Part 76

The terrace of rock just mentioned, to which nine low steps ascend farther on, once bore the temple of _Artemis Braurōnia_, but is now strewn with beams and fragments of ceiling from the Propylæa (panels with traces of blue colouring). The terrace is bounded on the W. by a fragment of a broad wall belonging to the original Pelasgic fortifications (p. 512).—Another rock-terrace, about 2½ ft. higher, and also cut perpendicularly, to the E. of the Brauronion, is supposed to have been the place where, without any actual temple, _Athena_ was worshipped as _Ergánē_, the mistress and inventor of every art. To the S. of this terrace we observe traces of walls which, together with the S. wall itself, seem to have formed a gigantic building. It was perhaps the _Chalkotheka_, an arsenal where not only implements of war but also bronze votive offerings, and other objects were kept. Towards the Parthenon the terrace had nine narrow steps on which votive offerings were deposited.

About forty paces from the Propylæa, straight on, we come to a large cutting in the rock, the supposed site of the bronze statue of _Athena Promachos_, about 26 ft. high, by Phidias, erected with the booty of Marathon. The goddess was represented in full armour, with shield and lance. The gilded point of the lance, gleaming in the sun, was a landmark for sailors rounding Cape Colonna. The principal roadway, once used by the festal processions, passes between the Erechtheion and the Parthenon to the E. front of the latter.

The **=Parthenon=, the most perfect monument of ancient art, once far surpassing all other Athenian buildings in the brilliancy of its plastic and polychrome decoration, and even in its ruins a marvel of majestic beauty, stands on the highest S. margin of the Acropolis precincts. On this site, as early as the middle of the 6th cent., a large temple was begun, adjoining the ancient Hekatompedon (p. 518), in poros or Piræan stone, and after the battle of Marathon down to the Persian occupation was continued in marble. In the time of Perikles, after 447, the whole edifice as it now stands was rebuilt in Pentelic marble. The architects were _Iktinos_ and _Kallikrates_, but Perikles himself presided over the works and provided the funds. The external sculptures are attributed to _Phidias_ and his pupils. The temple was probably opened for worship in 438, on the occasion of the erection of the statue of Athena at the Panathenæan Festival. This marvellous work must therefore have been completed within ten years. Its decoration alone included 98 columns, 50 life-size statues for the pediments, a frieze 524 ft. long, 92 metopes, and a gold and ivory figure of Athena 43 ft. high.

On the massive basement in three steps, whose _Stylobate_, or platform for the colonnade, measures 75½ by 33 yds., rise 46 Doric columns averaging 34 ft. high, eight at each end and seventeen on each side (the corner-columns being counted twice). On the abaci of the columns rests the undivided _Architrave_ or _Epistyle_, above which runs a _Triglyph Frieze_, the most characteristic feature of the Doric order. This consists of _triglyphs_ or triple grooves, alternating with _metopes_ or flat spaces, which in this case are adorned with reliefs. Above the frieze is the _geison_, or lowest flat moulding of the cornice, while below each triglyph hang _regulae_ (_guttae_, or drops), corresponding with drops above it. The triglyphs and drops were painted blue, the ground of the metopes blue or red, and the lower surface of the geison and the continuous moulding above the frieze and architrave red. The smooth spaces in front were left white, as were also the columns, with the exception of the four rings or annuli below the capitals.

The gable-roof rose at an angle of 13½°. At each end is a pediment, framing the _tympanum_, or receding space for statuary 91½ ft. long, 3 ft. deep, and in the centre 10½ ft. high. It was painted red at the back, so as to throw the statues into strong relief. The raised edges (_simae_) of the external members of the pediment, 18½ inches high, are intended to prevent the rain-water from escaping over the front; they were adorned with wreaths of foliage. The pediment was crowned with a boldly executed palmette, and at each corner was placed a golden oil-jar.—The roof, resting partly on timber and partly on stone framework, consisted of slabs of Parian marble 1¼ in. thick; it was edged with artistic _antefixae_, or hollowed tiles, between which the rain-water escaped. The lions’ heads at the ends of each side were purely ornamental.

