DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0394
ANCIENT ATHENS.
Which invocation seems an anomaly in the month of Odysseus, espe-
cially as it is uttered in Lemnos. But the poet doubtless intended a
little compliment to the Athenians, and alluded probably, as Dr. Words-
worth suggests, to a custom which obtained among them of invoking
her aid when starting on any dangerous enterprize. So likewise the
chorus of old men in the 'Lysistrate' of Aristophanes appeal to her for
assistance when about to attack the women in the Acropolis, of which
she seemed from her position to guard the very entrance.
The temple of Victory was extant in the time of Wheler, who
describes it as built of white marble, and gives its dimensions as fifteen
feet in length and eight or nine in breadth;1 which are pretty nearly
accurate, but rather too small. It had disappeared in the time of
Stuart, who took the Pinacotheca for it, and he wrongly accuses Spon
and Wheler of error, asserting that the temple which they took for that
of Nike Apteros was in fact the temple of Aglaurus.2 Professor Eoss is
of opinion that it must have been pulled down by the Turks after the
date of Wheler's visit in order to strengthen their fortifications, which
is probable enough. But his conjecture that their upper battery must
have been in existence in Wheler's time, because he does not mention
the pedestal of Agrippa, seems hardly correct, for the pedestal was
certainly visible in the time of Stuart, who mentions it and its inscrip-
tion.3 The late Lord Broughton says of the temple, " The last memo-
rial of its existence was carried away by Lord Elgin." * This was part
of the frieze, which had been built into a wall, and is now in the British
Museum. All the other fragments of the temple were discovered by Pro-
fessor Boss and his coadjutors in the excavations of 1835; they had been
1 Journey, p. 358. Leake (vol. i. p. 320, frieze,
note 2) accuses Wheler of error in these z See his plan of the Acropolis in vol. ii.
dimensions. But it is evident that he was Also ch. v. p. 39 sq., and the plan of the
not alluding to the stylobate but to the Propytea, pi. ii.
cella; which is really only one foot longer s Ibid. p. 38 sq. See Eoss, Tempel dcr
than the measure given by Wheler. The Kike Apteros, S. 2.
latter however was wrong in calling the * Hobhouse's Journey through Albania,
architecture Doric, and in assigning the &c, vol. i. p. 337.
sculptures to the architrave instead of the
Which invocation seems an anomaly in the month of Odysseus, espe-
cially as it is uttered in Lemnos. But the poet doubtless intended a
little compliment to the Athenians, and alluded probably, as Dr. Words-
worth suggests, to a custom which obtained among them of invoking
her aid when starting on any dangerous enterprize. So likewise the
chorus of old men in the 'Lysistrate' of Aristophanes appeal to her for
assistance when about to attack the women in the Acropolis, of which
she seemed from her position to guard the very entrance.
The temple of Victory was extant in the time of Wheler, who
describes it as built of white marble, and gives its dimensions as fifteen
feet in length and eight or nine in breadth;1 which are pretty nearly
accurate, but rather too small. It had disappeared in the time of
Stuart, who took the Pinacotheca for it, and he wrongly accuses Spon
and Wheler of error, asserting that the temple which they took for that
of Nike Apteros was in fact the temple of Aglaurus.2 Professor Eoss is
of opinion that it must have been pulled down by the Turks after the
date of Wheler's visit in order to strengthen their fortifications, which
is probable enough. But his conjecture that their upper battery must
have been in existence in Wheler's time, because he does not mention
the pedestal of Agrippa, seems hardly correct, for the pedestal was
certainly visible in the time of Stuart, who mentions it and its inscrip-
tion.3 The late Lord Broughton says of the temple, " The last memo-
rial of its existence was carried away by Lord Elgin." * This was part
of the frieze, which had been built into a wall, and is now in the British
Museum. All the other fragments of the temple were discovered by Pro-
fessor Boss and his coadjutors in the excavations of 1835; they had been
1 Journey, p. 358. Leake (vol. i. p. 320, frieze,
note 2) accuses Wheler of error in these z See his plan of the Acropolis in vol. ii.
dimensions. But it is evident that he was Also ch. v. p. 39 sq., and the plan of the
not alluding to the stylobate but to the Propytea, pi. ii.
cella; which is really only one foot longer s Ibid. p. 38 sq. See Eoss, Tempel dcr
than the measure given by Wheler. The Kike Apteros, S. 2.
latter however was wrong in calling the * Hobhouse's Journey through Albania,
architecture Doric, and in assigning the &c, vol. i. p. 337.
sculptures to the architrave instead of the