Besides, it is not likely that it was originally fortified only on one side, and that, from the time of the Pelasgic settlement in Attica, 1209 years before Christ, to the expulsion of the Persians, so many centuries afterwards, it should have had no wall on the southern side. Stuart imagines that the Pelasgic wall was not erected upon the extreme edge of the rock, but some way from it, and that it enclosed a space called Pelasgicon; but this would suppose that the Acropolis was fortified with a double wall, which was not the case. What the indiscriminate rage of the Persians had overlooked during their first entrance into Attica, was destroyed by Mardonius on the second invasion, who demolished the city as well as the sacred edifices which had escaped the first overthrow. It is probable that in one of these attacks the Pelasgic fortress was ruined. Diodorus Siculus,3 Cornelius Nepos, and Plutarch,5 tell us that the walls of Athens were destroyed by the Spartan Lysander, and rebuilt by Conon. The Thebans supplied the Athenians with five hundred masons. The walls were repaired by Demosthenes after the battle of Charoneia. Philip, son of Demetrius of Macedon, seems to have been one of the most inveterate enemies by whom Athens was ever ravaged. With unsparing cruelty he destroyed almost every thing which had either escaped the Persian invaders, or which had been erected after their final expulsion. Livy tells us, that not content with burning and destroying the temples of the gods, he ordered that the very stones should be broken into small pieces, that they might no longer serve to repair the buildings! and Diodorus Siculus asserts, that 1 Aristoph. calls it Πελαργικον ; Πελαργοι being another name for Πελασγοι. Aves. 2 Diodor. Sic. b. 11. c. 28. 5 Life of Lysander. 7 Demosthen. de Corona. B. 14. c. 3. B. 31. c. 26. even the inviolability of sepulchres could not command his respect, or repress his violence. The Athenian walls were afterwards destroyed by Sylla,1 and remained in ruins for nearly three hundred and fifty years; when they were rebuilt, in the reign of Valerian and Gallienus, to resist the dreaded invasion of a Scythian army. They were also restored by Justinian. Syncellus says, that the Heruli, from the Palus Mootis, laid waste many places in Greece; and amongst others Athens. It seems doubtful whether it was destroyed by Alaric : this is affirmed by several contemporary writers, and denied by none but Zosimus.* Georgii Syncelli Chronograph. p. 381. Paris edit. and Zonaras Annal. b. 12. sec. 22. p. 629. Paris edit. CHAPTER XI. Entrance to the Acropolis. Colossal inscribed pedestal. Propylæa and contiguous buildings. The frusta of the Propylæan columns united with wood. The Parthenon. Sculpture taken down, and part of the temple destroyed. Bad effects of the dilapidation upon the minds of the inhabitants. Destruction of several remains of antiquity by the Turks. Painted ornaments on the Parthenon, and sculpture. Shields suspended on the Temple. Painted sculpture. The Erechtheion. Double temples. Eleusinian marble. Ancient windows. Caryatid portico. Modern buildings within the Acropolis. Plants. IN N going from the town to the Acropolis the first gate which is passed is at the foot of the rock, and faces nearly N. E.; on the wall to the left is a female statue of white marble, sitting on a thronos. It is headless, and much ruined, but it is evidently of the ancient Æginetic style: near it is the fragmented statue of a horse. On the right hand is a modern wall, perforated with loop-holes for musketry, and separating the Acropolis from the Areiopagos. The small stream already mentioned runs down the declivity towards the town in an easterly direction. Two caves and the ancient steps in the rock are on the left. Having turned the N. w. angle of the citadel, there is a gate to the right facing the Piræus. Opposite this is another gate to the left, which is the first entrance to the Acropolis; on entering it the first building on the right hand is a small tekkie, or mosque, without a minaret, situated above the theatre of Regilla; and as Stuart conjectures, on the site of the temple of Aglauros. At the second gate, which is not thirty paces from the first, the guard are stationed, sitting cross-legged upon a divan, and covered above by a shed: they consist of a few old Turks either sleeping or smoking. I have frequently entered the citadel when they were reposing, and have passed by unperceived; and returning several hours afterwards, have found them in the same posture, enjoying during the whole day the gratification of total inactivity! After passing through this shed and turning to the north, a few paces of gentle ascent brought me to another gate facing the west; the lintel of which is a large block of marble, with an inverted inscription published in Spon, recording that the gates of the city had been built by Flavius Septimius Marcellinus.1 The next gate faces nearly west, and is built against the pedestal of Marcus Agrippa; on the western front of which is the inscription, in large letters, published by Stuart, Chandler, and others. Pausanias mentions some equestrian statues near the Propylæa, but he is dubious with respect to the persons whom they represent; nor does he notice the name of Agrippa, in whose time, if the inscription were made, it is surprising that it should not have been mentioned by Pausanias, who was so many years posterior to Agrippa. But the pedestal is probably more ancient than the inscription; and perhaps supported the statue of a Greek, which the servile flattery of after ages converted into a Roman. Cicero, in one of his letters to Atticus, alludes to this custom and says, "Odi falsas inscriptiones statuarum alienarum." At Not only inscriptions were changed in Greece and Italy, but heads were taken off from statues and replaced by others. Rhodes, it was even a common custom to consecrate the same statue successively to different persons; only defacing the original inscription, and placing another in its stead. Dion Chrysostomes reproaches them for their abject economy. The pedestal is constructed with alternate layers of large and small blocks. Rondelet* says, that the smaller layers are two-thirds the thickness of the greater. Le Roy has accurately represented the number of the layers; but 1 The word roles in this inscription probably signifies citadel. Dr. Chandler says the present of a pair of gates.—Travels in Greece, c. 9. p. 39. it records 2 B. 6. epist. 1. 3. Orat. to the Rhodians, 31. Art. de Batir. like Stuart, has supposed the divisions of the blocks equal; which is not the case. The lines do not coincide accurately with each other in the alternate layers, as all the stones are not of equal dimensions. Stuart has given nine layers of the large blocks, whereas there are only eight; and he makes the smaller layers half the thickness of the larger, though they are only one-third. The pedestal is of a fine form, and nearly forty feet in height; but as the earth has been considerably accumulated about its base, which projects, its dimensions can not be accurately taken. It appears to have supported a statue of colossal proportions, of which no remains having been found, we may conjecture that it was of bronze. Adjoining the pedestal is the small Doric building which Stuart calls the Temple of Victory without wings, which is also the opinion of Barthelemy: but Pausanias1 places it on the right hand; his words are τωνδε προπυλαίων εν δεξια Νικης εστι απτερου ναος. It is doubtful whether by the words ev deia Pausanias means that it was on the right-hand side of the Propylæa, or on the right of a person entering the Acropolis. It probably stood on the spot which is now occupied by the high Venetian tower, the lower part of which formed a Turkish prison; and I could not obtain permission to examine it until a short time before I quitted Athens. It contains two fluted Doric columns, and a pilaster similar to the antæ on the opposite or northern angle of the Propylæa. The steps of the temple are seen on the outside of the tower, with the mark of another column cut into the face of the marble. Pausanias2 mentions a tradition that Ægeus had precipitated himself from this rock. Suidas makes him leap into the sea, which is almost four miles from the Acropolis. The edifice which is on the left hand of the Propylæa is probably the Pinakotheka, or omna, which Pausanias says contained the paintings of Polygnotos. 3 1 B. 1. c. 22. • Ibid. > Vitruv. b. 1. c. 2. b. 6. c. 5. |