ix. 24. § 2; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. pp. 136, 293.)
Procopius derives the name of the place from an ancient princess, whose tomb was there. Arrian speaks of Athenae as a deserted fort, but Procopius describes it as a populous place in his time. (Bell. Pers. ii. 29, Bell. Goth. iv. 2.) Mannert assumes it to be the same place as the Odeinius of Scylax (p. 32), and Cramer (Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 292) assumes the site of Athenae to be a place called Ordouna.[ G. L. ]
I. Situation. |
The Athenian soil and climate exercised an important influence upon the buildings of the city. They are characterized by Milton in his noble lines: —
The plain of Athens is barren and destitute of vegetation, with the exception of the long stream of olives which stretch from Mt. Parnes by the side of the Cephissus to the sea. "The buildings of the city possessed a property produced immediately by the Athenian soil. Athens stands on a bed of hard limestone rock, in most places thinly covered by a meagre surface of sdil. From this surface the rock itself frequently projects, and almost always is visible. Athenian ingenuity suggested, and Athenian dexterity has realized, the adaptation of such a soil to architectural purposes. Of this there remains the fullest evidence. In the rocky soil itself walls have been hewn, pavements levelled, steps and seats chiselled, cisterns excavated and niches scooped; almost every object that in a simple state of society would be necessary either for public or private fabrics, was thus, as it were, quarried in the soil of the city itself." (Wordsworth, Athens and Attica, p. 62.) The surpassing beauty and clearness of the Athenian atmosphere naturally allowed the inhabitants to pass much of their time in the open air. Hence, as the same writer remarks, "we may in part account for the practical defects of their domestic architecture, the badness of their streets, and the proverbial meanness of the houses of the noblest individuals among them. Hence certainly it was that in the best days of Athens, the Athenians worshipped, they legislated, they saw dramatic representations, under the open sky." The transparent clearness of the atmosphere is noticed by Euripides (Med. 829), who describes the Athenians as άεί διά λαμπροτάτου βαίνοντες άβρώς αίθέρος. Modern travellers have not failed to notice the same peculiarity. Mr. Stanley speaks "of the transparent clearness, the brilliant colouring of an Athenian sky; of the flood of fire with which the marble columns, the mountains and the sea, are all bathed and penetrated by an illumination of an Athenian sunset." The epithet, which Ovid (Art. Am. iii. 389) applies to Hymettus — "purpureos colles Hymetti," is strictly correct; and the writer, whom we have just quoted, mentions "the violet hue which Hymettus assumes in the evening sky in contrast to the glowing furnace of the rock of Lycabettus, and the rosy pyramid of Pentelicus." (Stanley, in Classical Museum, vol. i. pp. 60, 61.) We draw upon another intelligent traveller for a description of the scenery of Athens. "The great national amphitheatre of which Athens is the centre, possesses, in addition to its beauty, certain features of peculiarity, which render it the more difficult to form any adequate idea of its scenery, but from personal view. The chief of these is a certain degree of regularity, or rather oi symmetry, in the arrangement of the principal parts of the landscape, which enables the eye the better to apprehend its whole extent and variety at a single glance, and thus to enjoy the full effect of its collective excellence more per- |
Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/271
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