1. Walls of the Acropolis. Being a citadel, the Acropolis was fortified. The ancient fortifications are ascribed to the Pelasgians, who are said to have levelled the summit of the rock, and to have built a wall around it, called the Pelasgia Wall or Fortress. (UtXajyuclnt ruxoSf Herod, v. 64; rtixurfia UeKapyuch^f Callimach. ap. Schol. ad Aristoph. Av. 832; Hecataeus, ap. Herod. vi. 137; Mjrsilas, ap. Dionys. i. 28; Cleidemus, ap. Suid. s. vv. AirifSo, ^eSi^ov.) The approach on the western side was protected by a system of works, comprehending nine gates, hence called ivvtintvXov rh HtXaryiMv, (Cleidem. /. c.) These fortifications were sufficiently strong to defy the Spartans, when the Peisistratidæ took refuge in the Acropolis (Herod, v. 64, 65);, but after the expulsion of the family of the despot, it is not improbable that they were partly dismantled, to prevent any attempt to restore the former state of things, since the seizure of the citadel was always the first step towards the establishment of despotism in a Greek state. When Xerxes attacked the Acropolis, its chief fortifications consisted of palisades and other works constructed of wood. The Persians took up their position on the Areiopagus, which was opposite the western side of the Acropolis, just as the Amazons had done when they attacked the city of Cecrops. (Aesch. Eum., 685, seq.) From the Areiopagus the Persians discharged hot missiles against the wooden defences, which soon took fire and were consumed, thus leaving the road on the western side open to the enemy. The garrison kept them at bay by rolling down large stones, as they attempted to ascend the road; and the Persians only obtained possession of the citadel by scaling the precipitous rock on the northern side, close by the temple of Aglaurus. (Herod, viii. 52, 53.) It would seem to follow from this narrative that the elaborate system of works, with its nine gates on the western side, could not have been in existence at this time. After the capture of the Acropolis, the Persians set fire to all the buildings upon it; and when they visited Athens in the following year, they destroyed whatever remained of the walls, or houses, or temples of Athena. (Herod, viii. 53, ix. 93.) The foundations of the ancient walls no doubt remained, and the name of Pelasgic continued to be applied to a part of the fortifications down to the latest times. Aristophanes (Av. 832) speaks of rijf ir^Xc«r rh IleAapyijriJv, which the Scholiast explains as the "Pelargic wall on the Acropolis;" and Pausanias (i. 28. § 3) says that the Acropolis was surrounded by the Pelasgians with walls, except on the side fortified by Cimon. We have seen, however, from other authorities that the Pelasgians fortified the whole hill; and the remark of Pausanias probably only means that in his time the northern wall was called the Pelasgic, and the southern the Cimonian. (Comp. Plut. Cim. 13.) When the Athenians returned to their city after its occupation by the Persians, they commenced the restoration of the walls of the Acropolis, as well as of those of the Asty; and there can be little doubt that the northern wall had been rebuilt, when Cimon completed the southern wall twelve years after the retreat of the Persians. The restoration of the northern wall may be ascribed to Themistocles; for though called apparently the Pelasgic wall, its remains show that the greater part of it was of more recent origin. In the middle of it we find courses of masonry, formed of pieces of Doric |
The Pelasgicum signified not only a portion of the wall sof the Acropolis, but also a space of ground below the latter (rh UtKwryuchv KoKovfieifw rh Mi fifr ^AKpSiroKiy^ Thuc. ii. 17.) That it was not a wall is evident from the account of Thucydides, who says that an oracle had enjoined that it should remain uninhabited; but that it was, notwithstanding this prohibition, built upon, in consequence of the number of people who flocked into Athens at the commencement of the Peloponnesian war. Lucian (Piscator. 47) represents a person sitting upon the wall of the Acropolis, and letting down his hook to angle for philosophers in the Pelasgicum. This spot is said to have been originally inhabited by the Pelasgians, who fortified the Acropolis, and from which they were expelled because they platted against the Athenians. (Schol. ad Thuc, ii. 17; Philochorus, ap. Schol. ad Lucian. Catapl. 1; Paus. i. 28. § 3.) It is placed by Leake and most other authorities at the north-western angle of the Acropolis. A recent traveller remarks that "the story of the Pelasgic settlement under the north side of the Acropolis inevitably rises before us, when we see the black shade always falling upon it, as over an accursed spot, in contrast with the bright gleam of sunshine which always seems to invest the Acropolis itself; and we can imagine how naturally the gloom of the steep precipice would conspire with the remembrance of an accursed and hateful race, to make the Athenians dread the spot." (Stanley, Claas, Mus. vol. i. p. 53.) The rocks along the northern side of the Acropolis were called the Long Rocks (Moucpa/), a name under which they are frequently mentioned in the Ion of Euripides, in connection with the grotto of Pan, and the sanctuary of Aglaurus:
(Eurip. /on, 11, seq.; oomp. 296, 606, 953, 1*413.) This name is explained by the fact that the length of the Acropolis is much greater than its width; but it might have been given with equal propriety to the rocks on the southern side. The reason why the southern rocks had not the same name appears to have been, that the rocks on the northern side could be seen from the greater part of the Athenian plain, and from almost all the demi of Mt. Parnes; while those on the southern side were only visible from the small and more undulating district between Hymettus, the Long Walls, and the sea. In the city itself the rocks of the Acropolis were for the most part concealed from view by houses and public buildings. (Forchhammer, p. 364, seq.) The surface of the Acropolis appears to have been divided into platforms, communicating with one another by steps. Upon these platforms stood the temples, sanctuaries, or monuments, which occupied all the summit. Before proceeding to describe the monuments of the Acropolis, it will be adviseable to give a description of the present condition of the walls, and of the recent excavations on the platform of the rock, for which we are indebted to Mr. Penrose's important work. (An Investigation of the Principles of Athenian Architecture, by F. C. Penrose; London, 1851.) |
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