Chapter VIII: Sea Routes in the Eastern Mediterranean (8)

A new period in the history of art was inaugurated by _Hadrian_ (A.D.
117–38), the friend of Greece, to whom countless statues were erected
under the titles of the Olympian, the Founder, the Liberator. A whole
quarter of the city, to the S.E. of the castle, was called after him,
as may still be read on Hadrian’s Arch. In this quarter rose the
temple of Zeus completed by him. In the old town he founded a library,
a gymnasion, and a pantheon, and Athens is still supplied with water
by his aqueduct. At the same period _Herodes Atticus_ (101–77), a rich
citizen, built the odeion named after him. Lastly _Marcus Aurelius_
(161–80), from whose time dates the description of the city by
Pausanias, summoned new teachers to the Athenian school of philosophy.
From that period begins the gradual stagnation and decay of the city.

In 267 Athens was captured by the Heruli and Goths. In 395 and 396
_Alaric_ with his Visigoths appeared before its gates, but spared it
on payment of tribute. From the 5th cent. onwards numerous works of
art were removed from Athens to Constantinople, as had been partly
done by Constantine himself, to grace the buildings of New Rome. In
529 _Justinian_ gave the death-blow to the intellectual life of Athens
by closing the schools of philosophy. Athens sank to the position of a
Byzantine provincial town. In 1019 _Basil II._ held a triumphal
festival in the Parthenon, which had long been used as a church. In
1040 the Northmen under Harald Haardraade took the Piræus by storm.

After the conquest of Constantinople by the _Latin Crusaders_ in 1204
(p. 542) Athens fell into the hands of Frankish nobles known as dukes
after 1258. At length, in 1456, after a vigorous defence, Athens was
captured by the _Turks_, and thenceforth belonged to the pashalik of
Negroponte (Eubœa). But two events in the next three centuries and a
half deserve mention; it was attacked by the Venetians in 1466 and it
was captured and occupied for a short time by their general Francesco
Morosini in 1687. On the latter occasion the Parthenon, hitherto
uninjured, was blown up, while the Propylæa had already been destroyed
by an earlier explosion (comp. p. 513). Athens then fell into complete
oblivion and had to be rediscovered by the explorers and scholars of
the 19th century.

The Greeks began their war of independence in 1821, and in 1822
captured the Acropolis of Athens. The Turks, however, stormed the town
in 1826, and in 1827 took the Acropolis also after a brave resistance.
The whole of Hellas thus fell again under the Turkish yoke. But the
Great Powers now intervened. In 1833 the Acropolis was evacuated by
the Turks, and entered by the Bavarian troops of the new king, _Otho_.
In 1834 Athens was made the capital of the new kingdom, and since 1835
has been the seat of government. This distinction it owes to its
historic fame, its site being geographically and economically
unfavourable for a great modern city. It has attracted neither
wholesale trade nor industry, and Attica itself is by no means
productive.

BOOKS. Of the extensive literature on Athens the following books may
be useful to the traveller: _Stuart’s_ and _Revett’s_ ‘The Antiquities
of Athens’ (4 vols.; rev. ed., 1825–30); _Leake’s_ ‘Topography of
Athens’ (London, 1821); _Wordsworth’s_ ‘Athens and Attica’ (4th ed.,
1869); _Dyer’s_ ‘Ancient Athens’ (London, 1873); _Harrison’s_ and
_Verrall’s_ ‘Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens’ (London,
1890); _E. A. Gardner’s_ ‘Ancient Athens’ (London, 1902).

a. Walk from the Palace round the S. Side of the Acropolis.

The PLACE DE LA CONSTITUTION, or _Syntagma Square_ (Pl. F, 5, 6; p. 505), with its hotels and cafés, is bounded by gardens on the E., beyond which rises the =Royal Palace= (Pl. F, G, 5, 6), built of limestone and Pentelic marble (1834–8), with a Doric portico. The trellised walks of the palace-garden (Pl. F, G, 6; entr. to the right, in the Rue de Képhisia; adm. Wed. and Frid., 4–6, in winter 3–5; smoking prohibited) afford shady promenades; from the S. part, with its fine palms, we get picturesque glimpses of the columns of the Olympieion, the Acropolis, and the sea.

From Syntagma Square the broad Rue des Philhellènes leads to the S., past the Russian Church and the _English Church_ (Pl. F, 6, 7), a tasteful Gothic edifice, to the beautiful grounds of the =Záppion= (Pl. F, 7), an exhibition-building opened in 1888.

The two statues adorning the flight of steps represent the brothers
Zappas, who founded the building. At the W. angle of the grounds is a
pleasing _Statue of Byron_ (Pl. E, 7). Café on the Terrace (p. 503).

To the S. we have a view of the sea; to the E. (left) rises Hymettos. In the foreground, adjoining the Olympieion (p. 509), is *=Hadrian’s Arch= (Pl. E, 7), erected either by himself or his successor. This gateway, 14½ yds. broad and 59 ft. high, marked, as the inscriptions record, the boundary between the older quarters and the new town of Hadrian (p. 507). It was adorned with projecting Corinthian columns, of which fragments of the bases and the entablature alone survive. Above the gateway rises an attica with three window-like apertures and a pediment in the centre.

The =Olympieion= (Pl. E, F, 7, 8), or _Temple of the Olympian Zeus_, has been entirely destroyed with the exception of fifteen huge marble columns. The original temple dates from the time of Peisistratos (ca. 530 B.C.; p. 506), but scarcely more than the foundations were then built. The work was resumed, ca. 174 B.C., by Antiochos IV. Epiphanes, to whose edifice the existing ruins belong, but it was completed only by Hadrian. When the temple was consecrated (ca. 129 A.D.) the Athenians showed their gratitude by erecting a statue of the emperor next to the gold and ivory statue of Zeus. The temple rose on a basis (118 by 45 yds.) approached by three steps, and was the largest Greek temple in existence after those of Ephesus and Selinus. The W. and E. ends were flanked with triple rows of eight columns, and the N. and S. sides with double rows of twenty; in all there were 104 Corinthian columns, 56½ ft. high and 56–67 inches in diameter.

