ATHENS shapes of the letters to be determined. The inscription apparently records the erection of some monument by the Athenians in honour of the emperor Nero. The Parthenon escaped without serious injury from the earthquakes of 1894. A piece of one of the drums of a column on the north side fell to the ground state of the anq a p0rti0n of one of the blocks in the archiParthenon. 0f the opisthodomos. These injuries, however, fortunately attracted attention to the condition of the building. A committee composed of Greek and foreign architects was appointed to superintend the necessary repairs, and the opinion of three distinguished authorities, Joseph Durm, L. Magne, and F. C. Penrose, was invited. It was wisely decided to abstain from any attempt at restoration and only to employ new material when necessary for the preservation of the existing remains. The repairs were begun in 1896 under the supervision of the Greek architect Balanos. It was found that several of the blocks in the architrave of the opisthodomos were in a very defective condition, probably owing to the action of fire at some past time. One of these, which supported two slabs of the Panathenaic frieze, has been replaced by new marble, and the delicate operation of removing and ^ readjusting the sculptured slabs has been successfully carried out. Others of the blocks have been carefully pieced as well as some of the capitals of the inner row of columns. The broken lintel of the great western door will be replaced “with a large new stone, and the brick masonry which encumbers the doorway will be removed. The operations, which were interrupted by the war of 1897, will probably extend over several years. It is proposed to clean out the crevices in the upper parts of the building and to fill them with cement or lead, special care being taken to prevent the percolation of rain water. The Panathenaic frieze has already suffered considerably from exposure to the weather. As the proposal to remove the sculptures to a museum and to replace them by casts will hardly be entertained, steps should be taken to protect them against rain and also to render them accessible to close inspection. II. Modern Athens. At the conclusion of the War of Independence, Athens was little more than a village of the Turkish type, the poorly-built houses clustering on the northern and eastern slopes The Modern tjie Acropolis. The narrow crooked lanes of this Clty ' quarter still contrast with the straight, regularly laid out streets of the modern city, which extends to the north-west, north and east of the ancient citadel. The greater commercial advantages offered by Nauplia, Corinth, and Patras were outweighed by the historic claims of Athens m the choice of a capital for the newly-founded kingdom, and the seat of government was transferred hither from Nauplia in 1834 _ 11fec,I1®w was for the most part, laid out by the German architect Schaubert. It contains several squares and boulevards, a large public garden, and many handsome public and private edifices. A great number of the public institutions owe their origin to the munificence of patriotic Greeks, among whom Andreas Syngros and George Averoff may be especially mentioned. The royal palace, designed bv Gartner, is a tasteless structure ; attached to it is a beautiful garden laid out by Queen Amalia, which contains a well-preserved mosaic floor of the Roman period : the grounds, together with the adioining public garden, lie within the boundaries of the ancient Hadrianopolis, or Novce Athence. On the S.E. is the newly-built palace of the Crown Prince. The Academy from designs by Hansen, is constructed of Pentelic marble m the Ionic style : the colonnades and pediments are richly coloured and gilded, and may perhaps convey some idea of the ancient style of decoration. Close by is the University, with a colonnade adorned with paintings, an the Yallianean Library with a handsome Doric portico of Pentelic marble. The Observatory, which is connected with the university, stands on the summit of the Hill of the Nymphs ; like the Academy, it was erected at the expense of a wealthy Greek, Baron Sina. of Vienna. In the public garden is the Zappeion, a large building with a Corinthian portico, intended for the display of Greek industries; here also is a monument to Byron, erected m 1896. The Boule, or parliament-house, possesses a considerable library. Other public buildings are the Polytechnic Institute, built by contributions from Greeks of Epirus, the theatre, the Arsakeion (a school
763
