Part 75

A new period in the history of art was inaugurated by _Hadrian_ (A.D. 117–38), the friend of Greece, to whom countless statues were erected under the titles of the Olympian, the Founder, the Liberator. A whole quarter of the city, to the S.E. of the castle, was called after him, as may still be read on Hadrian’s Arch. In this quarter rose the temple of Zeus completed by him. In the old town he founded a library, a gymnasion, and a pantheon, and Athens is still supplied with water by his aqueduct. At the same period _Herodes Atticus_ (101–77), a rich citizen, built the odeion named after him. Lastly _Marcus Aurelius_ (161–80), from whose time dates the description of the city by Pausanias, summoned new teachers to the Athenian school of philosophy. From that period begins the gradual stagnation and decay of the city.

In 267 Athens was captured by the Heruli and Goths. In 395 and 396 _Alaric_ with his Visigoths appeared before its gates, but spared it on payment of tribute. From the 5th cent. onwards numerous works of art were removed from Athens to Constantinople, as had been partly done by Constantine himself, to grace the buildings of New Rome. In 529 _Justinian_ gave the death-blow to the intellectual life of Athens by closing the schools of philosophy. Athens sank to the position of a Byzantine provincial town. In 1019 _Basil II._ held a triumphal festival in the Parthenon, which had long been used as a church. In 1040 the Northmen under Harald Haardraade took the Piræus by storm.

After the conquest of Constantinople by the _Latin Crusaders_ in 1204 (p. 542) Athens fell into the hands of Frankish nobles known as dukes after 1258. At length, in 1456, after a vigorous defence, Athens was captured by the _Turks_, and thenceforth belonged to the pashalik of Negroponte (Eubœa). But two events in the next three centuries and a half deserve mention; it was attacked by the Venetians in 1466 and it was captured and occupied for a short time by their general Francesco Morosini in 1687. On the latter occasion the Parthenon, hitherto uninjured, was blown up, while the Propylæa had already been destroyed by an earlier explosion (comp. p. 513). Athens then fell into complete oblivion and had to be rediscovered by the explorers and scholars of the 19th century.

The Greeks began their war of independence in 1821, and in 1822 captured the Acropolis of Athens. The Turks, however, stormed the town in 1826, and in 1827 took the Acropolis also after a brave resistance. The whole of Hellas thus fell again under the Turkish yoke. But the Great Powers now intervened. In 1833 the Acropolis was evacuated by the Turks, and entered by the Bavarian troops of the new king, _Otho_. In 1834 Athens was made the capital of the new kingdom, and since 1835 has been the seat of government. This distinction it owes to its historic fame, its site being geographically and economically unfavourable for a great modern city. It has attracted neither wholesale trade nor industry, and Attica itself is by no means productive.

BOOKS. Of the extensive literature on Athens the following books may be useful to the traveller: _Stuart’s_ and _Revett’s_ ‘The Antiquities of Athens’ (4 vols.; rev. ed., 1825–30); _Leake’s_ ‘Topography of Athens’ (London, 1821); _Wordsworth’s_ ‘Athens and Attica’ (4th ed., 1869); _Dyer’s_ ‘Ancient Athens’ (London, 1873); _Harrison’s_ and _Verrall’s_ ‘Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens’ (London, 1890); _E. A. Gardner’s_ ‘Ancient Athens’ (London, 1902).

a. Walk from the Palace round the S. Side of the Acropolis.

The PLACE DE LA CONSTITUTION, or _Syntagma Square_ (Pl. F, 5, 6; p. 505), with its hotels and cafés, is bounded by gardens on the E., beyond which rises the =Royal Palace= (Pl. F, G, 5, 6), built of limestone and Pentelic marble (1834–8), with a Doric portico. The trellised walks of the palace-garden (Pl. F, G, 6; entr. to the right, in the Rue de Képhisia; adm. Wed. and Frid., 4–6, in winter 3–5; smoking prohibited) afford shady promenades; from the S. part, with its fine palms, we get picturesque glimpses of the columns of the Olympieion, the Acropolis, and the sea.

From Syntagma Square the broad Rue des Philhellènes leads to the S., past the Russian Church and the _English Church_ (Pl. F, 6, 7), a tasteful Gothic edifice, to the beautiful grounds of the =Záppion= (Pl. F, 7), an exhibition-building opened in 1888.

