1. 563. In yon court.] A great similarity may be traced between the houses of the ancient and modern Greeks; and it is probable that the general disposition of the apartments has not undergone any material alteration. The large spacious court, the stairs attached to the exterior of the building, the separate apartments for the men and women, the open gallery in which the inmates sometimes slept, the large outer folding doors, and the stone seats at the entrance, are equally characteristic of the buildings in the time of Homer and Euripides, as of those of the present day. I shall consider each of these parts separately. There is almost always in the modern houses one open court, (sometimes two,) divided by doors from each other, as anciently. κλησάζε Θυρας μεσαύλος. 'Shut the gates between the courts.' 5 Round the largest of the two courts the house is built, and in the middle of it is sometimes a fountain, shaded by an orange or a palm tree. The court was called αυλη by the ancients, and was open to the air. Όμηρος δε την αυλην αει τατ]ει επι των ύπαιθρων τοπων. Homer always places the court in the open air. In most of the Greek houses the principal staircase is affixed to the exterior of the building, and not enclosed in the edifice. In the following quotation, πgos, I think, implies that the stairs were attached to the wall: προς, αίρεσθω λαβων Πλεκίων προς οικων κλιμακων προσαμβάσεις. let him mount The stairs affix'd unto the wall. The apartment of the women was called fuvaxsov, that of the men avdgwv," that of the virgins waglevwv,' that for strangers Evv.' The chambers for females are still kept distinct from the rest. In all the modern houses of Greece there is a large open gallery up stairs, Eurip. Alcest. 1. 548. 7 Herc. Fur. 1.954 5 Athenæus, v. c. 15. Phoeniss. 1. 1281. Iph, in Aul. 738. Eurip. Bacchæ, 1. 1210. out of which the apartments issue. In it there is sometimes a large recess railed off from the other part, and surrounded by a low division, which the family occupy as a cool summer room. The gallery is used as a resting-place during the heat of the day, and not unfrequently as the sleeping apartment at night. The ancient an1 was a gallery in which the visitors slept, but differed from the modern in being on the ground floor. 1 The large outer folding-doors, now so general, are called by Eschylus πυλαι έρχειοι.” The stone seats which were, and still are placed near the outer gate, are frequently mentioned by Homer: manner. 3 Εκ δ' ελθών κατ' αρ' έζετ' επι ζεσοισι λιθοισιν Οἱ οἱ εσαν προπαροιθε θυραων ύψηλαων Λευκοί, αποςιλβονίες αλειφαίος. "Nestor issu'd forth, and sat Before his palace-gate, on the white stones COWPER. The rooms which open into the gallery are generally laid out in the following The door is at the bottom of the room, in one corner, and over it is suspended a curtain. About two-thirds of the room is generally elevated one step, and divided from the rest by low rails. This raised space is surrounded by low sofas, called the Divan, about ten inches in height, covered with scarlet cloth, and furnished with large cushions at the back. Nearly half a yard above these sofas, are the windows, which are very numerous, but rarely furnished with glass. They have shutters, which are ill made, and close imperfectly. Above them, in the best houses, are smaller windows, which are adorned with coloured glass. At the end of the room, next to the door, is a large recess, concealed by folding doors, in which beds, clothes, and linen are kept, according to the fashion of Homer's time : ὁ δ ̓ ὑψοροφον θαλαμον καλέβησατο παῖρος Ευρυν, όθι νητος χρυσος και χαλκος εκείνο Εσθης δ' εν χηλοισιν. 'Hom. Odyss. iii. 493. 2 Coëph. 1. 557 and 649. + Hom. Odys. ii. 1. 337. " he ascending, sought His father's chamber, where his brass, and gold, And raiments in capacious chests he kept." CoWPER. 1. 568. Doric portal.] A Doric pediment and columns, supposed to have belonged to the Agora. 1. 576. Hill of Mars.] The Areopagus is a barren rock of small elevation, situated at the distance of about a furlong from the Acropolis, at its N. W. extremity. There are steps cut in the stone still remaining, and some inconsiderable excavations. Pausanias describes it as being near the cave of Pan, under the Acropolis, and says that it was so called because Mars was there first judged. 5 'There were two seats of silver,' on which the accuser and the accused 'stood, one called the seat of pride, the other of impudence. Near them is a temple dedicated to the Deities, which the Athenians call Venerable, and 'Hesiod, in his Theogony, the Furies. Eschylus was the first who repre'sented them with snakes twined in their hair. Here all sacrifice who have 'been acquitted in their trial before the Areopagus.' Æschylus and Euripides account for the origin of the name in the following Here, on this mount of Mars, the Amazons 5 Paus. i. c. 28. " Id. ib. 7 Eschyl. Eumen. 1. 682. “There is a hill sacred to Mars, where first This place has ever been most celebrated For just and upright judgments. 1. 577. There sad Orestes.] The Furies were supposed to have presided at the trial of Orestes: But when I came to Mars's hill, to hear My trial-on one seat I stood; on th' other After their unsuccessful endeavour to procure his condemnation, they sunk into the ground at the Areopagus, which was ever afterwards esteemed a holy place : 1. 579. The dreaded Goddesses, o'erwhelm'd with grief, Near to this hill, which thenceforth shall become thence the host Of Persia scal'd. ) Οἱ δὲ Περσαι ἑζομενοι επι τον κατανανλιον της ακροπολιος οχθον, τον Αθηναίοι καλεσι αρειον παίον, επολιορκεον τροπον τοιόνδε. 'The Persians having taken their station on the hill opposite to the Acropolis, (which the Athenians call the Areopagus) assaulted it in this manner.' 1. 581. The holy Paul.] 'Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill and said, "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious."' See the celebrated cartoon of Raphael. It is much to be lamented that Raphael never visited Athens. Had he done so, the back ground of that sublime picture, which at present is disfigured with a jumble of incongruous buildings, might have displayed the simplicity and majesty of the Acropolis and Parthenon 1. 587 The cave of Pan.] Descending towards the city, and almost under 'the Propylæa, is a fountain of water, and near it, in a cave, a temple of 'Apollo and of Pan.' 95 Before the battle of Marathon, the Athenian Pheidippides, being on his way to Sparta, in order to request the co-operation of that nation with Athens, was met by Pan, who bade him tell his countrymen, that he was offended at their not offering him any honours. In consequence of this, says Herodotus,ʻ they built under the Acropolis the temple of Pan. The rocks in which the cave was situated were called Μακραι πετραι. οισθα Κεκροπίας πέτρας Προσβοῤῥον ανρον, ὡς Μακρας κικλησκομεν; ΠΡ. Οίδ', ενθα Πανος αδυτα, και βωμοι πελας. 2 Herod. viii. c. 52. 'Acts of the Apost. c. xvii. v. 22. * Yet one of these buildings is a Roman church. See Eustace's Classical Tour in Italy, Vol. I. p.316. It appears, however, a barbarous fabric when compared with the Parthenon. 5 Paus. i. c. 28. • Herod. vi. c. 105. See also Lucian Deor. Dial. xxii. and Bis. Accus. s. 9. ▾ Ion. 1. 935. See also 1.8. |