia were celebrated. A Pry- population of the early town continued to increase, two taneium, containing the hearth-fire of the state, and serv- more districts seem to have been incorporated-Collytus, ing as the residence of the king, would be another indis- extending from the east of Melite, between the Acropolis pensable feature in the primitive town. But while the king and Areopagus, and Cerameicus, or the "Potters' quarter" and some of the most sacred families probably had dwell- ("Tuileries"), which extended from the same two hills toings within the fortress itself, Thucydides (ii. 15) points out wards the north and north-west. The regions we have now that a great part of the early population dwelt outside its described appear to have made up the Athens of Solonian walls, under the south side of the cliff, probably without times. The earliest historical event which illustrates Athefortification, but retiring to the citadel in times of peril. nian topography is the rising of Cylon (Herod., v. 71; ThuIn this quarter, towards the Ilissus, stood the oldest Athe- cyd., i. 126; Pausan., i. 28). The narratives of that event nian sanctuary of Dionysus, in a region called Aíuva, imply that the Acropolis was already fortified by the Enfrom having been literally a marsh in early times. Not 1 Many of the names of the Attic demes, and indeed of Greek far off, and nearer the stream, stood the temple of Zeus local names everywhere, were derived from plants and flowers; see Olympius, said to be founded by Deucalion (Pausan., i. 18), Tozer's Lectures on the Geography of Greece, p. 338: "The most plausi of which more will be said presently, the precinct of Gæa ble derivation that has been suggested for the name 'Anvat is from Olympia, and other sacred places. Here also was the foun-de-, the root of aveos, a flower; and Lobeck proposed to translate it by 'Florentia."—(Ibid., p. 161.)'

Thesean συνοικισ

3

Altar of the Semnæ.

neapylum, that the Areopagus was already the seat of the
court which bore its name (see AREOPAGUS), and that near
the entrance of the citadel stood an altar of the
Semnæ, or Furies, at which Cylon and his par-
tisans were slain. This altar has been immor-
talized by Eschylus in the splendid conclusion of the
Eumenides. Another sacred spot in early Athens must
have been the Leocorium, where Hipparchus
Leocorium.
was assassinated (Thucyd., i. 20; vi. 57). This
was a shrine erected in honor of the daughters of Leo, who
were sacrificed by their father to Athena, in order to avert
a pestilence. The nature of the legend testifies to the an-
tiquity of the site. The words of Thucydides respecting
Cylon imply that the early city was already
Early city surrounded by a ring-wall, and this probably
remained intact until the invasion of the Per-
sians, although the buildings within the walls underwent
great alteration and improvements under the government
of Pisistratus and his sons.

wall.

The Pisistratids.

quarter of which was naturally the Agora itself; and so it was common to speak of the Agora as "The Cerameicus." How much this market-place may have owed to the designs of the Pisistratids we cannot now determine. The statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton formed a conspicuous ornament of the south portion, and Thucydides (vi. 54) informs us that the grandson and namesake of Pisistratus adorned the Agora by building the altar of the twelve gods. If the Agora belongs to the age of Pisistratus, some of the civic buildings within it would also be coeval with him. Such were the Stoa Basileius, or Portico, where the archon basileius presided; the Bouleuterium, where the senate of 500 held its sittings; the Tholus close by it, where the Prytanes of the senate sacrificed-a circular building with a dome of stone, from whence it gained its name; and the Prytaneium, said to be founded by Theseus (Thucyd., ii. 15), which contained the hearth-fire of the state, and where the Prytanes and public benefactors had the privilege of dining at the public expense. The statues of the ten heroes (eponymi) who gave their names to the Athenian tribes decorated the Agora probably from the first; against these statues were affixed public notices and proclamations. Other buildings in the Agora of later and ascertained dates will be enumerated in their proper place.

Clisthenean age.

