!"#$%&'()'"('%*#%+*,(-).%/"((0%1(232'4%563-78"9,%'-6%*,(%:8()*3#-%#;%<=#**3),%>6(-*3*? @3*,3-%*,(%A-3#-3)*%<*'*( +8*,#"B)C.%D#,-%E#@"(? <#8"=(.%F,(%D#8"-'4%#;%*,(%<#=3(*?%#;%+"=,3*(=*8"'4%G3)*#"3'-)H%I#4J%KLH%M#J%N%BD8-JH%NLLOCH%PPJ OQKROST U8743),(6%7?.%<#=3(*?%#;%+"=,3*(=*8"'4%G3)*#"3'-) <*'74(%A1E.%http://www.jstor.org/stable/991701 +==())(6.%NNVLTVNLLW%OO.OX Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sah. 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Society of Architectural Historians is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. http://www.jstor.org From Caesarea to Athens Greek Revival Edinburgh and the Question of Scottish Identity within the Unionist State JOHN LOWREY University of Edinburgh he description of Edinburgh as "The Athens of become so; and joined to the Advocates Library,gives an advan- the North" is one that gained common currency tage which this opulentCity of Londonis hardlyable to exhibit.1 in the early nineteenth century and still proudly graces the city'spromotional and tourist literature.It is the Although the establishmentof a riding academymay seem purposeof this paperto analyzewhat it was that Edinburgh a rathertenuous basis on which to compareEdinburgh with was trying to achieve by presenting itself in this way and Athens, the general thrust of Ramsay'scomments reflects why the Athenianimage was both relevant and important. an awarenessof the enormouschanges that had takenplace Of course, the happy combination of topographyand cul- in the culturallife of the city in the eighteenth century.The tural achievementthat ultimatelyunderpins the accoladeis focus here is on both the intellectual and the gentlemanly well known. The idea that one of the great Europeancen- aspects of education and is part of a general interest in ters of the Enlightenment-the city of David Hume, improvementand the polite arts that was so much part of William Robertson, and Robert Adam-might pursue a Enlightenment Edinburgh.2 claim as a culturalcapital, is perhapsunsurprising. Indeed, Ramsay and Dick were, of course, natives of Edin- the earliest references connecting Edinburgh and Athens burgh, and we might expect them to view their city in a are based mainly on the intellectual distinction of the city. favorablelight. However, Edinburgh enjoyed a very high In January 1762, the Scottish artist Allan Ramsay wrote reputation for its intellectual achievementsin this period, from London to his friend Sir William Dick of Prestonfield perhapsmost famouslycelebrated in the observationby Mr. about recent developmentsin Edinburgh: Amyat, "King's Chemist, a most sensible and agreeable Englishman,"who stated, "Here I Stand at what is called The setting up an Academyfor Ridingis an excellent design. A few the Cross of Edinburgh [i.e., the Mercat Cross], and can, more such institutionswill renderEdinburgh the Athens of Britain; in a few minutes take fifty men of genius and learning by where instead of the awkwardand monkish pedantryof the old- the hand."3More importantly, for the purposes of this fashioned Universities,young gentlemen will be initiatedinto the paper,such accomplishmentsuggested to at least one out- principlesof useful knowledge and at the same time exercised in side observerthat Edinburghand Athens could be appro- allthose liberalaccomplishments which qualifya man to appearin priately linked. In July 1761, Alexander Carlyle wrote to the distinguishedspheres of Life.The new Libraryproposed to be Gilbert Elliot of Minto in London that the Irish writer established by the RoyalCollege of Physiciansmust be likewise a Thomas Sheridan had told him that "Edinburgh is the greatadvantage to the learnedas well as to such as are desirousto Athens of Great Britain, . and we believe him."4 Figure1 HughWilliam Williams, west side of the Parthenon,c.1817 Edinburgh,therefore, was a civilized and progressive also betweenAthens and Stirling,a city that sits in the same city, but its connectionswith Athenswere also basedon the river valley as Edinburgh and also has an acropolis at its fact that, topographically and in its general planning, it core: "... there is a considerablelikeness between Athens remindedreturning grand tourists of Athens. A numberof and Stirling as seen from the SacredWay.... From every authorshave traced this connection back to the same year other point, it bears a strikingresemblance to Edinburgh, as Ramsay'sobservations, to 1762, with the claimthatJames especiallyas seen from the Braidand RavelstonHills" (Fig- Stuartremarked on the similarityin the