520 



ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 



dveSriKev. An instance is given by Thucydides, in his account of 

 the siege of Syracuse, how sensible the Athenians were of the im- 

 portance of these works. O't ABvivoclot rovg £e oyjrovg ccvtm, 01 \q 



TYIV 7T0XtV V7T0V0fjLYl^OV 7T0T0J VjOiTOg '/jyfXiVOl TjCUV, (Slttp^B^CtV. And it is not 



improbable, that the mischief thus described, was afterwards re- 

 taliated upon themselves ; either on the invasion of Philip or the 

 capture of the city by Sylla. 



Whether it was in consequence of a violence like this, that the 

 aqueducts were abandoned, or they had become useless by long 

 neglect ; we find that Athens at a subsequent period had relapsed 

 into her former state ; for Pausanias, who visited that city in the 

 latter half of the second century, speaking of Enneacrunos, informs 



US, that Opsara plv xai J<a TToctrrig rvjg TToKsug Ifh nriyrj <5fi uutti ^ovy. 



% Soon after this, however, as we learn from an inscription over the 

 Ionic arcade at the foot of Mount Anchesmus, Athens was provided 

 with an aqueduct, by the munificence of the Emperors Hadrian and 

 Antonine. * 



The modern city is abundantly supplied in the same way by a 

 subterranean canal, which conveys to it the whole perennial stream 

 of the Ilissus. It is, therefore, no wonder, that the bed of that river 

 should present an appearance, at this time, so little corresponding 

 with its poetical character ; and that travellers should complain so 

 feelingly of its degradation. *f 



* It was begun by Hadrian and finished by Antonine in his third consulate. 



f The following extracts from my Journal will convey some information respecting the 

 present state of the Ilissus — 



" Oct. 21. — Notwithstanding the heavy rains of the preceding evening, the bed of the 

 Ilissus was quite dry, but as we were tracing its course upwards towards Enneacrunos, I 

 discovered a subterranean canal immediately beneath it, which contained a small stream ot 

 clear water. It was about six feet below the bed of the river, hewn out of the solid 

 micaceous rock, and measured about three feet six inches by two feet six inches." 



" Nov. 14. — I observed in my walk this day, that notwithstanding the heavy rains 

 which we had lately experienced here, a very small rivulet ran along the gravelly bed of the 

 Ilissus. Fauvel informed me, that he had found the traces of seven or eight pipes belong- 