The two statues adorning the flight of steps represent the brothers Zappas, who founded the building. At the W. angle of the grounds is a pleasing _Statue of Byron_ (Pl. E, 7). Café on the Terrace (p. 503).

To the S. we have a view of the sea; to the E. (left) rises Hymettos. In the foreground, adjoining the Olympieion (p. 509), is *=Hadrian’s Arch= (Pl. E, 7), erected either by himself or his successor. This gateway, 14½ yds. broad and 59 ft. high, marked, as the inscriptions record, the boundary between the older quarters and the new town of Hadrian (p. 507). It was adorned with projecting Corinthian columns, of which fragments of the bases and the entablature alone survive. Above the gateway rises an attica with three window-like apertures and a pediment in the centre.

The =Olympieion= (Pl. E, F, 7, 8), or _Temple of the Olympian Zeus_, has been entirely destroyed with the exception of fifteen huge marble columns. The original temple dates from the time of Peisistratos (ca. 530 B.C.; p. 506), but scarcely more than the foundations were then built. The work was resumed, ca. 174 B.C., by Antiochos IV. Epiphanes, to whose edifice the existing ruins belong, but it was completed only by Hadrian. When the temple was consecrated (ca. 129 A.D.) the Athenians showed their gratitude by erecting a statue of the emperor next to the gold and ivory statue of Zeus. The temple rose on a basis (118 by 45 yds.) approached by three steps, and was the largest Greek temple in existence after those of Ephesus and Selinus. The W. and E. ends were flanked with triple rows of eight columns, and the N. and S. sides with double rows of twenty; in all there were 104 Corinthian columns, 56½ ft. high and 56–67 inches in diameter.

The precincts of the temple consisted of a large levelled platform, created by Hadrian, 224 by 141 yds., which had to be backed up on the W. side and at the S.E. corner, where it is buttressed with huge substructions. On the N. side, in a line with the E. front of the temple, an entrance with four columns has been unearthed.

The view stretches from Hymettos to the sea, with the islands of Ægina and Hydra and the coast of Argolis.

The Olga Boulevard (Pl. E-G, 7, 8), on the bank of the _Ilissos_ (generally dry), leads to the E. from the Olympieion to the Stadion bridge. Opposite the bridge is the old _Protestant Cemetery_.

The *=Stadion= (Pl. G, H, 8; adm. 20 l.), the scene of the Panathenæan games, situated in a natural basin, was planned by Lykourgos (p. 507) in 330 B.C. The seats and balustrades in Pentelic marble were added, about 140 A.D., by Herodes Atticus (p. 507). The great size of the Stadion and the height of its rows of seats produce a very imposing effect, and this is enhanced by the rich marble decorations, which were renewed in 1896–1906. On its completion the building was inaugurated in 1906 with Olympic games, which are to be held here every four years. The entrance consists of a Corinthian propylæum. The race-course, ascending slightly, is 224 yds. long as far as the semicircular space at the S.E. end (sphendonē), and 36½ yds. in breadth. Exclusive of barriers and corridor, the actual course was 600 Græco-Roman or 584 Engl. ft. (195 yds.) long, and was divided into sections by _metae_ or goals, consisting of double hermæ, two of which have been re-erected at the semicircular space. The course is separated by a marble parapet from a corridor, 3 yds. wide, affording access to the lower tiers of seats. These are 24 in number, and higher up, separated from them by a broad passage, are 20 rows of benches, above which runs another passage overlooking the whole and protected on the outside by a parapet. There is accommodation for 50,000 spectators.

From Hadrian’s Arch the short Rue de Lysicrate leads to the N.W. to the beautiful choragic *=Monument of Lysikrates= (Pl. E, 7), resembling a small round temple. This is the oldest well-preserved monument in the Corinthian style, and once served as the library of that French Capuchin Convent where Lord Byron spent a night. According to the inscription above the half-columns on the S.E. side, it was erected in 335–334 by a certain Lysikrates who had won the victory in the Dionysian games. On a cubic basement rises a round building in Pentelic marble, 21½ ft. high, with six Corinthian half-columns which support a tripartite architrave and sculptured frieze. The conical roof, consisting of a single slightly convex block of marble, is crowned with a vigorous acanthus flower, on which once stood the bronze tripod won by Lysikrates. The frieze, which dates from the prime of the school of Praxiteles, represents in very low relief, partly obliterated, the punishment of the Tyrrhenian pirates who had robbed Dionysos; before the god converts them into dolphins, they are being tormented in every possible way by his attendant satyrs.