The Pelas

The reign of the Pisistratids was recognized by the ancients as marking an important era in Athenian topography. We have already mentioned the fountain of Enneacrunus as being built by them. It was Pisistratus who laid the foundations of Olympium. the great temple of Zeus Olympius_upon the The revolution which expelled the Pisistraancient site above mentioned. His magnificent design had tids (510 B. C.), and gave Athens a free governan eventful history: left unfinished by its author, the ment, left its mark upon the topography of the Athenians, perhaps from dislike to the "tyrant," made no city. The old Pelasgic fortress (ro Evveánvlov), gicum. effort to complete it. At length, after receiving additions in which “the tyrants" had for a time held out, from various foreign princes, it was completed by Hadrian was now broken down, and the site occupied by its ruins (c. 130 A.D.), and formed the grandest edifice in the region was devoted by the Delphic oracle to eternal desolation. of the city which, in acknowledgment of the imperial Only in the Peloponnesian war, when the country populamunificence, was called Hadrianopolis. The Olympium tion was crowded within the city walls, do we read of this was one of the largest temples in the world; but of its 124 spot being occupied by dwellings (Thucyd., ii. 17). AnCorinthian columns only 15 are now standing. other work which may probably be assigned to the age of Pythium. The Pythium, or sanctuary of the Pythian Clisthenes is the first arrangement of the Pnyx, Apollo, near the Olympium, was also ascribed to Pisis- or place of public assembly. The hill that is The Payx. tratus, whose grandson and namesake dedicated an altar commonly known as the Pnyx Hill contains one of the within it (Thucyd., vi. 54). To Pisistratus was ascribed most remarkable ruins in Athens; the silence, however, Lyceium. the founding of the Lyceium, or temple of of Pausanias respecting what was probably in his day Apollo Lyceius, which stood on the right bank already a mere ruin has occasioned some doubt concerning of the Ilissus, a short distance from the city. The names its proper identification. The spot in question consists of both of Pericles and Lycurgus the orator are also associ- two terraces sloping down the hill towards the Areopagus, ated with this building; yet it is not known who added the from S.W. to N.E. The upper terrace, indeed, does not gymnasium close by, which afterwards became famous as slope, but is levelled out of the solid rock near the summit the favorite haunt of Aristotle, and the birthplace of the of the hill, being about 65 yards in length (E. to W.), and Peripatetic philosophy. The yet more famous seat of the about 43 in breadth at its broadest part (N. to S.). It rival philosophy seems also to have owed something to the is bounded at the back (S.) by a rock-wall, and at the W. Pisistratids, for Hipparchus was said to have enclosed the end there stands a cubical block, allowed to rise out of the Academy. Academy with a wall. This was a gymnasium solid rock when this upper terrace was leveled. There is surrounded by pleasant gardens lying to the N.good reason for considering this as the altar for the sacriof the city, about a mile from the Dipylum gate. It owes fices (тà πeρíoria) with which every assembly of the eccleall its fame, of course, to its connection with Plato, who sia was opened (Bursian, Philologus, 1854, p. 369, foll.; lived, taught, and was buried there. This site, so full of Dyer, Athens, p. 462). The lower and considerably larger glorious memories, cannot now be identified with certainty. terrace is separated from the upper terrace by another wall Its trees, like those of the Lyceium, were despoiled by cut out of the solid rock. This wall, which is nearly 126 Sulla to make implements of war. The Agora. The name yards long, is not quite straight, but encroaches slightly of Pisistratus is connected with another im- upon the upper terrace, and forms at the centre a very obportant site. Professor E. Curtius (Attische Studien, pt. tuse angle. At this point there rises, projecting from the 2) supposes that the most ancient Athenian market lay on wall, a large cubical mass, cut out of the solid rock, resem the S. of the Acropolis, and that the Pisistratids superseded bling somewhat, though on a larger scale, the altar described it by a new market at the northern foot of the Areopagus. above. It is itself 11 feet square and 5 feet high, and stands Be this as it may, we are sure that, as early as their times, on a platform consisting of three very massive steps. This this site formed the centre of Athenian commercial and remarkable monument has been recognized by tradition as civic life. The narrow valley between the Pnyx Hill and the oкáha тov Anμoolévɛos, and almost every traveller since the Areopagus, where older topographers placed the Chandler's time has regarded it as no other than the famous Agora, is not a spacious enough site for the purpose. The bema of the ancient Athenian assembly. The rock-wall obvious locality for an Agora would be the rectangular from which it projects forms the chord of a vast semicirspace enclosed by the Areopagus on the S., by the cular space, the enclosure of its arc being a wall of "CycloAcropolis on the E., and on the W. by the eminence pean" masonry. The radius of the semicircle measures occupied by the Theseium. To the N. and N.E. no barrier between 76 and 77 yards from this outer wall to the bema. existed; accordingly, the entrance was from the Dipylum Here, then, was the auditorium of the Pnyx. But several gate on the N.W., and on the N.E. the market received difficulties beset the identification. Towards the bottom of extension in Roman times. The Agora thus stood in the the lower bema Prof. E. Curtius (Attische Studien, pt. i.) has region known as Cerameicus. But as the Cerameicus discovered another similar though smaller bema. Again, extended for some miles in a N.W. direction, it became Plutarch asserts that the bema which had originally faced divided by the city wall into the outer and the towards the sea was by the Thirty Tyrants turned round inner Cerameicus. The outer Cerameicus was the other way, in their hatred of the maritime democracy. meicus. an agreeable suburb, lying on the road to the Moreover, if the block of marble above mentioned be rightly Academy and Colonus, the home of Sophocles; identified as the bema, then it would have the auditorium and it was here that citizens who died in their country's sloping downwards from it, an arrangement ill suited for wars received a public burial. Through gate Dipylum addressing a tumultuous popular assembly. Dr. Curtius one passed into the inner Cerameicus, the most important accordingly pronounces the entire identification to be a mis

