DOI chapter:
Division C: The road immediately east and south of the Acropolis, from the street of Tripods to the shrine of Demeter Chloe
DOI chapter:Section XIII
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0502
33°
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
DIV. C
to Aphrodite and Themis ; and there can be little doubt that
all the cults came over together with the Troezenian legend of
Theseus. The objection to placing these various monuments on
the second Asklepieion terrace is simply this—that this terrace
has been thoroughly explored, and no buildings that could answer
to these sanctuaries have been found. The small diagonally
placed building of which foundations were found, and which
was supposed to be the temple of Themis, is now known to be
not Greek work. The only buildings to be made out on the
second terrace are, as has been seen, a succession of small
chambers, which may be priests’ dwellings, but which cannot be
temples.
Dismissing the terrace, it has been proposed to place the two
groups of monuments on the space intervening between the Askle-
pieion and the Odeion of Herodes. Here, again, we are met by
a double difficulty. In the first place, this space has also been
explored, and no traces of foundations of ancient buildings of any
sort (excepting fortification walls) have been found. Moreover,
this total absence of buildings, joined to other considerations,
points to the fact that this tract of ground was occupied by the
Pelasgikon, on which, as is well known, it was not lawful to build.
Wherever we place the monuments, they must be somewhere out-
side this inviolable precinct.
The south-west side of the Acropolis is just now (1889) in
process of excavation ; the Turkish fortifications are being
pulled down, and when the ground is fairly cleared it may be
hoped that some evidence of the sites in question may be dis-
covered. So far (September 1889), in the pulling down of the
Turkish wall between the Nike bastion and the southern tower
of Beule’s Gate, certain inscriptions have come to light dealing
with the worship of Aphrodite Pandemos which certainly make
it probable, unless the inscriptions have been dragged very far,
that the temple stood, not, as previously supposed, within or
close to the Asklepieion precinct, but to the south-west corner of
the Acropolis, as marked on the plan. The wall just pulled
down is visible in fig. 48, a view of the west end of the Acropolis,
which Pausanias is now approaching.
A passage from Apollodorus, quoted by Harpocration,92 has
caused much needless trouble. It is as follows. Harpocration
says, in discussing the term “Aphrodite Pandemos”—“Apollo-
dorus, in his book about the gods, says that the title of Pandemos
was given to the goddess in her shrine near the old agora (ττβρι
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
DIV. C
to Aphrodite and Themis ; and there can be little doubt that
all the cults came over together with the Troezenian legend of
Theseus. The objection to placing these various monuments on
the second Asklepieion terrace is simply this—that this terrace
has been thoroughly explored, and no buildings that could answer
to these sanctuaries have been found. The small diagonally
placed building of which foundations were found, and which
was supposed to be the temple of Themis, is now known to be
not Greek work. The only buildings to be made out on the
second terrace are, as has been seen, a succession of small
chambers, which may be priests’ dwellings, but which cannot be
temples.
Dismissing the terrace, it has been proposed to place the two
groups of monuments on the space intervening between the Askle-
pieion and the Odeion of Herodes. Here, again, we are met by
a double difficulty. In the first place, this space has also been
explored, and no traces of foundations of ancient buildings of any
sort (excepting fortification walls) have been found. Moreover,
this total absence of buildings, joined to other considerations,
points to the fact that this tract of ground was occupied by the
Pelasgikon, on which, as is well known, it was not lawful to build.
Wherever we place the monuments, they must be somewhere out-
side this inviolable precinct.
The south-west side of the Acropolis is just now (1889) in
process of excavation ; the Turkish fortifications are being
pulled down, and when the ground is fairly cleared it may be
hoped that some evidence of the sites in question may be dis-
covered. So far (September 1889), in the pulling down of the
Turkish wall between the Nike bastion and the southern tower
of Beule’s Gate, certain inscriptions have come to light dealing
with the worship of Aphrodite Pandemos which certainly make
it probable, unless the inscriptions have been dragged very far,
that the temple stood, not, as previously supposed, within or
close to the Asklepieion precinct, but to the south-west corner of
the Acropolis, as marked on the plan. The wall just pulled
down is visible in fig. 48, a view of the west end of the Acropolis,
which Pausanias is now approaching.
A passage from Apollodorus, quoted by Harpocration,92 has
caused much needless trouble. It is as follows. Harpocration
says, in discussing the term “Aphrodite Pandemos”—“Apollo-
dorus, in his book about the gods, says that the title of Pandemos
was given to the goddess in her shrine near the old agora (ττβρι