DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0048
26
of the civil government of athens,
day's journey in compass (1). But, according to the most exact compu-
tation, the whole circuit ot it contained about 178 stadia, that is, some-
thing above two and twenty Roman miles.
But many were the changes of government and fortune which it under-
went before it arrived to this pitch of greatness ; for at the first, that
which was afterwards the citadel was the whole city, and was called
Cecropia, from its first founder Cecrops, who, they say, was the first
that invented the manner of building cities ; and therefore the Atheni-
ans, proud of every little pretence to antiquity, used to call it by way of
eminence and rfajje, as being the first city (2). Afterwards it chang-
ed its name of Cecropia, and was called Athens in Erichthonius's reign ;
for which several reasons are given ; but the most common is, that the
name is taken from Minerva, whom the Greeks call Adsjuj, because she
was the protectress of the city : indeed almost all towers and citadels
were sacred to this goddess, who is therefore by Catullus called,
-Diva tenens in summis urbibus areas,
-Goddess that in citadels doth dwell.
And Eustathius hath remarked the same upon Homer's 6th Iliad, where
he tells us, Minerva's temple was in the Trojan citadel :
Nhov A6i)V4i«< y'huvx.iiTrii'ot Iv 7taKuaLng^ (3)
Minerva's temple in the citadel.
Cecropia was seated in the midst of a large and pleasant plain, upon the
top of a high rock ; for, as the fore-mentioned author observes, it was
usual for the first founders of cities in those ages to lay the foundations
of them upon steep rocks and high mountains ; and this they did, partly
for that such places were a good defence against invaders, but more es-
pecially because they hoped to be secured by them from inundations (4),
which the people of those times exceedingly dreaded, having heard and
experienced the sad effects of them under Ogyges and Deucalion. Af-
terwards, when the number of inhabitants was increased, the whole
plain was filled with buildings, which were called, from their situation j?
xaru sroXicr, or the lower city ; and Cecropia was then named »J «»w -jroXig,
or 'Ax^oirsXis, the upper city.
The circuit of the citadel was threescore stadia: it was fenced in
with wooden pales, or as some say, was set about with olive trees ; and
therefore, in Xerxes's invasion, when the oracle advised the Athenians to
defend themselves with walls of wood, some were of opinion they were
commanded to enter into the Acropolis, and there receive the enemy ;
which some of them did, but after a desperate resistance, were overpow-
ered by numbers, and forced to suffer the sad effects of their fond inter-
pretation (5).
It was fortified with a strong wall, one part of which was built by Ci-
mon,the son of Miltiades, out of the spoils taken in the Persian war,
and was called Kifi«5viov rsT-^of, being on the south side of the cita-
del (6).
The north wall was built many ages before, by Agrolas, says Pausanias,
or, according to Pliny, by Euryalus and Hyperbius, two brothers, who
first taught the Athenians the art of building houses, whereas, till that
(1) Panathen.
f2) Stephanus, v. A8r>vai.
(3) Pag. 483, edit. Basil
(4) Iliad. 6', p 384.
(5) Syrianus in Herm. Cornel. Nep.
(6) Plutarch, in Cimone.
of the civil government of athens,
day's journey in compass (1). But, according to the most exact compu-
tation, the whole circuit ot it contained about 178 stadia, that is, some-
thing above two and twenty Roman miles.
But many were the changes of government and fortune which it under-
went before it arrived to this pitch of greatness ; for at the first, that
which was afterwards the citadel was the whole city, and was called
Cecropia, from its first founder Cecrops, who, they say, was the first
that invented the manner of building cities ; and therefore the Atheni-
ans, proud of every little pretence to antiquity, used to call it by way of
eminence and rfajje, as being the first city (2). Afterwards it chang-
ed its name of Cecropia, and was called Athens in Erichthonius's reign ;
for which several reasons are given ; but the most common is, that the
name is taken from Minerva, whom the Greeks call Adsjuj, because she
was the protectress of the city : indeed almost all towers and citadels
were sacred to this goddess, who is therefore by Catullus called,
-Diva tenens in summis urbibus areas,
-Goddess that in citadels doth dwell.
And Eustathius hath remarked the same upon Homer's 6th Iliad, where
he tells us, Minerva's temple was in the Trojan citadel :
Nhov A6i)V4i«< y'huvx.iiTrii'ot Iv 7taKuaLng^ (3)
Minerva's temple in the citadel.
Cecropia was seated in the midst of a large and pleasant plain, upon the
top of a high rock ; for, as the fore-mentioned author observes, it was
usual for the first founders of cities in those ages to lay the foundations
of them upon steep rocks and high mountains ; and this they did, partly
for that such places were a good defence against invaders, but more es-
pecially because they hoped to be secured by them from inundations (4),
which the people of those times exceedingly dreaded, having heard and
experienced the sad effects of them under Ogyges and Deucalion. Af-
terwards, when the number of inhabitants was increased, the whole
plain was filled with buildings, which were called, from their situation j?
xaru sroXicr, or the lower city ; and Cecropia was then named »J «»w -jroXig,
or 'Ax^oirsXis, the upper city.
The circuit of the citadel was threescore stadia: it was fenced in
with wooden pales, or as some say, was set about with olive trees ; and
therefore, in Xerxes's invasion, when the oracle advised the Athenians to
defend themselves with walls of wood, some were of opinion they were
commanded to enter into the Acropolis, and there receive the enemy ;
which some of them did, but after a desperate resistance, were overpow-
ered by numbers, and forced to suffer the sad effects of their fond inter-
pretation (5).
It was fortified with a strong wall, one part of which was built by Ci-
mon,the son of Miltiades, out of the spoils taken in the Persian war,
and was called Kifi«5viov rsT-^of, being on the south side of the cita-
del (6).
The north wall was built many ages before, by Agrolas, says Pausanias,
or, according to Pliny, by Euryalus and Hyperbius, two brothers, who
first taught the Athenians the art of building houses, whereas, till that
(1) Panathen.
f2) Stephanus, v. A8r>vai.
(3) Pag. 483, edit. Basil
(4) Iliad. 6', p 384.
(5) Syrianus in Herm. Cornel. Nep.
(6) Plutarch, in Cimone.