Part 7

It is thus apparent that the correspondence of the figures in this frieze is by no means rigid and schematic or devoid of life, but that, on the contrary, the same principles of symmetry obtain which have been pointed out by many authorities as prevalent in Greek art.[110] The whole composition exhibits Page 55 freedom and elasticity, not so indulged in as to produce discord, but peculiarly appropriate to the element of mirth and comedy which characterizes the story, and upon which the sculptor has laid especial stress.

HERBERT F. DE COU

Berlin, August 19, 1892.

[Footnote 110: Brunn, _Bildwerke des Parthenon_; Flasch, _Zum Parthenonfries_ pp. 65 ff.; and Waldstein, _Essays on the Art of Pheidias_, pp. 80f., 114ff., 153ff., 194f., 205, 210.] Page 56

PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS. DIONYSUS [Greek: en Limnais].[B]

The dispute over the number of Dionysiac festivals in the Attic calendar, more particularly with regard to the date of the so-called Lenaea, is one of long duration.[111] Boeckh maintained that the Lenaea were a separate festival celebrated in the month Gamelio. To this opinion August Mommsen in the _Heortologie_ returns; and maintained as it is by O. Ribbeck,[112] by Albert Müller,[113] by A.E. Haigh,[114] and by G. Oehmichen,[115] it may fairly be said to be the accepted theory to-day. This opinion, however, is by no means universally received. For example, O. Gilbert[116] has attempted to prove that the country Dionysia, Lenaea, and Anthesteria were only parts of the same festival.

[Footnote B: I wish to express my hearty thanks to Prof. U. von Wilamowitz-Möllendorff of the University of Göttingen, Prof. K. Schöll of the University of Munich, Prof. A.C. Merriam of Columbia College, and Dr. Charles Waldstein and Prof. R. B. Richardson, Directors of the American School at Athens, for many valuable criticisms and suggestions.]

[Footnote 111: _Vom Unterschied der Lenäen, Anthesterien und ländlichen Dionysien, in den Abhdl. der k. Akad. der Wiss. zu Berlin_, 1816-17.]

[Footnote 112: _Die Anfänge und Entwickelung des Dionysoscultus in Attika._]

[Footnote 113: _Bühnen-Alterthümer._]

[Footnote 114: _The Attic Theatre._]

[Footnote 115: _Das Bühnenwesen der Griechen und Römer._]

[Footnote 116: _Die Festzeit der Attischen Dionysien._]

But while the date of the so-called Lenaea has been so long open to question, until recently it has been universally held that some portion at least of all the festivals at Athens in honor of the wine-god was held in the precinct by the extant theatre of Dionysus. With the ruins of this magnificent structure before the eyes, and no other theatre in sight, the temptation was certainly a strong one to find in this neighborhood the Limnae mentioned in the records of the ancients. When Pervanoglu found a handful of rushes in the neighborhood of the present military hospital, the matter Page 57 seemed finally settled. So, on the maps and charts of Athens we find the word _Limnae_ printed across that region lying to the south of the theatre, beyond the boulevard and the hospital. When, therefore, _Mythology and Monuments of Athens_, by Harrison and Verrall, appeared over a year ago, those familiar with the topography of Athens as laid down by Curtius and Kaupert were astonished to find, on the little plan facing page 5, that the Limnae had been removed from their time-honored position and located between the Coloneus Agoraeus and the Dipylum. That map incited the preparation of the present article.

While investigating the reasons for and against so revolutionary a change, the writer has become convinced that here, Dr. Dörpfeld, the author of the new view, has built upon a sure foundation. How much in this paper is due to the direct teaching of Dr. Dörpfeld in the course of his invaluable lectures _An Ort und Stelle_ on the topography of Athens, I need not say to those who have listened to his talks. How much besides he has given to me of both information and suggestion I would gladly acknowledge in detail; but as this may not always be possible, I will say now that the views presented here after several months of study, in the main correspond with those held by Dr. Dörpfeld. The facts and authorities here cited, and the reasoning deduced from these, are, however, nearly all results of independent investigation. So I shall content myself in general with presenting the reasons which have led me to my own conclusions; for it would require a volume to set forth all the arguments of those who hold opposing views.