The precincts of the temple consisted of a large levelled platform, created by Hadrian, 224 by 141 yds., which had to be backed up on the W. side and at the S.E. corner, where it is buttressed with huge substructions. On the N. side, in a line with the E. front of the temple, an entrance with four columns has been unearthed.

The view stretches from Hymettos to the sea, with the islands of Ægina
and Hydra and the coast of Argolis.

The Olga Boulevard (Pl. E-G, 7, 8), on the bank of the _Ilissos_ (generally dry), leads to the E. from the Olympieion to the Stadion bridge. Opposite the bridge is the old _Protestant Cemetery_.

The *=Stadion= (Pl. G, H, 8; adm. 20 l.), the scene of the Panathenæan games, situated in a natural basin, was planned by Lykourgos (p. 507) in 330 B.C. The seats and balustrades in Pentelic marble were added, about 140 A.D., by Herodes Atticus (p. 507). The great size of the Stadion and the height of its rows of seats produce a very imposing effect, and this is enhanced by the rich marble decorations, which were renewed in 1896–1906. On its completion the building was inaugurated in 1906 with Olympic games, which are to be held here every four years. The entrance consists of a Corinthian propylæum. The race-course, ascending slightly, is 224 yds. long as far as the semicircular space at the S.E. end (sphendonē), and 36½ yds. in breadth. Exclusive of barriers and corridor, the actual course was 600 Græco-Roman or 584 Engl. ft. (195 yds.) long, and was divided into sections by _metae_ or goals, consisting of double hermæ, two of which have been re-erected at the semicircular space. The course is separated by a marble parapet from a corridor, 3 yds. wide, affording access to the lower tiers of seats. These are 24 in number, and higher up, separated from them by a broad passage, are 20 rows of benches, above which runs another passage overlooking the whole and protected on the outside by a parapet. There is accommodation for 50,000 spectators.

From Hadrian’s Arch the short Rue de Lysicrate leads to the N.W. to the beautiful choragic *=Monument of Lysikrates= (Pl. E, 7), resembling a small round temple. This is the oldest well-preserved monument in the Corinthian style, and once served as the library of that French Capuchin Convent where Lord Byron spent a night. According to the inscription above the half-columns on the S.E. side, it was erected in 335–334 by a certain Lysikrates who had won the victory in the Dionysian games. On a cubic basement rises a round building in Pentelic marble, 21½ ft. high, with six Corinthian half-columns which support a tripartite architrave and sculptured frieze. The conical roof, consisting of a single slightly convex block of marble, is crowned with a vigorous acanthus flower, on which once stood the bronze tripod won by Lysikrates. The frieze, which dates from the prime of the school of Praxiteles, represents in very low relief, partly obliterated, the punishment of the Tyrrhenian pirates who had robbed Dionysos; before the god converts them into dolphins, they are being tormented in every possible way by his attendant satyrs.

We return by the Rue de Byron (to the S.) to Amalia Street, in line with which the DIONYSIOS AREOPAGITES STREET (Pl. D, C, 7) ascends to the Acropolis.

The *=Theatre of Dionysos= (Pl. D, 7), whose entrance we soon reach, was once the centre of the dramatic art of Greece, the spot in which the masterpieces of Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes first excited delight and admiration. From the early 5th cent, this site was occupied by a round enclosed orchestra (‘dancing place’), while for each performance a stage had to be specially erected, the audience being seated in a levelled hollow in the Acropolis hill-side. In the 4th cent., mainly in the time of Lykourgos (p. 507), tiers of stone seats and a permanent stage were erected for the first time. The present semicircular orchestra, paved with marble, and the remains of the stage-building belong to Roman restorations. The Roman raised stage rested on a wall adorned with good sculptures of the time of Nero. During the Greek age the actors and the chorus, the former wearing the raised cothurnus, performed on the level space in the orchestra, while the skēnē or stage served them as a kind of booth. The proskēnion, or wooden front of the stage, formed the background of the play, and was only superseded by a stone wall with columns at the close of the late Hellenistic period. Between the rectangular wings of the stage (paraskēnia) and the lowest seats for the spectators opened the entrances for the chorus (párodoi). The auditorium was divided by narrow flights of steps into 13 ‘wedges’ (kerkides) and by two cross passages (diazomata) into three main sections. The seats, originally for 14–17,000 spectators, are only partly preserved. In the front row were marble seats for the priests and state officials; that in the centre, set apart for the priest of Dionysos, is adorned with reliefs. The pedestal to the right, behind it, bore the throne of Hadrian.

Adjoining the theatre was the _Sacred Precinct of Dionysos Eleuthereus_, the wine-dispensing god, with whose festivals the dramatic performances were connected. The walls of his temple (5th or early 4th cent.) are still partly preserved between the stage of the theatre and the modern street. Behind the stage ran a colonnade offering shelter in rainy weather; at its S.W. end once stood an older temple, the N.W. corner of which has been discovered.

The ancient buildings to the W. of the theatre of Dionysos skirt the hill-side in two terraces. The E. half of the upper terrace, on the steep slope of the castle-hill, above the conspicuous arched wall, is the site of the famous =Asklepieion=, or sacred precinct of Asklepios (Æsculapius), Hygieia, and kindred deities, with which institutions for the treatment of the sick were connected. Of the temple, founded in 420, the foundations only are left. The perpendicular side of the Acropolis is here faced with masonry, in which is the entrance to a round well-house converted into a chapel. In front of it ran a colonnade towards the W., leading to a round pit, once roofed over, which is supposed to have been used for sacrificial purposes or as the abode of the sacred serpents.

On the lower terrace, from the theatre to the Odeion, ran the _Stoa of King Eumenes II._ of Pergamon (B.C. 197–159), 180 yds. long, with its back to the masonry supporting the upper terrace.

The *=Odeion of Herodes Atticus= (Pl. C, 7; keys kept by a pensioner, in the red hut at the W. entrance; 25–50 l.), founded by a rich citizen (p. 507; about 160 A.D.), dominates all the other ruins at the foot of the castle-hill. Unlike the usual odeon or theatre for musical entertainments, this building was constructed with a view to dramatic performances. The yellowish-brown façade is constructed in the Roman round-arched style and consisted of three stories. The usual entrance is by the westmost of the three doors. A niche here contains the statue of a Roman official.

