DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4264#0017
Um'^whencpt
ll0S.aildAglaut„stt,le»C
>t the
aPpUed by pa
Hi
erm
;,7^gtoXenyea
'^atemenus,,^
grees of solidity „ff*S(
8 ?* *e object. CSf
«am,.t appears that cert^
people of Pir„Un£
chmentofwaste^tt,;
Ushew:^^--,.„,;
lated, "but it cannot bep^
e either timber or soil fan ii-
:r sacred enclosures
a of Aglauros was em__
1 ground forming the temenos,^,
atform at the site here spedfei
tended our remarks on this le
ght necessary; but the site in a
topography of other edifitesjci:
the hands of the enquiring trej
without regret these united ofet
1 lead to the advance of fttuiec
C. XVIII. Eurip. iox. Mb!
jpy. of Athens. Wilkins's Ate
. LIII. Hawkins's Topy. of Ai
. I. Wheler's Travels, p. S|
tures d'Athenes. JleursiiHejic
1. Chandler's Inscript.p.Ilk
I
iote we stated reasons for affs
to have been at a different pi:
thy of remark that from tM
asi the supposed place of M
, the night of the 24th,rf*
add. They ascended lyj-
Coilon of the Odeum, g
Bt m. succeeded in -*J
.blockade, atthegate-g
mainwaUoftheAcropojJ
urerly stood,heTe,J J
i'a Visit to Greece, U» [>;
, <Near[tbeT^rf
a position for tiw r ) ;t ^
south-west^'
t the w>"~
ancient tribunal hrt J
echtheus, mos >»>« dlif
.enoteSitashavw^fBacd
,J
.andtheThea^^,
ost command
EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF THE ACROPOLIS. 17
street called the Tripods, with temples in it on which the Tripods were placed, that gave name to
the street, and to the adjacent tract of ground",
m. The guard-house.
B. The upper grand battery.
n. Another gate. Passing through this we arrived at the Propylasa.
C. The Propylasa.
D. The Temple of Victory without Wingsb.
E. A high tower, now a prison, built on an ancient ruin, which seems to have been exactly0
similar to the last mentioned temple.
o. Another gate.
F. The Parthenon.
G. The Temples of Erechtheus, Minerva Polias, and Pandrosus.
We shall now return from the Acropolis to the gate(g) already mentioned, leading to the Turkish
burying-ground. Going out of this gate, we had just before us the Areopagus, a hill which gave name,
as every one knows, to the most celebrated Tribunal of Athens, built either on it or contiguous to it.
This hill is almost entirely a mass of stone'; its upper surface is without any considerable irregularities,
but neither so level nor so spacious as that of the Acropolis, and, though of no great height, not ea-
sily accessible, its sides being steep and abrupt. On this hill the Amazons* pitched their tents when
they invaded Attica in the time of Theseuse; and in aftertimes the Persians under Xerxes began
from hence their attack on the Acropolisf. Here we expected to find some vestiges of the tribunal,
and that certain steps hewn in the rock, marked p. p. in the plan, would have led us up to them; we
were disappointed, for we did not discover the least remaining trace of building upon it. At the foot
of this rock, on the part facing the north-east, there are some natural caverns, and contiguous to them
rather the rubbish than the ruins of some considerable buildings; from their present appearance it is
scarcely possible to form a probable conjecture concerning them ; that nearest the Acropolis, marked
q. in the plan, tradition says, was anciently the palace of St. Dionysius the Areopagite. After Chris-
tianity was established at Athens, it became a church, and was dedicated to him. Wheler saw it above
a hundred years ago, and it was then a heap of ruins8. Near it, that gentleman informs us, stood the
Archbishop's palace, but that also is at present utterly demolished. It is not improbable that both the
church and the palace were built on the ruins of the ancient tribunal called the Areopagus\
" Pausanias, see note *, p. 19.
b In order not to mutilate the text of Stuart, we leave the
name lie appropriates to this part of the group of buildings
forming the Propylacum, which is now generally understood to
have been the olwy.a. i^pi ygatpaf ' Structure containing pictures.'
Vide Paus. Lib. I. Chap. XXII. Chap. V. of this Vol., and Vol.
IV. of this Edition. CED0
c This is an oversight of our author, as will be seen on the
inspection of the plan of the Propylaeum, at Plate XLII. Chap.
