526 



LONG WALLS OF ATHENS. 



We are told by Andocides*, that after the Piraeus had been fortified, 

 the northern long wall was erected, and that after the completion of 

 the arsenal, the southern. iEschines f too speaks of the erection 

 of the northern, and assigns to it the same period of time: but 

 neither iEschines nor Andocides hint at the existence of a third 

 wall either in this or in any other direction. 



It has been already shewn, that the long walls could not have 

 been very far asunder at the point where they joined those of Athens; 

 but it is not improbable that they diverged a little as they approached 

 the Piraeus ; for this was by no means inconsistent with the system 

 sof defence, and must have greatly facilitated the intercourse between 

 such a crowded mart as the Piraeus and Athens. Plato £ speaks of 

 Leontius as going up from the Piraeus under the northern long wall, 

 which seems to confirm this notion of their divergence; for he would 

 hardly have particularized the line of march upon this occasion, had 

 not the long walls been here at some distance from each other, 

 one perhaps in a direct line from the shore of the haven, the other 

 more to the south and in a line with Munychia. 



When we compare the hasty and very faulty construction of the 

 walls of Athens, as they are represented by Thucydides, with the 

 great care which was taken by Themistocles in erecting those of the 

 Piraeus, as well as with the prodigious height which he intended 

 to give them §, no doubt can be entertained which of the two was 



* De Pace. f De falsa Legat. % De Republica. 



§ Thucydides informs us that these walls were carried up to one half only of the height 

 which was intended, without mentioning what that height was; but this information is 

 supplied by Appian, who says " u\J/oj he roc ret^ri tt^eoov rea-uct^ixxovTa. poiX^a." The 

 ^X ?? according to Suidas, was the measure from the elbow to the end of the middle finger, 

 or about one foot and a half. This would give a height of 60 feet to the half-finished walls, 

 or 120 feet to the same walls when completed; which is an absurdity. We are told by 

 Xenophon, that the poition of these walls which the Athenians had been obliged by treaty 

 to raze to the ground, was rebuilt by Conon; but no mention is made of any additions 

 having been made upon this occasion to their original height; and yet their strength was 

 so great as to resist for a long time all the machinery which Sylla brought to act against 

 them ; nor would they have been forced, had not Sylla undermined their foundations. 

 See the whole account of this siege by Appian. 