The INTERIOR affords a good example of a Roman theatre (comp. p. 510).
The stage (logeion), raised 3½ ft. above the orchestra, is 38½ yds. in
breadth, but only 6 yds. deep. At the back of the stage is a massive
wall, broken by the usual three stage-doors and relieved by niches and
a row of columns. The orchestra, 20 yds. wide, was paved with
particoloured squares of marble. The auditorium, 83 yds. in diameter,
could hold 5000 spectators. The tiers of seats rise in a semicircle,
one above the other, on the rocky slope of the Acropolis. The lower 19
tiers were divided by steps into five, the upper (probably 13), above
the transverse passage (see p. 510 and above), into ten sections. The
seats, like the whole of the masonry, were coated with Pentelic
marble; the lowest tier had backs. The whole edifice was covered with
a superb roof of cedar-wood.

From the Dionysios Areopagites Street (p. 510), where it passes the Odeion, there diverges to the W. the avenue leading to the Acropolis, immediately to the right of which a steep path ascends on the W. side of the Odeion to the Acropolis gate.

Halfway up we diverge to the left to visit the summit of a rocky plateau (377 ft.) separated from the Acropolis by a depression, and descending abruptly to the N.E., still called as in ancient times the =Areopagus= (Pl. B, C, 6). A narrow flight of steps in the rock, partly destroyed, ascends to the site of some ancient altars, for which platforms were hewn in the rock. Here met the time-honoured court of justice, composed of noble and aged citizens who wielded supreme criminal jurisdiction. The cleft in the rock below the N.E. corner was probably connected with the cult of the avenging _Erinyes_ (Furies), or _Eumenides_ (the benevolent), as they were euphemistically called. This was the scene of Æschylus’s famous tragedy of that name.

To the S.W. of the Areopagus rock, and below (to the E. of) the modern
road from the Theseion (p. 521) to the Acropolis, the OLDEST QUARTER
OF THE LOWER TOWN has been partly excavated (comp. Pl. B, 7, and p.
524). Descending at the W. point of the Areopagus rock from the modern
to the ancient road, we reach, on the left, the DIONYSION EN LIMNAIS
(Pl. B, 7), a triangular space enclosed by an antique polygonal wall
of limestone. This was the sacred precinct of Dionysos Lenæos, the
inventor of the wine-press, and once contained a temple of the 7th or
6th cent. B.C., a wine-press (in the N.W. angle), and a large hall of
the Roman period (in the N.E. half).

To the S. of the temple-precinct lay the _City Well of Kallirrhoë_.
Peisistratos connected it with his aqueduct from the upper Ilissos
valley, and provided it with nine spouts, whence it was called
_Enneákrunos_.

b. The Acropolis.

The abrupt limestone plateau (512 ft.) on which stands the
_Acropolis_, or castle of Athens, has formed from hoar antiquity the
nucleus of all the settlements in the Attic plain. The legendary
Pelasgi are said to have first levelled the top of the hill, enclosed
it with a wall, and erected the so-called _Enneápylon_, an outwork
with nine gates, to defend the sole approach on the W. side. The
Acropolis contained the residence of the kings and the chief
sanctuaries of the state. The kings afterwards transferred their seat
to the lower city, Peisistratos alone preferring to reside in the
Acropolis. The ancient buildings were destroyed by the Persians in
480–479. Themistokles and Kimon rebuilt the walls, and Perikles then
became the chief founder of those magnificent buildings which, even in
their ruins, still present the finest picture of the unrivalled art of
antiquity.

Tramway, see p. 503.

The avenue mentioned above which ascends to the W. at the Odeion of Herodes Atticus brings us to the so-called Beulé Gate, on the plateau below the last steep W. slope of the **=Acropolis=. Carriages stop here. Visitors admitted till sunset.

The BEULÉ GATE, named after the French savant who discovered it, was entirely built over by bastions down to 1852, but since 1889 has formed the chief entrance to the Acropolis (side-entrance under the Nike bastion). The towers flanking the gateway were built about 50 A.D.; the gateway itself dates from 160 A.D. and is embellished with fragments from a choragic monument erected by Nikias in 319.

From the Beulé Gate we ascend a flight of marble steps, with many gaps, to the Propylæa. This staircase, which also was made in the first half of the 1st cent. A.D., replaces the steep ancient track.

The tower-like pedestal on the left, below the Propylæa, once bore a
_Statue of M. Vipsanius Agrippa_, the general and son-in-law of Emp.
Augustus, erected between 27 and 12 A.D.

To the right of the Propylæa projects a bastion, 26 ft. high, from which a small flight of marble steps descends, stopping short of our staircase. On this bastion rises the *=Temple of Nike= (Athena Nike, erroneously called Nike Apteros), which was reconstructed with the ancient stones in 1835–6. Its date is uncertain (probably between 440 and 410 B.C.).

Like the Propylæa this little temple, 27 ft. long and 18 ft. wide, is
built entirely of Pentelic marble. It stands on a basement of three
steps, and is preceded at the E. and W. ends by a portico of four
Ionic columns 13 ft. high. Above the tripartite architrave runs a
sculptured frieze 85 ft. long and 18 inches high. At the E. end it
represents a council of the gods, among whom are Athena with her
shield (in the centre) and Zeus (sitting) next to her. On the sides
are battles of the Greeks with the Persians (some of them mounted). At
the W. end is a conflict between Greeks and Greeks. Only a few
fragments of the roof have been found; it ended on the E. and W. in
pediments which were unadorned. The entrance to the cella is formed by
two pillars.

On the marble cornice of the temple bastion there once rose a _Balustrade_ adorned with reliefs outside, and bearing a bronze railing. These admirable reliefs, remains of which are preserved in the Acropolis Museum (p. 520), represented goddesses of victory erecting trophies and presenting offerings in presence of Athenä.

