DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4264#0016
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!6 EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF THE ACROPOLIS.
seized on the Acropolis"; near that temple likewise stood the Prytaneum", from whence0 there was a
of the scene of the Dance of the Nymphs of Aglauros, below
the citadel, and at a grotto in the vicinity of the hieron of
Pan.
At the hieron of Aglauros the Persians are recorded to have
scaled the Acropolis, ' k^to tcvto l7ruvu@a.vTeq MvSoi,' where, from
the supposed inaccessible steepness, the Greeks had neglected
the defences. Xerxes having occupied their attention in the di-
rection of the Areopagus, succeeded in capturing the Cecropian
citadel by an attack from behind, according to the account of
Herodotus already quoted.
From that passage stating the Persian escalade to have taken
place in front of the Acropolis and behind the gates, recent to-
pographers have supposed the site of the Aglaurium, and thence
that of the Prytaneum, to have been beneath the narrow eastern
end of the rock, thereby removing it from the places of conti-
guity already mentioned, and assuming, in which we cannot
coincide, that the narrow and inhospitable eastern end of the
Acropolis was, termed the front; for that part must have been
the front of the Acropolis, if spoken of in disregard to the gates
and the Parthenon (as seems here to have been the case),
which presented itself to the most populous and extensive por-
tion of the city, and that was on the northern side. It has also
been supposed on the authority of Ulpian, with less probability,
that Zirio-Os Tut iruXstut means at the back of the gates, or behind in
their vicinity; but it is not probable that the garrison on the
alert at the gates was likely to be subject to a surprise in their
immediate proximity. Now there is no position for this sanc-
tuary better coinciding with the above data than that assigned
to it by Col. Leake, at a cavern near the center of the rock at
the north side of the Acropolis marked v. in this plan: for this
spot is at one of the most precipitous places of the Athenian
fortress, it is in the vicinity of the Cave of Pan and the place
called Makrai, and it corresponds (which we may sujrpose
to have influenced the choice of the site) with the Cecropium
and the shrine of Pandrosus above, the happier daughter of
Cecrops. The cave above referred to, like that of Pan, is also
indented with recesses for votive tablets. Among the Strata-
gems of Polysenus, quoted by the last named author, it is re-
corded that Pisistratus having assembled the people in the Ana-
ceum or Temple of the Dioscuri, he caused the arms deposited
by them while listening to his harangue to be seized and re-
moved to the Aglaurium, which in the situation here ascribed
to it, was defensible from the citadel above it, of which he was
then in possession, particularly as it appears probable from steps
cut in the rock, that a postern gate was formerly existing near
tin's point.
The celebrated antiquarian, Visconti, in concurrence with our
author, supposed the little Ionic Temple near the Propyla:um, de-
scribed by Wheler and Spon as the Temple of Victory Apteros,
to have been the Temple of Aglauros; but neither does Pausanias
nor any other author apply that term to the sanctuary (k^h, tj^e-
mi) of that heroine. The Roman Antiquarian, proceeding in the
unqualified adoption of an error of Ulpian observes," cctte heroine
deifiee avoit donne sa vie pour sauver sa patrie; et e'etoit dans son
temple que les jeunes Atheniens juroicnt de defendre leur terre na-
tale, et de mourir pour elle"; he therefore considers that the de-
coration by the four bas-reliefs representing national combats,
which formerly belonged to the temple described above, and
which are now in the British Museum, would be highly appro-
priate, " d'une extreme conveuance", to a temple dedicated to
such a heroine, and devoted to so patriotic and belligerous a solem-
nity. Stuart admits " the confusion and contradictions we find in
the different relations of this very ancient legendary tale concerning
Aglauros." He had possibly noticed what we reluctantly consider
a complete confutation of the unsupported passage of Ulpian; for
a single well attested trait, even of misguided patriotic self devo-
tion, is more grateful to the reflecting mind than a whole meta-
morphoseon of mythologic perdition. The learned and laborious
Meursius fully points out that the Roman Prefect had confounded,
in the passage alluded to, the daughter of Cecrops with those of
Erechtheus, who reigned more than a century subsequent to the
former: but it certainly does appear that the daughters of Erech-
theus, none of whom are by any author named Aglauros, were, by
the concurrent acceptation of antiquity, reported to have died a vo-
luntary death, to accomplish the response of the Delphic oracle.
