DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0156
138 ANCIENT ATHENS.
deposited in the temple of Apollo at Delos.1 When Pericles obtained
the direction of affairs he raised the contribution to 600 ttlents, and
carried the balance at Delos, 2000 talents, to Athens.2 How much
his buildings cost it is impossible to say with any certainty. The only
datum we have for the calculation is, that the Propylsea cost about
2000 talents (about £460,000).3 Leake thinks this very much exag-
gerated, as money in those times went two or three times further than
at present. He remarks that the Parthenon would have required
double the sum of the Propylaea, and all the buildings together 8000
or 9000 talents. But a collection of 600 talents a year during the
fifteen years of the administration of Pericles would amount to 9000,
without including the balance from Delos. He may also be supposed
to have raised the domestic taxes, and there was no occasion during his
time to make preparations against the Persians. But the whole subject
is obscure, and those who wish for further information are referred to
Leake's third appendix.
The breaking out of the Peloponnesian war and the death of
Pericles two or three years afterwards (b.c. 429) arrested any further
improvements, and from this period down to the taking of Athens by
Lysander there is but little to record. It was, however, during this
interval that the Erechtheium was either restored or rebuilt. We may
infer from several circumstances that the Erechtheium, though partially
burnt by the Persians, was not so much injured as to have been rendered
altogether unserviceable. For only two days after, as we have already
said, some Athenian exiles, by order of Xerxes, went up to it to sacri-
fice ; and Herodotus, in the chapter in which he records this, speaks of
the temple in a manner which shows that it was in existence in his
1 Demosth. c. Aristocr. p. 689 sq.; Plut. (x^P's ™" fep&O*—Ibid, p. 184.
Aristid. 24 sq. 3 Harpocr. Ilptmvkdia ravra snys 2012 ;
2 The amount of the balance appears as Diodor. Sic. (xii. 40) says that the Pro-
follows : the confederate treasure is said to pyla-a and the siege of Potidaia cost 4000
have been 10,000 talents (Isocrat. de Pace, talents; and as the siege of Potidam cost
p. 173, Steph.), and Pericles is said to have 2000 talents (Thucyd. ii. 70) this account
carried to the Acropolis 8000 talents, with- agrees pretty nearly with that of Harpo-
out reckoning the sacred money from Pelos cration.
deposited in the temple of Apollo at Delos.1 When Pericles obtained
the direction of affairs he raised the contribution to 600 ttlents, and
carried the balance at Delos, 2000 talents, to Athens.2 How much
his buildings cost it is impossible to say with any certainty. The only
datum we have for the calculation is, that the Propylsea cost about
2000 talents (about £460,000).3 Leake thinks this very much exag-
gerated, as money in those times went two or three times further than
at present. He remarks that the Parthenon would have required
double the sum of the Propylaea, and all the buildings together 8000
or 9000 talents. But a collection of 600 talents a year during the
fifteen years of the administration of Pericles would amount to 9000,
without including the balance from Delos. He may also be supposed
to have raised the domestic taxes, and there was no occasion during his
time to make preparations against the Persians. But the whole subject
is obscure, and those who wish for further information are referred to
Leake's third appendix.
The breaking out of the Peloponnesian war and the death of
Pericles two or three years afterwards (b.c. 429) arrested any further
improvements, and from this period down to the taking of Athens by
Lysander there is but little to record. It was, however, during this
interval that the Erechtheium was either restored or rebuilt. We may
infer from several circumstances that the Erechtheium, though partially
burnt by the Persians, was not so much injured as to have been rendered
altogether unserviceable. For only two days after, as we have already
said, some Athenian exiles, by order of Xerxes, went up to it to sacri-
fice ; and Herodotus, in the chapter in which he records this, speaks of
the temple in a manner which shows that it was in existence in his
1 Demosth. c. Aristocr. p. 689 sq.; Plut. (x^P's ™" fep&O*—Ibid, p. 184.
Aristid. 24 sq. 3 Harpocr. Ilptmvkdia ravra snys 2012 ;
2 The amount of the balance appears as Diodor. Sic. (xii. 40) says that the Pro-
follows : the confederate treasure is said to pyla-a and the siege of Potidaia cost 4000
have been 10,000 talents (Isocrat. de Pace, talents; and as the siege of Potidam cost
p. 173, Steph.), and Pericles is said to have 2000 talents (Thucyd. ii. 70) this account
carried to the Acropolis 8000 talents, with- agrees pretty nearly with that of Harpo-
out reckoning the sacred money from Pelos cration.