The *VIEW from beside the Temple of Nike is justly celebrated. In the
picturesque intermingling of land and sea we descry the bay of
Phaleron (p. 528), the peninsula of Munychia, the Piræus (p. 494),
Salamis, and its adjoining islet of Psyttaleia (p. 494). A little
farther to the right, beyond the bay of Eleusis, appears the dome-like
rock of Acro-Corinth, backed by distant mountains. To the right of
this, but in the immediate foreground, rises the Pnyx Hill with its
rock-steps. The plain is overgrown with fine old olive-groves. Above
it rise Mt. Ægaleos and the hills of Megara. To the S.W., to the left
of the tower-like monument of Philopappos, stretches the Saronic Gulf,
bounded by Ægina, with Mt. St. Elias, and by the Argolic Mts. and the
island of Hydra. To the left runs the Attic coast as far as the islet
of Gaïdaronisi, off Cape Colonna.

The **=Propylæa=, the greatest secular edifice in ancient Athens, composed entirely of Pentelic marble, were erected in 437–432 B.C. by the architect _Mnesikles_. This highly artistic building consists of three parts—a central gateway with wings on the N. and S.

The CENTRAL BUILDING, ruined by an explosion in 1645, consists of a wall pierced with five openings and preceded by Doric colonnades on the E. and W. sides. Each colonnade has six columns in front, above which ran a frieze of triglyphs and metopes, crowned by a plain pediment. The _W. Colonnade_, to which three huge steps ascend, is 19 yds. wide and 17 yds. deep. Its front columns belong to the Doric order and consequently rise directly from the ground (stylobate), without bases; they are 29 ft. high, and each is fluted with twenty grooves separated by sharp edges. Behind the two central columns, which are 12½ ft. apart, and flanking the main passage there are on each side three slender Ionic columns, 33 ft. high, resting on their cushion-like bases, and grooved with twenty-four flutes separated by broad fillets. The ceiling was divided into sunk panels adorned with painting.

On the N. and S. sides the central building was bounded by massive walls, 17½ yds. long, ending in huge buttresses (antæ). Between these extended the _Gateway_ proper consisting, as above remarked, of a wall with five openings. Five marble steps ascend to the threshold, composed of black Eleusinian stone, on which the side-gates rest. The broad central gateway is without steps. All the gateways were once provided with massive folding doors.

The _E. Colonnade_ is as broad as the other, but only 23 ft. deep. Of its six Doric columns five still have their capitals, and two are connected with their architrave.

The well-preserved NORTH WING consists of a porch or vestibule, open towards the S., with three Doric columns between antæ, and an inner hall connected with it by a door and two windows. This was called the _Pinakotheka_, from its use as a receptacle for votive pictures (‘pinakes’) on marble or terracotta. The SOUTH WING, of which two columns and the back-wall only have been preserved, was never quite completed.

Passing through the E. Colonnade of the Propylæa we enter the INNER WARD of the Acropolis and ascend a gradual slope, now covered with profoundly impressive ruins. When we picture to ourselves the mighty Parthenon, on the right, and the exquisite Erechtheion on the left, in the full glory of their sculptures and colouring, surrounded by smaller sanctuaries and a forest of statues, we may well understand the enthusiastic pride of the Athenians in their unrivalled Acropolis.

From the central gateway of the Propylæa a broad pathway ascends along the main axis of the citadel. The rock has evidently been much cut away to facilitate the ascent, as we see from a glance at the rocky terrace on the right, which has a precipitous face 6½ ft. in height. Fragments of pedestals and square hollows in the rock indicate the ancient sites of numerous votive offerings.

The terrace of rock just mentioned, to which nine low steps ascend
farther on, once bore the temple of _Artemis Braurōnia_, but is now
strewn with beams and fragments of ceiling from the Propylæa (panels
with traces of blue colouring). The terrace is bounded on the W. by a
fragment of a broad wall belonging to the original Pelasgic
fortifications (p. 512).—Another rock-terrace, about 2½ ft. higher,
and also cut perpendicularly, to the E. of the Brauronion, is supposed
to have been the place where, without any actual temple, _Athena_ was
worshipped as _Ergánē_, the mistress and inventor of every art. To the
S. of this terrace we observe traces of walls which, together with the
S. wall itself, seem to have formed a gigantic building. It was
perhaps the _Chalkotheka_, an arsenal where not only implements of war
but also bronze votive offerings, and other objects were kept. Towards
the Parthenon the terrace had nine narrow steps on which votive
offerings were deposited.

About forty paces from the Propylæa, straight on, we come to a large cutting in the rock, the supposed site of the bronze statue of _Athena Promachos_, about 26 ft. high, by Phidias, erected with the booty of Marathon. The goddess was represented in full armour, with shield and lance. The gilded point of the lance, gleaming in the sun, was a landmark for sailors rounding Cape Colonna. The principal roadway, once used by the festal processions, passes between the Erechtheion and the Parthenon to the E. front of the latter.

The **=Parthenon=, the most perfect monument of ancient art, once far surpassing all other Athenian buildings in the brilliancy of its plastic and polychrome decoration, and even in its ruins a marvel of majestic beauty, stands on the highest S. margin of the Acropolis precincts. On this site, as early as the middle of the 6th cent., a large temple was begun, adjoining the ancient Hekatompedon (p. 518), in poros or Piræan stone, and after the battle of Marathon down to the Persian occupation was continued in marble. In the time of Perikles, after 447, the whole edifice as it now stands was rebuilt in Pentelic marble. The architects were _Iktinos_ and _Kallikrates_, but Perikles himself presided over the works and provided the funds. The external sculptures are attributed to _Phidias_ and his pupils. The temple was probably opened for worship in 438, on the occasion of the erection of the statue of Athena at the Panathenæan Festival. This marvellous work must therefore have been completed within ten years. Its decoration alone included 98 columns, 50 life-size statues for the pediments, a frieze 524 ft. long, 92 metopes, and a gold and ivory figure of Athena 43 ft. high.

