The

The part toward Hymettus and Pentele, the mountains on the east and north-east, was of brick. plain also was then covered with demi, or towns, and with villas richly furnished.

CHAP. VIII.

OF MODERN ATHENS-THE ANTIQUITIES THE CITADEL— ITS ANCIENT AND PRESENT STATE-REMARK.

ATHENS is placed by geographers in fifty-three degrees of longitude. Its latitude was found by Mr. Vernon, an English traveller, to be thirty-eight degrees and five minutes k. It is now called ('Alývn) Athini, and is not inconsiderable, either in extent or the number of inhabitants. It enjoys a fine temperature, and a serene sky. The air is clear and wholesome, though not so delicately soft as in Ionia. The town stands beneath the acropolis, or citadel, not encompassing the rock, as formerly, but spreading into the plain, chiefly on the west and north-west. Corsairs infesting it, the avenues were secured, and in 1676 the gates were regularly shut after sunset. It is now open again, but several of the gateways remain, and a guard of Turks patroles at midnight. Some masses of brickwork, standing separate, without the town', belonged perhaps to the ancient wall, of which other traces also appear. The houses are mostly mean and straggling; many with large areas or courts before them. In the lanes, the high walls

k thirty-eight degrees and five minutes] By Mr. Stuart 37.50. R. I without the town,] Where, or in what part? The walls next Hymettus only were of brick. R.

on each side, which are commonly whitewashed, reflect strongly the heat of the sun. The streets are very irregular; and anciently were neither uniform nor handsome. They have water conveyed in channels from mount Hymettus, and in the bazar, or market-place, is a large fountain. The Turks have several mosques and public baths. The Greeks have convents for men and women, with many churches, in which service is regularly performed; and besides these, they have numerous oratories or chapels, some in ruins, or consisting of bare walls, frequented only on the anniversaries of the saints to whom they are dedicated. A portrait of the owner on board is placed in them on that occasion, and removed when the solemnity of the day is over.

Besides the more stable antiquities, of which an account will be given in the sequel, many detached pieces are found in the town, by the fountains, in the streets, the walls, the houses, and churches. Among these are fragments of sculpture; a marble chair or two, which probably belonged to the gymnasia or theatres; a sundial at the catholicon, or cathedral, inscribed with the name of the maker; and, at the archiepiscopal house close by, a very curious vessel of marble, used as a cistern to receive water, but once serving, it is likely, as a public standard or measure. Many columns occur; with some maimed statues; and pedestals, several with inscriptions, and almost buried in earth. A custom has prevailed, as at Chios, of fixing in the wall, over the gateways and doors of the houses, carved stones, most of which exhibit the funereal supper. In the courts of the houses, lie many round stela, or pillars, once placed on the graves of the Athenians; and a great

number are still to be seen applied to the same use in the Turkish burying-grounds before the acropolis. These generally have concise inscriptions containing the name of the person, and of the town and tribe to which the deceased belonged. Demetrius the Phalerean, who endeavoured to restrain sepulchral luxury, enacted, that no person should have more than one; and that the height should not exceed three cubits. Another species, which resembles our modern head-stones, is sometimes adorned with sculpture, and has an epitaph in verse. We saw a few mutilated Hermæ. These were busts m on long quadrangular bases, the heads frequently of brass, invented by the Athenians. At first they were made to represent only Hermes, or Mercury, and designed as guardians of the sepulchres in which they were lodged; but afterwards the houses, streets, and porticoes of Athens were adorned with them, and rendered venerable by a multitude of portraits of illustrious men and women, of heroes and of gods: and, it is related, Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus, erected them in the demi, or borough-towns, and by the road side, inscribed with moral apophthegms in elegiac verse; thus making them vehicles of instruction.

The acropolis, asty, or citadel, was the city of Cecrops. It is now a fortress, with a thick irregular wall, standing on the brink of precipices, and enclosing a large area, about twice as long as broad. Some portions of the ancient wall may be discovered on the outside, particularly at the two extreme angles; and in many places it is patched with pieces of columns, and with marbles taken from the ruins.

A considerable sum had been recently expended on the side next Hymettus ", which was finished before we arrived. The scaffolding had been removed to the end toward Pentele °, but money was wanting, and the workmen were withdrawn. The garrison consists of a few Turks, who reside there with their families, and are called by the Greeks Castriani, or the soldiers of the castle. These hollow nightly from their station above the town, to approve their vigilance. Their houses overlook the city, plain, and gulf, and the situation is pleasant, but too airy, and attended with so many inconveniences, that those who are able, and have the option, prefer living below, when not on duty. The rock is lofty, abrupt, and inaccessible, except the front, which is toward the Piræus; and on that quarter is a mountainous ridge, within cannon-shot. It is destitute of water fit for drinking, and supplies are daily carried up in earthen jars, on horses and asses, from one of the conduits in the town.

The acropolis furnished a very ample field to the ancient virtuosi. It was filled with monuments of Athenian glory, and exhibited an amazing display of beauty, of opulence, and of art; each contending, as it were, for the superiority. It appeared as one entire offering to the Deity, surpassing in excellence, and astonishing in richness. Heliodorus, named Periegetes, the guide, had employed on it fifteen books. The curiosities of various kinds, with the pictures, statues, and pieces of sculpture, were so

n side next Hymettus,] Revett has erased these words, and written "S. side."

• Hymettus. R.

P mountainous ridge,] the Museum and Sycabittus. R.

many and so remarkable, as to supply Polemo Periegetes with matter for four volumes; and Strabo affirms, that as many would be required in treating of other portions of Athens and of Attica. In particular, the number of statues was prodigious. Tiberius Nero, who was fond of images, plundered the acropolis, as well as Delphi and Olympia; yet Athens, and each of these places, had not fewer than three thousand remaining in the time of Pliny. Even Pausanias seems here to be distressed by the multiplicity of his subject. But this banquet, as it were, of the senses has long been withdrawn, and is now become like the tale of a vision. The spectator views with concern the marble ruins intermixed with mean flat-roofed cottages, and extant amid rubbish ; the sad memorials of a nobler people; which, however, as visible from the sea, should have introduced modern Athens to more early notice. They who reported it was only a small village, must, it has been surmised, have beheld the acropolis through the wrong end of their telescopes.

When we consider the long series of years which has elapsed, and the variety of fortune which Athens has undergone, we may wonder that any portion of the old city has escaped, and that the site still furnishes an ample fund of curious entertainment. Atticus is represented by Cicero as receiving more pleasure from the recollection of the eminent men it had produced, than from the stately edifices and exquisite works of ancient art, with which it then abounded. The traveller needs not be so refined, in order to derive satisfaction even now from seeing Athens.