and wrote a description of a portion of the city. Of the work of north-east by an open tract stretching between Hymettus and Pentelicus towards Marathon, and was traversed by the passes of Decelea, Phylé and Daphné on the north and north-west, but the distance between these natural passages and the city was sufficient to obviate the danger of surprise by an invading land force. On the other hand Athens, like Corinth, Megara and Argos, was sufficiently far from the sea to enjoy security against the sudden descent of a hostile fleet. At the same time the relative proximity of three natural harbours, Peiraeus, Zea and Munychia, favoured the development of maritime commerce and of the sea power which formed the basis of Athenian hegemony. The climate is temperate, but liable to sudden changes; the mean temperature is 63°.1 F., the maximum (in July) 99°.01, the minimum (in January) 31°·55. The summer heat is moderated by the sea-breeze or by cool northerly winds from the mountains (especially in July and August). The clear, bracing air, according to ancient writers, fostered the intellectual and aesthetic character of the people and endowed them with mental and physical energy. For the architectural embellishment of the city the finest building material was procurable without difficulty and in abundance; Pentelicus forms a mass of white, transparent, blue-veined marble; another variety, somewhat similar in appearance, but generally of a bluer hue, was obtained from Hymettus. For ordinary purposes grey limestone was furnished by Lycabettus and the adjoining hills; limestone from the promontory of Acté (the co-called "poros" stone), and conglomerate, were also largely employed. For the ceramic art admirable material was at hand in the district north-west of the Acropolis. For sculpture and various architectural purposes white, fine-grained marble was brought from Paros and Naxos.scriptions, have been carefully and scientifically arranged, and The main drawback to the situation of the city lay in the insufficiency of its water-supply, which was supplemented by an aqueduct constructed in the time of the Peisistratids and by later water-courses dating from the Roman period. A great number of wells were also sunk and rain-water was stored in cisterns. For the purposes of scientific topography observation of the natural features and outlines is followed by exact investigation of the architectural structures or remnants, a process demanding high technical competence, acute judgment and practical experience, as well as wide and accurate scholarship. The building material and the manner of its employment furnish evidence no less important than the character of the masonry, the design and the modes of ornamentation. The testimony afforded Sources by inscriptions is often of decisive importance, especially for that of commemorative or votive tablets or of boundaryAthenian stones found in situ; the value of this evidence is, on topothe other hand, sometimes neutralized owing to the former graphy. removal of building material already used and its incorporation in later structures. Thus sepulchral inscriptions have been found on the Acropolis, though no burials took place there in ancient times. In the next place comes the evidence derived from the whole range of ancient literature and specially from descriptions of the city or its different localities. The earliest known description of Athens was that of Diodorus, ¿ wepɩnytńs, who lived | in the second half of the 4th century B.C. Among his successors were Polemon of Ilium (beginning of 2nd century B.C.), whose great KooμLK Tepinynois gave a minute account of the votive offerings on the Acropolis and the tombs on the Sacred Way; and Heliodorus (second half of the 2nd century) who wrote fifteen volumes on the monuments of Athens. Of these and other works of the earliest topographers only some fragments remain. In the period between A.D. 143 and 159 Pausanias visited Athens at a time when the monuments of the great age were still in their perfection and the principal embellishments of the Roman period had already been completed. The first thirty chapters of his invaluable Description of Greece(περιήγησις τῆς Ἑλλάδος) are devoted to Athens, its ports and environs. Pausanias makes no claim to exhaustiveness; he selected what was best worth noticing (rà áoλoywтaтα). His account, drawn up from notes taken in the main from personal observation, possesses an especial importance for topographical research, owing to his method of describing each object in the order in which he saw it during the course of his walks. His accuracy, which has been called in question by some scholars, has been remarkably vindicated by recent excavations at Athens and elsewhere. The list of ancient topographers closes with Pausanias. The literature of succeeding centuries furnishes only isolated references; the more important are found in the scholia on Aristophanes, the lexicons of Hesychius, Photius and others, and the Etymologicum Magnum. The notices of Athens during the earlier middle ages are scanty in the extreme. In 1395 Niccolo da Martoni, a pilgrim from the Holy Land, visited Athens Recent research. scientific societies, while accidental discoveries have been The early citadel. Prehistoric Athens.