42 ARCHITECTURE. 
of the Agora or vegetable market, from an inscription on the same men- 
tioning the names of two superintendents of the market, and another con- 
taining a proclamation of Hadrian regulating the sale of oil and the duties 
to be levied on importations. 
After having thus mentioned the various buildings alluded to by ancient 
writers as being in the city of Athens itself, we now proceed to the edifices 
on the Acropolis, the citadel of Athens, among which we find the best pre- 
served monuments of Grecian antiquity; whilst those in the city proper have 
been entirely destroyed, with the exception of the few whose ruins we have 
noticed more in detail. 3 
The Acropolis of Athens (pl. 11, fig. 1), according to historical traditions, 
was planned and executed by the Pelasgians, who were masters in the art 
and science of fortification in ancient times. It was a citadel which by 
strong walls was well secured against any hostile attack, and inclosed a 
sacred place filled with a number of temples and adorned with the noblest 
and most exquisite productions of art. It was, in fact, the sanctuary of 
Athens, where the Panathenzean festivals were celebrated, and the deposi- 
tory of the public archives and the state treasure. 
Pausanias, the best author on Athens, has left us descriptions of all the 
luxury and beauty condensed upon comparatively so small a spot, which 
are indeed astonishing. He mentions the temples of Diana, of Venus, of 
Minerva Polias, of Erechtheus and Nike Apteros, and of the Parthenon. 
Of all these glorious structures nothing has been preserved but the ruins of 
the propylea of the Parthenon, of the temples of Minerva Polias and 
Erechtheus, and the Hall of the Nymph Pandrosos; but they suffice to bear 
evidence to the grandeur and beauty of the monuments in the time of their 
glory. Large flights of steps on the western slope of the mountain, orna- 
mented with two equestrian statues upon pedestals, led to the main entrance 
of the citadel, which was built in the purest style of the Doric order, and is 
far-famed under the name of the Propylea. This magnificent structure, 
undoubtedly one of the most characteristic monuments of the time when 
Athens was in her prime, was commenced 437 B.c., and completed in the 
exceedingly short time of five years, according to the designs and under the 
superintendence of Mnesicles. 
FP. 11, jig. 1, shows a perspective view of the edifice, which is composed 
of the main or centre building, with projecting wings, forming three sides of 
a quadrangle. The centre building, with its six columns, offers five en- 
trances to the interior of the Acropolis. The side building to the right 
forms a portico to the Doric temple of Nike Apteros (the wingless Victory), 
of which pl. 16, jig. 32, gives the plan, whilst pl. 11, jig. 1, has a view of it 
near the right hand pedestal. The left side building contained in one of the 
interior apartments the famous paintings of Polygnotus. The portico in the 
rear, facing the interior of the Acropolis, was similar to that in front, both 
of them being of the Doric order, whilst the vestibule has Ionic columns, 
but without a base. Only very recently the discovery of a very carefully 
constructed inclined plane leading to the Acropolis has decided the question 
whether chariots had entered it, which had been supposed on account of the 
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