DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1031#0089
CHAPTER X.
ATHENS.
The Pnyx or Parliament of Athens.
Eum locum libenter invisit, ubi Demosthenes et iEsehines inter se
decertare soliti sunt__Cic. de Fin. V. 2.
He gladly visits that Spot which was the scene of the contests
of Demosthenes and JEschines.
The Pnyx was part of the surface of a low rocky
hill, at the distance of a quarter of a mile to the
west of the central rock of the Acropolis: and at
about half that distance to S.W. of the centre of
the Areopagus hill. The Pnyx may be best de-
scribed as an area formed by the segment of a circle,
which, as it is very nearly equal to a semicircle, for
the sake of conciseness we shall assume to be such.
The radius of this semicircle varies from about sixty
to eighty yards. It is on a sloping ground, which
shelves down very gently toward the hollow of the
ancient Agora, which was at its foot on the N.E.
The chord of this semicircle is the highest part of
this slope: the middle of its arc is the lowest: and
this last point of the curve is cased by a terrace wall
of huge polygonal blocks, and of about fifteen feet
in depth at the centre, which prevents the soil
E
ATHENS.
The Pnyx or Parliament of Athens.
Eum locum libenter invisit, ubi Demosthenes et iEsehines inter se
decertare soliti sunt__Cic. de Fin. V. 2.
He gladly visits that Spot which was the scene of the contests
of Demosthenes and JEschines.
The Pnyx was part of the surface of a low rocky
hill, at the distance of a quarter of a mile to the
west of the central rock of the Acropolis: and at
about half that distance to S.W. of the centre of
the Areopagus hill. The Pnyx may be best de-
scribed as an area formed by the segment of a circle,
which, as it is very nearly equal to a semicircle, for
the sake of conciseness we shall assume to be such.
The radius of this semicircle varies from about sixty
to eighty yards. It is on a sloping ground, which
shelves down very gently toward the hollow of the
ancient Agora, which was at its foot on the N.E.
The chord of this semicircle is the highest part of
this slope: the middle of its arc is the lowest: and
this last point of the curve is cased by a terrace wall
of huge polygonal blocks, and of about fifteen feet
in depth at the centre, which prevents the soil
E