ARCH.EOLOGY. The central point of the ancient city was the Acropolis (q.v.), but the modern city lies almost entirely to the north and east between the Acropolis and Mount Lycabettuis, and along the west slope of the latter, though a modern quarter is growing up on the banks of the Ilissus. On the east and south of the city flows the llissus, and on the west the Cephissus, whose scanty supply of water is now largely di 'celled for the irrigation of the extensive olive groves in that quarter. Though the city itself is some distance from the sea, it is well supplied with harbors. The first harbor was the open bay of Phalerum, with its sloping sandy beach, well suited for the light boats of the early time, but not easy of defense. Somewhat farther from the city is the rocky peninsula of the Pincus, with two small harbors, Munichia and Zea, on the east : and on the west a much larger basin, all nearly landlocked, and easily defended from the rugged hill of Muniehia. The advantages of Pincus were first seen by Themistocles; and the fortification of the peninsula was completed soon after the Persian wars. The harbors were con nected with the city by the 'long walls' at first so built as to include Phalerum, though later the southern wall was abandoned and a new one built close to the northern, furnishing connection with Pincus alone, which had become the only important harbor.
The earliest city was undoubtedly on the Aerop olis, where excavations have shown a `cyclo pean' wall like those of Tiryns and Myeence, and remains of a palace and dwellings of the My eemean Period. The town seems also to have ex tended down the west slope into the valley at the foot of the Pnyx, and probably along the south side for some distance; and this lower city was also inclosed by a strong wall with nine gates, probably nine separate lines of defense reaching to the summit of the hill. A part of this ancient settlement, including various sanctuaries, was re garded in later times as sacred ground, the so called Pelargicon. There were also ancient set
tlements along the Ilissus, where later were some of the most revered sanctuaries, and apparently also on the hills to the west of the Acropolis, where there are many foundations for small houses, cisterns, and steps cut in the rock. These dwellings were outside the later walls and were abandoned before the Fourth Century B.C., as graves of that period have been found inside the earlier houses. Close to the Acropolis on the northwest is the bare rock of the Areopagus (q.v.), and farther to the west and southwest, across a valley runs a long ridge, crowned at the south by the Hill of the Muses, with the monu ment of Philipoppus, erected at the beginning of the Second Century A.D., and at the north by the 1E11 of the Nymphs, the site of the modern astro nomical observatory. Between the two is the Pnyx Hill, where was the ancient place of assembly. In the earliest times the Acropolis and its neighboring walls formed the only forti fication, and it is still a disputed point whether there were any other defenses at the time of the Persian wars. The evidence renders it not im probable that there was an outer wall at that time, but the extent inclosed by it cannot be determined. We only know that it was much less than the space inclosed by the wall of Themistocles, built in great haste immediately after the Persian wars (B.c. 479). The course of this wall seems to have been preserved in later times, and can be traced in places by remains of the foundations, by the nature of the ground, and by the presence of graves, which in later times were always outside the walls. Its exact line, however. cannot be determined. Under the Emperor Hadrian the limits of the city seem to have been extended on the east so as to include the Olympieum (see below), and that portion of the city now occupied by the palace and its gardens. The line of the ancient wall in this region is probably marked by the Gate of Ha drian.