4 i 56 A T H 
and caftles which furround it, it has felt the refiftlefs force 
of time. Some of the walls and towers are hill remain¬ 
ing, as monuments of its former grandeur. It is a bo¬ 
rough, and fends two members to the Irifh parliament. 
A'THENS, a celebrated city of Greece, and capital of 
the ancient kingdom of Attica, (ituated in lat. 38. 2. N. 
long. 4r. 40. E. Ferro. In early times, that which was af¬ 
terwards called the citadel, was the whole city ; and went 
under the name of Cecropia, from its founder Cecrops, 
whom the Athenians in after-times affirmed to have been 
the firft builder of cities, and called therefore by way of 
eminence Polis, i. e. the city. In the reign of Erich- 
thonius it loft the name of Cecropia, and acquired that of 
Athens, on what account is not certain; the moft proba¬ 
ble is, that it was fo named in refpect to the goddcfs Mi¬ 
nerva, whom the Greeks call Athene, and who was ef- 
teemed its protefhefs. This old city was feated on the 
top of a rock in the midft of a large and pleafant plain, 
which, as the number of inhabitants increafed, became 
full of buildings-, which induced the diftinftion of Aero 
and Catapolis, i. e. of the upper and lower city. The ex¬ 
tent of the citadel was (ixty ftadia ; it was furrounded by 
olive trees, and fortified, as fome fay, with a ftrong pal- 
]ifade ; in fucceeding times it was encompafted with a 
ftrong wall, in which there were nine gates, one very large, 
and the reft final!. The infide of the citadel was adorned 
with innumerable edifices. The n;oft remarkable of which 
were, 1. The magnificent temple of Minerva, ftyled Par¬ 
thenon, becaufe that goddefs was a virgin. The Perlians 
deftroyed it; but it was rebuilt with ftill greater fplendour 
by the famous Pericles, of the nneft marble, with fuch 
fkill and ftrength, that, in fpite of the rage of time and 
barbarous nations, it yet remains perhaps the firft antiquity 
in the world, and (lands a w itnefs to the truth of what an¬ 
cient writers have recorded of the prodigious magnificence 
of Athens in her floiirifhing ftate. 2. The temple of Nep¬ 
tune and of Minerva ; for it w’as divided into two parts : 
one facred to the god, in which was the fait fountain faid 
to have fprung up upon the ftroke of his trident; the other 
to the goddefs profeclrefs of Athens, w herein was the fa¬ 
ired olive which the produced, and her image, which it 
was laid fell down from heaven in the reign of Erichtho- 
nius. At the back of Minerva’s temple was the public 
trealury, which was burnt to the ground through- the 
knavery of the treafurers, who, having mifapplied the re¬ 
venues of the ftate, took this (hort metl»od of making tip 
their accounts. 
The lower city comprehended all the buildings furround¬ 
ing the citadel, the fort Munychia, and the havens Pha- 
Jerum and Piraeus, tire latter of which was joined to the 
city by walls five miles in length ; that on the north was 
built by Pericles, and that on the fouth by Themiftocles; 
but by degrees the turrets which were at firft eredted on 
thofe walls were turned into dvvelling-houfes for the accom¬ 
modation of the Athenians, whofc large city was now be¬ 
come too fmall for them. The lower city had thirteen noble 
gates. Among the principal edifices which adorned it, we 
may reckon, 1. The Olympian temple, erefted in honour 
of Jupiter, the honour of Athens, and of all Greece. 
The foundation of it was laid by Pififtratus: it was car¬ 
ried on but (low ly in fucceeding times, 700 years elapfing 
before it w'as finifhed, which happened under the reign of 
Adrian, who was particularly kind to Athens : this was 
the firft building in which the Athenians beheld pillars. 
