THE THIRD RIVER of Athens, the Ilissos, flows from Mount Hymettos at the northeast of the city, circling down and around to the south of the Acropolis. As recently as the 1950s, the river could be seen at the foot of the Panathenaic Stadium, known as the Kallimarmaro, or “Beautifully Marbled.” In myth, Ilissos was understood to be the son of the sea god Poseidon and the earth goddess Demeter. A child of the land and the sea, the Ilissos was a vital player in local ecosystems and home to a host of shrines. The spot sacred to Acheloös and the nymphs referenced in the Phaidros was on the river’s east bank at the foot of the Ardettos Hill (this page). About 500 meters (0.3 mile) downstream, on the west bank, rises the spring known as Kallirrhöe. Today, it is just a faint rivulet falling beside the little church of Agia Photini, but early on the area was so marshy that it was called Vatrachonis (“Frog Island”).71 This mere trickle of water is likely to be one and the same as the great spring Kallirrhöe that Thucydides claimed to be the main source for water for the early city.72 With the building of a formal fountain house over it, the place became known as Enneakrounos, or “Nine-Headed,” for the nine spouts built to facilitate collection, and eventually becomes the preferred spot for Athenian brides to take their nuptial baths.73 Just opposite the spring, on the banks of the Ilissos, sits a little shrine of Pan. His image can be seen to this day, carved into the rock face of a surviving wall, a lone reminder of devotions practiced on this spot in the ancient past.74
Kallirrhöe was the daughter of Okeanos and Tethys, who, according to Hesiod, produced a total of forty-one nymph daughters who protected girls and maidens just as Apollo and the rivers protected boys and youths.75 By one account, Kallirrhöe mated with Khrysaor, son of Medousa, and gave birth to a terrible three-bodied giant known as Geryon, eventually killed by Herakles. In the sixth century B.C. the poet Stesichoros wrote a Song of Geryon that celebrated the conflict of the giant and the hero, a fight in which Poseidon sided with his monstrous grandson while Athena protected her favorite, Herakles.76 This conforms to a pattern that will become familiar, one in which Athena and Poseidon battle each other through proxies. By some later accounts, Kallirrhöe mated with Poseidon and gave birth to Minyas, founder and king of Orchomenos in Boiotia.77 The relationship between Poseidon and spring nymphs was always a delicate one. Should he become angry with them, he can withdraw his water and cause their springs to go dry.
On the southeast bank of the Ilissos, just opposite Kallirrhöe, stretches the area known as Agrai (this page). Fittingly, we find Artemis here, worshipped in the marshy, wild, and wooded setting that she so favored.78 In this precinct, the goddess was called by the cult name Agrotera, “the Huntress,” just as she was at Marathon, where she helped the Athenians defeat the Persians in 490 B.C. The wetlands of Marathon Bay and the marshy plain to the west of it where the battle was fought represent exactly the kind of terrain in which Artemis is happiest. So, too, here on the swampy banks of the Ilissos, Artemis Agrotera finds a home.
Foundations of a small Ionic temple, probably erected around 435–430 B.C., sit on a rocky knoll positioned just above the south bank of the river, roughly opposite the spring of Kallirrhöe (this page).79 These belong to the temple of Artemis Agrotera, the setting for one of the most exceptional sacrifices in the Athenian festival calendar. Before the battle at Marathon the Athenians vowed that they would sacrifice to Artemis Agrotera one goat for every Persian killed. This was in accordance with a long tradition of prebattle sacrifices (sphagia) offered to deities in hopes of a favorable outcome.80 When an astounding 6,400 Persians were killed at Marathon (to Athens’s loss of just 192 men), the Athenians were unable to find enough goats to make good on their promise. So it was decreed that forever after six hundred goats would be sacrificed annually in fulfillment of the vow. This sacrifice was offered each year on the anniversary of the battle, the sixth day of the month Boedromion, in our early September. It was observed at least into the first century A.D.81 Not many rituals could have impressed themselves on the consciousness of the Athenians with the same force as seeing six hundred goats led to the banks of the Ilissos for sacrifice every year.
