Part 77

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.).

To the S. of the Observatory a road descends into a slight hollow and then ascends the long =Pnyx Hill= (Pl. B, 7; 358 ft.), the structure on the N.E. slope of which is distinctly visible from the Areopagus and Acropolis. This consists of a terrace or platform, 131 yds. long and 71 yds. wide, the upper margin of which is cut out of the rock, while the lower part is buttressed by a massive wall of huge blocks of stone, forming a slightly flattened semicircle. In front of the abrupt back-wall of the terrace, about 13 ft. high, rise three steps bearing a cube of rock. This has been identified with the _Pnyx_, the place where, before the tiers of stone benches were erected in the theatre of Dionysos (p. 510), the Athenians held their political assemblies. The orator’s tribune (bēma) is supposed to have been attached to sockets on the platform in front of the cube of rock. The space occupied by the listening throng of citizens sloped gradually up to the supporting wall, which at that time was much higher. Above the cube once ran an upper terrace, where there rose a similar rock-altar, now much damaged. From this point we obtain a very striking view of the Acropolis.

To the S. of the Pnyx Hill, in a depression, is the chapel of _Hagios Demetrios Lumpardiáris_ (Pl. B, 7), to the S. of which we now ascend the Philopappos Hill, the ancient _Museion_. On its crest we recognize many fragments of the ancient city-wall, which was joined by the Long Walls (p. 506) on the heights near the Monument and near the Observatory (see above).

The =Monument of Philopappos= (Pl. B, 8) was built in 114–16 A.D. The upper part, in Pentelic marble, two-thirds preserved, had a frieze in high relief, crowned with three niches separated by Corinthian half-columns. The statue seated in the central niche is that of Antiochos Philopappos; to the left is that of his grandfather Antiochos IV. Epiphanes (p. 507). The relief is supposed to represent the ceremonial progress of Philopappos in his consular capacity. The square chamber behind was the burial-place.

Very beautiful, especially at sunset, is the *VIEW FROM THE PHILOPAPPOS HILL. The Acropolis is visible in its full extent; at its base are the Odeion and the Theatre of Dionysos; to the right of these rise Hadrian’s Arch and the hills of the Stadion and Hymettos. To the left of the Acropolis are the Theseion and the Hill of the Nymphs, and beyond them the Athenian plain, bounded by Ægaleos, and Parnes. Above the Acropolis rise Mt. Lykabettos and part of Pentelikon. Towards the S. stretches the Saronic Gulf.

d. The Modern Quarters.

From the Place de la Constitution two broad streets lead to the N.W. to the Place de la Concorde: the RUE DU STADE (Pl. F-D, 5–3) and the Boul. de l’Université. In the former, immediately to the right, are the _Royal Stables_; then on the left, standing a little back, the _Parliament House_ (Pl. E, 5).

In the BOULEVARD DE L’UNIVERSITÉ the first house on the right (Pl. S.; F, 5), is that of _Dr. Schliemann_ (1822–90), the famous discoverer of Troy, Mycenæ, and Tiryns. Farther on on the right are also the _Roman Catholic Church_ (Pl. F, 4) and the—