On the massive basement in three steps, whose _Stylobate_, or platform for the colonnade, measures 75½ by 33 yds., rise 46 Doric columns averaging 34 ft. high, eight at each end and seventeen on each side (the corner-columns being counted twice). On the abaci of the columns rests the undivided _Architrave_ or _Epistyle_, above which runs a _Triglyph Frieze_, the most characteristic feature of the Doric order. This consists of _triglyphs_ or triple grooves, alternating with _metopes_ or flat spaces, which in this case are adorned with reliefs. Above the frieze is the _geison_, or lowest flat moulding of the cornice, while below each triglyph hang _regulae_ (_guttae_, or drops), corresponding with drops above it. The triglyphs and drops were painted blue, the ground of the metopes blue or red, and the lower surface of the geison and the continuous moulding above the frieze and architrave red. The smooth spaces in front were left white, as were also the columns, with the exception of the four rings or annuli below the capitals.

The gable-roof rose at an angle of 13½°. At each end is a pediment, framing the _tympanum_, or receding space for statuary 91½ ft. long, 3 ft. deep, and in the centre 10½ ft. high. It was painted red at the back, so as to throw the statues into strong relief. The raised edges (_simae_) of the external members of the pediment, 18½ inches high, are intended to prevent the rain-water from escaping over the front; they were adorned with wreaths of foliage. The pediment was crowned with a boldly executed palmette, and at each corner was placed a golden oil-jar.—The roof, resting partly on timber and partly on stone framework, consisted of slabs of Parian marble 1¼ in. thick; it was edged with artistic _antefixae_, or hollowed tiles, between which the rain-water escaped. The lions’ heads at the ends of each side were purely ornamental.

The _Cella_, or sanctuary proper, enclosed by the outer colonnades, is raised two steps above the stylobate. At each end a portico is formed by six Doric columns, 33 ft. high, and by the projecting sides. Above the architrave, round the whole building ran a frieze, of which hardly any traces remain except on the W. side (comp. p. 517).—The porticos were closed by high bronze railings between the columns. From the E. portico massive folding doors led into the interior, which was divided by a partition into an eastern and a smaller western section. The former, the inner sanctuary, was known as the _Hekatompedon_, being ‘100 ft. long’ (comp. p. 518). It was divided into three aisles by two rows of Doric columns (9 in each). On a square of darker stone in the pavement stood the famous gold and ivory statue of Athena Parthenos by Phidias. The ceiling was of wood in lacunars, which were doubtless richly coloured. Light was admitted by the door alone. The walls were painted dark-red, but no adequate idea can now be formed of the original wealth of colouring.—Between the partition and the W. portico, which is supposed to have formed a kind of treasury (_opisthodomos_), lay the W. section of the cella, 14 yds. in depth, sometimes called the _Parthenon_ in the narrower sense.

The crowning glory of the Parthenon consisted in its plastic decoration, executed under the direction of _Phidias_. Most of the sculptures still preserved were taken to London by Lord Elgin in 1802–3 and are now in the British Museum, but there are several others in the Acropolis Museum (see p. 519).

The _E. Tympanum_ was devoted to the nativity of Athena. All that remains of its sculptures in their original position consists of two horses’ heads belonging to the chariot of the rising Helios, on the left, and remains of a horse’s head of the chariot of the setting Selene, on the right. In the _W. Tympanum_, which illustrated the victory of Athena over Poseidon in their contest for the possession of Attica, are still seen, near the left angle, a half-recumbent male figure, round whose neck is the arm of a kneeling woman (Æsculapius and Hygieia?), and in the right angle a female figure supposed to be Kallirrhoë (p. 512).

The _Metope Reliefs_ are of inferior artistic value. Of the 92 there still exist the 28 at each end and 12 on the N. side. They represent the conflicts of the gods with the Giants (E.), of the Lapithæ and Athenians with the Centaurs (S.), of the Athenians with the Amazons (W.), and lastly the siege of Troy. The high relief in some cases assumes an almost entirely rounded form.

The masterpiece of Attic bas-relief is the *_Frieze_ of the cella wall, 175 yds. long and 39 in. high. On the W. front the greater part of it has been preserved, but on the S. side there are only scanty fragments. Twenty-two slabs are now in the Acropolis Museum (see p. 519). The reliefs represented the festal procession in which every four years, at the close of the Panathenæa, the maidens of Athens presented the goddess with a magnificent woven robe. Over the chief entrance is the presentation of the robe to Athena; to the right and left of it are the assembled gods; on the sides and at the back are Athenians. The figures were executed in low relief of 2–2½ in. only, in order to prevent strong shadows being thrown by the light entering the covered hall from below. The effect was enhanced by painting and mountings in metal.

In the hollows on the S. side of the Parthenon, far below, may be traced the line of the _Pelasgic Wall_ (p. 512), which was covered up when the terrace of the temple was formed. Excavations here, and notably also to the N.W. of the Erechtheion, brought to light a number of archaic statues and architectural fragments dating from the Persian destruction.

Near the N. margin of the Acropolis precincts, but in a slight depression, rises the **=Eréchtheion=, the temple of the tutelary goddess _Athena Poliás_ and the other deities of the city. The building was probably begun soon after the Peace of Nikias (421), but only completed in 407 or after 400. It contained chambers for the cult of Athena and Poseidon Erechtheus, while the vestibule had an entrance to the salt-spring produced by Poseidon. But the temple is now sadly ruined, having served in the middle ages as a church and afterwards as a Turkish harem. Since 1902, however, the ancient fragments have been pieced together, and they now afford a fairly complete idea of the exterior of the building, which differed from that of the ordinary temples.

The nucleus of the edifice (24 by 12 yds.) rises on a threefold basement in steps, and the sanctuary was entered by three porticos (E., S., and N.) of charmingly varied type.

The _E. Portico_ was formed by six Ionic columns in front, the northmost of which has been broken down. Their rich capitals bear the tripartite epistyle (p. 515); above it are dark blocks of stone to which the relief figures of the frieze were attached.