The names of Agraulos and Aglauros by ancient as well as
modern writers, have been indiscriminately applied to the daugh-
ter of Cecrops, but Agraulos seems to have been that of her
mother only. We adopt the name as found in Pausanias and
Ovid.
In recurring to the term applied by Pausanias to this sacred
place, " Ugot rs/isns", the nature of it may be appreciated by a
passage of the same author relating to Xenophon at Scyllus: it
records his having founded a temenus, a hieron, and a temple,
to Diana of Ephesus; xccntxiaai Si h ShiXAomti, te^eto; re xal
!ego», ycc\ vaiti 'A^TEftioi mKoSajJiaan 'Etpiaia., which may imply
places of progressive degrees of solidity of formation, and sanc-
tity. At the commencement also of the description of Greece
by this author, he states that the objects most worthy of atten-
tion at Pirsus were, the temenus of Minerva and Jupiter with
bronze statues of each divinity. In an inscription found at
Piraeus by Dr. Chandler, and presented by the Dilettanti So-
ciety to the British Museum, it appears that certain temeni and
salt pits were let by the people of Pireeus, with conditions corre-
sponding to our "impeachment of waste", which completely ac-
quaints us with the nature of that kind of sacred enclosure; as
the following extract will shew: tvj h v7.:» xai tij» yr.v y.r, sfesrw
i£ciytiv to^uJ; pio-QeJo-cciiEvow; ur,T£ ey rou Svio-tiov pvrz EK TI2N AA-
AUN TEMENHN. Translated, "but it cannot be permitted to
those renting, to remove either timber or soil from the The-
seum nor from the other sacred enclosures". From thence we
conclude that the Hieron of Aglauros was enclosed by some por-
tion of contiguous sacred ground forming the temenos, which may
have been raised by a platform at the site here specified.
We have perhaps extended our remarks on this locality be-
yond what may be thought necessary; but the site in question
is connected with the topograj>hy of other edifices; and when
this volume shall he in the hands of the enquiring traveller on
the spot, he will observe without regret these united observations,
which may facilitate and lead to the advance of future investiga-
tion. Vide Pau. L. I. C. XVIII. Eurip. ION. Mus. Wors.
p. 19. Col. Leake's Topy. of Athens. Wilkins's Atheniensia.
Herodotus, L. VIII. C. LIII. Hawkins's Topy. of Athens, in
Walpole's Memoirs Vol. 1. Wheler's Travels, p. 358. Visconti,
Memoires sur des Sculptures d'Athenes. Meursii Regnum Atti-
cimi. Paus. L. V. C. VI. Chandler's Inscript. p. 11. Ins. CX.
Chap. V. of this Vol. [ed.] .
a In the preceding note we stated reasons for supposing the
ascent of the Persians to have been at a different part of the
Acropolis, yet it is worthy of remark that from the very point
here specified by Stuart as the supposed place of their escalade,
the modern Greeks on the night of the 24th of November
1821, assailed the citadel. They ascended by the wall at
the western side of the Coilon of the Odeum of Regilla, and
passing the outer gate at m. succeeded in establishing them-
selves, to the end of the blockade, at the' gate contiguous to the
south-west angle of the main wall of the Acropolis beneath the
platform, on which formerly stood the Temple of Victory Ap-
teros. See Waddington's Visit to Greece, 12mo. 1825.
b HaWm Si, Tlevru-vuiv earn, 'Near \jthc Temple of Aglauros]
is the Prytaneum.'—Paus. Att. Chap. XVIII.
c The site already given to the Aglaurium in a former note
(°p. 15.), will indicate a position for the Prytaneum, near to the
street of the Tripods, of which monuments still exist; and more
appropriate than that at the south-west angle of the Acropolis
above proposed. This ancient tribunal having been founded so
early as the time of Erechtheus, must therefore have probably
been erected contiguous to the citadel. Pausanias speaks of
" going from thence to the lower parts of the city," imM«» <o£ot» k
™ ««ra Tn; -Kohiuc, and denotes it as having been in the neighbour-
hood of the Olympeium and the Theatre of Bacchus. The ele-
vated situation of the north-east point of the Acropolis is the
place, therefore, that must be assigned for this structure. This
locality is one of the most commanding situations of the inferior
city. CKr,-!l
JlOtl
Opoi
mmi
;>u
■■.yt of our
►Nib p,
'* Sis
' Hi...,
I
■
J
!6 EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF THE ACROPOLIS.
seized on the Acropolis"; near that temple likewise stood the Prytaneum", from whence0 there was a
of the scene of the Dance of the Nymphs of Aglauros, below
the citadel, and at a grotto in the vicinity of the hieron of
Pan.
