| called Propylaea from their forming a vestibule to five gates or doors just mentioned. Each portico or vestibule consisted of a front of six fluted Doric columns, supporting a pediment, the columns being 4½ feet in diameter, and nearly 29 feet in height. Of the five gates the one in the centre was the largest, and was equal in breadth to the space between the two central columns in the portico in front. It was by this gate that the carriages and horsemen entered the Acropolis, and the marks of the chariot wheels worn in the rock are still visible. The doors
on either side of the central one were much smaller both in height and breadth, and designed for the for the admission of foot passengers only. The roof of the western portico was supported by two rows of three Ionic columns each, between which was the road to the central gate.
The central part of the building which we have been describing, was 58 feet in breadth, and consequently did not cover the whole width of the rock: the remainder was occupied by two wings, which projected 26 fleet in front of the western portico. Each of these wings was built in the form of Doric temples, and communicated with the adjoining angle of the great portico. In the northern wing (on the left hand to a person ascending the Acropolis) a porch of 12 feet in depth conducted into a chamber | of 35 feet by 30, usually called the Pinacotheca, from its walls being coveted with paintings. (_albnaa IX" "IP'^, Paus. i. 22. § 6). The southern wing (on the right hand to a person ascending the Acropolis) consisted only of a porch or open gallery of 26 feet by 17, which did not conduct into any chamber behind. On the western front of this southern wing stood the small temple of Nike Apteros (Nlmj'AiTtfiiir), the Wingless Victory. (Paus. i. 22. § 4.) The spot occupied by this temple commands a wide prospect of the sea, and it was here that Aegeus is said to have watched his son's return from Crete. (Paus. l. c.) From this part of the rock be throw himself, when he saw the black sail on the mast of Theseus. Later writers, in order to account for the name of the Aegaean sea, relate that Aegeus threw himself from the Acropolis into the sea, which is three miles off.
There are sill considerable remains of lbs Propylaea. The eastern portico, together with the adjacent parts, was thrown down about 1656 by an explosion of gunpowder which had been deposited in that place but the inner wall, with its five gateways, still exists. The northern wing is tolerably perfect; but the southern is almost entirely destroyed: two columns of the latter are seen imbedded in the adjacent walls of the mediaeval tower.
|
|
The Temple of Nike Apteros requires a few words. In the time of Pericles, Nike or Victory was figured as a young female with golden wings (NJicij rtrexM irtpwTDi* xjnwai, Aristoph. Av. 574); but the more ancient statues of the goddess are said to have been without wings. (Schol. ad Aristoph. l. c.) Nike Apteros was identified with Athena, and was called Nike Athena. (NLn) 'K»^m, fleliodor. ^ Harpocrat^ Siad. s. p.) Standing as she did at the exit from the A«4opolis, her aid was naturally implored by persons starting on a dangerous enterprise. (Nlm T* 'AftfH ncXAt, 1) iriifii fi' &•(, Soph. Philoct. 134.) Hence, the opponents of Lysistrata, upon reaching the top of the ascent to the Acropolis, invoke Nike (St'owoi™ NIin| (ii-ffiyai'), before whose temple they were standing. (Aristoph. Lysistr. 318' from Wordsworth p. 107, seq.) This temple was still in existence when Spon and Wheler | visited Athens in 1676; but in 1751 nothing remained of it but some traces of the foundation and fragments of masonry lying in the neighbourhood of its former site. There were also found in a neighbouring wall four slabs of its sculptured frieze, which are now in the British Museum. It seemed that this temple had perished utterly; but the stones of which it was built were discovered in the excavations
of the year 1835, and It has been rebuilt with the original materials under the auspices of Rosa and Schaubert. The greater put of its frieze was also discovered at the same time. The temple now stands on its original site, and at a distance looks very much like a new building, with its white marble columns and walls glittering in the sun.
This temple is of the class called Amphiprostylus Tetrastylus, consisting of a cells with four Ionic columns at either front, but with none on |
