To the N.W. of the Theseion a bridge crosses the Piræus railway (p. [495]) to the Theseion Station (Pl. B, 5). To the W. of this we reach the continuation of the Rue du Pirée. Following the latter for 150 paces to the N.E. towards the town, and just before reaching the conspicuous yellow and red chapel of Hagia Triáda or Trias (Pl. A, 4), we come to a gate on the right leading into the ancient cemetery at the Dipylon (small gratuity on leaving). Here we follow an ancient side-street, bordered with tombs, as far as the walls (see Pl. A, 4), which we skirt to the left. At their N.E. end we reach the outer Dipylon.
The Dipylon (Pl. B, 4), the only ancient ‘double gate’ of Athens (end of 4th cent.), was the chief entrance of the city. Here converged the roads coming from Megara in the Peloponnesus and Eleusis and from Platæa and Thebes in Bœotia; and from this gate ran the Dromos, a great colonnaded street, to the S.E., below the Theseion hill, to the Kerameikos market-place (p. [522]). The left side of the gateway has wholly disappeared, but a few blocks, attached to their base, of the right (S.) wall are still visible. In front of these rises a considerable part of the S. gateway-tower. In the centre are traces of the pier between the two passages. This outer gateway was connected with an inner gateway, on precisely the same plan, by walls 38 yds. long, thus forming an enclosed court. The S.E. tower was adjoined on the E. by a well-house.
To the S.W. of the Dipylon the City Wall, here only 6½ ft. thick, has been brought to light. The carefully jointed blocks of blue limestone rest on the hastily built wall of Themistokles (479–478); the upper part was built of sun-dried brick. Outside this wall once rose a rampart, probably coeval with the Dipylon, 14 ft. thick, consisting of two walls with earth between. Beside the city wall, five paces to the S.W. of the Dipylon, is an ancient boundary-stone; seventy paces farther are remains of another gateway, probably the Funeral Gate. This, like the Dipylon, consisted of two gate-buildings, enclosing a court, though it had only a single passage. Through it, by the roadside, flowed the little brook Eridanos.
To the W. of the Dipylon, in the direction of the Hagia Triáda Chapel, we soon reach the *Burial Ground outside the Dipylon, the principal cemetery of ancient Athens. As at Rome and Pompeii the tombs bordered the highroads outside the gates. In this case the more durable monuments have been left by the excavators in their original positions. Some of these are artistically executed, others seem to have been merely rectangular walled spaces. In ancient days, as now, the ground was very uneven; some of the tombs close to the road were raised on terraces 5–8 ft. above it.
Before reaching the Hagia Triáda Chapel, we observe, on the left side of the road, two stelæ on Doric substructures, the tombs of Thersandros and Simylos (375 B. C.) and of Pythagoras (5th cent.). Ascending to the left beyond a depression in the soil we come to a temple-shaped tomb, with figures of Demetria and Pamphile, dating from the middle of the 4th century. Close to the Hagia Triáda Chapel is a large block of marble resembling a sarcophagus, the Tomb of Hipparete (middle of the 4th cent.).—To the left, on and beyond the stone wall of the side-street mentioned at p. [522], are rows of tombs, arranged in order of families and phylæ or tribes and extending down to the Roman period. At the corner is that of the family of Lysanias, with a *Relief of Dexileos on horseback, who distinguished himself before Corinth in 394–393; the weapons and bridle were added in bronze. Next come the tombs of the family of Agathon (4th cent.); that of his wife Korallion represents a family group; then a temple-shaped tomb, the interior of which was adorned with paintings now almost completely erased. Farther on is a monument crowned with a huge bull. In front of it is another little temple-like monument with traces of painting; then a great Molossian hound. Beyond it, a tomb-relief with a boat.—Opposite the hound is the *Tomb of Hegeso, perhaps the finest of all, a lady at her toilet attended by a maid (4th cent.). About twenty paces short of the keeper’s house, and thirty paces to the S. of the path, is a graceful Hydrophoros or female water-carrier (5–4th cent.).
The range of hills to the W. of the Acropolis and Areopagus, now uninhabited, was a favourite residential quarter of the ancient city, as is evidenced by countless remains of steps, cisterns, conduits, walls, and streets. From the Theseion (223 ft.) we ascend the broad Avenue of the Apostle Paul (Pl. B, 6), where, immediately on the right, rises the Hagia Marina Hill, thickly strewn with relics of ancient dwellings. Above it rises the Hill of the Nymphs, crowned with the Observatory (Pl. A, 6; 345 ft.).
To the S. of the Observatory a road descends into a slight hollow and then ascends the long Pnyx Hill (Pl. B, 7; 358 ft.), the structure on the N.E. slope of which is distinctly visible from the Areopagus and Acropolis. This consists of a terrace or platform, 131 yds. long and 71 yds. wide, the upper margin of which is cut out of the rock, while the lower part is buttressed by a massive wall of huge blocks of stone, forming a slightly flattened semicircle. In front of the abrupt back-wall of the terrace, about 13 ft. high, rise three steps bearing a cube of rock. This has been identified with the Pnyx, the place where, before the tiers of stone benches were erected in the theatre of Dionysos (p. [510]), the Athenians held their political assemblies. The orator’s tribune (bēma) is supposed to have been attached to sockets on the platform in front of the cube of rock. The space occupied by the listening throng of citizens sloped gradually up to the supporting wall, which at that time was much higher. Above the cube once ran an upper terrace, where there rose a similar rock-altar, now much damaged. From this point we obtain a very striking view of the Acropolis.
To the S. of the Pnyx Hill, in a depression, is the chapel of Hagios Demetrios Lumpardiáris (Pl. B, 7), to the S. of which we now ascend the Philopappos Hill, the ancient Museion. On its crest we recognize many fragments of the ancient city-wall, which was joined by the Long Walls (p. [506]) on the heights near the Monument and near the Observatory (see above).
The Monument of Philopappos (Pl. B, 8) was built in 114–16 A.D. The upper part, in Pentelic marble, two-thirds preserved, had a frieze in high relief, crowned with three niches separated by Corinthian half-columns. The statue seated in the central niche is that of Antiochos Philopappos; to the left is that of his grandfather Antiochos IV. Epiphanes (p. [507]). The relief is supposed to represent the ceremonial progress of Philopappos in his consular capacity. The square chamber behind was the burial-place.