At the hieron of Aglauros the Persians are recorded to have
scaled the Acropolis, ' k^to tcvto l7ruvu@a.vTeq MvSoi,' where, from
the supposed inaccessible steepness, the Greeks had neglected
the defences. Xerxes having occupied their attention in the di-
rection of the Areopagus, succeeded in capturing the Cecropian
citadel by an attack from behind, according to the account of
Herodotus already quoted.
From that passage stating the Persian escalade to have taken
place in front of the Acropolis and behind the gates, recent to-
pographers have supposed the site of the Aglaurium, and thence
that of the Prytaneum, to have been beneath the narrow eastern
end of the rock, thereby removing it from the places of conti-
guity already mentioned, and assuming, in which we cannot
coincide, that the narrow and inhospitable eastern end of the
Acropolis was, termed the front; for that part must have been
the front of the Acropolis, if spoken of in disregard to the gates
and the Parthenon (as seems here to have been the case),
which presented itself to the most populous and extensive por-
tion of the city, and that was on the northern side. It has also
been supposed on the authority of Ulpian, with less probability,
that Zirio-Os Tut iruXstut means at the back of the gates, or behind in
their vicinity; but it is not probable that the garrison on the
alert at the gates was likely to be subject to a surprise in their
immediate proximity. Now there is no position for this sanc-
tuary better coinciding with the above data than that assigned
to it by Col. Leake, at a cavern near the center of the rock at
the north side of the Acropolis marked v. in this plan: for this
spot is at one of the most precipitous places of the Athenian
fortress, it is in the vicinity of the Cave of Pan and the place
called Makrai, and it corresponds (which we may sujrpose
to have influenced the choice of the site) with the Cecropium
and the shrine of Pandrosus above, the happier daughter of
Cecrops. The cave above referred to, like that of Pan, is also
indented with recesses for votive tablets. Among the Strata-
gems of Polysenus, quoted by the last named author, it is re-
corded that Pisistratus having assembled the people in the Ana-
ceum or Temple of the Dioscuri, he caused the arms deposited
by them while listening to his harangue to be seized and re-
moved to the Aglaurium, which in the situation here ascribed
to it, was defensible from the citadel above it, of which he was
then in possession, particularly as it appears probable from steps
cut in the rock, that a postern gate was formerly existing near
tin's point.
The celebrated antiquarian, Visconti, in concurrence with our
author, supposed the little Ionic Temple near the Propyla:um, de-
scribed by Wheler and Spon as the Temple of Victory Apteros,
to have been the Temple of Aglauros; but neither does Pausanias
nor any other author apply that term to the sanctuary (k^h, tj^e-
mi) of that heroine. The Roman Antiquarian, proceeding in the
unqualified adoption of an error of Ulpian observes," cctte heroine
deifiee avoit donne sa vie pour sauver sa patrie; et e'etoit dans son
temple que les jeunes Atheniens juroicnt de defendre leur terre na-
tale, et de mourir pour elle"; he therefore considers that the de-
coration by the four bas-reliefs representing national combats,
which formerly belonged to the temple described above, and
which are now in the British Museum, would be highly appro-
priate, " d'une extreme conveuance", to a temple dedicated to
such a heroine, and devoted to so patriotic and belligerous a solem-
nity. Stuart admits " the confusion and contradictions we find in
the different relations of this very ancient legendary tale concerning
Aglauros." He had possibly noticed what we reluctantly consider
a complete confutation of the unsupported passage of Ulpian; for
a single well attested trait, even of misguided patriotic self devo-
tion, is more grateful to the reflecting mind than a whole meta-
morphoseon of mythologic perdition. The learned and laborious
Meursius fully points out that the Roman Prefect had confounded,
in the passage alluded to, the daughter of Cecrops with those of
Erechtheus, who reigned more than a century subsequent to the
former: but it certainly does appear that the daughters of Erech-
theus, none of whom are by any author named Aglauros, were, by
the concurrent acceptation of antiquity, reported to have died a vo-
luntary death, to accomplish the response of the Delphic oracle.
