Barrows, Samuel J.: The isles and shrines of Greece (Boston, 1898)

THE SHRINES OF ATTICA 255

It is an easy walk from Athens to Colonus, the
home of Sophocles, and to the Academy of Plato.
You will not find the twelve olives nor the

" Deep-flushed ivy and the dear,
Divine, impenetrable shade,"

but somehow the place has a different atmosphere
for you, because you know that the poet and the
philosopher have been there.

Piraeus to most travellers is associated with clam-
orous boatmen, inquisitive custom-house officers
and exacting coachmen. It is still the seaport of
Athens, but dislikes to be regarded simply as an
appendage to that city, and the rivalry occasionally
breaks out in local fetes. Piraeus has its own car-
nival and tries to outdo that of Athens. For many
centuries this old harbor has been a scene of bustling
activity, and the bustle still goes on. The archaeol-
ogist finds diversion in the remains of the long wall
built by Themistocles and Conon, and in the theatre
excavated by the Greek Archaeological Society. In-
teresting too are the old shiphouses or dry docks
with ways built down to the water.

My visit to Oropus was made by water, on an
" Island trip " with Dr. Dorpfeld. We landed on a
long, beautiful beach and set out for the oracle of
Amphiaraus, one of " The Seven against Thebes,"
whom Pausanias says the people of Oropus first hon-
ored as a god. After a walk of about three-quarters
of an hour up a beautiful slope and across fertile
fields, we struck the course of a brook shaded by
trees, and along its banks made our way to the holy