Part 75

=Photographs.= _Barth & Eleutheroudakis_, booksellers, Place de la Constitution (Alinari’s and Boissonnas’s photographs, etc.); _Rhomaïdēs_ (Pinacothèque Hellénique), same square; _Simiriotēs_, Rue des Philhellènes 2.—REQUISITES: _Tavanakēs & Georgantopulos_, Rue d’Hermès 12; _Pestarini_, Rue du Stade 2; _Ragnio_, Rue du Stade, opposite the Parliament.

=Legations and Consulates.= GREAT BRITAIN: Minister, _Sir Francis E. H. Elliot_, Rue de Dragatsani 8 (Pl. E, 4). Consul, _T. Cornish_.—UNITED STATES: Minister, _G. H. Moses_, Rue Sina 16. Consul-General, _W. H. Gale_, Rue Regilles 6; vice-consul, _B. Melissinos_.

=English Church= (_St. Paul’s_; Pl. F, 6, 7), Rue des Philhellènes, corner of Palace Garden; chaplain, _W. A. Gardner_, Rue du Lycée 1. Services at 8 and 10.30 a.m., and 6 p.m.

=Scientific Institutions=, all under supervision of the _General Ephoros_ or director _Dr. P. Kavvadias_; office in the Ministère des Cultes, Rue d’Hermès. The _Greek Archaeological Society_, Rue de l’Université 20 (Pl. F, 4), is the central authority for antiquarian research in Greece.—_British School of Athens_ (Pl. I, 4), Rue de Speusippe; _American School of Classical Studies_, same street; also French, German, and Austrian institutes. _National Library_ (Pl. E, 3); open 19–2, 3–5, and 8–11.

=Collections.= _Acropolis Museum_ (p. 519) and _National Archaeological Museum_ (p. 526), on week-days from 9 (Dec. and Jan. 10) to 12, and from 3 (Oct.-March from 2, June-Aug. from 4) till sunset. On Sun. and holidays the National Museum is open 10–12, and the Acropolis Museum in the afternoon only. Adm. free (sticks and umbrellas 20 l.).—_Numismatic Museum_ (p. 525), Wed. and Sat. 9 (or 10)–12 and 3–6, free.—_Historical and Ethnographical Museum_ (p. 526), daily except on holidays, 2–5, adm. 50 l.

=Plan of Visit.= THREE DAYS: 1st. *_Acropolis_ (p. 512), *_Acropolis Museum_ (p. 519); afternoon, _Lykabettos_ (p. 528).—2nd. *_National Museum_ (p. 526); afternoon, _Stadion_ (p. 509), _Olympieion_ (p. 509), _Monument of Lysikrates_ (p. 510), _Theatre of Dionysos_ (p. 510), *_Odeion_ (p. 511), _Areopagus_ (p. 512), _Acropolis_ by sunset.—3rd. _Boul. de l’Université_ (p. 525), region to the _N. of the Acropolis_ (pp. 520 _et seq._); afternoon, *_Theseion_ (p. 521), *_Dipylon_ (p. 522), _Hill of the Pnyx_, _Tomb of Philopappos_ (p. 524).

If 1½ DAY only be available we first drive to the _Acropolis_ (p. 512), to which we devote 2 hrs.; then visit the _Odeion_ (p. 511), the _Theatre of Dionysos_ (p. 510), the _Monument of Lysikrates_ (p. 510), the _Olympieion_ (p. 509) with _Hadrian’s Arch_ (p. 508), and the _Stadion_ (p. 509); we then drive past the _Tower of the Winds_ (p. 520), the _Market Gate_ (p. 521), and _Hadrian’s Stoa_ (p. 520) to the _Theseion_ (p. 521), and if possible also to the ancient _Cemetery outside the Dipylon_ (p. 523). Lastly, in half-a-day, we may drive through the _Boul. de l’Université_ (p. 525), glance at the chief modern buildings, and visit the _National Museum_ (p. 526).

_Athens_ (130–492 ft.; pop. 167,500), modern Greek _Athénai_, lies 3¾ M. from the _Saronic Gulf_, in the great Attic plain, which is closed on the W. by _Ægaleos_ and _Parnes_ and on the E. by _Hymettos_ and _Pentelikon_. The city is bounded on the S.E. by the _Ilissos_ and on the W. by the _Kephisos_. The valleys of these streams are separated by the _Turkovuni_ hills, whose S. spur, the _Lykabettos_, rises abruptly above Athens on the E. A broad saddle separates the latter from the rock of the _Acropolis_ and a group of hills farther to the W.; these include the _Philopappos_ or _Museion_, the _Pnyx_, and the _Nymphs’_ hills, and slope gently down to the sea.

