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 VII
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0314
142 MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT ATHENS div. a
decide if he shall be received as guest or slain as foe. Once
within, he has no need to cling to any altar. Such an altar there
was, at first some rude stone in front of the old Pelasgian gate, sacred
whether to the gods in general, or to the god of the stranger or the
guardian of the gates, we cannot decide ; then in the more organ-
ised days of Peisistratos formally consecrated to the Twelve Gods.
When the boundaries of the city were extended, and the Dipylon
took the place of the old Enneapylai, still the spot would remain
sacred, and later days would know it as the altar of Mercy. Not
less natural is this position before the gates, for the altar that was
used as a milestone, the altar to Pheme (Rumour), is mentioned
by PEschines in his oration against Timarchus,292 and in the De
Falsa Legations he says that the Athenians sacrifice there as to
a god.
decide if he shall be received as guest or slain as foe. Once
within, he has no need to cling to any altar. Such an altar there
was, at first some rude stone in front of the old Pelasgian gate, sacred
whether to the gods in general, or to the god of the stranger or the
guardian of the gates, we cannot decide ; then in the more organ-
ised days of Peisistratos formally consecrated to the Twelve Gods.
When the boundaries of the city were extended, and the Dipylon
took the place of the old Enneapylai, still the spot would remain
sacred, and later days would know it as the altar of Mercy. Not
less natural is this position before the gates, for the altar that was
used as a milestone, the altar to Pheme (Rumour), is mentioned
by PEschines in his oration against Timarchus,292 and in the De
Falsa Legations he says that the Athenians sacrifice there as to
a god.