We return by the Rue de Byron (to the S.) to Amalia Street, in line with which the DIONYSIOS AREOPAGITES STREET (Pl. D, C, 7) ascends to the Acropolis.

The *=Theatre of Dionysos= (Pl. D, 7), whose entrance we soon reach, was once the centre of the dramatic art of Greece, the spot in which the masterpieces of Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes first excited delight and admiration. From the early 5th cent, this site was occupied by a round enclosed orchestra (‘dancing place’), while for each performance a stage had to be specially erected, the audience being seated in a levelled hollow in the Acropolis hill-side. In the 4th cent., mainly in the time of Lykourgos (p. 507), tiers of stone seats and a permanent stage were erected for the first time. The present semicircular orchestra, paved with marble, and the remains of the stage-building belong to Roman restorations. The Roman raised stage rested on a wall adorned with good sculptures of the time of Nero. During the Greek age the actors and the chorus, the former wearing the raised cothurnus, performed on the level space in the orchestra, while the skēnē or stage served them as a kind of booth. The proskēnion, or wooden front of the stage, formed the background of the play, and was only superseded by a stone wall with columns at the close of the late Hellenistic period. Between the rectangular wings of the stage (paraskēnia) and the lowest seats for the spectators opened the entrances for the chorus (párodoi). The auditorium was divided by narrow flights of steps into 13 ‘wedges’ (kerkides) and by two cross passages (diazomata) into three main sections. The seats, originally for 14–17,000 spectators, are only partly preserved. In the front row were marble seats for the priests and state officials; that in the centre, set apart for the priest of Dionysos, is adorned with reliefs. The pedestal to the right, behind it, bore the throne of Hadrian.

Adjoining the theatre was the _Sacred Precinct of Dionysos Eleuthereus_, the wine-dispensing god, with whose festivals the dramatic performances were connected. The walls of his temple (5th or early 4th cent.) are still partly preserved between the stage of the theatre and the modern street. Behind the stage ran a colonnade offering shelter in rainy weather; at its S.W. end once stood an older temple, the N.W. corner of which has been discovered.

The ancient buildings to the W. of the theatre of Dionysos skirt the hill-side in two terraces. The E. half of the upper terrace, on the steep slope of the castle-hill, above the conspicuous arched wall, is the site of the famous =Asklepieion=, or sacred precinct of Asklepios (Æsculapius), Hygieia, and kindred deities, with which institutions for the treatment of the sick were connected. Of the temple, founded in 420, the foundations only are left. The perpendicular side of the Acropolis is here faced with masonry, in which is the entrance to a round well-house converted into a chapel. In front of it ran a colonnade towards the W., leading to a round pit, once roofed over, which is supposed to have been used for sacrificial purposes or as the abode of the sacred serpents.

On the lower terrace, from the theatre to the Odeion, ran the _Stoa of King Eumenes II._ of Pergamon (B.C. 197–159), 180 yds. long, with its back to the masonry supporting the upper terrace.

The *=Odeion of Herodes Atticus= (Pl. C, 7; keys kept by a pensioner, in the red hut at the W. entrance; 25–50 l.), founded by a rich citizen (p. 507; about 160 A.D.), dominates all the other ruins at the foot of the castle-hill. Unlike the usual odeon or theatre for musical entertainments, this building was constructed with a view to dramatic performances. The yellowish-brown façade is constructed in the Roman round-arched style and consisted of three stories. The usual entrance is by the westmost of the three doors. A niche here contains the statue of a Roman official.

The INTERIOR affords a good example of a Roman theatre (comp. p. 510). The stage (logeion), raised 3½ ft. above the orchestra, is 38½ yds. in breadth, but only 6 yds. deep. At the back of the stage is a massive wall, broken by the usual three stage-doors and relieved by niches and a row of columns. The orchestra, 20 yds. wide, was paved with particoloured squares of marble. The auditorium, 83 yds. in diameter, could hold 5000 spectators. The tiers of seats rise in a semicircle, one above the other, on the rocky slope of the Acropolis. The lower 19 tiers were divided by steps into five, the upper (probably 13), above the transverse passage (see p. 510 and above), into ten sections. The seats, like the whole of the masonry, were coated with Pentelic marble; the lowest tier had backs. The whole edifice was covered with a superb roof of cedar-wood.