The Athens of antiquity circled round the Acropolis and included the hills on its S.W. and W. sides (see Plan, where traces of ancient walls and the probable direction of the streets are indicated). The modern city extends to the N. of the Acropolis, far towards the plain of the Kephisos. Down to 1834 Athens was a poor village. Now, as the capital of the kingdom of Hellas, it has developed into one of the finest cities of the E. Mediterranean, and is quite European in character.

The main street is the _Rue du Stade_, connecting the _Syntagma Square_ (Place de la Constitution; Pl. F, 5, 6) with the _Omónia Square_ (Place de la Concorde; Pl. D, 2, 3). This street and the broad E. end of the Rue d’Hermès (see below) contain the principal shops. The Syntagma Square forms the centre of traffic. Parallel with the Rue du Stade runs the _Boul. de l’Université_ (_Panepistēmion_), in which the chief public buildings are situated. This new E. quarter, known as _Neapolis_, is adjoined, to the W. of the Rue du Stade, by the older business quarter, the main arteries of which are the _Rue d’Hermès_ (Pl. B-E, 5; p. 520), running to the W. from the Syntagma Square, and the _Rue d’Athéna_ (Pl. D, 3–5), running from the Place de la Concorde to the S. and intersecting the Rue d’Hermès at right angles. Parallel to the latter is the _Rue d’Eole_ (p. 520), which leads to the N., past the National Museum, to Patisia, and is prolonged to the S. to the Tower of the Winds at the foot of the Acropolis. The Piræus is the chief seat of industry and the wholesale trade.

HISTORY. The Athenians prided themselves on being the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, whose earliest kings are said to have been Cecrops, builder of the Acropolis, Erechtheus, Pandion, and Ægeus. Research, however, attributes the earliest settlement on the Acropolis to the _Pelasgians_, afterwards expelled by Ionian invaders. _Theseus_, the fifth king, is regarded as the actual founder of Athens. To him Thucydides assigns the Synœkismos (in 1259 B.C., it is said) or subordination of all the Attic communities to Athens as their capital. Originally consisting of the Acropolis only, the city gradually extended in all directions.

After the self-sacrifice of Kodros (1068 B.C.) the kings were succeeded by _Archons_, first of the house of Kodros and afterwards elected from the ranks of the Eupatridæ (landed nobles). Internal dissensions and the capricious rule of this aristocratic oligarchy led at the end of the 7th cent. to the codification of the existing law of Athens by _Drakon_, a measure succeeded in 594 B.C. by the democratic reforms of _Solon_. Eligibility for the highest offices was henceforth to depend, not on birth, but on the possession of property and the payment of taxes (‘timocracy’). The judges were to be chosen by lot, and a council (Boulē) of 400 members (Bouleutæ) was placed over the archons as the supreme governing body.

In 561 B.C., however, while Solon was still alive, _Peisistratos_, an ambitious but humane man and a patron of art, succeeded in usurping the position of tyrant. He and his sons _Hippias_ and _Hipparchos_ brilliantly developed the city. Roads were made to the various ‘demoi’ or communities of Attica, and a copious supply of water was brought by a subterranean conduit from Hymettos. The Olympieion was begun, the ancient temple of Athena on the Acropolis, the ‘hekatompedon’, was enclosed with a colonnade, and other large buildings were erected. All this splendour, however, did not compensate for the want of a free constitution; in 514 Hipparchos was assassinated by Harmodios and Aristogeiton and in 510 Hippias was banished with the aid of the Spartans. After further democratic reforms, and after various wars with adjoining states, which led to the development of the Athenian fleet, the little Attic state obtained the leadership of the whole nation in the Persian wars. In order to punish Athens for supporting the revolt of the Greek towns in Asia Minor (498), _Darius I._, king of Persia, sent an army of over 200,000 men with a huge fleet, under _Datis_ and _Artaphernes_, across the Ægean Sea in 490. Contrary to all expectation the Athenians under _Miltiades_, assisted by the Platæans only, defeated the immense Persian army on the plains of Marathon. Even more glorious, and still further confirming the hegemony of Athens, was the result of the campaign of _Xerxes_ against Greece in 480. After the heroic resistance of Leonidas and his Spartans at Thermopylæ had been overcome by the slaughter of the devoted band the whole of the huge army and armament of the Great King bore down upon Attica to avenge the defeat of Marathon. The Athenians took to their ships. The city was occupied by the Persians, the Acropolis captured, and the temples burned down. But the decisive naval victory won at Salamis (480), and due to the unflinching courage and pertinacity of _Themistokles_, broke the power of the Persians. The citizens had scarcely re-entered Athens when they were again compelled to retire before the army of _Mardonios_, but their great victory at Platæa in 479 finally relieved them from the menace of a Persian yoke.

