DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0018
ANCIENT ATHENS.
In the plain just described, to the north east of Athens, and between
the Cephisus and the Ilissus, a chain of hills or small mountains, now
called Turco-vouni, of which the highest point is 1000 feet, runs
towards the city for a distance of about five miles, and terminates on the
north-east side of it in a remarkable isolated hill, having on its summit
a chapel dedicated to St. George. This hill is now, we believe, uni-
versally identified with the ancient Lycabettus, which must certainly
have lain in this quarter. The reasons for this opinion have been
collected by Leake in his ' Topography of Athens.'' The following
are the chief of them : Plato, in a fanciful description of the Acropolis
('Critias,' p. 112), says that it once extended to the Eridanus and
Ilissus, embracing on one side the Pnyx Hill, and having Lycabettus
for its boundary (ppov e^ovcra) on the other. Now, the hill in question
adjoins those rivers and lies opposite to the Pnyx Hill, and the Acro-
polis is situated between the two. Again, Strabo says (p. 454) that the
town of Ithaca was as naturally connected with Mount Neritos as
Athens with Lycabettus. Now, the names of the other Attic moun-
tains are satisfactorily ascertained, and the only unnamed one in the
immediate vicinity of Athens to which Strabo can be alluding is that
in question. Thirdly, Photius in his ' Lexicon' (voc. Tidpvr}<i) quotes
from Aristophanes a line not now extant, which says that the clouds
vanished towards Parnes along Lycabettus ; and the Hill of St. George
lies in the direction between Athens and Mount Parnes. Lycabettus
is also mentioned by other ancient writers in a way which agrees with
the character and situation of this hill: as by Xenophon (fEcon.
xxix. 6); by Marinus, in his ' Life of Proclus,'2 where he says that that
philosopher was buried near Lycabettus, in the more eastern suburbs
of the city, and Lycabettus lies north-east of it; also by Antigonus of
Carystus, by Theophrastus, ' De Signis,' and others.
re Kai rfjvde tijv utpav tov €Tovs re Kai rijs 2 erd<pr] iv rois dvaTo\iKaTepoi$ 7rpo-
iipepas.—Plat. I'ha?dr. p. 229. aoreiois djt Ttoheas, 7rpoj t<u Avicaftr)TT<o.
1 Sect. iii. p. £04 sqq. See also Dr. —§ 3C.
Wordsworth's 'Atticaand Athens,'ch, viii.
In the plain just described, to the north east of Athens, and between
the Cephisus and the Ilissus, a chain of hills or small mountains, now
called Turco-vouni, of which the highest point is 1000 feet, runs
towards the city for a distance of about five miles, and terminates on the
north-east side of it in a remarkable isolated hill, having on its summit
a chapel dedicated to St. George. This hill is now, we believe, uni-
versally identified with the ancient Lycabettus, which must certainly
have lain in this quarter. The reasons for this opinion have been
collected by Leake in his ' Topography of Athens.'' The following
are the chief of them : Plato, in a fanciful description of the Acropolis
('Critias,' p. 112), says that it once extended to the Eridanus and
Ilissus, embracing on one side the Pnyx Hill, and having Lycabettus
for its boundary (ppov e^ovcra) on the other. Now, the hill in question
adjoins those rivers and lies opposite to the Pnyx Hill, and the Acro-
polis is situated between the two. Again, Strabo says (p. 454) that the
town of Ithaca was as naturally connected with Mount Neritos as
Athens with Lycabettus. Now, the names of the other Attic moun-
tains are satisfactorily ascertained, and the only unnamed one in the
immediate vicinity of Athens to which Strabo can be alluding is that
in question. Thirdly, Photius in his ' Lexicon' (voc. Tidpvr}<i) quotes
from Aristophanes a line not now extant, which says that the clouds
vanished towards Parnes along Lycabettus ; and the Hill of St. George
lies in the direction between Athens and Mount Parnes. Lycabettus
is also mentioned by other ancient writers in a way which agrees with
the character and situation of this hill: as by Xenophon (fEcon.
xxix. 6); by Marinus, in his ' Life of Proclus,'2 where he says that that
philosopher was buried near Lycabettus, in the more eastern suburbs
of the city, and Lycabettus lies north-east of it; also by Antigonus of
Carystus, by Theophrastus, ' De Signis,' and others.
re Kai rfjvde tijv utpav tov €Tovs re Kai rijs 2 erd<pr] iv rois dvaTo\iKaTepoi$ 7rpo-
iipepas.—Plat. I'ha?dr. p. 229. aoreiois djt Ttoheas, 7rpoj t<u Avicaftr)TT<o.
1 Sect. iii. p. £04 sqq. See also Dr. —§ 3C.
Wordsworth's 'Atticaand Athens,'ch, viii.