-Numerous traces of the "Mycenaean' epoch have recently been brought to light in Athens and its neighbourhood. Among the monuments of this age discovered in the surrounding districts are the rockhewn tombs of Spata, accidentally revealed by a landslip in 1877, and the domed sepulchre at Menidi, near the ancient Acharnae, excavated by Lolling in 1879. Other Mycenaean " landmarks have been laid bare at Eleusis, Thoricus, Halae and Aphidna. These structures, however, are of comparatively minor importance in point of dimensions and decoration; they were apparently designed as places of sepulture for local chieftains, whose domains were afterwards incorporated in the Athenian realm by the ovvoiko μós (synoecism) attributed to Theseus. The situation of the Acropolis, dominating the | of the Pelasgian Zeus cannot be regarded as proved, nor is it surrounding plain and possessing easy communication with easy to abandon the generally received view that this was the the sea, favoured the formation of a relatively powerful state- scene of the popular assemblies of later times, notwithstanding inferior, however, to Tiryns and Mycenae; the myths of Cecrops, the apparent unsuitability of the ground and the insufficiency Erechtheus and Theseus bear witness to the might of the princes of room for a large multitude. These difficulties are met by who ruled in the Athenian citadel, and here we may naturally the assumption that the semicircular masonry formed the base expect to find traces of massive fortifications resembling in some of a retaining-wall which rose to a considerable height, supporting degree those of the great Argolid cities. Such in fact have been a theatre-like structure capable of seating many thousand brought to light by the modern excavations on the Acropolis persons. The masonry may be attributed to the 5th century; (1885-1889). Remains of primitive polygonal walls which un- the chiselling of the immense blocks is not " Cyclopean." Prodoubtedly surrounded the entire area have been found at various jecting from the upper platform at the centre of the chord of points a little within the circuit of the existing parapet. The the semicircular area is a cube of rock, 11 ft. square and 5 ft. best-preserved portions are at the eastern extremity, at the high, approached on either side by a flight of steps leading to the northern side near the ancient "royal" exit, and at the south- top; this block, which Curtius supposes to have been the western angle. The course of the walls can be traced with a few primitive altar of Zeus "Toros, may be safely identified with interruptions along the southern side. On the northern side are the orators' bema, ò Xilos év т ПIUкví (Aristoph. Pax, 680). the foundations of a primitive tower and other remains, appar- Plutarch's statement that the Thirty Tyrants removed the ently of dwelling-houses, one of which may have been the TUкivòs bema so as to face the land instead of the sea is probably due to dóμos 'Epexoños mentioned by Homer (Od. vii. 81). Among the a misunderstanding. Other cubes of rock, apparently altars, foundations were discovered fragments of "Mycenaean " pottery. exist in the neighbourhood. There can be little doubt that the The various approaches to the citadel on the northern side- Pnyx was the seat of an ancient cult; the meetings of the the rock-cut flight of steps north-east of the Erechtheum (q.v.), | Ecclesia were of a religious character and were preceded by a the stairs leading to the well Clepsydra, and the intermediate sacrifice to Zeus 'Ayopaîos; nor is it conceivable that, but for passage supposed to have furnished access to the Persians-are its sacred associations, a site would have been chosen so unsuitall to be attributed to the primitive epoch. Two pieces of poly-able for the purposes of a popular assembly as to need the gonal wall, one beneath the bastion of Nike Apteros, the other in addition of a costly artificial auditorium. a direct line between the Roman gateway and the door of the Propylaea, are all that remain of the primitive defences of the main entrance. The Pelas 66 