DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0410
388 ANCIENT ATHENS.
judgment was pronounced was called Ato? yjrfj<fio<;;* and it can hardly be
doubted that it was here. Bergk has indeed arbitrarily transferred it to
the Pnyx Hill;2 in which view he has been followed by Curtius, because
it favours his notion about the Pnyx; although he allows that there
is no authority for it.3 We, however, who have no pet theories
to support, prefer the spot for which there is some authority; and
entirely agree with Otto Jahn, that the myth of Athena and Poseidon
is inseparably connected with the Acropolis.4 And from the legend, as
given by Hesychius, we perceive the reason why Zeus Polieus, or, what
is the same, Zeus Hypatos, had an altar before the Erechtheium, as we
shall see further on; namely, on account of the promised sacrifice, and
as a pledge and symbol that both deities, Zeus Polieus and Athena
Polias, were guardians of the city. An Athenian coin figured by
Stuart, at the head of ch. ii. vol. ii., has been supposed to represent the
group in question. A fragment in the British Museum, of the stem of
an olive tree between two feet (Elgin Marbles, ii. pp. 27 and 31), has
by some been thought to belong to the group mentioned by Pausanias.
It could hardly have belonged to the eastern pediment of the Parthenon,
as Mr. Cockerell thought; but, as we shall see presently, it probably
formed part of the western pediment. Sir H. Ellis asserted that the
marble of the fragment was not Pentelic; but Michaelis recently affirms
that it is. (In N. Mem. dell' Inst. 1865, p. 16, note.)
I will describe, continues Pausanias, the accustomed sacrifice to
Zeus Polieus, but cannot tell the cause of it. Barley, mixed with wheat,
is put upon his altar, and left unguarded. The ox prepared for
sacrifice approaches the altar and eats. Then the priest called bou-
phonos (fiotKpovos) throws his hatchet that way, and runs off, for so it
is ordained ; and the assistants, as if they knew not the man who did it,
Cecrops; in which the females predomi- ich glaube, mit vollem Recht."—Att.
nated, and thus Athena carried the day.— Studien, i. 45.
Schol. ad Aristid. t. iii. p. 60, Dind. 4 " In ogni caso il mito di Minerva e di
1 6 yap Tonos in a> iKpi&qaav, Atos i^?j<po9 Nettuno parmi che sia dal principio e
Koht'iTai.—Suid. in Ai6s ^i)<po?. necessanainente congiunto coll' acropoli."
■ Philologus, v. p. 579. —N. Mem. dell' Institute, 1865, p. 14,
S M
Ohne weitere Begriindung, aher, wie note 3.
judgment was pronounced was called Ato? yjrfj<fio<;;* and it can hardly be
doubted that it was here. Bergk has indeed arbitrarily transferred it to
the Pnyx Hill;2 in which view he has been followed by Curtius, because
it favours his notion about the Pnyx; although he allows that there
is no authority for it.3 We, however, who have no pet theories
to support, prefer the spot for which there is some authority; and
entirely agree with Otto Jahn, that the myth of Athena and Poseidon
is inseparably connected with the Acropolis.4 And from the legend, as
given by Hesychius, we perceive the reason why Zeus Polieus, or, what
is the same, Zeus Hypatos, had an altar before the Erechtheium, as we
shall see further on; namely, on account of the promised sacrifice, and
as a pledge and symbol that both deities, Zeus Polieus and Athena
Polias, were guardians of the city. An Athenian coin figured by
Stuart, at the head of ch. ii. vol. ii., has been supposed to represent the
group in question. A fragment in the British Museum, of the stem of
an olive tree between two feet (Elgin Marbles, ii. pp. 27 and 31), has
by some been thought to belong to the group mentioned by Pausanias.
It could hardly have belonged to the eastern pediment of the Parthenon,
as Mr. Cockerell thought; but, as we shall see presently, it probably
formed part of the western pediment. Sir H. Ellis asserted that the
marble of the fragment was not Pentelic; but Michaelis recently affirms
that it is. (In N. Mem. dell' Inst. 1865, p. 16, note.)
I will describe, continues Pausanias, the accustomed sacrifice to
Zeus Polieus, but cannot tell the cause of it. Barley, mixed with wheat,
is put upon his altar, and left unguarded. The ox prepared for
sacrifice approaches the altar and eats. Then the priest called bou-
phonos (fiotKpovos) throws his hatchet that way, and runs off, for so it
is ordained ; and the assistants, as if they knew not the man who did it,
Cecrops; in which the females predomi- ich glaube, mit vollem Recht."—Att.
nated, and thus Athena carried the day.— Studien, i. 45.
Schol. ad Aristid. t. iii. p. 60, Dind. 4 " In ogni caso il mito di Minerva e di
1 6 yap Tonos in a> iKpi&qaav, Atos i^?j<po9 Nettuno parmi che sia dal principio e
Koht'iTai.—Suid. in Ai6s ^i)<po?. necessanainente congiunto coll' acropoli."
■ Philologus, v. p. 579. —N. Mem. dell' Institute, 1865, p. 14,
S M
Ohne weitere Begriindung, aher, wie note 3.