The place in Attica which has been the chief scene of excavations (independently of Athens and its vicinity) is Eleusis (q.v.), where the remains of the sanctuary of Demeter, the home of the Eleusinian Mysteries, together with other Excavations. buildings in its neighbourhood, were cleared by the Greek Archaeological Society in 1882-1887 and 1895-1896. Of the other classical ruins in Attica the best-known is the temple of Athena at Sunium, which forms a conspicuous object on the headland, to which it gave the name of Cape Colonnae, still used by the peasants. It is in the Doric style, of white marble, and eleven columns of the peristyle and one of the pronaos are now standing. At Thoricus there is a theatre, which was cleared of earth by the archaeologists of the American School in 1886. In the neighbourhood of Rhamnus are the remains of two temples that stood side by side, the larger of which was dedicated to Nemesis, the smaller probably to Themis, of which goddess a fine statue was discovered in its ruins in the course of the excavations of the Greek Archaeological Society in 1890. The same Society, in 1884,1886 and 1887, excavated the sanctuary of Amphiaraus, 4 m. from Oropus; in ancient times this was the resort of numerous invalids, who came thither to consult the healing divinity. Within it were found a temple of Amphiaraus, a large altar, and a long colonnade, which may have been the dormitory where the patients slept in hope of obtaining counsel in dreams. There were also baths and a small theatre, and numerous inscriptions relating to the arrangement and observances of the sanctuary and oracle. The walls and towers also of the city of Eleutherae and the fortress of Phyle are fine specimens of Hellenic fortifications.
Of the condition of Attica in medieval and modern times little need be said, for it has followed for the most part the fortunes of Athens. The population, however, has undergone a great change, independently of the large admixture of Slavonic blood that has affected the Greeks of the mainland generally, by the immigration of Albanian colonists, who now occupy a great part of the country. The district formed part of the nome (administrative division) of Boeotia and Attica until 1899, when it became a separate nome.
Bibliography.—J.G. Frazer, Pausanias’s Description of Greece, vols. ii. and v. (London, 1898); W.M. Leake, The Demi of Attica (2nd ed., London, 1841); Chr. Wordsworth, Athens and Attica (4th ed., London, 1869); C. Bursian, Geographic von Griechenland, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1862); Baedeker’s Greece (4th Eng. ed., Leipzig, 1908); Karten von Attica, published by the German Archaeological Institute of Athens, with explanatory text, chiefly by Professor Milchhofer (1875-1903); see also [Athens], [Eleusis] and [Greece]: Topography.
(H. F. T.)
ATTIC BASE, the term given in architecture to the base of the Roman Ionic order, consisting of an upper and lower torus, separated by a scotia (q.v.) and fillets. It was the favourite base of the Romans, and was employed by them for columns of the Corinthian and Composite orders, and in Byzantine and Romanesque work would seem to have been generally adopted as a model.
ATTICUS, TITUS POMPONIUS (109-32 B.C.), Roman patron of letters, was born at Rome three years before Cicero, with whom he and the younger Marius were educated. His name was Titus Pomponius, that of Atticus, by which he is known, being given him afterwards from his long residence in Athens (86-65) and his intimate acquaintance with the Greek literature and language. His family is said to have been of noble and ancient descent; his father belonged to the equestrian order, and was very wealthy. When Pomponius was still a young man his father died, and he at once took the prudent resolution of transferring himself and his fortune to Athens, in order to escape the dangers of the civil war, in which he might have been involved through his connexion with the murdered tribune, Sulpicius Rufus. Here he lived in retirement, devoting himself entirely to study. On his return to Rome, he took possession of an inheritance left him by his uncle and assumed the name of Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus. From this time he kept aloof from political strife, attaching himself to no particular party, and continuing on intimate terms with men so opposed as Caesar and Pompey, Antony and Octavian. His most intimate friend, however, was Cicero, whose correspondence with him extended over many years, and who seems to have found his prudent counsel and sympathy a remedy for all his many troubles. His private life was tranquil and happy. He did not marry till he was fifty-three years of age, and his only child became the wife of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the distinguished minister of Augustus. In 32, being seized with an illness believed to be incurable, he starved himself to death. Of his writings none is extant, but mention is made of two: a Greek history of Cicero’s consulship, and some annals, in Latin, an epitome of the events of Roman history down to the year 54. His most important work was his edition of the letters addressed to him by Cicero. He also formed a large library at Athens, and engaged a staff of slaves to make copies of valuable works.
See Life by Cornelius Nepos; Berwick, Lives of Messalla Corvinus and T.P.A. (1813); Fialon, Thesis in T.P.A. (1861); Boissier, Cicéron et ses amis (1888: Eng. trans. A.D. Jones, 1897); Peter, Historicorum Romanorum Fragmenta.