ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 



509 



In the preceding enquiry, (the necessity for which in my opinion 

 ought long ago to have been superseded,) an attempt has been made 

 to settle some of the most leading and important points in the topo- 

 graphy of Athens. 



The enquiry may now be extended to the walls of that city, although 

 with less prospect of success ; for here unfortunately our intelligent 

 guide forsakes us, and the information which we must now glean 

 from a variety of other sources, is too scanty to afford us a competent 

 idea of the plan of these walls ; either in respect to the ground whfch 

 they occupied, or the number and position of the gates. 



As Thucydides was almost an eye-witness to their construction, 

 we may justly regard whatever he says upon the subject as authentic ; I 

 shall therefore avail myself to the utmost of his information, and have 

 recourse only to other writers when they are not in opposition to him. 



We are told by that historian, that the inhabitants of Athens re- 

 turned to the city immediately after the departure of the j~ Persians, 

 and in the same year began to rebuild the walls ; after which they 

 proceeded to fortify the Piraeus. An interval, however, of some 

 years elapsed, before they began to erect the long walls which united 

 the city with the Piraeus ; and completed the general plan of fortifi- 

 cation recommended by Themistocles. 



The length of the northern long wall, or the Piraean, according to 

 Thucydides, was forty stadia, and that of the southern or Phaleric, 

 thirty-five ; which measures agree pretty well with the respective 

 distances of the Piraeus and Phalerum from Athens. J 



The new walls round the city comprehended a greater space of 



aqueduct shows it to have been in New Athens. The Olyrapium, therefore, even accord- 

 ing to this hypothesis, must be in New Athens, 

 f A. C. 478, Olvmp. lxxv. 2-3. Dodw. 



X It is necessary tor me to observe in this place, that I argue on the hypothesis of two 

 long walls ; one connecting the city with the Piraeus, the other with Phalerum. I have 

 therefore called one of these walls the Piraean, and the other the Phaleric. It will be seen 

 by an inquiry into the subject of the long walls, which is printed in this edition, that both 

 these walls joined the city to the Pirasus. The conclusions therefore in respect to a single 

 gate between the long walls and Athens, remain unaltered, for which reason I have not 

 thought it necessary to correct the text. 



