Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/271

ATHENAE.

ix. 24. § 2; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. pp. 136, 293.)

ATHE'NAE (Atenah), a city and port of Pontus (Steph. B. s. v. Άθήναί), with an Hellenic temple. According to Arrian (p. 4, &c.), it was 180 stadia east of the river Adienus, and 280 stadia west of the Aparus Brant (London Geog. Journ. vol. vi. p. 192) mentions an insignificant place, called Atenah, on the coast between Trebizond and the mouth of the Apsarus, but the distance on his map between Atenah and the mouth of the Apsaros is much more than 280 stadia. The distance of Rhizius (Rizah) a well-known position, to Athenae is 270 stadia, which agrees pretty well with the map. If then the Apsania [Apsarus] is rightly identified, and Atenah is Athenae, there is an error in the stadia between Athenae and the Apsarus.

Procopius derives the name of the place from an ancient princess, whose tomb was there. Arrian speaks of Athenae as a deserted fort, but Procopius describes it as a populous place in his time. (Bell. Pers. ii. 29, Bell. Goth. iv. 2.) Mannert assumes it to be the same place as the Odeinius of Scylax (p. 32), and Cramer (Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 292) assumes the site of Athenae to be a place called Ordouna.[ G. L. ]

ATHE'NAE (Άθήναι; in Hom. Od. vii. 80, Άθήνη: Eth. Άθηναίος, fem. Άθηναία, Atheniensis), the capital of Attica.

I. Situation.

Athens is situated about three miles from the sea-coast, in the central plain of Attica, which is enclosed by mountains on every side except the mouth, where it is open to the sea. This plain is bounded on the NW. by Mt. Parnes, on the NE. by Mt. Pentelicus, on the SE. by Mt. Hymettus, and on the W. by Mt. Aegaleos. In the southern part of the plain there rise several eminences. Of these the most prominent is a lofty insulated mountain, with a conical peaked summit, now called the Hill of St. George, which used to be identified by topographers with the ancient Anchesmus, but which now admitted to be the more celebrated Lycabettus. This mountain, which was not included within the ancient walls, lies to the north-east of Athens, and forms the most striking feature in the environs of the city. It is to Athens, as a modern writer has aptly remarked, what Vesuvius is to Naples or Arthur's Seat to Edinburgh. South-west of Lycabettus there are four hills of moderate height, all of which formed part of the city. Of these the nearest to Lycabettus, and at the distance of a mile from the latter, was the Acropolis, or citadel of Athens, a square craggy rock rising abruptly about 190 feet, with a flat summit of about 1000 feet long from east to west, by 500 feet broad from north to south. Immediately west of the Acropolis is a second hill of irregular form, the Areiopagus. To the south-west there rises a third hill, the Pnyx, on which the assemblies of the citizens were held; and to the south of the latter is a fourth hill, known as the Museium. On the eastern and western sides of the city there run two small streams, both of which are nearly exhausted by the heats of summer and by the channels for artificial irrigation before they reach the sea. The stream on the east, called the Ilissus, was joined by the Eridanus close to the Lyceium outside the walls, and then flowed in a south-westerly direction through the southern quarter of the city. The stream on the west, named the Ge-

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phissus. runs due south, at the distance of about a mile and a half from the walls. South of the city was seen the Saronic Gulf, with the harbours of Athens.

The Athenian soil and climate exercised an important influence upon the buildings of the city. They are characterized by Milton in his noble lines: —

"Where on the Agean shore a city stands
Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil."

The plain of Athens is barren and destitute of vegetation, with the exception of the long stream of olives which stretch from Mt. Parnes by the side of the Cephissus to the sea. "The buildings of the city possessed a property produced immediately by the Athenian soil. Athens stands on a bed of hard limestone rock, in most places thinly covered by a meagre surface of sdil. From this surface the rock itself frequently projects, and almost always is visible. Athenian ingenuity suggested, and Athenian dexterity has realized, the adaptation of such a soil to architectural purposes. Of this there remains the fullest evidence. In the rocky soil itself walls have been hewn, pavements levelled, steps and seats chiselled, cisterns excavated and niches scooped; almost every object that in a simple state of society would be necessary either for public or private fabrics, was thus, as it were, quarried in the soil of the city itself." (Wordsworth, Athens and Attica, p. 62.)

The surpassing beauty and clearness of the Athenian atmosphere naturally allowed the inhabitants to pass much of their time in the open air. Hence, as the same writer remarks, "we may in part account for the practical defects of their domestic architecture, the badness of their streets, and the proverbial meanness of the houses of the noblest individuals among them. Hence certainly it was that in the best days of Athens, the Athenians worshipped, they legislated, they saw dramatic representations, under the open sky." The transparent clearness of the atmosphere is noticed by Euripides (Med. 829), who describes the Athenians as άεί διά λαμπροτάτου βαίνοντες άβρώς αίθέρος. Modern travellers have not failed to notice the same peculiarity. Mr. Stanley speaks "of the transparent clearness, the brilliant colouring of an Athenian sky; of the flood of fire with which the marble columns, the mountains and the sea, are all bathed and penetrated by an illumination of an Athenian sunset." The epithet, which Ovid (Art. Am. iii. 389) applies to Hymettus — "purpureos colles Hymetti," is strictly correct; and the writer, whom we have just quoted, mentions "the violet hue which Hymettus assumes in the evening sky in contrast to the glowing furnace of the rock of Lycabettus, and the rosy pyramid of Pentelicus." (Stanley, in Classical Museum, vol. i. pp. 60, 61.)

We draw upon another intelligent traveller for a description of the scenery of Athens. "The great national amphitheatre of which Athens is the centre, possesses, in addition to its beauty, certain features of peculiarity, which render it the more difficult to form any adequate idea of its scenery, but from personal view. The chief of these is a certain degree of regularity, or rather oi symmetry, in the arrangement of the principal parts of the landscape, which enables the eye the better to apprehend its whole extent and variety at a single glance, and thus to enjoy the full effect of its collective excellence more per-