Athens (Anciently the capital)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

anciently the capital of Attica and center of Greek culture, now the capital of the Kingdom of Greece. It is situated in the central plain of Attica, about 4 miles from the Saronic Gulf or Gulf of Ægina, an arm of the Ægean Sea running in between the mainland and the Peloponnesus. It is said to have been founded about 1550 B. C. by Cecrops, the mythical Pelasgian hero; and to have borne the name Cecropia until under Erechtheus it received the name of Athens in honor of Athene. Topography. The Acropolis, an irregular oval crag, 150 feet high, with a level summit 1,000 feet long by 500 in breadth, was the original nucleus of the city. The three chief eminences near the Acropolis-the Areopagus to the N. W., the Pnyx to the S. W., and the Museum to the S. of the Pnyx-were included within the city boundary as the sites of its chief public buildings, the city itself, however, afterward taking a northerly direction. On the E. ran the Ilissus and on the W. the Cephissus, while to the S. W. lay three harbors-Phalerum, the oldest and nearest; the Piræus, the most important; and Munychia, the Piræan Acropolis. At the height of its prosperity the city was connected with its harbors by three massive walls (the "long walls"). Architecture. - The architectural development of Athens may be dated from the rule of the Pisistratids (560-510 B. c.), who are credited with the foundation of the huge temple of the Olympian Zeus, completed by Hadrian seven centuries later, the erection of the Pythium or temple of Pythian Apollo, and of the 0