Outer and inner Cera

take, and would regard this spot as a primitive precinct | founder of the greatness of Athens, the works and embeland rock-altar of the Most High Zeus. It would not be lishments carried out by Pericles being only a fulfilment difficult, if space allowed, to disprove Dr. Curtius's theory. of the far-sighted aims of Themistocles. Thucydides (ii. Far more reasonable is the view of Dr. Dyer (Athens, App. 13) makes the circuit of the city wall to be 43 stades (about iii.). He thinks that the lower and smaller bema discov- 5 miles), exclusive of the unguarded space between walls; ered by Dr. Curtius was the bema of Clisthenes, which did this is found to correspond accurately enough with the ex(however much Plutarch's statement is discredited by his isting remains. In tracing the circuit of the ancient walls, own absurd explanation) face in the direction of the sea. we may take our start from the N.W. side of the city, at the The orator would thus speak from the arc of the semicircle, one gate whose site is absolutely certain, the Thriasian gate having the audience above him. The Thirty may well (called also the Sacred gate, as opening upon the sacred have defaced the Pnyx, and it would have been natural for way to Eleusis, and also rò Airvλov, as consisting of two Thrasybulus after the anarchy to restore it on a large scale, gates, perhaps one within the other), which is marked by hewing out what is still known as the bema, giving the semi- the modern church of the Holy Trinity, a little N. of the circular wall a wider sweep, and raising the tiers of seats bottom of Hermes Street-a spot attractive to the modern at least to a level with the new bema, if not above it. For tourist through the beautiful "street of tombs" here laid there is no reason to suppose that the surface of the lower bare by recent excavations. From the Thriasian gate the terrace has undergone no change in the lapse of centuries, wall of Themistocles ran due E. for some distance; thence, or that the "Cyclopean" wall surrounding it never ex- skirting the modern theatre, it ran N.E. parallel to the ceeded its present height. modern Piraeus Street as far as the Bank, when it returned in a S.E. direction across the site of the present Mint, as far as the Chamber of Deputies. Thence towards the S.E. it included nearly all the modern Royal Gardens, and then ran S.W., following the zig-zag of the hills above the north bank of the Ilissus, until westwards by a straight course parallel with the Acropolis it reached the Museium Hill. Thence it may be traced in a direction N.W. and N., following more or less the contour of the hills, until we return to our starting-point at the Dipylum gate. Eight Gates. other gates (exclusive of wickets, πunides, which must have existed) are mentioned by ancient authorsthe Piræan, Hippades, Melitides, Itonian, Diomeian, Diocharis, Panopis, and Acharnian. Their exact sites cannot be certainly fixed, but some of them may be determined within narrow limits, such as the Piraan gate, which led out of the Agora, and opened upon the long walls. Having completed the defences of the city proper, among which must be included the building of the north wall of the Acropolis (Dyer, p. 121), Themistocles proceeded to fortify the Piraeus.

