DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0438
PANORAMA FROM THE MUSEUM. 395
Athens: the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence ; native to famous wits,
Or hospitable, in her sweet recess,
City, or suburban, studious walks and shades!
See, there the olive grove of Academe,
Plato's retirement, where the attic bird
Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long.
There, flowery hill, Hymettus, with the sound
Of bees industrious murmurs, oft invites
To studious musing; there Ilissos rolls
His whispering stream. Within the walls then view
The schools of ancient sages, his who bred
Great Alexander, to subdue the world ;
Lycaeum there, and painted Stoa next/'
At the eastern foot of the Musaeum, opposite the Acropolis, there
are three ancient excavations in the rock; that in the middle is of an
irregular form, and the other two are eleven feet square. One of
them leads to another subterraneous chamber, of a circular form,
twelve feet in diameter at the base, and diminishing towards the
top, in the shape of a bell.1 These excavations are called ttuXcuo.
Xovrpa, the ancient baths. They have their magic properties, and
are imagined to be the haunt of evil spirits. If they were baths,
they were too small for public use. The circular chamber was per-
haps the v7rox.ctu<rTov, or sudatory ; the next adjoining it may have
been the KTroSvTypwv, or undressing room; and the other, the a\im-
Typiov,. or anointing room. The Roman baths had the caldarium, the
tepidarium, and the frigid arinm.
1 I have seen similar bell-shaped excavations in many Grecian fortresses: they were also
Observed at Eleusis, and in the island of Ithaca, and at several places in Italy ; particularly
at Circau, Ariccia, Agylla, or Care, and at Isola Famese, supposed to be the ancient Veii.
Excavations of a similar form are very common in Africa, where they are used for preserving
corn. ■
3 e 2
Athens: the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence ; native to famous wits,
Or hospitable, in her sweet recess,
City, or suburban, studious walks and shades!
See, there the olive grove of Academe,
Plato's retirement, where the attic bird
Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long.
There, flowery hill, Hymettus, with the sound
Of bees industrious murmurs, oft invites
To studious musing; there Ilissos rolls
His whispering stream. Within the walls then view
The schools of ancient sages, his who bred
Great Alexander, to subdue the world ;
Lycaeum there, and painted Stoa next/'
At the eastern foot of the Musaeum, opposite the Acropolis, there
are three ancient excavations in the rock; that in the middle is of an
irregular form, and the other two are eleven feet square. One of
them leads to another subterraneous chamber, of a circular form,
twelve feet in diameter at the base, and diminishing towards the
top, in the shape of a bell.1 These excavations are called ttuXcuo.
Xovrpa, the ancient baths. They have their magic properties, and
are imagined to be the haunt of evil spirits. If they were baths,
they were too small for public use. The circular chamber was per-
haps the v7rox.ctu<rTov, or sudatory ; the next adjoining it may have
been the KTroSvTypwv, or undressing room; and the other, the a\im-
Typiov,. or anointing room. The Roman baths had the caldarium, the
tepidarium, and the frigid arinm.
1 I have seen similar bell-shaped excavations in many Grecian fortresses: they were also
Observed at Eleusis, and in the island of Ithaca, and at several places in Italy ; particularly
at Circau, Ariccia, Agylla, or Care, and at Isola Famese, supposed to be the ancient Veii.
Excavations of a similar form are very common in Africa, where they are used for preserving
corn. ■
3 e 2