The _Cella_, or sanctuary proper, enclosed by the outer colonnades, is raised two steps above the stylobate. At each end a portico is formed by six Doric columns, 33 ft. high, and by the projecting sides. Above the architrave, round the whole building ran a frieze, of which hardly any traces remain except on the W. side (comp. p. 517).—The porticos were closed by high bronze railings between the columns. From the E. portico massive folding doors led into the interior, which was divided by a partition into an eastern and a smaller western section. The former, the inner sanctuary, was known as the _Hekatompedon_, being ‘100 ft. long’ (comp. p. 518). It was divided into three aisles by two rows of Doric columns (9 in each). On a square of darker stone in the pavement stood the famous gold and ivory statue of Athena Parthenos by Phidias. The ceiling was of wood in lacunars, which were doubtless richly coloured. Light was admitted by the door alone. The walls were painted dark-red, but no adequate idea can now be formed of the original wealth of colouring.—Between the partition and the W. portico, which is supposed to have formed a kind of treasury (_opisthodomos_), lay the W. section of the cella, 14 yds. in depth, sometimes called the _Parthenon_ in the narrower sense.

The crowning glory of the Parthenon consisted in its plastic decoration, executed under the direction of _Phidias_. Most of the sculptures still preserved were taken to London by Lord Elgin in 1802–3 and are now in the British Museum, but there are several others in the Acropolis Museum (see p. 519).

The _E. Tympanum_ was devoted to the nativity of Athena. All that remains of its sculptures in their original position consists of two horses’ heads belonging to the chariot of the rising Helios, on the left, and remains of a horse’s head of the chariot of the setting Selene, on the right. In the _W. Tympanum_, which illustrated the victory of Athena over Poseidon in their contest for the possession of Attica, are still seen, near the left angle, a half-recumbent male figure, round whose neck is the arm of a kneeling woman (Æsculapius and Hygieia?), and in the right angle a female figure supposed to be Kallirrhoë (p. 512).

The _Metope Reliefs_ are of inferior artistic value. Of the 92 there still exist the 28 at each end and 12 on the N. side. They represent the conflicts of the gods with the Giants (E.), of the Lapithæ and Athenians with the Centaurs (S.), of the Athenians with the Amazons (W.), and lastly the siege of Troy. The high relief in some cases assumes an almost entirely rounded form.

The masterpiece of Attic bas-relief is the *_Frieze_ of the cella wall, 175 yds. long and 39 in. high. On the W. front the greater part of it has been preserved, but on the S. side there are only scanty fragments. Twenty-two slabs are now in the Acropolis Museum (see p. 519). The reliefs represented the festal procession in which every four years, at the close of the Panathenæa, the maidens of Athens presented the goddess with a magnificent woven robe. Over the chief entrance is the presentation of the robe to Athena; to the right and left of it are the assembled gods; on the sides and at the back are Athenians. The figures were executed in low relief of 2–2½ in. only, in order to prevent strong shadows being thrown by the light entering the covered hall from below. The effect was enhanced by painting and mountings in metal.

In the hollows on the S. side of the Parthenon, far below, may be traced the line of the _Pelasgic Wall_ (p. 512), which was covered up when the terrace of the temple was formed. Excavations here, and notably also to the N.W. of the Erechtheion, brought to light a number of archaic statues and architectural fragments dating from the Persian destruction.

Near the N. margin of the Acropolis precincts, but in a slight depression, rises the **=Eréchtheion=, the temple of the tutelary goddess _Athena Poliás_ and the other deities of the city. The building was probably begun soon after the Peace of Nikias (421), but only completed in 407 or after 400. It contained chambers for the cult of Athena and Poseidon Erechtheus, while the vestibule had an entrance to the salt-spring produced by Poseidon. But the temple is now sadly ruined, having served in the middle ages as a church and afterwards as a Turkish harem. Since 1902, however, the ancient fragments have been pieced together, and they now afford a fairly complete idea of the exterior of the building, which differed from that of the ordinary temples.

The nucleus of the edifice (24 by 12 yds.) rises on a threefold basement in steps, and the sanctuary was entered by three porticos (E., S., and N.) of charmingly varied type.

The _E. Portico_ was formed by six Ionic columns in front, the northmost of which has been broken down. Their rich capitals bear the tripartite epistyle (p. 515); above it are dark blocks of stone to which the relief figures of the frieze were attached.

