We return to the Sarcophagus Room and pass to the left through the Room of the Roman Tomb Reliefs to the—
Room of the Votive Reliefs. By the entrance wall and on the left are votive reliefs from the Asklepieion (p. [511]). The most elaborately executed is No. 1377, near the middle of the left wall (4th cent.); adjacent is No. 2565, in the form of a stele.—The Karapanos Room is chiefly devoted to relics from the Zeus oracle at Dodona.
On the S. side of the museum is the Collection of Vases. The finest are mostly from Attica, the chief seat of the vase-painting of the 6–4th cent., such as the Black-figured Vases, with their silhouette-like figures painted in black (6th cent.; Room I, cabinets 13–23); the Red-figured Vases, vessels entirely covered with a black glaze, the figures alone, on their original red ground, remaining free (after middle of 6th cent.; Room II); and the Lekythi, slender vessels for perfumes, with coloured figures on a white ground (after the Persian wars; Room III, cabinets 41–50).
Adjacent are three front-rooms containing the Terracottas, including fine sets of figurines of the best period (5–4th cent.). In the last room are exhibited also antique trinkets and vessels.
f. Walks.
The ascent of Lykabettós (909 ft.), the finely shaped hill to the N.E. of Athens, is specially attractive by early morning or late evening light. We diverge to the N. from the Rue de Képhisia at the end of the palace-garden (Pl. G, 5), cross the Kolonáki Square (Pl. G, H, 5), and in 6 min. reach the reservoir of the Water Conduit of Hadrian, now utilized anew (Pl. H, 4; 445 ft.), where there is a small café commanding a fine view. Hence we proceed to the Lukianos Street, from the N. end of which an easy path ascends through young plantations. After the first zigzags a level path (Pl. H, 3) diverging to the left affords almost finer views than the top of the hill. The path straight on ascends to the Georgios Chapel (Pl. H, 3) on the summit in ½ hr. more.
The view embraces the city of Athens, with the Acropolis and the Attic plain, the Piræus, the bay of Phaleron, and the Saronic Gulf, with Ægina and Salamis and the distant mountains of Argolis; to the right of Salamis are the hills of Corinth and Megara; in the foreground, concealing the bay of Eleusis, rises Mt. Ægaleos; farther to the N. is Mt. Parnes. Between the latter and Pentelikon, which rises to the N.E., extends the upper plain of Attica. To the E. is Mt. Hymettos.
A fine view of Athens and the Acropolis is obtained also from the Kolōnós hill, the legendary home of Sophocles. From the Place de la Concorde (Pl. D, 2, 3) we follow the tramway to Kolokythu (comp. Pl. A, 1) and reach the hill in ½ hr.; it rises to the right of the road and is recognized by the conspicuous monuments of the antiquarians Otfried Müller (d. 1840) and Chas. Lenormant (d. 1859). Adjacent lay the Akademeia, the grove where Plato taught.
The most popular resort on fine summer evenings is New Pháleron (tramway and Piræus railway, see p. [503]), on the bay of Phaleron. A band plays in the evening on the broad coast-terrace, with its cafés and bath-houses (bath 40 l.).—A branch of the tramway runs to the quieter sea-baths of Old Phaleron (comp. p. [503]).—The Piraeus, see p. [494].
