DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4265#0109
108
OF THE ODEUM OF REGILLA.
one side of the Forum is the Odeum, where is an Apollo worthy of observation," &c. and continues
to observe, " this is the noblest and most adorned of any Odeum in Greece, except that of Athens,
which, for size, and in every respect excels, built by an Athenian named Herodes. In my treatise
of Attica I omitted the description of this theatre, because I had finished writing before the building
was completed."
This Odeum appears to me to be distinct from that built by Pericles. No hint is given in any
ancient author, who has mentioned the Odeum of Pericles, that it was repaired by Herodes, but, on
the contrary, he is said to have built his Odeum in honour of llegilla, not to have repaired an old
one. Indeed that theatre having been repaired by Ariobarzanes, King of Cappadocia, about the time
of Augustus, would render another repair in the time of Trajan or Hadrian rather improbable.
PLATE XXXVIII.
This Plate contains, Fig. 1. the plan of the remains of the theatre3, which are scarcely more
than the rock on which it stood ; the front which looks towards the city is raised by a sort of irregu-
lar rustic wall, and the back line, in an obtuse angle, is formed by the natural rock, which is a dark-
coloured hard stone, being cut down to the level. Almost the whole of the present remains are cut
■ It is remarkable that Stuart should have declared this monu-
ment to have been a theatre, since the curved part of such Gre-
cian structures is universally turned towards the ascent of the
adjacent heights, for the purpose of economizing the expense
of artificial foundations in forming the coilon, while here it is re-
versed, extending towards the declivity. That part of the plan,
also, which in theatres is straight, or generally advances towards
the centre of the orchestra or to the thymele, here, on the con-
trary, recedes, with regard to the spectator, and the marks of
seats, and a wall within a few feet from the front of the auditory,
quite prove that this singular monument was not a theatre.
It might be supposed that Pausanias mu'st have noticed this
monument; but not having mentioned the Pnyx, it has been en-
deavoured to appropriate the name of some structure spoken of
by him, to this ruin, in which advantage has been taken of the
following passage, where, after he had described the Areopagus,
he alluded to minor courts of justice :—
"Eo-ti it 'Aflijvaioi; x.a.1 uWa Jixaori^ia ova if toctoSto io!-r>s »jxo»Ta.
twv fxiv uvv xaAcL^fivov TIolpu.@vsttov kcci T^ywvov, to y.t\, tv utpavt'i 7roXia>$
it xai \ir &a;£ie"T0i{ cnviovTiai/ if ctvro, to it iwo rw ax/ift.u.To<; ip^ei T*
' There are other tribunals at Athens not so renowned as this,
of which one is called Parabystum, another Trigonum; that
has its name from an obscure part of the city, and because the
most trifling causes are there taken cognizance of, and this is
so denominated from its shape.'
Among the Elgin drawings there is a very elaborate plan of
this locality marked with all the holes and excavations in the
rocks adjacent, to which the architect who laid it down, or those
who may have influenced him, have appended the title of Trigo-
num, from the approximation to a triangular form in the plan,
a name which has been elsewhere most incorrectly adopted; for it
is quite improbable that a monument so ancient, so extensive,
and so laboriously formed, should have been constructed for a
tribunal which, according to all the authors by whom it is men-
tioned, was of very inferior consideration at Athens.
That the Pnyx should not have been mentioned by Pausanias,
appears to be fairly explained by Mr. Hawkins, who thinks
" that his silence may be accounted for, as the Pnyx had long
ceased to be the place of assembly at the period when he visited
Athens, the Romans having then nearly abolished the forms of
an independent government." Also, according to ancient authors,
the Dionysiac Theatre was very generally after its completion,
frequented by political popular assemblies.
It appears from Plutarch that the Pnyx was near to the Mu-
seum. From the passage of Lucian already quoted, it evidently
faced the Areopagus. Harpocration says it was within sight of
the Propylieum. From Aristophanes and his Scholiast we learn
that it was a place of assembly on a rock in the open air, with a
stone bema or oratory, and near the city wall. Pollux says it was
constructed with ancient simplicity, not with the magnificence of a
theatre (xotTa t>;i< 7ra?\atuv ccttXotyitol, ova eJj utxrpov <7ro\W7rpayfj.oo-v-
m). In all these points the locality and character of this
antiquity perfectly coincide with the authorities alluded to.
The attempt therefore would be futile to prove that it was any
other monument than the Pnyx.
