DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0088
SOLON'S .
solid masonry. Precisely the same process was adopted at the Pnyx,
and the huge circular wall which forms its northern boundary is
evidently of a much later period than the Cyclopean or Pelasgic, to
which some writers have attributed it. But of this we shall speak in
another place. To remedy the want of water under which Athens
suffered, Solon ordained that there should be a public well at a distance
of every four stadia, about half a mile.1 The laws of Solon were written
on quadrangular wooden machines turning on an axis, and therefore
called amoves, and on triangular stones (/cup/Set?). The axones seem to
have been of considerable height, reaching from the floor to the ceiling
of an apartment, and contained the laws relating to civil matters, while
the cyrbeis contained those respecting religion. Both were at first pre-
served in the Acropolis; but as that was a sacred and enclosed place,
and, especially after the Persian wars, not very accessible, Ephialtes sub-
sequently caused them to be brought down into the agora, so that they
might be more open to public inspection; when the cyrbeis were placed
in the Stoa Basileios, and the axones in the Prytaneium.2 It is pro-
bable that neither of these buildings was in existence in the time of
Solon. He is said to have legalized prostitution, and to have conse-
crated out of its wages a temple to Aphrodite Pandemos ;3 which must
not be confounded with that said to have been erected by Theseus.
According to Apollodorus (ap. Harpocr. I.e.) one of them was in the
ancient agora; whence some ■ writers have inferred that there was
anciently an agora on the southern side of the Acropolis, as the temple
erected by Theseus appears to have been on that side.
After passing his laws, Solon travelled into Egypt and other places,
and on his return found Athens torn by factions. At length, in spite
of his opposition, which Solon was prepared to maintain even by force
of arms, Peisistratus, who was at the head of the Diacrii or Hyperacrii,
the mountaineers of northern Attica, succeeded in making himself
tyrant (01. 55, b.c. 560). He is said to have effected this by a stratagem
1 Pint. Sol. c. 23. «|o«s, &c
' Ibid. c. 25; Harpocr. voce. 3fo«vand 3 Allien, lib. xiii. 25; Harpocr. voc.
Kvpfids; Pollux, viii. 10: Klym. M. voc. Tlavfypos'ArppottiTtj,
solid masonry. Precisely the same process was adopted at the Pnyx,
and the huge circular wall which forms its northern boundary is
evidently of a much later period than the Cyclopean or Pelasgic, to
which some writers have attributed it. But of this we shall speak in
another place. To remedy the want of water under which Athens
suffered, Solon ordained that there should be a public well at a distance
of every four stadia, about half a mile.1 The laws of Solon were written
on quadrangular wooden machines turning on an axis, and therefore
called amoves, and on triangular stones (/cup/Set?). The axones seem to
have been of considerable height, reaching from the floor to the ceiling
of an apartment, and contained the laws relating to civil matters, while
the cyrbeis contained those respecting religion. Both were at first pre-
served in the Acropolis; but as that was a sacred and enclosed place,
and, especially after the Persian wars, not very accessible, Ephialtes sub-
sequently caused them to be brought down into the agora, so that they
might be more open to public inspection; when the cyrbeis were placed
in the Stoa Basileios, and the axones in the Prytaneium.2 It is pro-
bable that neither of these buildings was in existence in the time of
Solon. He is said to have legalized prostitution, and to have conse-
crated out of its wages a temple to Aphrodite Pandemos ;3 which must
not be confounded with that said to have been erected by Theseus.
According to Apollodorus (ap. Harpocr. I.e.) one of them was in the
ancient agora; whence some ■ writers have inferred that there was
anciently an agora on the southern side of the Acropolis, as the temple
erected by Theseus appears to have been on that side.
After passing his laws, Solon travelled into Egypt and other places,
and on his return found Athens torn by factions. At length, in spite
of his opposition, which Solon was prepared to maintain even by force
of arms, Peisistratus, who was at the head of the Diacrii or Hyperacrii,
the mountaineers of northern Attica, succeeded in making himself
tyrant (01. 55, b.c. 560). He is said to have effected this by a stratagem
1 Pint. Sol. c. 23. «|o«s, &c
' Ibid. c. 25; Harpocr. voce. 3fo«vand 3 Allien, lib. xiii. 25; Harpocr. voc.
Kvpfids; Pollux, viii. 10: Klym. M. voc. Tlavfypos'ArppottiTtj,