A building of greater architectural importThe Diony- ance and of equal interest belongs to this same siac theatre. period. Dramatic performances at Athens originally took place in wooden theatres extemporized for the occasion; but the fall of one of these led, in the year 500 B.C., to the erection of the marble theatre on a site already consecrated to Dionysus as the Lenæum, upon the S.E. slope of the Acropolis. (Suidas, s. v. IIparivas.) We may be sure that the first stone theatre was comparatively simple in construction, consisting of a κoihov or auditorium, with tiers of rock-hewn seats, and an opxnoτpá, or space for the chorus, while the stage itself and its furniture were of wood. The excavation of the Dionysiac theatre in 1862 has made every one familiar with the row of marble thrones for the various priests and officers of state, the elaborate masonry of the stage, the orchestra floor, and other features. But these and other interesting decorations of the theatre belong to a later age. It was under the administration of Lycurgus the orator (337 B.C.) that the building was first really completed; and many of the sculptures which have been lately brought to light belong to a restoration of the theatre in the 2d, or perhaps even in the 3d, century A.D.1 Enough has now been said of the condition of Athens before the Persian War. It was surrounded by a ring-wall of narrow circuit, some doubtful traces of which are supposed to remain. At its centre stood the Acropolis, already crowded with temples and sanctuaries, some upon the summit, some built at its foot, and others like the famous grotto of Pan, on the N.W. slope-mere caves in its

Thesean wall.

Grotto of
Pan.

rocky sides.

After the
Persian

war.

The

Piraeus

and its

Athens, like most of the old Greek towns, was built, for greater security, at a distance from the coast, and only when more settled times brought buildings. her greater prosperity was a harbor formed at the nearest bay of Phalerum, near the modern church of St. George. It is said that Themistocles would gladly have transported the Athenian population bodily from the upper city to the coast, there to form a great maritime state. Though this was impossible, yet he could strengthen Athens on the seaward side. The isthmus of Piraeus, though somewhat more distant than Phalerum, presented The Persian invasion, which forced the Athe- obvious advantages as a seaport. It formed on its north nians to take refuge in their "wooden walls," side the spacious and secure basin of Piraeus (now Port and to leave their city at the mercy of the bar- Drako), the north and south shores of which towards the barian, marked an important epoch in the annals entrance fall back into two smaller bays-harbors within the of Athenian building. Upon the retreat of Mardonius, the harbor-known respectively as the Kopòç λμýv and κávlapos. Athenians returned to Attica to find their city virtually in The neck of the isthmus on the south is formed by Port Zea ruins. Its fortifications and public buildings had been de- (now Phanari), the entrance of which was secured by Phrestroyed or burnt, and the private dwellings had been wan- attys, the headland of Munychia. Round to the east of the tonly defaced or ruined by neglect. Amid the enthusiasm district of Munychia, again, and facing Phalerum, was the of hope which followed upon the great deliverance of harbor known anciently as Munychia, and now as Port Greece, a natural impulse led the Athenians to rear their Stratiotiki. Themistocles thus, in giving up Port Phalerum, city more glorious from its ruins. Themistocles fanned gave Athens three harbors instead of one. The fortifications their patriotism with the foresight of a statesman, and of Piraeus were conceived on a grand scale, and carried out Athens rose again with marvellous rapidity. This haste, with no sign of hurry. The whole circuit of Piraeus and however, though creditable to their patriotism, and, indeed, of the town of Munychia was enclosed alike on the sea and necessary in order to forestall the jealous opposition of land sides by walls of immense thickness and strength, Sparta, was not without its evils. The houses were rebuilt which were carried up to a height of more than 60 feeton their old sites, and the lines of the old streets, narrow this being only half the height intended by Themistocles! and irregular as they had been, were too readily followed. (See Grote, Hist. Greece, c. xliv.) The laying out of the A similar haste marked the rebuilding of the city walls, a new seaport belonged rather to the regime of Pericles work in which men and women, old and young, took zeal- (Grote, c. xlvii.). It was then that Hippodamus, the ecous part, not scrupling to dismantle any building or monu- centric architect, planned the Agora which bore his name; ment, private or public, which could supply materials for and the various public buildings which adorned Piraeus the building. But in rebuilding the walls The- doubtless arose with growth of Athenian commerce. Rebuilding mistocles gave them a wider circuit, especially to-harbor-basin was lined with porticoes, which served as wards the N. and N.E. (Thucyd., i. 90, 93). At warehouses and bazaars. Two theatres existed in the the same time he determined to construct new town, and numerous temples. The local deity was Arharbors, and to fortify the Piraeus, regarding the navy of temis Munychia; but the large number of foreigners Athens as her principal source of strength. It is doubtful (μÉTOLKOL) who became naturalized at this port led to the whether the "Long Walls" formed a distinct portion of introduction of many foreign forms of worship. Artemis his designs; but he may certainly be regarded as the herself came to be identified with the Thracian Bendis, and The best account yet given of the Dionysiac theatre is to be found her festival (rà Bevdidɛta) is referred to in the immortal in Dr. Dyer's recent work on Athens. opening of Plato's Republic.

