“ brazen^tripod fupporfed by-Perfiams; of Phrygian marble;
“ worth feeing.-” O f the pedeftals, which belonged to thefe
ftatues, feveral are‘found feattered about in the town, fixed irt
the: walls, or half buried iii earth ; and feme of the inferiptiona
are'preferved. -Among them is that of one : of; the Thafiari
iibages,< which I faw immured at a church, and copied. 'Within
the peribolus or inclofure is part o f another, a maflive, piece
o f white marble, lying, probably near its original file, the? face;
which is inferibed with-very large characters, downwards. From
thefe it appears that the prieftof the temple at the time o f their
eredtion was named Tiberius Claudius Atticus, and, it is fup-
pofed, was the famous Herodes. The inclofure has been de-
molifhed, but a terrace o f confiderable extent is ftill fuftained
by part o f the wall, which on1 the fide next to' the Iliffus is
ftrengthened with buttrefles.
T he ruin of the temple of Jupiter Olympius confifts o f
prodigious columns, tall and beautiful, o f the Corinthian order,
fluted; feme Angle, feme fupporting their architraves; with a
few maflive marbles beneath ; the remnant of a vaftheapj which
only many ages could have confumed and reduced into fo fcanty
a compafs. The columns are of very extraordinary dimehfions,
being about fix feet in diameter, and near fixty in height \ The
number without the cell was one hundred and fixteen or twenty!
Seventeen were Handing in 1676; but, a few years before fiwe
arrived, one was overturned, with much difficulty, and applied
to the building a new mofque in the Bazar; or market-placet
This violence was avenged by the Bafhaw o f Negropont, who
made it a pretext for extorting i from the vaiwode or governor
fifteen purfes; the pillar being, he alledged, the property- of
their mafter, the Grand Signior. It was an angular column and
o f eonfequence in determining the dimenfions ‘ of the fabric.
We regretted, that the fall of this mighty mafs had not been
poftponed until we came, as it would have afforded an opportunity
of infpeCting and meafuring -feme members, which ;wC
t Ruins of Athehs,3 £. 3 J
found
found far too-lofty to be attempted. Oh a/ piece of the architrave
fup'ported by a'couple o f columnd, are two, parallel walls,
©f modern 'mafonry, arched-about- the middle,, and; again near
the top. You are told;it has been.the habitation.- o f a hermit,
dowbdefs o f a; Stylites Qf but1 of whatever building it-has been
part, andhfor whatever purpofe defigned,;It mufi have, been
ereCted thfcslhigh in air, while the immenfe,Tui.n! bf^his,hugeRrue^
ture -was .yet fearcely- diminiflied, and the-hseap inclinedffo as to
render it acceffible. Itwasremarkedthat twQifl;ones,-oi a. ftep
in^thefront had.coalefced at the extremity;. fo thatmo/junCture
could be perceived; and the like was. difeovered ialfo in a-ftep o f
the Parthenon . In both inftanees it may, bn attributed to a con-
cretory fluid, which pervades the marble in the quarry.. Some
portion remaining in the gieeps^ y?l^m taken, green as it were,
and placed in mutual contaCt, it exfuded and united them by a
procefs fimilar tq that in a bone of an animal whenrbrdken and.
properly fet.
T h e water antiently conveyed in channels to the city and to
the Piraus, coming from fources in the mountains, wfiicfi abound
with ore, was hard, and had- a feum fwimming oiv the furface,
fuchasnmaybe ftill feen at "the public cifterns^was unfit to
drink, and appliCabfedole^to dthdfufes: ‘The wells afforded a
more wholfeme fluid, but were the dccafion of many quarrels.
Pfon'ena^dd that Na l l f who lived within four ftadia, or half a
milef o f a public* well, fhould have the privilege o f drawing
from it that thofe wbo were more remote fhould prOvide fheir
own 'water, but fhould be. alio wed a certain quantity daily from
the nexf wCfl, i f they found hon’e o n ’diggingfen fathpm deep.
The tranfgreflors were fined by the Epiftafes b r praffeCt of the
wateri. ' The city now abounds in wells, feme hqufes haying
three or;?four, in cbnfequehce of thefe early and. Wife Regulations.
- ,N e .w Athens was fupplied with water by the munificence o f
Badriamfrom. remote fources, at a yaft expenfe. 4 He-fouinded a
very extenfive aquaeduCt, of which many piers are yet Handing.