DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0290
ARCH OF HADRIAN.
271
possible, however, that this arch, which is still pretty perfect, may have
been erected subsequently to Pausanias' visit. It does not form an
entrance to the peribolus of the temple, nor indeed to any enclosure, as
it seems to be quite unconnected with any wall. The design of it
appears to have been to mark, by a sort of triumphal arch, the boundary
between ancient Athens, or the city of Theseus, and that quarter which
obtained the name of Hadrianopolis, from the munificence of Hadrian
in adorning it. That a part of Athens bore that name we know from
the life of Hadrian by Spartianus;1 and that it must have been the
quarter which lay to the eastward of this gate we learn from the
inscriptions on the gate itself. For on the frieze of the architrave on
the north-western front is written: ai'S' ela 'A0r}vat, ©j?o-ea>? jj irplv
ttoXis ; and on the south-eastern front, alS' ela-' 'ABpiavov km, ovxl
®i7<j-£&>5 7roXt?.2 The arch, therefore, probably marked the boundary of
the ancient city of Theseus, as handed down by tradition or still recog-
nisable at the period of its erection by some ancient remains; thus
serving a similar purpose to that of the pillars which stood at the
Isthmus on the confines of Peloponnesus and Ionia, with the following
inscriptions : too' iarl TleKoir6vvrjcro<; ovk 'la>via, and rdo' ou^t IleXo-
■irovvrjao';, a\X' 'lwvia.3 Gell conjectures that it may possibly have
been built on the spot where there once stood in the ancient enclosure
a gate called the gate of iEgeus.4 The arch stands in an oblique
position as regards the plan of the temple, which lies due east and
west, whilst the arch faces south-east and north-west. Leake, who
erroneously thought that it formed an entrance to the peribolus, con-
sidered that this obliquity was purposely adopted in order to afford a
better view of the temple ;5 but the true entrance of the peribolus has
been recently discovered at a distance of nineteen or twenty yards from
1 " Multas civitates Adrianopolis appel-
lavit, ut ipsani Carthaginem, et Atheuarum
partem."—Spart. Adrian, c. 20.
2 These inscriptions have been frequent-
ly published, and will be found in W holer
(but imperfect), in Stuart, and in Boeckh,
Corp. Inscr. No. 520; and, in their present
condition, in the 'ApxaiohoyiKri 'Efaptpis
for February, 1862, p. 34.
s Strab. ix. p. 392 ; Plut. Thes. 25.
4 Itinerary, p. 40.
6 vol. i. p. 51C.
271
possible, however, that this arch, which is still pretty perfect, may have
been erected subsequently to Pausanias' visit. It does not form an
entrance to the peribolus of the temple, nor indeed to any enclosure, as
it seems to be quite unconnected with any wall. The design of it
appears to have been to mark, by a sort of triumphal arch, the boundary
between ancient Athens, or the city of Theseus, and that quarter which
obtained the name of Hadrianopolis, from the munificence of Hadrian
in adorning it. That a part of Athens bore that name we know from
the life of Hadrian by Spartianus;1 and that it must have been the
quarter which lay to the eastward of this gate we learn from the
inscriptions on the gate itself. For on the frieze of the architrave on
the north-western front is written: ai'S' ela 'A0r}vat, ©j?o-ea>? jj irplv
ttoXis ; and on the south-eastern front, alS' ela-' 'ABpiavov km, ovxl
®i7<j-£&>5 7roXt?.2 The arch, therefore, probably marked the boundary of
the ancient city of Theseus, as handed down by tradition or still recog-
nisable at the period of its erection by some ancient remains; thus
serving a similar purpose to that of the pillars which stood at the
Isthmus on the confines of Peloponnesus and Ionia, with the following
inscriptions : too' iarl TleKoir6vvrjcro<; ovk 'la>via, and rdo' ou^t IleXo-
■irovvrjao';, a\X' 'lwvia.3 Gell conjectures that it may possibly have
been built on the spot where there once stood in the ancient enclosure
a gate called the gate of iEgeus.4 The arch stands in an oblique
position as regards the plan of the temple, which lies due east and
west, whilst the arch faces south-east and north-west. Leake, who
erroneously thought that it formed an entrance to the peribolus, con-
sidered that this obliquity was purposely adopted in order to afford a
better view of the temple ;5 but the true entrance of the peribolus has
been recently discovered at a distance of nineteen or twenty yards from
1 " Multas civitates Adrianopolis appel-
lavit, ut ipsani Carthaginem, et Atheuarum
partem."—Spart. Adrian, c. 20.
2 These inscriptions have been frequent-
ly published, and will be found in W holer
(but imperfect), in Stuart, and in Boeckh,
Corp. Inscr. No. 520; and, in their present
condition, in the 'ApxaiohoyiKri 'Efaptpis
for February, 1862, p. 34.
s Strab. ix. p. 392 ; Plut. Thes. 25.
4 Itinerary, p. 40.
6 vol. i. p. 51C.