646 Chateaubriand's Travels i 
1 
rates tlie hill of the Areopagus from the 
hill of the Pnyx, and that of the citadel. 
In the Coele were shewn the tombs of 
the two Cymons, of Thucydides, and 
lierodotus. 
The Pnyx, where the Athenians first 
held their popular assemblies, is a kind 
of esplanade, formed on a steep rock, at 
the back of the Lvcabettus. A wall 
composed of enormous stones supports 
this esplanade on the north side; on the 
south stands a rostrum, hewn out of the 
sohd rock, with an ascent of four steps, 
likewise cut out of the rock. I take 
notice of these circumstances because 
ancient travellers were not accurately 
acquainted with the form of the Pnyx. 
Lord Elgin, a few years since, caused 
this hill to be cleared of the rubbish; and 
to liim we are indebted fur the discovery 
of the steps. As you are not yet quite 
at the top of the rock, you cannot per¬ 
ceive the sea without ascending above 
the rostrum. The people were thus 
deprived of the view of the Pirseus, that 
Lictious orators might not lead them so 
tasiiv into rash enterprizes, as if they 
Tad before their eyes the spectacle of 
their power and of their fleets. Tlie 
Athenians were ranged on the esplanade, 
between the circular 'wail which I have 
mentioned, on the north, and the rostrum 
cn the south. 
In this rostrum then it was that Peri¬ 
cles, Alcibiades, and Demosthenes, de¬ 
livered tlieir oratioiis; that Socrates and 
Phocion harangued the people in the 
most mellifluous and the most expressive 
language in the world. It was here that 
»o many unjust acts were committed; 
that so many iniquitous and cruel de¬ 
crees were pronounced. This was, per- 
Ifaps, the spot where Aristides was ex¬ 
iled, where Melitus triumphed, where 
the entire population of a city was sen¬ 
tenced to die, where a whole nation was 
doomed to slavery. 
ilavins; sutficient rime left before it 
%^ould be dark, we proceeded from the 
Pnyx to the inii of the Museum. This 
lull, as every body knows, is crowned by 
tlie monument of Pliilopappus, a monu¬ 
ment in a bad taste: but in this instance, 
it is the person and not the tomb that 
deserves the attention of the traveller. 
This man tiien, whose name was Antio- 
chas Philopappus, was the rightful heir 
to the crown of Syria. Pompey had 
ttaiisported the descendants of King 
Antiochus to Athens, where they had 
become private citizens. 
The monument of Philopappus served 
hi Greece, Palestine, Uc, 
% 
bs as a kind of observatory to contem¬ 
plate other vanities. M. Fauvel siiewtcj 
me the various places where the walls of 
the ancient city bad stood; he pointed: 
out the ruins of the theatre of Bacchus, 
at the foot of the citadel, the dry channel 
of the Ilissus, the sea without ships, and 
the deserted ports of Phalereus, Muny- 
chia, and Pirteus. 
The next morning, at half past four, 
we went up to the citadel: the top of the 
hill is surrounded with walls, partly of 
ancieitt and partly of modern construc¬ 
tion ; other walls formerly encompassed 
its base. In the space comprised within 
these walls are, in the first place, the 
relics of the Propyla3a, and the ruins of 
the temple of Victory. Beliind the Pro- 
pylsea, on the left, towards the city, you 
next find the Pandroseum, atid the dou¬ 
ble temple of Neptune Erectheus and 
iSIinerva Polias; lastly, on the most 
elevated point of the Acropolis stands 
the temple of Minerva. The rest of the 
space is covered with the rubbish of 
ancient and modern buildings, and with 
the tents, arms, and barracks, of the 
Turks. 
The fii'yc thing tiiat strikes you in the 
edifices of Athens is the beautiful colour 
of those monuments. In our climate, 
in an atmosphere overcharged with smoke 
and rain, stone of the purest white soon 
turns black, or of a greenish hue. Tlie 
serene sky and the brilliant sun of Greece 
merely communicate to the marble of 
Paros and Pentelicus, a golden teint 
resembling that of ripe corn or tlie au¬ 
tumnal foliage. 
O 
The correctness, the simplicity, and 
the Jiarmony, of the proportions next 
demand your admiration. You liere 
see neither order upon order, column 
upon column, nor dome upon dome. 
The temple of iNIinerva, for example, 
is a simple oblong parallelogram, adorned 
with a vestibule, a promm or portico, 
and raised upon three steps, which run 
all round. This pronaos occupied near 
one thiid of the total length of the edi- 
flee. The interior of the temple was 
divided into two distinct naves, which 
were separated by a wall, and which re¬ 
ceived all their light from the door. 
In one was seen the statue of Minerva, 
the work of Phidias; and in the other 
was kept the treasure of the Athenians. 
The columns of the vestibule and portico 
rested immediately upon the steps ot the 
temple; they were without bases, fluted, 
and of the Doric order: they were lurty- 
two feet in heiglic, and seventeen and a 
half 