The passage Thucydides, II. 15, is the authority deemed most weighty for the placing of the Limnae to the south of the Acropolis. The question of the location of this section of Athens is so intimately connected with the whole topography of the ancient city, that it cannot be treated by itself. I quote therefore the entire passage:

[Greek: to de pro toutou e acropolis e nun ousa polis en kai to up' auten pros noton malista tetrammenon. tecmerion de. ta gar iera en aute te acropolei kai allôn pheôn esti, kai ta exô pros touto to meros tes poleôs mallon iorutai, to te tou Dios tou Olympiou, kai to Pythion, kai ta tes Ges, kai to en Limnais Dionysou, ô ta archaiotera Dionysia te dodecate poieitai en meni Anthesteriôni. ôsper kai oi ap' Athenaiôn Iônes eti kai nun Page 58 nomixousin. idrutai de kai alla iera taute archaia. kai te crene te nen men tôn turannôn autô okeuasautôn Enneacrounô kaloumene to de palai phanerôn tôn pegôn ousôn Kallirron ônomasmene ekeien te eggus ouse ta pleistou exia echrônto, kai nun eti apo tou archaiou pra te gamicôn kai alla tôn ierôn nomixetai tô udati chresthai.]

Two assumptions are made from this text by those who place the Limnae by the extant theatre. The first is that [Greek: up' auten] includes the whole of the extensive section to the south of the Acropolis extending to the Ilissus, and reaching to the east far enough to include the existing Olympieum, with the Pythium and Callirrhoe, which lay near. The second assumption is that these are the particular localities mentioned under the [Greek: tekmerion de]. Let us see if this is not stretching [Greek: up' auten] a little. I will summarize, so far as may be necessary for our present purpose, the views of Dr. Dörpfeld on the land lying [Greek: upo ten acropolin], or the Pelasgicum.

That the Pelasgicum was of considerable size is known from the fact that it was one of the sacred precincts occupied when the people came crowding in from the country at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War,[117] and from the inscription[118] which forbade that stone should be quarried in or carried from the precinct, or that earth should be removed therefrom. That the Pelasgicum with its nine gates was on the south, west, and southwest slopes, the formation of the Acropolis rock proves, since it is only here that the Acropolis can be ascended easily. That it should include all that position of the hillside between the spring in the Aesculapieum on the south and the Clepsydra on the northwest, was necessary; for in the space thus included lay the springs which formed the source of the water-supply for the fortifications. That the citadel was divided into two parts, the Acropolis proper, and the Pelasgicum, we know.[119] One of the two questions in each of the two passages from Aristophanes refers to the Acropolis, and the other to the Pelasgicum, and the two are mentioned as parts of the citadel. That the Pelasgicum actually did extend from the Aesculapieum to the Clepsydra we know from Lucian.[120]

[Footnote 117: THUCYDEDES, II. 17.]

[Footnote 118: DITTENBERGER, _S. I. G._ 13, 55 ff.]

[Footnote 119: THUCYDEDES, II. 17; ARISTOPHANES, _Birds_, 829 ff.; _Lysistrata_, 480 ff.]

[Footnote 120: _Piscator_, 42.]

Page 59 The people are represented as coming up to the Acropolis in crowds, filling the road. The way becoming blocked by numbers, in their eagerness they begin to climb up by ladders, first from he Pelasgicum itself, through which the road passes. As this space became filled, they placed their ladders a little further from the road, in the Aesculapieum to the right and by the Areopagus to the left. Still others come, and they must move still further out to find room, to the grave of Talos beyond the Aesculapieum and to the Anaceum beyond the Areopagus. In another passage of Lucian,[121] Hermes declares that Pan dwells just above the Pelasgicum; so it reached at least as far as Pan's grotto.

[Footnote 121: _Bis Accus_, 9.]

The fortifications of Mycenæ and Tiryns prove that it was not uncommon in ancient Greek cities to divide the Acropolis, the most ancient city, into an upper and a lower citadel.

Finally, that the strip of hillside in question was in fact the Pelasgicum, we are assured by the existing foundations of the ancient walls. A Pelasgic wall extends as a boundary-wall below the Aesculapieum, then onward at about the same level until interrupted by the Odeum of Herodes Atticus. At this point there are plain indications that before the construction of this building, this old wall extended across the space now occupied by the auditorium. Higher up the hill behind the Odeum, and both within and without the Beulé gate, we find traces of still other walls which separated the terraces of the Pelasgicum and probably contained the nine gates which characterized it. Here then we have the ancient city of Cecrops, the city before Theseus, consisting of the Acropolis and the part close beneath, particularly to the south, the Pelasgicum. We shall find for other reasons also that there is no need to stretch the meaning of the words [Greek: up auten pros noton] to make them cover territory something like half a mile to the eastward, and to include the later Olympieum within the limits of our early city.

