Camp J. The Archaeology of Athens

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of the blocks, near the center

of gravity. They were intended

to provide purchase for ropes

or crowbars when the blocks

were maneuvered into place

during construction. Once the

building was finished, the

bosses would have been chis-

eled away. Structurally, the building functioned for centuries; we are speaking here only

about details of the architectural finish, which allow some insight into the process of con-

struction and the care with which the Propylaia was built.

Plutarch tells a story about the Propylaia which shows that Athena herself approved of

the new work on her sanctuary:

A wonderful thing happened in the course of building [the Propylaia], which in-

dicated that the goddess was not holding herself aloof but was a helper both in

the beginning and in the completion of the work. One of the craftsmen, the

most active and zealous of all, lost his footing and fell from a great height;

he lay in a sorry plight, despaired of by the physicians. Perikles was much

cast down by this, but the

goddess appeared to him

in a dream and pre-

scribed a course of treat-

ment to use so that he

quickly and easily cured

the man. In commemo-

ration of this he set up

88 CLASSICAL ATHENS

81. Detail of the protective surfaces

on the eastern stylobate of the

Propylaia.

82. Base for the Statue of Athena

Hygieia, ca. 430 b.c., signed by the

sculptor Pyrrhos.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

the bronze statue of Athena Hy-

gieia [Health] on the Acropolis

near the altar of that goddess

which they say was there before.

(Perikles 13.7–8)

Against the southernmost columns of

the east facade can be seen what ap-

pears to be the base for this statue, ap-

parently marking the spot where the

unfortunate workman fell (see fig.

79). It is a cylindrical piece of marble

with moldings at top and bottom. On

top are cuttings for the attachment of

the feet of a bronze statue, and an in-

scription in handsome letters of the

fifth century

. runs across the face: “The Athenians to Athena Hygieia. Pyrrhos the

Athenian made it” (IG I

506). A few meters to the east is the altar mentioned by Plutarch.

An unusual and important feature of the Propylaia is its relation to the Parthenon.

At this early period, Greek sanctuaries often developed in a haphazard fashion, with the

individual buildings taking little cognizance of one another. That is emphatically not the

case on the Acropolis, and the three connections between the Propylaia and Parthenon

are among the easiest associations to appreciate. The Propylaia, as laid out, was intended

to be almost exactly as wide as the Parthenon is long. The ratios used in the Propylaia

(3:7) are almost identical to those of the Parthenon (4:9). And the two buildings, though

not on the same axis, are set on the same orientation. These and similar associations

among the buildings on the Acropolis must have been part of the overall design of the en-

tire program, which, as noted, was under the general supervision of a single individual,

Pheidias.

Traces of the predecessor of the Propylaia survive just south of the main hall. These

consist of a stylobate with an anta of limestone and marble, and part of a marble side wall.

This earlier propylon faces more toward the southwest, on a different orientation from the

Perikles 89

83. Plan of the early propylon and temple

of Athena Nike at the entrance to the

Acropolis.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

Periklean building. Close analysis of the architectural details indicates that there were sev-

eral phases in this earlier gateway.

In later times, when access to the Acropolis was restricted, the Propylaia was incor-

porated into a more extensive defensive system. As early as the third century

. a supple-

mentary gate was built on the slopes below (see fig. 219), and numerous additional walls

and gateways were in use throughout the medieval period. When Athens fell to the Franks

in 1204, the Propylaia was converted into a palace for the dukes of Athens (see figs. 234,

235).

THE TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE

The third building to go up on the Periklean Acropolis was the marble temple of

Athena Nike, which stood just outside the Propylaia on the right (south) as one ascended

the slope (see fig. 76). As noted, the cult of Athena goes back at least to the middle years of

the sixth century, to judge from an inscribed altar found beneath the later sanctuary. The

bastion on which it stands dates to the Late Bronze Age and was said by Pausanias to be the

spot from which Aigeus threw himself into the sea when he mistakenly thought that The-

seus had been killed by the Minotaur.

By the middle years of the fifth century the sanctuary consisted of an altar and a very

small, simple temple, both of limestone, whose remains survive deep beneath the later

90 CLASSICAL ATHENS

83, 84

84. Elevation of the entrance to the Acropolis in pre-Periklean times.

[To view this image, refer to

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temple. Once the huge marble Propylaia was built immediately adjacent, these modest

monuments would have looked sadly out of place, and a grander, marble temple was

planned for Athena Nike while the Propylaia was still under construction. Space in the

sanctuary was limited, and the new temple was still much smaller than the other buildings

of the Periklean Acropolis. Of the Ionic order, it had columns only on the front and back,

four at each end, in an arrangement known as amphiprostyle. The columns at the back

may have been added for aesthetic reasons: the Acropolis is entered from the west, and the

temple would otherwise have presented a blank back wall to the approaching visitor. The

columns are about half the size of those used in the interior of the Propylaia and are simi-

lar in style.

