DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.803#0041
TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 35
as having given a long enduring name to a sect of
antient philosophers, was about a mile from the Di-
pylum, and in rather a low and unhealthy situation.
It still retains the name of Akadhimia. In antient
days it was surrounded by an enclosure; and its shady
groves of the olive and majestic platanus afforded a
cool retreat from the heats of summer. A few rivu-
lets from Mount Anchesmus terminate here in the
lowest part of the plain, and are drawn off for
irrigation.
We have endeavoured to give such a general view
| of the existing monuments of Athens (except those on
;the Acropolis), and of those sites which are identified
:With tolerable certainty, as will enable the reader to
form a more correct idea of the topography of this
;city, and understand any subsequent allusion to it. A
| more minute knowledge may be obtained from Colonel
I Leake's work, which we recommend to young classical
I students, if they wish to understand what they are
^reading about Such a work as this, carefully read in
ieonnection with the original passages referred to, and
jtogether with the whole of Pausanias' description of
|Attica, will render those studies more attractive,
jwhich are now often only disagreeable.^
I • It will be necessary to make a few remarks on the
pty walls and the ports of Athens, in order to com-
jplete this sketch. The ports of Athens were three:
| ne Pirsus, the largest and most westerly, which itself
jvras subdivided into three havens; the Munychia; and
wa'erum- The names of the three harbours of
ff irsus were Zea, Aphrodisium, and Cantharus, but
P is impossible to identify them with certainty:
jpphrodisium was probably the middle and largest
I f them. The Piraeus was first enclosed by a wail in
|he archonship of Themistocles, but was not secured
gompletely against attack till the second year of the
Feleponnesian war, b.c. 430. Its Italian name of
F°rto Leone is derived from a colossal white lion,
as having given a long enduring name to a sect of
antient philosophers, was about a mile from the Di-
pylum, and in rather a low and unhealthy situation.
It still retains the name of Akadhimia. In antient
days it was surrounded by an enclosure; and its shady
groves of the olive and majestic platanus afforded a
cool retreat from the heats of summer. A few rivu-
lets from Mount Anchesmus terminate here in the
lowest part of the plain, and are drawn off for
irrigation.
We have endeavoured to give such a general view
| of the existing monuments of Athens (except those on
;the Acropolis), and of those sites which are identified
:With tolerable certainty, as will enable the reader to
form a more correct idea of the topography of this
;city, and understand any subsequent allusion to it. A
| more minute knowledge may be obtained from Colonel
I Leake's work, which we recommend to young classical
I students, if they wish to understand what they are
^reading about Such a work as this, carefully read in
ieonnection with the original passages referred to, and
jtogether with the whole of Pausanias' description of
|Attica, will render those studies more attractive,
jwhich are now often only disagreeable.^
I • It will be necessary to make a few remarks on the
pty walls and the ports of Athens, in order to com-
jplete this sketch. The ports of Athens were three:
| ne Pirsus, the largest and most westerly, which itself
jvras subdivided into three havens; the Munychia; and
wa'erum- The names of the three harbours of
ff irsus were Zea, Aphrodisium, and Cantharus, but
P is impossible to identify them with certainty:
jpphrodisium was probably the middle and largest
I f them. The Piraeus was first enclosed by a wail in
|he archonship of Themistocles, but was not secured
gompletely against attack till the second year of the
Feleponnesian war, b.c. 430. Its Italian name of
F°rto Leone is derived from a colossal white lion,