From the Dionysios Areopagites Street (p. 510), where it passes the Odeion, there diverges to the W. the avenue leading to the Acropolis, immediately to the right of which a steep path ascends on the W. side of the Odeion to the Acropolis gate.

Halfway up we diverge to the left to visit the summit of a rocky plateau (377 ft.) separated from the Acropolis by a depression, and descending abruptly to the N.E., still called as in ancient times the =Areopagus= (Pl. B, C, 6). A narrow flight of steps in the rock, partly destroyed, ascends to the site of some ancient altars, for which platforms were hewn in the rock. Here met the time-honoured court of justice, composed of noble and aged citizens who wielded supreme criminal jurisdiction. The cleft in the rock below the N.E. corner was probably connected with the cult of the avenging _Erinyes_ (Furies), or _Eumenides_ (the benevolent), as they were euphemistically called. This was the scene of Æschylus’s famous tragedy of that name.

To the S.W. of the Areopagus rock, and below (to the E. of) the modern road from the Theseion (p. 521) to the Acropolis, the OLDEST QUARTER OF THE LOWER TOWN has been partly excavated (comp. Pl. B, 7, and p. 524). Descending at the W. point of the Areopagus rock from the modern to the ancient road, we reach, on the left, the DIONYSION EN LIMNAIS (Pl. B, 7), a triangular space enclosed by an antique polygonal wall of limestone. This was the sacred precinct of Dionysos Lenæos, the inventor of the wine-press, and once contained a temple of the 7th or 6th cent. B.C., a wine-press (in the N.W. angle), and a large hall of the Roman period (in the N.E. half).

To the S. of the temple-precinct lay the _City Well of Kallirrhoë_. Peisistratos connected it with his aqueduct from the upper Ilissos valley, and provided it with nine spouts, whence it was called _Enneákrunos_.

b. The Acropolis.

The abrupt limestone plateau (512 ft.) on which stands the _Acropolis_, or castle of Athens, has formed from hoar antiquity the nucleus of all the settlements in the Attic plain. The legendary Pelasgi are said to have first levelled the top of the hill, enclosed it with a wall, and erected the so-called _Enneápylon_, an outwork with nine gates, to defend the sole approach on the W. side. The Acropolis contained the residence of the kings and the chief sanctuaries of the state. The kings afterwards transferred their seat to the lower city, Peisistratos alone preferring to reside in the Acropolis. The ancient buildings were destroyed by the Persians in 480–479. Themistokles and Kimon rebuilt the walls, and Perikles then became the chief founder of those magnificent buildings which, even in their ruins, still present the finest picture of the unrivalled art of antiquity.

Tramway, see p. 503.

The avenue mentioned above which ascends to the W. at the Odeion of Herodes Atticus brings us to the so-called Beulé Gate, on the plateau below the last steep W. slope of the **=Acropolis=. Carriages stop here. Visitors admitted till sunset.

The BEULÉ GATE, named after the French savant who discovered it, was entirely built over by bastions down to 1852, but since 1889 has formed the chief entrance to the Acropolis (side-entrance under the Nike bastion). The towers flanking the gateway were built about 50 A.D.; the gateway itself dates from 160 A.D. and is embellished with fragments from a choragic monument erected by Nikias in 319.

From the Beulé Gate we ascend a flight of marble steps, with many gaps, to the Propylæa. This staircase, which also was made in the first half of the 1st cent. A.D., replaces the steep ancient track.

The tower-like pedestal on the left, below the Propylæa, once bore a _Statue of M. Vipsanius Agrippa_, the general and son-in-law of Emp. Augustus, erected between 27 and 12 A.D.

To the right of the Propylæa projects a bastion, 26 ft. high, from which a small flight of marble steps descends, stopping short of our staircase. On this bastion rises the *=Temple of Nike= (Athena Nike, erroneously called Nike Apteros), which was reconstructed with the ancient stones in 1835–6. Its date is uncertain (probably between 440 and 410 B.C.).

