Camp J. The Archaeology of Athens

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In at least one instance we may be able to see Christians at work as a result of this de-

cree. In one of the large houses on the Areopagos, probably used as a private philosophical

school, several sculptures were mutilated and a fine mosaic f loor panel, presumably carry-

ing some offensively pagan scene, was torn up and replaced with marble slabs. Other

sculptures were thrown down two wells in the house. The final occupants were apparently

Christians, who furnished the house with lamps decorated with crosses and a sigma table,

used for reenactments of the Last Supper. Soon after, the old temples and sanctuaries were

probably converted to Christian use. The Parthenon was converted late in the reign of Jus-

tinian, and a basilica was built on the ruins of the popular shrine of Asklepios at about the

same time. The Hephaisteion and Erechtheion were not converted until perhaps the sev-

enth century. In the case of both the Parthenon and the Hephaisteion we can see the hands

of Christians at work mutilating the sculpted metopes which stayed in place on the build-

ing. Pieces of the temple and statue at Rhamnous are so thoroughly beaten into tiny frag-

ments that here, too, we should probably recognize the work of zealots.

The physical decline of the city was hastened by another invasion, by the Slavs, in

582–583. All the fifth-century buildings in the old Agora, including the large houses on the

slopes of the Areopagos, go out of use, buried under a thick layer of debris which was not

touched until the excavations began in the twentieth century. The Tetraconch in the Library

of Hadrian was destroyed and replaced in the seventh century by a basilica made up of a

pitiful and ill-suited array of reused material. The emperor Constans II spent the winter of

662–663 in Athens, a sojourn which must have required some modest revival of the city.

Thereafter Athens enters a period of extreme decline which lasted for several centuries, un-

til the emergence of a new town with numerous small churches in the eleventh and twelfth

centuries (see fig. 233).

238 LATE ROMAN ATHENS

229

230

231, 232

Epilogue

The later history of Athens is of interest not only on its own terms but also because of

its impact on the antiquities of the city. As we have seen, the plunder of early monuments

for later building projects dates back to ancient times; in Athens the process began as early

as the Persian Wars. The barbarian incursions of late antiquity also had a devastating im-

pact on many Athenian monuments, starting with the Herulians in 267

. and continu-

239

233. The church of the Holy Apostles, ca. 1000, undergoing restoration in the 1950s.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

ing with the Visigoths in 395, the Vandals in the second half of the fifth century, and the

Slavs in 582–583. The shift from paganism to Christianity, though slow and late in Athens,

also had a profound effect on the sanctuaries and temples, including the Parthenon, the

Erechtheion, and the Hephaisteion, all of which were remodeled.

After two centuries of virtual abandonment, the area of the old Agora revived in the

tenth century, and by the eleventh was a crowded urban neighborhood, with houses shar-

ing party walls and little evidence of open land. Numerous small churches, like the Holy

Apostles in the Agora, were built in the lower city to serve the needs of a substantial popu-

lation. From this time on, large blocks for building could be found simply by digging a bit,

far easier than quarrying new ones, and many Athenian monuments were stripped for this

type of recycling throughout the Middle Ages. Several of the Byzantine churches of Athens,

built between 1000 and 1200, reused ancient material liberally. The Little Metropolis

church, next to the cathedral, is an excellent example, full of ancient sculptures and reused

architectural blocks. In Attica, the church at Daphni (see fig. 124) was built on the ruins of

an old sanctuary of Apollo; its name comes from his sacred tree, the laurel (daphne).

