the Body is confum'd, there remains nothing of the Beast, but an empty Skin; fo it was in Athens, where all the stately and magnificent Structures were turn'd into ruinous Heaps, and nothing but old decay'd Out-fides left remaining. Theodofius II. is faid to have favour'd the Athenians, upon the Account of his Queen Eudocia, who was an Athenian by Birth. Juftinian alfo is reported to have been very kind to them; but from his Reign, for the Space of about feven hundred Years, either for want of Historians in Ages fo rude and barbarous, or because they liv'd in Peace and Obfcurity, without atchieving, or fuffering any thing deferving to be tranfmitted to Pofterity, there is no Account of any thing that passed amongst them, till the thirteenth Century. At that time, Nicetas tells us, Athens was in the Hands of Baldwin, and was befieg'd by one of the Generals of Theodorus Lafcares, who was then the Greek Emperor, but he was repuls'd with Lofs, and forc'd to raife the Siege. Not long after, it was belieg'd by the Marquefs Bonifacius, who made himself Master of it o. It was afterwards govern'd by one Delves, of the House of Arragon, and after his Death fell into the Hands of Bajazet, Emperor of the Turks. Afterwards it was taken by the Spaniards of Catalonia, under the Command of Andronicus Paleologus the elder 8. And these are the fame that Chalcocondylas calls Kehlenges,, and reports, they were difpoffefs'd of it by Reinerius Acciaiolo, a Florentine, who having no legitimate Male-Iffue, left it by his laft Will and Teftament to the State of Venice. The Venetians were not long Masters of it, being dispossess'd by Antony, a natural Son of Reinerius, who had given him the Sovereignty of Thebes and Bootia; and from this time it continu'd fome Years under the Government of the Accialioi: For Antony was fucceeded by one of his Kinfmen, call'd Nerius; Nerius was difplac'd by his Brother Antony for his Infufficiency, and Unfitnefs to govern, and after Antony's Death, recover'd it again; but leaving only one Son, then an Infant, was fucceeded by his Wife, who for her Folly was ejected by Makomet, upon the Complaint of Francus, the Son of Antony the Second, who fucceeded her, and having confin'd her fome time in Prison, put her to Death, and was upon that Score accus'd by her Son to Mahomet II. who sent an Army under the Conduct of Omares to besiege him; Francus, upon this, made his Application to the Latins, but they refus'd to grant him any Affiftance, except he would engage his Subjects in all things to conform to the Romish Superftition, and renounce all thofe Articles, wherein the Greek Church differs from 'em; which he not being able to do, was forc'd to furrender it to the Turks, in the Year of our Lord CIƆCCCCLV ", and in their Hands it continues to this Day. d Synefins Ep. CCXXXV. e Nicetas Choniates in Vita Baldnini. f Laonic. Chalcocondylas lib. III. 8 Niceph. Greg. lib. VII. b Chalcocond. lib. VI. & IX. CHAP. CHAP. VIII. Of the City of Athens, and its Walls, Gates, Streets, Buildings, &c. T HE City of Athens, when it flourish'd in its greateft Splendor, was one of the fairest and largest Cities of all Greece, being, fays Arguides, a Day's Journey in Compafs. But according to the most exact Computation, the whole Circuit of it contain'd about CLXXVIII. Stadia, that is, something above two and twenty Roman Miles. But many were the Changes of Government and Fortune which it underwent, before it arriv'd to this pitch of Greatness; for at the first, that which was afterwards the Citadel, was the whole City, and was call'd Cecropia, from its first Founder Cecrops, who, they fay, was the firft that invented the manner of Building Cities, and therefore the Athenians, proud of every little Pretence to Antiquity, us'd to call it by way of Eminence su, and woλis, as being the firft City *. Afterwards it chang d its firft Name of Cecropia, and was call'd Athens in Erichthomius's Reign, for which feveral Reasons are given, but the most common is, that the Name was taken from Minerva, whom the Greeks call Aturn, because she was the Protectreís of the City; indeed almost all Towers and Citadels were Sacred to this Goddess, who is therefore by Catullus call'd, Diva