ATTICA. 



ATTICA. 



about 60 miles, or very near it, which is the same length that we 

 have assigned to the western coast ; it happens also that the direct 

 distances from Sunium to the Horns and Calamo respectively are 

 very nearly the same. 



We shall now make a few remarks on the two great plains of 

 Attica, the Eleusinian and the Athenian. 



\Ve have preferred the name of Eleusinian for the western plain 

 of Attica, though the chief part of it is called the Thriasian by 

 ancient writers, from the demos of Thria. The range of ^Egaleos 

 formed a natural limit between the Athenian and Eleusinian plains, 

 and as far as we can follow the obscure traces of old traditions, the 

 Eleusiuians in the earliest history of Attica were a community quite 

 distinct from the Athenians, and sometimes at war with them. The 

 fertile Thriasian Plain extended between the range of ^Egaleos and 

 Eleusis along the borders of the bay and to the north of it. The 

 Sacred road from Athens to Eleusis, along which the annual solemn 

 procession to the Eleusinian festival passed, after crossing yEgaleos 

 by the narrow pass where the modern convent of Dhafni stands, 

 came down on the east coast of the Bay of Eleusis near the Rheiti, 

 or salt ponds, whose fish formed a part of the revenue of the great 

 temple of Eleusis. [ELEUSIS.] This lagoon or at least one of them 

 seem* marked in the recent survey as in some measure communicating 

 with the water of the bay. From the neighbourhood of the Rheiti 

 the Sacred road ran in the rocks above the Rheiti to Eleusis, from 

 which town the road continued as it now does below the Horns on 

 the west side cf the bay to the town of Megara. The Sacred road 

 was lined on both sides with monuments which Pausanias has 

 described at length (i. 36-38). The most important edifice on this 

 road was the Temple of Apollo on Mount Poecilum, of which the 

 three remaining Ionic columns were removed by Lord Elgin in 1801 

 and are now in the British Museum. At some little distance from 

 this was a Temple of Aphrodite. When Attica was invaded on the 

 west the fertile plain of Thria was the first to suffer from the ravages 

 of an enemy. (Thucyd. ii. 19.) We cannot determine in what part 

 of the Eleusinian Plain we must look for the Rharian Plain ; some 

 modern writers have placed it to the west of Eleusis. 



Attica i a dry country, and where the soil is not irrigated it is 

 generally unproductive. Two small streams water the Eleusinian 

 1'lain : one called the Cephisus, now the Sarand.iforo, descends from 

 the great mountain of Cithseron through the narrow plain of 

 Eleutheree into that of Eleusis ; the other small stream now known 

 as Janula rises near the pass of Phyle in the range of Fames, and 

 runs through the Thriasian Plain towards the Rheiti. The remains 

 of an arched aqueduct intended to supply Eleusis with water are 

 still seen stretching across the plain towards Eleusis from the upper 

 course of this latter stream. The Cephisus though almost dry in the 

 warm weather brings down from Cithaeron a prodigious quantity of 

 water in the wet season, and in ancient times mounds were raised to 

 protect Eleusis from those sudden inundations. 



The chief river of the" Athenian plain is the Cephisus. Its most 

 north-eastern source is at Trinemii (Strab. p. 400), between the 

 northern face of Pentelicus and Parnes ; another branch rises on the 

 south face of Pentelicus, and flowing westward joins the main stream 

 north of Athens : other branches rise in the high range of Parnes 

 about Deceleia and still farther westward. The Cephisus flows south- 

 ward on the west side of Athens, through what was called by 

 distinction 'the Plain;' its outlet was originally in the Bay of 

 Phalerum, and when the Long Walls were built it was necessary to 

 make tunnels to carry off so much of the river as was not consumed 

 in irrigation. Strabo remarks that " the Cephisus is only a torrent 

 stream, and that in summer it fails altogether." But it does not 

 fail hi the summer now, in fact, it appears to be the only river in 

 Attica which is never without water. " During the whole summer it 

 irrigates the 200 gardens on its banks, and in winter it supplies water 

 for the olive-trees which are planted in these gardens. To conduct 

 the water to the grounds the inhabitants have made small trenches 

 and ditches ; the irrigation takes place on fixed days and hours, so 

 that each garden is watered twice a week " (Thiersch.) The same 

 writer informs us that the irrigation all through Attica is in an 

 excellent condition, and that the valley of the Cephisus with its 

 noble gardens and ancient olive-trees corresponds exactly to the 

 beautiful description by Sophocles (' (Ed. CoL' 685) of the fertility 

 conferred on his native district by the Cephisus. We have already 

 spoken of the Ilismis in the description of Athens ; the main branch 

 rises on the north face of the greater Hymettus, from which it takes 

 a turn to the west and then to the south, running along the east 

 side of Athens. The Kridanus, which joins it near Athens, rises on 

 the western slope of the greater Hymettus at a place called Syriani ; 

 its fountain is in a beautiful spot surrounded by verdure. In summer 

 the Dissus is quite dry in the neighbourhood of Athens ; it seems 

 originally to have terminated where the Cephimu did in the Phaleric 

 Bay, but it now seldom reaches the sea. Besides these streams there 

 are only two others worth notice : one is the Erasmus, which flows 

 from the eastern slopes of HyniuttiiH through the Mesogaia into the 

 sea, north of |',, r t, Kafti ; and the other is the river of the plain of 

 Marathon, which comes from Mount I'll. I], m. 



