λόφος δʼ ἐστὶν ἡ Μουνυχία χερρονησιάζων καὶ κοῖλος καὶ ὑπόνομος πολὺ μέρος φύσει τε καὶ ἐπίτηδες ὥστʼ οἰκήσεις δέχεσθαι, στομίῳ δὲ μικρῷ τὴν εἴσοδον ἔχων. ὑποπίπτουσι δʼ αὐτῷ λιμένες τρεῖς. τὸ μὲν οὖν παλαιὸν ἐτετείχιστο καὶ συνῴκιστο ἡ Μουνυχία παραπλησίως ὥσπερ ἡ τῶν Ῥοδίων πόλις, προσειληφυῖα τῷ περιβόλῳ τόν τε Πειραιᾶ καὶ τοὺς λιμένας πλήρεις νεωρίων, ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡ ὁπλοθήκη Φίλωνος ἔργον· ἄξιόν τε ἦν ναύσταθμον ταῖς τετρακοσίαις ναυσίν, ὧν οὐκ ἐλάττους ἔστελλον Ἀθηναῖοι. τῷ δὲ τείχει τούτῳ συνῆπτε τὰ καθειλκυσμένα ἐκ τοῦ ἄστεος σκέλη· ταῦτα δʼ ἦν μακρὰ τείχη τετταράκοντα σταδίων τὸ μῆκος, συνάπτοντα τὸ ἄστυ τῷ Πειραιεῖ. οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ πόλεμοι τὸ τεῖχος κατήρειψαν καὶ τὸ τῆς Μουνυχίας ἔρυμα, τόν τε Πειραιᾶ συνέστειλαν εἰς ὀλίγην κατοικίαν τὴν περὶ τοὺς λιμένας καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ σωτῆρος· τοῦ δὲ ἱεροῦ τὰ μὲν στοΐδια ἔχει πίνακας θαυμαστούς, ἔργα τῶν ἐπιφανῶν τεχνιτῶν, τὸ δʼ ὕπαιθρον ἀνδριάντας. κατέσπασται δὲ καὶ τὰ μακρὰ τείχη, Λακεδαιμονίων μὲν καθελόντων πρότερον Ῥωμαίων δʼ ὕστερον, ἡνίκα Σύλλας ἐκ πολιορκίας εἷλε καὶ τὸν Πειραιᾶ καὶ τὸ ἄστυ.
The Munychia is a hill in the shape of a peninsula, hollow, and a great part of it excavated both by nature and art, so as to serve for dwellings, with an entrance by a narrow opening. Beneath it are three harbours. Formerly the Munychia was surrounded by a wall, and occupied by dwellings, nearly in the same manner as the city of the Rhodians, comprehending within the circuit of the walls the Piraeus and the harbours full of materials for ship-building; here also was the armoury, the work of Philon. The naval station was capable of receiving the four hundred vessels; which was the smallest number the Athenians were in the habit of keeping in readiness for sea. With this wall were connected the legs, that stretched out from the Asty. These were the long walls, 40 stadia in length, joining the Asty to the Piraeus. But in consequence of frequent wars, the wall and the fortification of the Munychia were demolished; the Piraeus was contracted to a small town, extending round the harbours and the temple of Jupiter Soter. The small porticoes of the temple contain admirable paintings, the work of celebrated artists, and the hypaethrum, statues. The long walls also were destroyed, first demolished by the Lacedaemonians, and afterwards by the Romans, when Sylla took the Piraeus and the Asty by siege.