These early fortifications of the Acropolis, ascribed to the primitive non-hellenic Pelasgi, must be distinguished from the Pelasgicum or Pelargicum, which was in all probgicum. ability an encircling wall, built round the base of the citadel and furnished with nine gates from which it derived the name of Enneapylon. Such a wall would be required to protect the clusters of dwellings around the Acropolis as well as the springs issuing from the rock, while the gates opening in various directions would give access to the surrounding pastures and gardens. This view, which is that of E. Curtius, alone harmonizes with the statement of Herodotus (vi. 137) that the wall was around" (Tepi) the Acropolis, and that of Thucydides (ii. 17) that it was beneath (Vπó) the fortress. Thus it would appear that the citadel had an outer and an inner line of defence in prehistoric times. The space enclosed by the outer wall was left unoccupied after the Persian wars in deference to an oracular response apparently dictated by military considerations, the maintenance of an open zone being desirable for the defence of the citadel. A portion of the outer wall has been recognized in a piece of primitive masonry discovered near the Odeum of Herodes Atticus; other traces will probably come to light when the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis have been completely explored. Leake, whom Frazer follows, assumed the Pelasgicum to be a fortified space at the western end of the Acropolis; this view necessitates the assumption that the nine gates were built one within the other, but early antiquity furnishes no instance of such a construction; Dörpfeld believes it to have extended from the grotto of Pan to the sacred precinct of Asclepius. The well-known passage of Lucian (Piscator, 47) cannot be regarded as decisive for any of the theories advanced, as any portion of the old enceinte dismantled by the Persians may have retained the name in later times. The Pelasgic wall enclosed the spring Clepsydra, beneath the north-western corner of the Acropolis, which furnished a watersupply to the defenders of the fortress. The spring, to which a staircase leads down, was once more included in a bastion during the War of Independence by the Greek chief Odysseus. To the "Pelasgic " era may perhaps be referred (with Curtius and Milchhöfer) the immense double terrace on the north-eastern slope of the Pnyx (395 ft. by 212), the upper portion The Payx. of which is cut out of the rock, while the lower is enclosed by a semicircular wall of massive masonry; the theory of these scholars, however, that the whole precinct was a sanctuary Rock and tombs. The Pnyx, the Hill of the Nymphs and the Museum Hill are covered with vestiges of early settlements which extend to a considerable distance towards the south-east in the direction of Phalerum. They consist of chambers of dwellings various sizes, some of which were evidently human habitations, together with cisterns, channels, seats, steps, terraces and quadrangular tombs, all cut in the rock. This neighbourhood was held by Curtius to have been the site of the primeval rock city, κpaváа Tóλs (Aristoph. Ach. 75), anterior to the occupation of the Acropolis and afterwards abandoned for the later settlement. It seems inconceivable, however, that any other site should have been preferred by the primitive settlers to the Acropolis, which offered the greatest advantages for defence; the Pnyx, owing to its proximity to the centres of civic life, can never have been deserted, and that portion which lay within the city walls must have been fully occupied when Athens was crowded during the Peloponnesian War. Some of the rock chambers originally intended for tombs were afterwards converted, perhaps under pressure of necessity, into habitations, as in the case of the so-called "Prison of Socrates," which consists of three chambers horizontally excavated and a small round apartment of the "beehive " type. The remains on the Pnyx and its neighbourhood cannot all be assigned to one epoch, the prehistoric age. The dwellings do not correspond in size or details with the undoubtedly prehistoric abodes on the Acropolis. In view of the ancient law which forbade burial within the city, the tombs within the circuit of the city walls must either be earlier than the time of Themistocles or several centuries later; in the similar rocktombs on the neighbouring slopes of the Acropolis and Areopagus both Mycenaean and Dipylon pottery have been found. But the numerous vertically excavated tombs outside the walls are of late date and belong for the most part to the Roman period. The The Areopagus is now a bare rock possessing few architectural