Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/435

 1 4o8 Primitive Greece : Mycenian Art. portion of the rocky mass ; a coarse limestone pervaded with bluish and red patches, which a bed of marl separates from schistose deposits forming the foundations of the Attic heights. The rampart is composed of almost unsquared stones, smaller than at Tiryns, rougher than at Mycenae, and bonded with clay mortar (Fig. 149). The antiquity of the stones is unmis- takable. West of the Erechtheion appears a very similar wall, covered by a foundation which, to judge from the fine calcareous tufa quarried in the vicinity of Piraeus of which it is made — and so much affected by the Athenian builder in the time of Pisistrates — must belong to a later age. Again, the wall of Pericles, visible at the south-east corner of the Propylaea, has had its angle cut away slantwise, in order that it might be pieced on to the Cyclopaean fortification, which at this point is still nearly flush with the cornice of the back wall.^ The only piece of irregular masonry which was known before the exca- vations of 1 885- 1 889 was seen on the incline of the rock immediately below the Propylaea (Fig. 148), and is doubtless a relic of the old pathway which, as at Mycenae, wound up the hill-side towards the Acropolis ; for, as stated above, around the plateau scraps of wall crop up on many a point, and, like thj^ rampart built after the Medic wars, encircled the citadel (Fig. 148, 5). The south-east angle is well preserved ; but on the western side of the hill the fortification disappears under the mass of the Propylaea, along with the gate which must have stood there. On the southern face, in spite of gaps, the general outline of the enclosure is fairly well maintained ; whilst the north and east sides have many a portion to show. Piecing them together, it is seen that the wall followed the natural configuration of the rock and maintained itself, except at the south-east corner, in front of the back enclosure. The latter, thanks to accumulations particularly notable at this point, has very much enlarged the area of the citadel. The plateau at the time of the first excavations had a considerable incline to the southward, and was generally uneven save towards the north. Here, therefore, were found numerous remains of houses built of unsquared blocks laid in mud (Fig. 148, 7). Larger units ^ Ross, in 1837, pointed out that the piece of wall under discussion belonged to the primitive enclosure which the men of old attributed to the Pelasgi {Arc/ta- ologische Aufsdtze).