τὸ δʼ ἄστυ αὐτὸ πέτρα ἐστὶν ἐν πεδίῳ περιοικουμένη κύκλῳ· ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ πέτρᾳ τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν ὅ τε ἀρχαῖος νεὼς ὁ τῆς Πολιάδος ἐν ᾧ ὁ ἄσβεστος λύχνος, καὶ ὁ παρθενὼν ὃν ἐποίησεν Ἰκτῖνος, ἐν ᾧ τὸ τοῦ Φειδίου ἔργον ἐλεφάντινον ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ. ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἰς πλῆθος ἐμπίπτων τῶν περὶ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ὑμνουμένων τε καὶ διαβοωμένων ὀκνῶ πλεονάζειν, μὴ συμβῇ τῆς προθέσεως ἐκπεσεῖν τὴν γραφήν. ἔπεισι γὰρ ὅ φησιν Ἡγησίας ὁρῶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν καὶ τὸ περιττῆς τριαίνης ἐκεῖθι σημεῖον, ὁρῶ τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα, καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν γέγονα μύστης· ἐκεῖνο Λεωκόριον, τοῦτο Θησεῖον· οὐ δύναμαι δηλῶσαι καθʼ ἓν ἕκαστον· ἡ γὰρ Ἀττικὴ θεῶν αὐτοῖς […] καταλαβόντων καὶ τῶν προγόνων ἡρώων […] οὗτος μὲν οὖν ἑνὸς ἐμνήσθη τῶν ἐν ἀκροπόλει σημείων, Πολέμων δʼ ὁ περιηγητὴς τέτταρα βιβλία συνέγραψε περὶ τῶν ἀναθημάτων τῶν ἐν ἀκροπόλει· τὸ δʼ ἀνάλογον συμβαίνει καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῆς πόλεως μερῶν καὶ τῆς χώρας· Ἐλευσῖνά τε εἰπὼν ἕνα τῶν ἑκατὸν ἑβδομήκοντα δήμων πρὸς δὲ καὶ τεττάρων, ὥς φασιν, οὐδένα τῶν ἄλλων ὠνόμακεν.
What is properly the Asty is a rock, situated in a plain, with dwellings around it. Upon the rock is the temple of Minerva, and the ancient shrine of Minerva Polias, in which is the never-extinguished lamp; and the Parthenon, built by Ictinus, in which is the Minerva, in ivory, the work of Pheidias.
When, however, I consider the multitude of objects, so celebrated and far-famed, belonging to this city, I am reluctant to enlarge upon them, lest what I write should depart too far from the proposed design of this work. For the words of Hegesias occur to me; I behold the acropolis, there is the symbol of the great trident; I see Eleusis; I am initiated in the sacred mysteries; that is Leocorium; this the Theseium. To describe all is beyond my power, for Attica is the chosen residence of the gods; and the possession of heroes its progenitors. Yet this very writer mentions only one of the remarkable things to be seen in the Acropolis. Polemo Periegetes however composed four books on the subject of the sacred offerings which were there. Hegesias is similarly sparing of remarks on other parts of the city, and of the territory: after speaking of Eleusis, one of the hundred and seventy demi, to which as they say four are to be added, he mentions no other by name.
ἔχουσι δὲ κἂν εἰ μὴ πάντες οἵ γε πολλοὶ μυθοποιίας συχνὰς καὶ ἱστορίας· καθάπερ Ἄφιδνα μὲν τὴν τῆς Ἑλένης ἁρπαγὴν ὑπὸ Θησέως καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν Διοσκούρων ἐκπόρθησιν αὐτῆς καὶ ἀνακομιδὴν τῆς ἀδελφῆς, Μαραθὼν δὲ τὸν Περσικὸν ἀγῶνα, Ῥαμνοῦς δὲ τὸ τῆς Νεμέσεως ξόανον, ὅ τινες μὲν Διοδότου φασὶν ἔργον τινὲς δὲ Ἀγορακρίτου τοῦ Παρίου, καὶ μεγέθει καὶ κάλλει σφόδρα κατωρθωμένον καὶ ἐνάμιλλον τοῖς Φειδίου ἔργοις. οὕτω δὲ καὶ Δεκέλεια μὲν τὸ ὁρμητήριον τῶν Πελοποννησίων κατὰ τὸν Δεκελεικὸν πόλεμον, Φυλὴ δὲ ὅθεν ἐπήγαγε τὸν δῆμον Θρασύβουλος εἰς Πειραιᾶ κἀκεῖθεν εἰς ἄστυ. οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἐπʼ ἄλλων πλειόνων ἔστιν ἱστορεῖν πολλά· καὶ ἔτι τὸ Λεωκόριον καὶ τὸ Θηυς ἔχει, καὶ τὸ Λύκειον καὶ τὸ Ὀλυμπικὸν […] ὸ τὸ Ὀλύμπιον, ὅπερ ἡμιτελὲς κατέλιπε τελευτῶν ὁ ἀναθεὶς βασιλεύς· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ Ἀκαδημία καὶ οἱ κῆποι τῶν φιλοσόφων καὶ τὸ Ὠιδεῖον καὶ ἡ ποικίλη στοὰ καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ τὰ ἐν τῇ πό ἔχοντα τεχνιτῶν ἔργα.
