Of the fortress, the famous Acropolis, remains on the
mountain, where the principal works of art of Athens stand. The
principal feature was the temple of Minerva, or the Parthenon; even
its ruins excite the astonishment of the world. The building is
said to have been 215 feet long, ninety-seven feet broad, and
seventy feet high; here stood the statue of Minerva, by Phidias.
This masterly work was executed in gold and ivory; its height was
forty-six feet, and it is said to have weighed more than 2000
pounds. Fifty-five columns of the entrance to the temple still
remain, as well as parts of enormous blocks of marble which rest
upon them, and belonged to the arches and roof.
This temple was destroyed by the Persians, and was again restored
with greater beauty by Pericles, about 440 years after the birth of
Christ.
There are some fine remains of the temples of Minerva and Neptune,
and the extent of the amphitheatre can still be seen; there is but
little of the theatre of Bacchus remaining.
Outside the Acropolis stands the temple of Theseus and that of
Jupiter Olympus; the one on the north, the other on the south side.
The former is in the Doric style, and is surrounded by thirty-six
fine columns. On the metope are represented the deeds of Theseus in
beautiful reliefs. The interior of the temple is full of fine
sculptures, epitaphs, and other works in stone, most of which belong
to the other temples, but are collected here. Outside the temple
stand several marble seats which have been brought from the
neighbouring Areopagus, the former place of assembly for the
patricians. Of the Areopagus itself nothing more is to be seen than
a chamber cut out of the rock, to which similarly cut steps lead.
Of the temple of Jupiter Olympus so much of the foundation-walls
still remain as to show what its size was; there are also sixteen
beautiful columns, fifty-eight feet in height. This temple, which
was completed by Hadrian, is said to have exceeded in beauty and
magnificence all the buildings of Athens. The exterior was
decorated by one hundred and twenty fluted columns six feet in
diameter and fifty-nine in height. The gold and ivory statue of
Jupiter was, like that of Minerva, the production of the masterly
hand of Phidias. All the temples and buildings were of pure white
marble.
Not far from the Areopagus is the Pnyx, where the free people of
Athens met in council. Of this nothing more remains than the
rostrum, hewn in the rock, and the seat of the scribe. What
feelings agitate the mind when it is remembered what men have stood
there and spoke from that spot!
