DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0026
12 ANCIENT ATHENS.
slope of the Pnyx Hill. They are oblong excavations in the rock, and
have no uniform orientation, but are turned to all points of the compass.
This seems at variance with the Attic laws and customs, by which
apparently the head should be turned either to east or to the west, for
the authorities seem to differ on this point.1 The tombs are for the
most part situated along the high roads; but some of them, as we have
seen, were in the interior of or by the sides of houses. There are,
besides these graves, sepulchral caverns of large size. Two are still
remarkable : one on the south side of the western hill containing several
tombs ; the other near the Pylse Melitides, commonly called the
Cimoneia, or sepulchre of the family of Cimon.
To this description of the remains of ancient Athens we need only
add that on the west and on the north sides of the Observatory are two
deep and rugged clefts in the rock, now used as abattoirs, or places for
the slaughtering of cattle. As there are no similar clefts nearer than
the Pirseeus, or the chain of Anchesmus, it is probable that one of them
was the barathron, or place of execution, described as being in the dema
of the Keiriadae.2
To what period did the rock city we have described most probably
belong ? Curtius, in a resume of the subject in the explanatory text to
his maps of Athens,3 recognizes, from Herodotus,4 four epochs in the
primeval history of Athens, viz.: 1. that of the Pelasgic Cranaoi; 2. that
of the Cecropidse, from Cecrops; 3. that of the Athenians from Ere-
chtheus, whose story is connected with Athena; and 4. that of the Ionians,
from Ion. From their first ruler, Cranaos, Curtius continues—a ruler,
however, whom Herodotus does not mention—the inhabitants were
called Cranaoi, and their town Cranae. The name of this king signifies
' rocky' or ' stony,' hence the Cranaoi were the inhabitants of the rock
city just described, and, indeed, its first inhabitants.
1 They arc collected by Petit, Leges ovvopa&pevoi Kpavaoi. eVi Se Kiicpoiros
Att. vi. 8, 18. fiao-iheos, eVeKAr}#?j<rai> KacpoTrlSiu- eV8*£-
2 Bekker, An. GriEC. p. 219. apevov Se 'Epex&'os- rfy> apxfjv 'Ad^vmot
3 Erliiuterndcr Text, S. 17, ff. pfTavopdadrjcrav ■ "Iwcos Se tov SovBav
4 'ASrjvalot Se', eVri piv ITeXairywi/ e^oi/ray aTparapxca yeco/ieVou 'Adymlouri, eVX/^ij-
tijv t/iiv'EXAuSu KaKfofUvijV, rfaav UtKaayoi, irav iiiro ruvruv "Wes.— \ iii. 14.
slope of the Pnyx Hill. They are oblong excavations in the rock, and
have no uniform orientation, but are turned to all points of the compass.
This seems at variance with the Attic laws and customs, by which
apparently the head should be turned either to east or to the west, for
the authorities seem to differ on this point.1 The tombs are for the
most part situated along the high roads; but some of them, as we have
seen, were in the interior of or by the sides of houses. There are,
besides these graves, sepulchral caverns of large size. Two are still
remarkable : one on the south side of the western hill containing several
tombs ; the other near the Pylse Melitides, commonly called the
Cimoneia, or sepulchre of the family of Cimon.
To this description of the remains of ancient Athens we need only
add that on the west and on the north sides of the Observatory are two
deep and rugged clefts in the rock, now used as abattoirs, or places for
the slaughtering of cattle. As there are no similar clefts nearer than
the Pirseeus, or the chain of Anchesmus, it is probable that one of them
was the barathron, or place of execution, described as being in the dema
of the Keiriadae.2
To what period did the rock city we have described most probably
belong ? Curtius, in a resume of the subject in the explanatory text to
his maps of Athens,3 recognizes, from Herodotus,4 four epochs in the
primeval history of Athens, viz.: 1. that of the Pelasgic Cranaoi; 2. that
of the Cecropidse, from Cecrops; 3. that of the Athenians from Ere-
chtheus, whose story is connected with Athena; and 4. that of the Ionians,
from Ion. From their first ruler, Cranaos, Curtius continues—a ruler,
however, whom Herodotus does not mention—the inhabitants were
called Cranaoi, and their town Cranae. The name of this king signifies
' rocky' or ' stony,' hence the Cranaoi were the inhabitants of the rock
city just described, and, indeed, its first inhabitants.
1 They arc collected by Petit, Leges ovvopa&pevoi Kpavaoi. eVi Se Kiicpoiros
Att. vi. 8, 18. fiao-iheos, eVeKAr}#?j<rai> KacpoTrlSiu- eV8*£-
2 Bekker, An. GriEC. p. 219. apevov Se 'Epex&'os- rfy> apxfjv 'Ad^vmot
3 Erliiuterndcr Text, S. 17, ff. pfTavopdadrjcrav ■ "Iwcos Se tov SovBav
4 'ASrjvalot Se', eVri piv ITeXairywi/ e^oi/ray aTparapxca yeco/ieVou 'Adymlouri, eVX/^ij-
tijv t/iiv'EXAuSu KaKfofUvijV, rfaav UtKaayoi, irav iiiro ruvruv "Wes.— \ iii. 14.