Between the E. portico and the Acropolis Wall twelve broad steps, partly modern, descend to the terrace of rock, about 10 ft. lower, on which stands the _N. Portico_. Its six columns display a still greater wealth of sculpturing than those of the E. portico. The ceiling is relieved by lacunars. The great main doorway is specially rich and well preserved. The three holes in the rock below the N. side of the N. colonnade were pointed out in ancient times as the indentations made by Poseidon’s trident during his contest with Athena for possession of Athens. Above them the pavement and roof were left open.—The W. façade of the temple, in front of which lay the _Pandroseion_, or shrine of Pandrosos, daughter of Cecrops, was originally articulated by four columns, resting upon a high parapet. The existing arrangement, of pilasters engaged in a wall with windows, dates from the Roman period.

The *_Colonnade of the Caryatides_ at the S.W. angle is particularly charming. Instead of columns, six statues of virgins, over life-size (7½ ft.), placed on a parapet, support the roof, the weight of which they bear with ease and grace. The ancient Athenians called them simply the _Korai_ (maidens). The second figure from the W. is a copy in terracotta; the one standing back in the E. row has been restored.

To the S. of the Erechtheion are the foundations (37½ by 14½ yds.) of the so-called =Hekatómpedon= (early 6th cent.), on the site of the palace of Erechtheus. The name (‘100 ft. long’) is evidenced by an inscription. Peisistratos and his sons embellished it with a colonnade. After its destruction by the Persians it was probably restored without the colonnade. Opinions differ as to its object and as to its history after the completion of the Erechtheion. It had a front (E.) chamber of three aisles and a narrow chamber at the back (W.), with two small rooms between them.

To the _Palace of Erechtheus_, the ancient residence of the Attic kings, belonged the foundations to the E. of the Erechtheion. So also did the poros (Piræan stone) bases of columns, lying opposite the S.E. angle of the colonnade of the Caryatides, 5 ft. lower; their extremely archaic form, with the shaft of the column embedded in the base, points to the Mycenæan period.

We now return to the Parthenon. To the E. of it once stood a small round _Temple of the Goddess Roma and the Emp. Augustus_, round the foundations of which lie fragments of its architrave. Opposite the N.E. corner of the Parthenon are the remains of a sacrificial altar of Athena.—At the S.E. angle of the precincts the huge masonry of the _Kimonian Wall_ (p. 512) may be seen.

The =Belvedere= at the N.E. angle of the Acropolis affords the best survey of the city. To the S.E. are the columns of the Olympieion, with the distant Hymettos; nearer rises Hadrian’s Arch; in the foreground is the monument of Lysikrates; then the royal Palace and its gardens; beyond them are Lykabettos and the gable-shaped Pentelikon; in the town, a little to the left, shine the dazzling marble buildings of the Academy, the University, and the Library; to the N. of these runs the Patisia road; more to the left rises the lofty Metropolis Church, with the small Metropolis nestling beside it; in the centre of the N. slope of the Acropolis rises the Tower of the Winds; adjacent is the Bazaar with Hadrian’s Stoa; to the W. is the Theseion, and beyond it the Kephisos Valley with its olive-groves, and Mt. Parnes with its S. spur Mt. Ægaleos.

The *=Acropolis Museum=, erected in 1878, contains all the sculptures of the Acropolis, except those previously removed, and the yield of later excavations. Besides works of the golden age, it comprises valuable examples of the earlier periods of art. Adm., see p. 504.

From the VESTIBULE, containing antiques of various ages, we enter (left) Room I, where the chronological order begins.

ROOM I. Archaic sculptures in poros (6th cent.). Straight before us, No. 3. Bull attacked by two lions; above this, and by the right wall: 1, 2. Tympana with statues of Hercules (with traces of painting). By the window-wall: 9, 10. Deities enthroned, from a tympanum of the pre-Peisistrateian Hekatompedon (p. 518).

ROOM II. Remains of the tympanum groups in poros from the Hekatompedon just mentioned: 36. Hercules with the Triton; 35. Figure with three bodies (‘Typhon’); 40. Remains of two large serpents in poros stone, showing abundant traces of painting (comp. water-colour on the wall).

ROOM III. Figures (idols), tablets, and architectural fragments in terracotta, some with admirably preserved painting. Specially noteworthy, at the entrance, No. 67. A warrior (6–5th cent.).

ROOM IV. Fragments of marble sculptures; architectural ornaments in terracotta, poros, and marble, some of them painted. On the right, the tympanum figures from Peisistratos’s colonnade round the old Hekatompedon (p. 518): Athena fighting with the Giants.