prefaceto Antiqui- ures 2, 3).9 tiesofAthens.s In fact, there is no mention of Edinburghin Williams is a key figure in the establishmentof Edin- the first edition of Stuartand Revett'sbook,6 and it seems burgh'sAthenian identity and, indeed, is creditedwith coin- fairlyclear that the topographicalconnection was firstmade ing the phrase "The Athens of the North."10Not only did in the early nineteenth century.7There are two important he influencepeople throughhis work,he also reflectedideas sources here. One, dating from 1818, is the Cambridge and developmentsin Edinburghin the crucialdecade of the geologist and antiquarian Edward Daniel Clarke, who 1820s. It has been correctly pointed out that at the time wrote that the relationshipbetween Athens and the Piraeus Edinburghbegan to developits Hellenic pretensions,it had was somewhat similarto that between Edinburghand the little architecturaljustification for doing so.11We now think port of Leith: "Edinburghexhibits a very correct model of of Edinburgh as one of the great neoclassical and Greek a Grecian city and with its Acropolis,Town, and Harbour, Revivalcities, but in 1762, when Ramsaywas writing, the it bearssome resemblanceto Athens and the Piraeus."8 New Town hadyet to be designedand little else of any con- The second source is a remarkableindividual named sequence had been built. Even by 1820, although the New Hugh William Williams, an Edinburghlandscape painter Town was well advancedand growingfast, the majorGreek who undertooka grandtour of Italy and Greece in 1817/18 Revival buildings in the city had yet to be built. One of (Figure 1). On his return he embarkedon a series of proj- Williams'scontributions was to move the debate on from ects over the following ten years that reflectedhis tremen- the general,topographical connections between Edinburgh dous enthusiasm for all things Greek. These included a and Athens to the much more specific and architectural.In two-volume work, Travelsin Italy, Greeceand the Ionian the conclusion to his 1820 book, he wrote: Islands(1820); an exhibitionof watercolorsin Edinburghin 1822, and, as a spin-off from that, a further publication, . the leading persons in this city are still contemplating mag- SelectViews in Greece(1827-1829), all of which earnedhim nificent works, and are ever ready to give the preference to the nickname"Grecian" Williams. superior designs, with the view of giving a classical air to the As a landscapeand topographicalartist, Williams was modern Athens! Is it too much, then, to expect that a facsim- very sensitive to connections between the landscapes of ile, or restoration,of the Temple of Minerva,may yet crown the Scotland and Greece. Like Clarke, he made the general Calton Hillas a monument, to proclaimto distant ages not only connection, in the combination of mountains, plain, sea, the militaryglory, but the pure taste which distinguishes our and acropolis,not only betweenAthens and Edinburgh,but country in the present? Is it too much to expect, that an enlight- GREEK REVIVAL EDINBURGH 137 Figure 2 Hugh WilliamWilliams, Athens from the east, c. 1817 Figure 3 Thomas Shepherd, Edinburghfrom Craigleith,from Thomas Shepherd, Modern Athens... (London,1829) ened patronage may call up genius, kindredto that of ancient east side of the New Town, between the city and the port of times, and may direct our native talents to efforts, similar to Leith (Figure 4). This proposed building and this location those which gave splendour to the Age of Pericles?12 were to prove crucial to the development of the Greek Revival in Edinburgh and in Scotland as a whole. In this, Williams was involving himself in an important Williams's enthusiasm for Greece was shared by many debate in Scotland at this time about the siting and nature of his fellow citizens, and the period between the end of of a new National Monument, which is discussed in more the Napoleonic Wars and the early Victorian period saw a detail below. For the moment, however, the important flourishing of Grecian fashion that found its expression not points are, first, that the modern Athens was to stake its only in the fine Greek Revival architecture that was erected claim in the most direct and obvious way possible, by build- in Edinburgh and other Scottish cities, but in many other ing (or, as Williams says, "restoring") the Parthenon in the aspects of life as well, affecting everything from hairdress- Scottish capital; second, the new Athens was to have a new ing to tea sets.13 In this, there are strong echoes of the acropolis.