Primitive Athens as described by Thucydides

by Jane Ellen Harrison

The débris, unchecked, fell over as far as the old Pelasgian wall. How high this originally stood it is not possible now to say; but, from the fact that outside the supporting wall the layers of débris again lie horizontally, and from the analogy of another section taken further west, which need not be discussed here, it is probable that the old wall was raised by several new courses, and that the higher ones were of quadrangular blocks, as restored in [Fig. 7].

So far all that has been accomplished is the raising of the old Pelasgian wall and a levelling up of the terrace to its new height. That these terraces were raised step by step with the foundations of the Parthenon is clear. Between each layer of earth and poros fragments—just as we have seen in the similar circumstances of the north wall ([p. 15])—is interposed a layer of splinters and fragments of the stones used in the building of the foundations. This can clearly be seen at II. in the section in [Fig. 7].

It may seem strange that Kleisthenes, or whoever built the earlier Parthenon, did not at once utilize the Pelasgian wall and boldly pile up his terrace against its support. But it must be remembered that the space between the Parthenon and the Pelasgian wall was very great; an immense amount of débris would be required for the filling up of such a space, and it was probably more economical to build the polygonal supporting-wall nearer to the Parthenon. Anyhow it is quite clear that the polygonal wall was no provisional structure. Its façade shows it was meant to be seen, and that the terrace was meant for permanent use is clear from the fact that it is connected by a flight of steps with the lower terrace under the Pelasgian wall ([Fig. 8]). It is clear that whoever planned these steps never thought that the lower terrace would be levelled up.

Doubtless whoever filled in the terrace to the height of the raised Pelasgian wall believed in like manner that his work was complete. But Kimon thought otherwise. We know for certain that it was he who built the great final wall, the structure that remains to-day, though partly concealed by mediaeval casing [Fig. 7] (4). Plutarch[21] tells us that after the battle of Eurymedon (469 B.C.) so much money was raised by the sale of the spoils of the Persians that the people were able to afford to build the south wall. We know also that this wall of Kimon was at least as much a retaining wall to the great terrace as a fortification. For the filling up of the space between the Pelasgian fortification and his own wall Kimon had material sadly ample. He had the débris left by the Persians after the sacking of the Acropolis. The fragments of sculpture and architecture that bear traces of fire are found in the strata marked IV, and there only, for it is these strata only that were laid down after the Persian War[22]. The last courses of ‘Kimon’s wall’ (5) were laid by Perikles, and he it was who finally filled in the terrace to its present level (V).

Fig. 8.

The relation of the successive walls and terraces is shown by the ground-plan in [Fig. 9][23]. The double shaded lines from A to E and D show the irregular course of the old Pelasgic wall. The dotted lines from B to F show the polygonal supporting wall of the first terrace. It ran, as is seen, nearly parallel to the Parthenon. Its course is lost to sight after it passes under the new museum, but originally it certainly joined the Pelasgic wall at C. At B was the stairway joining the two terraces. Next came the time when, as the rubble fell over the wall, larger space was needed, and a portion of the Pelasgic wall was utilized and raised. This is shown by the thick black line from B to E coincident with the Pelasgic wall; the masonry here was of quadrangular poros blocks. The coincidence with the Pelasgic wall was only partial. At GH there jutted out an independent angular outpost, and again at EF the new wall is separate from the old; at FD it coincided with the earlier polygonal terrace wall. Kimon’s wall is indicated by the outside double lines, and in the space between these lines and the wall HEK lay the débris of the Persian War. Above that débris lay a still later stratum, deposited during the building operations of Perikles.

Fig. 9.

The various terraces and walls have been examined somewhat in detail, because their examination helps us to realize as nothing else could how artificial a structure is the south side of the Acropolis, and also—a point, to us, of paramount importance—how different was the early condition of the hill from its later appearance.