AS WE RETURN to the city’s beginnings, we reflect on how beautifully situated Athens is, set far enough inland that it could be easily defended yet close to a series of excellent harbors (some 6 kilometers, or 3.7 miles, to the south) that link it to the wider world. Of all the hills that the early settlers could have chosen for their acropolis citadel, they decided not on the highest peak but on that which had the best water source. The Acropolis, which rises to a height of 150 meters (500 feet), was the most promising among a number of candidates. Steep cliffs gird it on three sides, leaving only one point of easy access on the west and rendering it more easily defensible from enemy assault. Though Mount Lykabettos, to the north, is the highest hill in Athens at 277 meters (909 feet), it lacks the all-important combination of water, natural defenses, and a summit that could be easily leveled, elements that made the Acropolis so attractive to early city builders (below).
Many city-states across Greece were founded on acropolis citadels. But few could boast an acropolis rock as prominent as the Athenian. It rises abruptly from the surrounding lowlands and, throughout the city, is never lost to view. This bare, stark “bunker” of limestone, encompassing an area of just 7.4 acres, has persisted as the focal point of Athens from the fourth millennium B.C. to the present (previous page and insert this page).82
View of the Acropolis from the southwest with Mount Lykabettos in the distance. © Robert A. McCabe, 1954–1955. (illustration credit ill.9)
The well-watered slopes of the Acropolis’s northwest shoulder were as suited to times of peace as to those of siege. Here, twenty-two shallow wells have been discovered dating to the Late Neolithic period (ca. 3500–3000 B.C.), when they would have provided water for inhabitants who, presumably, lived nearby.83 For reasons that remain unclear (perhaps a drought from climate change, decimating the population), these wells were abandoned during the millennium that followed. It is not until the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2050–1600 B.C.) that new wells were dug along this same slope, as well as to the south of the Acropolis. At the same time houses were built on the south slope and, possibly, also on the summit. Graves for children have been found atop the Acropolis and more tombs and graves to the south.84
The water-rich veins running through the Acropolis rock result from its geological formation, in which porous limestone overlies a layer of calcium carbonate marl, the uppermost part of the so-called Athens Schist.85 Rainwater filters down through cracks in the limestone until it meets and gathers atop the marl. Since the geological stratigraphy of the Acropolis tilts from high at the southeast to low at the northwest, water trapped atop the marl level drains down to the west end, emerging in a series of natural springs.
A Mycenaean palace was built atop the Acropolis sometime between 1400 and 1300 B.C. (facing page).86 By 1250, the citadel was protected by massive fortification walls, stretches of which survive to this day. They stood as high as 10 meters (33 feet) and, in some places, were 5 meters (16 feet) thick. These walls are constructed in the so-called Cyclopean masonry style in which huge unworked stones were piled one atop another (this page), so huge that it was believed only giant Cyclopes could have lifted them into place.
Down below, at the foot of the Acropolis and encircling its entire western end, a second circuit wall may have been constructed, giving additional protection to the citadel’s entrance and water sources. It is believed to have run from just west of the Mycenaean Spring, on the north, to just east of the South Spring, the site of the later Asklepieion, at the south of the Acropolis (below).87 Ancient sources refer to this wall both as the Pelargikon, the “Place of the Storks,” and as the Pelasgikon, named for the Pelasgoi, the pre-Greek inhabitants of Athens about whom we know very little.88 Whoever built the walls atop and around the Acropolis at the end of the Bronze Age, the sheer size of these fortifications points to the severity of the perceived threat. But absenc
e of evidence of burning or destruction on these walls suggests they worked well and may never have been breached, that is, until the Persian assault nearly eight hundred years after they were built.
