Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/313

ATHENAK the Gate" (Tip if Kipnnniii mniwclai, t^i ^opi tV nXBo, de PkOocL herad. p. 58, Steph.).

Secondly, with regard to the Doric portico in the so-called new Agora, it is evident from its style of architecture that it was erected after the time of Cassander, to say nothing on an earlier period. It consists at present of four Doric columns 4 feet 4 inches in diameter at the base, and 26 feet high, including the capital, the columns supporting a pediment surmounted by a large acroterium in the centre, and by a much smaller one at either end. If there were any doubt respecting the comparatively late date of this building, it would be removed by two inscriptions upon it, of which the one on the architrave is a dedication to Athena Archegetis by the people, and record that the building had been erected by means of donations from C. Julius Caesar and Augustus (Böckh, Inscr. 477); while the second of the central acroterium shows that a statue of Lucius Caesar, the grandson and adopted son of Augustus, had been laced on the summit of the pediment. (Böckh, No. 312.) It would seem to follow from the first of these inscriptions that these columns with their architrave belonged to a small temple of Athena Archegatis, and there would probably have never been any question about the matter, if it had not been for two other inscriptions, which seem to support the idea of it occupying part of the site of the so-called new Agora. One of these inscriptions is upon the pedestal of a statue of Julia, which was erected in the name of the Areiopagus, the Senate of Six Hundred, and the people, at the cost of Dionysius of Marathon, who was at the time Agoranomus with Q. Naevius Rufnu of Melite. (Böckh, No. 313.) The statue itself has disappeared, but the basis was found near the portico. We do not, however, know that the statue originally stood where the pedestal has been found; and even if it did, it is absurd to conclude from this inscription that it stood in the Agora, simply because Dionysius, who defrayed the expenses of raising the monument, indulged in the pardonable vanity of indicating the time of its erection bu the Agoranomia of himself and of Rufus. The other inscription is an edict of

PORTICO OF ATHENA ARCHEGETIS. ATHENAE.

the emperor Hadrian, respecting the sale of oils and the duties to be paid upon them (Böckh, No. 255); but the large atone upon which the inscription has been cut, and which now appears to form a part of the ancient portico, did not belong to it originally, and was placed in its present position in order to form the corner of a house, which was built close to the portico.

There is, therefore, no reason whatsoever for believing this portico to have been a gateway, to say nothing of a gate of the Agora; and, consequently, we may dismiss as quite untenable the supposition of two market-places at Athens. Of the buildings in the Agora an account is given below in the route of Pausanias through the city.

 

18. The Cerameicus.

There were two districts of this name, called respectively the Outer and the Inner Cerameicus, both belonging to the demos al Kt|Hvu?t, the former being outside, and the latter within, the city walls. («b( tu2i Kipo^fUEji' 6 fir Ift,Tiixavt, 6 f irrit, Suid. Hesych. s. v. Kipeiuticis; Schol. ad Aristoph. Eq. 969.) Of the Outer Cerameicus we shall speak in our account of the suburbs of the city. Through the principal part of the Inner Cerameicus there ran a wide street, bordered by colonnades, which led from the Dipylum, also called the Ceramic gate, through the Agora between the Areiopagus and the Acropolis on one side, and the hill of Nymphs and the Pnyx on the other. (Himer. Sophist. Or. iii. p. 446, Wernsdorf; Liv. xxxi. 24; Plut. Sull. 14; comp, si ir TOim wifjvt, Aristoph. Ran. 1135.) We have already seen that the Agora formed part of the Cerameicus. After passing through the former, the street was continued, though probably under another name, as far as the fountain of Callirhoë. For a further account of this street, see pp. 297, a, 3299, a.

 

B. First Part of the Route of Pausanias through the City. From the Peiraic Gate to the Cerameicus. (Paus. i. 2.)

There can be little doubt that Pausanias entered the city by the Peiraic gate, which, as we have already seen, stood between the hills of Pnyx and Museium. [See p. 263.] The first object which be mentioned in entering the city was the Pompeium (nB/atiay), a building containing the things necessary for the processions, some of which the Athenians celebrate every year, and others at longer intervals. Leake and Müller suppose that Pausanias alludes to the Panathenaea; but Forchhammer considers it more probable that he referred to the Eleusinian festival, for reasons which are stated below. In this building were kept vases of gold and silver, called Hofinio, used in the proceesions. (Philochor. ap. Harpocrat. s. v. nofiitm; Dem. c. Androt. p. 615; Plut. Alc. 13; Andoc. c. Alcib. p. 126.) The building must have been one of considerable size, since not only did it contain paintings and statues, among which was a brazen statue of Socrates by Lysippus (Diog. Laërt ii. 43), a picture of Isocrates (Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 839), and some portraits by Craterus (Plin. xxxv. 11. s. 40); but we read of corn and flour being deposited here, and measured before the proper officers, to be sold at a lower price to the people. (Dem. c Phorm. p. 918.) The Pompeium was probably chosen fur this purpose as being the most suitable place near the road to the Peiraeeus.

The street from the Peiraic gate to the Ceramci-