V. of this Volume. The dissimilarity there observed in the
edifices at the north and south sides of this structure, will be
more apparent in a plate of Vol. IV. CED.]
d Historians ancient and modern have considered the accounts
transmitted to us of this female nation, as one of the enigmas of
ancient Grecian history. It would, however, appear that the
Amazonids were a migratory nation from Scythia, who made
considerable conquests in Asia Minor and Greece. Among this
military people, it is supposed that the softer sex was inured
to arms, and fought by the side of the men. So novel a spectacle
in the fabulous age of Theseus, would, by the exaggeration of
early Grecian legend, have given rise to the tales subsequently
dwelt on with delight by the poets and painters of antiquity.
Vide Mitford's Greece, Vol. X. [ed.]
e iEschvlus in Eumenidibus. Act V.
VOL. II.
Ot d< Yltpo-au, i£p[j.svoi ett* tov y.uravrtf)v T>?,- a-xpo-iroXtos oydov.
Ton Aar,vcc7oi KuXiovo-i ' Apriiov ira.yov, i7roXiopx.£ov rpoirov TOtovas'
Herodot. Lib. VIII. Chap. LII.
' The Persians posted themselves opposite to the Acropolis, on
a hill called by the Athenians the Areopagus, and began in this
manner to besiege it,' &c.
e Wheler, p. 384.
b Pausanias says, that the Areopagus was not far distant from
the fountain and grotto of Apollo and Pan. In a passage of
Lucian quoted by Dr. Chandler, lie leads us to conclude it to
have commanded a view of the Pnyx, of the Grotto of Pan, and
to have been quite close to the Acropolis; Herodotus records
the Persians to have shot ignited arrows from it against the timber
fortifications of the Athenians, Hesychius erroneously states it to
have been in the citadel. Dr. Spon considered the monument now
known as the Pnyx to have been that ancient tribunal; but his
companion Sir George Wheler, was the first modern traveller
who conjectured the site here indicated to be its appropriate
situation. The French antiquarian Fauvel, adopts a sup-
position that the platform immediately above the Pnyx shewn
at Chap. VII. Plate XXXVIII. Vol. III. was the real Hill of
Mars, from holes bored into the rock and square sinkings as if
for the position of pedestals. He even pointed out holes cut for
lamps in the solid rock adjoining to steps, which he supposed to
indicate the nocturnal ascent of the Areopagites; but such a site
ll0S.aildAglaut„stt,le»C
>t the
aPpUed by pa
Hi
erm
;,7^gtoXenyea
'^atemenus,,^
grees of solidity „ff*S(
8 ?* *e object. CSf
«am,.t appears that cert^
people of Pir„Un£
chmentofwaste^tt,;
Ushew:^^--,.„,;
lated, "but it cannot bep^
e either timber or soil fan ii-
:r sacred enclosures
a of Aglauros was em__
1 ground forming the temenos,^,
atform at the site here spedfei
tended our remarks on this le
ght necessary; but the site in a
topography of other edifitesjci:
the hands of the enquiring trej
without regret these united ofet
1 lead to the advance of fttuiec
C. XVIII. Eurip. iox. Mb!
jpy. of Athens. Wilkins's Ate
. LIII. Hawkins's Topy. of Ai
. I. Wheler's Travels, p. S|
tures d'Athenes. JleursiiHejic
1. Chandler's Inscript.p.Ilk
I
iote we stated reasons for affs
to have been at a different pi:
thy of remark that from tM
asi the supposed place of M
, the night of the 24th,rf*
add. They ascended lyj-
Coilon of the Odeum, g
Bt m. succeeded in -*J
.blockade, atthegate-g
mainwaUoftheAcropojJ
urerly stood,heTe,J J
i'a Visit to Greece, U» [>;
, <Near[tbeT^rf
a position for tiw r ) ;t ^
south-west^'
t the w>"~
ancient tribunal hrt J
echtheus, mos >»>« dlif
.enoteSitashavw^fBacd
,J
.andtheThea^^,
ost command
EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF THE ACROPOLIS. 17
street called the Tripods, with temples in it on which the Tripods were placed, that gave name to
the street, and to the adjacent tract of ground",
m. The guard-house.
B. The upper grand battery.
n. Another gate. Passing through this we arrived at the Propylasa.
C. The Propylasa.
D. The Temple of Victory without Wingsb.
E. A high tower, now a prison, built on an ancient ruin, which seems to have been exactly0
similar to the last mentioned temple.
o. Another gate.