Like the Propylæa this little temple, 27 ft. long and 18 ft. wide, is built entirely of Pentelic marble. It stands on a basement of three steps, and is preceded at the E. and W. ends by a portico of four Ionic columns 13 ft. high. Above the tripartite architrave runs a sculptured frieze 85 ft. long and 18 inches high. At the E. end it represents a council of the gods, among whom are Athena with her shield (in the centre) and Zeus (sitting) next to her. On the sides are battles of the Greeks with the Persians (some of them mounted). At the W. end is a conflict between Greeks and Greeks. Only a few fragments of the roof have been found; it ended on the E. and W. in pediments which were unadorned. The entrance to the cella is formed by two pillars.

On the marble cornice of the temple bastion there once rose a _Balustrade_ adorned with reliefs outside, and bearing a bronze railing. These admirable reliefs, remains of which are preserved in the Acropolis Museum (p. 520), represented goddesses of victory erecting trophies and presenting offerings in presence of Athenä.

The *VIEW from beside the Temple of Nike is justly celebrated. In the picturesque intermingling of land and sea we descry the bay of Phaleron (p. 528), the peninsula of Munychia, the Piræus (p. 494), Salamis, and its adjoining islet of Psyttaleia (p. 494). A little farther to the right, beyond the bay of Eleusis, appears the dome-like rock of Acro-Corinth, backed by distant mountains. To the right of this, but in the immediate foreground, rises the Pnyx Hill with its rock-steps. The plain is overgrown with fine old olive-groves. Above it rise Mt. Ægaleos and the hills of Megara. To the S.W., to the left of the tower-like monument of Philopappos, stretches the Saronic Gulf, bounded by Ægina, with Mt. St. Elias, and by the Argolic Mts. and the island of Hydra. To the left runs the Attic coast as far as the islet of Gaïdaronisi, off Cape Colonna.

The **=Propylæa=, the greatest secular edifice in ancient Athens, composed entirely of Pentelic marble, were erected in 437–432 B.C. by the architect _Mnesikles_. This highly artistic building consists of three parts—a central gateway with wings on the N. and S.

The CENTRAL BUILDING, ruined by an explosion in 1645, consists of a wall pierced with five openings and preceded by Doric colonnades on the E. and W. sides. Each colonnade has six columns in front, above which ran a frieze of triglyphs and metopes, crowned by a plain pediment. The _W. Colonnade_, to which three huge steps ascend, is 19 yds. wide and 17 yds. deep. Its front columns belong to the Doric order and consequently rise directly from the ground (stylobate), without bases; they are 29 ft. high, and each is fluted with twenty grooves separated by sharp edges. Behind the two central columns, which are 12½ ft. apart, and flanking the main passage there are on each side three slender Ionic columns, 33 ft. high, resting on their cushion-like bases, and grooved with twenty-four flutes separated by broad fillets. The ceiling was divided into sunk panels adorned with painting.

On the N. and S. sides the central building was bounded by massive walls, 17½ yds. long, ending in huge buttresses (antæ). Between these extended the _Gateway_ proper consisting, as above remarked, of a wall with five openings. Five marble steps ascend to the threshold, composed of black Eleusinian stone, on which the side-gates rest. The broad central gateway is without steps. All the gateways were once provided with massive folding doors.

The _E. Colonnade_ is as broad as the other, but only 23 ft. deep. Of its six Doric columns five still have their capitals, and two are connected with their architrave.

The well-preserved NORTH WING consists of a porch or vestibule, open towards the S., with three Doric columns between antæ, and an inner hall connected with it by a door and two windows. This was called the _Pinakotheka_, from its use as a receptacle for votive pictures (‘pinakes’) on marble or terracotta. The SOUTH WING, of which two columns and the back-wall only have been preserved, was never quite completed.

Passing through the E. Colonnade of the Propylæa we enter the INNER WARD of the Acropolis and ascend a gradual slope, now covered with profoundly impressive ruins. When we picture to ourselves the mighty Parthenon, on the right, and the exquisite Erechtheion on the left, in the full glory of their sculptures and colouring, surrounded by smaller sanctuaries and a forest of statues, we may well understand the enthusiastic pride of the Athenians in their unrivalled Acropolis.

From the central gateway of the Propylæa a broad pathway ascends along the main axis of the citadel. The rock has evidently been much cut away to facilitate the ascent, as we see from a glance at the rocky terrace on the right, which has a precipitous face 6½ ft. in height. Fragments of pedestals and square hollows in the rock indicate the ancient sites of numerous votive offerings.