ATIIKNS. 



same IN the rase witli the Phnlerum and Munychta. 

 Sinn- little commerce is carried on here, nnd a cus- 

 toin-hoiise stands on the place. Modern Athens, in 

 Livadia, lately contained 1300 houses, and 12,000 

 inhabitants, 2000 of whom were Turks. The (in ks 

 here experienced from tlie Turks a milder govern- 

 ment than elsewhere. They also retained some re- 

 mains of their ancient customs, and annually chose 

 four archons. The Greek archbishop residing here 

 hail a considerable income. In 1822, the Acropolis, 

 afier a long siege, fell into the hands of the free 

 Creeks. In 1S25, a Greek school, under the care 

 of the patriot professor George Gennadios, was in a 

 flourishing condition. The most thorough investiga- 

 tion of the places among the ruins of A. worthy of 

 attention, is contained in Leake's Topography of 

 Athen's, with some Remarks on its Antiquities, Lon- 

 don, 1821, with an atlas in folio. (See Stuart and 

 Uevett's splendid work, the Antiquities of Athens, 

 which the architect Eberhard copied, and had print- 

 ed on zinc plates, and published, Darmstadt, 1824, 

 folio.) Leake makes it appear probable, tliat, in the 

 time of Pausanias, many monuments were extant 

 which belonged to the period before the Persian 

 war; because so transitory a possession as Xerxes 

 had of the city, scarcely gave him time to finish the 

 destruction of the walls and principal public edifices. 

 In the restoration of the city to its former state, The- 

 mistocles looked more to the useful, .Cimon to mag- 

 nificence and splendour ; and Pericles far surpassed 

 them both in his buildings. The great supply of 

 money which he had from the tribute of the other 

 states, belonged to no succeeding ruler. A. at length 

 saw much of her ancient splendour restored ; but, 

 unluckily, Attica was not an island, and, after the 

 sources of power, which belonged to the fruitful and 

 extensive country of Macedonia, were developed by 

 an able and enlightened prince, the opposing inter- 

 ests of many free states could not long withstand the 

 disciplined army of a warlike people, led by an ac- 

 tive, able, and ambitious monarch. When Sylla de- 

 stroyed the works of the Piraeus, the power of A. by 

 sea was at an end, and with that fell the whole city. 

 Flattered by the triumvirate, favoured by Adrian's 

 love of the arts, A. was at no time so splendid as 

 under the Antonines, when the magnificent works of 

 from eight to ten centuries stood in view, and the 

 edifices of Pericles were in equal preservation with 

 the new buildings. Plutarch himself wonders how 

 the structures of Ictinus, of Menesicles and Phidias, 

 which were built with such surprising rapidity, could 

 retain such a perpetual freshness. The most correct 

 criticism on the accounts of Greece by Pausanias and 

 Strabo is in Leake. Probably Pausanias saw Greece 

 yet unplundered. The Romans, from reverence to- 

 wards a religion approaching so nearly to their own, 

 and wishing to conciliate a people more cultivated 

 than themselves, were ashamed to rob temples where 

 the masterpieces of art were kept as sacred, and were 

 satisfied with a tribute of money in PMipsdors, al- 

 though in Sicily they did not abstain from the plun- 

 der of the temples, on account of the prevalence of 

 Carthaginian and Phoenician influence in that island. 

 Pictures, even in the time of Pausanias, may have 

 been left in their places. The wholesale robberies 

 of collectors, the removal of great quantities of the 

 works of art to Constantinople, when the creation of 

 new specimens was no longer possible, Christian zeal, 

 and the attacks of barbarians, destroyed, after a time, 

 in A., what the emperors had spared. We have 

 reason to think, that the colossal statue of Minerva 

 Promachos was standing in the time of Alaric. 

 About-420 A. D., paganism was totally annihilated 

 at A., and, when Justinian closed even the schools of 

 the philosophers, the recollection of the rnjtholoffy 



was lost. The Parthenon was turned into a church 

 of the Virgin Mary, and Si George stepped into tin- 

 place of Theseus. The manufactory of silk, which 

 liad hitherto remained, was destroyed by the trans- 

 portation of a colony of weavers, by Roger of Sicily, 

 and, in 1456, the place fell into the hands of Omar. 

 To complete its degradation, the city of Minerva 

 obtained the privilege (an enviable one in the East) 

 of being governed by a black eunuch, as an appen- 

 dage to the haram. The Parthenon became a 

 mosque, and, at the west end of the Acropolis, tlmse 

 alterations were commenced, which the new dis- 

 covery of artillery then made necessary. In 1687, 

 at the siege of A. by the Venetians under Morosini, 

 it appears that the temple of Victory was destroyed, 

 the l>eaiitiful remains of which are to be seen in the 

 British museum. September -_'8, of this year, a bomb 

 fired the powder-magazine kept by the Turks in the. 

 Parthenon, and, with this building, destroyed the 

 ever memorable remains of the genius of Phidias. 

 Probably, the Venetians knew not what they de- 

 stroyed ; they could not have intended that their 

 artillery should accomplish such devastation. The 

 city was surrendered to them September 29. They 

 wished to send the chariot of Victory, which stood 

 on the west pediment of the Parthenon, to Venice, 

 as a trophy of their conquest, but, in removing, it 

 fell and was dashed to pieces. April, 1688, A. was 

 again surrendered to the Turks, in spite of the re- 

 monstrances of the inhabitants, who, with good rea- 

 son, feared the revenge of their returning mas- 

 ters. Learned travellers have, since that time, 

 often visited A. ; and we may thank their rela- 

 tions and drawings for the knowledge which we 

 have of many of the monuments of the place. How 

 little the Greeks of modern times have understood 

 the importance of these buildings, is proved by Cru- 

 sius' Turco-Grecia. From them originated the names 

 temple of the tinknmon God, lantern of Demosthenes, 

 &c. It is doing injustice to the Turks to attribute to 

 them exclusively, the crime of destroying these re- 

 mains of antiquity. From these ruins the ( reeks have 

 supplied themselves with all their materials for build- 

 ing for hundreds of years. The ruins are in the neigh- 

 bourhood of inhabited places, and, in the seaport 

 towns are particularly exposed, because ease of trans- 

 portation is added to the daily want of materials. In 

 the mean time, the most accessible part of A. has 

 rich treasures to reward well-directed researches ; 

 and each fragment, which comes to light in A., 

 proves the all pervading art and taste of this people. 

 It is fortunate that many of the remains of Grecian 

 art have been covered by barbarous structures, until 

 a brighter day should dawn on Greece. 



ATHENS; a post-town of Georgia, United Sltttes, in 

 Clarke co.,on the Oconee; 92 W. N. W. Augusta, 

 197 N.W. Savannah. It has a very elevated, pleasant 

 and healthy situation. It contained in 182", upwards 

 of seventy dwelling-houses, and nearly 1000 inhabi- 

 tants. Franklin college, which, together with the 

 incorporated academies of the state, is styled the uni- 

 versity of Georgia, was incorporated and established 

 at this place in 1784, but did not go into operation till 

 1803. The buildings consist of two large brick edifices 

 for the accommodation of students, a chapel, a stew- 

 ard's hall, a brick building for the chemical and the 

 philosophical apparatus, and the library, which con- 

 tains about 2000 volumes, and a building for a gram- 

 mar-school, which is connected with the college. 

 The government and instruction of the college are 

 intrusted to a president, four professors and two 

 tutors. The number of students, in 1827, was 100. 



ATHENS ; a small post-town of Ohio, United States, 

 and capital of a county of the same name It is 

 situated on ap elevated penmsula, formed by a 



