Of the other military defences of Athens; namely, the Long Walls and the Walls of the Asty. Of its Demi, Districts, and Gates. V. Description of Athens by a Greek of the xvth century 478 VI. On some Monuments illustrative of the Worship at Athens, of the Earth and other terrene Deities VII. On various Buildings and Places at Athens ERRATA. P. 46, note 1, for wearing, read weaving. P. 111, line 13, for earthen roof, read earthen tiled roof. line 14, for Scyron, read Sciron. P. 147, note 7, line ult., for Reinacher, read Rienäcker. P. 158, line 16, for opposite to Sunium, read sailing onwards from Sunium. P. 192, for the year 350 B. c., read the year 335 B.c. P. 311, note 3, line 6, for Tyrrhenian, read Pelasgic. P. 365, line 4, for "afford anchorage to 400 ships," read "contain 400 ships." P. 374, note 1, line 4, for p. 400, read p. 402, n. 2. P. 434, line 3, for the year 307 B. C., read the year 298 B.C. P. 585, line 16, for Minotaur, read Marathonian bull. INTRODUCTION. As enquiries into the topography and antiquities of Athens require a frequent reference to the primeval history of the Athenians, and to their mythology, which differed in many respects from that of the rest of Greece, it is intended, in a few preliminary pages, to recall to the reader's recollection those parts of the history of Athens, whether real or fabulous, which are most necessary to the elucidation of its topography and antiquities. The remainder of this Introduction will be devoted to a rapid view of the progressive ruin of ancient Athens, and of those monuments of art which were its peculiar distinction. There can be no stronger proof of the early civilization of Athens than the remote period to which its history ascends, subject unavoidably to some uncertainty in the traditional part, but sufficiently consistent to prove its foundation in truth. We have some reason to believe that Cecrops, who was regarded by the Athenians as their first king and legislator, was contemporary with Moses, and that he introduced among the Pelasgic race which then inhabited Attica1 1 Herodot. 8, 44. B the worship of Neith ('A0hvn), and possibly also that of Phtha ("Hpaioтoç). Zeus and Poseidon, Pelasgic deities, were of earlier date in Attica'. Apollo and Dionysus, which was another personation of the sun, appear to have been borrowed, as well as the Dioscuri, from the Doric race of Greeks, and to have been introduced at a later date than the preceding. Last came the worship of Venus, very ancient in Assyria, and brought into Greece by the Phoenicians, but not introduced into Athens until the reign of Ægeus 2. Among the successors of Cecrops it will be sufficient for the present purpose to notice those whose names have been chiefly recorded in Athenian tradition: 1. Amphictyon, son of Deucalion of Thessaly, who is said to have succeeded to the throne in right of his wife Atthis, daughter of Cranaus, a native Athenian, who succeeded Cecrops. 2. Erechtheus the first, called by later writers Erichthonius 3. Erechtheus set up an image of Minerva, made of olive wood, in the Cecropia, and instituted festivals, called Athenæa, in the Attic cities, which were then twelve in number. Erechtheus was fabled to have been the son of Vulcan and the Earth, to have been educated by Minerva, to have been instructed by her The Athenians considered Neptune to have preceded Minerva. Apollod. 3, 14, 1. Isocrat. Panath. p. 273 Steph. 2 Pausan. Attic. 14, 6. 3 In reconciling the authorities relating to the ancient history of Athens, it is an important preliminary to establish the identity of Erichthonius with Erechtheus the first. For this purpose it is sufficient to compare Homer (Il. B. 547), and Herodotus (8, 55), with Isocrates (Panath. p. 258), Apollodorus (3, 14), Lucian (Philopseud. 3), Pausanias (Attic. 2, 5. 18, 2), and Aristides (in Minerv. et in Panathen. I. p. 12, 119 Jebb.) |