The names of Agraulos and Aglauros by ancient as well as
modern writers, have been indiscriminately applied to the daugh-
ter of Cecrops, but Agraulos seems to have been that of her
mother only. We adopt the name as found in Pausanias and
Ovid.
In recurring to the term applied by Pausanias to this sacred
place, " Ugot rs/isns", the nature of it may be appreciated by a
passage of the same author relating to Xenophon at Scyllus: it
records his having founded a temenus, a hieron, and a temple,
to Diana of Ephesus; xccntxiaai Si h ShiXAomti, te^eto; re xal
!ego», ycc\ vaiti 'A^TEftioi mKoSajJiaan 'Etpiaia., which may imply
places of progressive degrees of solidity of formation, and sanc-
tity. At the commencement also of the description of Greece
by this author, he states that the objects most worthy of atten-
tion at Pirsus were, the temenus of Minerva and Jupiter with
bronze statues of each divinity. In an inscription found at
Piraeus by Dr. Chandler, and presented by the Dilettanti So-
ciety to the British Museum, it appears that certain temeni and
salt pits were let by the people of Pireeus, with conditions corre-
sponding to our "impeachment of waste", which completely ac-
quaints us with the nature of that kind of sacred enclosure; as
the following extract will shew: tvj h v7.:» xai tij» yr.v y.r, sfesrw
i£ciytiv to^uJ; pio-QeJo-cciiEvow; ur,T£ ey rou Svio-tiov pvrz EK TI2N AA-
AUN TEMENHN. Translated, "but it cannot be permitted to
those renting, to remove either timber or soil from the The-
seum nor from the other sacred enclosures". From thence we
conclude that the Hieron of Aglauros was enclosed by some por-
tion of contiguous sacred ground forming the temenos, which may
have been raised by a platform at the site here specified.
We have perhaps extended our remarks on this locality be-
yond what may be thought necessary; but the site in question
is connected with the topograj>hy of other edifices; and when
this volume shall he in the hands of the enquiring traveller on
the spot, he will observe without regret these united observations,
which may facilitate and lead to the advance of future investiga-
tion. Vide Pau. L. I. C. XVIII. Eurip. ION. Mus. Wors.
p. 19. Col. Leake's Topy. of Athens. Wilkins's Atheniensia.
Herodotus, L. VIII. C. LIII. Hawkins's Topy. of Athens, in
Walpole's Memoirs Vol. 1. Wheler's Travels, p. 358. Visconti,
Memoires sur des Sculptures d'Athenes. Meursii Regnum Atti-
cimi. Paus. L. V. C. VI. Chandler's Inscript. p. 11. Ins. CX.
Chap. V. of this Vol. [ed.] .
a In the preceding note we stated reasons for supposing the
ascent of the Persians to have been at a different part of the
Acropolis, yet it is worthy of remark that from the very point
here specified by Stuart as the supposed place of their escalade,
the modern Greeks on the night of the 24th of November
1821, assailed the citadel. They ascended by the wall at
the western side of the Coilon of the Odeum of Regilla, and
passing the outer gate at m. succeeded in establishing them-
selves, to the end of the blockade, at the' gate contiguous to the
south-west angle of the main wall of the Acropolis beneath the
platform, on which formerly stood the Temple of Victory Ap-
teros. See Waddington's Visit to Greece, 12mo. 1825.
b HaWm Si, Tlevru-vuiv earn, 'Near \jthc Temple of Aglauros]
is the Prytaneum.'—Paus. Att. Chap. XVIII.
c The site already given to the Aglaurium in a former note
(°p. 15.), will indicate a position for the Prytaneum, near to the
street of the Tripods, of which monuments still exist; and more
appropriate than that at the south-west angle of the Acropolis
above proposed. This ancient tribunal having been founded so
early as the time of Erechtheus, must therefore have probably
been erected contiguous to the citadel. Pausanias speaks of
" going from thence to the lower parts of the city," imM«» <o£ot» k
™ ««ra Tn; -Kohiuc, and denotes it as having been in the neighbour-
hood of the Olympeium and the Theatre of Bacchus. The ele-
vated situation of the north-east point of the Acropolis is the
place, therefore, that must be assigned for this structure. This
locality is one of the most commanding situations of the inferior
city. CKr,-!l
JlOtl
Opoi
mmi
;>u
■■.yt of our
►Nib p,
'* Sis
' Hi...,