ROOM V. Archaic marbles (6th cent.), incl. (on the right of the entrance) 624. _Calf-Bearer_ (youth bringing a calf to the altar).

ROOM VI. Archaic *_Draped Female Figures_, erected in the Acropolis in the 2nd half of the 6th cent. as votive offerings, but buried in the rubbish after its destruction (480), also with interesting traces of painting. No. 681 is by Antenor, author of the tyrannicide group (comp. p. 506); No. 686 is the most recent.

ROOM VII. Later archaic marbles, notably (in the centre, under glass) No. 689. Beautiful head of a youth; also two graceful reliefs, 695. Athena, and 702. Hermes and three women—Above, along the walls, _Metopes from the Parthenon_ (p. 517), few of them original; the finest, a Centaur carrying off one of the Lapithæ.

ROOM VIII. _Sculptures from the Parthenon_: Statues from the tympana and reliefs from the frieze, those in the British Museum being represented by casts. In the centre of the room a reconstruction of the tympanum groups, according to Furtwängler. By the wall on the right are remains of the E. tympanum (p. 517), two torsos only being originals. No. 880 (in the centre). Hephæstus; on the right, 881. Selene. Above are remains of the W. tympanum; in the centre, 885. Poseidon.

Most interesting of all is the better-preserved **Parthenon Frieze, of which nearly 28 yds. are almost entirely original (partly replaced by casts). To the right of the entrance, 856. Three deities, Aphrodite (?), Apollo, and Poseidon; below these, 857. Three youths with cows for sacrifice. Then, on the right, 877. Four women with silver or gold basins; 875. Three men with musical instruments. We note also several slabs from the procession of horsemen and chariots. To the right of the entrance, 860. Youth with sacrificial sheep.

ROOM IX. On the right, beautiful reliefs from the Nike balustrade (p. 513); in the centre of the front row, *973. _Nike loosening her sandal_. On the left, Nos. 1071–78. Fragments of the relief-frieze of the Erechtheion.

c. Walk from the Palace to the Theseion. Dipylon. Hill of the Nymphs. Pnyx. Monument of Philopappos.

The upper or E. end of the RUE D’HERMÈS (Pl. E-B, 5), which leads to the W. from the Place de la Constitution, is one of the chief business quarters of Athens. Among the wares sold in the shops here are Oriental silks and woollen stuffs and antiquities, the latter dear and sometimes spurious.

A few paces to the S. of the Rue d’Hermès rises the =Metropolitan Church= (Pl. E, 5), erected in 1840–55 with the materials of seventy smaller churches and chapels, and sumptuously fitted up in the interior. Adjoining it on the S. is the so-called *=Little Metropolis=, or church of _Panagia Gorgópiko_, of the early 9th cent., the oldest extant Byzantine edifice on Greek soil. The walls, composed of antique blocks of stone, contain many ancient and Byzantine sculptures.

Halfway along the Rue d’Hermès is the KAPNIKARÆA CHURCH (Pl. D, 5), a complex Byzantine building (9th cent.?). Just beyond it we cross the busy—

RUE D’EOLE (Pl. D, 6–3), the second main street of the old town, where men in Greek costume are often seen. Following it to the S., towards the Acropolis, and passing the Place Panteleēmon, we come to the old _Bazaar_ (Pl. D, 5), where tailors, shoemakers, and smiths ply their crafts in their open workshops.

Adjoining the bazaar on the S. is =Hadrian’s Library= (Pl. D, 5), with its back to the Rue d’Eole, a massive edifice of 134 by 90 yds.

A gate (keys at the provision-shop opposite) leads from the Rue d’Eole into the quadrangle, once bordered with a colonnade. The columns still standing and the building in the middle are restorations. On the wall of the large hall on the E. side are seen the places where the bookshelves were attached, as in the Pergamon library.

On the W. side of the library, reached from the outside, still stands the N. half of the main façade, known as _Hadrian’s Stoa_. The marble wall is embellished with seven monolithic columns, 28 ft. high, with rich Corinthian capitals. An eighth column with the wall of the _anta_ belonged to the colonnade of the chief portal.—Near this is the _Stoa of Attalos_ (p. 521).

