On the ascent to the Acropolis from the modern entirely cased in mediaeval and recent times, and is town our first attention is called to the angle of the further supported by 9 buttresses, which, as well as Hellenic wall, west of the northern wing of the Pro- those on the north and east sides, appear to be mepylaea. It is probable that this wall formed the diaeval. But the Hellenic masonry of the Cimonian exterior defence of the Acropolis at this point. Fol- wall can be traced all along as far as the Propylaea lowing this wall northwards, we come to a bastion, under the casing. The south-west reach of the built about the year 1822 by the Greek general Hellenic wall terminates westwards in a solid tower Odysseus to defend an ancient well, to which there about 30 feet high, which is surmounted by the is access within the bastion by an antique passage temple of Nike Apteros, described below. This and stairs of some length cut in the rock. Turning tower commanded the unshielded side of any troops eastwards round the corner, we come to two caves, approaching the gate, which, there is good reason to one of which is supposed to have been dedicated to believe, was in the same position as the present enPan; in these caves are traces of tablets let into the trance. After passing through the gate and proceedrock. Leaving these caves we come to a large ing northwards underneath the west face of the tower, buttress, after which the wall runs upon the edge we come to the Propylaea. The effect of emerging of the nearly vertical rock. On passing round a from the dark gate and narrow passage to the magsalient angle, where is a small buttress, we find a nificent marble staircase, 70 feet broad, surmounted nearly straight line of wall for about 210 feet; then by the Propylaea, must have been exceedingly grand. a short bend to the south-east; afterwards a further A small portion of the ancient Pelasgic wall still restraight reach for about 120 feet, nearly parallel to mains near the south-east angle of the southern wing the former. These two lines of wall contain the re- of the Propylaea, now occupied by a lofty mediaeval mains of Doric columns and entablature, to which tower. After passing the gateways of the Propylaea reference has already been made. A mediaeval we come upon the area of the Acropolis, of which conbuttress about 100 feet from the angle of the Erech-siderably more than half has been excavated under theium forms the termination of this second reach of wall. From hence to the north-east angle of the Acropolis, where there is a tower apparently Turkish, occur several large square stones, which also appear to have belonged to some early temple. The wall, into which these, as well as the before mentioned fragments, are built, seems to be of Hellenic origin. The eastern face of the wall appears to have been entirely built in the Middle Ages on the old foundations. At the south-east angle we find the Hellenic masonry of the Southern or Cimonian wall. At this spot 29 courses remain, making a height of 45 feet. Westward of this point the wall has been almost

the auspices of the Greek government. Upon entering the enclosure of the Acropolis the colossal statue of Athena Promachus was seen a little to the left, and the Parthenon to the right; both offering angular views, according to the usual custom of the Greeks in arranging the approaches to their public buildings. The road leading upwards in the direction of the Parthenon is slightly worked out of the rock; it is at first of considerable breadth, and afterwards becomes narrower. On the right hand, as we leave the Propylaea, and on the road itself, are traces of 5 votive altars, one of which is dedicated to Athena Hygieia. Further on, to the left of the road, is the

̓Αθήναις,

Καὶ θαυμασταῖς καὶ πολυύμνοις, ἵν ̓ ὁ κλεῖνος Δῆμος ἐνοικεῖ,

(Aristoph. Equit. 1326.)

The Propylaea were considered one of the masterpieces of Athenian art, and are mentioned along with the Parthenon as the great architectural glory of the Periclean age. (Dem. c. Androt. p. 597, Reiske; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. ii. 5.) When Epaminondas was urging the Thebans to rival the glory of Athens, he told them that they must uproot the Propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis, and plant them in front of the Cadmean citadel. (Aesch. de Fals. Leg. p. 279, Reiske.)

