DOI Kapitel:
Division A: The Agora and adjacent buildings lying to the west and north of the Acropolis, from the city gate to the Prytaneion
DOI Kapitel:Section I
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0178
6
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
DIV. A
of the sojourn of Dionysos in Attica in the time of Ikarios.
i. a, 6. The way in which Amphictyon came to reign is as follows.
It is said that the first king to reign in what is now called
Attica was Actaeus ; on the death of Actaeus, Cecrops suc-
ceeded to the kingdom, having married a daughter of Actaeus.
Cecrops had three daughters, called Herse, Agraulos, and
Pandrosos, and a son named Erysichthon. This son was
never king of the Athenians, but as he died in his father’s
lifetime the rule of Cecrops passed to Cranaos, the most
powerful of the Athenians. One of the daughters of Cranaos
was called Atthis, and from her the land of Attica took its
name. It had formerly been called Actaea. Amphictyon
rose against Cranaos, although he had married his daughter,
and . drove him from power. But later he was himself ex-
pelled by Erichthonios and those who joined in his rebellion.
Erichthonios had, so the tale goes, no mortal father, but was
the son of Hephaistos and Ge.
Commentary on i. 2, §§ 4, 5, 6.
This account of his entrance into the city is one of the most
unsatisfactory portions of the narrative of Pausanias. It is, to
say the least, disappointing, that he does not tell us at the outset
by which gate he enters. The choice lies between the Peiraeus
Gate and the Dipylon ; the balance of probability seems to be in
favour of the Dipylon. It is true Pausanias is coming up from
the Peiraeus, but it does not at all follow that he entered by the
Peiraeic Gate. He was not hurrying home by the shortest possible
route, but starting on a series of leisurely walks, and he was, as
will constantly be seen, an orderly sightseer. Even for the casual
Athenian it seems to have been quite usual to return from the
Peiraeus through the Dipylon : the friends in Lucian’s dialogue,
The Ship or the Wishes, took this way.1 Pausanias, whose
object was to see systematically the principal sights of the city,
was scarcely likely to enter otherwise than by the principal
entrance, specially when to do so took him but little out of the
direct route.
As the Dipylon is the one Athenian gate of which there are
still substantial remains, it may be well, whether Pausanias entered
by it or not, to note briefly its structure. A view of the remains
still extant is given in fig. 1. The gate, as its name suggests,
is double ; there are in fact two gates, which, with the walls that
connect them, enclose an oblong space.2 Each gate had double
doors hinging on a centre pier. The view in fig. 1 is taken
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
DIV. A
of the sojourn of Dionysos in Attica in the time of Ikarios.
i. a, 6. The way in which Amphictyon came to reign is as follows.
It is said that the first king to reign in what is now called
Attica was Actaeus ; on the death of Actaeus, Cecrops suc-
ceeded to the kingdom, having married a daughter of Actaeus.
Cecrops had three daughters, called Herse, Agraulos, and
Pandrosos, and a son named Erysichthon. This son was
never king of the Athenians, but as he died in his father’s
lifetime the rule of Cecrops passed to Cranaos, the most
powerful of the Athenians. One of the daughters of Cranaos
was called Atthis, and from her the land of Attica took its
name. It had formerly been called Actaea. Amphictyon
rose against Cranaos, although he had married his daughter,
and . drove him from power. But later he was himself ex-
pelled by Erichthonios and those who joined in his rebellion.
Erichthonios had, so the tale goes, no mortal father, but was
the son of Hephaistos and Ge.
Commentary on i. 2, §§ 4, 5, 6.
This account of his entrance into the city is one of the most
unsatisfactory portions of the narrative of Pausanias. It is, to
say the least, disappointing, that he does not tell us at the outset
by which gate he enters. The choice lies between the Peiraeus
Gate and the Dipylon ; the balance of probability seems to be in
favour of the Dipylon. It is true Pausanias is coming up from
the Peiraeus, but it does not at all follow that he entered by the
Peiraeic Gate. He was not hurrying home by the shortest possible
route, but starting on a series of leisurely walks, and he was, as
will constantly be seen, an orderly sightseer. Even for the casual
Athenian it seems to have been quite usual to return from the
Peiraeus through the Dipylon : the friends in Lucian’s dialogue,
The Ship or the Wishes, took this way.1 Pausanias, whose
object was to see systematically the principal sights of the city,
was scarcely likely to enter otherwise than by the principal
entrance, specially when to do so took him but little out of the
direct route.
As the Dipylon is the one Athenian gate of which there are
still substantial remains, it may be well, whether Pausanias entered
by it or not, to note briefly its structure. A view of the remains
still extant is given in fig. 1. The gate, as its name suggests,
is double ; there are in fact two gates, which, with the walls that
connect them, enclose an oblong space.2 Each gate had double
doors hinging on a centre pier. The view in fig. 1 is taken