DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0553
MOUNT PARNES, CASTLE OF PHYLE. 503
but that is no proof that Kasha is Acharnae, as some superficial ob-
servers have imagined.
The ancient castle of Phyle is situated higher up the mountain,
an hour and a quarter from Kasha, on the road to Thebes, and
eight hours from that city. In the ascent we pass over a small plain
of grass and some marshy ground, occasioned by a stream. In
some places the road is ancient and cut in the rock: on one side a
small channel is made, about twenty inches broad and five feet
deep, to let off the superfluous waters which trickle from the rocks.
Diodorus1 placesPhyle only one hundred stadia from Athens,which
seems short of the measure; the distance being probably twelve
miles, as it requires four hours to reach it from Athens. The same
author calls it tppovptov oxupov re <r<po$px, "a very strong fortress;" and Cor-
nelius Nepos,2 " Castellum munitissimum." Plutarch3 denominates
it one of the bulwarks of Athens. It was always regarded as a place
of considerable strength and importance; and when Thrasybulus
had taken it by surprise, he was enabled, with a very small force,
to resist the attacks of the Athenian army, commanded by the thirty
tyrants. We are told, by historians, that Thrasybulus afterwards
augmented the garrison to seven hundred men; which number, from
the smallness of the fort, was probably its complement, though,
on an extraordinary emergency, it might contain at least double
that number. Phyle was ever afterwards considered as a place of
consequence: and is mentioned in that light by many ancient
authors.
Phyle was a demos4 of the tribe Oineis; the town was situated
near the foot of the castle hill, or Acropolis ; some traces of it yet
remain, which consist of the foundations of a square tower, and a
transverse wall to guard the pass, and several large blocks scattered
about, with a clear spring of water rippling among the ruins of the
town.
' B. 14. c. 32. « Life of Thrasybulus.
3 Life of Demetrius. * Strabo, b. 9. p. 404.
but that is no proof that Kasha is Acharnae, as some superficial ob-
servers have imagined.
The ancient castle of Phyle is situated higher up the mountain,
an hour and a quarter from Kasha, on the road to Thebes, and
eight hours from that city. In the ascent we pass over a small plain
of grass and some marshy ground, occasioned by a stream. In
some places the road is ancient and cut in the rock: on one side a
small channel is made, about twenty inches broad and five feet
deep, to let off the superfluous waters which trickle from the rocks.
Diodorus1 placesPhyle only one hundred stadia from Athens,which
seems short of the measure; the distance being probably twelve
miles, as it requires four hours to reach it from Athens. The same
author calls it tppovptov oxupov re <r<po$px, "a very strong fortress;" and Cor-
nelius Nepos,2 " Castellum munitissimum." Plutarch3 denominates
it one of the bulwarks of Athens. It was always regarded as a place
of considerable strength and importance; and when Thrasybulus
had taken it by surprise, he was enabled, with a very small force,
to resist the attacks of the Athenian army, commanded by the thirty
tyrants. We are told, by historians, that Thrasybulus afterwards
augmented the garrison to seven hundred men; which number, from
the smallness of the fort, was probably its complement, though,
on an extraordinary emergency, it might contain at least double
that number. Phyle was ever afterwards considered as a place of
consequence: and is mentioned in that light by many ancient
authors.
Phyle was a demos4 of the tribe Oineis; the town was situated
near the foot of the castle hill, or Acropolis ; some traces of it yet
remain, which consist of the foundations of a square tower, and a
transverse wall to guard the pass, and several large blocks scattered
about, with a clear spring of water rippling among the ruins of the
town.
' B. 14. c. 32. « Life of Thrasybulus.
3 Life of Demetrius. * Strabo, b. 9. p. 404.