site of the statue of Athena Promachus. North- | Οψεσθε δέ καὶ γὰρ ἀνοιγνυμένων ψόφος ἤδη τῶν wards of this statue, we come to a staircase close to Προπυλαίων. the edge of the rock, partly built, partly cut out, | 'Αλλ ̓ ὀλολύξατε φαινομέναισιν ταῖς ἀρχαιαῖσιν leading to the grotto of Aglaurus. This staircase passes downwards through a deep cleft in the rock, nearly parallel in its direction to the outer wall, and opening out in the face of the cliff a little below its foundation. In the year 1845 it was possible to creep into this passage, and ascend into the Acropolis; but since that time the entrance has been closed up. Close to the Parthenon the original soil was formed of made ground in three layers of chips of stone; the lowest being of the rock of the Acropolis, the next of Pentelic marble, and the uppermost of Peiräic stone. In the extensive excavation made to the east of the Parthenon there was found a number of drums of columns, in a more or less perfect state, some much shattered, others apparently rough from the quarry, others partly worked and discarded in consequence of some defect in the material. The ground about them was strewed with marble chips; and some sculptors' tools, and jars containing red colour were found with them. In front of the eastern portico of the Parthenon we find considerable remains of a level platform, partly of smoothed rock, and partly of Peiräic paving. North of this platform is the highest part of the Acropolis. Westwards of this spot we arrive at the area between the Parthenon and Erechtheium, which slopes from the former to the latter. Near the Parthenon is a small well, or rather mouth of a cistern, excavated in the rock, which may have been supplied with water from the roof of the temple. Close to the south, or Caryatid portico of the Erechtheium, is a small levelled area on which was probably placed one of the many altars or statues surrounding that temple.

Before quitting the general plan of the Acropolis, Mr. Penrose calls attention to the remarkable absence of parallelism among the several buildings. "Except the Propylaea and Parthenon, which were perhaps intended to bear a definite relation to one another, no two are parallel. This asymmetria is productive of very great beauty; for it not only obviates the dry uniformity of too many parallel lines, but also produces exquisite varieties of light and shade. One of the most happy instances of this latter effect is in the temple of Nike Apteros, in front of the southern wing of the Propylaea. The façade of this temple and pedestal of Agrippa, which is opposite to it, remain in shade for a considerable time A. Pinacotheca. after the front of the Propylaea has been lighted up; and they gradually receive every variety of light, until the sun is sufficiently on the decline to shine nearly equally on all the western faces of the entire group." Mr. Penrose observes that a similar want of parallelism in the separate parts is found to obtain in several of the finest mediaeval structures, and may conduce in some degree to the beauty of the magnificent Piazza of St. Marc at Venice.

2. The Propylaea.

The road up the western slope of the Acropolis led from the agora, and was paved with slabs of Pentelic marble. (Ross, in the Kunstblatt, 1836, No. 60.) At the summit of the rock Pericles caused a magnificent building to be constructed, which might serve as a suitable entrance (ПponúAaa) to the wonderful works of architecture and Sculpture within:

GROUND PLAN OF THE PROPYLAEA.

B. Temple of Nike Apteros. C. Pedestal of Agrippa.

The architect of the Propylaea was Mnesicles. It was commenced in the archonship of Euthymenes, B. C. 437, and was completed in the short space of five years. (Plut. Pericl. 13.) It cost 2000 talents (Harpocrat. s. v. Пponúλaia), or 460,000l. The building was constructed entirely of Pentelic marble, and covered the whole of the western end of the Acropolis, which was 168 feet in breadth. The central part of the building consisted of two Doric hexastyle porticoes, covered with a roof of white marble, which attracted the particular notice of Pausanias (i. 22. § 4). Of these porticoes the western faced the city, and the eastern the interior of the Acropolis; the latter, owing to the rise of the ground, being higher than the former. They were divided into two unequal halves by a wall, pierced by five gates or doors, by which the Acropolis was entered. The western portico was 43 feet in depth, and the eastern about half this depth; and they were

