482 



ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 



ation which I made of the MS. drawing of this plan when I was last at 

 Athens, I have no hesitation in bearing testimony to its superior 

 merit. I shall here however beg leave to observe, that although both 

 Stuart and Fauvel have laid down what they conceive to be the re- 

 mains of the old city walls, as far as they were able to trace them 

 with any degree of precision ; yet when we consider the account 

 which Thucydides gives of the hasty construction of these * walls, 

 the long interval which has since elapsed, together with the various 

 revolutions that have taken place, we can hardly expect to find any 

 indisputable remains of them. Modern times, too, have witnessed 

 a succession of walls built round the present city, the last of which 

 consumed even the few remaining materials of the old ; as I had an 

 opportunity of ascertaining, by a comparison of Stuart's plan with 

 the ground it represented. 



In the two plans of Athens, which I have pointed out as best qua- 

 lified to assist our enquiries, we shall find the relative position of 

 those ancient buildings which still subsist, together with the form and 

 position of the Acropolis, and the monuments of antiquity within it. 

 These may be regarded as so many fixed points, by the aid of which, 

 and of Pausanias, we may ascertain the names of such buildings, as 

 are too mutilated and imperfect to afford any internal evidence of 

 their destination ; but unfortunately, data of this description are 

 wanting to ascertain the position, extent, and figure of that most 

 important part of the city, the Ceramicus ; for of all the public build- 

 ings which once adorned it, and which were so venerable on account 

 of their antiquity, and so interesting in respect to the history of the 

 arts, scarcely a vestige remains, f 



* 'H oixo5o/x/a xurd. a-TrouOrjv eysvsro hi yap SefAeAioi iruvTotw hlftiov vtcoxhvtcu, xcti 6v t-vveipycur- 

 fjAvcov ectjv wj exeurroi ttote wpoue^epov ■noKXui re (rrfjAai orno (rypxTcuv xai AiSoi 



lipya.7^vjrn eyxa.Te?Jyy)<ruv. Lib. i. 



f I have used this qualified expression, because the single column of white marble which 

 is marked in Stuart's plan still remains here, and is said by M. Fauvel, who has dug to its 

 foundation, to be in its right place. He found two or three other columns in the same 

 line with it, and is of opinion that they belonged to a Stoa or portico. 



