| own name. There stood in the time of Stuart, at the foot of the south-eastern extremity of Mt. Lycabettus, the remains of a reservoir of this aqueduct. The piers of some of the arches of this aqueduct are still extant, particularly to the eastward of the village of Dervish-agú, five or six miles to the north of Athens. (Leake, p. 202, and Appendix XIII, "On the Supply of Water at Athens.")
VIII. Topography of the Acropolis or Polis.
The Acropolis, as we have already remarked, is a square craggy rock, rising abruptly about 150 feet, with a flat summit of about 1,000 feet from east to west, by 500 feet broad form north to south. It is inaccessible on all sides, except the west, where it is ascended by a steep slope. It was at one and the same time the fortress, the sanctuary, and the museum of the city. Although the site of the original city, it had ceased to be inhabited from the time of the Persian wars, and was appropriated to the worship of Athena and the other guardian deities of the city. It was one great sanctuary, and is therefore | called by Aristophanes JUorsr 'AlcpifinAir, Ufiw
ti/imu (Jl^itMr. 481; oo(ap.T>BB.deFiiii,Lrg.
p. 428, bi|f iBinii f(^ rqi 'AjcpowdAmi.) By the artists of the age of Pericles its platform was covered with the master-pieces of ancient art, to which additions continued to be made in succeeding ages. The sanctuary thus became a museum; and in order to form a proper idea of it, we must imagine the summit of the rock stripped of every thing except temples and statues, the whole forming one vast composition of architecture, sculpture, and painting, the dazzling whiteness of the marble relieved by brilliant colours, and glittering in the transparent clearness of the Athenian atmosphere. It was here that Art achieved her greatest triumphs; and though in the present day a scene of desolation and ruin, its ruins are some of the most precious reliques of the ancient world.
The Acropolis stood in the centre of the city. Hence it was the heart of Athens, as Athens was the heart of Greece (Arist. Panath. i. p. 99, Jebb); and Pindar no doubt alluded to it, when be speaks of IffTMt ifL^atJit Avitit it rau Itpali 'AMnui.
(Frag. p. 2SS, Dissen.) It was to this sacred rock |
| that the magnificent procession of the Panathenaic festival took place once in four years. The chief object of this procession was to carry the Peplus, or embroidered robe, of Athena to her temple on the Acropolis. (Dict. of Ant. art. Panathenaea) In connection with this subject it is important to distinguish between the three different Athenas of the Acropolis. (Schol. ad Aristid. p. 320, Dindorf.) The first was the Athena Polias, the most ancient of all, made of olive wood, and said to have fallen from heaven; its sanctuary was the Erechtheium. The second was the Athena of the Parthenon, a statue of ivory and gold, the work of Pheidias. The third was the Athena Promachus, a colossal statue of bronze, also the work Pheidias, standing erect, with helmet, spear, and shield. Of these three statues we shall speak more fully hereafter; but it must be borne in mind that the Peplus of the Panathenaic procession was carried to the ancient statue of Athena Polias, and not to the Athena of the Parthenon. (Wordsworth, p. 123, seq.)
The three goddesses are alluded to in the following remarkable passages of the Knights (1165, seq.) of Aristophanes, which we subjoin, with Wordsworth's comments:- |
KA. Hal) ^pn OBI r^rti fui(iinn|t 4yti.
AAA. iyii It fuwrlAu luiuierAtifUna
bwi rfii 3»t! Tg x'V^ '^ iKi^arrlir^.'
AH. <l> fi^rar dfi' f Ix'l, ' *i^i«, i^ MjttiAw.
KA. iyiir fmi 71 rlainr tifxp" *al iie^ir.
tripvn T oM' i^ HoAAikf 4 IlfiUu/idxei-t
AAA i aijft' irofr/At fi ^ii a irirrKon^,
■al wvr brtp^xit <r«r x^Tpa>' fw^ev wAior.
KA. t(rtI -riftax^* tToCSmnn it ^ottiriFrpdeni.
AAA. i^ r HpifunArpa -f i^t U fw/uE Kfin
vol X^^itn Itfiffrpot/ re uI •yoffrpis rifutir.
AH. uiff y iwolijfft TBu WrAau ti^firttfUni.^
- L e. The chcTulrphaatine ttatae of the gnd'
d«a in the FafthsnoD, the bands of which neia
f L e. The broDia colossal itatue of Atheoa Pio-
machns, standing near the Propylaea (tltXaiiiax"')-
Ber shield and spcai are here lodkroiuly coaTerled
into a x^^ and TOp^. Her gigantic farm ia ei-
this h
dtdicattd Co her. |
