Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/73

 ATHENS 61 a structure of Pentelic marble, a peripteral hexastyle of the Doric order of architecture, 104 ft. long, 45 broad, and 33| high to the summit of the pediment. Its sifles and pedi- ments were adorned with sculptures, some of which remain, though much injured. Many of these, as well as parts of the building, were painted. They set forth incidents in the lives of Theseus and Hercules. Pausanias turns to the right at the Theseum, and visits the temple of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), the Aglaurium or sacred enclosure dedicated to Aglaurus, and the Prytaneura, an edifice in which were deposited the laws of Solon. The Olympienm, S. E. of the Acropolis, was the largest and must have been in some respects the most magnificent of all the Athenian tem- ples. It was begun by Pisistratus and finished by the emperor Hadrian, so that its construc- tion was continued at intervals through a period of TOO years. It was 350 ft. long, 171 broad, and of great height, surrounded by a peristyle comprising 160 columns, 16 of which remain standing ; they are 6 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and more than 60 ft. high. Several minor buildings are next noticed by Pausanias, among them the Pythium and the Delphinium, both temples of Apollo. After visiting certain gardens which appear to have been in this quarter of the city, he describes the Cynosar- ges and the Lyceum, both outside the walls; the former a place sacred to Hercules, the latter the famous gymnasium in which Aristotle ex- pounded his doctrines. Pausanias returned General View of the Acropolis at the Present Day. (From a recent Photograph.) along the Ilissus, passing several lesser altars and sanctuaries, and his account makes its next important subject the Panathenaic Sta- dium, a partly natural amphitheatre in the hills, in ancient times furnished with mar- ble seats from which an immense multitude could witness the games below. The terraces of this amphitheatre are still to be traced. The historian returns to the Prytaneum, notices the Ohoragic Monument of Lysicrates, which still exists, among the most beautiful of the smaller relics of Athenian art, and enters the sacred enclosure of Dionysus, in which stood two temples, and near which was the Diony- siac theatre. Near the theatre, again, stood the Odeon of Pericles, the roof of which is said to have been formed in imitation of the tent of Xerxes. Passing westward along the base of the Acropolis, Pausanias mentions the tomb of Talos, the temple of ^Esculapius (Asclepieum), and several other monumental tombs and tem- ples, which were here clustered together. In following his description of the Acropolis we are aided by the magnificent ruins still remaining Ground Plan of the Acropolis.