called Propylaea from their forming a vestibule to | of 35 feet by 30, usually called the Pinacotheca, the five gates or doors just mentioned Each portico from its walls being covered with paintings (olknμa or vestibule consisted of a front of six fluted Doric exov papás, Paus. i. 22. § 6). The southern wing columns, supporting a pediment, the columns being (on the right hand to a person ascending the Acro4 feet in diameter, and nearly 29 feet in height. polis) consisted only of a porch or open gallery of Of the five gates the one in the centre was the 26 feet by 17, which did not conduct into any largest, and was equal in breadth to the space be- chamber behind. On the western front of this tween the two central columns in the portico in front. southern wing stood the small temple of Nike ApteIt was by this gate that the carriages and horsemen ros (Niкn "ATTEpos), the Wingless Victory. (Paus. entered the Acropolis, and the marks of the chariot- i. 22. § 4.) The spot occupied by this temple comwheels worn in the rock are still visible. The doors mands a wide prospect of the sea, and it was here on either side of the central one were much smaller that Aegeus is said to have watched his son's reboth in height and breadth, and designed for the turn from Crete. (Paus. I. c.) From this part of admission of foot passengers only. The roof of the the rock he threw himself, when he saw the black western portico was supported by two rows of three sail on the mast of Theseus. Later writers, in order Ionic columns each, between which was the road to to account for the name of the Aegaean sea, relate the central gate. that Aegeus threw himself from the Acropolis into the sea, which is three miles off.

The central part of the building which we have been describing, was 58 feet in breadth, and consequently did not cover the whole width of the rock: the remainder was occupied by two wings, which projected 26 feet in front of the western portico. Each of these wings was built in the form of Doric temples, and communicated with the adjoining angle of the great portico. In the northern wing (on the left hand to a person ascending the Acropolis) a porch of 12 feet in depth conducted into a chamber

There are still considerable remains of the Propylaea. The eastern portico, together with the adjacent parts, was thrown down about 1656 by an explosion of gunpowder which had been deposited in that place; but the inner wall, with its five gateways, still exists. The northern wing is tolerably perfect; but the southern is almost entirely destroyed: two columns of the latter are seen imbedded in the adjacent walls of the mediaeval tower.

A. Pinacotheca.
B. Temple of Nike Apteros.
C. Pedestal of Agrippa.

THE PROPYLAEA RESTORED.

D. Road leading to the central en- F. Hall corresponding to the Pina

trance.

E. Central entrance.

The Temple of Nike Apteros requires a few | words. In the time of Pericles, Nike or Victory was figured as a young female with golden wings (Nixn ZÉTETаι жTEрÚуow Xpvσaiv, Aristoph. Av. 574); but the more ancient statues of the goddess are said to have been without wings. (Schol. ad Aristoph. 1. c.) Nike Apteros was identified with Athena, and was called Nike Athena. (Nikn 'Aonva, Heliodor. ap. Harpocrat. Suid. s. v.) Standing as she did at the exit from the Acropolis, her aid was naturally implored by persons starting on a dangerous enterprise. (Nixn ''Aláva Пoλiàs, owe u' àel, Soph. Philoct. 134.) Hence, the opponents of Lysistrata, upon reaching the top of the ascent to the Acropolis, invoke Nike (δέσποινα Νίκη ξυγγενού), before whose temple they were standing. (Aristoph. Lysistr. 318; from Wordsworth, p. 107, seq.) This temple was still in existence when Spon and Wheler

cotheca.

visited Athens in 1676; but in 1751 nothing re. mained of it but some traces of the foundation and fragments of masonry lying in the neighbourhood of its former site. There were also found in a neighbouring wall four slabs of its sculptured frieze, which are now in the British Museum. It seemed that this temple had perished utterly; but the stones of which it was built were discovered in the excavations of the year 1835, and it has been rebuilt with the original materials under the auspices of Ross and Schaubert. The greater part of its frieze was also discovered at the same time. The temple now stands on its original site, and at a distance looks very much like a new building, with its white marble columns and walls glittering in the sun.

This temple is of the class called Amphiprostylus Tetrastylus, consisting of a cella with four Ionic columns at either front. but with none on

the sides. It is raised upon a stylobate of 3 feet, and is 27 feet in length from east to west, and 18 feet in breadth. The columns, including the base and the capital, are 13 feet high, and the total height of the temple to the apex of the pediment, including the stylobate, is 23 feet. The frieze, which runs round the whole of the exterior of the building, is 1 foot 6 inches high, and is adorned with sculptures in high relief. It originally consisted of fourteen pieces of stone, of which twelve, or the fragments of twelve, now remain. Several of these are so mutilated that it is difficult to make out the subject; but some of them evidently represent a battle between Greeks and Persians, or other Oriental barbarians. It is supposed that the two long sides were occupied with combats of horsemen, and that the western end represented a battle of foot soldiers. This building must have been erected after the battle of Salamis, since it could not have escaped the Persians, when they destroyed every thing upon the Acropolis; and the style of art shows that it could

