CHAP XX.

Abstract of Pausanias-The Prytaneum-Of the street called The Tripods and a monument remaining-Inscriptions-The Dionysium-Other temples-Of Pandion and of the goddess Rome, &c. in the acropolis-The fountain Empedo-Cessation of the magistracies at Athens-Of the Panathenaan procession.

PAUSANIAS returns again into the city, and begins from the Prytanéum, keeping the acropolis on his right hand nearer than before; a street called The Tripods, leading from the Prytanéum toward the theatre of Bacchus, by which was the most ancient temple of that god. The inclosure contained two temples, with two images. He then observes, that near the temple of Bacchus and the theatre was the structure formed in imitation of the tent of Xerxes, or the Odéum; and after mention of the Mithridatic war, and of the cruelty of Sylla in the Ceramicus, treats of the statues in the theatre, and notes on the south wall of the acropolis, which was toward it, a golden Ægis and head of Medusa offered by king Antiochus; and a cavern above the theatre, in the rock. He then goes on from the theatre to the front of the acropolis, marking on the way the tomb of Talos, a nephew and scholar of Daedalus, who, regarding him as a rival, pushed him down a precipice; the temple and fountain of Esculapius; and, after it, the temple of Themis, before which was a barrow of Hippolytus, and a temple of Venus Pandemus. There was also the temple of Tellus Curotrophus and Ceres Chloe.*

* Vide Sophocl. Oedip. Eni Koλwr, v. 1641..

Pausanias then enters the acropolis, and, after treating of the Propyléa, mentions that he saw other articles there, and a temple of Diana Brauronia; describes the Parthenon, beyond which was a brazen Apollo; and, seeing a statue of Olympiodorus, digresses concerning the Museum, which hill was within the old city-wall; and returns to the Erecthéum and Pandroséum. Going down from the acropolis, not into the city beneath, but below the Propyléa, he takes notice of a fountain near the cave of Apollo and Pan, and of the Areopagus, by which was a temple of the Furies; enumerates the tribunals, which were several besides Delphinium, Heliæa, and the Palladium; observes of the vessel used in the Panathenæan procession, which was shewn by the Areopagus, that it was no longer a curiosity, but was much inferior to one at Delos; describes the Academy, a suburb near Dipylon; and proceeds to the demi or towns more remote from the city.

The Prytanéum was a large edifice, in which the magistrates, called Prytanes, met to deliberate, and a daily allowance was provided for those persons, who were entitled to their diet from the public. There was a statue of the goddess Peace, and of Vesta, with the perpetual fire. The building was thrown down by an earthquake in the sixth year of the Peloponnesian war. At a church called Great St. Mary, in the town, is an ancient arch, some remains of excellent masonry, and three columns supporting an architrave; which ruin, from its situation, may, with great reason, be supposed to have been the Prytanéum. A large area, in which it stands, was inclosed with a wall, having the fourth side or front decorated with columns. Of this a considerable portion is entire, but much encumbered, and concealed by houses, magazines,

and shops. It is published in The Ruins of Athens. The effect, in its present condition, is so striking, that it was long mistaken for the temple of Jupiter Olympius; but its magnificence, as has been justly remarked, is of a sober style, shewing the economy of a republic, rather than the profusion of an Asiatic king or Roman emperor.

The consecrated structures, which embellish the street called The Tripods, were probably noted for the offerings placed on them even more than for their own beauty. A fabric designed only to display a tripod did not admit of great dimensions. The choragic monument of Lysicrates, which is yet extant, near the eastern end of the hill of the acropolis, is but a small edifice, though exquisitely elegant. It may be seen, as in its original state, in The Ruins of Athens. The number of these fabrics was considerable, but that is the only one undemolished. During our residence at the French convent, it served as a closet for a Greek, the servant of the capuchin, to sleep in. The tripods were of brass and very valuable for their workmanship. There was the Satyr, which Praxiteles esteemed his master-piece; and on a cell or dome near it was a Satyr, a boy, giving a cup to Bacchus. It may appear no improbable conjecture that the monument of Lysicrates was intended to support the second tripod, for an analogy may be discovered between its subject and the sculpture on the frieze ;* as at the monument of Thrasyllus, above the theatre of Bacchus, between the story on the tripod, and a statue of Niobe.

.*

The destruction of the street called The Tripods, may justly

*See Ruins of Athens, Pl. X. XI. XXVI. Philostratus has described a picture, in which the transformation of the pirates was represented, p. 761.

be regretted, as the monuments it contained were erected by eminent persons, and at an æra when arts and the republic flourished. If still extant, even their antiquity would deserve respect. The monument of Lysicrates, which remains, was constructed three hundred and thirty years before Christ. Thrasyllus was victorious only ten years after. I copied the inscription of one, erected before the introduction of the Ionic alphabet, which consisted of twenty-four letters, from a marble in the house of an Albanian woman near the convent. In this the common formulary is not completed; for the name of the archon, under whom the tripod was obtained, is omitted, though the stone is in good preservation, and room was not wanting. This circumstance enables us to ascertain the date to the first year of the xcivth Olympiad,* which the Athenians styled the year of anarchy; because the archon, not being duly elected, was disowned by them. Euclid succeeded in the following year, and the attic alphabet, which had only sixteen letters, prevailed until after his archonship. The inscription of another was found on a stone at the mouth of an oven. It is imperfect, but very old, the letters in rows and ranging at equal distances. On a Doric architrave over the gate of the bazar or market, near the ruin of the Prytanéum, is the inscription of one erected a year or two before that of Thrasyllus; and at the catholicon or cathedral is the inscription of one more early than that of Lysicrates by ten years. Another inscription, which we did not see, is published by Spon,* and refers to the first year of the сx111th Olympiad. Themistocles and Aristides dedicated tripods, with similar inscriptions, cited, but imperfectly, by Plutarch. These were in

attic characters. The choragic monument of Aristides, with the inscription and tripods, remained when Plutarch wrote; as did also that of the famous Nicias. Another belonged to Lysias, who, in an oration still extant, relates, that when Glaucippus was archon,* he provided a chorus of men for the Dionysia, and gained the victory; and that he expended, on the chorus and the consecration of his tripod, the sum of five thousand drachms, which has been computed at 2081. 6s. 8d. sterling.+

The Dionysium, or ancient temple of Bacchus, is often styled the temple in Limnis, that portion of the city being so named. It was kept shut, like the church now on or near its site, except at the Dionysia or festival of the deity, which was celebrated yearly in the month Anthesterion or February. The sacred rites were then performed by women, and the Queen, the wife of the archon called the King, sacrificed for the city.

It has been already remarked, that Pausanias appears to have passed from the theatre of Bacchus to the front of the acropolis, by a way leading behind the Odéum and the portico adjoining to it. The temple of Venus, standing by the agora, was probably lower down than the other temples. That of Ceres was an elegant edifice, as may be collected from a piece of architrave, with an inscription, which once ranged in the front, and recorded the name of the person, by whom it was dedicated; now fixed in the castle-wall, within the gate at which the Turkish guard is stationed.

Among the other articles, which Pausanias saw in the acropolis, was, it is probable, the temple or edifice sacred to Pan