the outer one (τό έξωθεν) was guarded. The whole circumference of Peiraeeus, with Munychia, was 60 stadia, but the guarded part was only half that extent." It is clear from this passage that the Asty was connected with the port-towns by three walls, namely the Phaleric, 35 stadia long, and the two Long Walls, each 40 stadia long. The two Long Walls ran in a south-westerly direction to Peiraeeus, parallel to, and at the distance of 550 feet from one another. The Phaleric Wall appears to have ran nearly due south to Phalerum, and not parallel to the other two; the direction of the Phaleric Wall depending upon the site of Phalerum, of which we shall speak under the port-towns. (See plan, p. 256.) The two Long Walls were also called the Legs (τά Σκέλη, Strab. ix. p. 395; Polyaen. i. 40; Brachia by Livy, xxxi. 26), and were distinguished as the Northern Wall (τό Βόρειον τείχος, Plat. de Rep. iv. p. 439) and the Southern Wall (τό Νότιον, Harpocrat. s. v. Διαμέσου; Aeschin. de Fals. Leg. § 51). The former is called by Thucydides, in the passage quoted above, the Outer (τό έξωθεν), in opposition to the Inner or the Intermediate wall (τό διαμέσ ου τείχος, Harpocrat l. c.; Plat. Gorg. p. 455), which lay between the Phaleric and the northern Long Wall. The northern Long Wall and the Phaleric Wall were the two built first They are said by Plutarch to have been commenced by Cimon (Plut. Cim. 13); but, according to the more trustworthy account of Thucydides they were commenced in B.C. 457, during the exile of Cimon, and were finished in the following year. (Thuc. i. 107, 108) There can be no doubt that their erection was undertaken at the advice of Pericles, who was thus only carrying out more fully the plans of Themistocles to make Athens a maritime power and to secure an uninterrupted communication between the city and its harbours in time of war. Between B.C. 456 and 431 , — the commencement of the Pelopoonesian war, — the Intermediate wall was built upon the advice of Pericles, whom Socrates heard recommending this measure in the assembly. (Plat Gorg. p. 455; comp. Plut. Per. 13; Harpocrat s. v.) The object of building this intermediate wall was to render the communication between the Asty and Peiraeeos more secure. The distance between the northern Long Wall and the Phaleric was considerable; and consequently each of them required the same number of men to man them as the two Long Walls together, which were separated from one another by so small an interval. Moreover, the harbour of Phalerum was no longer used by the Athenian ships of war; and it was probably considered inexpedient to protect by the same fortifications the insignificant Phalerum and the all-important Peiraeeus. After the erection of the Intermediate Wall, the Phaleric wall was probably allowed to fall into decay. When the Lacedaemonians took Athens, we find mention of their destroying only two Long Walls (Xen. Hell. ii. 2), since the communication of the Asty with the Peiraeeus depended entirely upon the Long Walls. There can be no doubt that when Conon rebuilt the Long Walls after the battle of Cnidus (B.C. 393), he restored only the Long Walls leading to Peiraeeus (Xen. He;;. iv. 8. § 10 ; Paus. i. 2. § 2); and it is very probable that in their restoration he used the materials of the Phaleric Wall. From the end of the Pelopoonesian war, we find mention of only two Long Walls. (Comp. Lys, c. Agorat. |
Between the two Long Walls, there was a carriage road (άμαξιτός) leading from the Asty to Peiraeeus (Xen. Hell. ii. 4. § 10) ; and on either side of the road there appear to have been numerous houses in the time of the Peloponnesian war, probably forming a broad street between four and five miles in length. This may be inferred from the account of Xenophon, who relates (Hell. ii. 2. § 3) that when the news of the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami reached Peiraeeus, "a sound of lamentation spread from the Peiraeeus through the Long Walls to the Asty, as each person announced the news to his neighbour." Moreover, it appears from a passage of Andocides (de Myst. p. 22, Reiske) that there was a Theseium within the Long Walls, which most be distinguished from the celebrated temple of Theseus in the Asty. In describing the stations assigned to the infantry, when the Boeotians advanced to the frontiers, Andocides says (l. c.), that the troops in the Asty were stationed in the Agora; those in the Long Walls, in the Theseium; and those in Peiraeeus, in the Hippodameian Agora. It is worth noticing that Andocides calls the Long Walls the Long Fortress (τό μακόον τείχος), as one of the three great garrisons of Athens. The Long Walls were repaired more than once after the time of Conon. A long and interesting inscription, originally published by Müller (De Mumimentis Athenarum, Gött. 1836), and reprinted by Leake, contains a register of a contract entered into by the treasurer of the state for the repair of the walls of the Asty and Peiraeeus, and of the Long Walls. It is probable that this contract was made about B.C. 335, in order to continue the repairs which had been commenced by Demosthenes after the battle of Chaeroneia (B.C. 338). But between this tune and the invasion of Attica by Philip in B.C. 200, the walls had fallen into decay, since we read of Philip making an irruption into the space between the ruined walls ("inter augustias semiruti muri, qui brachiis duobus Piraeum Athenis jungit," Liv. xxxi. 26). Sulla in his siege of Athens (B.C. 87 — 86) used the materials of the Long Walls in the erection of his mounds against the fortifications of Peiraeeus. (Appian, Mithr. 30.) The Long Walls were never repaired, for Peiraeeus sank down into an insignificant place. (Strab. ix. p. 395.) The ruins (έρείπια) of the Long Walls are noticed by Pausanias (i. 2. § 2). Their foundations may still be traced in many parts. "Of the northern the foundations, which are about 12 feet*in thickness, resting on the natural rock, and formed of large quadrangular blocks of stone, commence from the foot of the Peiraic heights, at half a mile from the head of Port Peiraeeus, and are traced in the direction of the modern road for more than a mile and a half towards the city, exactly in the direction of the entrance of the Acropolis. The southern Long Wall, having passed through a deep vegetable soil, occupied chiefly by vineyards, is less easily traceable except at its junction with the walls of Peiraeeus (not Phalerum, as Leake says), and for half a mile from thence towards the city. Commencing at the round tower, which is situated above the north-western angle of the Munychian (not the Phaleric) bay, it followed the foot of the bill, along the edge of the marsh, for about 500 yards; then assumed, for about half that distance, a direction to the north-eastward, almost at a right angle with the preceding: |
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