Many, if not all the demi, have various fabulous tales and histories connected with them: with Aphidna is connected the rape of Helen by Theseus, the sack of the place by the Dioscuri, and the recovery of their sister; with Marathon, the battle with the Persians; at Rhamnus was the statue of Nemesis, which, according to some writers, is the work of Diodotus, according to others, of Agoracritus, the Parian, so well executed, both as to size and beauty, as to rival the art of Pheidias. Deceleia was the rendezvous of the Peloponnesians in the Decelic war. From Phyle Thrasybulus brought back the people to the Piraeus, and thence to the Asty. Thus also much might be told respecting many other places; the Leocorium, the Theseium, and the Lyceum have their own fables, and the Olympicum, called also the Olympium, which the king, who dedicated it, left, at his death, half finished; so also much might be said of the Academia. of the gardens of the philosophers, of the Odeium, of the Stoa Poecile, [or painted Portico,] and of the temples in tile city, all of which contain the works of illustrious artists.
πολὺ δʼ ἂν πλείων εἴη λόγος, εἰ τοὺς ἀρχηγέτας τοῦ κτίσματος ἐξετάζοι τις ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ Κέκροπος· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁμοίως λέγουσιν ἅπαντες. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ὀνομάτων δῆλον· ἀκτὴν μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ Ἀκταίωνος φασίν, Ἀτθίδα δὲ καὶ Ἀττικὴν ἀπὸ Ἀτθίδος τῆς Κραναοῦ, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ Κραναοὶ οἱ ἔνοικοι, Μοψοπίαν δὲ ἀπὸ Μοψόπου, Ἰωνίαν δὲ ἀπὸ Ἴωνος τοῦ Ξούθου, Ποσειδωνίαν δὲ καὶ Ἀθήνας ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπωνύμων θεῶν. εἴρηται δʼ ὅτι κἀνταῦθα φαίνεται τὸ τῶν Πελασγῶν ἔθνος ἐπιδημῆσαν, καὶ διότι ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀττικῶν Πελαργοὶ προσηγορεύθησαν διὰ τὴν πλάνην.
The account would be much longer if we were to inquire who were the founders of the city from the time of Cecrops, for writers do not agree, as is evident from the names of persons and of places. For example, Attica, they say, was derived from Actaeon; Atthis, and Attica, from Atthis, the daughter of Cranaus, from whom the inhabitants had the name Cranai; Mopsopia from Mopsopus; Ionia from Ion, the son of Xuthus; Poseidonia and Athenae, from the deities of that name. We have said, that the nation of the Pelasgi seem to have come into this country in the course of their migrations, and were called from their wanderings, by the Attici, Pelargi, or storks.