Between the E. portico and the Acropolis Wall twelve broad steps, partly modern, descend to the terrace of rock, about 10 ft. lower, on which stands the _N. Portico_. Its six columns display a still greater wealth of sculpturing than those of the E. portico. The ceiling is relieved by lacunars. The great main doorway is specially rich and well preserved. The three holes in the rock below the N. side of the N. colonnade were pointed out in ancient times as the indentations made by Poseidon’s trident during his contest with Athena for possession of Athens. Above them the pavement and roof were left open.—The W. façade of the temple, in front of which lay the _Pandroseion_, or shrine of Pandrosos, daughter of Cecrops, was originally articulated by four columns, resting upon a high parapet. The existing arrangement, of pilasters engaged in a wall with windows, dates from the Roman period.

The *_Colonnade of the Caryatides_ at the S.W. angle is particularly charming. Instead of columns, six statues of virgins, over life-size (7½ ft.), placed on a parapet, support the roof, the weight of which they bear with ease and grace. The ancient Athenians called them simply the _Korai_ (maidens). The second figure from the W. is a copy in terracotta; the one standing back in the E. row has been restored.

To the S. of the Erechtheion are the foundations (37½ by 14½ yds.) of the so-called =Hekatómpedon= (early 6th cent.), on the site of the palace of Erechtheus. The name (‘100 ft. long’) is evidenced by an inscription. Peisistratos and his sons embellished it with a colonnade. After its destruction by the Persians it was probably restored without the colonnade. Opinions differ as to its object and as to its history after the completion of the Erechtheion. It had a front (E.) chamber of three aisles and a narrow chamber at the back (W.), with two small rooms between them.

To the _Palace of Erechtheus_, the ancient residence of the Attic kings, belonged the foundations to the E. of the Erechtheion. So also did the poros (Piræan stone) bases of columns, lying opposite the S.E. angle of the colonnade of the Caryatides, 5 ft. lower; their extremely archaic form, with the shaft of the column embedded in the base, points to the Mycenæan period.

We now return to the Parthenon. To the E. of it once stood a small round _Temple of the Goddess Roma and the Emp. Augustus_, round the foundations of which lie fragments of its architrave. Opposite the N.E. corner of the Parthenon are the remains of a sacrificial altar of Athena.—At the S.E. angle of the precincts the huge masonry of the _Kimonian Wall_ (p. 512) may be seen.

The =Belvedere= at the N.E. angle of the Acropolis affords the best
survey of the city. To the S.E. are the columns of the Olympieion,
with the distant Hymettos; nearer rises Hadrian’s Arch; in the
foreground is the monument of Lysikrates; then the royal Palace and
its gardens; beyond them are Lykabettos and the gable-shaped
Pentelikon; in the town, a little to the left, shine the dazzling
marble buildings of the Academy, the University, and the Library; to
the N. of these runs the Patisia road; more to the left rises the
lofty Metropolis Church, with the small Metropolis nestling beside it;
in the centre of the N. slope of the Acropolis rises the Tower of the
Winds; adjacent is the Bazaar with Hadrian’s Stoa; to the W. is the
Theseion, and beyond it the Kephisos Valley with its olive-groves, and
Mt. Parnes with its S. spur Mt. Ægaleos.

The *=Acropolis Museum=, erected in 1878, contains all the sculptures of the Acropolis, except those previously removed, and the yield of later excavations. Besides works of the golden age, it comprises valuable examples of the earlier periods of art. Adm., see p. 504.

From the VESTIBULE, containing antiques of various ages, we enter
(left) Room I, where the chronological order begins.

ROOM I. Archaic sculptures in poros (6th cent.). Straight before us,
No. 3. Bull attacked by two lions; above this, and by the right wall:
1, 2. Tympana with statues of Hercules (with traces of painting). By
the window-wall: 9, 10. Deities enthroned, from a tympanum of the
pre-Peisistrateian Hekatompedon (p. 518).

ROOM II. Remains of the tympanum groups in poros from the Hekatompedon
just mentioned: 36. Hercules with the Triton; 35. Figure with three
bodies (‘Typhon’); 40. Remains of two large serpents in poros stone,
showing abundant traces of painting (comp. water-colour on the wall).

ROOM III. Figures (idols), tablets, and architectural fragments in
terracotta, some with admirably preserved painting. Specially
noteworthy, at the entrance, No. 67. A warrior (6–5th cent.).

ROOM IV. Fragments of marble sculptures; architectural ornaments in
terracotta, poros, and marble, some of them painted. On the right, the
tympanum figures from Peisistratos’s colonnade round the old
Hekatompedon (p. 518): Athena fighting with the Giants.

ROOM V. Archaic marbles (6th cent.), incl. (on the right of the
entrance) 624. _Calf-Bearer_ (youth bringing a calf to the altar).

ROOM VI. Archaic *_Draped Female Figures_, erected in the Acropolis in
the 2nd half of the 6th cent. as votive offerings, but buried in the
rubbish after its destruction (480), also with interesting traces of
painting. No. 681 is by Antenor, author of the tyrannicide group
(comp. p. 506); No. 686 is the most recent.

ROOM VII. Later archaic marbles, notably (in the centre, under glass)
No. 689. Beautiful head of a youth; also two graceful reliefs, 695.
Athena, and 702. Hermes and three women—Above, along the walls,
_Metopes from the Parthenon_ (p. 517), few of them original; the
finest, a Centaur carrying off one of the Lapithæ.

ROOM VIII. _Sculptures from the Parthenon_: Statues from the tympana
and reliefs from the frieze, those in the British Museum being
represented by casts. In the centre of the room a reconstruction of
the tympanum groups, according to Furtwängler. By the wall on the
right are remains of the E. tympanum (p. 517), two torsos only being
originals. No. 880 (in the centre). Hephæstus; on the right, 881.
Selene. Above are remains of the W. tympanum; in the centre, 885.
Poseidon.

Most interesting of all is the better-preserved **Parthenon Frieze, of
which nearly 28 yds. are almost entirely original (partly replaced by
casts). To the right of the entrance, 856. Three deities, Aphrodite
(?), Apollo, and Poseidon; below these, 857. Three youths with cows
for sacrifice. Then, on the right, 877. Four women with silver or gold
basins; 875. Three men with musical instruments. We note also several
slabs from the procession of horsemen and chariots. To the right of
the entrance, 860. Youth with sacrificial sheep.

