DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0470
GROTTO OF APOLLO AND PAN. 447
These niches are not confined to the grotto, but extend over the
whole northern cliffs of the Acropolis. Botticher counted eighty of
them, without including those in the grotto; while he could discover
none on the other three sides of the Acropolis.1 He attributes the
superior veneration in which these northern cliffs appear to have been
held to the Pelasgicum; but hardly, perhaps, with adequate reason;
though that place was no doubt regarded with a peculiar veneration.
And as its site and purpose have been the subjects of much controversy,
we will here say a few words about it.
When Pausanias is on the point of leaving the Acropolis, he remarks
(c. 28, 3) that the Pelasgi, who at one time dwelt under the Acropolis,
were said to have built the whole wall round about it except the part
erected by Cimon, the son of Miltiades; and the builders of it were
reported to be Agrolas and Hyperbios. But when Pausanias inquired
about them, he could learn nothing more than that they were of Sicilian
origin ; whence they migrated to Acarnania.
We have here, then, only a very vague report, and moreover one
evidently false; for the northern wall, in which are found columns and
other architectural members, as well as stones with inscriptions upon
them, was evidently not the work of the Pelasgi, and is with much
better reason attributed to Themistocles. Yet that there were remains
of some Pelasgic structure at the western end of the Acropolis, near the
Propylsea, cannot admit of a reasonable doubt; and it was the sight of
them, apparently, that suggested to Pausanias as he went forth from
the Propylaea, the inquiries respecting the Pelasgi and their doings. We
have seen before (supra, pp. 71 and 436), that Cylon, or some of his con-
federates, was stoned to death outside the Enneapylum, or Nine Gates,
at a place called the Cyloneium, which lay between the entrance to the
Acropolis and the Areiopagus. At that time, therefore, which was
before the Persian wars, the Pelasgic fortification appears to have been
perfect; and at this side, which, from the nature of the rock, must
always have been the sole entrance, there were nine gateways; but how
they were arranged, whether they were single ones or treble, there is
1 Boricht, p. 21!t.
These niches are not confined to the grotto, but extend over the
whole northern cliffs of the Acropolis. Botticher counted eighty of
them, without including those in the grotto; while he could discover
none on the other three sides of the Acropolis.1 He attributes the
superior veneration in which these northern cliffs appear to have been
held to the Pelasgicum; but hardly, perhaps, with adequate reason;
though that place was no doubt regarded with a peculiar veneration.
And as its site and purpose have been the subjects of much controversy,
we will here say a few words about it.
When Pausanias is on the point of leaving the Acropolis, he remarks
(c. 28, 3) that the Pelasgi, who at one time dwelt under the Acropolis,
were said to have built the whole wall round about it except the part
erected by Cimon, the son of Miltiades; and the builders of it were
reported to be Agrolas and Hyperbios. But when Pausanias inquired
about them, he could learn nothing more than that they were of Sicilian
origin ; whence they migrated to Acarnania.
We have here, then, only a very vague report, and moreover one
evidently false; for the northern wall, in which are found columns and
other architectural members, as well as stones with inscriptions upon
them, was evidently not the work of the Pelasgi, and is with much
better reason attributed to Themistocles. Yet that there were remains
of some Pelasgic structure at the western end of the Acropolis, near the
Propylsea, cannot admit of a reasonable doubt; and it was the sight of
them, apparently, that suggested to Pausanias as he went forth from
the Propylaea, the inquiries respecting the Pelasgi and their doings. We
have seen before (supra, pp. 71 and 436), that Cylon, or some of his con-
federates, was stoned to death outside the Enneapylum, or Nine Gates,
at a place called the Cyloneium, which lay between the entrance to the
Acropolis and the Areiopagus. At that time, therefore, which was
before the Persian wars, the Pelasgic fortification appears to have been
perfect; and at this side, which, from the nature of the rock, must
always have been the sole entrance, there were nine gateways; but how
they were arranged, whether they were single ones or treble, there is
1 Boricht, p. 21!t.