490 



ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 



couragement, and to excite them to work cheerfully," &c. &c* Now 

 it is highly improbable, that the road which leads to the Propylaea 

 from the northern part of the city, and which is naturally so much 

 more steep and difficult, should have been made use of for this 

 purpose ; the Ceramicus, therefore, which is here spoken of, could 

 not have been on the north side of the Acropolis, but on the south ; 

 where the ascent in fact is very gradual and wide. 



Having made the tour of the Ceramicus, which, in every point of 

 view, first deserved the notice of an antiquary, and having led us 

 back to the point where he began it, Pausanias proceeds to describe 

 the remainder of the city, before he visits the Acropolis. 



I have had occasion to remark, that Pausanias has in no part of his 

 description of the Ceramicus expressly mentioned the Agora. He 

 now however conducts us to one, which from its contiguity to other 

 buildings which stood there, viz. the Gymnasium of Ptolemy and 

 the Theseum, appears to have been situated on the north of the 

 Acropolis. The position of this Agora in the plan of Athens is 

 ascertained by a Doric portal, which both from its plan and pro- 

 portions, and an edict of the Emperor Hadrian regulating the price 

 of oil, inscribed on the jamb of a door-case which forms a part of the 

 original structure, is supposed to have been the entrance into it. 



This, I think, must be the same Agora that is incidentally mentioned 

 by Strabo, in the account which he gives of Eretria : — E^r^eag <T ol 

 yAv alto Mazig-iS Trig Tpt(bv\iotg a,7roiKi(r$vivoii (pu<riv V7T 'Eperp;e&>£' ft FoiTro Trig 

 ABrjvvcnv Epe7p/«f, y vvv Ig-iv dyo^oc. And it is not improbable that it had 

 been removed from the Ceramicus, where it had been polluted with 

 the blood of so many citizens, to a part of the city which was at 

 this period in every respect more central and convenient for it ; and 

 where it is remarkable that the market of the modern Athenians still 

 continues to be held at the present day. 



From this Agora, which, on the authority of Strabo, I shall call 

 the new one, and which Pausanias seems to have noticed, merely on 



* This story is repeated in the life of Cato ; it is related also by ./Elian. 



