PROPYLAEA, the name given to a porch or gate-house, at the entrance of a sacred or other enclosure in Greece; these usually consisted, in their simplest form, of a porch supported by columns both without and within the actual gate. The name is especially given to the great entrance hall of the Acropolis at Athens, which was begun in 437 B.C. by Pericles, to take the place of an earlier gateway. Owing probably to political difficulties and to the out break of the Peloponnesian War, the building was never completed according to the original plans; but the portion that was built was among the chief glories of Athens, and afforded a model to many subsequent imitators. The architect was Mnesicles; the material Pentelic marble, with Eleusinian blackstone for dados and other details.
The plan of the Propylaea consists of a large square hall, from which five steps lead up to a wall pierced by five gateways of graduated sizes, the central one giving passage to a road suitable for beasts or vehicles. On the inner side towards the Acropolis, this wall is faced with a portico of six Doric columns. At the other end of the great hall is a similar portico facing outwards; and between this and the doors the hall is divided into three aisles by rows of Ionic columns. The, western or outer front is flanked on each side by a projecting wing, with a row of three smaller Doric columns between Antae at right angles to the main portico. The north wing is completed by a square chamber which served as a picture gallery; but the south wing contains no corresponding chamber, and its plan has evidently been curtailed ; its front pro jected beyond its covered area, and it is finished in what was evi dently a provisional way on the side of the bastion before the little temple of Victory (Nike).
From this and other indications Prof. Dorpfeld has inferred that the original plan of Mnesicles was to complete the south wing on a plan symmetrical with that of the north wing, but opening by a portico on to the bastion to the west; and to add on the inner side of the Propylaea two great halls, faced by porticoes almost in a line with the main portico, but with smaller columns. This is questionable as it would have interfered with sacred ob jects such as the precinct of Artemis Brauronia and the altar of Nike. Nevertheless, the unfinished surface of the walls and the rough bosses left on many of the blocks show that the building was never completed. The Propylaea were approached in Greek times by a zig-zag path, terraced along the rock; this was super seded in Roman times by a broad flight of steps. In mediaeval times the Propylaea served as the palace of the dukes of Athens; they were much damaged by the explosion of a powder magazine in 1656. The tower, of Frankish or Turkish date, that stood on the south wing, was pulled down in The term is also applied to various monumental gateways of modern times, especially in Germany. Outstanding examples are: the propylaea at Munich, by von Klenze (finished 1862), with sculpture by Schefzky; and that in Berlin, also known as the Brandenburger Thor, by Langhaus (1784), which was directly inspired by the propylaea at Athens.
See R. Bohn, Die Propylaeen der Akropolis zu Athen (1882) ; W. Dorpfeld, articles in Mittheilungen d. d. Inst. Athen. (1885) vol. x.
(E. GR.)