Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/72

Rh times called Corydallus, and this, we are told by Diodorus (iv. 59), was the scene of the contest.

Next in order to the plain of Eleusis came that of Athens, which is the most extensive of all, reaching from the foot of Parnes to the sea, and bounded on the west by ^Egaleos, and on the east by Hymettus. Its most con spicuous feature is the broad line of dark green along its western side, formed by the olive-groves of Colonus and the gardens of the Acadernus, which owe their fertility to the waters of the Cephisus, by which they are irrigated. This river is fed by copious sources on the side of Mount Parnes, and thus, unlike the other rivers of Attica, has a constant supply of water; but it does not reach the sea, nor did it apparently in classical times, having been diverted, then as now, into the neighbouring plantations; for this is what Sophocles means when he speaks of " the sleepless fountains of Cephisus, which stray forth from their channels" ((Ed. Col., 685 seq.) The position of Colonus itself is marked by two bare knolls of lightcoloured earth, which caused the poet in the same chorus to apply the epithet "white" (d/jy^ra) to that place. On the opposite side of the plain runs the other river, the Ilissus, which rises from a beautiful fountain in Mount Hymettus, and skirts the eastern extremity of the city of Athens; but this, notwithstanding its celebrity, is a mere brook, which stands in pools a great part of the year, and in summer is completely dry. The situation of Athens relatively to the surrounding objects is singularly harmonious; for, while it forms a central point, so as to be the eye of the plain, and while the altar-rock of the Acropolis and the hills by which it is surrounded are conspicuous from every point of view, there is no such exactness in its position as to give for mality, since it is nearer to the sea than to Parnes, and nearer to Hymettus than to ^Egaleos. The most striking summit in the neighbourhood of the city is that of Lycabettus, now Mount St George, on the north-eastern side; and the variety is still further increased by the continua tion of the ridge which it forms for some distance north wards through the plain. Three roads lead to Athens from the Boeotian frontier over the intervening mountain barrier the easternmost over Parnes, from Delium and Oropus by Deceleia, which was the usual route of the in vading Lacedaemonians during the Peloponnesian War; the westernmost over Cithseron, by the pass of Dryoscephalae, or the " Oakheads," leading from Thebes by Plataea to Eleusis, and so to Athens, which we hear of in connection with the battle of Plataea, and with the escape of the Plataeans at the time of the siege of that city in the Pelo ponnesian War; the third, midway between the two, by the pass of Phyle, near the summit of which, on a rugged height overlooking the Athenian plain, is the fort occupied by Thrasybulus in the days of the Thirty Tyrants. On the sea-coast to the south-west of Athens rises the hill of Munychia, a mass of rocky ground, forming the acropolis of the town of Piraeeus, which was once separated from the mainland; for Strabo (i. 3, 18) speaks of it as having been formerly an island. On one side of this, towards Hymettus, lay the open roadstead of Phalerum, on the other the harbour of Piraeeus, a completely land-locked inlet, safe, deep, and spacious, the approach to which was still further narrowed by moles. The eastern side of the hill was further indented by two small but commodious havens, which were respectively called Zea and Munychia.

The north-eastern boundary of the plain of Athens is formed by the graceful pyramid of Pentelicus, which re ceived its name from the deme of Pentele at its foot, but was far more commonly known as Brilessus in ancient times. This mountain did not form a continuous chain with Hy mettus, for between them intervenes a level space of ground two miles in width, which formed the entrance to the Mesogsea, an elevated undulating plain in the midst of the mountains, reaching nearly to Sunium. At the extremity of Hymettus, where it projects into the Saronic Gulf, was the promontory of Zoster, or " the Girdle," which was so called because it girdles and protects the neighbouring harbour; but in consequence of the name, a legend was attached to it, to the effect that Latona had loosed her girdle there. From this promontory to Sunium there runs a lower line of mountains, and between these and the sea a fertile strip of land intervenes, which was called the Paralia. Beyond Sunium, on the eastern coast, were two safe ports, that of Thoricus, which is defended by the island of Helene, forming a natural breakwater in front of it, and that of Prasiae, now called Porto Raphti, or "the Tailor," from a statue at the entrance to which the natives have given that name. But it still remains to mention the most famous spot of ground in Attica, the little plain of Marathon, which lay in the north-east corner, encircled on three sides by Parnes and Pentelicus, while the fourth faces the sea and the opposite coast of Euboca. It was on the mountain slopes that the Greeks were stationed, while the Persians with their ships occupied the coast; and on the two sides the marshes may still be traced by which the movements of the invader's host were impeded. The mound, which at once attracts the eye in the centre of the level plain, is probably the burial-place of the Athenians who fell in the battle. The bay in front is sheltered by Euboea, and is still more protected from the north by a projecting tongue of land, called Cynosura. The mountains in the neigh bourhood were the seat of one of the political parties in Attica, the Diacrii or Hyperacrii, who, being poor moun taineers, and having nothing to lose, were the principal advocates of change; while, on the other hand, the Pedieis, or inhabitants of the plains, being wealthy landholders, formed the strong conservative element, and the Parali, or occupants of the sea-coast, representing the mercantile in terest, held an intermediate position between the two. Finally, there was one district of Attica, that lay without its natural boundaries, the territory of Oropus, which pro perly belonged to Boeotia, as it was situated to the north of Parnes; but on this the Athenians always endeavoured to retain a firm hold, because it facilitated their communi cations with Euboea. The command of that island was of the utmost importance to them; for, if ^Egina could rightly be called " the eyesore of the Pirseeus," Euboea was quite as truly a thorn in the side of Attica; for we learn from Demos thenes (De Cor., p. 307) that at one period the pirates that made it their headquarters so infested the neighbouring sea as to prevent all navigation.

Of the condition of Attica in mediaeval and modern times Present little need be said, for it has followed for the most part conditior the fortunes of Athens. The population, however, has undergone a great change, independently of the large ad mixture of Slavonic blood that has affected the Greeks of the mainland generally, by the immigration of Albanian colonists, who now occupy a great part of the country. The most important of the classical ruins that remain out side Athens are those of the temple of Athena at Sunium, which form a conspicuous object as they surmount the headland, and gave rise to the name which it bore, until lately, of Cape Colonnse; it is in the Doric style, of white marble, and 13 columns of the temple and a pilaster are now standing. At Eleusis the foundations of the propyIcea of the great temple of Demeter and other buildings have been laid bare by excavation; at Thoricus there are remains of an ancient theatre; and at Rhamnus, northward from Marathon, at a little distance from the sea, are the basements and some of the columns of two temples in the same enclosure, which were dedicated to Nemesis and Themis.