At the S. end of the Rue d’Eole rises the so-called =Tower of the Winds= (Pl. D, 6; custodian 20–30 l.), a well-preserved octagonal marble edifice of the 1st cent. B.C., more accurately named the _Horológion of Andronikos_ of Kyrrhos. On the upper spaces of the eight walls, which are turned towards the different points of the compass, are reliefs representing the various winds; below are seen the lines of sun-dials. The round channels in the pavement inside, into which water flowed from a semicircular cistern outside, belonged to a water-clock.

Lanes and steps ascend here to the S. to a path skirting the N. slope of the Acropolis and leading to the right to its entrance (10 min.; p. 512).

A large paved quadrangle to the W. of the Tower of the Winds is supposed to have been a _Roman Macellum_ (Agora or market). It is entered from the W. by the =Market Gate= (_Porte de l’Agora_; Pl. C, 6). Four slender Doric columns, 26 ft. high, support a massive architrave with a frieze of triglyphs and metopes and a fairly well preserved pediment. According to the inscription on the architrave the gateway was erected about the time of the birth of Christ. In line with the N. central column is a tablet of Hadrian’s age, inscribed with regulations about the prices of oil, salt, etc.

From the Market Gate we follow the Poikile Street to the W. to the Stoōn Street and descend the latter to the right. The second crooked side-street on the right then leads to the entrance (red door on the right; keeper 20 l.) of the =Stoa of Attalos= (Pl. C, 5, 6). This grand, two-storied market-hall was erected, as the inscription on the architrave, pieced together in front of the colonnade, records, by king Attalos II. of Pergamon (B. C. 159–138). It was 123 yds. long and 22 yds. deep, and formed the E. boundary of the Kerameikos market (p. 522). The groundfloor contained 21 closed chambers 16 ft. deep, in front of which ran a long colonnade. The traders probably had their stalls in the hall, while the closed rooms were used for storage.

We now descend to the N., across the railway cutting, to the Rue d’Adrien, follow the latter to the left for a hundred paces, and turn to the left (S.) into Eponymōn Street; here, on the left, sixty paces farther, is the _Stoa of the Giants_ (Pl. G.; C, 5), a ruin so named from its three great Atlantes (beam-bearers).

A little farther to the W., on the ancient _Kolonos Agoraeos_ (‘Hill of the Market’; see p. 522), rises the **=Theseion= (Pl. B, 5), the best-preserved of all the ancient Greek buildings. The massive construction, the lifelike sculptures, and the dark golden hue of the Pentelic marble are singularly impressive. The temple, commonly called Theseion, and converted into the church of St. George in the Christian period, is now supposed to have been dedicated to _Hephaestos and Athena_. The style of the building and its sculptures have led different authorities to assign its erection to a date a little before or a little after that of the Parthenon. At all events it was completed by 421 B. C., as an inscription records the setting up in that year of the two sacred images.

The temple stands on a marble basement in two steps, 35 by 15 yds., and is enclosed by 34 Doric columns, 18 ft. high, 6 at each end and 13 on each side (the corner-columns being counted twice). They are rather more slender than those of the Parthenon, and like them lean slightly inwards. Above the architrave, which is undivided, runs a Doric frieze of triglyphs and metopes, encircling the whole building. The metopes, however, are adorned with sculpture only on the main (E.) façade and the immediately adjoining spaces on each side. In front are depicted the exploits of Hercules, on the sides those of Theseus. The building is crowned with a cornice and pediments. The statuary of the tympana has disappeared.

The nucleus of the temple consists of the cella, 13 yds. long, at each end of which is a vestibule, formed by the antæ and two columns between them, and opening on to the colonnade. The E. vestibule now has a modern wall with a built-up door instead of the columns. The coffered ceiling on this side has been preserved intact. The W. vestibule retains its original aspect, except that a door has been broken through the wall at the back. The upper part of the cella wall is embellished, as in the Parthenon, with a relief-frieze (in Parian marble), which here, however, is limited to the two façades and the eastmost part of the sides. The E. part of the frieze represents a battle (between the Athenians and the Pelasgians?), witnessed by the gods. The W. frieze portrays the struggle of the Lapithæ and Athenians against the Centaurs.—The interior of the temple contains nothing of special interest.

Many Englishmen were buried within this temple in the Turkish period.

To the E. and N. of the Theseion lay the _Kerameikos_, or potters’ quarter, to which, in the 6th cent., the =Market= was transferred from the S.W. slope of the Acropolis. This, like the Forum at Rome, was the centre of classical Athens.