There was also a sculpted Ionic frieze on all four sides of the Nike temple. Part of this

remains in Athens, while other slabs are now in the British Museum. The east side has an

assembly of deities standing in repose; battle scenes make up the other three sides. Two of

them (north and south) show Greeks fighting Persians, which makes them among the ear-

liest specifically historical reliefs we have. The fourth (west) side shows Greeks against

Perikles 91

85. Temple of Athena Nike, 435–420 b.c., from the east.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

Greeks and may depict a battle against the Corinthians at Megara in the mid-fifth century.

The statue of Athena Nike (Victory) which stood inside the temple is described by several

sources (Pausanias, Harpokration, the Souda): it was made of wood and showed the god-

dess with a pomegranate in her right hand and a helmet in her left. The concept of victory

is usually depicted in Greek sculpture and painting by a winged female figure; but this

statue is of Athena and therefore had no wings; the sanctuary and cult are often referred to

accordingly as those of the Wingless Victory.

The start of construction must have been the late 430s. The cult goes back at least a

century earlier, so there is no need to seek a specific Athenian victory as the impetus for the

dedication of the marble temple, the third sacred structure (at least) to occupy the site. An

inscription of 424/3 records provisions for payments of fifty drachmas to the priestess of

Athena Nike; this is often taken as evidence that the new building and its associated altar

were ready for business in that year. Another inscription dating to the years around 400 is

the gravestone of a certain Myrrhine (Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecae [Leiden and

Amsterdam], XII 80), who is described as

the “first woman chosen from all the Athe-

nians to serve as priestess of Athena Nike.”

Late in the century a parapet of marble was

added around the edge of the bastion, dec-

orated with exquisite reliefs of Nikai

(winged female figures representing vic-

tory) preparing to sacrifice bulls to Athena,

who is seated near a trophy. The north face

of the bastion has pairs of cuttings suitably

placed for the attachment of bronze

shields, common booty after battles and

an appropriate dedication to Athena as

goddess of victory.

The temple was dismantled at the time

of the Venetian siege of 1687, and all the

blocks were used to build a bastion in front

of the Propylaia. This in turn was disman-

tled in 1835, and the Nike temple was re-

constructed soon thereafter.

92 CLASSICAL ATHENS

86. A Nike from the parapet around the Athena

Nike temple bastion.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

Perikles 93

THE ERECHTHEION

Occupying the north side of the Acropolis was the last temple on the citadel to be built

under Perikles. This was the temple of Athena Polias, patron deity of the city of Athens. It

is also usually identified and referred to as the Erechtheion, the building Athena shared

with Erechtheus, though several scholars in recent years have argued that the two are sepa-

rate buildings; our primary source, Pausanias, is somewhat ambiguous (1.26–27), describ-

ing the two cults in succession. What he does make clear is that this temple rather than the

Parthenon is the sacred building of the Acropolis. Pausanias is especially interested in reli-

gious matters, and whereas it takes him only two sentences to describe the Parthenon, he

needs two pages to describe the Erechtheion-Polias area:

There is also a building called the Erechtheion. In front of the entrance is an al-

tar of Zeus Hypatos, where they sacrifice no living thing; but they lay cakes on

it and having done so they are forbidden by custom to make use of wine. In-

side the building are altars: one of Poseidon, on which they sacrifice also to

Erechtheus in obedience to an oracle; one of the hero Butes; and one of Heph-

aistos. On the walls are paintings of the family of the Butadai. Within, for the

building is double, there is sea water in a well . . . and there is the mark of a tri-

dent in the rock. These things are said to have been the evidence produced by

Poseidon in support of his claim to the country.

The rest of the city and the whole land are equally sacred to Athena, for al-

though the worship of other gods is established in the demes, the inhabitants

nonetheless hold Athena in honor. But the object which was universally

deemed the holy of holies many years before the synoicism of the demes is an

image of Athena in what is now called the Acropolis but what was then called

the city. The legend is that the image fell from heaven, but whether this was so

I shall not inquire. Kallimachos made a golden lamp for the goddess. They fill

the lamp with oil, and wait until the same day the next year and the oil suffices

for the lamp during all the intervening time, though it burns day and night. . . .

In the temple of the Polias is a wooden Hermes, said to be an offering of

Kekrops, but hidden under myrtle boughs. Among the ancient offerings which

are worthy of mention is a folding chair made by Daidalos and spoils taken from

the Persians, including the corselet of Masistios, who commanded the cavalry at

Plataia, and a sword said to be that of Mardonios. . . . About the olive they say

nothing except it was produced by the goddess as evidence in the dispute over

the country. They say that the olive was burned down when the Persians torched

Athens, and that it sprouted the same day to a height of 2 cubits [1 meter]. Con-

tiguous to the temple of Athena is a temple of Pandrosos.

