510 



ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 



ground than the old, and the part which it was necessary to guard, 

 measured forty-three stadia.* Of the remainder, which we may 

 conclude was the part shut up between the long walls, he does not 

 give the measure ; probably because it was insignificant. His 

 scholiast, however, informs us, that it was seventeen stadia, which is 

 highly improbable ; the strength of the long walls, considered as 

 lines of fortification, much depending upon the shortness of their 

 distance from each other and their parallelism. But the position of 

 the Pirsean gate, which may now be regarded as fixed, and that of 

 the Ilissus, fully demonstrate the impossibility of this wide t interval. 



That it comprehended the Museum hill, might be inferred from 

 the importance attached to this spot after it was fortified, both by 

 Antigonus and his son Demetrius ; who, by means of the garrison 

 which they placed here, kept the city effectually under subjection. 

 On the other hand, the vestiges of the city walls, (if they can be 

 depended upon,) which inclose the monument of Philopappus, evi- 

 dently terminate on the summit of this pointed hill southwards, 

 striking off nearly in a right angle to the east ; so that the junction 

 of the Phaleric with the city wall, must necessarily have taken place 

 within this distance from the Pirasan. ;j. 



The space thus left between the long walls, would admit of one 

 gate of communication only between the city and the sea-ports, which 

 some will think improbable. I am inclined, nevertheless, to adopt 



* It would appear from some passages in the writings of Xenophon and Thucydides, 

 that the walls of the city had been extended farther than was necessary for the accommod- 

 ation of the inhabitants, in consequence of which there was a considerable space of vacant 

 ground. This must have been to the north of the Acropolis. Here, then, was room for 

 the garden of Epicurus, and for all the public buildings which were subsequently added to 

 the city by the Macedonian Greeks and the Romans. '0» Se ttoXKo) t« re eqr\fx.u rrjs 

 noXtwc wxrjTav, x«» Ta lega, x«» rot rjguict "xolvtu, &C. &C. Thucyd. Hist. E»t« eweiS)} xoci 

 ■noKXa. olxtwv egyptx. lunv hrog rw Ter^cov xai oixoVfSa. Xenoph. de Redit. 



f The bed of the Ilissus bends so much to the north, after it has passed by the Museum 

 hill, as to reduce this space very considerably. Chandler crossed it in his way to the 

 town. 



% Xenophon represents the long walls at Corinth as being at some distance from each 

 other ; but their length, according to Strabo, did not exceed twelve stadia. 