Wachsmuth has well said,[122] although this is not invariably true,[123] that [Greek: upo ten acropolin] and [Greek: upo te Page 60 acropolei] are used with reference to objects lying halfway up the slope of the Acropolis. On the next page he adds, however, that Thucydides could not have meant to describe as the ancient city simply the ground enclosed within the Pelasgic fortifications, or he would have mentioned these in the [Greek: tekmeria]. Thucydides, in the passage quoted, wished to show that the city of Cecrops was very small in comparison with the later city of Theseus; that the Acropolis was inhabited; and that the habitations did not extend beyond the narrow limits of the fortifications. He distinctly says that before the time of Theseus, the Acropolis was the city. He proceeds to give the reasons for his view: The presence of the ancient temples on the Acropolis itself, the fact that the ancient precincts outside the Acropolis were [Greek: pros touto to meros tes poleôs], and the neighborhood of the fountain Enneacrounus. We know, that the Acropolis was still officially called [Greek: polis] in Thucydides' day; and [Greek: polis] so used would have no meaning if the Acropolis itself was not the ancient city. [Greek: Pros touto to meros], in the passage quoted, refers to the city of Cecrops, the Acropolis and Pelasgicum taken together; and [Greek: tes poleôs] refers to the entire later city as it existed in the time of Thucydides. It is, however, in the four temples outside the Acropolis included under the [Greek: tekmerion de] that we are particularly interested. The Pythium of the passage cannot be that Pythium close by the present Olympieum, which was founded by Pisistratus. Pausanias (I. 28, 4,) says: "On the descent [from the Acropolis], not in the lower part of the city but just below the Propylæa, is a spring of water, and close by a shrine of Apollo in a cave. It is believed that here Apollo met Creusa." Probably it was because this cave was the earliest abode of Apollo in Athens that Euripides placed here the scene of the meeting of Apollo and Creusa.

[Footnote 122: _Berichte der philol.-histor. Classe der Königl. Sächs. Gesell. der Wiss._, 1887, p. 383.]

[Footnote 123: _Am. Jour. of Archæology_, III. 38, ff.]

According to Dr. Dörpfeld it was opposite this Pythium that the Panathenaic ship came to rest.[124] In _Ion_, 285, Euripides makes it clear that, from the wall near the Pythium, the watchers looked toward Harma for that lightning which was the signal for the sending of the offering to Delphi. This passage would have no meaning if referred to lightning to be seen by Page 61 looking toward Harma from any position near the existing Olympieum; for the rocks referred to by Euripides are to the northwest, and so could not be visible from the later Pythium. To be sure, in later times the official title of the Apollo of the cave seems to have been [Greek: up' acraiô] or [Greek: en acrais], but this was only after such a distinction became necessary from the increased number of Apollo precincts in the city. The inscriptions referring to the cave in this manner are without exception of Roman date.[125] From Strabo we learn[126] that the watch looked "toward Harma" from an altar to Zeus Astrapæus on the wall between the Pythium and the Olympieum. This wall has always been a source of trouble to those who place the Pythium in question near the present Olympieum. But this difficulty vanishes if we accept the authority of Euripides, for the altar of Zeus Astrapæus becomes located on the northwest wall of the Acropolis; and from this lofty position above the Pythium, with an unobstructed view of the whole northern horizon, it is most natural to expect to see these flashes from Harma.

[Footnote 124: PHILOSTRAT. _Vit. Sophist._ II p. 236.]

[Footnote 125: HARRISON and Verrall, _Mythology and Monuments_, p. 541.]

[Footnote 126: STRABO, p. 404.]

The Olympieum mentioned by Strabo and Thucydides cannot therefore be the famous structure begun by Pisistratus and dedicated by Hadrian: we must look for another on the northwest side of the Acropolis. Here, it must be admitted we could wish for fuller evidence. Pausanias (I. 18. 8) informs us that "they say Deucalion built the old sanctuary of Zeus Olympius." Unfortunately he does not say where it was located.

