DOI Artikel:
Crow, John; Clarke, Joseph Thacher: The Athenian Pnyx
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8561#0240
THE ATHENIAN PNYX. 225
The first removal of earth in the upper part was made by Lord
Aberdeen in 1803. He laid bare the rock about the bema to a
■distance of several feet from it. Nothing further was done till 1863,
when Curtius made extensive investigations. He removed the earth
from the foot of the semicircular wall, from the foot of the back
wall, and dug a trench running about three-fourths of the distance
from the back wall to the semicircular wall below, down to a point
just below M} In the line of this trench he found the rock
dressed with tools. It is rather smooth near the bema, but gets
rougher further down the hill. At the lower end of the trench,
M on the survey, he found three steps cut in the rock. In the
course of the trench are also several incisions that resemble mor-
tises, from six to eight inches long, four or five inches wide, and
of considerable depth. Possibly they were used for the insertion
of bars to which was attached the machinery by which the blocks
of the lower wall were brought to their present position. Ropes
were used in various ways by the ancients in lifting the blocks of
their temple walls to their place, and it is probable that some such
devices were used here. Extensive as were Curtius's excavations,
they left the nature of the floor below the ledges B and C prac-
tically undetermined. A knowledge of its character seemed neces-
sary to a satisfactory conclusion. To this matter, therefore, we ap-
plied ourselves. Through the kindness of Professor Goodwin and
others, permission was obtained from the minister of education, Mr.
Eustratiades, to make some excavations. We exposed the rock at
the points N, D, G, and H on the survey. We also laid bare the
steps which Curtius found, which by the action of the rains had
been buried again to the depth of six or eight feet. The dressing of
the rock to produce a smooth floor seems not to have extended be-
low the ledges B and C. There are no hammer marks on it at any
of the points N, D, G, or H. At N and D it declines at an angle of
30 degrees. At H the declivity is not so great; at G it descends at
nearly the same angle with the slope of the hill. At the point G we
removed a piece of the rubble, which was so large that three men
with difficulty lifted it from the hole. The opening up of the steps
1 Clarke's survey appears to represent this trench as extending below the
point .1/; but Curtius made no excavations below this point.
The first removal of earth in the upper part was made by Lord
Aberdeen in 1803. He laid bare the rock about the bema to a
■distance of several feet from it. Nothing further was done till 1863,
when Curtius made extensive investigations. He removed the earth
from the foot of the semicircular wall, from the foot of the back
wall, and dug a trench running about three-fourths of the distance
from the back wall to the semicircular wall below, down to a point
just below M} In the line of this trench he found the rock
dressed with tools. It is rather smooth near the bema, but gets
rougher further down the hill. At the lower end of the trench,
M on the survey, he found three steps cut in the rock. In the
course of the trench are also several incisions that resemble mor-
tises, from six to eight inches long, four or five inches wide, and
of considerable depth. Possibly they were used for the insertion
of bars to which was attached the machinery by which the blocks
of the lower wall were brought to their present position. Ropes
were used in various ways by the ancients in lifting the blocks of
their temple walls to their place, and it is probable that some such
devices were used here. Extensive as were Curtius's excavations,
they left the nature of the floor below the ledges B and C prac-
tically undetermined. A knowledge of its character seemed neces-
sary to a satisfactory conclusion. To this matter, therefore, we ap-
plied ourselves. Through the kindness of Professor Goodwin and
others, permission was obtained from the minister of education, Mr.
Eustratiades, to make some excavations. We exposed the rock at
the points N, D, G, and H on the survey. We also laid bare the
steps which Curtius found, which by the action of the rains had
been buried again to the depth of six or eight feet. The dressing of
the rock to produce a smooth floor seems not to have extended be-
low the ledges B and C. There are no hammer marks on it at any
of the points N, D, G, or H. At N and D it declines at an angle of
30 degrees. At H the declivity is not so great; at G it descends at
nearly the same angle with the slope of the hill. At the point G we
removed a piece of the rubble, which was so large that three men
with difficulty lifted it from the hole. The opening up of the steps
1 Clarke's survey appears to represent this trench as extending below the
point .1/; but Curtius made no excavations below this point.