This site, which is termed by Dr. Clarke ' the ancient place of
Parliament of the Athenians', is said by him to have been first
appropriated by Solon to assemblies of the citizens; but as it is
improbable that the Athenian people, the Aij^o? 'Efs^QiJo; of
Homer, who had so early displayed by ostracism their collective
power, in the banishment of their benefactor Theseus, should
have been without a fixed locality for public meetings,—it is
therefore to be inferred, as well as from the Pelasgic character of
part of this structure, that the existing Pnyx was the scene of
popular convocations long antecedent to the age of the great
Athenian Legislator.
The name rivu| is related to be derived from Uvxa, ' dense';
and Stephanus Byzantinus says that it was so called from the
density of habitations formerly built there {xixMrat il iraea. to
ttvmIv twv 7r«Xai (TwuiKicrfiLtvuiv qIkiuv), a fact which the indented
rocks at present testify. Also in some of the mss. of Aristophanes
the oblique cases are written mxto;, &c. which Brunck, how-
ever, disclaims ; but the grammarian Matthia; remarks, ' in-
stead of n»KJco;, the old Attics said Hvxt&(.'
The changes which are said by Plutarch to have been made
in this monument by the Thirty Tyrants with a view to check
the democratic character of the Athenians, by depriving their
orators of a view of the sea, and thus endeavouring to divert
them when assembled from the contemplation of maritime affairs,
the basis of Athenian popular power, have been already alluded
to. No particular historic mention is subsequently made of
this place after the completion of the Theatre of Bacchus, when
it progressively became abandoned, and at length even its first
appropriation forgotten.
Previous modern travellers having brought forward to erro-
neous notice this antiquity; our countryman, Dr. Chandler, had
the honour of restoring its real name; and a British nobleman,
the Earl of Aberdeen, has by excavation fully developed what
remained of its original form. The Pnyx, therefore, one of the
most interesting monuments of antiquity, will now probably pre-
serve the celebrity of its name and purpose with the duration
of the rocks out of which it is hewn.
The reader is referred to an engraving in our fourth volume,
from the plan of this site above alluded to, in the British Mu-
seum, in which the excavations in the rock and the nature of the
surrounding locality are more extensively and distinctly in-
dicated.
Paus.
OF THE ODEUM OF REGILLA.
one side of the Forum is the Odeum, where is an Apollo worthy of observation," &c. and continues
to observe, " this is the noblest and most adorned of any Odeum in Greece, except that of Athens,
which, for size, and in every respect excels, built by an Athenian named Herodes. In my treatise
of Attica I omitted the description of this theatre, because I had finished writing before the building
was completed."
This Odeum appears to me to be distinct from that built by Pericles. No hint is given in any
ancient author, who has mentioned the Odeum of Pericles, that it was repaired by Herodes, but, on
the contrary, he is said to have built his Odeum in honour of llegilla, not to have repaired an old
one. Indeed that theatre having been repaired by Ariobarzanes, King of Cappadocia, about the time
of Augustus, would render another repair in the time of Trajan or Hadrian rather improbable.
PLATE XXXVIII.
This Plate contains, Fig. 1. the plan of the remains of the theatre3, which are scarcely more
than the rock on which it stood ; the front which looks towards the city is raised by a sort of irregu-
lar rustic wall, and the back line, in an obtuse angle, is formed by the natural rock, which is a dark-
coloured hard stone, being cut down to the level. Almost the whole of the present remains are cut
■ It is remarkable that Stuart should have declared this monu-
ment to have been a theatre, since the curved part of such Gre-
cian structures is universally turned towards the ascent of the
adjacent heights, for the purpose of economizing the expense
of artificial foundations in forming the coilon, while here it is re-
versed, extending towards the declivity. That part of the plan,
also, which in theatres is straight, or generally advances towards
the centre of the orchestra or to the thymele, here, on the con-
trary, recedes, with regard to the spectator, and the marks of
seats, and a wall within a few feet from the front of the auditory,
quite prove that this singular monument was not a theatre.
