DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0155
STRUCTURES IN PE1RJEEUS.
137
of Strabo, who says, that in his time Peirseeus was reduced to a
small village round the ports and the temple of Zeus Soter.1 The
theatre, which stood below the temples, must have been a place of some
importance, as assemblies of the people were sometimes held there.2
There were probably two theatres in the peninsula, as we hear some-
times of the Munychian theatre, and sometimes of the Peirai'c ; and
there are vestiges of a second on the western side of the port of Zea.
There was also, probably, a sanctuary or temple of Dionysus in the
Peirseeus, for the Dionysiac festival was celebrated there, much as at
Athens, with a procession and theatrical contests.3 Socrates would go
down to Pirseeus whenever Euripides brought out a piece there, for he
was a great admirer of that poet.4
Pericles is also said to have erected atPeiraeeusa portico for the purpose
of a meal or flour market (aXtyiToirwXLs aroa, or simply 'A\^>tT07r&>Ai?).5
But though he effected so much for that peninsula, and also for Athens
by adorning it with temples and other public buildings, yet the streets
of the city were suffered to remain narrow, crooked, and inconvenient,
insomuch that Dicaearchus, who lived about a century later, observes
that a stranger unexpectedly carried thither might doubt whether he
was in the far-famed Athens, till he beheld the Odeiuni, the theatre,
and the Parthenon.6
Pericles had been enabled to achieve these great works by diverting
from its proper destination the tribute collected from the allies for the
purpose of securing Greece against the Persians. Aristeides had first
assessed this tax, B.C. 477, at the yearly sum of 460 talents, which were
1 p. 396. That Athena was worshipped
there with Zeus see Pausan. i. 1, 3; Liv.
31, 30.
2 . Lysias adv. A gorat. p. 464,479, Eeiske.
3 orav f) TTO^iirri ?i to) Alovihtoi eV TLeipaiei
Kal ol Ko/io)8oi Kai oi rpayo>8ot.—Law ap.
Demosth. in Meid. p. 517, Reiske.
4 iElian, V. H. ii. 13. We know not
why Leake (p. 391) calls the contest which
Socrates beheld a music contest. An in-
scription brought to England by Chandler,
and now in the British Museum, re-
cords that Callidamas was to have a front
seat (npoeBplav) in the theatre whenever
the Peirseenses celebrated the DionysLi.
Boeckb, C. Inscr. Gr. No. 101.
s Aristoph Eccl. 685 ; Acharn. 547, and
schol.
6 Vit. Gnec. p. 8. But Demosthenes
remarks an alteration in this resj>ect.
Adv. Aristocr. p. 689, Reiske.
137
of Strabo, who says, that in his time Peirseeus was reduced to a
small village round the ports and the temple of Zeus Soter.1 The
theatre, which stood below the temples, must have been a place of some
importance, as assemblies of the people were sometimes held there.2
There were probably two theatres in the peninsula, as we hear some-
times of the Munychian theatre, and sometimes of the Peirai'c ; and
there are vestiges of a second on the western side of the port of Zea.
There was also, probably, a sanctuary or temple of Dionysus in the
Peirseeus, for the Dionysiac festival was celebrated there, much as at
Athens, with a procession and theatrical contests.3 Socrates would go
down to Pirseeus whenever Euripides brought out a piece there, for he
was a great admirer of that poet.4
Pericles is also said to have erected atPeiraeeusa portico for the purpose
of a meal or flour market (aXtyiToirwXLs aroa, or simply 'A\^>tT07r&>Ai?).5
But though he effected so much for that peninsula, and also for Athens
by adorning it with temples and other public buildings, yet the streets
of the city were suffered to remain narrow, crooked, and inconvenient,
insomuch that Dicaearchus, who lived about a century later, observes
that a stranger unexpectedly carried thither might doubt whether he
was in the far-famed Athens, till he beheld the Odeiuni, the theatre,
and the Parthenon.6
Pericles had been enabled to achieve these great works by diverting
from its proper destination the tribute collected from the allies for the
purpose of securing Greece against the Persians. Aristeides had first
assessed this tax, B.C. 477, at the yearly sum of 460 talents, which were
1 p. 396. That Athena was worshipped
there with Zeus see Pausan. i. 1, 3; Liv.
31, 30.
2 . Lysias adv. A gorat. p. 464,479, Eeiske.
3 orav f) TTO^iirri ?i to) Alovihtoi eV TLeipaiei
Kal ol Ko/io)8oi Kai oi rpayo>8ot.—Law ap.
Demosth. in Meid. p. 517, Reiske.
4 iElian, V. H. ii. 13. We know not
why Leake (p. 391) calls the contest which
Socrates beheld a music contest. An in-
scription brought to England by Chandler,
and now in the British Museum, re-
cords that Callidamas was to have a front
seat (npoeBplav) in the theatre whenever
the Peirseenses celebrated the DionysLi.
Boeckb, C. Inscr. Gr. No. 101.
s Aristoph Eccl. 685 ; Acharn. 547, and
schol.
6 Vit. Gnec. p. 8. But Demosthenes
remarks an alteration in this resj>ect.
Adv. Aristocr. p. 689, Reiske.