court before it, perhaps now occupies the site. It is called Panagía Spiliótissa, St. Mary of the cavern, possibly from the subterraneous passage, which may still exist. On the outside in the wall is fixed an inscription relating to the temple of Venus, and recording the donations of a pious female, who gloried in the titles of candle-lighter and interpreter of dreams to the goddess. It is imperfect at the beginning, but commemorates her offering the pediment over the chancel", and a Venus, perhaps a puppet, which she had made and dressed. CHAP. XX. THE PRYTANEUM ABSTRACT OF PAUSANIAS PLES OF PANDION AND OF THE GODDESS ROME, &C. IN THE ACROPOLIS-THE FOUNTAIN EMPEDO-CESSATION OF THE MAGISTRACIES AT ATHENS-OF THE PANATHENEAN PROCESSION. PAUSANIAS returns again into the city, and begins from the Prytaneum, keeping the Acropolis on his right hand nearer than before; a street called the Tripods, leading from the Prytaneum toward the theatre of Bacchus a, by which was the most ancient ancient walls, the traces of them being very visible between it and the stadium. R. z chancel,] Temples had chancels. R. a theatre of Bacchus,] Odeum. Here it may be observed, that Pausanias made three distinct excursions. The first from the Pompeium through the southern parts of the city. the Hephæsteum through the northern parts of it. The next from And the last temple of that god. The enclosure 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 Odeum; 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 b. Pausanias then enters the Acropolis, and, after treating of the Propylea, mentions that he saw other articles there, and a temple of Diana Brauronia; describes the Parthenon, beyond which was a brasen Apollo; and, seeing a statue of Olympiodorus, digresses concerning the Museum, which hill was within the old city-wall © ; from the Prytaneum round the east end of the Acropolis to the entrance of it, then into it; from thence to the Areopagus, and after that through the Dipylon to the Academy. In this excursion he describes the Acropolis with the buildings round the foot of it, and in the western part of the city, which before had escaped his notice, of which the doctor has given a very confused acR. count. b Vide Sophocl. ŒŒdip. 'Eπì Koλwv. v. 1641. cold city-wall ;] The wall was carried on upon the ridge of the and returns to the Erechtheum and Pandroseum. Going down from the Acropolis, not into the city beneath, but below the Propylea, 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 Prytaneum 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 Museum, enclosing the monument of Philopappus, and down the side of it, crossing the plain to the banks of the Ilissus. R. d ancient arch,] Mr. Stuart, with much greater probability, has proved the ruin with which this arch is connected to have been the Stoa or Pocile, and not the Prytaneum. The Prytaneum must have been upon the slope nearer the Acropolis, as Pausanias went from it into the lower town, in which this edifice is situated. R. the Prytaneum. A large area, in which it stands, was enclosed 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 embellished 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 masterpiece; 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 sculp ture on the friezee; as at the monument of Thrasyllus, above the theatre of Bacchus, between the story on the tripod, and a statue of Niobe. In The destruction of the street called the Tripods may justly be regretted, as the monuments it contained were erected by eminent persons, and at an era 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. 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 94th Olympiads, 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 e See Ruins of Athens, pl. X. XI. XXVI. Philostratus has described a picture, in which the transformation of the pirates was represented, p. 761. f theatre of Bacchus,] Odeum. R. g Before Christ 402. |