[304] τὸ ἄστυ, the Asty, was the upper town, in opposition to the lower town, of Piræus. See Smith’s Dictionary for a very able and interesting article, Athenæ; also Kiepert’s Atlas von Hellas.
[305] Sylla took Athens, after a long and obstinate siege, on the 1st March, B. C. 86. The city was given up to rapine and plunder.
[306] Strabo thus accounts for his meagre description of the public buildings at Athens, for which, otherwise, he seems to have had no inclination.
[307] Hegesias was an artist of great celebrity, and a contemporary of Pheidias. The statues of Castor and Pollux by Hegesias, are supposed by Winkelman to be the same as those which now stand on the stairs leading to the Capitol, but this is very doubtful. Smith.
[308] In the Erechtheium.
[309] The Heroum, or temple dedicated to the daughters of Leos, who were offered up by their father as victims to appease the wrath of Minerva in a time of pestilence. The position of the temple is doubtfully placed by Smith below the Areiopagus.
[310] The well-known temple of Theseus being the best preserved of all the monuments of Greece.
[311] An eminent geographer. He made extensive journeys through Greece to collect materials for his geographical works, and as a collector of inscriptions on votive offerings and columns, he was one of the earlier contributors to the Greek Anthology. Smith.
[312] The Odeium was a kind of theatre erected by Pericles in the Ceramic quarter of the city, for the purpose of holding musical meetings. The roof, supported by columns, was constructed out of the wreck of the Persian fleet conquered at Salamis. There was also the Odeium of Regilla, but this was built in the time of the Antonines.
[313] The country was called Actica from Actæos. Parian Chronicle.