DOI article:
Crow, John; Clarke, Joseph Thacher: The Athenian Pnyx
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8561#0260
THE ATHENIAN PNYX.
245
bema down the hill to the semicircular wall, in order to determine the
nature of the floor. It was found that the rock bore hammer marks
and had been wrought smooth. This led him to the conclusion that the
old floor was much below the surface of the earth that now covers the
rock. At a distance of thirty-six metres from the bema and under six
metres of earth three steps were found, which are probably the steps
of a block of rock similar to the bema. Below the steps the floor is
covered with earth and pieces of broken rock so large as to render
its investigation impossible. The investigations were, however, suffi-
ciently extensive to lead to important conclusions in regard to the
so-called Pnyx. They show that, although it was arranged for public
assemblies, these assemblies must have been of a different character
from those usually supposed to have been held in this place. The
most important question is as to the kind of assemblies held here.
They were not assemblies where an orator was to deliver an oration,
for he could not be heard. The north wind, which blows very strong
over this hill, would make this impossible. The audience would have
been seated on ground which was lower than the stand of the speaker.
Thus the orator would not have been able to see the effect of his
speech on the faces of his auditors. More than this, the enclosure
is much too small for the general political assemblies of Athens, its
area being but 25S6 square metres/ From this 70 square metres must
be deducted for the bema. The remaining space down to the semi-
circular wall would accommodate at most 5000 men standing, not to
mention sitting. Nor was the entire surface of the enclosure used for
an assembly : it was partly occupied by an altar at the point where the
steps were found below the bema. The whole structure has the
appearance of greater age than is consistent with Chandler's theory;
and the story told by Plutarch, that the Thirty Tyrants turned the bema
so as to make it look away from the sea, renders it impossible that
this block cut from the living rock should ever have been the bema.
If we inquire for what kind of assemblies this place was arranged,
we learn from the inscriptions found by Lord Aberdeen that it was
P. Even when calculated from the measurements given by Curtius himself,
these figures are inexplicably wrong, giving less than one-half of the actual area of
the enclosure, which is 6240.5 square metres. The extent of the bema, on the
other hand, is only about 62 square metres. — J. T. C.
245
bema down the hill to the semicircular wall, in order to determine the
nature of the floor. It was found that the rock bore hammer marks
and had been wrought smooth. This led him to the conclusion that the
old floor was much below the surface of the earth that now covers the
rock. At a distance of thirty-six metres from the bema and under six
metres of earth three steps were found, which are probably the steps
of a block of rock similar to the bema. Below the steps the floor is
covered with earth and pieces of broken rock so large as to render
its investigation impossible. The investigations were, however, suffi-
ciently extensive to lead to important conclusions in regard to the
so-called Pnyx. They show that, although it was arranged for public
assemblies, these assemblies must have been of a different character
from those usually supposed to have been held in this place. The
most important question is as to the kind of assemblies held here.
They were not assemblies where an orator was to deliver an oration,
for he could not be heard. The north wind, which blows very strong
over this hill, would make this impossible. The audience would have
been seated on ground which was lower than the stand of the speaker.
Thus the orator would not have been able to see the effect of his
speech on the faces of his auditors. More than this, the enclosure
is much too small for the general political assemblies of Athens, its
area being but 25S6 square metres/ From this 70 square metres must
be deducted for the bema. The remaining space down to the semi-
circular wall would accommodate at most 5000 men standing, not to
mention sitting. Nor was the entire surface of the enclosure used for
an assembly : it was partly occupied by an altar at the point where the
steps were found below the bema. The whole structure has the
appearance of greater age than is consistent with Chandler's theory;
and the story told by Plutarch, that the Thirty Tyrants turned the bema
so as to make it look away from the sea, renders it impossible that
this block cut from the living rock should ever have been the bema.
If we inquire for what kind of assemblies this place was arranged,
we learn from the inscriptions found by Lord Aberdeen that it was
P. Even when calculated from the measurements given by Curtius himself,
these figures are inexplicably wrong, giving less than one-half of the actual area of
the enclosure, which is 6240.5 square metres. The extent of the bema, on the
other hand, is only about 62 square metres. — J. T. C.