for girls), the Yarvakeion (a gymnasium or boys’ school), the military school (o'X'OXt) eveTridu>v), and several hospitals and orphanages. Ihe Cathedral, a large modern structure, is devoid of architectural merit, but some of the smaller, ancient, Byzantine churches are singularly interesting and beautiful. Among the private residences, the° mansion built by Dr. Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy, is the most noteworthy ; its decorations are in the Pompeian style. The museums of Athens are daily growing in importance with the progress of excavation. They are admirably arranged, and the remnants of ancient art which they contain have fortu- Museums. nately escaped injudicious restoration. The National Museum, erected in 1866, is especially rich in archaic sculptures and in sepulchral and votive reliefs. A copy of the Diadumenos of Polycleitus from Delos and temple-sculptures from Epidaurus, and the Argive He neon are among the more notable of its recent acquisitions. It also possesses the famous collection of prehistoric antiquities found by Schliemann at Tiryns and Mycenae, other “ Mycenaean ” objects discovered at Nauplia and in Attica, as well as the still earlier remains excavated by Tsountas in the Cyclades and by the British School at Phylakope in Melos ; terra-cottas from Tanagra and Asia Minor ; bronzes from Olympia, Delphi, and elsewhere, and numerous painted vases, among them the unequalled white lekythoi from Athens and Eretria. The Epigraphical Museum contains an immense number of inscriptions arranged by H. G. Lolling and A. Wilhelm of the Austrian Institute. The Acropolis Museum (opened 1878) possesses a singularly interesting collection of sculptures belonging to the “archaic” period of Greek art, all found on the Acropolis ; here, too, are some fragments of the pedimental statues of the Parthenon and several reliefs from its frieze, as well as the slabs from the balustrade of the temple of Nike. The Polytechnic Institute contains a museum of interesting objects connected with modern Greek life and history. In the Academy is a valuable collection of coins superintended by Svoronos. Of the private collections those of Schliemann and Karapanos are the most interesting : the latter contains works of art and other objects from Dodona. There is a small museum of antiquities at the Piraeus. A museum of casts of the Greek masterpieces in foreign collections is much needed for the purposes of comparative study. Owing to the numbers and activity of its institutions, both native and foreign, for the prosecution of research and the encouragement of classical studies, Athens has become once more an . international seat of learning. The Greek Archaeological Yf Jf Society, founded in 1837, numbers some distinguished tut]ons scholars among its members, and displays great activity in the conduct of excavations. Important researches at Epidaurus Eleusis, My cense, Amyclse, and Rhamnus may be numbered among its principal undertakings, in addition to the complete exploration of the Acropolis and a series of investigations in Athens and Attica. The French Jtlcole d’Athenes, founded in 1846, is under the scientific direction of the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles Lettrcs. Among its numerous enterprises have been the extensive and costly excavations at Delos and Delphi, which have yielded such remarkable results. The monuments of the Byzantine Epoch have latterly occupied a prominent place in its investigations. The German Archaeological Institute, founded in 1874, has carried out excavations at Thebes” Lesbos, Paros, Athens, and elsewhere ; it has also been associated in the great researches at Olympia, Pergamqs, and Troy, and in many other important undertakings. The British School, founded in 1886, has been unable, owing to insufficient endowment, to work on similar lines with the French and German institutions : it has, however, carried out extensive excavations at Megalopolis and in Melos, as well as researches at Abac, in Athens (presumed site of the Cynosarges), in Cyprus, and at Naucratis. It has latterly taken part in the exploration of Knossos and other important sites in Crete. The American School, founded in 1882, is supported by the principal universities of the United States. In addition to researches at Sicyon, PI at flea, Eretria, and elsewhere, it has undertaken two works of capital importance—the excavation of the Aro-ive Herecon and the exploration of ancient Corinth. An Austrian Archaeological Institute was founded in 1898._ Notwithstanding certain disadvantages inherent in its situation the trade and manufactures of Athens have considerably increased in recent years. Industrial and commercial activity lna s ry is mainly centred at the Piraeus, where 9 cloth and “ cotton mills, 45 cognac distilleries, 14 steam flour merce mills, 5 soap manufactories, 13 shipbuilding and engineering works, chair manufactories, tanneries, and a dynamite factory have been established in recent years. The shipbuilding and engineering trades are active and advancing. The export trade is, however, inconsiderable, as the produce of the local industries is mainly absorbed by home consumption. The annual value of ex ported cognac is about 1,400,000 francs, of raw hides about 700,000 francs. As a place of import, the Piraeus surpasses Patras, Syra, and all the other Greek maritime towns, receiving about 53 per cent, of all the merchandise brought into Greece. The principal imports are coal, grain, manufactured articles, and articles of luxury. The total value of exports in 1894 was 9,207,535 francs, of imports,