traces. The legend of its occupation by the Amazons (Aeschylus, Eum. 681 seq.) may be taken as indicating its military importance for an attack on the Acropolis; the Areopagus. Persians used it as a point d'appui for their assault. The seat of the old oligarchical council and court for homicide was probably on its eastern height. Here were the altar of Athena Areia and two stones, the Xilos "Tẞpews, on which the accuser, and the Xilos 'Avaideias, on which the accused, took their stand. Beneath, at the north-eastern corner, is the cleft which formed the sanctuary of the Zeuvai, or Erinyes. There is no reason for disturbing the associations connected with this spot as the scene of St Paul's address to the Athenians (E. Gardner, Anc. Athens, p. 505). Hellenic Period.-While modern research has added considerably to our knowledge of prehistoric Athens, a still greater light has been thrown on the architecture and topography of the city in the earlier historic or "archaic " era, the subsequent age of Athenian greatness, and the period of decadence which set in with the Macedonian conquest; the first extends from the dawn of history to 480-479 B.C., when the city was destroyed by the Persians; the second, or classical, age closes in 322 B.C., when Athens lost its political independence after the Lamian War; the third, or Hellenistic, in 146 B.C., when the state fell under Roman protection. We must here group these important epochs together, as distinguished from the later period of Roman rule, and confine ourselves to a brief notice of their principal monuments and a record of the discoveries by which they have been illustrated in recent years. The earliest settlement on the Acropolis was doubtless soon increased by groups of dwellings at its base, inhabited by the The city in the era. dependents of the princes who ruled in the stronghold. These habitations would naturally in the first instance "archaic" lie in close proximity to the western approach; after the building of the Pelasgicum they seem to have extended beyond its walls towards the south and south-westtowards the sea and the waters of the Ilissus. The district thus occupied sloped towards the sun and was sheltered by the Acropolis from the prevailing northerly winds. The Thesean synoecism led to the introduction of new cults and the foundation of new shrines partly on the Acropolis, partly in the inhabited district at its base both within and without the wall of the Pelasgicum. Some of the shrines in this region are mentioned by Thucydides in a passage which is of capital importance for the topography of the city at this period (ii. 15). By degrees the inhabited area began to comprise the open ground to the north-west, the nearer portion of the later Ceramicus, or "potters' field" (afterwards divided by the walls of Themistocles into the Inner and Outer Ceramicus), and eventually extended to the north and east of the citadel, which, by the beginning of the 5th century B.C., had become the centre of a circular or wheel-shaped city, Tóλos троxoЄidéos äкρа кáρηva (Oracle apud Herod. vii. 140). To this enlarged city was applied, probably about the second half of the 6th century, the special designation Tò aσTU, which afterwards distinguished Athens from its port, the Peiraeus; the Acropolis was already ǹ wóλs (Thucyd. ii. 15). The city is supposed to have been surrounded by a wall before the time of Solon, the existence of which may be deduced from Thucydides' account of the assassination of Hipparchus (vi. 57), but no certain traces of such a wall have been discovered; the materials may have been removed to build the walls of Themistocles. The Agora. The centre of commercial and civic life of the older group of communities, as of the greater city of the classical age, was the Agora or market. Here were the various public buildings, which, when the power of the princes on the citadel was transferred to the archons, formed the offices of the administrative magistracy. The site of the primitive Agora (apxaía ȧyopá) was probably in the hollow between the Acropolis and the Pnyx, which formed a convenient meetingplace for the dwellers on the north and south sides of the fortress as well as for its inhabitants. In the time of the Peisistratids the Agora was enlarged so as to extend over the Inner Ceramicus on the north-west, apparently reaching the northern declivities of the Areopagus and the Acropolis on the south. After the Persian Wars the northern portion was used for commercial, the southern for political and ceremonial purposes. In the southern were the Orchestra, where the Dionysiac dances took place, and the famous statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton by Antenor which were carried away by Xerxes; also the Metroum, or temple of the Mother of the Gods, the Bouleuterium, or council-chamber of the Five Hundred, the Prytaneum, the hearth of the combined communities, where the guests of the state dined, the temple of the Dioscuri, and the Tholus, or Skias, a circular stone-domed building in which the Prytaneis were maintained at the public expense; in the northern were the Leocorium, where Hipparchus was slain, the σтoà Baσiλiký, the famous σTоà TоɩKiλŋ, where Zeno taught, and other structures. The Agora was commonly described as the " Ceramicus," and Pausanias gives it this name; of the numerous buildings which he saw here scarcely a trace remains; their position, for the most part, is largely conjectural, and the exact boundaries of the Agora itself are uncertain. What are perhaps the remains of the σroà Baσiλikη, in which the Archon Basileus held his court and the Areopagus Council sat in later times, were brought to light in the winter of 1897-1898, when excavations were carried out on the eastern slope of the "Theseum" hill. Here was found a rectangular structure resembling a temple, but with a side door to the north; it possessed a portico of six columns. The north slope of the Areopagus, where a number of early tombs were found, was also explored, and the limits of the Agora on the south and north-west were approximately ascertained. A portion of the main road leading from the Dipylon to the Agora was discovered. The Enneacrunus. In 1892 Dörpfeld began a series of excavations in the district between the Acropolis and the Pnyx with the object of determining the situation of the buildings described by Pausanias as existing in the neighbourhood of the Agora, and more especially the position of the Enneacrunus fountain. The Enneacrunus has hitherto been generally identified with the spring Callirrhoe in the bed of the Ilissus, a little to the south-east of the Olympieum; it is apparently, though not explicitly, placed by Thucydides (ii. 15) in proximity to that building, as well as the temple of Dionysus ev Xíuvais and other shrines, the temples of Zeus Olympius and of Ge and the Pythium, which he mentions as situated mainly to the south of the Acropolis. On the other hand, Pausanias (i. 14. 1), who never deviates without reason from the topographical order of his narrative, mentions the Enneacrunus in the midst of his description of certain buildings which were undoubtedly in the region of the Agora, and unless he is guilty of an unaccountable digression the Enneacrunus which he saw must have lain west of the Acropolis. It is now generally agreed that the Agora of classical times covered the low ground between the hill of the "Theseum," the Areopagus and the Pnyx; and Pausanias, in the course of his description, appears to have reached its southern end. The excavations revealed a main road of surprisingly narrow dimensions winding up from the Agora to the Acropolis. A little to the south-west of the point where the road turns towards the Propylaea was found a large rock-cut cistern or reservoir which Dörpfeld identifies with the Enneacrunus. The reservoir is supplied by a conduit of 6th-century tiles connected with an early stone aqueduct, the course of which is traceable beneath the Dionysiac theatre and the royal garden in the direction of the Upper Ilissus. These elaborate waterworks were, according to Dörpfeld, constructed by the Peisistratids in order to increase the supply from the ancient spring Callirrhoe; the fountain was furnished with nine jets and henceforth known as Enneacrunus. This identification has been hotly contested by many scholars, and the question must still be regarded as undecided. An interesting confirmation of Dörpfeld's view is furnished by the map of Guillet and Coronelli, published in 1672, in which the Enneacrunus is depicted as a well with a stream of running water in the neighbourhood of the Pnyx. The fact that spring water is not now found in this locality is by no means fatal to the theory; recent engineering investigations have shown that much of the surface water of the Attic plain has sunk to a lower level. In front of the reservoir is a small open space towards which several roads converge; close by is a triangular enclosure of polygonal masonry, in which were found various relics relating to the worship of Dionysus, a very ancient wine-press (Aŋvós) and the remains of a small temple. Built over this early precinct, which Dörpfeld identifies with the Dionysium év Xiuvais, or Lenaeum, is a basilicashaped building of the Roman period, apparently sacred to Bacchus; in this was found an inscription containing the rules |