ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 



517 



from it ; then followed Dipylon ; beyond which must have stood the 

 Acharnian ; for such was- the direction of Acharnee in respect to 

 Athens. The space now left for the remaining gates, supposing the 

 intervals between them to be like the others, or nearly so, will admit 

 of three more ; one of which was probably the Diomeian. The 

 other gates enumerated by Potter, are the irvXat Q^kUi or Thracian, 

 the authority for which is taken by mistake from a passage of 

 Thucydides relating to Amphipolis*; the nuXtxi Zyia.7ar\-, which is 

 mentioned only in a monkish legend quoted by Meursius ; h\y\wq 

 ttvXoci, which was unquestionably no gate of the city ; and the gate 

 of Hadrian, of which I have already treated. 



But a question of some importance remains to be answered, — How 

 was Athens supplied with water ? 



The first settlers were undoubtedly influenced in the choice of their 

 situation, by the proximity of Calliroe and the Ilissus ; and until the 

 time of Theseus, it is probable that these were sufficient for the 

 supply of the inhabitants. But the great addition which was then 

 made to the population of the city, by causing the buildings to extend 

 considerably to the north of the Ilissus, must have suggested other 

 means of supply ; and those inhabitants who dwelt at the greatest 

 distance from Calliroe and the Ilissus, doubtless, had recourse to wells. 



Plutarch mentions a police law of Solon, respecting the use of 

 wells. According to this law, every one who dwelt within the space 

 defined by Hippicon or four stadia around a well, might make use 

 of it. Others, not within that distance, were enjoined to provide 

 one of their own ; and in case they should meet with no water at the 

 depth of ten fathoms, they were allowed daily to fetch a limited 

 quantity from their next neighbours' well. Plutarch says, that Solon 

 enacted this law, because he thought it right to provide against the 

 want of water, without holding out any encouragement to indolence ; 

 but, it is evident, that in such a country as Attica, it was necessary 



* This is a most extraordinary instance of carelessness in such a writer as Meursius. 

 f Between the walls and Anchesinus is a little Greek church called Agia Scea. 