The architect of the Erechtheion, committed to a site only a stone’s throw from the Doric

Parthenon, wisely chose not to invite direct comparisons and built his temple in the Ionic

style. The distribution of the two main architectural orders, Ionic and Doric, is a geograph-

ical rather than chronological one. The Ionic order developed in the eastern Greek world of

Ionia and the islands of the Aegean, the Doric order in the Peloponnese and the western

Greek world. The Athenians, who lived at the juncture of the two areas, were comfortable

with both orders and often used them together in a single building, as in the Propylaia.

Just as the Parthenon is regarded as the outstanding example of the Doric order, so

the Erechtheion stands as a high point of the lighter, more ornate Ionic. A quick glance at

the two buildings shows the major differences. The Ionic columns are far thinner than

their Doric counterparts and are provided with profiled bases and elaborately voluted capi-

tals. In general, the Erechtheion carries far more carving on its numerous decorative mold-

ings than the more severe, unadorned Parthenon.

The plan of the building is unique. There are six columns in a prostyle arrangement

at the east and four columns incorporated into the line of the west wall. An immense Ionic

94 CLASSICAL ATHENS

87. Restored view of the Erechtheion from the northwest. (Watercolor by Peter Connolly)

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

porch projects from the west end of the

long north wall, while a small porch with

sculpted maidens serving as columns dec-

orates the south wall. The position and

prominence of the porches is so peculiar

that the architectural historian Vitruvius

(4.8.4) describes the temple as having “all

the features which are customarily on the

front transferred to the f lanks.” The inte-

rior plan is obscured by later rebuildings,

but it is clear that there were several rooms

and more than one f loor level.

The unusual design was clearly inf luenced by two factors. First, the architect had to

build on steeply sloping ground: the west end is more than 3 meters lower than the east

end. Second, he may have been required to replicate in some fashion the arrangement of

the rooms in the old temple of Athena, which had been destroyed by the Persians and

whose ruins lay immediately to the south. The oddities of the plan of the Erechtheion may

also result in part from the fact that the building looks exactly like what it probably was: a

temple built by committee. From Pausanias’ account and other sources it is clear that the

architect had to respect or include numerous preexisting cult spots or monuments, and the

design is a complex attempt to satisfy everyone. Among the cult monuments known to

have been in the area were an altar to Zeus, an altar to Poseidon/Erechtheus, an altar to

Hephaistos, an altar to the hero Butes, a statue of Athena, a statue of Hermes, marks of the

trident, a well of sea water, a sacred olive tree, the tomb of Kekrops, and the sanctuary of

Pandrosos. At the west end of the Erechtheion, in particular, it appears that major adjust-

ments had to be made during the course of construction to ensure that the building did not

encroach on some of these sacred spots.

We have no precise evidence for when construction began on the building; presum-

ably it was conceived of with the other monuments, but actual work may not have begun

until the late 430s and possibly later. It was certainly under construction during the Pelo-

ponnesian War, though the work was not continuous. We have an inscription (IG I

474)

Perikles 95

88. Detail of the carving of the architectural

moldings at the east end of the south wall of

the Erechtheion; note the frieze course of

Eleusinian gray limestone at upper right.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

which describes the situation in 409/8, when it was decided to resume work after a period

of abandonment. It reads in part:

The commissioners of the temple on the Acropolis in which is the ancient

statue—Brosynides of Kephisia, Chariades of Agryle, Diodes of Kephisia, ar-

chitect Philokles of Acharnai, secretary Etearchos of Kydathenaion—recorded

as follows the state of the work on the temple, in obedience to the decree of the

people proposed by Epigenes, listing whether they found it complete or incom-

plete, in the archonship of Diokles, when Kekropis held the first prytany [chair-

manship], in the session of the council for which Nikophanes of Marathon was

first to serve as secretary.

The following parts of the building we found unfinished: At the corner to-

ward the Kekropion, four wall blocks not placed, 4 feet long, 2 feet wide, 1¹⁄₂ feet

96 CLASSICAL ATHENS

89. Plan of the Erechtheion, late 5th century b.c.

thick; one maschaliaia (?) 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, and —— feet thick; five blocks

of the wall-crown, 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, 1¹⁄₂ feet thick; one corner block, 7 feet

long, 4 feet wide, 1¹⁄₂ feet thick; one molded block not placed.

After presenting a wonderfully detailed account of the state of the building, completed al-

most up to the roof for the most part, the commissioners go on to record payments made to

bring the building to completion (IG I

476):

Two talents of lead were bought for the fastening of the sculptures, from

Sostratos, living in Melite: 10 drachmas.

Two leaves of gold were bought for gilding the two eyes of the column,

from Adonis, living in Melite: 2 drachmas.

Stonework. For fluting the columns at the east end, by the altar: the column

next to the altar of Dione, Laossos of Alopeke, Philon of Erchia, Parmenon, son of

Laossos, Karion, son of Laossos, Ikaros: 110 drachmas. The next column, the sec-

Perikles 97

90. South side of the Erechtheion, with the caryatid porch at the left.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]