ὅσῳ δὲ πλέον ἐστὶ τὸ φιλότιμον περὶ τὰ ἔνδοξα καὶ πλείους οἱ λαλήσαντές τι περὶ αὐτῶν, τοσῷδε μείζων ὁ ἔλεγχος, ἐὰν μὴ κρατῇ τις τῆς ἱστορίας· οἷον ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ τῶν ποταμῶν ὁ Καλλίμαχος γελᾶν φησιν, εἴ τις θαρρεῖ γράφειν τὰς τῶν Ἀθηναίων παρθένους ἀφύσσεσθαι καθαρὸν γάνος Ἠριδανοῖο, οὗ καὶ τὰ βοσκήματα ἀπόσχοιτʼ ἄν. εἰσὶ μὲν νῦν αἱ πηγαὶ καθαροῦ καὶ ποτίμου ὕδατος, ὥς φασιν, ἐκτὸς τῶν Διοχάρους καλουμένων πυλῶν πλησίον τοῦ Λυκείου· πρότερον δὲ καὶ κρήνη κατεσκεύαστό τις πλησίον πολλοῦ καὶ καλοῦ ὕδατος· εἰ δὲ μὴ νῦν, τί ἂν εἴη θαυμαστόν, εἰ πάλαι πολὺ καὶ καθαρὸν ἦν ὥστε καὶ πότιμον εἶναι, μετέβαλε δὲ ὕστερον; ἐν μὲν οὖν τοῖς καθʼ ἕκαστα τοσούτοις οὖσιν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται διατρίβειν, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ σιγῇ παρελθεῖν ὥστε μηδʼ ἐν κεφαλαίῳ μνησθῆναί τινων.
In proportion as an earnest desire is excited to ascertain the truth about remarkable places and events, and in proportion as writers, on these subjects, are more numerous, so much the more is an author exposed to censure, who does not make himself master of what has been written. For example, in the Collection of the Rivers, Callimachus says, that he should laugh at the person, who would venture to describe the Athenian virgins as drinking of the pure waters of the Eridanus, / from which even the herds would turn away. There are indeed fountains of water, pure and fit for drinking, it is said, without the gate called Diochares, near the Lyceium; formerly also a fountain was erected near it, which afforded a large supply of excellent water; but if it is not so at present, is it at all strange, that a fountain supplying abundance of pure and potable water at one period of time, should afterwards have the property of its waters altered?
In subjects, however, which are so numerous, we cannot enter into detail; yet they are not so entirely to be passed over in silence as to abstain from giving a condensed account of some of them.
τοσαῦτʼ οὖν ἀπόχρη προσθεῖσιν ὅτι φησὶ Φιλόχορος πορθουμένης τῆς χώρας ἐκ θαλάττης μὲν ὑπὸ Καρῶν ἐκ γῆς δὲ ὑπὸ Βοιωτῶν, οὓς ἐκάλουν Ἄονας, Κέκροπα πρῶτον εἰς δώδεκα πόλεις συνοικίσαι τὸ πλῆθος, ὧν ὀνόματα Κεκροπία Τετράπολις Ἐπακρία Δεκέλεια Ἐλευσὶς Ἄφιδνα (λέγουσι δὲ καὶ πληθυντικῶς Ἀφίδνας) Θόρικος Βραυρὼν Κύθηρος Σφηττὸς Κηφισιά […] πάλιν δʼ ὕστερον εἰς μίαν πόλιν συναγαγεῖν λέγεται τὴν νῦν τὰς δώδεκα Θησεύς. ἐβασιλεύοντο μὲν πρότερον, εἶτʼ εἰς δημοκρατίαν μετέστησαν· τυράννων δʼ ἐπιθεμένων αὐτοῖς, Πεισιστράτου καὶ τῶν παίδων, ὕστερόν τε ὀλιγαρχίας γενομένης τῆς τε τῶν τετρακοσίων καὶ τῆς τῶν τριάκοντα τυράννων, οὓς ἐπέστησαν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, τούτους μὲν διεκρούσαντο ῥᾳδίως, ἐφύλαξαν δὲ τὴν δημοκρατίαν μέχρι τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐπικρατείας. καὶ γὰρ εἴ τι μικρὸν ὑπὸ τῶν Μακεδονικῶν βασιλέων παρελυπήθησαν ὥσθʼ ὑπακούειν αὐτῶν ἀναγκασθῆναι, τόν γε ὁλοσχερῆ τύπον τῆς πολιτείας τὸν αὐτὸν διετήρουν. ἔνιοι δέ φασι καὶ βέλτιστα τότε αὐτοὺς πολιτεύσασθαι δεκαετῆ χρόνον ὃν ἦρχε Μακεδόνων Κάσανδρος. οὗτος γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ πρὸς μὲν τὰ ἄλλα δοκεῖ τυραννικώτερος γενέσθαι, πρὸς Ἀθηναίους δὲ εὐγνωμόνησε λαβὼν ὑπήκοον τὴν πόλιν· ἐπέστησε γὰρ τῶν πολιτῶν Δημήτριον τὸν Φαληρέα τῶν Θεοφράστου τοῦ φιλοσόφου γνωρίμων, ὃς οὐ μόνον οὐ κατέλυσε τὴν δημοκρατίαν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπηνώρθωσε. δηλοῖ δὲ τὰ ὑπομνήματα ἃ συνέγραψε περὶ τῆς