Mr. Penrose in an interesting paper read before the British School at Athens in the spring of 1891, setting forth the results of his latest investigations at the Olympieum, said that in the course of his investigations there appeared foundations which he could ascribe to no other building than this most ancient temple. But Dr. Dörpfeld, after a careful examination of these remains, declares that they could by no possibility belong to the sanctuary of the legendary Deucalion.[127]

[Footnote 127: It has been held that Pausanias mentions the tomb of Deucalion, which was near the existing Olympieum, as a proof that Deucalion's temple was also here. Pausanias however merely says in this passage that this tomb was pointed out in his day only as a proof that Deucalion sojourned at Athens.]

Page 62 The abandonment of work on the great temple of the Olympian Zeus from the time of the Pisistratids to that of Antiochus Epiphanes, would have left the Athenians without a temple of Zeus for 400 years, unless there existed elsewhere a foundation in his honor. It is on its face improbable that the citizens would have allowed so long a time to pass unless they already possessed some shrine to which they attached the worship and festivals of the chief of the gods.

The spade has taught us that the literary record of old sanctuaries is far from being complete. The new cutting for the Piræus railroad has brought to light inscriptions referring to a hitherto unknown precinct in the Ceramicus.

Mommsen declares[128] that the Olympia were celebrated at the Olympieum which was begun by Pisistratus; and he adds that the festival was probably established by him. Of the more ancient celebration in honor of Zeus, the Diasia, he can only say surely that it was held outside the city. Certainly we should expect the older festival to have its seat at the older sanctuary.

The [Greek: exô tes poleôs], [129] which is Mommsen's authority in the passage referred to above, has apparently the same meaning as the [Greek: ta exô (tes poleôs)] already quoted from Thucydides; _i.e._, outside of the ancient city--the Acropolis and Pelasgicum. The list of dual sanctuaries, the earlier by the entrance to the Acropolis, the later to the southeast, is quite a long one. We find two precincts of Apollo, of Zeus, of Ge, and, as we shall see later, of Dionysus.

Of Ge Olympia we learn[130] that she had a precinct within the enclosure of the later Olympieum. Pausanias by his mention of the cleft in the earth through which the waters of the flood disappeared and of the yearly offerings of the honey-cake in connection with this, shows the high antiquity of certain rites here celebrated. It is indeed most probable that these ceremonies formed a part of the Chytri; for what seems the more ancient portion of this festival pertains also to the worship of those who perished in Deucalion's flood. The worship of Ge _Kourotrophos_ goes back to times immemorial. Pausanias Page 63 mentions[131] as the last shrines which he sees before entering the upper city, those of Ge _Kourotrophos_ and Demeter Chloe, which must therefore have been situated on the southwest slope of the Acropolis. Here again near the entrance to the Pelasgic fortification, is where we should expect _a priori_ to find the oldest religious foundations "outside the Polis."

[Footnote 128: Heortologie, p. 413.]

[Footnote 129: THUCYDIDES 126.]

[Footnote 130: PAUS. I. 18. 7.]

[Footnote 131: PAUS. I. 22. 33. SUIDAS, [Greek: courotrophos].]

The location of the fourth _hieron_ of Thucydides can best be determined by means of the festivals, more particularly the dramatic festivals of Dionysus. That the dramatic representations at the Greater Dionysia, the more splendid of the festivals, were held on the site of the existing theatre of Dionysus, perhaps from the beginning, at least from a very early period, all are agreed. Here was the precinct containing two temples of Dionysus, in the older of which was the xoanon[132] brought from Eleutherae by Pegasus. That in early times, at least, all dramatic contests were not held here we have strong assurance. Pausanias[133] the lexicographer, mentions the wooden seats in the agora from which the people viewed the dramatic contests before the theatre [Greek: en Dionysou] was constructed--plainly the existing theatre. Hesychius confirms this testimony.[134]

[Footnote 132: PAUS I. 2, 5 and I. 20, 3.]

[Footnote 133: PAUS., _Lexikoq._ [Greek: ikria ta, te agora, aph' ôn etheônto tous Dionysiakous agyna prin e cataskeuasthenai to en Dionysou Theatron.] Cf. EUSTATH. _Comment. Hom._ 1472.]

[Footnote 134: HESYCH, [Greek: ap' aigeirôn].]