ROOM IX. On the right, beautiful reliefs from the Nike balustrade (p.
513); in the centre of the front row, *973. _Nike loosening her
sandal_. On the left, Nos. 1071–78. Fragments of the relief-frieze of
the Erechtheion.

c. Walk from the Palace to the Theseion. Dipylon. Hill of the Nymphs.
Pnyx. Monument of Philopappos.

The upper or E. end of the RUE D’HERMÈS (Pl. E-B, 5), which leads to the W. from the Place de la Constitution, is one of the chief business quarters of Athens. Among the wares sold in the shops here are Oriental silks and woollen stuffs and antiquities, the latter dear and sometimes spurious.

A few paces to the S. of the Rue d’Hermès rises the =Metropolitan Church= (Pl. E, 5), erected in 1840–55 with the materials of seventy smaller churches and chapels, and sumptuously fitted up in the interior. Adjoining it on the S. is the so-called *=Little Metropolis=, or church of _Panagia Gorgópiko_, of the early 9th cent., the oldest extant Byzantine edifice on Greek soil. The walls, composed of antique blocks of stone, contain many ancient and Byzantine sculptures.

Halfway along the Rue d’Hermès is the KAPNIKARÆA CHURCH (Pl. D, 5), a complex Byzantine building (9th cent.?). Just beyond it we cross the busy—

RUE D’EOLE (Pl. D, 6–3), the second main street of the old town, where men in Greek costume are often seen. Following it to the S., towards the Acropolis, and passing the Place Panteleēmon, we come to the old _Bazaar_ (Pl. D, 5), where tailors, shoemakers, and smiths ply their crafts in their open workshops.

Adjoining the bazaar on the S. is =Hadrian’s Library= (Pl. D, 5), with its back to the Rue d’Eole, a massive edifice of 134 by 90 yds.

A gate (keys at the provision-shop opposite) leads from the Rue d’Eole
into the quadrangle, once bordered with a colonnade. The columns still
standing and the building in the middle are restorations. On the wall
of the large hall on the E. side are seen the places where the
bookshelves were attached, as in the Pergamon library.

On the W. side of the library, reached from the outside, still stands the N. half of the main façade, known as _Hadrian’s Stoa_. The marble wall is embellished with seven monolithic columns, 28 ft. high, with rich Corinthian capitals. An eighth column with the wall of the _anta_ belonged to the colonnade of the chief portal.—Near this is the _Stoa of Attalos_ (p. 521).

At the S. end of the Rue d’Eole rises the so-called =Tower of the Winds= (Pl. D, 6; custodian 20–30 l.), a well-preserved octagonal marble edifice of the 1st cent. B.C., more accurately named the _Horológion of Andronikos_ of Kyrrhos. On the upper spaces of the eight walls, which are turned towards the different points of the compass, are reliefs representing the various winds; below are seen the lines of sun-dials. The round channels in the pavement inside, into which water flowed from a semicircular cistern outside, belonged to a water-clock.

Lanes and steps ascend here to the S. to a path skirting the N. slope
of the Acropolis and leading to the right to its entrance (10 min.; p.
512).

A large paved quadrangle to the W. of the Tower of the Winds is supposed to have been a _Roman Macellum_ (Agora or market). It is entered from the W. by the =Market Gate= (_Porte de l’Agora_; Pl. C, 6). Four slender Doric columns, 26 ft. high, support a massive architrave with a frieze of triglyphs and metopes and a fairly well preserved pediment. According to the inscription on the architrave the gateway was erected about the time of the birth of Christ. In line with the N. central column is a tablet of Hadrian’s age, inscribed with regulations about the prices of oil, salt, etc.

From the Market Gate we follow the Poikile Street to the W. to the Stoōn Street and descend the latter to the right. The second crooked side-street on the right then leads to the entrance (red door on the right; keeper 20 l.) of the =Stoa of Attalos= (Pl. C, 5, 6). This grand, two-storied market-hall was erected, as the inscription on the architrave, pieced together in front of the colonnade, records, by king Attalos II. of Pergamon (B. C. 159–138). It was 123 yds. long and 22 yds. deep, and formed the E. boundary of the Kerameikos market (p. 522). The groundfloor contained 21 closed chambers 16 ft. deep, in front of which ran a long colonnade. The traders probably had their stalls in the hall, while the closed rooms were used for storage.

We now descend to the N., across the railway cutting, to the Rue d’Adrien, follow the latter to the left for a hundred paces, and turn to the left (S.) into Eponymōn Street; here, on the left, sixty paces farther, is the _Stoa of the Giants_ (Pl. G.; C, 5), a ruin so named from its three great Atlantes (beam-bearers).

A little farther to the W., on the ancient _Kolonos Agoraeos_ (‘Hill of the Market’; see p. 522), rises the **=Theseion= (Pl. B, 5), the best-preserved of all the ancient Greek buildings. The massive construction, the lifelike sculptures, and the dark golden hue of the Pentelic marble are singularly impressive. The temple, commonly called Theseion, and converted into the church of St. George in the Christian period, is now supposed to have been dedicated to _Hephaestos and Athena_. The style of the building and its sculptures have led different authorities to assign its erection to a date a little before or a little after that of the Parthenon. At all events it was completed by 421 B. C., as an inscription records the setting up in that year of the two sacred images.

The temple stands on a marble basement in two steps, 35 by 15 yds., and is enclosed by 34 Doric columns, 18 ft. high, 6 at each end and 13 on each side (the corner-columns being counted twice). They are rather more slender than those of the Parthenon, and like them lean slightly inwards. Above the architrave, which is undivided, runs a Doric frieze of triglyphs and metopes, encircling the whole building. The metopes, however, are adorned with sculpture only on the main (E.) façade and the immediately adjoining spaces on each side. In front are depicted the exploits of Hercules, on the sides those of Theseus. The building is crowned with a cornice and pediments. The statuary of the tympana has disappeared.