Tin- raiigii of 1'arnes stands liko a wiill between Attica and Boeotia, 

 but the ascent ii much greater from the Athenian side ; the ascent 



from the higher level of Bcootia is less difficult. There are several 

 passes through this range which were formerly of great importance 

 for the military defence of Attica. The most western pass was by the 

 ' Three Heads' as the Boeotians called it, or the ' Oak Heads' according 

 to Athenian usage (Herod, ix. 39), which we may conjecture was 

 some remarkable eminence near the defile of Cithajron. This is now 

 called the pass of Kondura, at which place the roads from Megara, 

 Athens, and Eleusis meet ; and from this point the road is continued 

 to Plataja and Thebes, through the deep defile near the ' Three 

 Heads.' 



The pass of Phyle is about north by west of Athens. The fortifi- 

 cation which still retains its name stands on a steep rock, which can 

 only be approached on the east side, and completely commands the 

 narrow pass. From this elevated fort Thrasybulus and the little band 

 of exiles could view the whole Athenian plain and the Saronic Gulf 

 before they meditated a descent into the low country. Panactum 

 (Thucyd. v. 3. 42), an Athenian fort on the confines of Attica and 

 Bceotia, was possibly connected with some part of this pass, but there 

 seems to be no data for determining its position. The great eastern 

 pass was that of Deceleia (now Tatoy), which runs past " the solitary 

 church of St. Mercurius, and descends into the Boeotian plain at 

 Buydti." (Leake.) 



On this pass Herodotus (ix. 15) places the demos of Sphendale, and 

 this was the road that Mardouius took when he retreated from Attica : 

 by this pass also the grain imported into Athens from Eubcea through 

 Oropus was carried. (Thucyd. vii. 28.) The highest points of Parnes 

 lie between the passes of Deceleia and Phyle ; one of the summits 

 between these two points appears to be that to which we have assigned 

 the height of 4193 feet. Another pass still more to the eastward leads 

 from the plain of Marathon past Capandriti to Marcopoulo in the 

 Oropia. 



The great mass of the mountains of Attica are calcareous, but the 

 stone differs very much in quality and colour. The best specimens of 

 white marble from the quarries of Meudeli (the ancient Pentelicus) 

 are very white, hard, and fine-grained ; but owing to numerous little 

 pieces of flint or quartz imbedded in it this marble is exceedingly 

 difficult to be worked by the sculptor. Between Pentelicus and Parnes 

 the mass of rocks appears to be mica-slate, which is also the basis of 

 the region of Pentelicus. Marble also was in former times quarried 

 on Hymettus, and as well as that of Pentelicus was an article of 

 export : it was commonly less white than that of Pentelicus, and in 

 some places was nearly gray. It was much used for building by the 

 Romans. This marble extends to the promontory of Zoster. Near 

 the boundary of Megaris in the Horns there is an immense deposit of 

 conchiferous limestone, which did not escape the notice of Pausanias 

 (i. 44, 6). The silver-mine district of Laurium contained numerous 

 very productive mines, and might probably still be worked to advan- 

 tage with the aid of modern improvements, for we can hardly suppose 

 that the ore is exhausted. Salt was made in ancient times from the 

 salt-marshes on the coast. 



Attica cannot produce much grain in proportion to its surface. The 

 soil is light and dry, and the husbandman can cultivate most pro- 

 fitably the olive, fig, and grape, except on some of the best lands. 

 The olives and figs of ancient Attica were esteemed as of very supe- 

 rior flavour, as well as for ripening earlier and lasting in season longer 

 than those of other countries. The olive was the gift and under the 

 special protection of Athena. The sacred olive-tree which grew in tho 

 temple of the goddess on the Acropolis was the parent of the conse- 

 crated olives of the Academy, and from these sprung all the others in 

 Attica. The fig was the gift of Demeter, and a sacred fig-tree grew 

 in t Je temple of that goddess at Eleusis. All kinds of leguminous 

 vegetables can be successfully cultivated on the banks of the Cephisus 

 of the Athenian Plain. (Thiersch.) The fragrance and abundance of 

 flowers in Attica have rendered Hymettus noted for its honey, arid we 

 find that when Wheler visited Attica the monks of Mendeli, a monas- 

 tery of Pentelicus, had 5000 hives. 



Attica is not well adapted for breeding the horse to any amount ; 

 nor do horned cattle in general succeed well either here or in any of 

 the low hot parts of Greece. Sheep and goats, and especially the kid, 

 formed of old a large part of the wealth of the husbandmen ; and in 

 Greece generally at the present day butter and cheese are solely 

 produced from the milk of the goat and the sheep. The ancients 

 possessed several varieties of the sheep, and every encouragement was 

 given to the improvement of tho breed. The seas round the coast of 

 Attica abound in excellent fish, all the species of which were known 

 to and highly. prized by the ancient gastronomists : the red mullet 

 caught about Cape Zoster is as much valued as it ever was. (Leake.) 



Political Division*. If we want any proof as to the remote antiquity 

 of political communities in Attica, and its occupation at some time by 

 a people not of the same Greek stock as those of the age of Pericles, 

 we may find it in the names of mountains, streams, anil places. The 

 names of mountains and rivers are in all countries the most permanent 

 memorials of a nation's existence. Many Attic names can be explained 

 from t.he. Greek language as known to us, and otli- r, r.m lie traced to 

 personal names which belong to the circle of the Greek mythi. But 

 tliiTi! Mtill remain many which wo can only explain by a comparison 

 k words with those of kindred languages, or which we cnnnot 

 explain at all ; such ara Cephisus or Koph-issus, Il-issus, Hym-ettun, 