of the walls.

The

singers, followed by the youthful chivalry of Athens on Among the many glories of the Acropolis, the Propylæa. prancing steeds, is represented as wending its way from Propylæa are described by Pausanias as being the west towards the eastern entrance.1 Outside of the exceptionally magnificent (i. 22). They rivalled even the building, on the N. and S. sides, the metopes between the Parthenon, and were the most splendid of all the buildings Doric triglyphs were filled with sculptures representing of Pericles. The western end of the Acropolis, which furscenes from the mythical history of Athens. But the nished, and still furnishes, the only access to the summit glory of the Parthenon were the sculptures of the E. and of the hill, was about 160 feet in breadth,—a frontage so W. pediments. Unhappily but a few figures remain, and narrow, that to the artists of Pericles it appeared practica none are wholly perfect, of the statues which formed these ble to fill up the space with a single building, which, in groups; and Pausanias appears to have thought it super-serving the main purpose of a gateway, should contribute fluous to give a minute description of objects so familiar to to adorn as well as to guard the citadel. This work, which every connoisseur and traveller. The sculptures on the rivalled the Parthenon in felicity of execution, and sureastern pediment related to the birth of Athena; the cen- passed it in boldness and originality of design, was begun tral group was early destroyed by the Byzantine Christians in the archonship of Euthymenes, in the year 437 B.C., in converting the Parthenon into a church, with the Pronaos and completed in five years, under the directions of the for its apse. But nearly all the subordinate figures are architect Mnesicles. Of the space which formed the natural preserved in a more or less injured condition in the British entrance to the Acropolis, 58 feet near the centre were left Museum. The noble head of the horse of the car of Night, for the grand entrance, and the remainder on either side the seated female figures of "The Fates," and the grand was occupied by wings projecting 32 feet in front of the torso commonly known as the "Theseus," are familiar to central colonnade. The entire building received the us all. It would be out of place here even to enumerate name of Propylæa from its forming the vestibule to the the many attempts that have been made to reconstruct the five doorways, still in existence, by which the citadel was groups of either pediment. The sculptures on the W. entered. The wall in which these doors were pierced was represented the contest between Athena and Poseidon for thrown back about 50 feet from the front of the artificial the possession of Attica; and although scarcely any por- opening of the hill, and the whole may therefore be said to tions of these figures are now existing, yet they are better have resembled a modern fortification, although, in fact, the known to us than the E. pediment by means of the faithful Propylea was designed, not for defence, but for decoration. (if clumsy) sketches made by the Frenchman Carrey in The whole building was of Pentelic marble. The Megaron 1674, when they were in a comparatively perfect state. or great vestibule in the centre consisted of a front of six Those who desire to know all that is to be known concern- fluted Doric columns, mounted upon four steps, which ing the sculptures of the Parthenon should consult the supported a pediment, and measured 5 feet in diameter and beautiful work of Michaelis, Der Parthenon, while the nearly 29 in height, with an intercolumniation of 7 feet, measurements and architectural details of the edifice have except between the two central columns, which were 13 never been so splendidly given as by our countryman Pen- feet apart, in order to furnish space for a carriage-way. rose, in his Principles of Athenian Årchitecture. Behind this Doric colonnade was a vestibule 43 feet in depth, the roof of which was sustained by six inner columns in a double row, so as to divide the vestibule into three aisles or compartments; and these columns, although only three feet and a half in diameter at the base, were, including the capitals, nearly 34 feet in height, their architraves being on the same level with the frieze of the Doric colonnade. The ceiling was laid upon marble beams, resting upon the lateral walls and the architraves of the two rows of Ionic columns,-those covering the side aisles being 22 feet in length, and those covering the central aisles 17 feet, with a proportional breadth and thickness. Enormous masses like these, raised to the roof of a building standing upon a steep hill, and covered with a ceiling which all the resources of art had been employed to beautify, might well overcome the reserve of a matter-offact topographer like Pausanias, and at once account for and justify the unusual warmth of his language when he is speaking of the roof of the Propylaa (i. 22). Of the five doors at the extremity of the vestibule, the width of the central and largest was equal to the space between the two central columns of the Doric portico in front, and the same also as that between the two rows of Ionic columns in the vestibule; but the doors on either side of the principal one were of diminished height and breadth, and the two beyond these again were still smaller in both dimensions. These five gates or doors led from the vestibule into a back portico 18 feet in depth, which was fronted with a Doric colonnade and pediment of the same dimensions as those of the western or outer portico, but placed on a higher level, there being five steps of ascent from the western to the level of the eastern portico. From the latter or inner portico there was a descent of one step into the adjacent part of the platform of the Acropolis.

