S 4
fhe ftri<ttlytenjoined them not. to open. ; It. coritaine,d Ereftheus
or Efichthpniul, ,;andn£ant, t& ofepriag; of Vulean and/offhe
Earth ; guarded . by a. ferpent. ! Curiofity prevailing^ .the two,
.elder fitters difobeyed. The goddefs was gone to Pallene for a
möüntain /dntending-tó blockade the entrance of the acropolis»
A bufy crow met her, on her return ; and inforaiéd her what
had patted, y?Keri fhe dropped the mountain, which was afterwards
called Lycabettüs j and, difpleafed with the officious Talebearer,’^
commanded that no crow Thould ever again; vifit the’
acropolis. T h e 'güilty fitters were feized: with a frenzy, 'and
threw thèmfelves'down one of the préciïiëlSi! Pandrö’fëS was
honoured with rites and myfteries-. Shd was joined‘with Minerva,1
and when a hèifer was facrificed to the goddefs, it was 'aé'cdm-
panied with a fifeepTor PandnSbiy • * This ttory rsfelluded to-hy
Hornet, who mentions thé temple o f Minerva, withThe-pfler--
ihgjs of bulls'and yottng fteép^inldé annually Bÿ the'À‘thèï&ls.*
Crows, as I hâve often obferved, fly about the fides óf the rock/
without attending to: the -height of the''1 tori/; and 'Lèèrétiu^
jatterts that not éven the fmokirig- of me affairs', when they might’
bxpedt food, 'coukfentice them thither; which he fenfibly^ttri-1
Butes", hot to the dréad of Minerva; as the Greek’ poets * fung,
hut to the nature of the place. *?
' T he ruin' o f 'thé Erèctthéüïrî is o f whiüé’friSrble, thé archî-
iéétural ornaments of Very exquifite workman Ship,hand ’’uri-boni-1
.monly curious. "The columns rif the-front of me’ -temple of
Neptune, are ttanding With^hê^arèhitra^él^âîfd %fo the ‘fjçreep
arid portico o f Minerva Polias,’ with a phr-tion óf thé cell retaining
traeel* o f the partition-wall. The order’ is; Idriicl^ An
édifice fevered by aritient Atticaj^^TS^iri-the h%lléft dbgpée/
was in 1676 the dwelling of a Turkifh family; and isdiow
defer ted and negledted ; but' rhany ponderous ftones and much'
rubbiih mutt be removed, ' before the well and trident would
appear. The former, at leaft, might probably be diïcóvered.
The portic6“1é üttd?W à powder-magazine ; but we obfe$(ièd
perrriittion to dig and to examine the outfide. The door-way of
I ■ the
the veftrbule is walled up, and the foil rjfen nearly to the top of
th'e' doorway o f ’the Pandrofeum. By the portico1 is a battery
commanding the town, from- which attends’ an amirnng hum.
The Turks fire from it,- to give notice of fhe commencement of
Ramazan or of .their Lent, and of Bairam or the Holy-days, and
on-other publie^bccafipns-:
T he Pandrofeum is a fmall, but very particular building, of
whSchrno fatisfadtory idea can be-communicated by defeription.
The entablature is Supported by women called Caryatides. Their
'ttory- is thus rfelated. The Greeks; vidtorious j in the Perfian
war, jointly dettroyed Carya, a city of the Peloponriefus, which
had favbured’ the common enemy! They cut off the males, and
Carried into captivity the vvomeri, whom they Compelled« to
retain ' their*'former- drefs and ornaments, though, in a ftate o f
fervitude, T h e ?arcfrite<tts. ^q£ thofe times, - to perpetuate "the
mempry., of their, punifhment, reprefented them, as/ in this
inftahee? each with a burthen on her head, one hand Uplifted
to it/afid The other 'hanging" down ■ by her fide. The images
were iri number "fix, all looking toward the parthbrijm The
four in;.fr<int,with that next to the propylea; remain, but mutilated,
and their feces' befmeaped' with paint.-11 The' foil is rifen
almoft to the -top of-the hafemeht'ori whi'clf they are placed.
This tenrple' was' open or latticed between tbp ttatues ; and iri it
alfo 'w-as' a ftunted olive-tree,' with an altar^of Jupiter Tlerceus
'{landing under it. 1 The prbpyfea are nearly in a line with the-
fpace dividing it from the parthenon ; which difpofition, befides
its other effefts, occafioned the!-front and flank of* the latter
edifice -to be feeri at orice-byVhbfe who. approached it from the
entrance, of, the acropolis.
T h e -deities 'of the acropolis had a variety of miriifters aryf
inferior Servants, whofe* dwellings-were near their temples.^ In
particular, at 'a fmall dittarice from the temple o f Minerva Pblias
lived two Virgins,’ called Canephori, which-cohtinried feme tame
with the goddefs, and, whfcn the feafdri -of her feftival approached;