Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/222

ATHENS. of the temples were converted into churches; but from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century Athens almost disappears from history. Basil II. visited it in 1018 to celebrate a victory over the Bulgarians, and in 1175 Michael Acominatos became Metropolitan of Athens. His letters and orations give a valuable picture of the wretchedness and desolation into which the city had fallen. In 1204 the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders enabled Boniface of Montferrat to establish himself as king at Thessalonica, while Athens and Thebes fell to his feudal vassal, Otho de la Roche, and in 1260 the Frankish rulers assumed the title of Dukes of Athens, their dominion also including Thebes, Megara, and Argos. A succession of Frankish dukes ruled until the disastrous battle of Lake Copaïs threw the real power into the hands of the great Catalan company of mercenaries, and they seem to have held the real control, though recognizing the suzerainty of non-resident dukes, until 1387, when Nerio Acciajuoli, a Florentine who at the time ruled Corinth, made himself master of the city, and he and his successors maintained control over it until 1458, though after 1392 they were tributary to the Sultan, who was the real ruler of Athens.

For a long while after its capture by the Turks, Athens almost disappeared from the view of the Western world, but a letter written in 1578 gives the population at the time as 12,000. The Venetians captured the city in 1687, and during the siege a bomb partially destroyed the Parthenon, which had been used as a powder magazine by the Turks. In 1690 the Turkish rule was reëstablished, and continued until the achievement of Greek independence, though it was not till 1833 that the Turkish garrison was withdrawn. In 1835 the capital of the new kingdom was established at Athens, and with this period begins the history of the modern city.

The central point of the ancient city was the Acropolis (q.v.), but the modern city lies almost entirely to the north and east between the Acropolis and Mount Lycabettus, and along the west slope of the latter, though a modern quarter is growing up on the banks of the Ilissus. On the east and south of the city flows the Ilissus, and on the west the Cephissus, whose scanty supply of water is now largely diverted for the irrigation of the extensive olive groves in that quarter. Though the city itself is some distance from the sea. it is well supplied with harbors. The first harbor was the open bay of Phalerum, with its sloping sandy beach, well suited for the light boats of the early time, but not easy of defense. Somewhat farther from the city is the rocky peninsula of the Piræus, with two small harbors, Munichia and Zea, on the east: and on the west a much larger basin, all nearly landlocked, and easily defended from the rugged hill of Munichia. The advantages of Pineus were first seen by Themistocles; and the fortification of the peninsula, was completed soon after the Persian wars. The harbors were connected with the city by the 'long walls' at first so built as to include Phalerum, though later the southern wall was abandoned and a new one built close to the northern, furnishing connection with Piræus alone, which had become the only important harbor.

The earliest city was undoubtedly on the Acropolis, where excavations have shown a 'cyclopean' wall like those of Tiryns and Mycenæ, and remains of a palace and dwellings of the Mycenæan Period. The town seems also to have extended down the west slope into the valley at the foot of the Pnyx, and probably along the south side for some distance; and this lower city was also inclosed by a strong wall with nine gates, probably nine separate lines of defense reaching to the summit of the hill. A part of this ancient settlement, including various sanctuaries, was regarded in later times as sacred ground, the so-called Pelargicon. There were also ancient settlements along the Ilissus, where later were some of the most revered sanctuaries, and apparently also on the hills to the west of the Acropolis, where there are many foundations for small houses, cisterns, and steps cut in the rock. These dwellings were outside the later walls and were abandoned before the Fourth Century B.C., as graves of that period have been found inside the earlier houses. Close to the Acropolis on the northwest is the bare rock of the Areopagus (q.v.), and farther to the west and southwest, across a valley runs a long ridge, crowned at the south by the Hill of the Muses, with the monument of Philipoppus, erected at the beginning of the Second Century A.D., and at the north by the Hill of the Nymphs, the site of the modern astronomical observatory. Between the two is the Pnyx Hill, where was the ancient place of assembly. In the earliest times the Acropolis and its neighboring walls formed the only fortification, and it is still a disputed point whether there were any other defenses at the time of the Persian wars. The evidence renders it not improbable that there was an outer wall at that time, but the extent inclosed by it cannot be determined. We only know that it was much less than the space inclosed by the wall of Themistocles, built in great haste immediately after the Persian wars (B.C. 479). The course of this wall seems to have been preserved in later times, and can be traced in places by remains of the foundations, by the nature of the ground, and by the presence of graves, which in later times were always outside the walls. Its exact line, however, cannot be determined. Under the Emperor Hadrian the limits of the city seem to have been extended on the east so as to include the Olympieum (see below), and that portion of the city now occupied by the palace and its gardens. The line of the ancient wall in this region is probably marked by the Gate of Hadrian.

The Acropolis was the religious centre of the city, and before the time of Pericles was given up to temples and shrines. The site of the old royal palace seems early to have been marked by a temple of Athena, the patron goddess of the city, which was adorned by the Pisistratidæ with a colonnade, the gables of which were filled with sculptures representing the battle of the gods and giants. A part of these sculptures, valuable as illustrating the art of the close of the Sixth Century B.C., have been pieced together from fragments discovered during the excavations. Probably to the same time as this temple belong the foundations of an ancient gateway, set at an angle to the present line of ascent. The temple and all the other buildings on the Acropolis were destroyed by the Persians B.C. 480-479) and were certainly never entirely rebuilt, though it is believed by some that the cella