Having taken the most glorious part in these terrible struggles Athens now became the natural leader of the Greeks in the war of retaliation. In 474 this leadership found expression in the foundation of the Attic and Delian naval league. The zenith of the Athenian power coincided with the rebuilding of the city, which progressed rapidly in spite of the opposition of the Spartans. The fortification both of the city and its harbour, which the genius of Themistokles had removed to the Piræus, was taken in hand with special vigour, and in 460–445 the ‘Long Walls’ were erected, stretching from the Piræus and from Phaleron to Athens itself. Next, under the rule of _Perikles_, arose the magnificent buildings on the Acropolis. A colossal statue of Athena Promachos in gold and ivory, by Phidias, was erected out of the Persian booty in 438, when the cella of the great Parthenon also was probably completed. In 437–432 were erected the stately Propylaea, and lastly the Erechtheion, begun probably soon after the peace of Nikias (421) but not completed till 407.

The Athenian democracy had attained its fullest development and its widest sway when the long-standing antagonism of Sparta led to open war between the rival states in 431. In the second year of the war Athens was visited by a terrible plague, which carried off, among many others, Perikles, the only man of genius powerful enough to control the democracy, the deterioration of which may be dated from his death. After many vicissitudes, including the disastrous campaign in Sicily undertaken by the advice of _Alkibiades_ (comp. p. 163), the Peloponnesian war ended in 404 with the utter humiliation of Athens. The fortifications of the city and the Piræus had to be demolished, the fleet to be given up, and an oligarchic government, that of the ‘Thirty Tyrants’, to be endured at the bidding of Sparta. In 403 _Thrasyboulos_ restored the democracy; in 393 _Konon_ won a naval victory over the Spartans at Knidos, and rebuilt the Long Walls; but all this was but a brief and feeble reflex of the ancient glory of the state. In vain _Demosthenes_ exhorted his fellow-citizens to vigorous resistance against _Philip of Macedon_; when they at last roused themselves it was too late. In 338 Greek independence received its death-blow on the battle-field of Chæronea.

Although Athens never again recovered her political importance her material prosperity survived almost unimpaired for several centuries more. In the year of the battle of Chæronea began the judicious financial administration of the orator _Lykourgos_, who completed the theatre previously begun on the S.E. slope of the Acropolis, built the Stadion, and filled the arsenals and harbour of the Piræus with military stores and with ships. After a fruitless revolt in 322 (the ‘Lamian War’) Athens was garrisoned with Macedonian troops. Yet Athens continued to live and thrive on the intellectual heritage stored up within her walls ever since the days of the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. As the home of the greatest poets of antiquity, as the seat of the far-famed schools of philosophy and rhetoric founded by Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno, and as a great centre of art and architecture, she still had many visitors and admirers. Foreign patrons lavished gifts upon her or erected sumptuous buildings in the city. To Ptolemy Philadelphos of Egypt (281–246) she owed a gymnasion with a library, to the Pergamenian kings handsome colonnades, and to the Syrian king Antiochos IV. Epiphanes (175–164) the Olympieion.

The dominion of Macedonia was followed by that of Rome, in spite of the nominal declaration of the independence of Greece made by the consul Flamininus in 196 B.C. After the overthrow of the Achæan League, of which Athens was a member, and the destruction of Corinth in 146 Greece and Macedonia were formed into a Roman province. Athens had to pay heavily for the ill-considered help it afforded Mithridates, King of Pontus, who chose Greece as the battle-field on which to contest with Rome the sovereignty of Asia. The city was stormed and sacked by _Sulla_ in 86 B.C., and the fortifications of the Piræus were finally demolished. The city was, however, favoured by Cæsar and the Roman emperors. The chief buildings of this period are the Tower of the Winds, the Market Gate owing its origin to donations made by Cæsar and Augustus, the statue of Agrippa, the round temple of Roma and Augustus, the new marble steps of the Propylæa, and the monument of Philopappos.

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.