F. The Parthenon.
G. The Temples of Erechtheus, Minerva Polias, and Pandrosus.
We shall now return from the Acropolis to the gate(g) already mentioned, leading to the Turkish
burying-ground. Going out of this gate, we had just before us the Areopagus, a hill which gave name,
as every one knows, to the most celebrated Tribunal of Athens, built either on it or contiguous to it.
This hill is almost entirely a mass of stone'; its upper surface is without any considerable irregularities,
but neither so level nor so spacious as that of the Acropolis, and, though of no great height, not ea-
sily accessible, its sides being steep and abrupt. On this hill the Amazons* pitched their tents when
they invaded Attica in the time of Theseuse; and in aftertimes the Persians under Xerxes began
from hence their attack on the Acropolisf. Here we expected to find some vestiges of the tribunal,
and that certain steps hewn in the rock, marked p. p. in the plan, would have led us up to them; we
were disappointed, for we did not discover the least remaining trace of building upon it. At the foot
of this rock, on the part facing the north-east, there are some natural caverns, and contiguous to them
rather the rubbish than the ruins of some considerable buildings; from their present appearance it is
scarcely possible to form a probable conjecture concerning them ; that nearest the Acropolis, marked
q. in the plan, tradition says, was anciently the palace of St. Dionysius the Areopagite. After Chris-
tianity was established at Athens, it became a church, and was dedicated to him. Wheler saw it above
a hundred years ago, and it was then a heap of ruins8. Near it, that gentleman informs us, stood the
Archbishop's palace, but that also is at present utterly demolished. It is not improbable that both the
church and the palace were built on the ruins of the ancient tribunal called the Areopagus\
" Pausanias, see note *, p. 19.
b In order not to mutilate the text of Stuart, we leave the
name lie appropriates to this part of the group of buildings
forming the Propylacum, which is now generally understood to
have been the olwy.a. i^pi ygatpaf ' Structure containing pictures.'
Vide Paus. Lib. I. Chap. XXII. Chap. V. of this Vol., and Vol.
IV. of this Edition. CED0
c This is an oversight of our author, as will be seen on the
inspection of the plan of the Propylaeum, at Plate XLII. Chap.
V. of this Volume. The dissimilarity there observed in the
edifices at the north and south sides of this structure, will be
more apparent in a plate of Vol. IV. CED.]
d Historians ancient and modern have considered the accounts
transmitted to us of this female nation, as one of the enigmas of
ancient Grecian history. It would, however, appear that the
Amazonids were a migratory nation from Scythia, who made
considerable conquests in Asia Minor and Greece. Among this
military people, it is supposed that the softer sex was inured
to arms, and fought by the side of the men. So novel a spectacle
in the fabulous age of Theseus, would, by the exaggeration of
early Grecian legend, have given rise to the tales subsequently
dwelt on with delight by the poets and painters of antiquity.
Vide Mitford's Greece, Vol. X. [ed.]
e iEschvlus in Eumenidibus. Act V.
VOL. II.
Ot d< Yltpo-au, i£p[j.svoi ett* tov y.uravrtf)v T>?,- a-xpo-iroXtos oydov.
Ton Aar,vcc7oi KuXiovo-i ' Apriiov ira.yov, i7roXiopx.£ov rpoirov TOtovas'
Herodot. Lib. VIII. Chap. LII.
' The Persians posted themselves opposite to the Acropolis, on
a hill called by the Athenians the Areopagus, and began in this
manner to besiege it,' &c.
e Wheler, p. 384.
b Pausanias says, that the Areopagus was not far distant from
the fountain and grotto of Apollo and Pan. In a passage of
Lucian quoted by Dr. Chandler, lie leads us to conclude it to
have commanded a view of the Pnyx, of the Grotto of Pan, and
to have been quite close to the Acropolis; Herodotus records
the Persians to have shot ignited arrows from it against the timber
fortifications of the Athenians, Hesychius erroneously states it to
have been in the citadel. Dr. Spon considered the monument now
known as the Pnyx to have been that ancient tribunal; but his
companion Sir George Wheler, was the first modern traveller
who conjectured the site here indicated to be its appropriate
situation. The French antiquarian Fauvel, adopts a sup-
position that the platform immediately above the Pnyx shewn
at Chap. VII. Plate XXXVIII. Vol. III. was the real Hill of
Mars, from holes bored into the rock and square sinkings as if
for the position of pedestals. He even pointed out holes cut for
lamps in the solid rock adjoining to steps, which he supposed to
indicate the nocturnal ascent of the Areopagites; but such a site