The varied fortunes of medieval Athens also played a large role in the fate of individ-

ual monuments. In 1204 the Franks besieged Athens and took it from the Byzantines dur-

240 EPILOGUE

233

234. The Acropolis in the Frankish period, with additional fortifications, the Propylaia turned into a

palace, and the Parthenon used as a cathedral, 13th to 15th centuries.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

ing the Fourth Crusade. Burgundian knights controlled Athens from 1204 to 1311, and

Daphni was used as a Cistercian monastery, while the Parthenon was rededicated to the

Virgin Mary as a Catholic church. Also during this time, the Klepsydra spring was heavily

fortified, as was the area of the Propylaia. Several dozen large towers can be seen dotting

the landscape of Attica; they were apparently a preferred means of managing the country-

side in Frankish times. From 1311 to 1385 Athens was under the control of the Catalans, who

were responsible for building a palace and a church of Saint Bartholomew in the ruins of

the Propylaia, as well as for refortifying several of the old border forts of Attica, especially

Panakton. From 1385 to 1456 Athens was governed by a Florentine family, the Acciajuoli.

They are responsible for the huge tower at the west end of the Acropolis, which dominated

the citadel until it was dismantled in 1875. The Propylaia served as the palace of the Accia-

juoli, and the Acropolis remained heavily fortified.

Following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Turks took Athens, in 1456. Soon af-

terward the Mosque of the Conqueror (Fethiye Camii) was built over the ruins of the Ro-

Epilogue 241

234

235

235. Plan of the Propylaia after it was rebuilt as a Frankish palace.

man Agora and an early Christian basilica. The nearby Tower of the Winds became a cen-

ter for dervishes. Christian churches continued alongside Islamic monuments. In 1669 a

Cistercian monastery was founded, incorporating in its fabric the old Lysikrates monu-

ment. Turkish rule was interrupted brief ly by a devastating attack and occupation by the

Venetians in 1687–1688. The Nike temple was dismantled to provide material for addi-

tional fortifications on the Acropolis. During the siege, the Venetians bombarded the

citadel from the hills to the west. The Parthenon shows the effects of hundreds of artillery

hits, one of which pierced the roof, ignited the powder stored within, and blew up the build-

ing, which had remained largely intact until then. Taken as trophies by the Venetians were

three marble lions that stand in front of the arsenal in Venice today, including one from the

Peiraieus which gave its name to the medieval harbor, Porto Leone.

The second period of Turkish domination corresponds to the period of decline for

the Ottoman Empire. Edward Dodwell’s description in 1819 of the reuse of a column of the

Olympieion in 1759 gives a vivid picture of the fate of many of the antiquities of the city:

The single column which stood towards the western extremity of the temple, was

thrown down many years ago, by the orders of a Voivode of Athens, for the sake of

the materials, which were employed in constructing the great mosque in the bazar

[sic]. It was undermined and blown down by gunpowder; but such was its mas-

sive strength, that the fourth explosion took place before it fell. The Pasha of Egri-

pos inf licted upon the Voivode a fine of seventeen purses (8,500 Turkish piastres)

for having destroyed those venerable remains. (Had the laudable practice of fin-

ing dilapidators continued to the present time, the Athenian temples would have

been saved from their destruction.) The Athenians relate, that, after this column

was thrown down,

the three nearest to

it were heard at

night to lament the

loss of their sister!

and that these noc-

turnal lamentations

did not cease to ter-

242 EPILOGUE

236

236. The Lysikrates

monument, used as a library

in the Capuchin monastery,

17th century. (Cf. fig. 141)

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

rify the inhabitants, till the sacrilegious Voivode, who had been appointed gover-

nor of Zetoun, was destroyed by poison. (Tour Through Greece, I, p. 390)

In 1778 the Turkish governor, Hadzi Ali Haseki, built a new wall around the lower city

(see fig. 199), sacrificing several ancient monuments with its construction, including the

facade of the Hadrianic-Antonine aqueduct on Lykabettos Hill, and, probably, the Roman

bridge (see fig. 210) over the Ilissos River in front of the stadium. Hadrian’s Arch was in-

corporated in its entirety as a gate in the new circuit. The headquarters of the chief Ot-

toman official, the voivode, was built into the southwest corner of the Library of Hadrian.

