Site Catalog Name: Athens

Physical Description:

Located in the center of a large plain, enclosed on all but S side by mountains, Athens is ca. 7 km inland from its seaport at Piraeus. The site has been continuously inhabited from Neolithic times to the present. The plateau and the slopes of the Acropolis hill were the area of earliest settlement and later became the religious center of the ancient city. S of the Acropolis, in the Ilissos district, were many sanctuaries and athletic establishments. N of the Acropolis is the Agora, the civic and social center of the ancient city and N of the Agora is the Kerameikos (the potters' quarter), the Sacred Gate (opening toward Eleusis) and, beyond the city walls, the cemetery. W of the Acropolis are the hills of the Areopagus (site of the most ancient court of Athens), the Pnyx (meeting place of the popular assembly), and the Hills of the Muses and the Nymphs. The NW quarter of the city was occupied by artisans and tradesmen and farther W the Long Walls linked Athens to the harbor city of Piraeus.

Excavations began after Independence in 1833 and continue almost without interruption to the present under Greek and foreign auspices.

Rossiter 1977, 61-167; PECS, 106-110; Leekley and Noyes 1976, 3 ff.

C. Wachsmuth, Die Stadt Athen im Alterthum, I-II (1874-90). J.E. Harrison and M. de G. Verrall, Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens (1890). E. Curtius, Die Stadgeschichte von Athen (1891). J.G. Frazer, Pausanias's Description of Greece I-VI (1898). P. Cavvadias and G. Kawerau, Die Ausgrabung der Akropolis vom Jahre 1885 bis zum Jahre 1890 (1906). O. Walter, Athen Akropolis (1929). W. Judeich, Topographie von Athen (2nd ed) (1931). W. Wrede, Attische Mauern (1933). G.P. Stevens, "Architectural Studies Concerning the Acropolis of Athens," Hesperia 15 (1946) 73-106. Excavation reports from Kerameikos = Kerameikos, Ergebnisse des Ausgrabungen, Vol. 1-6 (1939-70 Berlin). Excavation reports from the Agora = The Athenian Agora. Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Vol. 1-20 (1953-74 Princeton). H.A. Thompson and R.L. Scranton, "Stoas and City Walls on the Pnyx," Hesperia 7 (1943) 269-301. H.A. Thompson, The Athenian Agora: A Guide to the Excavation and Museum (1962). O. Broneer, "Plato's Description of Early Athens; ..," Hesperia Suppl. 8 (1949) 49-59. I.T. Hill, The Ancient City of Athens (1953). J. Travlos, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens (1971).

W.M. Leake, The Topography of Athens (1841 London). J. Stuart and N. Revett, The Antiquities of Athens I-IV (1762-1816 London). L. Ross, Archäologische Aufsätze I-II (1855-1861 Leipzig). J.G. Frazer, Pausanias's Description of Greece, Vol. II (1898 London). J. E. Harrison and M. de G. Verrall, Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens (1890 London). J. E. Harrison, Primitive Athens as Described by Thucydides (1906 Cambridge). W. Judeich, Topographie von Athen (2nd ed) (1931 Munich). I.T. Hill, The Ancient City of Athens (1953 London). J. Travlos, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens (1971 London). J. Travlos, Athens, Ekistic Elements, First Report. Ancient Greek Cities no. 17 (1972 Athens), (mod.gr.). P. Graindor, Athènes sous Auguste (1927 Cairo). P. Graindor, Athènes sous Hadrien (1934 Cairo). Annual rescue excavations in ArchDelt since 1960. E. Beulé, L'Acropole d'Athènes, I-II (1953-54).

(Donald R. Keller)

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