DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.796#0004
PREFACE
The excavations upon the summit and the slopes of the
Acropolis of Athens were completed in 1889 by the Greek
Archaeological Society under the direction of the General
Superintendent of Antiquities, Mr. P. Cavvadias.
The results of these excavations have been published in
many different forms and have become the subject of much
discussion. While some of the older problems connected with
the history of the Acropolis have by the aid of these new
discoveries been solved, others have been raised which await
further light. A final history of the Acropolis and of its
monuments which shall answer satisfactorily every question
may possibly never be written. The present volume is an
attempt to give a summary of the most important contributions
to this history and to state the results of personal study of
this site and of the ruins upon it.
This book was originally intended to be one of a series of
Handbooks of Classical Archaeology, but the author found it
impossible to treat his theme in so brief a compass as the limits
of such a book require. Even in the present volume it has
been found difficult to give as full a statement of many points
as seemed desirable, and it has been a perplexing problem to
determine what to omit and what to include in a book designed
both for general readers and for those who desire to make a
more minute study of the Acropolis. For the benefit of the
latter technical discussions have been added in Appendixes and
referred to in Notes, and a select Bibliography has been given.
It was not perfectly clear and simple to determine in what
order this history should be told. The strictly chronological
order required frequent repetition, particularly in giving the
history of buildings, while a strictly topographical order was
The excavations upon the summit and the slopes of the
Acropolis of Athens were completed in 1889 by the Greek
Archaeological Society under the direction of the General
Superintendent of Antiquities, Mr. P. Cavvadias.
The results of these excavations have been published in
many different forms and have become the subject of much
discussion. While some of the older problems connected with
the history of the Acropolis have by the aid of these new
discoveries been solved, others have been raised which await
further light. A final history of the Acropolis and of its
monuments which shall answer satisfactorily every question
may possibly never be written. The present volume is an
attempt to give a summary of the most important contributions
to this history and to state the results of personal study of
this site and of the ruins upon it.
This book was originally intended to be one of a series of
Handbooks of Classical Archaeology, but the author found it
impossible to treat his theme in so brief a compass as the limits
of such a book require. Even in the present volume it has
been found difficult to give as full a statement of many points
as seemed desirable, and it has been a perplexing problem to
determine what to omit and what to include in a book designed
both for general readers and for those who desire to make a
more minute study of the Acropolis. For the benefit of the
latter technical discussions have been added in Appendixes and
referred to in Notes, and a select Bibliography has been given.
It was not perfectly clear and simple to determine in what
order this history should be told. The strictly chronological
order required frequent repetition, particularly in giving the
history of buildings, while a strictly topographical order was