πολιτείας ταύτης ἐκεῖνος. ἀλλʼ οὕτως ὁ φθόνος ἴσχυσε καὶ ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγους ἀπέχθεια ὥστε μετὰ τὴν Κασάνδρου τελευτὴν ἠναγκάσθη φυγεῖν εἰς Αἴγυπτον· τὰς δʼ εἰκόνας αὐτοῦ πλείους ἢ τριακοσίας κατέσπασαν οἱ ἐπαναστάντες καὶ κατεχώνευσαν, ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ προστιθέασιν ὅτι καὶ εἰς ἀμίδας. Ῥωμαῖοι δʼ οὖν παραλαβόντες αὐτοὺς δημοκρατουμένους ἐφύλαξαν τὴν αὐτονομίαν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. ἐπιπεσὼν δʼ ὁ Μιθριδατικὸς πόλεμος τυράννους αὐτοῖς κατέστησεν οὓς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐβούλετο· τὸν δʼ ἰσχύσαντα μάλιστα τὸν Ἀριστίωνα καὶ ταύτην βιασάμενον τὴν πόλιν ἐκ πολιορκίας ἑλὼν Σύλλας ὁ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμὼν ἐκόλασε, τῇ δὲ πόλει συγγνώμην ἔνειμε· καὶ μέχρι νῦν ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ τέ ἐστι καὶ τιμῇ παρὰ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις.
It will suffice then to add, that, according to Philochorus, when the country was devastated on the side of the sea by the Carians, and by land by the Boeotians, whom they called Aones, Cecrops first settled a large body of people in twelve cities, the names of which were Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Deceleia, Eleusis, Aplhidnae, (although some persons write it in the plural number, Aphidnae,) Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephisia [Phalerus]. Again, at a subsequent period, Theseus is said to have collected the inhabitants of the twelve cities into one, the present city.
Formerly, the Athenians were governed by kings; they afterwards changed the government to a democracy; then tyrants were their masters, as Pisistratus and his sons; afterwards there was an oligarchy both of the four hundred and of the thirty tyrants, whom the Lacedaemonii set over them; these were expelled by the Athenians, who retained the form of a democracy, till the Romans established their empire. For, although they were somewhat oppressed by the Macedonian kings, so as to be compelled to obey them, yet they preserved entire the same form of government. Some say, that the government was very well administered during a period of ten years, at the time that Casander was king of the Macedonians. For this person, although in other respects he was disposed to be tyrannical, yet, when lie was master of the city, treated the Athenians with kindness and generosity. He placed at the head of the citizens Demetrius the Phalerean, a disciple of Theophrastus the philosopher, who, far from dissolving, restored the democracy. This appears from his memoirs, which he composed concerning this mode of government. But so much hatred and dislike prevailed against anything connected with oligarchy, that, after the death of Casander, he was obliged to fly into Egypt. The insurgents pulled down more than three hundred of his statues, which were melted down, and according to some were cast into chamber-pots. The Romans, after their conquest, finding them governed by a democracy, maintained their independence and liberty. During the Mithridatic war, the king set over them such tyrants as he pleased. Aristio, who was the most powerful of these persons, oppressed the city; he was taken by Sylla, the Roman general, after a siege, and put to death. The citizens were pardoned, and, to this time, the city enjoys liberty, and is respected by the Romans.
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