The nucleus of the temple consists of the cella, 13 yds. long, at each end of which is a vestibule, formed by the antæ and two columns between them, and opening on to the colonnade. The E. vestibule now has a modern wall with a built-up door instead of the columns. The coffered ceiling on this side has been preserved intact. The W. vestibule retains its original aspect, except that a door has been broken through the wall at the back. The upper part of the cella wall is embellished, as in the Parthenon, with a relief-frieze (in Parian marble), which here, however, is limited to the two façades and the eastmost part of the sides. The E. part of the frieze represents a battle (between the Athenians and the Pelasgians?), witnessed by the gods. The W. frieze portrays the struggle of the Lapithæ and Athenians against the Centaurs.—The interior of the temple contains nothing of special interest.

Many Englishmen were buried within this temple in the Turkish period.

To the E. and N. of the Theseion lay the _Kerameikos_, or potters’ quarter, to which, in the 6th cent., the =Market= was transferred from the S.W. slope of the Acropolis. This, like the Forum at Rome, was the centre of classical Athens.

The market was adorned with statues of great poets and orators, such
as Pindar and Demosthenes. Around it rose the chief public buildings.
Among them were the _Stoa Basileios_ (Pl. B, 5; seat of the Archon
Basileus), the foundations of which (6th cent.) are supposed to have
been discovered at No. 14 Poseidon Street.; also the Metroon, or
temple of the mother of the gods, the Buleuterion, or town-hall, etc.

To the N.W. of the Theseion a bridge crosses the Piræus railway (p. 495) to the _Theseion Station_ (Pl. B, 5). To the W. of this we reach the continuation of the Rue du Pirée. Following the latter for 150 paces to the N.E. towards the town, and just before reaching the conspicuous yellow and red chapel of _Hagia Triáda_ or _Trias_ (Pl. A, 4), we come to a gate on the right leading into the ancient cemetery at the Dipylon (small gratuity on leaving). Here we follow an ancient side-street, bordered with tombs, as far as the walls (see Pl. A, 4), which we skirt to the left. At their N.E. end we reach the outer Dipylon.

The =Dipylon= (Pl. B, 4), the only ancient ‘double gate’ of Athens (end of 4th cent.), was the chief entrance of the city. Here converged the roads coming from Megara in the Peloponnesus and Eleusis and from Platæa and Thebes in Bœotia; and from this gate ran the _Dromos_, a great colonnaded street, to the S.E., below the Theseion hill, to the Kerameikos market-place (p. 522). The left side of the gateway has wholly disappeared, but a few blocks, attached to their base, of the right (S.) wall are still visible. In front of these rises a considerable part of the S. gateway-tower. In the centre are traces of the pier between the two passages. This outer gateway was connected with an inner gateway, on precisely the same plan, by walls 38 yds. long, thus forming an enclosed court. The S.E. tower was adjoined on the E. by a well-house.

To the S.W. of the Dipylon the _City Wall_, here only 6½ ft. thick, has been brought to light. The carefully jointed blocks of blue limestone rest on the hastily built wall of Themistokles (479–478); the upper part was built of sun-dried brick. Outside this wall once rose a rampart, probably coeval with the Dipylon, 14 ft. thick, consisting of two walls with earth between. Beside the city wall, five paces to the S.W. of the Dipylon, is an ancient boundary-stone; seventy paces farther are remains of another gateway, probably the _Funeral Gate_. This, like the Dipylon, consisted of two gate-buildings, enclosing a court, though it had only a single passage. Through it, by the roadside, flowed the little brook _Eridanos_.

To the W. of the Dipylon, in the direction of the Hagia Triáda Chapel, we soon reach the *=Burial Ground outside the Dipylon=, the principal cemetery of ancient Athens. As at Rome and Pompeii the tombs bordered the highroads outside the gates. In this case the more durable monuments have been left by the excavators in their original positions. Some of these are artistically executed, others seem to have been merely rectangular walled spaces. In ancient days, as now, the ground was very uneven; some of the tombs close to the road were raised on terraces 5–8 ft. above it.

Before reaching the Hagia Triáda Chapel, we observe, on the left side
of the road, two stelæ on Doric substructures, the tombs of
_Thersandros_ and _Simylos_ (375 B. C.) and of _Pythagoras_ (5th
cent.). Ascending to the left beyond a depression in the soil we come
to a temple-shaped tomb, with figures of _Demetria_ and _Pamphile_,
dating from the middle of the 4th century. Close to the Hagia Triáda
Chapel is a large block of marble resembling a sarcophagus, the _Tomb
of Hipparete_ (middle of the 4th cent.).—To the left, on and beyond
the stone wall of the side-street mentioned at p. 522, are rows of
tombs, arranged in order of families and phylæ or tribes and extending
down to the Roman period. At the corner is that of the family of
_Lysanias_, with a *_Relief of Dexileos on horseback_, who
distinguished himself before Corinth in 394–393; the weapons and
bridle were added in bronze. Next come the tombs of the family of
_Agathon_ (4th cent.); that of his wife _Korallion_ represents a
family group; then a temple-shaped tomb, the interior of which was
adorned with paintings now almost completely erased. Farther on is a
monument crowned with a huge bull. In front of it is another little
temple-like monument with traces of painting; then a great Molossian
hound. Beyond it, a tomb-relief with a boat.—Opposite the hound is the
*_Tomb of Hegeso_, perhaps the finest of all, a lady at her toilet
attended by a maid (4th cent.). About twenty paces short of the
keeper’s house, and thirty paces to the S. of the path, is a graceful
_Hydrophoros_ or female water-carrier (5–4th cent.).

* * * * *

The range of hills to the W. of the Acropolis and Areopagus, now uninhabited, was a favourite residential quarter of the ancient city, as is evidenced by countless remains of steps, cisterns, conduits, walls, and streets. From the Theseion (223 ft.) we ascend the broad AVENUE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL (Pl. B, 6), where, immediately on the right, rises the _Hagia Marina Hill_, thickly strewn with relics of ancient dwellings. Above it rises the _Hill of the Nymphs_, crowned with the _Observatory_ (Pl. A, 6; 345 ft.).