DOI article:
Waldstein, Charles: [Excavations and discoveries at Eretria, 1891-1895]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8681#0130
118
A TOPOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF ERETRIA.
sage, some 8 to 10 cm. high, forbid the idea that in antiquity this could
have led through the wall at the same level as the surface of to-day.
It seems more probable that the lower wall just mentioned supported
a terrace, so that the pedestrian could pass through the cross-wall to
this terrace at a higher level than at present, turn to the left, pass
round the end of the retaining-wall, and then, bearing to the right,
follow the foot-path that to-day as of yore leads down the steep de-
scent by the line of wall b—a.
The southern declivity of the citadel is so steep, at times indeed
absolutely precipitous, as to render even a good foot-path connecting
the upper and lower towers practically impossible excepting at this
place, and at 3 and 7 to the east. This cross-wall is of exceedingly
poor construction, made of small stones held together by large quan-
tities of lime-mortar, and is but 1.7 m. thick. These characteristics
caused us to give it the name of the " Roman cross-wall." It passes
along the southern edge of the summit to 2, then turns downward at
an angle of depression of 17° to run along the top of some beetling
rocks at 4- At 5, it divides into two branches, one running northeast
at about the same level and meeting the main line at 8, the other bend-
ing down a steep descent around the summit of another precipitous
rock at 6 to the gateway at 7, beyond which it also joins the eastern
acropolis-wall.
Though the descent from 3 is very steep, a foot-path is practicable.
Halfway down are the ruins of what may have been a kind of propy-
laea, and below there are steps cut in the solid rock as if leading up
to this point. The main entrance to the acropolis, however, from the
city itself, the only one in fact in the least degree practicable for horses,
must have led up through the gateway at 7. The southeastern slope
is quite gradual; and the triangle formed by the three walls within 7
has plainly been artificially leveled. Above the inner line of wall
5-8, and from 8 along the main line back beyond k, there has also
been much work of this kind. At k, indeed, the earth within is some
4—6 metres above that immediately without the wall. The line 5-8
is in such a ruined state that it is now impossible to say where the
road passed through it ; but it seems, from the nature of the slope, that
this gateway must have been near the end at 8. From 2, in the line
of the Roman cross-wall, are traces of a wall leading toward 8, but
the purpose of* this was not determined.
Disregarding such appearances as the ancient part below the " Roman
cross-wall" at 1, the repairs with well squared stones near h, and the
A TOPOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF ERETRIA.
sage, some 8 to 10 cm. high, forbid the idea that in antiquity this could
have led through the wall at the same level as the surface of to-day.
It seems more probable that the lower wall just mentioned supported
a terrace, so that the pedestrian could pass through the cross-wall to
this terrace at a higher level than at present, turn to the left, pass
round the end of the retaining-wall, and then, bearing to the right,
follow the foot-path that to-day as of yore leads down the steep de-
scent by the line of wall b—a.
The southern declivity of the citadel is so steep, at times indeed
absolutely precipitous, as to render even a good foot-path connecting
the upper and lower towers practically impossible excepting at this
place, and at 3 and 7 to the east. This cross-wall is of exceedingly
poor construction, made of small stones held together by large quan-
tities of lime-mortar, and is but 1.7 m. thick. These characteristics
caused us to give it the name of the " Roman cross-wall." It passes
along the southern edge of the summit to 2, then turns downward at
an angle of depression of 17° to run along the top of some beetling
rocks at 4- At 5, it divides into two branches, one running northeast
at about the same level and meeting the main line at 8, the other bend-
ing down a steep descent around the summit of another precipitous
rock at 6 to the gateway at 7, beyond which it also joins the eastern
acropolis-wall.
Though the descent from 3 is very steep, a foot-path is practicable.
Halfway down are the ruins of what may have been a kind of propy-
laea, and below there are steps cut in the solid rock as if leading up
to this point. The main entrance to the acropolis, however, from the
city itself, the only one in fact in the least degree practicable for horses,
must have led up through the gateway at 7. The southeastern slope
is quite gradual; and the triangle formed by the three walls within 7
has plainly been artificially leveled. Above the inner line of wall
5-8, and from 8 along the main line back beyond k, there has also
been much work of this kind. At k, indeed, the earth within is some
4—6 metres above that immediately without the wall. The line 5-8
is in such a ruined state that it is now impossible to say where the
road passed through it ; but it seems, from the nature of the slope, that
this gateway must have been near the end at 8. From 2, in the line
of the Roman cross-wall, are traces of a wall leading toward 8, but
the purpose of* this was not determined.
Disregarding such appearances as the ancient part below the " Roman
cross-wall" at 1, the repairs with well squared stones near h, and the