Burrow, Edward John: The Elgin Marbles: With an abridged historical and topographical account of Athens (London, 1837)

112

now rest on mere conjecture; but the circum*
tance recorded by Plutarch is not at all
irreconcileable with others which appear to
point out this as the true situation of the Pnyx.
Chandler's account of the vestiges is as fol-
lows : " By the side of the mountain, beyond
the way formerly called Through Csele, nearly
opposite to the rock of the Areopagus, is a
large, naked, semicircular area or terrace sup-
ported by stones of a vast size, the faces cut
into squares. A track leads to it between the
Areopagusand the Temple of Theseus. As you
ascend to the brow, some small channels oe~
cur, cutperhaps to receive libations. The de-
scent into the area is by hewn steps, and the
rock within is smoothed down perpendicularly
in front, extending to the sides, not in a straight
line but with an obtuse angle at the steps."—
" The grooves, it may be conjectured, were for
tablets containing decrees and orders. The
circular wall, which now reaches only to the
top of the terrace, it is likely, was higher, and
served as an inclosure. Excepting this, and
the accession of soil, with the removal of the
altar, the pulpit, and the sun-dial, Pnyx may