The Mycenaeans made brilliant use of a natural cleft along the north face of the Acropolis, gaining access to the water-rich levels beneath.89 A vertical fissure some 35 meters (115 feet) deep was caused when a great chunk of bedrock sheared off the Acropolis and came to rest parallel to it. Around 1200 B.C., a staircase of eight flights was built down the narrow corridor. Cuttings in the rock held wooden steps leading all the way down; the lower courses had treads of stone resting upon the wood, all slotted into notches within the rock face. At the base of the staircase, a circular well shaft descended a further 8 meters (26 feet) through the underlying marl to create a reservoir. Excavators have designated this construction the “Mycenaean Spring” (previous page). Though used for only about twenty-five years before it collapsed, it nonetheless provided a secure water source at a time when early Athenians were under threat of attack.90
Prehistoric Acropolis. (illustration credit ill.10)
Parthenon with Mycenaean wall in foreground, from west. (illustration credit ill.11)
Seven hundred years later, around 470–460 B.C., an impressive fountain house was built atop a spring some 90 meters (300 feet) to the west of the Mycenaean Spring, there on the north slope of the Acropolis (labeled Northwest Spring on previous page).91 It is likely to have been the statesman Kimon who initiated construction of this springhouse at the same time he bolstered the fortification wall at the south side of the Acropolis. The Kimonian fountain house was set within the rocky overhang of a cave that gives access to the flowing water deep beneath; very special care was taken to maintain the original, rustic appearance of the craggy setting. First used during the Neolithic period,92 the Northwest Spring is likely to be that associated with the nymph Empedo, whose name means “firmly set” or “in the ground”; indeed, its water source is so deep that inlets leading to its draw basin sit 6 meters (20 feet) below ground level. A boundary inscription found nearby in the Agora and dated to the first half of the fifth century speaks of the Numphaio hiero horos, “the boundary of the sanctuary of the Nymph.”93 This has been taken to mean the nymph Empedo.
In time, this spring comes to be known as Klepsydra (literally, “Water Hider”), owing to its remote location, hidden within the rocky cliffs.94 It was an important resource for the people of Athens, especially since a number of preexisting wells in the area had been filled with debris and put out of use during the late sixth and early fifth centuries. With the introduction of the Klepsydra fountain in the 460s, the north slope of the Acropolis was made more accessible to visitors, a very different state of affairs from in the Archaic period and earlier, when the precious water sources were guarded behind walls.95 This marks an important shift in the function of the north slope, no longer just a source of secure and plentiful water but a place of shrines, worship, and visitation. In a very real sense, this evolution into a place of commemoration and devotion marks the expansion of the sacred space of the Acropolis down its slopes and the opening up of the Sacred Rock to the larger community. This development harmonizes with the new democratic spirit sweeping Athens, a process that will culminate, decades later, with the erection of its greatest temple, the Parthenon.
TODAY, AS IN ANTIQUITY, a path circles the Acropolis, roughly halfway up its slopes. This enables visitors to circumnavigate the Sacred Rock and to visit the host of caves and crags that came to be used as sacred places. During the mid-fourth century, someone carved into the bedrock along the northern stretch of this pathway an inscription giving its name and length: “The Peripatos, five stades and eighteen feet.”96 This measures some 893 meters, or just over half a mile. The inscription can be seen to this day, just east of the sanctuary of Aphrodite and Eros, more than halfway around the northern face of the Acropolis as one approaches its east end (this page). Since 2004, the Peripatos walkway has been reopened to the public, affording the great pleasure of viewing the city from above while walking a wilderness landscape, right in the heart of Athens. Strolling the Peripatos and visiting its caves, crags, springs, and lush vegetation bring viewers as close as one can get to an ancient experience of the natural environment.
Roughly a dozen caves penetrate the rocky slopes of the Acropolis, and over time at least half of these came to be regarded as sacred. The caves of Apollo, Pan, and the nymphs, together with the sanctuaries of Aphrodite, Aglauros, and Asklepios positioned on rocky ledges near caves, claim special places of memory here amid the cliffs.97 All across Attica, some twenty-eight sacred caves have been identified. Athens is the only city that allowed cave sanctuaries within the limits of its urban area for easy access to the experience of a rustic, sacred landscape setting.98 In this, we may perceive the intensity of Athenian religiosity, an urgent desire to connect with the prehistoric cave dwellers, the Neolithic ancestors who may have made their homes within these rock shelters. Let us visit these caves, starting at the northwest shoulder of the Acropolis and at an elevation of some 125 meters, or 410 feet, above sea level. Here, high above the Klepsydra fountain, we find a broad level shelf that opens onto four further caves, designated A–D (below and this page). Cave A sits farthest to the west, shows a low rock-cut bench, and is of unknown use. Cave B was sacred to Apollo, and Cave D was sacred to Pan. Cave C has been assigned to Zeus, but not all scholars agree.
