DOI chapter:
Division A: The Agora and adjacent buildings lying to the west and north of the Acropolis, from the city gate to the Prytaneion
DOI chapter:Section III
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0215
SEC. ΙΠ
OF ANCIENT ATHENS
43
premise that the road to the Pnyx lay west, and this, so far as
literary evidence goes, apart from general probability, rests on the
Lucian passage.
It may, however, be noted that, had the whole agora not been
placed by commentators too far east, the error of supposing that the
road to the Pnyx lay between the Areopagus and Acropolis could
never have arisen. The agora was placed a good deal east of
the “ Theseion ” hill entirely with the hope of bounding it by exist-
ing remains—z'z., of the Stoa of Attalos and the giant figures-
which, as they are too late to be of any service, should never have
come into the argument.
C. It will be seen in the course of this narrative that the order
in which Pausanias mentions the building and monuments of the
agora is, if we adopt this new view, a perfectly simple and natural
one, whereas, according to the former view, he makes needless
digressions. This will be best seen in following his route in
detail.
To return to the Metroon, which may safely be placed on the
west side of the Areopagus. Pausanias gives no hint as to how
near the Metroon stood to the last-mentioned temple (of Apollo
Patroos), but as he passes straight on from the one to the other we
may conclude they were not far asunder.
We have no evidence that the Metroon was ever a temple.
Pausanias mentions it as a sanctuary, Pliny76 as a shrine (delti-
bruiri) ; that there was a sacred precinct we are sure, and, as has
been already seen, an open-air altar. Pheidias, or his con-
temporary Agorakritos, made a statue for the Metroon, but there is
nothing to prevent our supposing that it was an open-air statue
like the bronze Athene of the Acropolis.
We have abundant evidence that in the latter part of the fourth
century B.c. the State archives of the city were kept under the
guardianship and within the precinct of the Great Mother. Much
astonishment has been felt that an Asiatic goddess like Rhea
Cybele, whose name is associated with all manner of Oriental
license, should have thus early had a temple within the precincts
of the agora ; still more surprising did it seem that she should
have within her temenos the council chamber of the State, and,
as will be seen, hold the custody of important public documents.
The difficulty arises really out of a confusion of thought. In later
days the priests did introduce the worship of Cybele, with all its
attendant license ; but the worship of an earth-goddess, mother of
OF ANCIENT ATHENS
43
premise that the road to the Pnyx lay west, and this, so far as
literary evidence goes, apart from general probability, rests on the
Lucian passage.
It may, however, be noted that, had the whole agora not been
placed by commentators too far east, the error of supposing that the
road to the Pnyx lay between the Areopagus and Acropolis could
never have arisen. The agora was placed a good deal east of
the “ Theseion ” hill entirely with the hope of bounding it by exist-
ing remains—z'z., of the Stoa of Attalos and the giant figures-
which, as they are too late to be of any service, should never have
come into the argument.
C. It will be seen in the course of this narrative that the order
in which Pausanias mentions the building and monuments of the
agora is, if we adopt this new view, a perfectly simple and natural
one, whereas, according to the former view, he makes needless
digressions. This will be best seen in following his route in
detail.
To return to the Metroon, which may safely be placed on the
west side of the Areopagus. Pausanias gives no hint as to how
near the Metroon stood to the last-mentioned temple (of Apollo
Patroos), but as he passes straight on from the one to the other we
may conclude they were not far asunder.
We have no evidence that the Metroon was ever a temple.
Pausanias mentions it as a sanctuary, Pliny76 as a shrine (delti-
bruiri) ; that there was a sacred precinct we are sure, and, as has
been already seen, an open-air altar. Pheidias, or his con-
temporary Agorakritos, made a statue for the Metroon, but there is
nothing to prevent our supposing that it was an open-air statue
like the bronze Athene of the Acropolis.
We have abundant evidence that in the latter part of the fourth
century B.c. the State archives of the city were kept under the
guardianship and within the precinct of the Great Mother. Much
astonishment has been felt that an Asiatic goddess like Rhea
Cybele, whose name is associated with all manner of Oriental
license, should have thus early had a temple within the precincts
of the agora ; still more surprising did it seem that she should
have within her temenos the council chamber of the State, and,
as will be seen, hold the custody of important public documents.
The difficulty arises really out of a confusion of thought. In later
days the priests did introduce the worship of Cybele, with all its
attendant license ; but the worship of an earth-goddess, mother of