DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.796#0058
THE EARLIEST HISTORIC PERIOD 33
pit, which may have been one of the altars set up to Chthonian
divinities in the Pelargicon (35). This seems to point to
the fact that in early times the road near the Beule gate
lay on a lower level than in the Roman period. The third
transformation of the ascent to the Acropolis dates from the
time of the Roman Emperor Caligula, when the great marble
stairway was built exactly in the axis of the Propylaea.
Scanty but undoubted remains in situ of the original ascent
have been found by Bohn {die Propylden, p. 35), near the
Beule gate and in front of the Propylaea. The general
course can still be traced. This ascent remained practically
unaltered throughout the Roman period except so far as the
addition of the Beule gate required changes in order to
adjust the stairway at its base to the entrance. That we
may not need to return to the Beule gate and the Roman
stairway we proceed to describe these structures more fully.
The gate received its name from the French archaeologist
E. Beule (36), who has the credit of having discovered, in
1853, the remains of this gateway which up to that time
had been concealed within the walls of a Turkish fortification.
Standing in front of the gateway, we observe first of all
the flanking towers, built of blocks of Peiraic limestone
laid in regular courses. Originally both towers measured
from seven to eight metres in circumference. That they
were not designed as a means of fortification is shown by
the lightness of their construction, the walls being only a little
more than twenty-one inches thick. They were built as an
architectural finish to the large marble stairway, at the foot
of which they stood and to which they were connected by
means of flanking walls. Whether originally there was any
gate or barrier between the towers, possibly a railing or
screen with a door, is not known. A complete architectural
entrance was built later in the second century, probably by
Herodes Atticus, when some of the material of the Nicias
monument was utilized to build the walls and gateway that
bear the name of Beule. Since the building of the towers
cannot be disconnected from that of the great stairway, we
are able to ascertain the date of their erection inasmuch as
we know from the inscription (37), dated about 40 A.D., the
time when the latter was built. With this date agrees also
pit, which may have been one of the altars set up to Chthonian
divinities in the Pelargicon (35). This seems to point to
the fact that in early times the road near the Beule gate
lay on a lower level than in the Roman period. The third
transformation of the ascent to the Acropolis dates from the
time of the Roman Emperor Caligula, when the great marble
stairway was built exactly in the axis of the Propylaea.
Scanty but undoubted remains in situ of the original ascent
have been found by Bohn {die Propylden, p. 35), near the
Beule gate and in front of the Propylaea. The general
course can still be traced. This ascent remained practically
unaltered throughout the Roman period except so far as the
addition of the Beule gate required changes in order to
adjust the stairway at its base to the entrance. That we
may not need to return to the Beule gate and the Roman
stairway we proceed to describe these structures more fully.
The gate received its name from the French archaeologist
E. Beule (36), who has the credit of having discovered, in
1853, the remains of this gateway which up to that time
had been concealed within the walls of a Turkish fortification.
Standing in front of the gateway, we observe first of all
the flanking towers, built of blocks of Peiraic limestone
laid in regular courses. Originally both towers measured
from seven to eight metres in circumference. That they
were not designed as a means of fortification is shown by
the lightness of their construction, the walls being only a little
more than twenty-one inches thick. They were built as an
architectural finish to the large marble stairway, at the foot
of which they stood and to which they were connected by
means of flanking walls. Whether originally there was any
gate or barrier between the towers, possibly a railing or
screen with a door, is not known. A complete architectural
entrance was built later in the second century, probably by
Herodes Atticus, when some of the material of the Nicias
monument was utilized to build the walls and gateway that
bear the name of Beule. Since the building of the towers
cannot be disconnected from that of the great stairway, we
are able to ascertain the date of their erection inasmuch as
we know from the inscription (37), dated about 40 A.D., the
time when the latter was built. With this date agrees also