not have been later than the age of Pericles. But, as it is never mentioned among the buildings of this statesman, it is generally ascribed to Cimon, who probably built it at the same time as the southern wall of the Acropolis. Its sculptures were probably intended to commemorate the recent victories of the Greeks over the Persians. (Die Akropolis von Athen: 1 Abth. Der Tempel der Nike Apteros, von Ross, Schaubert und Hansen, Berl. 1839; Leake, p. 529, seq.)

Pedestal of Agrippa.-On the western front of the northern wing of the Propylaea there stands at present a lofty pedestal, about 12 feet square and 27 high, which supported some figure or figures, as is clear from the holes for stanchions on its summit. Moreover we may conclude from the size of the pedestal that the figure or figures on its summit were colossal or equestrian. Pausanias, in describing the Propylaea, speaks of the statues of certain horsemen, respecting which he was in doubt whether they were the sons of Xenophon, or made for the sake of orna

ment (és eurpérelav); and as in the next clause he proceeds to speak of the temple of Nike on the right hand (or southern wing) of the Propylaea, we may conclude that these statues stood in front of the northern wing. (Paus. i. 22. §4.) Now, it has been well observed by Leake, that the doubt of Pausanias, as to the persons for whom the equestrian statues were intended, could not have been sincere; and that, judging from his manner on other similar occasions, we may conclude that equestrian statues of Gryllus and Diodorus, the two sons of Xenophon, had been converted, by means of new inscriptions, into those of two Romans, whom Pausanias has not named. This conjecture is confirmed by an inscription on the base, which records the name of M. Agrippa in his third consulship; and it may be that the other Roman was Augustus himself, who was the colleague of Agrippa in his third consulship. It appears that both statues stood on the same pedestal, and accordingly they are so represented in the accompanying restoration of the Propylaea.

3. The Parthenon.

The Parthenon (Пapleváv, i. e. the Virgin's House) was the great glory of the Acropolis, and the

most perfect production of Grecian architecture. It derived its name from its being the temple of Athena Parthenos ('Anvà Пáp@evos), or Athena the Virgin, a name given to her as the invincible goddess of war. It was also called Hecatompedos or Hecatompedon, the Temple of One Hundred Feet, from its breadth ('EKаTÓμπedos, sc. veùs, 'Ekaтóumedov, Etym. M. p. 321, 21; Harpocrat. Suid. s. v.); and sometimes Parthenon Hecatompedos. (Plut. Pericl. 13, de Glor. Athen. 7.) It was built under the administration of Pericles, and was completed in B. c. 438. (Philochor. ap. Schol. ad Aristoph. Pac. 604.) We do not know when it was commenced; but notwithstanding the rapidity with which all the works of Pericles were executed (Plut. l. c.), its erection could not have occupied less than eight years, since the Propylaea occupied five. The architects, according to Plutarch (1. c.), were Callicrates and Ictinus: other writers generally mention Ictinus alone. (Strab. ix. p. 396; Paus. viii. 41. § 9.) Ictinus wrote a work upon the temple. (Vitruv. vii. Praef.) The general superintendence of the erection of the whole building was entrusted to Pheidias.

The Parthenon was probably built on the site of an earlier temple destroyed by the Persians. This is expressly asserted by an ancient grammarian, who

The exact measurements of the Parthenon, as by 101, with a height of 66 feet to the top of the determined by Mr. Penrose, are:

pediment, were sufficiently great to give a appear. English Feet. ance of grandeur and sublimity; and this impression 101-341. was not disturbed by any obtrusive subdivision of 228-141. parts, such as is found to diminish the effect of 193-733. many larger modern buildings, where the same singleness of design is not apparent. In the Par71.330. thenon there was nothing to divert the spectator's 98-095. contemplation from the simplicity and majesty of mass and outline, which forms the first and most remarkable object of admiration in a Greek temple; for 43.767. the statues of the pediments, the only decoration