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ATHENS
sessed a large bath or cistern, and was flanked on two sides by water-courses. An Ionic capital found here possibly belonged to the palaestra. The identification, however, cannot be regarded as certain in the absence of inscriptions. To the north-east were found the remains of a very large rectangular structure of the Boman epoch, bearing a striking resemblance in design and construction to the “ Stoa,” or Library of Hadrian, situated to the north of the Acropolis : this may in all probability be identified with the Gymnasium of Hadrian, the position of which was hitherto entirely unknown. The Roman Period.—The most important achievement of recent research with regard to the Boman period has been the uncovering of the new or Boman Agora. In 1890 and 1891 the ground immediately to the west of the “ Tower of the Winds ” was excavated by the Archaeological Society, and though the operations have been interrupted, owing to the difficulty of expropriating the neighbouring owners, the dimensions of the Agora have been practically ascertained. It consisted of an open square surrounded by an Ionic colonnade, into which opened a number of shops or storehouses. The eastern gate was adorned with four Ionic columns on the outside and two on the inside, the western entrance being the well-known portico of Athena Archegetis. The whole conclave may be compared with the enclosed bazaars or khans of Oriental cities, which are usually locked at night. Immediately to the north of the new Agora is a vast rectangular building of Boman date, the eastern side of which was explored in 1885-86. A portion of its western front, adorned with monolith unfluted Corinthian columns, is still standing—the familiar “ Stoa ” of Hadrian ; another well-preserved portion, with six pilasters, runs parallel to the west side of AKolus Street. The interior consisted of a spacious court surrounded by a colonnade of 100 columns, into which five chambers opened at the eastern end. A portico of four fluted Corinthian columns on the western side formed the entrance to the quadrangle. This cloistered edifice may be identified with the library of Hadrian mentioned by Pausanias; the gymnasium, which he tells us also possessed 100 columns, being probably the building discovered by the British School near the Ilissus: the books were, perhaps, stored in a square building which occupied a portion of the central area. In 1883 the substructure of the gigantic Olympieion was excavated by Penrose, who proved the correctness of Dorpfeld’s theory that the building was octostyle ; it possessed 104 Corinthian columns, of which 48 stood in triple rows under the pediments, and 56 in double rows at the sides. Fragments of Doric columns and foundations were discovered, probably belonging to the temple begun by Pisistratus, the orientation of which differed slightly from that of the later structure. In 1898 the peribolos of the temple was excavated without important results : it is to be hoped that the stability of the columns has not been affected by the operations. Numerous Boman mosaics and other remains had already been found in the adjoining public garden over which the “ city of Hadrian ” extended. Excavations round the monument of Philopappus on the Museion Hill showed that the structure was nearly square, the curved front still remaining being only a portion of the building. On the Acropolis the foundations of the little circular temple of Borne and Augustus were laid bare during the glope of excavations of 1885-88 : fhe temple was of white marble, been fixed by Dorpfeld at a point a little to the south of and had a peristyle of nine Ionic columns. An inscription the Olympieion, on the left bank of the Ilissus. Here a in bronze letters, attached in a.d. 61 to the eastern archiseries of excavations, carried out by the British School in trave of the Parthenon, has been successfully recovered by 1896-97 under the direction of Cecil Smith, revealed the E. Andrews of the American school. The letters and the foundations of an extensive Greek building, the outlines nails by which they were fastened have disappeared, but of which correspond with those of a gymnasium; it pos- an accurate observation of the nail-marks enabled the basilica-shaped building of the Boman period, apparently sacred to Bacchus : in this was found an inscription containing the rules of the society of the lobacchi. There is an obvious difficulty in assuming that At/xrcu, in the sense of “ marshes,” existed in this confined area, but stagnant pools may still be seen here in winter. Another enclosure, a little to the south, is proved by an inscription to have been a sanctuary of the hitherto unknown hero Amynus with whose cult those of Asclepius and the hero Dexion were here associated ; under the name Dexion, the poet Sophocles is said to have been worshipped after his death. The whole district adjoining the Areopagus was found to have been thickly built over. The remains of the Stoa Basileios, in which the Archon Basileus held his court and the Areopagus Council sat, were perhaps brought to light in the winter of 1897-98, when the excavations were extended to the eastern slope of the “ Theseion ” hill. Here was found a rectangular structure resembling a temple, but with a side door to the north : it possessed a portico of six columns. The north slope of the Areopagus, where a number of early tombs were found, was also explored, and the limits of the Agora on the south and north-west were approximately ascertained. A portion of the main road leading from the Dipylon to the Agora was discovered. In 1896 excavations with the object of exploring the whole northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis were The begun by Kavvadias. The pathway between Grottoes the citadel and the Areopagus was found to be of Pan and So narrow that it is certain the Panathenaic Apollo procession cannot have taken this route to the Acropolis. On the north-west rock the caves known as the grottoes of Pan and Apollo were cleared out: these consist of a slight high-arched indentation immediately to the east of the Clepsydra and a double and somewhat deeper cavern a little farther to the east. In the first mentioned are a number of niches in which TrtVa/ce? or votive tablets were placed : some of these offerings, inscribed with dedications to Apollo, have been discovered. The whole locality was the seat of the ancient cult of this deity, afterwards styled “ Hypakraeos,” with which was associated the legend of Creusa and the birth of Ion. The worship of Pan was introduced after the Persian wars, in consequence of an apparition seen by Pheidippides, the Athenian courier, in the mountains of Arcadia. Another cave more to the west was revealed by the demolition of the bastion of Odysseus. To the east a much deeper and hitherto unknown cavern has been revealed, which Kavvadias identifies with the grotto of Pan. Close to it are a series of steps hewn in the rock which connect with those discovered in 1886 within the Acropolis wall. Farther east is an underground passage leading eastwards to a cave supposed to be the sanctuary of Aglaurus ; with this passage is connected a secret staircase leading up through a cleft in the rock to the precinct of the Errephori on the Acropolis. It is conceivable that the priestesses employed this exit when descending on their mysterious errand. The Cynosarges, from earliest times a sanctuary of Heracles, later a celebrated gymnasium and the school The Cyno= Antisthenes the Cynic, has hitherto been gensarges and erally supposed to have occupied the site of the gymnasi um . Monastery of the Angels the eastern O a nan. Lycabettus; its (Asomati) situation, on however, has
