The Pnyx in Athens

THE PNYX IN ATHENS A STUDY BASED ON EXCAVATIONS CONI)UCTED BY THE GREEK ARCHAEOLOGICAL SERVICE DIRECTED AND DESCRIBED BY K. KOUROUNIOTESAND HOMER A. rPHOMPSON INTRODUCTION: HISTORY OF THE EXCAVATION' The problems of the Pnyx have been attacked with the spade on at least five previous occasions. The site had been identified with assurance as that of the ancient assembly place by Chandler in 1765.2 We are told that George, Earl of Aberdeen, K.G., in 1803 cleared away earth from around the bema and from in front of the great scarp and in doing so came upon twelve marble tablets bearing dedications to Zeus Hypsistos, which had evidently fallen from the niches in the face of the scarp to the east of the bema.3 In 1862 Eriist Curtius investigated the site in the belief that the so-called Pnyx was a sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos.4 In his report he stated that he exposed the great 1 The plans and architetuLral drawings have been prepared by Mr. J. Travlos, a recent graduate of the Polytechneion in Athens, to whom we are greatly indebted for painstaking service on ouir behalf in the midst of many other preoccupations. The plhotographs are the work of A. Petritsis of the staff of the National Musetum and of Hermann Wagner, Photographer of the German Archaeological Institute in Athens. The text has been written by Mr. Thompson but every point has been discutssed together and the authors assumne joint responsibility for the views expressed. Among published works we mtust acknowledge our especial indebtedness to the earlier sttudy of the Pnyx by John M. Crow and Joseph Thacher Clarke whose names will constantly appear in the following pages; and to Professor Walter Judeich's Topographie von Athen. We reoret that the second edition of that excellent work (1931) inight nlot have included the results of this study. We are grateful too for the suggestions and criticisms of the many scholars who visited us while the excavation was in progress. The authors desire to express their appreciation of the generosity of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in assuming the burden of publication and of Professor Rhys Carpenter, the General Editor of this Annual, in guiding the article thlrough the press and in reading the proofs. Mr. Thompson acknowledges his particular obligation to the Committee for the Excavation of the Ancient Agora for the freedom which they have allowed him while holding a Fellowship under them and likewise to Miss Lucy Talcott who relieved him of his proper duties for some time while this study was under way. Miss Ann Hoskins rendered invaluable assistance in preparing the manuscript. It is hoped that the pottery and other small objects found in the excavation may be published shortly in a separate article. 2 Travels in Asia Minor and Greece. London, 1817, II, pp. 76-78. 3 Cf. Dodwell, Tour through Greece, London, 1819, I, pp. 401ff. 4 The report of the excavation is given in Attische Studiern, I, Gottingen, 1862, pp. 23-28; plan and section in pl. I. Cf. also the sketches in Sieben IKarten zur Topographie von Athen, Gotha, 1868, 5, 1 and 2 and the Beilage to p. 10 of the accompanying volume of text; and in Cturtius and Kiaupert, Atlas von Athen, Berlin, 1878, Blatt V. American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org THE PNYX IN ATHENS 91 retaining wall throughout its length. The scarp on either side of the " bema " was cleared to the bottom, as were also the side scarps which run out from the eastern and western extremities of the main scarp. He laid bare the rough island of rock in the southeast corner of the assembly place and saw in it, not a mass of stone left by the quarry men, but a raised platform, originally completed in masonry, from which the high officers of the state might observe the sacrifices being made about the altar, i.e. the so-called "bema." The clearing of the bed-rock around the huge blocks which stand on the upper terrace above the western part of the scarp failed to reveal any continuation of what appeared to be a surviving fragment of a cyclopean wall. Next, Curtius opened a trench over four feet wide from the " bema " northward on the axis of the structure represented by the then visible remains. At a distance of 36m. from the edge of the " bema " he came upon some medieval walls which were removed, revealing three steps partly cut in the rock, partly built of stone slabs. He believed that lhe had found both ends of this working; and on the plan which accompanies his report it appears to have a length of between two and three metres. According to Curtius this was not a stairway, but the approach to an altar hewn from the