Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/13

Rh The revolution which expelled the Pisistratids (510 B.C.), and gave Athens a free government, left its mark upon the topography of the city. The old Pelasgic fortress (TO EvveaTTuAov), in which &quot; the tyrants &quot; had for a time held out, was now broken down, and the site occupied by its ruins was devoted by the Delphic oracle to eternal desolation. Only in the Peloponnesian war, when the country population was crowded within the city walls, do we read of this spot being occupied by dwellings (Thucyd., ii. 17). Another work which may probably be assigned to the age of Clisthenes is the first arrangement of the Pnyx, or place of public assembly. The hill that is commonly known as the Pnyx Hill contains one of the most remarkable ruins in Athens ; the silence, however, of Pausanius respecting what was probably in his day already a mere ruin has occasioned some doubt concerning its proper identification. The spot in question consists of two terraces sloping down the hill towards the Areopagus, from S.W. to N.E. The upper terrace, indeed, does not slope, but is levelled out of the solid rock near the summit of the hill, being about 65 yards in length (E. to &quot;W.), and about 43 in breadth at its broadest part (N. to S.) It is bounded at the back (S.) by a rock-wall, and at the W. end there stands a cubical block, allowed to rise out of the solid rock when this upper terrace was levelled. There is good reason for considering this as the altar for the sacrifices (TO. Trepurrta) with which every assembly of the ecclesia was opened (Bursian, Philologus, 1854, p. 369, foil.; Dyer, Athens, p. 462). The lower and considerably larger terrace is separated from the upper terrace by another wall cut out of the solid rock. This wall, which is nearly 126 yards long, is not quite straight, but encroaches slightly upon the upper terrace, and forms at the centre a very obtuse angle. At this point there rises, projecting from the wall, a large cubical mass, cut out of the solid rock, resembling somewhat, though on a larger scale, the altar described above. It is itself 11 feet square and 5 feet high, and stands on a plat form consisting of three very massive steps. This remarkable monument has been recognised by tradition as the a-KaXa TOV A^/Aoo-fleveos, and almost every traveller since Chandler s time has regarded it as no other than the famous bema of the ancient Athenian assembly. The rock-wall from which it projects forms the chord of a vast semicircular space, the enclosure of its arc being a wall of &quot; Cyclopean &quot; masonry. The radius of the semicircle measures between 76 and 77 yards from this outer wall to the bema. Here, then, was the auditorium of the Pnyx. But several difficulties beset the identification. Towards the bottom of the lower bema Prof. E. Curtius (Attische Studien, pt. i.) has discovered another similar though smaller bema. Again, Plutarch asserts that the bema which had originally faced towards the sea was by the Thirty Tyrants turned round the other way, in their hatred of the maritime democracy. More over, if the block of marble above mentioned be rightly identified as the bema, then it would have the auditorium sloping downwards from it, an arrangement ill suited for addressing a tumultuous popular assembly. Dr Curtius accordingly pronounces the entire identification to be a mistake, and would regard this spot as a primitive precinct and rock-altar of the Most High Zeus. It would not be difficult, if space allowed, to disprove Dr Curtius s theory. Far more reasonable is the view of Dr Dyer ( A thens, App. iil) He thinks that the lower and smaller bema dis covered by Dr Curtius was the bema of Clisthenes, which did (however much Plutarch s statement is discredited by his own absurd explanation) face in the direction of the sea. The orator would thus speak from the arc of the semicircle, having the audience above him. The Thirty may well have defaced the Pnyx, and it would have been natural for Thrasybulus after the anarchy to restore it on a large scale, hewing out what is still known as the bema. giving the semicircular wall a wider sweep, and raising the tiers of seats at least to a level with the new bema, if not above it. For there is no reason to suppose that the surface of the lower terrace has undergone no change in the lapse of centuries, or that the &quot; Cyclopean&quot; wall surrounding it never exceeded its present height. A building of greater architectural importance and of The Diony- equal interest belongs to this same period. Dramatic siactheatre. performances at Athens originally took place in wooden theatres extemporised for the occasion ; but the fall of one of these led, in the year 500 B.C., to the erection of the marble theatre on a site already consecrated to Dionysus as the Lenasum, upon the S.E. slope of the Acropolis. (Suidas, s. v. Upo/rims.) We may be sure that the first stone theatre was comparatively simple in construction, consisting of a KotXov or auditorium, with tiers of rock-hewn seats, and an opxqo-Tpd, or space for the chorus, while the stage itself and its furniture were of wood. The excavation of the Dionysiac theatre in 1862 has made every one familiar with the row of marble thrones for the various priests and officers of state, the elaborate masonry of the stage, the orchestra floor, and other features. But these and other interesting decora tions of the theatre belong to a later age. It was under the administration of Lycurgus the orator (337 B.C.) that the building was first really completed ; and many of the sculptures which have been lately brought to light belong to a restoration of the theatre in the 2d, or perhaps even in the 3d, century A.D. 1 Enough has now been said of the condition of Athens before the Persian War. It was surrounded by a ring-wall Thesean of narrow circuit, some doubtful traces of which are sup- wa ^- posed to remain. At its centre stood the Acropolis, already crowded with temples and sanctuaries, some upon tho summit, some built at its foot, and others like the famous grotto of Pan, on the N.W. slope mere caves in its rocky Grotto of sides. Pan. The Persian invasion, which forced the Athenians to take After the refuge in their &quot; wooden walls,&quot; and to leave their city at Persian the mercy of the barbarian, marked an important epoch in war - the annals of Athenian building. Upon the retreat of Mar- donius, the Athenians returned to Attica to find their city virtually in ruins. Its fortifications and public buildings had been destroyed or burnt, and the private dwellings had been wantonly defaced or ruined by neglect. Amid the enthusiasm of hope which followed upon the great deliverance of Greece, a natural impulse led the Athenians to rear their city more glorious from its ruins. Themis tocles fanned their patriotism with the foresight of a statesman, and Athens rose again with marvellous rapidity. This haste, however, though creditable to their patriotism, and, indeed, necessary in order to forestall the jealous op position of Sparta, was not without its evils. The houses were rebuilt on their old sites, and the lines of the old streets, narrow and irregular as they had been, were too readily followed. A similar haste marked the rebuilding of the city walls, a work in which men and women, old and young, took zealous part, not scrupling to dismantle any building or monument, private or public, which could sup ply materials for the building. But in rebuilding the walls Rebuilding Themistocles gave them a wider circuit, especially towards of | he the N. and N.E. (Thucyd., i. 90, 93). At the same time w he determined to construct new harbours, and to fortify the Piraeeus, regarding the navy of Athens as her principal source of strength. It is doubtful whether the &quot; Long Walls &quot; formed a distinct portion of his designs ; but he may certainly be regarded as the founder of the greatness 1 The best account yet given of the Dionysiac theatre is to be found in Dr Dyer s recent work on Athens.

