584 ARCHITECTURAL INSCRIPTION. 



vemoving tlie ruins of the violated fane to make way for the new 

 building. But in doing so, they were directed by a necessity which 

 existed in no other instance. The sacred spring which their fore- 

 fathers regarded with holy reverence, and the olive which the pro- 

 tectress of Athens had caused to be created and to take root in the 

 soil, were within this sanctuary, and identified with the spot; the 

 site of the temple might be changed, but the sacred objects, for 

 whose protection the temple had been reared, could not be re- 

 moved. It is not possible that the present building should be a 

 restoration of the ancient Erectheum ; for the inscription enters into 

 the detail of too many particulars to permit of any other application 

 than that to a recent and entirely new structure, approaching towards 

 completion by a gradual progress. The basis of all the columns, the 

 wall towards the west, upon which the columns of that are front 

 elevated, the substructure of the portico towards the south, and 

 other particulars in the lower part of the edifice, are described as still 

 unfinished ; hence it is evident that the building was not undereoins: 

 that kind of repair which a conflagration would have rendered 

 nee ?ssary ; for in this case, the new and unfinished work would have 

 been almost exclusively confined to the upper parts. 



In the inscription the statues in the portico facing the south, are 

 simply termed Ko^u\, the virgins; perhaps they were representations of 

 those called Canephorce, who assisted at the great Panatiienean 

 festival; two of them are said by Pausanias to have their residence 

 near to the temple. Vitruvius calls statues so introduced. Caryatides, 

 and relates a fanciful story of their supposed introduction, as objects 

 of architectural embellishment. 



The survey begins at the angle of the building nearest to the 

 Cecropium, or tomb of Cecrops. * It is manifest from the context 

 that this monument was situated to the south of the temple; for in the 

 56th line, it is said that " the wall facing the south wind is unpolished 



* Avto y£ El/ TYj 'AxfiOTioKei Kexprnro: Vti ra^oc, ■jrufix tyjv TloXioii^ov aiiTrjv. Tlicodoret. 

 1. viii. Theiap. 