The Acropolis itself was intensively occupied in the eighteenth century. Drawings and

paintings by early travelers show the citadel covered with small private houses, with the

Parthenon and Propylaia looming above them. Mosques continued to be built. A small

mosque constructed within the blown-out ruins of the Parthenon in the years around 1700

was only dismantled in 1842 when part of it collapsed. Lord Elgin arrived in Athens in the

early 1800s and, after negotiations with the authorities in Constantinople, removed many

of the better-preserved sculptures from the Acropolis and from the Parthenon itself. The le-

gality of his actions and the question of the eventual return of the marbles to Greece remain

hotly debated issues.

Epilogue 243

237, 238

237. The Acropolis in 1801–1805, with the Propylaia in the foreground.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

The Greek War of Independence did considerable damage to Athens. Two sieges in

particular were devastating, in 1821–1822, when the Turks were driven out of the Acropo-

lis, and in 1826–1827, when they retook the citadel. During these operations much of the

lower city was destroyed, including several ancient monuments, such as the choregic mon-

uments of both Thrasyllos and Lysikrates. The most famous European philhellene, Lord

Byron, stayed in Athens for six months; his name appears carved on the temple of Poseidon

at Sounion. Byron died of a fever at Mesolonghi in northwest Greece; other Europeans died

in Athens fighting for Greek independence. The Hephaisteion, used as a Protestant ceme-

tery since 1799, was the burial ground of several foreign philhellenes, whose memorial in-

scriptions can still be made out on the interior walls.

With the establishment of Athens as the capital of the Greek state in 1833 the deliber-

ate destruction of the monuments of the ancient city ceased, after more than 1,500 years.

Since then, happily, efforts have gone into recovery and restoration, in an attempt to pre-

serve the antiquities from the modern hordes—better-intentioned but no less danger-

ous—who come to see and appreciate the monuments of ancient Athens. The Archaeolog-

ical Society was founded in 1837, and the Archaeological Service of the Ministry of Culture

carries out more than a hundred salvage excavations a year in Athens and Attica. It also

oversees the restoration of the many monuments which serve to remind us of Athens’ long

and glorious past.

244 EPILOGUE

238. Model of the Parthenon after the explosion of 1687, with the addition of the 17th-century mosque,

removed ca. 1840.

[To view this image, refer to

the print version of this title.]

SITE SUMMARIES

247

Athens

The archaeology of Athens encompasses more than a century of excavation and

scholarship. Beyond the study of standing monuments, there have been systematic ex-

cavations of many other areas for decades. In addition, the rapid development of the

modern city has required hundreds of rescue digs, carried out by the Archaeological Ser-

vice under restraints of time, money, and logistics. Included here is a general bibliogra-

phy of the archaeology of Athens, which will lead the reader to the thousands of special-

ized studies available; this is followed by a brief account, discussion, separate

bibliography, and notes about some of the principal areas of ancient Athens (asterisks in-

dicate especially significant items in the bibliography). In addition to the published

works cited here, a huge file of material on the monuments and history of the explo-

ration of Athens has been compiled by J. Binder at the American School of Classical

Studies, and an unpublished collection of ancient testimonia on the buildings of the

lower city compiled by R. E. Wycherley is stored in the Stoa of Attalos. The results of the

recent excavations throughout Athens for the construction of the new Metro, amounting

to some 70,000 square meters, have been preliminarily published in a handsome exhi-

bition catalogue: N. Stampolides and L. Parlama (eds.), JH Povlh kavtw aΔpov thvn Povlh

(Athens, 2000).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ΔArcei

on tw

n Mnhmeivwn tw

n ΔAqhnw

n kai; ΔAttikh

~, 2 vols. Athens, 1992–1993.

Binder, J. The Monuments and Sites of Athens: A Sourcebook. Forthcoming.

Biris, K. AiJ ΔAqh

nai ajpo tou

19ou eij~ to;n 20on aijw

na. Athens, 1966.