ATHENS. 207 
A mistaken opinion prevailed until towards the 
end of the seventeenth century *, that the remains 
of Athens had been almost rased from the earth, 
and that even its name no longer existed. The 
few merchants who resorted to the Piraeus, 
from Italy and from other parts of the Mediter- 
ranean, had given to it the barbarous appellation 
of Setines, or Sethina* : although, " of all tke 
antient cities in Greece" as an early traveller 
remarked who will presently be more particu- 
larly noticed, " no one has preserved its name 
with better success than Athens has done ; for 
both Greeks and Turks call it A0HNH." This is 
another instance of the corruptions introduced 
(1) Chandler says, "until the middle of the sixteenth century;" 
but the public curiosity does not appear to have been directed to thn 
city until long after the publication of the work to which he alludes. 
(2) Sethina, and Satina, are corruptions, according to Porlus and 
Meursius, from tis 'A0r,*Z. Various conjectures have arisen touching 
the origin of the antient name. Heinsius (in Aristar. Sac. Synt. I. 1. 
p. 27.) derives it from the Chaldean WJlTHENA, signifying to study or 
learn, written with an article, HATTHENA. In the time of Diodorm 
Siculus, and before him, it was a received opinion that Athens was 
peopled by the EGYPTIANS : Sals, in the Egyptian language, answering 
to dthena in Greek. The word Sethina is found in the Latin 
poem of Hugo Fauolius (in Hodasp. Byz. 1. iii.) who himself visited 
the spot. 
" Undique sic miserae nobis spectantur Athena?, 
Doedala quas Pallas sese coluisse negaret, 
Quas, Neptune pater, nunquam tua moenia dhras. 
Indigene Sethina vocant" 
