DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.796#0038
CHAPTER II
THE EARLIEST HISTORIC PERIOD DOWN TO
THE PERSIAN DESTRUCTION
"And (Athena) came to Marathon and Athens with its spacious streets,
And entered the well-built house of Erechtheus."
Odyss. vii. 80.
Already at the time of the composition of the Homeric
poems was Athens known as a city, and did Erechtheus, the
national hero, possess a well-built palace. From recent
excavations on the Acropolis, as was said in the preceding
chapter, evidence has been found of what may be called a
Mycenaean settlement (20) in the form of house-walls and
sherds, which are probably contemporaneous with the great
Pelasgic walls that fortified the citadel. Beneath the cella
of the early temple of Athena, discovered by Dr. Dorpfeld
and to be discussed later, were found two bases of limestone
(see 6y Plan) which probably supported wooden columns in
the hall of the primitive " Palace" of Erechtheus. Besides
these, other fragments of walls which seem to have belonged
to this building were found among the foundations of the
Old Athena temple. All this verifies what has already been
said, that in the prehistoric period the Acropolis was the
citadel and capitol of a growing community.
With Solon and Pisistratus we first tread upon historic
ground. Not that all the accounts of the events in the time of
these men are absolutely trustworthy, but yet enough is certain
to enable us to get some idea of the history of the Acropolis
in this period, especially when the statements of the historians
are supplemented by discoveries of ancient remains which
THE EARLIEST HISTORIC PERIOD DOWN TO
THE PERSIAN DESTRUCTION
"And (Athena) came to Marathon and Athens with its spacious streets,
And entered the well-built house of Erechtheus."
Odyss. vii. 80.
Already at the time of the composition of the Homeric
poems was Athens known as a city, and did Erechtheus, the
national hero, possess a well-built palace. From recent
excavations on the Acropolis, as was said in the preceding
chapter, evidence has been found of what may be called a
Mycenaean settlement (20) in the form of house-walls and
sherds, which are probably contemporaneous with the great
Pelasgic walls that fortified the citadel. Beneath the cella
of the early temple of Athena, discovered by Dr. Dorpfeld
and to be discussed later, were found two bases of limestone
(see 6y Plan) which probably supported wooden columns in
the hall of the primitive " Palace" of Erechtheus. Besides
these, other fragments of walls which seem to have belonged
to this building were found among the foundations of the
Old Athena temple. All this verifies what has already been
said, that in the prehistoric period the Acropolis was the
citadel and capitol of a growing community.
With Solon and Pisistratus we first tread upon historic
ground. Not that all the accounts of the events in the time of
these men are absolutely trustworthy, but yet enough is certain
to enable us to get some idea of the history of the Acropolis
in this period, especially when the statements of the historians
are supplemented by discoveries of ancient remains which