Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/225

ATHENS. (q.v.) of the old temple was reërected and remained standing even into Roman times. Under Themistocles, Cimon, and Pericles the work of reconstructing the Acropolis was carried forward. On the south side a lofty retaining wall was built, and the ground filled in so as to form a terrace at the level of the old summit, and on this terrace was erected the Parthenon (q.v.), the chief glory of Athens and even in its ruins the most perfect specimen of Greek architectural genius. The present building was erected on the site of a temple begun by Themistocles or Cimon, and seems to have been completed about B.C. 437. North of the Parthenon, close to the site of the old temple was built the Erechtheum (q.v.), containing probably the ancient statue of Athena Polias, said to have fallen from heaven, the sacred olive of Athena, and the salt spring where Poseidon smote the rock with his trident. Near the west end stood the colossal bronze statue of Athena Promachos, erected by the Athenians as a memorial of the victories over Persia.

Northeast of the Parthenon was the great altar of Athena, and near by was erected later a temple of Augustus and Rome: On the south side of the Acropolis, west of the Parthenon, were sacred precincts, dedicated to Athena Ergane (the worker) and Artemis Brauronia. At the west end of the Acropolis, where alone the rock permits an easy ascent, stood the great gateway, the Propylæa (q.v.), begun in B.C. 437, and never completed according to the original plan. Just outside the Propylæa, on a high platform, reached now from the upper part of the Acropolis, but in ancient times also accessible by a staircase outside the gate, stood the little Ionic temple of Athena Nike, less correctly called that of 'Wingless Victory.' All these buildings were of white Pentelic marble and richly decorated with gilding and color. At the foot of the steep precipice on the northeast side of the Areopagus is a cave with a pool of dark water, which is believed to have been the site of the shrine of the Eumenides (q.v.), and the region west of the Acropolis and south of the Areopagus probably contained other temples, of which all traces have disappeared. Farther down the slope toward the west, in the valley between the Pnyx and Areopaprus, has been discovered an ancient street, which evidently led from the market-place to the Acropolis. It was lined with private houses and shrines. On the slope of the Areopagus was a large sacred inclosure, containing wine-vats, and apparently dedicated to Dionysus, as it contained a long inscription with various regulations of the Iobacchæ, a society of worshipers of that god. At the foot of the Pnyx were many wells and chambers for collecting water, and there are traces of a large fountain, to which water was brought by an underground channel from the upper Ilissus along the south side of the Acropolis. This is held by many archæologists to be the work of Pisistratus and to mark the site of the Enneacrunos, or fountain with nine streams, erected by him over an open spring, Callirrhoë. Others, however, maintain that the evidence favors placing Callirrhoë and the Enneacrunos at a point in the bed of the Ilissus, where abundant springs are still found.

Passing from the gate down to the south side of the Acropolis, we find at the west end the Odeum of Herodes Atticus (see, which is still well preserved. Adjoining this was the long stoa, or portico built for the Athenians by Eumenes II., King of Pergamum (B.C. 197-159). Back of the stoa on a terrace at the foot of the steep cliff of the Acropolis lay the sanctuary of Asclepius, containing his temple and altar, and colonnades and other buildings for the sick, who came thither for healing. In a cave inside the sacred ground was a spring, still supposed to possess curative powers, and dedicated to the Virgin. East of the Asclepieum and the Stoa of Eumenes was the great theatre of Dionysus, with its seats partly cut in the solid rock, and back of its stage buildings the temple and precinct of the god in whose honor the plays were performed. On the north side of the Acropolis lay many public buildings, but this region is still thickly populated, and only the caves of Pan and Apollo high in the northwest corner of the Acropolis have been thoroughly excavated. North of the Areopagus lay the great market-place, surrounded with colonnades and public buildings, and near by Hadrian built a large gymnasium and baths, considerable remains of which can still be traced.

The most notable building of ancient times in this portion of the city is the so-called Theseum, a well-preserved hexastyle peripteral temple in the Doric style (104 feet by 44 feet), situated on a slight eminence north of the Areopagus, and west of the market-place. The name is certainly wrong, as the sanctuary of Theseus was in another part of Athens, and was a large inclosure; but the true name of the building is still uncertain, though modern archæological opinion tends in favor of the temple of Hephæstus, which must have stood in this quarter of the city. The Theseum was built about the same time as the Parthenon, and probably somewhat earlier, though on this point authority is divided. Of the pediment sculptures no trace remains, but at the east end of the portico are sculptured metopes, and across each end of the cella is a frieze in relief. The metopes represent the labors of Heracles and Theseus; the subject of the west frieze is the battle between the Centaurs and Lapithæ, and that of the east a battle in the presence of six seated gods. During the Middle Ages the building was changed into a church, but with little change of the exterior. Outside the Themistoclean Wall to the southeast of the Acropolis was the great temple of Olympian Zeus, begun by Pisistratus, but long left unfinished. About B.C. 174 Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria completed, or rather rebuilt, the temple, on a scale of magnificence which led Livy to say that, though unfinished, it was the only one on earth corresponding to the greatness of the god. The great platform measures 676 feet by 426 feet, and on this the architect Cossutius erected a temple 354 feet by 135 feet, measured on the upper step of the stylobate. It had three rows of eight Corinthian columns at each end, and two rows of twenty columns each at the sides, counting the corner columns twice. The magnificent scale of the work again delayed its completion, and it was not till the second visit of the Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 129) that it was finally dedicated. At present only 16 columns remain, one of which lies where it was prostrated by an earthquake. These columns are 56 feet 7 inches high and 5 feet 7 inches in diameter at the base, with 24 flutings. Excavations have brought