tenens in fummis urbibus arces. Goddess that in Citadels doth dwell. And Euftathius hath remark'd the fame upon Homer's fixth Iliad, where he tells us, Minerva's Temple was in the Trojan Citadel, Νηὸν Αθηναίης γλαυκώπιδα εν πόλει άκρη. Minerva's Temple in the Citadel. Cecropia was feated in the midst of a large and pleafant Plain, upon the top of a high Rock; for, as the foremention'd Author obferves, it was ufual for the firft Founders of Cities in thofe Ages, to lay the Foundations of them upon fteep Rocks and high Mountains; and this they did, partly for that fuch Places were a good Defence against Invaders, but more efpecially, because they hop'd to be fecur'd by them from Inundations, which the People of thofe Times exceedingly dreaded, having heard and experienc'd the fad Effects of them under Ogyges, and Deucalion. Afterwards, when the Number of Inhabitants was increas'd, the whole Plain was fill'd with Buildings, which were call'd from their Situation й xάra ós, or the lower City, and Cecropia was then nam'd άve modis, or Axogoλis, the upper City. The Circuit of the Citadel was threefcore Stadia, it was fenc'd in with wooden Pales, or, as some say, was fet about with Olive Trees; ! Pag. CCCCLXXXIII. Edit. Bafil. and Panathen. * Stephanus V. Alñvai. E IL ♪. P. CCCLXXXIV. and therefore in Xerxes's Invafion, when the Oracle advis'd the Athenians to defend themselves with Walls of Wood, fome were of Opinion, they were commanded to enter into the Acropolis, and there receive the Enemy, which fome of them did, but after a defperate Refiftance, were overpower'd by Numbers, and forc'd to suffer the fad Effects of their fond Interpretation ". It was fortify'd with a ftrong Wall, one Part of which was built by Cimon, the Son of Miltiades, out of the Spoils taken in the Perfian War, and was call'd Kuvio rixos, being on the South-fide of the Citadel The North Wall was built many Ages before, by Agrolas, fays Paufanias, or according to Pliny, by Euryalus, and Hyperbius, two Brothers, who first taught the Athenians the Art of Building Houses, whereas till that time they liv'd in Caves. They were Tyrrhenians born, and by. that Nation all forts of Building are faid to have been first begun in Greece, and from them Walls and Caftles were call'd Tugress. This Wall was nam'd Πελασικόν, οι Πελαρικόν, becaufe the Founders of it, were call'd Pelafgi, from their continual wandring, and removing from one Country to another, in the manner of Storks, which the Greeks call Пeλagol. Thucydides tells us, there was an Execration laid upon any that should build Houfes under this Wall, because the Pelafgi, whilst they dwelt there, entred into a Confpiracy against the Athenians. And Pollux adds, that it was unlawful to make Ditches, or fow Corn here, and if any Man was taken offending, he was apprehended by the Nomotheta, and brought before the Archon, who was to lay a Fine of three Drachms upon him '. It was beautify'd with nine Gates, and therefore is fometimes call'd Evάudo; but though there were many leffer Gates, yet the Citadel had but one great ForeGate, or Entrance, to which they afcended by Steps, cover'd with white Marble, and it was built by Pericles, with fuch Magnificence, that the Expences of it amounted to above a thousand Drachms'. The infide of the Citadel was adorn'd with innumerable Edifices, Statues, and Monuments, wherein all the ancient Stories were defcrib'd at large, infomuch that Ariftides tells us, it look'd like one continu'd Ornament ". The Description of all these would be tedious, and is al ready performed by Meurfius, who hath with vaft Industry collected into one Body all the Relicks of Antiquity, which lay difpers'd here and there in ancient Authors. The most remarkable of them were these: The Temple of Minerva, call'd Níun, or Victory, in which the Goddess was represented, having a Pome granate in her right Hand, and an Helmet in her left, and without Wings, in Memory of Thefeus's good Succefs in Crete, the Fame whereof had not reach'd Athens, before his Arrival; but in other Places, Victory was ufually reprefented o Plutarch. in Cimone. Syrianus in Herm. Cornel. Nep. P Phaverin. V. : Thucy Plutarchus Pericles Ariftides in Panathenaica. |