The shallow rock shelter known as Cave B, second from the west, was among the most famous settings in all of Athenian myth (facing page). Long identified as the shrine of Apollo Hypo Makrais, “Apollo Under the Long Rocks” or “Apollo Below the Heights,” this is the spot where the god is said to have forced Kreousa, daughter of King Kekrops, to make love to him. From this union, the child Ion was conceived. Having given birth in secret, Kreousa hides her shame by leaving the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, here in the same cave where she had lain with the god.99 Apollo intervenes, instructing the god Hermes to rescue his son and carry him to Delphi. At the Delphic sanctuary, Ion was educated by a priestess of Apollo and served as a temple boy within the shrine of his father.100
Acropolis, north slope, Caves A–D, from northwest. (illustration credit ill.12)
Cave of Apollo Hypo Makrais (Cave B), from the north. (illustration credit ill.13)
As we know from Euripides’s play, named the Ion after the youth, Kreousa later marries Xouthos, with whom she finds herself unable to conceive a child. The pair travel to Delphi to seek the oracle’s advice. After a series of misunderstandings and the subsequent revelation of hidden identities, Kreousa is reunited with Ion and recognizes him as her son. Ion grows up to marry Helike, daughter of King Selinos of Aigialeia (and thereby granddaughter of Poseidon), and establishes a city named Helike for her in Achaia on the north coast of the Peloponnese. Here, Poseidon Helikonios was worshipped well into the Roman period.101 The children of Ion and Helike, and their descendants forever after, were called Ionians, and thus our hero establishes what comes to be known as the Ionian race. Through this myth the Athenians were able to claim kinship with their Ionian neighbors in East Greece, strategically emphasizing this cultural connection when seeking Ionian support during time of war. Importantly, Ion himself led an expedition, with the help of the Athenians, against their longtime enemy, Eleusis. He lost his life in this battle, just outside the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore.
The cave of Apollo Hypo Makrais has been explored and studied by archaeologists from the late nineteenth century on.102 Over a hundred niches have been cut into its rock walls and onto the spur that separates it from Cave C.103 In fact, human activity is evidenced here from as early as the thirteenth century B.C. The myth of Kreousa and Apollo may be evocative of Neolithic times when the prehistoric populations of Attica lived in just such rock shelters and deep caves. Here, the earliest inhabitants of what would become Athens made new families that went on to become great ones, just as we have seen with Ion. Saf
eguarding and remembering the rock shelters of primitive days, set close to the opulence of the Parthenon and other lavishly built Acropolis structures, would keep something of the remote past near at hand. These places of memory were constant reminders to the Athenians of their rustic origins.
Cave C, a shallow rock shelter just to the east of Apollo’s Long Rocks, has sometimes been identified as housing the shrine of Zeus Astrapaios. This suggestion rests on somewhat tenuous evidence put forward by Strabo, who writes of a place that was used as a lookout for determining the appropriate moment for sacrifices to be sent to Delphi.104 The Pythaistai, organizers of the sacred procession, are said to have watched from the sanctuary of Zeus Astrapaios for a starting signal in the sky: lightning above a place called Harma on the distant slopes of Mount Parnes (this page).
The next cave to the east, the one identified as sacred to Pan and the nymphs, is actually a complex of three adjoining caves, designated D, D1, D2, their rock faces covered with cuttings and niches for votive offerings. A number of marble votive reliefs showing Pan and the nymphs have been recovered here.105 The cult of Pan was introduced to Athens relatively late, around 490 B.C., in thanks for the god’s assistance in defeating the Persians at Marathon. Pan worship spread quickly throughout Attica with numerous mountainside shrines identified on Mounts Parnes, Pentelikon, Aigaleos, and Hymettos, as well as at Marathon and the hill of Eleusis.106
The cave of Pan and the Nymphs on the north slope facilitated Pan’s worship without a long trip to his woodland haunts. Families regularly made pilgrimages to such shrines, but the Acropolis cave site enabled more continuous devotions. We hear that shortly after Plato’s birth, his parents took him up to Mount Hymettos to sacrifice to Pan, the nymphs, and Apollo Nomios. Going off to make a sacrifice, Plato’s father laid the infant down for a moment, returning to find bees swarming about little Plato’s lips, now smeared with honey, an omen of his future mellifluence.107 No doubt, other Athenian parents brought their little ones up to Pan’s cave on the Acropolis in similar devotions experienced closer to home.
The Parthenon Enigma Page 5