DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0265
Chap, viii.] The Excavation of the Athenian Acropolis. 243
the Athenian architects. They built their solid walls on
the line where the abrupt rise of the rock ceased, and as
the walls rose they filled the space between them and
the highest ridge with layer above layer of earth and
•stones until they produced a surface, not indeed mathe-
matically level, but level enough to serve as a foundation
for the noble temples and beautiful monuments with
which the piety of the Athenians designed to reward
the gods who had rolled back the tide of Persian in-
vasion, and made Athens free and glorious.
It is these spaces behind the walls which have been
thoroughly searched in the last five years. And as they
were filled to a great degree with the ruined walls and
inscriptions and statues left scattered on the site when
the Persians departed, it may easily be understood that
a rich harvest has been reaped of works of historical and
artistic interest belonging to the age of Peisistratus
and the time which followed down to b.c. 480. In the
neighbourhood of the Erechtheum ancient sculptures
'ay crowded together; at one spot fourteen statues were
found, representing in various styles of art a goddess or
her votaries.
Seldom has a more admirable opportunity been offered
to archaeologists than this. An endless series of statues,
of fragments of pediments, of bases, of inscriptions, of
shards of vases, is laid before them, and they may be
quite sure that all belong to a period of which the limit
in time is sharply defined. A hundred questions as to
the meaning, the school, the historical bearing of each
monument are suggested, and beyond these questions
lies the grand problem of recovering the whole artistic
and mythologic surroundings of the sixth century at
Athens. And the very men most fitted to use the
opportunity are on the spot. Besides the members of
the Greek Archaeological Society there are now con-
r 2
the Athenian architects. They built their solid walls on
the line where the abrupt rise of the rock ceased, and as
the walls rose they filled the space between them and
the highest ridge with layer above layer of earth and
•stones until they produced a surface, not indeed mathe-
matically level, but level enough to serve as a foundation
for the noble temples and beautiful monuments with
which the piety of the Athenians designed to reward
the gods who had rolled back the tide of Persian in-
vasion, and made Athens free and glorious.
It is these spaces behind the walls which have been
thoroughly searched in the last five years. And as they
were filled to a great degree with the ruined walls and
inscriptions and statues left scattered on the site when
the Persians departed, it may easily be understood that
a rich harvest has been reaped of works of historical and
artistic interest belonging to the age of Peisistratus
and the time which followed down to b.c. 480. In the
neighbourhood of the Erechtheum ancient sculptures
'ay crowded together; at one spot fourteen statues were
found, representing in various styles of art a goddess or
her votaries.
Seldom has a more admirable opportunity been offered
to archaeologists than this. An endless series of statues,
of fragments of pediments, of bases, of inscriptions, of
shards of vases, is laid before them, and they may be
quite sure that all belong to a period of which the limit
in time is sharply defined. A hundred questions as to
the meaning, the school, the historical bearing of each
monument are suggested, and beyond these questions
lies the grand problem of recovering the whole artistic
and mythologic surroundings of the sixth century at
Athens. And the very men most fitted to use the
opportunity are on the spot. Besides the members of
the Greek Archaeological Society there are now con-
r 2