2. The pantheon, dedicated to all the gods ; a moft noble 
ftrudhire, (upported by 120 marble pillars, and having 
over its great gate two horfes carved by Praxiteles. In 
leveral parts of it were Jlaoi or porticoes* wherein people 
walked in rainy weather, and from whence a (eel of pni- 
lofophers were denominated Jloics, becaufe their mafter 
Zeno taught in thofe porticoes. 3. The temple of The- 
feus, a noble ftrufture, built of Pentelic marble. On 
the metopes in the eaflern front, are reprefented ten of 
-she labours of Hercules ; and on the metopes next that 
front, both on the northern and fouthern (ides, are eight 
A T H 
of the achievements of Thefeus. It will appear the Tefs- 
extraordinary, that the iabours of Hercules (liould make 
fo conliderable a part of the ornaments of this temple.* 
when we recoiled! the refpedl which Thefeus profelfed for 
that hero, who was his kinfman, who had delivered him 
from a tedious captivity, and had reftored him to his coun¬ 
try ; on his return to which, Thefeus confecrated to Her¬ 
cules all the places that the gratitude of his citizens had 
formerly dedicated to himfelf, four only excepted ; and 
changed their names from Thefea to Herculea. Nor could 
it be efteemed a (light compliment to Thefeus, when, on 
building this temple to his honour, their labours w ere then 
placed together. It is now a-church dedicated to St. 
George, for whom the prefent Athenians have as high a 
veneration as their anceftors had for Thefeus ; and to this 
we probably owe that it is not in a more ruinous condition',, 
Tliis building exhibits a fine example of the old Doric 
order; the columns are about diameters high, having 
no bales, a fimple but bold capital, maffive architrave, 
large frieze, and fmall cornice; very fimilar to the order 
employed in the Parthenon. 
There were at Athens two places called Ceramicus , 
from Ceramus the fon of Bacchus and Ariadne; one with¬ 
in the city, containing a multitude of buildings of all- 
forts ; the other in the fuburbs, in which was the acade r 
my and other edifices. The Gymnafia of Athens were 
many ; but the moft remarkablewere the Lyceum, Aca¬ 
demia, and Cynofarges. The Lyceum flood on the banks- 
of IlKTiis; fome fay it was built by Pififtratus, others by 
Pericles, others by Lycurgus. Here Ariftotle taught phi- 
lofophy, inftrubting fuch as came to hear him as they 
walked, whence his difciples are generally thought to de¬ 
rive the name of peripatetics. The Ceramicus without the 
city was the diftance of fix ftadia from its walls. The aca¬ 
demy made part thereof; as to the name of which there 
is fome difpute. Some affirm that it was fo called from 
Academus, an ancient hero, who, when Helen was ftolen 
by Thefeus, difeovered the place where (lie lay hid to 
Caftor and Pollux : for which reafon the Lacedemonians, 
when they invaded Attica, always fpared this place. Dicae r 
archus writes, that Caftor and Pollux had two Arcadians 
in their army, the one named Echedemus, the other Ma- 
rothus ; from the former of thefe he fays this place took 
its name, and that the borough of Marathon was fo called 
from the other. It was a marftiy imwholefome place, till 
Cimon was at great pains to have it drained ; and then it 
became extremely pleafant and delightful, being adorned 
with fiiady walks, where Plato read hisledlures, and from 
thence his fcholars were called academics. The Cynofar¬ 
ges was a place in the fuburbs not far trom the Lyceum : 
it was famous on many accounts; but particularly for a^ 
noble gymnafium, appointed for the fpecial ufe of fuch as 
were Athenians only by one fide. In after times Themi¬ 
ftocles derived to himfelf ill-will, by Parrying many of 
the nobility to exercife with him here, becaufe, being but 
of the half blood, he could exercife no where elfe but in 
this gymnafium. Antifthenes inftituted a feet of philofo- 
phers, who, from the name of this diftritt, as many think, 
were ftyled Cynics. 
The havens of Athens were three. Firft the Pyraeus,. 
which was diftant about thirty-five or forty ftadia from 
the city, till joined to it by the long walls before-men¬ 
tioned/after which it became the principal harbour of the 
city. It had three docks ; Cantharos, Aphrodifium, and 
Zea ; the firft was fo called from an ancient hero, the fe- 
cond from the goddefs Venus who had there two temples,, 
and the third from bread-corn. There were in this port 
five porticoes, which joining together formed one great 
one, called from thence Marca Stoa, or the grand portico. 
There were likewife two great markets or fora : one near 
the long portico, the other near the city. The fecond 
port was Munichia, a promontor-y not far diftant from 
Pyrasus ; a place very ftrong by nature, and afterwards 
rendered far (Longer by art. It was of this that Epime- 
nides laid, if the Athenians fore fa w what mifehief it would 
y.ue 