rock above the southern edge of the steps, which had been cut away in later times to make room for the structure represented by the above-mentioned late walls. On account of the great rocks lving in the filling, Curtius found it impracticable to contiinue his investigation of the terrain below, i.e. north of, the newly discovered steps. In digging the trench he found fragments of two marble plaques which doubtless came from the sanctuary of Zeus above. Next he cleared out the peculiar opening in the northern face of the great retaining wall in the expectation that it might prove to be the mouth of a drainage canal; but no trace of such was found. In clearingf along the foot of the same wall he came upon a flight of rock-hewn steps which disappeared beneath it. Finally, he investigated the possible approaches to the area, was unsuccessful in finding any leading, up to the interval between the northern ends of the side scarps and the southern extremities of the great terrace wall, where he supposed that entrances to the semicircular enclosure might have existed, but did trace a broad, rock-hewn way leading along the crest of the ridge from the northwest toward the upper terrace.-' These discoveries were undeniably valuable. But subsequent investigation has shown that many of the conclusions which Curtius drew from his excavation were singularly infelicitous, notably in regard to the mass of rock in the southeast corner of the semicircular area, the inner rock-cut steps and the renlains of the great wall on the upper terrace. This was due in part to his preconceived notions regarding the identity of the whole establishment, in part also to a too superficial examination of the newly exposed areas. Moreover, serious errors in the plan and section which accoinpany his report militated against their usefulness in further investigation.1 Curtius himself admitted that additional excavation was required, but nevertheless regarded his discoveries as conclusive Cf. A. J. A. (First Series) 6, 1890, pp. 130 ff.; see below, p. 98. 7* 92 K. KOUROUNIOTESAND HOMERA. THOMPSON proof for the correctness of the identification of the site as that of a religious rather than a political gathering place. The continued unsatisfactory state of the problem in 1882-83 led an American scholar, John M. Crow, to a systematic reconsideration of the ancient literary evidence bearing on the question; and this he supplemented by a personal investigation of the site.' He reopened Curtius' trench on the axis, exposing once more the three rock-hewn steps but only as much of them as Curtius had discovered. Small pits were sunk at various points in the semicircular area to permit of measuring the levels of the rock surface. Along with his article he published a plan and cross-section of the Pnyx prepared by J. T. Clarke, who also added numerous notes. These drawings are much the most satisfactory available up to the present time. In conclusion Crow stated, " while we cannot say with absolute certainty that the so-called Pnyx is the real Pnyx, the evidence taken collectively is strongly in favor of this conclusion." In 1910, on the suggestion of Professor Drerup of Munich, the Greek Archaeological Service undertook the further investigation of the site to determine if possible the date of the great outer retaining wall. During the season of 1910 the excavation was directed by Mr.Tsountas in collaboration first with Mr. Rhomaios, later with Dr. K. Kourouniotes. It was continued the following year under the direction of Dr. Kourouniotes and Mr. D. Antoniades.2 In the course of digging through the filling behind the great terrace wall in search of dateable objects, an inner terrace wall was discovered following a semicircular course roughly parallel to that of the great wall. It was immediately apparent that there were at least two periods in the history of the place. The excavators concluded that in the first period the floor had sloped gently down from the great "bema " to the top of the inner terrace wall, whereas by the building of the great outer wall the slope was reversed so that the floor rose from the bema on all sides like that of a theatre. From the objects found in the filling behind the outer terrace wall it was inferred that this structure could not be earlier than the second century B.c. Not enough material was gathered from the filling behind the inner wall to fix the date of the earlier period. Further clearing was done along the western part of the southern scarp, and the existence of an actual wall on the upper terrace above the scarp was proven by the discovery of beddings worked in the rock.

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