Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/324

 306 ATHENAE. those of the temple of Aphrodite Colias mentioned bj Pansanias. The port of Phalerum was little nsed after the foundation of Peiraeens; but the place continued to exist down to the time of Pausanias. This writer mentions among its moanments temples of Demeter Zeus, and Athena Sciras, called by Plutarch {Thes, I 17) a temple of Sdrus; and altars of the Unknown sepulchre of Aristeides (Pint. Arist. 1) was at Phsr lemm. The Phaleric haj was celebrated for its fish. (For authorities, see Leake, p. 397.) B. Peiraeeua ttnd Mimychia. 1. Divitum qf Pefraeeiut and Mwmyehia, — Pei* raeeus (Ilcipaicvs: Eth, Uupcuui) was a demus belonging to the tribe Hippothontis. It contained both the rockj heights of tiie peninsula, and was separated from the plain of Athens b/ the low ground called Hali])edon, mentioned abore. Munjchia (Movio/xta) was included in Peineeus, and did not form a separate demus. Of the site of Munychia there can no longer be any doubt since the inves- tigations of Curtius (2>e Portvibua Athenarum, Halis, 1842) ; Ulnchs also had independently assigned to it the same position as Curtius. Munychia was the Acropolis of Peiraeeus. It occupied the hill immediately above the most easterly of the two smaller harbours, that is, the one nearest to Athens. This hill is now called KocrrcAAa. It is the highest point in the whole peninsula, rising 300 feet ahove the sea; and at its foot is the smallest of the three harbours. Of its military importance we shall speak presently. Leake had erroneously given the name of Munychia to a smaller height in the westerly half of the peninsula, that is, ti^e part furthest from Athens, and had supposed the greater height above described to be the Acropolis of Phalerum. 2. Fortificaiiotu and Harbours, — The whole peninsula of Pdraeeus, Including of course Muny- chia, was surrounded by Themistocles with a strong line of fortifications. The wall, which was 60 stadia in drcumforence (Thue, ii. 13), was intended to be impregnable, and was fur stronger than that of the Asty. It was carried up only half the height which Themistocles had originally contemplated (Thuc i. 93); and if Appian (Mithr. 30) is correct in stating that its actual height was 40 cubits, or about 60 fiset, a height which was always found suflScient, we per- ceive how vast was the project of Themistocles. " In respect to thickness, however, his ideas were exactly followed: two carts meeting one another brought stones, which were laid together right and left on the outer side of each, and thus formed two primary parallel walls, between which the interior space (of course at least as broad as Hie jdnt breadth of the two carts) was filled up, not with rubble, in the usual manner of the Greeks, but oonstnicted, through the whole thickness, of squared stones, cramped together with metaL The result was a solid wall probably not leas than 14 or 15 feet thick, since it was intended to carry so very unusual 2^ J * a height." (Grote, vol. v. p. 335 ; oomp. Thuc. i. 93.) The exiBting remains of tHe^ii'all described by Leake confirm this account The wall surrounded not only the whole peninsula, but also the small rocky promontory of Etioneia, from which it ran between the great harbour and the salt marsh called Halae. These fortifications were connected with those of the Asty by means of the Long Walls, which ATHENAfi. have been already described. [See p. 259, seq.] It is usually stated that the architect employed by The- mistocles in his erection of these fortifications, and in the building of the town of Peiraeeus, was Hippo- damus of Miletus; but C. F. Hermann has brought forward good reasons for believing that, though the fortifications of Peiraeeus were erected by Themis- tocles, it was foirned into a regularly planned town by Pericles, who employed Hippodamus for this purpose. Hippodamus laid oot the town with broad straight streets, crossing each other at right aogl««| which thus formed a striking contrast with Hie nar* row and crooked streets dF Athens. (Hermann, Ditpuiatio de ffippodamo MUeriOj Marburg, 1 84 1 .) The entrances to the three haibonrs of Peiraeeus were rendered very narrow by means of moles, which left only a passage in the middle for two or three triremes to pass abreast These moles were a continuation of the walls of Peiraeeus, which ran down to either side of the mouths of the harbours; and the three entrances to the har- bours (ra KTBpa iStv Xifiivw) thus formed, m it were, three lai^e sea-gates in the walk. Either end of each mole was protected by a tower; and across the entrance chains were extended in time of war. Harbours of this kind were called by the ancients dosed ports (icAcurrol Aifi^vf s ), and the walls were called x^^^'^t or <Ja»Sj fiom their stretch- ing out into the sea like the claws of a crab. It is stated by ancient authorities that the three harbours of the Peiraeeus were dosed ports (Hesych. s, v, Zca; SchoL ad Aristoph. Pae. 145; comp. Thuc. ii. 94; Plut Demetr. 7; Xen. Hell ii. 2. § 4); and in each of them we find remains of the dtelae, or moles. Hence these three harboun cannot mean, as Leake supposed, three divisions of the lar^ger harbour since there are traces of only one set of chelae in the latter, and it is impossible to understand how it could have been divided into three dosed ports. (i.) Phandrif the smallest of the three harbours, was anciently called Muktchia, from the fortress rising above it It was only used by ships of war ; and we learn, from the inscriptions already refen*ed to, that it contained 82 vednroucoi^ or ship-houses. This harbour was formerly supposed to be Phalerum ; but it was quite unsuitable for trading purposes, being shut in by steep heights, and haviiig no di- rect communication with the Asty. Moreover, we can hardly conceive the Athenians to have been so blind as to have used this harbour for centuries, and to have neglected the more commodious haibours of StratiotUd and Drdko^ in its immediate vicinity. The modem name of Phandri is probably owing to a lighthouse having stood at its entrsnoe in the Byzantine period. (ii.) Straiiotiki (called Paschalimdni by Ulrichs), the middle of the three harbours, is the ancient Zea (24a)y erroneously called by the earlier topographers Munychia. (Timeaus, Lex.j Plat. ; Phot. Lex. s. v. Z^a.) It was the Lirgest of the three harbours for ships of war, since it contained 196 ship-houses, whereas Munychia had only 82, and Cantharos only 94. Some of the ship-houses at Zea appear to hava been still in existence in the time of Pausanias; for though he does not mention Zea, the veuaoucoi which he speaks of (i. 1. § 3) were apparently at this port. This harbour probably derived its name from Artonis, who was worshipped among the Athenians under the surname of Zea, and not, as Meursius supposed, from the corn-vessels, which were confined to the Empo- rium in the great harbour.
 * Gods, of the Sons of Theseus, and of Phalerus. The