We will turn now to the other buildings of the Acropolis, none of which, however, are so full of significance as the Parthenon itself. For, indeed, standing as it does on the highest point of Athenian soil, its erection marked the culminating point of Athenian history, literature, politics, and art. The "Birth of Athena," over the eastern entrance, may symbolize to us the sudden growth of Athenian greatness, while in the contest between the armed goddess of peaceful wisdom and the violent god of sea, which adorned the western front, we may see an allegory of the long struggle between the agricultural and the maritime interests which forms the central thread of Athenian history. Opposite to the Parthenon, on the northern Erechtheium. edge of the Acropolis, stands another remarkable temple, far smaller in size, and built in the most graceful forms of the Ionic order. The Erechtheium appears to be designed expressly to contrast with the severe sublimity of the Parthenon; and on the side which confronts those mighty Doric shafts, the columns of the smaller building are allowed to transform themselves into Canephori. The temple of Athena Polias, which contained the ancient wooden image of the goddess, and formed the centre of her worship, suffered from fire in the Persian War (479 B.C.). A building so sacred would hardly have been allowed to remain for long in ruins; but it was reserved for Pericles to set about a complete restoration of it. However, the Peloponnesian War seems to have interrupted his designs, and in the year 409 B.C. the edifice was still unfinished, and soon after this it was totally destroyed by fire. But soon afterwards it must have been rebuilt, without doubt retaining all its original features. The temple in its present state consists of an oblong cella extending from E. to W. From each side of the W. end of the cella projects a portico, forming a sort of transept. The eastern portico formed the temple of Athena Polias, upon the site of her ancient contest with Poseidon. The west portion was the Pandroseium, dedicated to Athena Pandrosus. The building thus formed two temples in one, and is styled by Pausanias a denhovv oikпua. It seems at a later time to have been commonly called the Erechtheium, because of a tradition that Erechtheus was buried on this site.

1 He who desires to enjoy these sculptures, should come from a perusal of Michaelis's eloquent work Der Parthenon, and spend a day In the British Museum with the guide-book in his hand.

An important inscription in the British Museum gives a survey of the works as they stood in that year, drawn up by a commission sppointed for the purpose. See Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum, vol. i. No. 35

The wings of the Propylæa were nearly symmetrical in front, each presenting on this side a wall adorned only with a frieze of triglyphs, and with antæ at the extremities. The inner or southernmost column of each wing stood in a line with the great Doric columns of the Megaron; and as both these columns and those of the wings were upon the same level, the three porticoes were all connected together, and the four steps which ascended to the Megaron were continued also along the porticoes of the two wings. regard to interior size and distribution of parts, the wings But here the symmetry of the building ended; for, in were exceedingly dissimilar. In the northern or left wing, a porch of 12 feet in depth conducted by three doors into a chamber of 34 feet by 26, the porch and chamber thus occupying the entire space behind the western wall of