Bekker's _Anecdota_ include mention, also,[135] of the wooden seats of this temporary theatre. Pollux adds[136] his testimony that the wooden seats were in the agora. Photius gives the further important information that the orchestra first received its name in the agora.[137] There can be no doubt that in very early times, there were dramatic representations in the agora in honor of Dionysus; and there must therefore have been a shrine or a precinct of the god in or close to the agora. The possibility of presentation of dramas at Athens, especially in these early times, unconnected with the worship of Dionysus and with some shrine sacred to him, cannot be entertained for a Page 64 moment. It is commonly accepted that dramas were represented during two festivals in Athens,--at the contest at the Lenaeum and at the City Dionysia. The plays of the latter festival were undoubtedly given in the extant theatre; but of the former contest we have an entirely different record. Harpocration say[138] merely that the Limnae were a locality in Athens where Dionysus was honored. A reference in Bekker's _Anecdota_ is[139] more explicit. Here the Lenaeum is described as a place sacred to [Greek: (ieron)] Dionysus where the contests were established before the building of the theatre. In the Etymologicum Magnum[140] the Lenaeum is said to be an enclosure [Greek: (periaulos)] in which is a sanctuary of Dionysus Lenaeus. Photius declares[141] that the Lenaeum is a large peribolus in which were held the so-called contests at the Lenaeum before the theatre was built, and that in this peribolus there was the sanctuary of Dionysus Lenaeus. The scholiast to Aristophanes' _Frogs_ says[142] that the Limnae were a locality sacred to Dionysus, and that a temple and another building [Greek: (oikos)] of the god stood therein. Hesychius mentions[143] the Limnae as a locality where the Lenaea were held, and says that the Lenaeum was a large peribolus within the city, in which was the sanctuary of Dionysus Lenaeus, and that the Athenians held contests in this peribolos before they built the theatre. Pollux speaks[144] of the two theatres, [Greek: kai Dionysiakon theatron kai lenaicon]. Stephanus of Byzantium quotes[145] from Apollodorus that the "Lenaion Agon" is a contest in the fields by the wine-press. Plato implies[146] the existence of a second theatre by stating that Pherecrates exhibited dramas at the Lenaeum. If the Lenaea and the City Dionysia were held in the same locality, it is peculiar that in all the passages concerning the Lenaeum and the Limnae we find no mention of the Greater Dionysia. But our list of authorities goes still Page 65 further. Aristophanes speaks[147] of the contest [Greek: kat agrous]. The scholiast declares that he refers to the Lenaea, that the Lenaeum was a place sacred [Greek (ieron)] to Dionysus, [Greek: en agrous] and that the word [Greek: Lenaion] came from the fact that here first stood the [Greek: lenos] or wine-press. He adds[148] that the contests in honor of Dionysus took place twice in the year, first in the city in the spring, and the second time [Greek: en agrois] at the Lenaeum in the winter. The precinct by the present theatre, as we know, was sacred to Dionysus Eleuthereus. In this temenus no mention has been found of Dionysus [Greek: Limnaios] or [Greek: Lenaios].

[Footnote 135: BEKKER, _Anecdota_ p. 354; _ibid._, p. 419.]

[Footnote 136: POLLUX, VII. 125.]

[Footnote 137: PHOTIUS, p. 106; _Ibid._, p. 351.]

[Footnote 138: HARP. ed. Dind. p. 114. 1. 14.]

[Footnote 139: BEKKER, Anecdota, p. 278, 1. 8.]

[Footnote 140: Et. Mag. [Greek: Ep Lilenaiô].]

[Footnote 141: PHOTIUS, p. 101.]

[Footnote 142: Schol. _Frogs_, 216.]

[Footnote 143: HESYCH., [Greek: Limnai] Ibid, [Greek: epi Lenaiou agôn].]

[Footnote 144: POLLUX, iv. 121.]

[Footnote 145: STEPH. BYZ., [Greek: Lenaios].]

[Footnote 146: PLATO, _Protag._, 327 w.]

[Footnote 147: _Achar._, 202, and schol.]

[Footnote 148: _Schol. Aristoph. Achar._, 504.]

Demosthenes tells us[149] that the Athenians, having inscribed a certain law (concerning the festivals of Dionysus) on a stone stele, set this up in the sanctuary of Dionysus [Greek: en Limnais], beside the altar. "This stele was set up," he continues, in the most ancient and most sacred precinct[150] of Dionysus, so that but few should see what had been written; for the precinct is opened only once every year, on the 12th of the month Anthesterio.

[Footnote 149: _Near._ 76.]