It might be supposed that Pausanias mu'st have noticed this
monument; but not having mentioned the Pnyx, it has been en-
deavoured to appropriate the name of some structure spoken of
by him, to this ruin, in which advantage has been taken of the
following passage, where, after he had described the Areopagus,
he alluded to minor courts of justice :—
"Eo-ti it 'Aflijvaioi; x.a.1 uWa Jixaori^ia ova if toctoSto io!-r>s »jxo»Ta.
twv fxiv uvv xaAcL^fivov TIolpu.@vsttov kcci T^ywvov, to y.t\, tv utpavt'i 7roXia>$
it xai \ir &a;£ie"T0i{ cnviovTiai/ if ctvro, to it iwo rw ax/ift.u.To<; ip^ei T*
' There are other tribunals at Athens not so renowned as this,
of which one is called Parabystum, another Trigonum; that
has its name from an obscure part of the city, and because the
most trifling causes are there taken cognizance of, and this is
so denominated from its shape.'
Among the Elgin drawings there is a very elaborate plan of
this locality marked with all the holes and excavations in the
rocks adjacent, to which the architect who laid it down, or those
who may have influenced him, have appended the title of Trigo-
num, from the approximation to a triangular form in the plan,
a name which has been elsewhere most incorrectly adopted; for it
is quite improbable that a monument so ancient, so extensive,
and so laboriously formed, should have been constructed for a
tribunal which, according to all the authors by whom it is men-
tioned, was of very inferior consideration at Athens.
That the Pnyx should not have been mentioned by Pausanias,
appears to be fairly explained by Mr. Hawkins, who thinks
" that his silence may be accounted for, as the Pnyx had long
ceased to be the place of assembly at the period when he visited
Athens, the Romans having then nearly abolished the forms of
an independent government." Also, according to ancient authors,
the Dionysiac Theatre was very generally after its completion,
frequented by political popular assemblies.
It appears from Plutarch that the Pnyx was near to the Mu-
seum. From the passage of Lucian already quoted, it evidently
faced the Areopagus. Harpocration says it was within sight of
the Propylieum. From Aristophanes and his Scholiast we learn
that it was a place of assembly on a rock in the open air, with a
stone bema or oratory, and near the city wall. Pollux says it was
constructed with ancient simplicity, not with the magnificence of a
theatre (xotTa t>;i< 7ra?\atuv ccttXotyitol, ova eJj utxrpov <7ro\W7rpayfj.oo-v-
m). In all these points the locality and character of this
antiquity perfectly coincide with the authorities alluded to.
The attempt therefore would be futile to prove that it was any
other monument than the Pnyx.
This site, which is termed by Dr. Clarke ' the ancient place of
Parliament of the Athenians', is said by him to have been first
appropriated by Solon to assemblies of the citizens; but as it is
improbable that the Athenian people, the Aij^o? 'Efs^QiJo; of
Homer, who had so early displayed by ostracism their collective
power, in the banishment of their benefactor Theseus, should
have been without a fixed locality for public meetings,—it is
therefore to be inferred, as well as from the Pelasgic character of
part of this structure, that the existing Pnyx was the scene of
popular convocations long antecedent to the age of the great
Athenian Legislator.
The name rivu| is related to be derived from Uvxa, ' dense';
and Stephanus Byzantinus says that it was so called from the
density of habitations formerly built there {xixMrat il iraea. to
ttvmIv twv 7r«Xai (TwuiKicrfiLtvuiv qIkiuv), a fact which the indented
rocks at present testify. Also in some of the mss. of Aristophanes
the oblique cases are written mxto;, &c. which Brunck, how-
ever, disclaims ; but the grammarian Matthia; remarks, ' in-
stead of n»KJco;, the old Attics said Hvxt&(.'
The changes which are said by Plutarch to have been made
in this monument by the Thirty Tyrants with a view to check
the democratic character of the Athenians, by depriving their
orators of a view of the sea, and thus endeavouring to divert
them when assembled from the contemplation of maritime affairs,
the basis of Athenian popular power, have been already alluded
to. No particular historic mention is subsequently made of
this place after the completion of the Theatre of Bacchus, when
it progressively became abandoned, and at length even its first
appropriation forgotten.
Previous modern travellers having brought forward to erro-
neous notice this antiquity; our countryman, Dr. Chandler, had
the honour of restoring its real name; and a British nobleman,
the Earl of Aberdeen, has by excavation fully developed what
remained of its original form. The Pnyx, therefore, one of the
most interesting monuments of antiquity, will now probably pre-
serve the celebrity of its name and purpose with the duration
of the rocks out of which it is hewn.
The reader is referred to an engraving in our fourth volume,
from the plan of this site above alluded to, in the British Mu-
seum, in which the excavations in the rock and the nature of the
surrounding locality are more extensively and distinctly in-
dicated.
Paus.